Hero: *Throws Snickers at villain mid conflict* Hero: Feel better? Villain: Yeah, sorry. I was trippin'

Protagonist: You're bad and that's not good, so don't do that anymore. Villain: I never thought about that before doing all those horrible and reprehensible things, you're right, I will no more be bad.

"A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good". - Stannis Baratheon

The only redemption arc I've ever liked was SPOILER when SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER.

everybody's talking about avatar but the real shining star is megamind

"I wouldn't call it a redemption arc if they do one good action, right before they die" AMEN

Moral of the story: the redeemable are not so easily redeemed.

Evil person: I've been killing people in cold blood until now. Protagonist: I'm going to forgive you because you are hot. Me: ?!

I appreciate the redemption arcs where the villain gives up their ideology but still remains a git.

"One good deed is not enough to redeem a man of a life time of wickedness." "But it is enough to condemn him." -timeless wisdom of the Pirates of the Caribbean.

If you watched Avatar as a kid, Zuko set you up to be disappointed forever after by every attempt at a redemption arc that will never live up to our favorite exiled prince. Here’s why the Zuko Redemption works, and what other writers should follow: • Zuko was never evil in the first place. The show does a great job of portraying as threatening and sinister in Book 1, but when you tally up his crimes, he’s actually done very little. The worst is holding the protagonists captive for very brief periods of time. • Moral scaling. Zuko is the worst until we’re introduced to the worst. Admiral Zhao’s introduction shows us an actual bad Fire Narion soldier, who burns down villages and kills people, and Zuko bristles against his lack of honor (hehe). Then comes Azula, who goes out of her way to capture an entire kingdom in the middle of a retrieval mission. • Zuko is not the engine of evil, he is a single gear. All of his actions stem from a mission given to him by the person actually responsible for the violent colonization of the Fire Nation. • Zuko’s honor code aligned with his mission only when he didn’t fully understand the negative impact his country has had on the world. His quest took him out into the world and he actually got to see what the Fire Nation has done to people, which challenges his world views. • Zuko surrendered his privilege and his prizes to join the good side; he had everything to lose, which makes his choice to leave the Fire Nation have weight. • Zuko takes accountability in spite of his abuse!! Instead of copping out at “he’s been abused by his awful tyrant father so it’s not his fault,” Zuko recognizes and confronts the values he inherited from his father, is ready to throw hands at Daddy Evil, but still accepts and acknowledges what he himself did in the name of the Fire Nation and doesn’t kick it under the rug. • Zuko had a mentor guiding him, which is why Zuko has a strong moral center to begin with, and he does get a little worse toward the end before he gets better. But having an angel on his shoulder helps! And it’s fascinating to see Zuko wrestle with what is right, like “obeying my father” is a cultural value he’s accepted as Right, even when it’s conflicting with “causing poor farmers to suffer and grieve” is Wrong. That’s why the Zuko redemption arc is special. Every other redemption arc I’ve watched or read hasn’t given us all this ^ the last good arc I saw was Regina from Once Upon A Time, which I loved, except she was actually evil... Miss Regina like murdered poor peasants and put curses on children, of her own volition. It’s really hard to come back from that.

Also : let the character struggle with morality. If you've been killing people without thinking about it for years, or doing immoral things for a long time, your brain genuinely won't register those as "bad". It's proven for example that the more you lie, the less your brain notices it, like in the end you genuinely won't even realize you're lying anymore. So if a character who's been evil for a long time is redeeming themselves well... they're still going to have problems understanding things that shock other characters. Like a murderer will definitely not stop violence all at once. They're not actually going to consider beating someone to a pulp as a "bad" thing if they deem it a reasonable decision, they may not even realize it's supposed to be bad depending on their past. It's interesting for them to actually have to LEARN how to go back from their initial position, learn morality or at least struggle with their own limits and boundaries. Like "ok I don't want to kill people anymore but where do I stop now ?"

My favorite redemption arc was when 2nd Dimension!Doofenshmirtz got his toy train back, stopped being evil, and then immediately got arrested

I can’t even imagine a pre-avatar world, where you could bring up redemption arcs without at least one person mentioning zuko

I love how a majority of people are in agreement about Zuko's redemption arc being one of the best in all of fiction. It is just so good and never fails to make me happy over his development.

“Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.” -Bryan Stevenson “A man is better than the worst thing he's ever done.” ― Matthew Colville, Priest (book 1 of the Ratcatcher series)

Dear Authors: Tension/Suspense. Please. You are so insightful and this would be incredibly informative and enjoyable.

