Face–Heel Turn

From a nice prince to an ice prince.

"Yo, the superheroes have turned evil! Most uncool."

— Ethan "Bubblegum" Tate, Futurama

A good guy turns bad, the opposite of the Heel–Face Turn. The ways in which this happens are many:

• They have become a Rival Turned Evil.
• They have lost perspective, becoming a Well-Intentioned Extremist or Knight Templar.
• Something horrible has happened that shattered their faith in good, and they have become a Fallen Hero.
• Lust for power and fortune at any cost has brought out their worst.
• Love has turned into a dangerously out-of-control obsession.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Too many of their good deeds having come back to bite them convinces them that being a hero is no longer worth it.
• Their allies have made life too difficult or out-and-out betrayed them.
• They've snapped after one too many rounds of being put through hell.
• Getting no thanks for their work or even a bad reputation instead pushes them into a Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal.
• Revenge has twisted them into something as bad as, if not worse than, their original enemy.
• They have gone Drunk with Power.
• They made a Deal with the Devil and did something truly heinous to cement their allegiance to their new master, turning on their former friends.
• They fell prey to The Corrupter/The Corruption, which brought out the worst in them.
• They spent too long in the villain's headspace or among villains, leading to Becoming the Mask.
• One or more villains made a convincing argument (and may actually be right).
• They committed a small act of evil, leading to more and bigger acts as the hero started Slowly Slipping Into Evil.
• Their Morality Chain was killed or seriously harmed. Or was abandoned or betrayed them.
• The other heroes collectively went through any combination of the above (while remaining protagonists), and they did not.

This is the Evil Counterpart to the more common Heel–Face Turn and is generally found in a story with Black-and-White Morality. The many reasons and the probability for a turn are listed in the Sorting Algorithm of Face-Heel Turning.

In a world full of Brainwashed victims, they may be the one who appears to be but really is Not Brainwashed.

The term "Face Heel Turn" comes from Professional Wrestling, in which a "good" wrestler (a face) is occasionally tempted by The Dark Side, or just gets fed up, and becomes a "bad" wrestler (a heel). Magazines and other promotional material from the various wrestling "leagues" frequently comment on various wrestlers' changes in "alignment" (in wrestling's fictional plotline known as kayfabe) nearly as frequently as they actually cover events in the ring themselves. (They even use phrases like "Face Heel Turn", though the shorter "Heel Turn" is more common.)

A wrestler's heel turn is often a sign that they are about to see their popularity skyrocket. Indeed, it is very common, once they have turned, to remain heels for their entire careers. Heels that become really popular may end up "naturally" becoming faces again, but it is just as likely for heels to be beloved because they are heels. In fact, as paradoxical as it might seem, a heel turn can help an otherwise despised wrestler become likable: fans may well resent a face character, and may be better able to relate to a character who is profoundly flawed in one way or another. (After all, that's what satire is all about.)

In the religious and/or philosophical context(s), since Heel–Face Turn indicates redemption, this trope alone can be closely linked to damnation, or having an unfornate transition (normally an immoral one) of one's own conscious state, which can make this certain individual "be damned" (i.e. seen as questionable or undesirable) by others. Said individual may also have a chance to be aware about this, whether they like it or not.

Note that a Face-Heel Turn is harder to pull off than a Heel–Face Turn — at least convincingly. If a character is introduced as likable and heroic, it takes some good writing to properly take them through the Character Development required to become a villain. Simply Foreshadowing that a character could turn evil is not enough. The work has to be put in to get the character to that destination; there are plenty of wrestling examples where this hasn't been done, or the reasons for the turn are so badly thought out that the fans reject it, and the wrestler turns back face shortly after.

