The Atoner/Playing With

Basic Trope: A formerly evil character decides to spend the remainder of their life making up for their evil deeds.

• Straight: Emmitt Everson, formerly known as Emperor Evulz, decides to live out the rest of his life atoning for the atrocities he committed during his evil days.
• Downplayed: Emmitt has always been a hero, but used morally questionable tactics for a while. He still believes that he needs to make up for it.
• Exaggerated: Emmitt once accidentally hurt a puppy. He's spending the rest of his life making up for that.
  • Or Emmitt was once the evil incarnate in all but in the literal meaning of the word, kicking dogs left and right with a steel enforced jackboot...and in a single night he turns into a such a paragon of goodness that even Jesus would envy, becomes a patron of orphanage, earns the "Do-Gooder of the Year" award and donates cash like it would be candy and still feels he hasn't come clean and needs to do more work to attain atonement.
• Justified: Emmitt wants to show that he's truly reformed, and he feels there's no better way than to become an atoner.
  • Emmitt genuinely feels bad about what he's done and wants to say sorry in the best way he can.
• Inverted: He spent his life doing good and found it boring, so he did a turn of the face heel variety.
• Subverted: Emmitt doesn't really think what he did was that wrong...
  • Alternatively, Emmitt didn't do what made him atone.
• Double Subverted: ...until he sees the effects of what he did.
  • ...But he indirectly caused it.
• Parodied: Emmitt keeps chancing or stacks the reasons for his atonement, proclaiming that he must atone for every evil deed that he does...even if they would be ridiculously small deeds, like accidentally stepping on a cat's tail or littering.
  • The reason Emmitt turned evil to begin with? See this page for details.
• Deconstructed: Emmitt never really feels like he ultimately atones for his crimes, and is bitter about it for the rest of his life.
  • Alternatively, Emmett is consumed by guilt and repeatedly puts himself in danger, revealing himself to be deeply unstable.
  • Heel Face Door Slam
  • Reformed but Rejected
• Reconstructed: Emmitt's attempts succeed and he ends up atoning for his evil deeds.
• Zig Zagged: Emmitt doesn't really think that what he did was terribly wrong, until he saw the effects. But even then, he doesn't seem too moved by it.
• Averted: Emmitt doesn't become an atoner.
• Enforced: "We need this bad guy to show that he's repentant!"
• Lampshaded: "I'm sorry...and what better way to show that than to undo my deeds?"
• Invoked: "I'm renouncing my life of evil! I'm going to atone now!"
• Defied: Emmitt decides not to atone for his crimes, instead serving out a sentence in jail.
• Discussed: ???
• Conversed: "If every evil-doer atoned for their deeds, why do they even need a jail?"

---

In order to make up for my failures, I will guide you back to The Atoner.