Sometimes villains just need to follow the Bad Guy Affirmation: "I'm bad, and that's good; I will never be good, and that's not bad; there's no one I'd rather be than me" Also, this Dear Authors series is amazing.

The "redeemed through love" thing would probably work better if falling for someone on the other side is just the first step. Maybe the villain realizes they like this person...but how can that be, they're supposed to be the enemy! And the person they've fallen for either has no idea or is like "Eww. No. You're a terrible person." That way, falling in love is what gets the villain to start questioning their actions...not the thing that "fixes" them.

“I don’t believe that the main character can turn a villain good by just monologuing to them.” Me: Read Naruto

You guys in the comments are making me want to rewatch Avatar now. Goddamnit I was busy wallowing in loneliness in quarantine!

Bad redemption arcs: Villain: i am evil. Mwaa ha ha Hero: No you aren't. Villain: i am good now.

PLEASE do a review of Avatar the Last Airbender when you're done with it.

Also, the redemption doesn't have to be linear. The character could start seeing the wrong in their actions and be compelled to change, but then return to their old self and make other mistakes. That way, the redemption at the end is much more satisfying and rewarding.

There’s a redemption arch in “The Good Place” (a TV show) that’s really well done.

I find that when a character is suffering after a trauma readers will say that the author dragged it out. Example - In Mocking Jay Katniss has PTSD from the games and then the uprising. People complained about her whining. There were whole threads about how she needed to get over it.

my dude, Avatar is THE PERFECT redemption arc. You can’t talk redemption arcs without bringing up my man.

So when a protagonist/hero becomes a villain, what's that called? A corruption arc?

Zuko hits all of these points for a good redemption arc. Still my favorite redeemed character pf all time.

My favourite redemption arc is Sunset Shimmer from the Equestria Girls films because she starts off as the main villain in the first film and then in the second film she is dealing with the consequences of her actions in the first film after she gets given a second chance. In the third film, she uses what happened in her past to help another character.

When you watch this while writting your first book🧑🏻‍💻

Dear authors: Please don’t change the villains physical presentation when they find the good side. “Their eyes looked kind”, doesn’t work. If the villain’s eyes looked cold and threatening before, that’s not gonna change. At least not much. People don’t only just look the way they look, (which isn’t easily changed) they also have facial manorisms. The way they present their face is ingrained in their muscles. If the villain looked scary, they’ll probably always look scary to some degree.

What about a villain who seems like he is redeeming himself, but actually isn't? Protagonist:“I can never forgive you.“ “Then don't! I don't care about you or what you think about me! I know what I did could be seen as evil, but you never had to make my decisions. I had my reasons and those are still the same. That we see ourselfs on the same site right now, does not mean that I think otherwise. It's just the best option that I have right now. Don't make it more than it is.“ And then he dies, because it was the best play he got at that time and was not really a villain, but the hero of another story, of his own story. I love it, when you have people who do good or bad things, but not because they're the hero or the bad guy, but because they're people on opposite sites and they see themself as the hero of their journey.

Recommendation: Hello Future Me's video on redemption arcs. But spoiler warning, it's basically an in-depth analysis of Zuko

Forgiveness is not earned and is not dependent on the forgiven, but on those forgiving. Trust and respect are earned. With true, repentant redemption, struggle must be real, consequences still stand, responsibility must be taken, remorse must be genuine and change must be visible over time.

I like a villain who has some good qualities since the beginning, and instead of change or 'redemption', he just begins to look more and more sympathetic when his story arc unfolds. At some point, you simply don't _care_ about anything evil he has done but see him more as a protagonist, who might have some bad qualities, perhaps fighting against some much more detestable villain. No redemption, no conversion, no justifications for his evil acts -- just gradually beginning to root for him. (Extra points if the previous good guys begin to look like lame losers who just can't deal with the more detestable villain.)

Jaime would’ve had a good redemption arc if it wasn’t for that last episode in season 8.

"I'm almost done with season 1!" Oh, my sweet, sweet summer child... No but seriously, could be that this is just my little fangirl moment, but when I was watching season 1 when I was younger, I was obsessed, but only because it was entertaining. Season 2 is when this show became so much more and tapped so many mature themes... It is amazing. Seriously amazing.

