So, we have a character who's loyal to the villain... until said villain decides to make someone suffer. The villain's Sidekick will suddenly realize the villain isn't a very nice guy, and do a Heel–Face Turn.
This character may be cruel to start with, but what the villain is doing is too much even for them, especially if they draw the line at harming children. If they looked up to the villain, it'll cross over with Broken Pedestal. Sometimes, they decide to go against the villain when they're on the brink of death, and end up redeeming themselves in the process. Sometimes this person is Obliviously Evil and they don't know that supporting the villain is wrong, and they'll often realize that they've indirectly hurt others by siding with the villain.
A Sub-Trope of Defector from Decadence. Compare and contrast The Starscream, wherein a villain's sidekick leaves them for a more selfish reason. Compare Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal and Even Mooks Have Loved Ones. May cross over with Post-Support Regret. This may also be followed by a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. This may also come when a villain truly loves someone, in which case it also crosses over with Love Redeems. Sometimes, this character is a case of Horrible Judge of Character with Selective Obliviousness until the truth dawns on them.
Examples:
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Comic Books
- Transformers: Beast Wars (2021): Dinobot was already having his doubts about the Predacon cause, but what finally gets him to change sides is seeing his teammates torture Nyx for information and throw her out of the Darksyde after disabling her ability to transform or enter stasis lock so they can watch her slowly die of energon radiation. Dinobot's disgust leads to him saving Nyx and trapping the Predacons in the Darksyde so they can both escape.
Films — Animation
- Iago from Disney's Aladdin spent the entirety of the first film on Jafar's side. The beginning of the second film, Aladdin: The Return of Jafar, sees Iago escape from Jafar's lamp and slowly turn face over the course of the movie, even offing Jafar for good by kicking his lamp into magma. Not that Iago's all that heroic, but his conscience does get the better of him on a number of occasions. He grumbles over it a lot.
- Antz has Colonel Cutter, the right-hand man of the evil General Mandible. He assists the General throughout the film but is noticeably bothered by his brutal actions. This eventually leads to his Heel–Face Turn when Mandible tries to drown almost the entire colony in order to secure power for himself.
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire: Much of Rourke's crew (save Helga and the Faceless Goons) initially started at his side for the reward of finding Atlantis, until he begins hurting its people and Milo. In addition, Milo guilts them for bringing a lost civilization to extinction for monetary reasons.
- Balto has Star, Nikki, and Kaltag happily brownnose Steele and join in his bullying of Balto (though not as obsessively) for the first half of the movie, mocking his half-wolf status and in Nikki's case knocking him down during the race to see who'd be the best lead dog to retrieve the medicine. However, once Balto finds the team after Steele got them lost and Steele starts attacking Balto unprovoked no less and almost breaking the medicine that the kids in Nome will die if they don't get, they quickly switch over to Balto's side, even smiling as Balto takes on position as lead dog. This trope is Zig-Zagged in that it's revealed that they resent Steele and trash him behind his back and most likely joined in bullying Balto to avoid Steele harassing them. Further proving this is that even before Steele's unprovoked attack against Balto, Star and Kaltag are surprised, impressed, and even kind of glad that Balto found them and are also mildly wowed by Balto's marking the trail with scratch marks on the trees.
- In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Phoebus starts the film as Judge Claude Frollo's top enforcer and follows his orders to persecute the Romani people of Paris with little complaint (although he does express confusion as to why he was pulled from the front lines of war to go after "palm readers and fortune tellers"). Eventually, though, Frollo's obsession with Esmeralda begins to spiral out of control, prompting him to mount a genocidal campaign against not only the Roma, but anyone remotely connected with them. When Frollo orders Phoebus to burn down a poor miller's home—while the miller and his family, who have given shelter to Romani travelers in the past, are still inside—Phoebus angrily douses the torch he's given, despite the judge reminding him that the punishment for insubordination is death. After escaping Frollo's guards, Phoebus becomes a open ally to the Roma by working to free them from the judge's oppressive rule.
- Esmeralda gets a moment earlier in the film during the Feast of Fools. After the crowd learns that Quasimodo's face is Not a Mask, they becoming a jeering mob and torture him. Esmeralda initially hangs back, but when she sees Frollo refusing to help Quasimodo despite him begging for help, she steps forward to free him while giving Frollo an angry "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
- In The Incredibles, Mirage originally serves as Syndrome's right-hand woman and is indifferent to the fact that he's killed dozens of Supers in his Omnidroid scheme. But when Syndrome has missiles sent to destroy Helen's jet and refuses to call them off after she specifically states "There are children aboard this airplane!", Mirage is genuinely horrified, especially when she sees the pain that Bob is going through at the thought of losing his family. This begins a Heel–Face Turn that results in Mirage freeing Bob. Later, when Mirage is sitting with Syndrome's Mooks — who are cheering for the destruction and death that the Omnidroid will cause — she's visibly uncomfortable at the thought of innocent people getting hurt, which ultimately leads her to help the Parrs escape the island to defeat Syndrome for good.