Contrast:

• The Mole: The Mole was always working for the Big Bad from the beginning, whereas a character making a Face Heel Turn was a genuine good guy until their change of heart.
• Forced into Evil, whereas the character was still a genuinely good guy, but had his own reasons to be on the bad guys' side while still maintaining a good heart, whereas a character who did a Face Heel Turn is a character who not only goes to the bad guys' side, but also become a genuine bad guy at heart. A character Forced Into Evil can be said to be about halfway froom doing a full Heel Turn, but not a full turn yet like the ones in this page (given time, however, they may make a full turn in the future).
• Face–Monster Turn, which has many subtropes. The character really has no choice about becoming evil, because they are Brainwashed, literally turned into monsters, are possessed, or some other reason.
• Fake Defector, where someone on the side of good infiltrates the villains' side by pretending to do such a turn.
• Evil All Along, in which the character was, well, evil all along, but not necessarily working for the villain, like The Mole.

Compare Protagonist Journey to Villain, a plot which utilizes this trope as the entire character and story arc. Big Bad Slippage, where the Big Bad does this over the course of the story, is a Sub-Trope.

See also Heel–Face Revolving Door, Neutral No Longer, Deal with the Devil, We Used to Be Friends, Start of Darkness and Et Tu, Brute?. If the turn takes place extremely abruptly, it may include Jumping Off the Slippery Slope. If after the turn, there are still past rivalries with their new potential allies they can't overcome, see Personal Hate Before Common Goals.

Not to be confused with Evil All Along, in which a character that was thought to be good was evil all along. This trope describes a legitimate hero going to the dark side, not a Double Agent.

In Real Life, the nature of Heel–Face Turn and Face-Heel Turn is subjective (one person's "heartless betrayal" is another person's "seeing the light", depending on what group the individual is going to or leaving). Therefore, No Real Life Examples, Please!

noreallife

As this is a Betrayal Trope, unmarked spoilers abound. Beware.

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Example subpages:

• Anime & Manga
• Comic Books
• Fan Works
• Film
• Literature
• Live-Action TV
• Professional Wrestling
• Video Games
• Web Original
• Western Animation

Other examples:

Asian Animation

• In Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: Mighty Little Defenders, General Wolf/Chapper used to be a friendly wolf who supported peace between goats and wolves with the help of his goat friend Gogoa. After he got shot with a laser gun, he thought Gogoa was the one who shot him (Gogoa was actually framed for it). A month later, Chapper woke up to find out that the wolf tribe had lost and the leader had died. Chapper found out that Gogoa had left Goats' Village and Chapper was not welcome in the village. These events turned General Wolf against Gogoa and the other goats and he became determined to get revenge.

Music

• No More Mr. Nice Guy by Alice Cooper. A Take That! against Moral Guardians who ostracised him and his family from their church because they thought his stage act promoted satanism.
• Roger Martinez, the former lead singer of the Christian thrash metal band Vengeance Rising, has since denounced his former religion and joined the Church of Satan.
• The song "Heel Turn 2" by the Mountain Goats is named after this trope, from the wrestling-centric album Beat The Champ. The first verse portrays the narrator as "an upstanding, well-loved man about town," but he realizes "I don't want to die in here" and in the second verse is willing to do anything to win: "I'm walking out of here in one piece / Don't care what comes after," describing his fanclub's president in tears and the trash raining down on him from the rafters.