Imma just say that in Red queen, there's a maniacal villain who IS deeply - to the point where it's almost sick - in love with a good character, but he doesn't change his side because of the way he was raised. It is extremely sad for me to read but it's so dang satisfying...

You should have finished Avatar before filming this video, it would have been perfect

Maybe send this vid to JJ abrahams, seems like he hit every single NO NO with Rise of Skywalker.

It irritates me when the way you redeem a character is by sacrificing his life in the end - I can see where this is OK, but I prefer it when the character actually has to live and prove that he has changed, I think killing the character off is just a little bit lazy

0:17 Merphy is so in love with reading she reads TV shows instead of watching them 📖 lmaooo

I think the "The Broken Empire" trilogy by Mark Lawrence has a really interesting take on redemption. We're introduced to a sadistic, prideful and violent young man. The narrative switch's back and forth between the present and the past. The protagonist Jorg Ancrath is never really "redeemed" he's more explained and matured. His actions are rarely really justified but they are vindicated through the story.

6:50 a character that starts off gray, almost abandons the good guys to save himself, but then comes back to do the right thing at the end: Han Solo

There was something I think I've only seen once-where an antagonist (only "evil" in the eyes of the other faction) had a growing curiosity in the religious faith of the other side, and by the point it got to the big army battle, a priest had said that his spear would pierce one of the leaders, and when it did, he said "the battle is lost, their God is with them." After the battle, he converted. So the concept is, repeated encounters where the protagonist pulled something off/was right about something over and over again, sowing doubt in the antagonist's mind up to the point that they started doubting themselves so much that they came to the decision to change/join sides, and work their way from there.

Not every character is redeemable. I see so many times characters are redeemed despite the horrific things they’ve done and that’s just not believable to me. Remember that the worse you make a character, the more you have to show a change over time. Most redemption arcs are horribly rushed. I think it’s important to remember to that there is a moral line-once your character crosses that, no matter what you do, you may not be able to redeem them in the eyes of your readers.

“i wouldn’t call it a redemption arc if they do a good act right before they die” I FELT LIKE THAT WAS DIRECTED TOWARDS SNAPE

When I first saw the title, I was immediately thinking of the redemption arc in the avatar. I can't help it avatar has the best redemption arc I've ever seen/read. For me snape’s redemption is nothing compared to avatar.

Kinda on the subject of good guys turning bad: I don't actually like it when the hero kills the villain. I mean, we talk about villains with 'excuses' that drove them to murder, but then is the villain's villainy the 'excuse' that drives the hero to murder? This is why I love the end of The Lion King: Simba refuses to kill Scar, saying 'No Scar, I'm not like you'. Instead, Scar is destroyed by the hyenas, the result of his own evilness. His bad actions came back to bite him on the bottom, so to speak.

You've never seen a grey character becoming "good" through teaming up with the protagonist? Doubt it, it's Han Solo and many other characters in books too

Redemption arcs are tricky. Often they're done with secondary characters, rather than the primary antagonist, so time can become a factor. How much do you give? The writer doesn't want to dedicate so much that it takes the reader out of the main plot entirely. Also, what are you redeeming? What is the goal? Absolution? An situational outcome? Vengeance? Or more likely, a combination of several motivations. And with whom does the act of redemption put the character in conflict. This alone can layer the arc in ways that become exceedingly complex and demand enormous chunks of page time to flesh out. Knowing all this, it become a tightrope walk between pacing and depth.

The best redemption arc in history: Zuko I mean, he literally applied to everything you said.

This sort of thing always makes me think of early Once Upon a Time. They did really well with that at the beginning of the show.

since you're reading Percy Jackson (no spoilers tho) there are some redemption arcs in that series that make a lot of sense and gives more meaning into characters' actions that show in the end, these are just kids that we're dealing with.

Throughout this whole video I was thinking about Kylo Ren. Everything the comments and you suggested should not be done to a villain's redemption arc was done to Kylo Ren.

7:25 the hatred of one specific book series radiates off the screen. And you're right and you should say it

For it to work, they are supposed to at least one redeeming trait. In that, we are able to see that they are capable of good. And let this manifest every now and then till we reach the turning point. Here they see how much misdeeds they are to reflect on and drive towards trying to undo their wrongs. *SPOILER ALERT* That's why Zuko had a good redemption Arc. We see good in him the episode, "The Storm," and able to root for him with Iroh to change his life course.

