Context can change a lot about how someone or something is viewed. One way this can happen is by making a character who seems unsympathetic turn out to be sympathetic, if not necessarily good or likable, all along. This can happen both in-universe and with the narrative as characters and the audience find out lore context.
In general, there are multiple ways context can move a person from unsympathetic to sympathetic. A story that uses an Unreliable Narrator to paint someone as being unsympathetic might show that the slandered party turn out to be sympathetic when the story shows a more neutral point of view. A character who is hostile to someone else might turn out to have a good reason for it when the reason for their hostility is revealed. A character who seems to have purely selfish motives might turn out to have more benevolent when more information is revealed. In video games with multiple paths, characters portrayed as antagonistic or outright villainous in one path will have their motivation or justifications explored in another path.
There are multiple specific ways a person can lose sympathy from both the narratives and characters in-universe. A villain who seems to have purely self-serving motives might turn out to be a Well-Intentioned Extremist or believe that their actions are a necessary evil. In a narrative that is Written by the Winners, the losers might be painted as pure evil monsters until it's revealed that their motives were more complex than the official narrative suggests or that they are the victims being slandered in a one-sided story. If a character is hated and/or feared by others, they might seem like horrible monsters with no sympathetic qualities until its revealed that them being hated or feared was a result of a misunderstanding or Malicious Slander.
See also Less Disturbing in Context. Often overlaps with Good All Along. Compare Stab the Salad and Stab the Scorpion. Can be used to Subvert the Hate Sink and Beyond Redemption tropes. Can be used to reveal that a straightforward villain was actually an Anti-Villain. Compare Not What It Looks Like, for when a character sees something out of context and assumes wrongdoing; unlike this trope, the narrative often makes it clear from the beginning that the character isn't a wrongdoer. May involve a Somber Backstory Revelation. Opposite Trope to Unsympathetic with Added Context.
Note: Due to the fact that this trope is often used as a plot twist, all spoilers will be unmarked. You have been warned!
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- The Kindaichi Case Files: Riku Busijima was convicted and arrested for the torture and murder of a classmate alongside two friends, and was known as the ringleader. He taunted Inspector Kenmochi with his lack of guilt, and then Kindaichi was forced, grudgingly, to protect him from whoever was targeting him and his friends. Then it comes to light that Riku himself was the one killing off his friends... and it's then further revealed that they were never his friends at all, but rich bullies who liked to boss him around. They kidnpapped Marina, held her in Riku's apartment, and proceeded to torture her without his knowledge. After she died trying to escape through a window, they roped Riku into becoming their accomplice by hiding the body, before pinning the blame on him at court. To make things worse, Riku had been in love with Marina, and that's why they targeted her.
- My-HiME: Nao Yuuki is first introduced engaging in Enjo Kosai, with a twist that she uses her HiME powers to web up and rob her "clients". She is morally dubious from the get-go and particularly antagonistic towards series heroine Mai and her Mirror Character, Natsuki. Then she's framed for an attack on Sister Yukariko, and loses an eye in the conflict, at which point she declares an intent to kill both Mai and Natsuki, starting with going after Mai's sickly little brother, Takumi. Then she tries to put out one of Natsuki's eyes in retribution, only to be on the wrong end of a Curb-Stomp Battle from Shizuru. But she survives and kidnaps Natsuki again, this time to draw Shizuru out for a rematch. During the ordeal, Natsuki defiantly snipes at Nao for her compensated dating scheme, until Nao points out that she doesn't let the men touch her because it would be missing the point. She reveals that due to a home invasion, she lost her father and her mother was rendered comatose, while her remaining family dumped her off in an orphanage. Natsuki, upon hearing this, realizes that she and Nao are similar, and intervenes to keep Shizuru from killing her captor. When the dust settles, Natsuki and Nao are on much more friendly terms.
- SSSS.GRIDMɅN: Akane Shinjo's reveal as a villain comes with showing her to be incredibly petty and spiteful, establishing she creates kaiju to kill people who even mildly inconvenience her (Akane's kaiju target of the relevant episode being her homeroom teacher for bumping into her without apologizing). Later reveals however, establish that with the setting's actual nature as an artificial city in the Computer World where Akane is the only "real" human, Akane assumes herself to be playing a Life Simulation Game and doesn't realize the Repli-Compoids inhabiting it are sentient beings rather than just NPCs to mindlessly kill. Unsurprisingly, once this is established (along with the prior info of her being the Unwitting Pawn of true Big Bad Alexis Kerib), the narrative stops framing Akane as a psychopath who must be stopped, and instead as a Tragic Villain who the cast need to save from herself. Even later reveals that Alexis is a Sadist who helped Akane create Tsutsujidai and all the various kaiju because he wanted to see her inevitable despair from from finding out she murdered sentient beings only adds to this.