Mythology and Religion

• In Christianity, Lucifer was an Angel who led a rebellion against God — in some versions he wanted to take God's place, in others, he refused to acknowledge humans as God's beloved creations, among numerous other reasons — and was, together with all other rebel Angels, sent to hell, where they all become demons. Which makes this trope Older Than Feudalism. This betrayal has been captured in Alexandre Cabanel's The Fallen Angel (1847).
• Islam's story is slightly different from Christianity's: Satan (called "Iblis" in Arabic) was never an angel, but a Djinn near God. He fell because of his pride, and not acknowledging that humans now were in a higher position with God than he used to be. He did not challenge God Himself, but His influence on mankind, saying he'll sway humanity to corruption, and will show humans are no better. Unlike Christianity, he will not become a demon; he'll just be sentenced to eternity in Hell.
• The Bible:
  • There's Cain killing his brother Abel.
  • The once-wise Solomon becomes corrupt.
  • Judas Iscariot, whose betrayal led to Jesus's capture and crucifixion by the Romans. Though in a few Alternative Character Interpretations , most notably Gnosticism, Judas actually betrayed Jesus on request in order to ensure Jesus was captured, killed, and resurrected as planned.
• Norse Mythology: Loki was a trickster god, but he was Odin's brother-in-arms, and although he often caused trouble, he also helped the gods. He then conspired to kill Balder out of jealousy (since he was loved by everyone), and he made sure that Balder stayed dead. Shortly later, Loki kills another god's servant during a feast because everyone were praising his good work, and he is kicked out of the hall. Loki, though, goes back into the hall, reminding Odin he promised they would always drink beer together, and begins insulting the gods in their faces, until Thor kicks him out again. In retaliation for his insults and Baldur's murder, Loki is bound naked to some boulders with the entrails of his own son while a snake drips venom into his face. When Loki gets free, he will orchestrate the end of the world in retaliation.
• Egyptian Mythology: Set, the god of foreigners. He was known for protecting Egypt with the desert and the sun god Ra by fighting the God of Evil Apep. Then he became overcome by envy and murdered his brother Osiris, which eventually led to his downfall at the hands of Osiris's son Horus and the goddess Bast taking over his Apep fighting job.
• In Guatuso Mythology the Gods sent four prophets to warn humanity that the world would be destroyed if they didn't change their wicked ways. The first one, Tíyeúnhe, gave in to temptation and joined them, because of this, the second and third prophets killed him through sorcery.

Tabletop Games

• Arkham Horror 3rd Edition: In one scenario from "Secrets of the Order", the investigators may be offered the choice to seal away the Ancient One in the usual way or improvise their own method by studying from dark powers. The latter ending strongly implies that the investigators have become pawns of Yog-Sothoth and specifically excludes from the victory anyone who hasn't made a Dark Pact.
• Betrayal at House on the Hill has this as its main mechanic: the players start out exploring the haunted mansion together, but once the Haunt is triggered, one of them turns Traitor and tries to complete their evil mission before the others can stop them or escape.
• Dungeons & Dragons:
  • The worst kind of Blackguard, and by far the most powerful and feared, is one who was once a paladin. A fallen paladin who becomes a Blackguard gains extra abilities, and the more levels of paladin they had, the more powerful they become as Blackguards, and if a particularly high-level paladin goes bad this way, he or she can trade in ten levels of their former paladin class to become a fully-powered Blackguard with all abilities, as well as extra abilities based on how many levels of paladin they have left after the Face–Heel Turn.
  • Asmodeus is generally recognized as having started as a force for good before becoming He Who Fights Monsters, appropriate considering he's the single straightest analogue for Satan in D&D. On the other hand, having a Multiple-Choice Past and all, a few origin stories state that not only was he always evil, he is in fact one of the original, primal forces of evil from the beginning of the universe.
  • The Archmage Rary became known as "Rary the Traitor" after he tried to kill the Circle of Eight at the signing of the Treaty of Greyhawk after judging them to be too quarrelsome to be effective in their goals. This led to the deaths of Tenser and Otiluke and Rary having to flee to the Bright Desert with his co-conspirator Robilar.
  • In 5th Edition, there's a special class called "Oathbreaker" that serves to reflect a Paladin who has broken their sacred oath.
• Magic: The Gathering:
  • Crovax and Ertai of the Weatherlight crew turned in two completely different ways. Crovax did so through a vampiric curse triggered through his own slaying of his Guardian Angel, Selenia, and completed the turn by killing Mirri and assuming the Rathi evincar-ship in Volrath's absence. Ertai, meanwhile, was systematically broken during the Nemesis storyline, going fully under Crovax's sway on the realization that his crewmates had abandoned him to his fate.
  • Urza dedicated himself to fighting against the forces of Phyrexia and spent millennia taking steps to defeat them. Once he actually found himself in Phyrexia however, the Mad Scientist in him couldn't help but admire the sheer genius of its design. He eventually turned on his fellow planeswalkers and pledged himself to Yawgmoth because he couldn't bear to destroy a plane that embodied everything he had sought.
• Pathfinder:
  • Asmodeus and most of his archdevils used to be members of the forces of Heaven, before a rather pointed disagreement on the concept of free will led to them either marching out of Heaven or getting kicked out (accounts differ depending on who's telling the story) and winding up in Hell. The Queens of the Night Eiseth, Ardad Lili and Doloras likewise used to be angels before becoming devils — Ardad Lili left during the devils' original exodus, Eiseth fell after murdering her commander and Doloras found she was no longer welcome in Heaven after a thoroughly unnecessarily sadistic campaign against demons.
  • Zon-Kuthon, the god of sadism and torture, used to be a kind and benevolent deity named Dou-Bral. This lasted until he went exploring beyond the reaches of the multiverse, where he met... something that changed him into the monster he is now.
  • There are rumors that Nocticula, the demon lord of lust, succubi and assassins, used to be a powerful celestial being who fell and fell hard.
• A Touch of Evil: Whenever you select a Town Elder who has an Evil Secret for your Hunting Party.
• Warhammer 40,000: A major part of the backstory is Horus's fall to Chaos, which tears the Imperium of Mankind apart. A rather more minor part of the backstory is the Face–Heel Turn of the Eldar Phoenix Lord Arhra. With The Corruption a constant threat in the game universe, Face-Heel Turns are a constant threat to all the greyer factions.
  • Chaos is made up mostly of deserters from the main protagonist faction, the Imperium of Man (almost everyone in the forces of Chaos is either an ex-Imperial or a daemon); that treachery began when The Paragon Horus betrayed the God-Emperor of Mankind.
  • The Dark Eldar are the result of a whole civilisation, the ancient Eldar empire, turning into evil hedonists full of crime-loving "pleasure cults", and accidentally creating a dark god; the Craftworld Eldar turned their back on it became good guys (well, comparatively good, anyway) but the Dark Eldar went on with the whole pleasure-cult stuff and they're now the most evil faction in the setting. The Dark Eldar Incubi (who are essentially a dark reflection of Eldar Aspect Warriors who follow Arhra's teachings) have a slightly different take on Arhra's Face–Heel Turn: both versions of the story agree that he was corrupted by the forces of Chaos, but in their version he soul remained uncorrupted, at least long enough for him to order his disciples to fight and slay him. The Incubi are still evil though, but unlike other Dark Eldar they at least follow a strict if merciless code of honor.