- Rugrats in Paris: Downplayed with Kira, as she's already very nice, though she remains obedient to her boss Coco (who treats her slightly better than she treats her other employees) up until she finds out that Coco only wants to marry Chas so that Mr. Yamaguchi will give her a promotion and that she hates children. Kira then turns against Coco and does everything in her power to stop her from marrying Chas.
- The Secret of NIMH: Sullivan works with his leader Jenner, but he begins to get second thoughts when Jenner orders him to cut a rope to crush Nicodemus. He refuses to do so and tries to stop Jenner from going too far, only for the enraged Jenner to slice him with a sword in retribution. Later, Jenner is about to slash Justin with his sword, but the dying Sullivan uses the last of his strength to throw his own dagger at Jenner, saving Justin in the process.
- Superman: Red Son is an Alternate Universe exploration of the last son of Krypton coming to Earth, not in a Kansas wheat field, rather in a Soviet potato farm. He becomes the protege of Josef Stalin, and fervently believes in the Marxist manifesto. That is, until Intrepid Reporter Lois Lane points Superman to Siberian labor camps where disease and despair are rampant, and the mortality rate is about 45%. Upon seeing such misery inflicted on Soviet citizens, Superman confronts his mentor. Perestroika began early in this alternate Soviet Union.
Films — Live-Action
- Avatar: The Way of Water: Quaritch sees his son Spider (well, his original body's son) being subjected to a brain-scanning device (the RDA are trying to get him to give up Jake's location) that's clearly causing him distress and shuts it down, telling the general he's going to try the personal touch. The fact that it's not working might have had something to do with it.
- Beauty and the Beast: Like in the original, LeFou is Gaston's Sycophantic Servant... until he leaves Maurice for the wolves. LeFou shows genuine concern for Maurice and is happy to see him alive later. He ends up switching sides.
- G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: Seeing Duke, her former fiancé, being brutalized by McCullen's men causes something to snap within the Baroness. She ultimately remembers her love for Duke and overcomes the Nanomachines controlling her. She turns on the villains and helps Duke escape.
- Schindler's List: Industrialist Oskar Schindler asked his Nazi compatriots for a crew of Jews to staff his factories since his regular workers had been conscripted into the Nazi Army. At first, these Jews were slave labor, making household goods in Schindler's factories, then later forging munitions. Over time, Schindler saw his labor force endure their work with quiet dignity, as it was far better than the "death camps" in the east, and it softened his view of them. Ultimately, Oskar Schindler kept hundreds of Jews from meeting a gruesome end, for which he was interred in the state of Israel with honors.
- Superman III: Gus, who's been hired by Webster to hack computers, becomes uneasy when he sees the effects of the oil shortage Webster engineered for profit. At the climax of the film, he almost goes through with Webster's plan to kill Superman but when he sees how the kryptonite ray is hurting Superman, he slides down the cable to go rescue him.
- Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: In one of the most famous Heel–Face Turn scenes of all time, Darth Vader turns on Emperor Palpatine and kills him (fatally injuring himself in the process) after seeing his son, Luke Skywalker, being slowly tortured to death by the Emperor's Force lightning attacks.
Literature
- Captain Underpants: In "Super Diaper Baby", Danger Dog is really more of a Punch-Clock Villain, but he sticks by Deputy Dangerous's side to get food. That is, until Deputy Dangerous tosses baby Billy into a nuclear power plant, then Danger Dog flies in to catch Billy. He becomes Billy's best friend and changes his name to Diaper Dog.
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: When the White Witch turns the merry party of animals into stone, Edmund feels sorry for someone else, for the first time in the story.
Live-Action TV
- The Power Rangers series have many examples of this:
- Power Rangers in Space:
- Astronema. Once she realizes that Andros, the Red Ranger, is her brother, she begins to rethink her allegiance.
- The same can be said for Ecliptor, to a degree. He can't bring himself to attack Astronema and instead, holds off the enemy forces allowing Andros and Astronema to escape from Dark Specter. They both pay for their betrayal eventually.
- Downplayed with Villamax in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. After training Trakeena, Villamax becomes her general after Scorpius' death. After (unintentionally) helping a girl locate her mother, he begins to question Trakeena's actions. When she orders him to fire upon innocent fleeing civilians, he openly defies her, telling her that she's learned nothing. This gets him killed.
- Diabolico from Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue. After Bansheera forces him into killing his comrade Loki in an attempt to kill the Rangers, Diabolico begins to assist them in stopping her. He gets the last laugh in the finale by blasting her down into the Shadow Dimension, laughing as he's finally gotten his revenge on her by giving the Rangers the victory.
- Nadira from Power Rangers Time Force, partially due to Trip and Lucas. However, what really sets her Heel–Face Turn in motion is watching the miracle of childbirth. After which she confronts her dad over Frax's destruction, to which he blows off. She then finds a lost infant and tries to find the parents, only to be blasted by her father. This action leads to his Heel Realization and his eventual surrender.
- Power Rangers Jungle Fury:
- Both Jarrod and Chamille. Even before being possessed by Dai Shi in the first place, Jarrod was a Jerkass and Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy, which got him expelled. Camille is simply Dai Shi's loyal "Dragon", despite his abuse and disposal of her. It's when Dai Shi decides to have Camille executed that Jarrod decides to fight back, while in Camille's case, she eventually starts to develop feelings for Jarrod, not Dai Shi, as well as begin to realize that he considers her expendable. This eventually leads to both of them siding with the Rangers.
