• In the last few episodes of the second season of Bakugan, Mylene is offered a chance to join the Brawlers in their quest to defeat the Big Bad. It's already firmly established that A) said Big Bad will have anyone that turns their back on the Vexos executed, as he has done with two of her teammates and B) even if she didn't have to worry about that, Mylene is, to be frank, too prideful for her own good. She decides to try and kill them, and promtly gets herself killed (well, sent to a different dimension, same difference) in the process.
• In Bleach, after Ichigo beats Grimmjow for the last time, Grimmjow confronts him again, battered but still conscious. Ichigo tries to get him to back down, saying there's no reason to fight now, and he'll be happy to fight him any time he wants later. Grimmjow seems to ponder this for a second...before yelling at Ichigo to quit screwing around right before Nnoitra shows up and ganks him.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Happens to Frieza in Dragon Ball Z. Goku gives Frieza some energy so that he might survive Namek's explosion. Goku tells him that he might use the energy to wander the cosmos and consider what he's done to so many others. Frieza considers for a moment, then launches an attack on Goku. Frieza's bad karma catches up with him.
  • Earlier, Goku tried to persuade Captain Ginyu to reform, but Ginyu refused on the grounds that hurting and lording over other people was what made him happy.
  • During the Cell Games, Gohan makes it clear that despite everything Cell has done, he doesn't want to kill him and begs him to repent of his crimes and end things without violence. Cell just mocks him to his face for thinking he could actually talk him down, and upon hearing of Gohan's hidden power, he deliberately drives Gohan to his Rage Breaking Point for the sake of drawing it out and having a challenge; upon this, Gohan switches gears from not wanting to hurt Cell at all to wanting nothing more than to spill his blood and make it as painful and humiliating as possible.
  • Dragon Ball GT: Gogeta effortlessly beats up Omega Shenron, then offers to spare his life if he promises never to hurt anyone again. Omega is completely furious and says he'll never do that, then keeps futilely attacking Gogeta.
  • Dragon Ball Super: In episode 63, Gowasu comes to the future alongside the Supreme Kai of Universe 7 to lecture both Goku Black and Future Zamasu on their actions and give them a Last-Second Chance, begging them to stop what they're doing and revive everyone they've killed with the Super Dragon Balls. Instead, Black coldly reveals that he destroyed the Super Dragon Balls, making it impossible to undo their destruction, and it's only thanks to Goku and Vegeta's intervention that Gowasu and U7's Supreme Kai don't get blown up on the spot by Black and Future Zamasu.
  • It's even more blatant in the manga. Black acts like he will accept Gowasu's offer to repent and grabs his hand, before promptly impaling him; Black then calls Gowasu an idiot for thinking that he could actually persuade him to stop and change his ways, especially since Black's already killed two incarnations of Gowasu for the sake of his plan.
  • In episode 131 this happens to Frieza once again. After the Tournament of Power Frieza fully expects Goku and the others to send him straight back to hell without keeping their promise to revive him, because he has outlived his usefulness to them and that's exactly what he would do. He is surprised when Whis revives him on the spot and says it was requested by Beerus due to Frieza's help. Despite this act of kindness and how he surprising proved himself to be a good teammate to the others during the tournament, he states he has no intentions of giving up being evil and vows to have his revenge on Goku one day. The episode includes a stinger scene where Frieza has already rebuilt his army and declares "the ruler of the universe" has returned. Though he does at least now have some level of respect towards Goku after the two of them worked together in the tournament.
• Is It My Fault That I Got Bullied?: In the last chapters, after seeing one of Shiori Suzuki's bullies express genuine remorse and apologize, Aizawa-sensei decides to give the same chance to Shiori's father, who bullied him when they were in school. Suzuki flatly refuses and reinforces his lack of remorse for victimizing Aizawa. With Suzuki's last chance to redeem himself gone, Aizawa commits himself to destroying his life.