Theatre

• In the back story of Euripides' Hecuba, Achilles, hero of The Iliad, defected to Troy after falling in love with Trojan princess Polyxena. And then his would-be brother-in-law Paris shot him in his Achilles' Heel at the wedding, and everything went pear-shaped for the Trojans.
• Invoked by Pulitzer in Newsies, by threatening to have the Newsies arrested if Jack doesn't agree to end the strike. In exchange, Jack tries to argue against his own cause at the rally he organized, despite protests from Spot and Davey. Luckily, Katherine talks him down, and he relents.
• This is essentially the entire plot of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as the protagonist begins a sympathetic Anti-Hero, progresses into Anti-Villain territory over the length of the first act, and finally crosses the Moral Event Horizon with gusto by intermission, largely due to Sanity Slippage.
• Westeros: An American Musical: What is seen of Theon Greyjoy's story in the play can be summed up as this. When first seen, Theon is fighting alongside Robb and trying to petition his father Balon, an old enemy of Robb's family, to fight alongside Robb. Balon unfortunately decides he'd rather have a second round against Robb's family instead. Last Theon is heard of, he's reported to have captured Robb's hometown for Balon.
• Elphaba from Wicked fits this trope, after having everything she tries spectacularly backfire on her, and having everyone she loves die all around her, she snaps during the song 'No Good Deed' dedicating herself to a lifetime of evil. Almost immediately subverted when she is shown to be just very, very pissed off, but not actually evil a mere song later.
  • Nessarose, her sister, goes from a bratty but well-meaning child to the Wicked Witch of the East who, unlike is closer to the the film's portrayal of her than Elphaba. She is named governor of Munchkinland and uses the position to strip away their power in order to keep her husband Boq from leaving her, and when he tries, she removes his heart, turns him into the Tin Man, and blames it on Elphaba. Likewise, Boq goes from a shy boy with a crush on Galinda to a far more murderous version of the Tin Man, who declares "for once I'm glad I'm heartless — I'll be heartless killing her!".

