Ignored Epiphany/Playing With
Basic Trope: Morally grey character has a My God, What Have I Done? moment or Heel Realization, but ignores it.
- Straight: Knight Templar Mason is sent to root out "corruption" in Sunbright Vale. When this leads to Sunbright Vale being set ablaze, Mason cries "My God, What Have I Done??" -- but then corrects himself with "What have THEY done?!"
- Exaggerated: Sunbright Vale is destroyed and several innocents are killed, including Iris, an Innocent Flower Girl Mason had befriended. Realizing that he caused her death, Mason just laughs bitterly.
- Justified: Mason has Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny.
- Mason didn't realize what he had become immediately, and was too caught up in his own personal goals to understand this until his epiphany. While he has genuine doubts at first that what he did to Iris and Sunbright Vale was right, he rationalizes his actions to himself by saying that he's gone too far to give up his aims, and it's too late for him to change anyway.
- Inverted: Mason just suddenly changes, no realization of his previous actions or anything.
- Mason realizes that what he's done is wrong... and he likes it, diving into outright villainy in short order.
- Subverted: Mason, upon his Heel Realization, pulls a Heel Face Turn and joins La Résistance.
- Double Subverted: However, he then betrays them to The Empire, forcing a small splinter group on the run.
- Parodied: The big bad always has a epiphany whenever he does anything, even good. After searching his soul for a second, he ignores it.
- Deconstructed: The hero demands that Mason own up to what he's done; Mason realizes that he knew it was wrong, and he's been in denial ever since.
- Reconstructed: ???
- Zig Zagged: After Sunbright Vale is torched, Mason joins La Résistance -- just so he can hand them over to Baron Van Bition and end the conflict once and for all. He winds up befriending Claudia and finds himself Becoming the Mask, only to decide that he can't betray the empire and goes through with his original plan. Claudia escapes the slaughter, joins the other survivors and eventually confronts Mason with his flawed logic. Mason acknowledges this, but insists he's come too far to give up now, forcing them to fight.
- Averted: No character who realizes what he does fails to reform.
- Enforced: "We can't let Mason pull a Heel Face Turn, he's already done too much to be forgiven for!"
- Lampshaded: "What, you expected me to leave a cause that I've known to be right for so long?"
- Invoked: Baron Van Bition has conditioned Mason to ignore any thoughts that his path might be the wrong one.
- Defied: "I'm not going to put off these thoughts any longer."
- "No! You're not going to escape your conscience; I won't let you!"
- Discussed: "You're not going to learn anything from this, are you?"
- Conversed: "Yeah, like the Big Bad will really reform."
- Played For Laughs:: Mason lays out, in detail, how he has realized lighting things on fire is bad and it's hurting his nation and it made his girlfriend dump him and his job has bad dental... and then decides to keep doing it on a whim.
- Played For Drama: : Mason is so firm in his denial that what he's doing could be wrong that it's trivial for the Big Bad to make him an Unwitting Pawn.
Maybe I should press the 'X' Button and stop Reading TVTropes... hmmmmm... or maybe I'll just click on a few more... starting with Ignored Epiphany.