- Yo-kai Watch (2014): In Jibanyan’s debut episode, he claims that when he was run over by a truck, his owner Amy called him “lame”. A later episode reveals that Jibanyan had completely misremembered the event- she was actually calling herself lame, as she blamed herself for his death.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS: Windy initially seems like a Hate Sink, with him being a smug, anti-human asshole who even murdered his own human Origin out of spite. However, episode 97 reveals that Windy wasn't truly evil, but was reprogrammed into being evil by Lightning, the only Ignis who was genuinely evil, and that Windy was actually the Ignis with the most potential to get along with humans.
Fan Works
- Dungeon Keeper Ami: From "Bad News" when interrogating a captured enemy, Ami learns information that makes her feel more sympathetic:
Ami felt less inclined to share the dark elf’s [spiteful] sentiment [towards the villain,] now. She knew all too well what it was like to be stuck within circumstances that sharply limited one’s options.
- Super RWBY Sisters: During his stint as Big Bad during Winter's Dusk, Eggman's scheme is treated as a much darker flavor of one of his normal Take Over the World plots, with him setting Atlas to crash into Mantle, killing hundreds and displacing thousands more, trying to turn all the heroes into robots and then planning to use the Death Egg's Kill Sat laser to basically nuke the planet from orbit. A later story, WSSP: Frontiers, would reveal more context to the plot-it was actually a Well-Intentioned Extremist ploy where, once everyone was turned into a robot, which could survive a nuke or a Kill Sat, Eggman was going to try to kill Salem. The reason he didn't confess this to the heroes until Kyoko learns from his personal memos was more out of pride and the correct belief they would refuse to help him even if they knew the real plan.
Film — Live-Action
- Carry-On (2024): Mateo is initially framed as a willing ally of Traveler and Watcher, tasked with bringing the bomb through the security line while Ethan is coerced into allowing him through. We next see Mateo in one of the security interrogation rooms, where he proceeds to murder Ethan's boss to prevent the plan from being ruined. Ethan turns his gun on him, and Mateo immediately begs him not to "hurt Jessie" — Jessie being his husband and the man held hostage in Watcher's van. Ethan, along with the audience, realizes that Mateo is another victim forced to comply on the threat of losing the person he loves, acting out of sheer desperation. What's more, Mateo believed Ethan was the willing ally. They bond slightly over this, much to Traveler's annoyance.
- In He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not, Loïc initially seems to be a callous Jerkass who both cheats on his pregnant wife with a younger mistress and lies to the mistress about planning to divorce despite having no intentions to do so. And then it's revealed that the above was a combination of Unreliable Narrator and clever film editing: there has been no affair, and the "mistress" is a violent erotomaniac harassing Loïc.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: A mishap on Davy Jones's ship leads to Will being punished by flogging with a whip, and Jones orders Will's father, "Bootstrap" Bill Turner, to carry out the sentence. When Bootstrap is hesitant, Jones then threatens to have to ship's bosun do it instead, to which Bootstrap quickly capitulates and flogs Will. Will is understandably hurt by his own father torturing him, seeing it as a cowardly act of betrayal, but afterwards, Bootstrap explains his reasons: the bosun is a notorious sadist who would have made the lashes as agonizing as possible. By agreeing to do it himself, Bootstrap was trying to reduce Will's suffering.
- Predator: Badlands: The Kalisk is shown to be a nigh-unkillable apex predator that destroys the Weyland-Yutani research team and nearly kills Dek immediately upon seeing him. Later in the movie, it is revealed that "Bud," the cute blue creature that has been following Dek, is its lost baby and its rampage was an attempt to recover its offspring.
- 16 Wishes: Abby has spent her life viewing her neighbor (and Birthday Buddy) Krista as an Alpha Bitch who gets everything Abby wants and can't stop flaunting it. Then, after Abby wishes herself into an adult and changes history, she discovers her best friend Jay is Krista's best friend in the new reality, and that she has a reputation for being really nice. When things go back to normal, Abby confronts Krista and learns that Krista was always just angry because Abby unknowingly stole Jay from her during a shared birthday party, causing her to hate Abby in particular. This reveal allows them to mend the bridge and become friends.
