The Atoner / Web Original

• Both the brothers in Aaron in different ways:
  • Adam has been a frequent screw-up for years, and it's implied he drove his parents mad (and Chris by extension) with all his antics. He's now trying to put his life back together.
  • Chris was close with his brother but ended up leaving for college in England, and essentially neglecting their friendship. After realising what his brother was going through, he's now trying to make amends.
• Dream SMP: Ever since their betrayal in the Final Control Room], [[spoiler:Eret has been driven to make life better for everyone on the server.
• William Griffin of KateModern performed frequent dangerous medical experiments on unwitting girls on behalf of the Order, but then decides to try to bring the Order down.
• Looming Gaia: Evan unintentionally caused the deaths of three people: He magically forced his family's slave to do a backflip as a child and severely injured her, lied that the man who he blackmailed into giving him lycanthropy kidnapped him, resulting in him getting lynched, and ate his own father as a werewolf. All this caused him so much guilt that he ran away from home to become a mercenary for righteous causes, or a "Freelance Good Guy" as he calls himself.
• In Metro City Chronicles, Penitente began his superhero career because his mother and brother were injured by gang rivals during his youth.
• In SynthOrange's Let's Play of Princess Maker 2, after Lizzie ends up dying in a fight with the God of War, Gendo Ikari (who plays the role of the girl's father), in a fit of Heroic BSoD, decides to try and reconcile with his other kid... by playing a Shinji-raising sim game.
  Cube: ...and he keeps ending up with Kaoru? Maybe if you sent him for more sports training-
  Gendo: NO! He's there too, and that just ends up with them both in the showers!
• Some agents in the Protectors of the Plot Continuum are former badfic authors hoping to undo the damage they've done to the multiverse, or ex-DIS who returned to the PPC when given the chance.
• Yanagi in Canvas 2 after stealing the main character's painting five years ago.
• The Music Freaks: Downplayed with Jake. He used to be part of a Gang of Bullies who were mean to Zander and Hailey, but after joining the Music club, he tries to make it up to them, even getting them support from the entire school.
• Red vs. Blue:
  • Agent Washington, formerly of Project Freelancer, becomes this after working with the Meta against the Blood Gulch Crew. Exemplified when Locus tries to give him a "Not So Different" Remark.
    Washington: I know I used to be a real piece of shit, but at least I am trying to do something about it.
  • Locus also becomes this later on, realizing his actions have made him a monster instead of the soldier he wants to be. Accepting his atrocities, he betrays his partner, Felix, to die, and vows to right his wrongs:
    Tucker: Hey, just because you saved us doesn't mean you get to leave, asshole. You killed innocent people!
    Locus: I know. And I'm going to make things right. But not from inside a cell.
• JJ Sturn from Survival of the Fittest version four, although he wasn't quite as extreme as many examples listed here: He was a giant asshole especially towards women, although he did have his own share of more unpleasant actions.
• In his "Top 11 Fucks-Up List", The Nostalgia Critic wearily concedes that he'll die for his sins.
  • In To Boldly Flee he yearns to atone for the death of Ma-Ti in Suburban Knights and thus sacrifices his own life at the end to allow Ma-Ti's spirit to move on.
• The main character in The Wanderer's Library story Communion. Unfortunately, he's past forgiveness.
• Whateley Universe: Several, most notably Eldritch. However, the most striking example is probably Unverziehen ('The Unforgiven'), a former Waffen SS officer who spent the time since the war trying to atone for German war crimes:
  Unverziehen was an enigma to most people, the insanely potent warper had been a member of the combat arm of the German SS, and had not been privy to the war crimes of Auschwitz, Dachau, Sobibor and other places. The man and Caitlin [Eldritch, formerly Eric Mahren] shared something similar: guilt. He felt responsible for what his country did during the war, and though her crimes paled in comparison to what the Nazis had done during that war, the A-List hero, who still could not forgive himself, hadn’t physically committed any of the crimes he bore the shame of.
• In Worm, Bonesaw i.e. Riley becomes one of these after having a Heel Realization during the time she spent out of Jack Slash's direct control.
  • Glaistig Uaine also becomes one at the end of the series, again with a Meaningful Rename to Valkyrie.
• On Not Always Right, a man comes to a book store with a list of books he and his wife stole years ago as a prank, that they want to pay back as an example for their young son.

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