• In Kill la Kill, after successfully putting an end to Ragyo Kiryuin's plan to have Earth assimilated by the Life Fibers, Ryuko offers her to go back home and move on from this. Ragyo rejects the offers and kills herself by tearing out and crushing her own heart, leaving a promise the Life Fibers will eventually return.
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2016):
  • When Zant finally loses to Link, he quietly rants that he never believed in his own power and that his entire scheme was one big attempt at making himself feel powerful. Link tries to show pity and offer Zant redemption. Zant seems to consider the offer a brief moment, only to reaffirm that all he cares about is the throne he feels he deserves.
  • At the end, Ganondorf is finally defeated by Princess Zelda and Link. The latter considers sparing the villain, believing that perhaps if all three come to an understanding, then they can end the cycle of conflict that they have carried out for so long. Ganondorf smirks at the idea and boasts that he would never settle for anything so "harmonious", instead committing a Spiteful Suicide specifically so he will reincarnate and continue to torment the heroes on a future day to come.
• Naruto: Naruto verbally beats Obito Uchiha down with one of his most epic speeches and offers him a chance to at least not go down as one of the worst monsters in the Naruto-verse's history. Obito tries to choke him out, saying he regrets nothing. In the end, he's Mind Raped by his memory of his childhood love refusing to look at him and Naruto grabbing his hand and dragging him forward. This makes all the Tailed Beast burst out of him and Obito lose entirely. Though he does eventually relent to take down The Man Behind the Man.
• Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl: Ash and his friends manage to convince Meowth that his skills could make him a celebrity and cause him to reconsider whether or not to return to Team Rocket. In the end, Status Quo Is God, and Meowth still sticks with the Rockets: not because he likes being a villain (that comes later), but because they're his True Companions.
• Re:CREATORS: Mamika Kirameki attempts to convince Altair to give up her plan to destroy reality by appealing to her better nature. Altair responds horribly.
• In Soul Eater, Tezca Tlipoca tries to convince former-colleague-went-rogue Justin Law to come back to DWMA, pointing out that Justin still has the chance to redeem himself by providing the info about Kishin's location to DWMA. Tezca also calls him out on living solely by blind faith and cutting himself away from others, and offers to fix that with his friendship. Justin refuses and kills Tezca instead.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: Edo Phoenix is an enforcer of the Big Bad Leo Akaba and believes in his philosophy that dueling is about conquering and hurting people. Yusho Sakaki has the philosophy that dueling is about bringing smiles to people and managed to defeat Edo. Yusho offered him friendship and a copy of his favorite card Smile World. Enraged, Edo ripped it in half and dedicated his life to crushing Yusho and his philosophy. Later, Yusho's son Yuya manages to get Edo to turn around.

• Christopher Cantwell's Doctor Doom (2019) series spent a lot of time asking the question of whether Victor von Doom could be a good person, as seen in a vision he kept having where he is Happily Married, has children, is unscarred and has turned the universe into a utopia. This was continuing on from Doom's redemption arc from the conclusion of Secret Wars (2015) and the Infamous Iron Man series, where Doom made a genuine attempt at changing his ways after Reed Richards healed his face, before he was re-scarred after going out of his way to be noble. In the last issue, Doom finally travels to this alternate universe where his life apparently turned out perfect and meets his alternate self. It turns out that this life for him is only, and will only ever be possible when he and Reed Richards work together. The idea enrages Doom so much that he uses the Ultimate Nullifier to destroy the entire universe. Keep in mind, the Nullifier will destroy the user unless their thoughts are unclouded and their mind fully focused and intent on what they set to use it for, and Doom survives this. So there is no wiggle room here — Doom completely intended to commit the deed and did, now having a bodycount higher than Thanos and Galactus combined. It's safe to say the "redeemed Doom" saga closed out on a bit of a Downer Ending.