Literature
- Deltora Quest: Throughout the Dragons of Deltora series, Lindal and other people from the City of Broome treated dragons with contempt due to the Ruby Dragons destroying the Capricorn's city of Capra out of jealousy. When the last living Ruby Dragon hears why the people of Broome hate them, the Ruby Dragon angrily tells Lindal that the people of Broome only heard one side of the story. The Ruby Dragons didn't attack Capra out of jealousy. The Capricorns were plundering their eggs to make the lanterns that decorate their city. The Ruby Dragons warned the Capricorns to stop the slaughter of their young several times, only resorting to attacking Capra when it became clear the Capricorns cared more about their own splendour than respecting the lives of other sapient species. Lindal was ashamed to learn she had so unfairly judged the dragons.
- Harry Potter:
- In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the trio suspect Severus Snape of being the one who is after the Philosopher's Stone and working with Voldemort. In particular, when Harry's broom goes rogue in the middle of a Quidditch game, the trio suspects Snape due to Hermione spotting him muttering under his breath while staring, unblinking, at Harry, as if casting a curse. The spell on Harry's broom stopped after Hermione set Snape's robes on fire. But after Quirrell is revealed to be the true conspirator, it turns out Snape's odd behavior during the Quidditch match was him muttering a counter curse to save Harry from Quirrell's curse, both of which were interrupted by Hermione.
- In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry is stalked by a large, scary black dog who resembles The Grim, an omen of death. The dog turns out to be Sirius Black, Harry's godfather and an escaped convict imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, who was just looking out for Harry while avoiding exposure in human form.
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince:
- Snape casts the Killing Curse on Dumbledore when Draco fails to do so, appearing to betray Dumbledore's trust and confirm himself loyal to Voldemort. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry receives a dying Snape's memories and views them in the Pensieve, revealing that Dumbledore was already dying and knew Draco had been ordered to assassinate him, asking Snape to do it instead to spare Draco's innocence, gain more credibility with Voldemort as a double agent, and secure the Elder Wand's allegiance. The fact that he did it all due to his love for Harry's late mother leads Harry to later call Snape one of the bravest men he ever knew.
- This book expands on the backstory of Lord Voldemort, previously established as a cruel Dark wizard with no true sympathy even for his own followers and an ideology that was a thinly-veiled allegory for Nazism, who in addition was murderous and sociopathic when already at school. Dumbledore reveals that Voldemort — previously known as Tom Riddle — was born in quite horrific and tragic circumstances. His mother Merope Gaunt grew up amidst the relentless Domestic Abuse of her father and brother, all of them Inbred and Sickly after generations of Royal Inbreeding that became Hillbilly Incest as the family sunk into poverty. When the male Gaunts ended up in Azkaban, Merope's magical abilities improved as she began to breathe freely — which she promptly used to bind the handsome Tom Riddle Sr. magically to her, either by drugging him with a Love Potion or via casting him the Imperius Curse. They eloped and Merope got pregnant with a Child by Rape, but she stopped placing him under magical coercion in the hopes he'd stay with her, either of his own free will or for the baby's sake. Unsurprisingly, he dropped her like a hot potato. With no will left to live, Merope — either unwilling to do magic or drained of her magical abilities after her Trauma Conga Line — survived just long enough to give birth and give her son a name before succumbing to her Death by Childbirth, leaving Tom Riddle Jr. in an orphanage. Dumbledore and Harry quietly agree that, had Merope been a different person with a healthier background, things could have turned out quite differently. However, it is also made clear that in the end, Voldemort's own choices were what led to his rise to villainy, as Harry himself is an orphan with a miserable pre-Hogwarts childhood and nonetheless has kept his morals.
- His Dark Materials: In The Subtle Knife, while in the Cittagazze world, Will watches a column of nomads attacked by Spectres and is first shocked at seeing a horsemen and a horsewoman fleeing, until they come back and explain that it's the law to have adults still able to care for the children.
- The Hunger Games: A recurring theme of the story is Katniss's black and white view of the games and Panem as a whole getting challenged and stripped away, revealing the true moral nuance at play. This happens a few times with a few different situations:
- At first, Katniss isn't sure what to make of Peeta, seeing him as a potential threat for his natural charisma and constantly worrying that he's scheming ways to take her out. This only gets worse when they're in the arena and she discovers that Peeta joined the Career Pack, assuming he's trying to kill her and attempting to kill him first with the tracker-jackers. Then he tried to save her from the swarm at the cost of being attacked by Cato, where he was reduced to living as a rock along the river while dying of an infected wound. After Katniss saves him and learns that he's always cared about her, they win the games together. The replay reveals that he'd only joined the pack as a means of protecting her.