Visual Novels

• Discussed in Double Homework. According to Marco, this is what happened to Dennis after he’d been fixing his classmates’ computers for no apparent reward.

Web Animation

• The Most Epic Story Ever Told in All of Human History: Epic Robot Guy is a good guy in episode three, "The Most Epic Superhero Origin Story Ever", who becomes a villain by the time of episode five, "The Most Epic Crime-Stopping Mission Ever". This is Lampshaded In-Universe with the text “he became a bad guy! Dun dun dunnn!” written next to him when he appears.
• Red vs. Blue: After one too many betrayals and being imprisoned after all his efforts to bring down the Director, Agent Washington snaps and decides to capture Epsilon for the Chairman so he'll finally be allowed to leave Project Freelancer and the UNSC behind, even if it means he'll have to kill the Reds and Blues to do it. Getting double-crossed by the Meta and having the Reds and Blues save him once more causes Wash to change his mind and realign with the heroes against the Director.
• RWBY:
  • According to Ozpin, Lionheart was a different person before joining Salem and he seemed just as loyal as Team RWBY appears to be in the present. The second season of RWBY The Grimm Campaign, which depicts the Kuchinashi incident and takes place two years before the beginning of the main series ends with him sending Huntsmen reinforcements to help deal with the Wave crime syndicate that's left in Kuchinashi after their leader is killed. By the start of the main series, he begins feeding Salem the locations of every Huntsman in the kingdom to have them all killed, and he enrolls Cinder's team into Haven Academy with forged transcripts so that they can sabotage Beacon Academy from within. During the Battle of Haven, he learns Oscar's identity and contemplates capturing him for Salem, hoping he can finally be freed from the torment of working for her. By then, he's become a person that Ozpin no longer recognises.
  • Ironwood first appears as one of Ozpin's most trusted allies and someone who desperately wants to protect the world from Salem. The events of Volume 3 leave him traumatised from the way the villains exploit him and his army to harm Vale; he becomes increasingly authoritarian and controlling, such as closing the Atlesian borders and imposing curfews. Four volumes later, the heroes become increasingly concerned about his decisions until he finally snaps from a combination of learning that Salem can't be killed and the villains pressing his Trauma Button one too many times. Pushed over the edge into villainy, he fulfills Oscar's prediction of becoming as dangerous as Salem by temporarily replacing the Big Bad as Volume 8's Arc Villain.
• Paper Puppets: Ukulele falls to this trope when Slipper gives her a makeover to look edgy and emo.
• Supermarioglitchy4's Super Mario 64 Bloopers: Enzo. He used to be a friendly guy and was being nice to other people until in "Birthday Freakout", after Mario ruins his birthday party. From then on he becomes a villain and is determined to kill Mario and the rest of the main cast. He is also actually revealed to be the shady black figure in "The Visitor" (2014).
• Trick Moon: Prior to the events of the short, Mage trapped Prince in the Moonstone and left the group to join Dr. Bleak.

