History Main / Forgiveness

Of course, a story pushing the most idealist of these by having the hero forgive and pardon the trespasser commonly has said trespasser indignantly refuse the forgiveness and outstretched hand with treachery. This being fiction, the LaserGuidedKarma from spurning their generosity results in them [[AlwaysABiggerFish getting eaten by a bigger fish]], shot/stabbed by the hero or a less forgiving companion who was on their guard, or simply choosing to die rather than live with the wounded {{pride}} of having accepted their help. Which, perhaps [[{{irony}} ironically]], makes their death morally justifiable self defense and makes the aesop more like "[[UnfortunateImplications if you forgive, expect betrayal]], so [[BrokenAesop don't bother]]."

* In ''{{Naruto}}'' taking revenge makes Team Ten and especially Shikamaru grow up and get over their grief. It's Aesop three.

* ''ChronoTrigger'' presents a particularly mixed example when [[spoiler: Janus offers to join your party. By this point, Janus is responsible for killing Glenn's mentor, permanently shapeshifting Glenn into a frog monster, leading a war against humanity to further his own (noble but misguided) ends, and trying to kill the party. Glenn then steps forward indignantly, Janus says that they must move on,]] and the player must choose whether he decides to [[KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand go one-on-one with his hated rival once and for all or let it drop forever]].

* A certain [[strike:German]]Roman soldier in ''SoraNoWoto'':

* A certain Roman soldier in ''SoraNoWoto'':

* ''{{Monster}}'' - the most important lesson.

** The Harry Potter series in general has a strong PowerOfLove and forgiveness {{Aesop}}. Out of all the villains above {{Mook}} status, we have Snape spying for Dumbledore [[spoiler: because he was in love with Lily Evans]], Narcissa Malfoy [[spoiler: lying to Voldemort to protect Draco]], Regulus Black [[spoiler: trying to destroy a horcrux]], Kreacher [[spoiler: changing his alleigence when he found out what Regulus did]], Percy Weasley [[spoiler: realizing the Ministry was corrupt and reuiniting with his family]] ... just about every antagonist that was more than just a mook did some form of HeelFaceTurn, aside from the [[CompleteMonster Complete Monsters]].

** Naruto, on the other hand, [[spoiler: completely forgives Pain, unlike the two above]].

* In ''[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/X-Men X2: X-Men United]]'', Nightcrawler tells Storm that he didn't hate people who was scared by him when he was working at the circus; he pitied (and this probably implies that he also forgave) them instead.

** And then, later on, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming in one of the most touching scenes of the series, Zuko [[spoiler: finds forgiveness at the hands of Iroh, who reveals that he had always loved Zuko despite all the bad things that he had done]].]]

** And then, later on, in one of the most touching scenes of the series, Zuko [[spoiler: finds forgiveness at the hands of Iroh, who reveals that he had always loved Zuko despite all the bad things that he had done]].

See also: EasilyForgiven, ForgivenessRequiresDeath, and ThisIsUnforgivable.

** However, in ''{{Gundam 00}}'', Saji Crossroad follows Aesop 1 and tried his damndest to get Louise Halevy to follow his footsteps. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:Louise ignores him and goes on to exact righteous vengeance on her parents' murderer Nena Trinity. She ends up in effects 4, for a short while until her mentality and moral gets restored by Setsuna's GN Particles, and Saji's persistence]]

* One of the newer ''{{Castlevania}}'' games (Curse of Darkness, I think) was of the first type.

** ''Franklin'' had a story called "Franklin Forgives" in which Franklin's sister Harriet accidentally knocks the bowl of Franklin's goldfish, Goldie, into the water. Franklin is devastated and angry with Harriet. She tries various ways to make it up to him, but he eventually realizes how he would feel if he lost her when she tries to go search for the fish on her own.

* In JohnCWright's ''Titans of Chaos'', Amelia is told to speak the word and the universe will be destroyed in {{Revenge}} for her killing. It is, it turns out, a SecretTestOfCharacter; when she does not speak, they proclaim she forgives her killers and shows that a human can make correct moral judgments.

* Luke Skywalker, in the comic ''[[StarWarsExpandedUniverse Union]]'', had his wedding to Mara Jade interrupted by a rogue Imperial who didn't like the Empire-New Republic peace set up in the HandOfThrawn duology. Luke coaxed the Imperial into explaining his fears, gently debunked them - and then, once the Imperial was just sad and unhappy rather than violently driven, invited him to the celebration. [[TheMessiah Luke's like that]].

* ''FullmetalAlchemist'' had these as recurrring lesson. [[{{Anvilicious}} Again and again]]. [[TropesAreNotBad Then again]], [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped some lessons needs to be always reminded]].