- Katniss first views Finnick as a smarmy, arrogant playboy and Career, whose only immediate redeeming quality is his deep care for the sweet, elderly Mags. Then as she teams up with him in the arena and spends time with him, she learns that he's in love with Annie Cresta, another District 4 Victor who is infamous for having gone mad during her games. She then believes Finnick and the rest of her allies are to betraying her and Peeta, and nearly kills him before he reminds her who the real enemy is, reinforcing the point that everyone in the arena is a victim of the Capitol. When they're in District 13, she learns even more about him, discovering that he's actually a deeply caring and anxious man who was being sexually abused by the Capitol for years while covering it up by pretending to be a flirtatious player, and firmly cementing that his previous attitude was all an act. He becomes one of her closest friends.
- Katniss initially sees Johanna as an enemy with a mean streak, and while Johanna certainly does have a mean streak and the dislike was always mutual, she comes to learn that Johanna was never her enemy. She joins their alliance in the arena and even rescued Beetee and Wiress, who she dislikes, on Katniss's behalf. She also alludes to the Capitol having killed her entire family, stating that Snow can't hurt her because there's nobody left that she loves. When she attacks Katniss and slices her arm, Katniss assumes Johanna betrayed her, only to learn that she was actually removing her tracker and defending her from their real attackers. During Mockingjay, they ultimately end up bonding after sharing a room and going through military training together, and knowing how little Johanna actually has, she brings her some pine from the forest to keep in her drawer. Haymitch also mentions that Johanna had been another victim of the Capitol's abuse.
- In general, Districts 1 and 2 have always been viewed as "the enemy", with Katniss and the rest of the Districts alike loathing their closer relationship with the Capitol and their ability to train Career tributes to dominate the games. Then she slowly begins to realize that they're still victims in their own way, starting by feeling bad for the career tributes from her own games. In Catching Fire, while Cashmere, Gloss, Brutus, and Enobaria were enemies of her own alliance and killed some of her allies, they too were being forced back into the arena, doomed to die. When the rebellion started, the cracks really began to show, with District 1 being among the first to rebel, and District 2 suffering a civil war between Capitol loyalists in the military and the impoverished quarry miners in the rebellion. Notably, even the Career tributes were made sympathetic: Commander Lyme of District 2 was a career-turned-rebel, Cashmere was another trafficking victim, and Enobaria hated the Capitol and voted for a new Hunger Games as a result.
- In Journey to the Dream Land, seventeen-year-old Fatso is a bully and drug dealer who beats the eleven-year-old Anya, Fyodor, and Ali so badly that they end up in a coma. However, it is revealed that Fatso is merely a distorted Personality Remnant of Camelot, a Knight in Shining Armor from the Dream Land who was one of the main heroes of the ancient Dreams vs. Nightmares war and got almost killed, resulting in said Personality Remnant detaching itself and falling into the awake world. Once Camelot's personality is fully restored, he becomes a far more wholesome and good-hearted person.
- A recurring theme in Molly Moon.
- In the first book, Hazel is an Alpha Bitch who constantly belittles everyone else at the orphanage. By the end, she reveals she came from an extremely abusive family (rather than a loving one as she had boasted) and was lashing out at her peers.
- In Molly Moon Stops the World, Primo Cell is a manipulative tycoon who intends to conquer the world. However, when finally cornered by Molly, he reveals that he was hypnotized by Lucy Logan, the seemingly sweet and helpful librarian. But then it turns out that both he and Lucy have been hypnotized by Lucy's evil twin brother Cornelius, while Lucy actually is sweet and helpful, and she and Primo are Molly's biological parents who are delighted to have her back. And then, in the next book, it turns out Cornelius had likewise been only hypnotized into harboring Take Over the World plans — by Maharaja Waqt.
- A Song of Ice and Fire includes several occasions of characters getting a Sympathetic P.O.V. which vastly changes how the readers view them:
- Jaime Lannister is introduced as an arrogant and cruel man who once killed the king he swore to protect and who throws a child off a tower after the latter witnesses Jaime's affair with his own sister Cersei. His point-of-view chapters reveal that the king in question was planning to blow up the city, that Jaime's relationship with Cersei is a tragic case of her manipulating him, and that a good deal of Jaime's issues stems from their father's terrible parenting.
- Melisandre is initially viewed by the point-of-view characters as an eerie Wicked Witch and Stannis's Evil Chancellor and Dark Mistress, and considering that she is a priestess with a fondness for burning people alive, it's hard to argue with their assessment. Her own point-of-view chapter, however, reveals she has a Dark and Troubled Past (including being sold as a slave in childhood), genuinely believes that the deaths she orchestrates serve The Needs of the Many, and respects even people who disagree with her.