Webcomics

• White Mage from 8-Bit Theater, she gave Red Mage a kick in the shin, decided it wasn't for her and turned good again.
• In The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, Dr. McNinja is having trouble battling the evil Frans Rayner, because all the McNinja clones (long story) are triggering Conservation of Ninjutsu. So the Genre Savvy doctor does the only thing he can — team up with Frans and start taking the clones out himself. Yes, Face–Heel Turn as a fighting tactic. The clones were going to die either way, and Doc would have died with them if he hadn't changed sides. Besides, he went back to Face when there were no more clones, because Conservation of Ninjutsu was no longer in effect (and Rainer would have killed him had he stood quiet).
• Panther in Dead of Summer does this in a very scary scene, first by tearing out Dr Light's eyes and killing him, then by declaring Doug Fetterman will be the new leader, Though not really, as it's an evil clone of him as part of Fetterman's Evil Plan.
• Ellen of El Goonish Shive shortly after her creation. Fortunately Dan scrapped the idea of her staying evil.
• Homestuck:
  • Eridan from does this after deciding that the fight against Jack Noir is completely hopeless and as the "Prince of Hope" he believes he is the most qualified to determine if all hope is lost. He figures the only chance for survival is to pledge his loyalty to Jack. He then proceeds to K.O. Sollux, kill Feferi, and finally kill Kanaya (while destroying the key to restoring the Troll race) when they try to stop him before he escapes.
  • And then, not long after, Gamzee runs out of sopor slime pies and goes insane (or sane, considering that sopor slime pies are a troll drug), which causes him to remember his destiny as a murderous Subjugglator, and is later seen working for Caliborn/Lord English.
  • Much later on, Aranea turns from a helpful Ms. Exposition to a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
• Hooky: Subverted with Dani. After the time skip, when she thinks Dorian has died, she becomes incredibly detached from the world and is the cause for a lot of death. However, it turns out she's an empty shell that's been listening to her mother and the evil spirit.
• Synn from the The Law of Purple performed one of these before the start of the comic. It didn't take very well, tho, since it took little more than a few words from his old best friend before Heel Face Turning back.
• Ménage à 3:
  • Roxy, a semi-pro wrestler, executes a classic in-ring Turn, attacking her own tag team partner from behind.
  • For the first couple of volumes or so, DiDi is, if not heroic, at least well-meaning and genuinely naive. However, her increasingly desperate quest for an orgasm isn’t good for her personality, and she actually becomes worse after that quest succeeds; by the tenth and final volume, she’s become a monster of casually manipulative ego.
• Corrick does this unwillingly in Plume, as he must protect whoever's wearing his amulet and Dom manages to get ahold of it, forcing Cor to turn against Vesper.
• Romantically Apocalyptic: After Pilot is reconnected to ANNET, he's restored to his original personality as a ruthless assassin and sent to kill Snippy. He's eventually restored to normal when Snippy breaks his neural interface, but not before he impales him with a katana.
• Sailor Moon Cosmos Arc:
  • Hotaru ends up on the side of evil when she's possessed by Chaos's final avatar, Servant Chaos.
  • You know how in the canon Sailor Moon Chibi Chibi really pushed Usagi into destroying the Galaxy Cauldron in order to stop the cycle of good of evil? Chibi Chibi is none other than a reincarnated Usagi, who decides that she can't bear to be in a world where evil can't be completely eradicated.
• Sandra on the Rocks: While Sandra is back in Canada for a year, the combination of the manipulative Eva's machinations and some personal issues send Sandra's good-hearted young friend Marie into a spiral of hard partying, broken friendships, and increasingly bad attitudes. By the time Sandra returns to Paris, Marie is regularly behaving pretty horribly.
• In Sidekicks
  • Olivia, who was a top student in Justice College but ended up in the Under Corps anyway, turned to the side of evil when Metheos gave her Phantom's Mind Control superpower. She then took on the name "Iblis".
  • Gale does so too after being dismissed as a sidekick.
• Ruby of Sticky Dilly Buns is moralistic to the point of sanctimoniousness when she first appears, and as a result acts as The Conscience to title character Dillon once or twice. Unfortunately, she then develops an obsession with yaoi, and starts trying to make her Guy on Guy fantasies happen in real life — usually by exploiting Dillon's trust. However, her own conscience doesn't entirely disappear.
• In To Prevent World Peace, Kendra's future would have involved becoming a Dark Magical Girl. She decides to prevent this by choosing a Face–Heel Turn instead. This was not precisely what the future-seer intended when she warned Kendra about it...
• In Zebra Girl, Sandra turns evil after being dragged into hell by Professor Broadshoulders. She's having fun now.

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