Heel Realization/Playing With

Basic Trope: A villain realizes that they're the bad guy.

• Straight: Bob is an Evil Overlord who realizes that in the process of taking over the world, he's brought death and suffering to millions of people.
• Exaggerated: Bob is an Eldritch Abomination who realizes that in the process of causing The End of the World as We Know It, it's brought death and suffering to millions of people.
• Downplayed: Bob is the Jerk Jock who realizes that his bullying was actually hurting people.
• Justified: Bob started as a Well-Intentioned Extremist who believed that Utopia Justifies the Means, and honestly believed until now that he was doing the right thing.
• Inverted: Bob the Anti-Hero realizes that he's actually a good guy.
• Subverted: Bob sees all the pain he's caused, but it only makes him surer that it's all for the greater good.
• Double Subverted: Bob realizes that his original goals were evil, but his essentially unpleasant nature means that his activities in the service of "good" are just as vicious.
• Parodied: Bob accidentally hits a kitten. He has a nervous breakdown as a result.
• Zig Zagged: Bob sees the pain he's caused and finally realizes he's evil. He decides he doesn't care, and stays evil for a while. But then he goes too far and realizes he's even more evil than he thought he was and decides to change.
• Averted:
  • Bob does not realize he's the bad guy.
  • Bob was aware he was the bad guy the whole time.
• Enforced: "We'll want to redeem Bob eventually. He should have a crisis of conscience about being a villain."
• Lampshaded: "Your undead armies have swept across the land killing everyone in their path! Of course you're the villain!"
• Invoked: ???
• Exploited: Alice gives Bob the Hannibal Lecture that opens his eyes, and uses the moment of distraction to kill him for his crimes.
• Defied: Bob is a Knight Templar who will never see himself in the wrong no matter how much damage he causes.
• Discussed: ???
• Conversed: ???

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