Live-Action TV
- The Borrowers: When the Borrowers (tiny people) Arrietty and Spiller are having a conversation beside the river, Spiller suddenly shoves Arrietty into his boat and runs off, leaving Arrietty spinning around in the river. Later, there is a furious confrontation between Spiller and Arrietty’s family, when everyone thought Spiller did it as a prank. Spiller then says (totally deadpan) that it was to save her from a fierce dog. Arrietty’s parents are grateful, but Arrietty is still angry.
- The Cry of Mann: Courtney is introduced as a vain Wicked Stepmother running her husband, Tank Mann's, business into the ground in his absence, even bullying her stepdaughter Berry in the process. She's also shown conspiring with her assistant Frank to further sabotage Mann Corp and ruin his family. Then we get her backstory, where she was a poor-but-ambitious woman who Tank fell in love with. It's claimed that his kids started the conflict by being cold to her. Meanwhile, the Mann Corp Battle Machines that are turning the tide of the Warr were her idea... only for Tank to take the credit and minimize her role. Her resentment boiled over into her antagonism during the show, and plays into her Sanity Slippage, also caused by Frank betraying and drugging her. Once Tank returns, she regains enough of her sanity to insist on a long talk.
- Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger: Episode 6 begins with Luka's attempt to buy a ring at a jewelry store being interrupted by a spoiled rich girl named Komaki arriving to buy the shop's entire inventory, her father Kozo hiring Luka as a maid with the ring she wanted as payment. Later in the episode, when Luka confronts Komaki over why she didn't try to alert anyone over Kozo's source of wealth, his treasured gold tree, being the target of the Monster of the Week, Komaki explains her family used to be penniless, but Kozo was a very loving father who did his best to make his daughter happy. After he found the gold tree and became incredibly-rich, he grew distanced from Komaki, so she went on spending sprees like her buying the entire jewelry store's stock to try to return to happier times before the gold tree ruined her family life.
- Legion (2017): In the first episode, Clark is portrayed as a ruthless government agent who cruelly interrogates the mentally-ill David and thus really has it coming when David snaps and unleashes his power on him and the rest of Division 3. Later in the season, he gets a Day in the Limelight episode which shows that he spent several agonizing months in the hospital for third-degree burns over 40% of his body because of David's lack of control over his powers. Meanwhile, Clark's husband and child watched him suffer, barely able to do anything to alleviate his pain. With this context, it becomes pretty clear to see why Clark hates and fears mutants, and why he wants to bring down David specifically.
- Once Upon a Time (2011) is famous for offering a Freudian Excuse and/or a Heel–Face Turn for the majority of its villains. Most notably:
- Regina Mills is initially a stereotypical Wicked Stepmother evil queen. However, as her backstory is revealed, it is shown that she was broken by the horrific abuse from her ambitious mother Cora, culminating in Cora killing Regina's beloved Daniel because he was a stableboy and Cora wanted Regina to marry the king. Furthermore, Regina's love for her adoptive son Henry, initially possessive and selfish, was revealed to be genuine deep down, as she breaks down in horror when he eats the poisoned apple turnover she prepared for his birth mother, and in the third season, her platonic True Love's Kiss is what lifts Henry's magically-induced memory loss.
- Rumplestiltskin is a nefarious schemer who manipulates everyone around him for murky reasons of his own. Then, however, the reasons become far less murky: he is desperate to reunite with his son Bae whom he alienated after turning to dark magic (which he did initially to protect Bae). He is also shown to have extremely unpleasant parents and a terrible history with romantic relationships (his first wife Milah dumped him for Captain Hook, abandoning Bae without a word, his lover Cora tricked and jilted him in a quest for power, and his beloved Belle was seemingly killed through partly his own fault).
- The Mad Hatter initially seems to be a violent psychopath — until it is revealed that he is absolutely desperate to reunite with his daughter, who, thanks to the curse stripping almost everyone of their memories, doesn't even remember who he is.
- Princess Abigail, whom Prince Charming is pressured into marrying despite loving Snow White, seems to be a stereotypical Rich Bitch. However, later she reveals that she loves another man too — who has been accidentally turned into a gold statue, because Abigail is the daughter of King Midas and Frederick, her beloved, served as his guard. After learning this, Charming helps her bring Frederick back to life. Abigail is Out of Focus after the first season, but Word of God confirmed that she was reunited with Frederick in the Land Without Magic.
- Maleficent, initially shown to be an unrepentant and dangerous villain like in her first Disney appearance, later is revealed to have a huge softer side and a legitimate grudge against the heroes: she had a daughter, and Snow and Charming were manipulated into throwing her into the Land Without Magic. Once Maleficent reunites with her daughter, she drops out of any further villainous plots.