- There's also the Phantom Beast General, Whiger. After being stripped of his Rinzin, title, and rank by Dai Shi and banished from his temple for being defeated by the Jungle Master Stampede Formation, he goes through this when Casey shows him kindness to his surprise, and the two even team up for a while. Shortly after their team-up, he fades away from existence, but not from Casey's memory.
- Power Rangers in Space:
- The Good Doctor has this as An Aesop that its protagonist Shaun has to learn, but only because his bedside manner was not up to standard expected of a hospital in the early seasons - Seasons 1 to 3. Notable in that the show has No Antagonist other than bureaucracy (other than a One-Shot Character jerkass Plot-Irrelevant Villain Kenny, who disappeared around Season 4).
Video Games
- Injustice: Gods Among Us: Regime Superman murders Shazam for questioning his Knight Templar motives and killing Lex Luthor, who was The Mole and tried unsuccessfully to oppose Superman , and then orders the destruction of Metropolis and Gotham to serve as an example of what happens to those who go against his rule. After witnessing this, Regime-Flash tells Yellow-Lantern Hal Jordan that he became part of Superman's crusade to make the world a safer place, but has just realized that if anything, they've made things worse, and decides to quit. After beating Hal and Sinestro, Flash joins Batman's Insurgency and reveals Superman's plans so that hopefully Earth can be free again, and the suffering end.
- Injustice 2: Supergirl originally joins the Regime because she trusts her cousin. However, when she sees Wonder Woman brutally attempt to murder Harley Quinn after the latter tries to stop WW from murdering Cheetah, Supergirl realizes that the Regime is not the heroic organization that Superman portrayed it as and switches over to the Resistance.
Webcomics
- Sinfest has Fuchsia, a succubus who worked for The Devil. Initially, she was a Depraved Bisexual who would conduct make-out sessions with Blue in an effort to tempt and corrupt individuals like Squigley to the Devil. One of her other duties involved stabbing at damned souls with a pitchfork. However, after meeting Criminy, she undergoes a Heel–Face Turn and is aghast at the idea of tormenting the damned souls. So, when no one is looking, she starts reading them stories, instead. Until, one day, she's decided she's had enough, and walks out of the Devil's mansion, blowing up security cameras as she goes.
Western Animation
- Amphibia: After King Andrias reveals his true evil nature in the season 2 finale, his despoiling of the land and cruel actions against the populace turn Lady Olivia and General Yunan against him.
- Beast Wars: This happens in the climax of Season 3 with Dinobot 2, who was loyal to Megatron up to the point of Megatron activating the Decepticon starship and raining hell upon the surface of Earth. This, alongside the loss of Rampage's spark, prompted Dinobot 2 to behave more like his former self, ending with him making a Heel–Face Turn, right when the ship explodes with him on board.
- Lilo & Stitch: The Series: In "Angel", Angel pretends to love Stitch so that she can rat him out to Hämsterviel and Gantu. She starts to care for him, and the moment that cements her Heel–Face Turn is when other experiments (who she had turned to evil) are about to beat Stitch up. Angel gets a look of regret on her face and saves Stitch by singing to turn the aliens back to good.
- The Powerpuff Girls (1998): In "Knock It Off", the Powerpuff Girlz Xtreme obey Dick Hardly and start to take Professor Utonium away. They don't help the Powerpuff Girls (who are locked up in a chamber) until the Professor tells his dying daughters that he loves them. The Powerpuff Girlz Xtreme then realize that Dick has never given them any kind of affection, so they start to attack him, and several other clones release the girls and the Professor.
Blossom clone: Get out, before it's too late.
- In one episode of Sonic Underground, the triplets are sent into a Bizarro Universe where they are the greedy tyrants and Robotnik is the leader of the Resistance, in order to teach them that anyone can be corrupted by power. They manage to get through to their parallel selves, but what really cements their Heel Face Turns is when they are taken on a ride through Mobotropolis and see just how much their people are suffering as a result of their actions. They quickly break down in tears and begin showering wealth upon everyone in sight.
- In the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode "Pursuit of Peace", the Republic Senate, driven by vengeance after a terrorist attack on Coruscant (and Palpatine's influence), intend to purchase a loan from the Banking Clan that will allow them to purchase five million additional clone troopers. Padmé and Bail Organa realise that the loan's interest would bankrupt the already-financially-unstable Republic, and are able to make the other senators see sense by pointing out the suffering that has already been brought to Coruscant and beyond as a result of rampant military spending at the expense of other services.
- Superman: The Animated Series: In "Brave New Metropolis", Lois goes into an alternate dimension where Superman, after joining forces with Luthor, becomes a tyrant. When Lois confronts him, Superman says he adopted more heavy-handed tactics because he couldn't prevent his Lois from being killed. However, when he sees how much people hate him (driven in when his version of Jimmy Olsen leads the captives in throwing rocks at him), and how much they are suffering because of his actions, he turns on Luthor and joins the resistance.