The darker shade of magic series has one if the best redemption arcs I've seen in a while, the character doesn't start of utterly evil but he does some reprehensible things but as the series progresses we see the thought process behind his actions and how he changes.its so slow but so good and that's the best way when u slowly find urself loving a character that u disliked at the beginning.

Can't wait for a review on Avatar, because the story is so good, and the characters have such depth.

You probably won’t read this, but I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Bojack Horseman! He has a GREAT redemption arc. It feels very real to me. Not only do other main characters have their own ideas of his change (either doubt, suspicion, or encouragement) , but he still falls on bad behavior, as to say he’s not perfect. It also happens gradually to trough out the series as he struggles for it, so it feels earned. Edit- In other words, please watch Bojack Horseman. It starts off slow at first, but it really gets better over time and is one of my favorite shows of all time.

Dear Authors: Good Foreshadowing! I would love if you decided to do that video. I think it's very dificult for people to sometimes find the line between giving things away and hardly allowing the readers to guess or suspect what might happen next. Love your videos by the way!

Hero: don't be bad that wrong let's be friends Villain: okay

Good morning, everyone, again. I hope you're all having a great day and staying safe and clean. I'm excited for this installment of Dear Authors lol.

I get why everyone loves Zuko's redemptions arc. His redemption go's back and forth like the struggle you should have when switching your perspective drasticly. I would love more writers to take that as the example of a good arc

"No excuses, no mercy." This is what I use as a writer when it comes to character building and arcs. Though we tell fiction, we can't forget what makes us love fiction, stories. As well love and relate to said characters. Yes, we have heroes who can be gods or monsters but in the end they're "human". As in have human flaws and characteristics like us, the readers. We go through things some worse than others. However in the end we look to stories to escape, to learn, to be inspired. Escape our problems and pain. Learn how to deal with said pain. Or be inspired to have the courage face our pain or problems. Which is why I hate simple, or, "easy" characters and arcs or development. Hero or villain. Which is why I love "blanks" arc in avatar.

I recommend the movie A Silent Voice, the whole thing is about the weight of your actions and the process of redemption after the fact. Also about communication and explores forgiveness for the wronged and the redeemed character learning to forgive themselves long after they've changed. Super emotional and satisfying.

Ohh perfect, putting a redemption arc in my story so this will be useful.

One reason I like watching these "I'm frustrated when authors do this," or "here's a way to do this kind of thing well," is in realizing how much of this stuff *isn't* in the trilogy I'm writing. I don't have a redemption arc, I've got a character arc that spans the trilogy (no light switch flip changes,) and while I *kind of* have a love triangle, my character absolutely knows who she *should* be with, but her feelings for the other person persist even though she knows he's awful. So it's more of a personal war of head vs heart. This is a long winded way of saying these videos have really helped me. :)

But the Grinch’s heart grew THREE sizes!

I love it when a character slowly becomes a better person

Xena Warrior Princess entire premise is Xena seeking redemption for her past and it was such a compelling story to follow (the ending still makes me cry.) Once Upon a Time also had many cool redemption arcs that were a joy to watch.

Highly recommend watching “The Good Place”...that’s all I’m gonna say lol

Merphy: no spoilers! Every comment: has spoilers 😑😑😑😑

As a person attempting to write a novel, I find you channel most helpful! Having readers' opinion is certainly a great way to know what I should keep and what I should remove. Thanks a lot! I've been working on my novel for about 5 years (it's a dark fantasy / low fantasy novel) and it's a loooot of work, so I just hope I'll be done with it before 2023! I wish I had readers who would tell me what's good and what's bad, but I'm actually kinda afraid to let them know my WIP, which is far from perfect, or even good enough. Anyway, thanks a lot! I love your channel!

“One good deed is not enough to redeem a man of a lifetime of wickedness.” “Though it seems enough to condemn him.”

When I hear Redemption Arcs, I think about Regina aka The Evil Queen in Once Upon a Time. I liked how she was the bad guy in the beginning of the serie and then become a hero :) she was one of the most interesting character in the serie. :)

This video really made me think about Catra from She-Ra and all the different ways she could go as a character.. here's to hoping her arc works out well.

This is not only good material, but well worth several rewatches. Thank you. If you ever see this.

It's a TV show, but Xena is a great example of a redemption arc. That one person in Avatar: The Last Airbender is still my favorite, and the clues are laid and hinted at so deftly. When they're talking to the frog--gets me every time!!