- Subverted with Cruella de Vil. The episode devoted to her backstory seems to set her up as yet another Not Evil, Just Misunderstood character — until it is revealed she is even worse than in her original canon, being a sociopathic Serial Killer of people rather than a Cruella to Animals.
- Parks and Recreation:
- In "Tom's Divorce", Leslie is incensed when she finds out that Ron is planning to ask out Tom's soon-to-be-ex-wife Wendy and outright told Tom this, and only gets angrier when she finds out Wendy is dating again and having guys over to the house before Tom's even moved out. She blows up at both Ron and Wendy for treating Tom poorly... because, unbeknownst to her, Tom and Wendy's is a Citizenship Marriage. Tom has genuine feelings for Wendy, but neither she nor Ron had any idea, and he even told Ron it was okay if he asked Wendy out. Leslie quickly apologizes when Tom fills her in.
- Tom's Casanova Wannabe tendencies come off much worse in the early episodes, when he's married to a beautiful, kindhearted surgeon, with him justifying it as saying he only flirts with other women, but has "never closed the deal". The reveal that it's a green card marriage makes this aspect of his character seem less scummy, since his wife clearly doesn't mind and has no romantic feelings for him.
- Story of Yanxi Palace: Noble Consort Gao is a proud, scheming and murderous Clingy Jealous Girl and the main antagonist of the series' first half. However, it is later revealed that a lot of her bitterness stems from the abuse of her Wicked Stepmother and a resulting alienation from her father. Furthermore, as the series goes on, it's made clear that it's nigh impossible to retain one's morals in the cutthroat world of the Forbidden City, as many among the nicest characters from the early episodes end up either Driven to Villainy or Driven to Suicide, and even Yingluo, the generally good-hearted protagonist, has to resort to morally grey decisions just to survive.
- WandaVision: The first few episodes imply that Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) is not only in complete and willing control of the hex, but that she also stole Vision's body from SWORD in a violent invasion and reanimated him to act as her sitcom husband. The truth turns out to be more complicated. While Wanda was running the hex, she wasn't in complete control, and didn't intentionally create it to begin with; it exploded out of her in a moment of intense grief. While the people of Westview were being hurt and desperately wanted out, she didn't understand their feelings and later lets them leave once she does. As for Vision, he was also created by the hex and only existed within it; the actual Vision's body never left SWORD, the theft video actually just being video manipulation on Hayward's part to vilify Wanda and hide his own intentions to recreate Vision as a weapon. While Wanda's actions were still bad and her spiraling caused her to do worse as the show went on, everything was due to trauma and grief, not malice.
Video Games
- Call of Duty: WWII: For most of the campaign, Sgt. William Pierson is depicted as The Neidermeyer, constantly disobeying orders from both Lt. Joseph Turner and Col. Davis, as well as treating his subordinates, particularly Cpl. Ronald "Red" Daniels, harshly. In fact, after Daniels commits insubordination on Pierson himself during the Battle of the Bulge, Pierson lets the Corporal live just so he could get court martialed and be dishonorably discharged. Not long after this, Col. Davis reveals the exact reasons Pierson became such a Jerkass: his attempts to save trapped American soldiers in North Africa in 1943 caused him to lose all of the men under his command, turning him into what he is in the present.
- Fable III: The first half of the game revolves around your efforts to depose Albion's tyrannical king, your brother Logan. Once you do, it's revealed that Logan's iron-fisted rule was all to prepare for the arrival of a demonic entity that's set to emerge and lay waste to Albion in a year's time, and now that you've replaced him as king, it's your problem to deal with. The second half of the game sees you faced with the Sadistic Choice of whether the spend the treasury on fulfilling your allies' promises (thus leaving Albion defenceless) or on preparing for the demon's arrival (thus becoming no better than Logan). Unless you invested heavily in real estate, in which case you'll have enough money to do both and then some.
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Each of the four paths in the game offer deeper glimpses into why the many heroes see fit to go to war and fight each other.
- Edelgard's backstory of being betrayed by her family and sent off to be experimented on by the Agarthans is mostly absent in the other routes through the game. These experiments gave her the crest of flames, but also drastically shortened her lifespan, and her other siblings did not survive the experiments. The experience broke her faith in the Goddess and filled her with a radical hatred for crests and the system that empowers them, and with no knowledge of how long she has left to live, she decides to take matters into her own hands and "become the bad guy" by opposing the Church of Seiros as the Flame Emperor and declaring war on the rest of Fodlan, because she believes the only way to overhaul the system is radical and destructive change. In other routes she is rightly called out for becoming the very thing that she hated by doing these things, but she brushes these accusations off and forges ahead.
