Heel-Face Turn

When a bad guy turns good. This usually makes for a good plot, for three reasons:

There are even more reasons for the turning:
 * 1) It lets them reintroduce the villain as a "darker, edgier" hero.
 * 2) It reinforces a desired notion of the inherent goodness within people.
 * 3) It prevents the Worthy Opponent from falling victim to What a Senseless Waste of Human Life.


 * 1) An encounter with an All-Loving Hero or gaining a Morality Pet.
 * 2) Discovering that Being Evil Sucks or possibly that Good Feels Good.
 * 3) An Enemy Mine situation leading to Fire Forged Friendship or The Power of Love in the form of Deliver Us from Evil or Love Redeems changing their priorities. Conversely Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal makes them rethink their loyalities.
 * 4) Realizing that they are a Noble Demon.
 * 5) A Heel Realization, if he had never considered his actions evil or wrong in the first place.
 * 6) He becomes friends with a hero after fighting him

Sadly, it sometimes leads to Redemption Equals Death, and when it doesn't, someone still needs to draw their "Get out of Jail Free" Card. Otherwise they may find the good guys unwilling to believe them; their conversion met with a Heel–Face Door-Slam (or they may "merely" find themselves Reformed, but Rejected). On the other hand, the bad guy may reject their chance at turning over a new leaf altogether, in which case it's Redemption Rejection. The many reasons and the probability for a turn are listed in the Sorting Algorithm of Face Heel Turning.