4:19 "I still view you as a villain because that's all you've ever been." Fans of Kylo Ren need to learn this.

6:43 Think Uncle Iroh in the sense that he’s from the fire nation and is an ex war dog and general, but in the show does a lot of things for the main character even if it goes against his culture

A good example of the ‘one good thing before they die’ thing is Rat from Fantastic Mr Fox. It’s called out in-character that at the end of the day he was still a rat

The whole love redemption really on works when that love makes them want to change for themselves and not for the other person.

I wonder hiw good it will be if I write a book where the villain turns into a hero but the hero turns into a villain

BEST Redemption arc EVER: Zuko, from Avatar, The Legend of Aang

Not from a book series but my personal favourite redemption arc is Kratos from God of War games. What makes it work is he doesn’t seek redemption he doesn’t even believe he deserves it. He decides to be a better man because he wants to be better and not to wipe away his past sins or for others to think he is good. For him its about being better for those around him or those who come after him. Its so others do not make the same mistakes he did. And it is that tremendous reflection and change in him that makes it one of my all time favourites.

forever my favorite video series of yours this is so interesting and interactive DONT YOU EVER STOP DOING THIS

One of the worst redemption arcs I've read was in this ya fantasy. The book as a whole was kind of a disappointment but that "redemption" made no sense. The brother of the main character was awful and dismissive to her the entire time and apparently it's been that way for years, yet in the last chapter he did a complete 180 and looked to his sister for advice and gave her the reins when shit was going down. What's worse is the reason he did this is because his sister did something to "make him see the light", but she had been doing and saying the same things throughout the entire book and he dismissed her every time. It just pissed me off

The being gray at the beginning than turning into a hero is something that i love to see. I think it was well executed in Sarah J Maas' Throne of Glass series with Manon Blackbeak. I mean in the beginning she wasn't good or bad, she was a brutal bad ass trained to desire nothing except returning her homeland to it's former glory then the people around her fall to the dark side, so she rises to the more righteous path. In my opinion, I think it's a good example of that.

These have been really helpful for me. I’m trying to write a book at the moment, and these videos got me excited to write again, and helped me change my book to make it better. I got new ideas and took things out and am more excited about my book than ever. Thank you so much for making these

To hear that more people are finally getting to Avatar really makes me happy. The show is a great example for characters, relationships and so much more.

After watching this I’m REALLY curious what your thoughts are on the way Kylo Ren / Ben Solo was developed in Star Wars... do you think it was executed well?

Jamie lannisters arc in the show was ruined so let's hope the books fix it

I just love the character development on She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Honestly, there's the hero from the wrong side that goes to the good side but always struggles, the villain who is going toward a redemption, the good who goes kind of crazy in the face of evil, etc. It's made for adolescents, but has some awesome development not just in characters, but in history too. That's my recomendation :)

Boromir's redemption arc was very successful and he only had one redeeming act before he died.

if u want some real good redemption arcs. WATCH SHE-RA ITS SO GOOD WITH DEVELOPING CHARACTERS!

You know what? I think a redeemed villain doesn't necessary need to become the heroes' friend, because that is really dumb and unrealistic. Yes, villains need to apologize to the people they harmed and stuff but I believe it's better for them if they just find new friends and new opportunities to be better far from the heroes. I think this might help the villain to start from 0 with someone else, and making a good friendship. Let me make an example: Let's say that Character A has always bullied character B because they have problems at home. Character A realizes that what they're doing is wrong, and apoligizes. Of course, for character B it would be difficult to forgive them, so he denies it him at first. Character A needs to earn it. And that means, of course, repairing their damage. Character B feels better but still can't completely forget the damage Character A has done. Character B doesn't hate character A anymore, but they are not ready to be friends either (because, let's be honest, if someone hurt you mentally you wouldn't just become friends with them, even though they redeemed themselves, because the harm is already done). Now I think character A should try becoming friends with other people,you know, to start from 0 after realizing their mistakes, and promising themselves to not harm people anymore. Maybe yes, character A can help character B sometimes, but it is better to leave them like people who don't hate each other, but aren't friends either. (I am terrible at explaining, sorry guys)

Just discovered you today and watched, I think, all of your Dear Authors videos. I'm a writer, and I really appreciate watching these because it makes me think hard about my stories and my characters, and I can make a quick checklist for myself of what I have and have not done and what I can fix.

Also the Val-Jean and Javert dynamic in Les Miserables is an interesting study in the line between hero and villain.