- Dimitri and Edelgard's relationship is only fully explored in Dimitri's route, where we learn that they were technically step-siblings for a time, and they spent a significant portion of their childhoods together and Dimitri had a boyish crush on her. After they separated, Dimitri and his kingdom suffered the Tragedy of Duscur, which gave Dimitri intense Survivors Guilt and a form of undiagnosed schizophrenia. After reuniting with Edelgard at Garreg Mach years later, it's clear he still has feelings for her, but when he learns she's the Flame Emperor — who he suspects is responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur — he snaps and tries to kill her. In his own route, Dimitri is able to overcome both his Survivors Guilt and his hatred of Edelgard and tries to make peace with her, but in other routes he comes across as nothing more than an Axe-Crazy lunatic with some vague grudge against her.
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers: The first part of the game revolves around the Expedition Guild and Dusknoir attempting to stop Grovyle from stealing the Time Gears, which would cause the flow of time to cease. After you finally catch Grovyle and return the Time Gears, Dusknoir reveals himself to be the true villain and casts you and Grovyle into a Bad Future, and it's revealed that Grovyle stealing the Time Gears was a desperate attempt to stop that Bad Future from arriving rather than the malicious act everyone had believed it to be.
- South Park: The Fractured but Whole: In the "Bring the Crunch" DLC, the primary villain, the Zarganor, seems like an evil alien antagonizing Mintberry Crunch for no good reason. At the end of the DLC, it's revealed that the Zarganor and his family were actually enslaved by Mintberry Crunch and his family and the Zarganor wanted to avenge himself.
- Tales of Phantasia: Dhaos the Big Bad spends most of the game declaring war on humans and wrecking havoc across the world of Aselia. After the heroes defeat him for the final time, he uses his last breaths to reveal that he's a member of a Dying Race, whose people pinned all their hopes of survival on him traveling to Aselia and harvesting enough mana to create a mana seed... and his wars with the human race have been an effort to suppress and destroy their magitech, which threatens mana's existence. The heroes conclude that he was a Well-Intentioned Extremist who had noble goals but horrible methods of achieving them, and mourn for his doomed people.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 1: The story revolves around an ancient war between two Titans, the Bionis and the Mechonis, in which they both apparently killed each other. In the millennia since, both have had life flourish over their surfaces: biological people such as the Homs on the Bionis, and mechanical people such as the Machina on the Mechonis. At the start of the game, those people are in perpetual war against each other, with the forces of the Mechonis attacking the Bionis with the intent to kill all the people and destroy what's left of the Bionis itself. It's only very late in the game when you finally encounter Egil, the creator and leader of the Mechon forces attacking the Bionis, that you learn the truth of it all. Back in that ancient conflict between the two Titans, the Bionis was the aggressor. It was controlled by the Physical God Zanza, who was attempting to kill the Physical God Meyneth, his counterpart who controlled the Mechonis, so that Zanza could steal Meyneth's power for himself. Egil was trying to destroy the Bionis mainly to get revenge for that ancient attempt to destroy the Mechonis, but also because he feared that it would happen again if the Bionis was not stopped once and for all. And it turned out Egil was right to fear that, because all along Zanza had been manipulating an unknowing Shulk to help him regain control of the Bionis so that he could finish off Meyneth, a plan which ultimately succeeded.
- Yo-kai Watch 2: Jibanyan claims that when he first died after a truck ran him over, his owner Amy called him "lame". Later in the game, he goes back in time to the day he was killed, and it's revealed she only called him lame out of grief because she was mad at him for leaving her, and she still loved him deeply.
Visual Novels
- Long Live the Queen: Frequently, seemingly despicable characters can be found out to be far more sympathetic on further playthroughs (after one learns of the multiple instances of Surprise Difficulty and That One Sidequest that the game can throw one):
- Arisse is a harsh Iron Lady who attempts to depose Elodie if the latter is an incompetent ruler, and with some Intrigue skills, Elodie can learn that she is rumored to have killed her stepson and her second husband. However, acquiring an Intrigue skillset early, as well as passing the difficult sidequest of persuading Arisse's granddaughter Briony not to go to the monster-infested Old Forest, will reveal that Arisse's stepson was a Serial Killer and her second husband an ephebophile rapist.
- Kevan, one of Arisse's sons, is a psychopath with a Hair-Trigger Temper who can kill Elodie in revenge even when she has done nothing wrong. However, a sidequest that results in his niece Briony opening up to Elodie about their family history will reveal that Kevan was repeatedly raped by his stepfather as an adolescent, resulting in the deep-seated trauma.
