Here are tropes dealing with forgiving others or sparing others of their wrongdoing. Forgive us if this list isn't long.
Compare Index of Apologies. Contrast Revenge Tropes.
Tropes:
- Cruel Mercy: Forgiving someone to make them suffer a Fate Worse than Death.
- Cuteness Equals Forgiveness: A character is forgiven for an otherwise serious offense just because they're cute.
- Easily Forgiven: The character is forgiven for their heinous crimes rather too easily.
- Flippant Forgiveness: Forgiving others in a sarcastic and condescending manner.
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: When a character forgives another for their wrongdoing, but doesn't forget them.
- Forgiveness: What the index is all about, and can be a central theme of a story.
- Forgiveness Requires Death: In order to be forgiven for a crime, the character must be killed.
- Forgiving the Accidental Pervert: Forgiving an Accidental Pervert rather than undergoing Unprovoked Pervert Payback.
- "Get Out of Jail Free" Card: The heroes cut the defeated bad guy a break and forgo his punishment.
- Go and Sin No More: Forgiving others and telling them to atone for their crimes.
- Holiday Pardon: A holiday factors in someone's forgiveness.
- Honor Thy Abuser: When a victim learns to forgive (and respect) their abusers.
- Love Forgives All but Lust: A character forgives their love interest for anything except for cheating.
- My Fist Forgives You: Forgiving a character by attacking them.
- No Animosity in the Afterlife: Being dead makes people more forgiving.
- No Mercy for Murderers: Regardless of their (often sympathetic) reasons, a murderer is still punished by the law.
- No Sympathy for Grudgeholders: A character gets called out for choosing not to forgive someone.
- Punished for Sympathy: A character getting called out for forgiving another for their heinous deeds.
- Rejected Apology: Refusing to forgive someone who apologized to them.
- Restrained Revenge: Someone takes a lesser revenge on someone else in lieu of forgiving them entirely.
- Spared, but Not Forgiven: When forgiveness is clearly denied, but retribution of any form is not taken by the offended and is overtly refused.
- Sparing the Final Mook: A heroic character faces a last mook (or a very small number compared to the original group) who is hopelessly outmatched, and chooses to spare them.
- Success as Revenge: Giving up on revenge for your own benefit.
- This Is Unforgivable!: When a character tells the wrongdoer in no terms that their actions are impossible to forgive.
- Turn the Other Cheek: Repaying evil acts with forgiveness.
- Welcome Back, Traitor: A party member changes sides only to come back and is received in open arms.