- Togami is a sorcerer king who attempts to conquer Nova in every route of the game, regardless of Elodie's choices, and offers fourteen-year-old Elodie a Duel to the Death (unless she manages to defeat his fleet earlier). However, high skills in Foreign Intelligence, Conversation, and Music will allow Elodie to reach out to him via her singing, which will lead him to remember his love for his children and abandon his quest for power.
Web Animation
- The Amazing Digital Circus: During the first episode, Jax seems unfazed by Kaufmo's abstraction and ran off with the impression being he left Pomni and Ragatha to fend for themselves. During the final episode, it's revealed Jax's nonchalant reaction was part of his Jerkass Façade and he ran off to sob his eyes out in private over Kaufmo's fate.
- Sonic for Hire: In the episode "Dig Dug", when Sonic is about the help Taizo Hori, Sonic initially assumes that Taizo is a psychopath who is A Nazi by Any Other Name for wanting to kill a bunch of innocent monsters and claiming he is "cleansing the Earth" of them. After Sonic kills him, it later turns out that the monsters were evil as they plotted to rape a village, and Taizo was just trying to protect everyone else from them.
Web Original
- Neopets:
- At the beginning of "Champions of Meridell", Darigan Citadel was portrayed as nothing more than a creepy, dark, and literally monstrous invading force attacking the bright, idyllic Meridell, primarily because the protagonists were on Meridell's side, and had no context for why they were being attacked. King Skarl further muddied the waters by claiming that Darigan simply wanted to steal the magic orb that was keeping the kingdom from dying of a famine. Then it's revealed that the orb came from Darigan in the first place, and that they were once a peaceful, prosperous nation. Losing the orb was what caused them to become dark and scary monsters, and they simply wanted to take the orb back to cure their curse, turning the war into a battle between two rivals of similar moral standing. Lord Darigan himself eventually returned to defend Meridell against his genuinely evil successor a few years later, establishing himself as an Anti-Villain at worst.
- In the "Lost Desert Plot", Sekhmet was invaded and teleported into a cursed dimension by the long-lost nation of Qasala and their prince, Jazan. Jazan was also trying to force Princess Amira to marry him, holding her kingdom hostage until she gave into his demands. Then Tomos and Nabile discover their history, learning that the nation had been cursed long ago, and would only be free once Jazan married a Princess of Sekhmet. Notably, Nabile herself is so stricken with sympathy for Jazan that she herself offers to marry him, having discovered her own royal ties, and Jazan from here was firmly portrayed as a desperate Anti-Villain trying to save his people, eventually having to fight off his evil father who tricked him into completing his Resurrection Gambit.
Web Video
- "Unstable SMP:" LettuceK's motives for running for king of the server seem irrational throughout most of Season 2, but may be somewhat justified by events that occur in Season 3. One of Parrot's first actions as king is to open up spawn, an action that ultimately leads to a major food shortage across most of the populated server. This ultimately leads to many players rallying against Parrot and forming Cindercrest. The main leader, Saparata, has similar motives to Lettuce but is far harsher in terms of punishing new players, denying them the chance to ever make it past spawn as opposed to the previous operating procedure of making spawn difficult, but not impossible, to escape. The civil war between Cindercrest and Parrot's army results in massive turmoil and destruction, ultimately resulting in thousands of players being permanently banned from the server. Also, his decision to imprison Wemmbu seems much more warranted by the end of the war.
- This trope applies to Parrot himself when he is nearly assassinated by FlameFrags and Lomedy, who are both dissatisfied with his handling of the aforementioned food crisis as well as his killing of many Law soldiers.
Western Animation
- The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: In "Wrath of the Spider Queen", Velma Green the Spider Queen initially wants revenge on Grim because she believes she cheated her out of the position of becoming Grim Reaper, with her showing proof by showing Grim's memories of him stuffing the ballot box with votes of who should be the next Reaper, which makes it seem like Grim committed election fraud to get his position. However, when Mandy takes another look, she discovers that Grim was actually trying to rig the votes for Velma after Boogey tried to rig the election in his favor and Grim replaced the fake votes with ones for Velma. The reason why Grim became Grim Reaper anyway is because literally every other student voted for him after he took revenge on Boogey for ruining his friendship with Velma. Velma feels extremely guilty when she finds out the truth.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: In "For Whom the Sweetie Bell Toils", Sweetie Belle grows very jealous of Rarity for always outshining her, bringing up how Rarity "stole the spotlight from her" at her fifth birthday party. While Princess Luna visits Sweetie Belle in her dream, Luna shows her a vision of the past revealing that while Sweetie Belle was taking a long time getting ready, her guests were about to leave because they were sick of waiting, and one girl remarks that no one will ever come to one of Sweetie Belle’s parties again. Rarity then gave the guests presents to keep them from leaving.