• Flag-Smasher (Karl Morgenthau) is obsessed with destroying the very concept of countries and national borders, believing this will make everyone equal and establish world peace, but resorts to terrorism and murder to achieve his dream. Captain America confronts him and says he supports his dream of equality and world peace, then says he can achieve it peacefully by being a positive example. Flag-Smasher refuses to listen and the Captain is forced to defeat him.
• Inertia pulls one in Impulse. Max Mercury reminds him that he has completely immersed himself in his Impulse role while impersonating him and actually became a great hero. Inertia seems willing, but Max mentions Impulse, pushing Inertia's Berserk Button. He immediately backtracks and decides to kill both Impulse and Max. He nearly succeeds, only stopped by Impulse's Armor-Piercing Question.
• The ending of The Killing Joke is along these lines. Batman reaches out to The Joker that they've got to stop before one of them kills the other. Joker seems to want to but sadly rebuffs the offer, before telling his famous joke.
  Batman: Don't you understand? I don't want to hurt you. I don't want either of us to end up killing the other. But we're both running out of alternatives... and we both know it. Maybe it all hinges on tonight. Maybe this is our last chance to sort this bloody mess out. If you don't take it, then we're both locked onto a suicide course. Both of us. To the death. It doesn't have to end like that. I don't know what it was that bent your life out of shape, but who knows? Maybe I've been there too. Maybe I can help. We could work together. I could rehabilitate you. You needn't be out there on the edge anymore. You needn't be alone. We don't have to kill each other. What do you say?
  Joker: No. I'm sorry, but... no. It's too late for that. Far too late. Hahaha. You know, it's funny. This situation. It reminds me of a joke...
• Majestic: From the old WildStorm run, Majestic's final confrontation with his old archenemy Helspont, with Helspont hooked to a machine that would allow him to destroy the planet and Majestic repeatedly stopping him but slowly dying of a disease the whole while. In one last bitter conversation between the two, Majestic explains that he now understands the Daemonites' worldview as oppressed slaves who fought back against their slave masters the Kherubim (Majestic's species). Majestic pleads for Helspont not to prove himself a "monster" after all with an offer of mutual peace, but Helspont turns him down with a giant smile on his face out of a perverse sense of "duty" — now more motivated by spite towards Majestic and the entire Kherubim race.
• Mega Man (Archie Comics):
  • Wily threw away many of his chances to come back to the side of the good. Doctor Light even lampshades this.
  • When he is offered purpose for the greater good of the world, Quick Man pulls this. His reasoning is that changing his programming will kill off what characterises him. He then presents a solution: decommission him.
• Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) picks up after the events of Sonic Forces. After his defeat, Dr. Eggman has lost his memory. Sonic tries to bury the hatchet with Metal Sonic, saying that he longer has to serve Eggman and that he's free to be his own person. Metal Sonic, however, refuses Sonic's offer.
• Superboy Prime: In Final Crisis - Legion of 3 Worlds, Superman tries to redeem Superboy-Prime by reminding him of his loved ones, like his girlfriend and parents. By then he has accepted they are gone and is trying to be a villain, so he rejects Superman's words.
• X-Men: Colossus is prepared to sacrifice everything to save the soul of his sister Illyana, whom he still remembers as his "little Snowflake", even taking on the demonic power of the Juggernaut (losing his humanity and the love of Kitty Pryde in the process). By the end of Avengers vs. X-Men, Illyana makes it abundantly clear that "There are no snowflakes in Hell," and that she has embraced her insanity. He appears to finally get the message; he vows that he would kill her if he ever saw her again. A few years in real life would go by before Illyana would come around and Colossus would happily reunite with his dear sister.

• Tchang Zu from Adopted Displaced refuses to change his ways during the parole hearing, so his soul is forcibly returned to the cycle of reincarnation.
• The Alternate Events series reveals that Clark Luthor/Ultraman (as depicted in Smallville) ultimately decided that attempting to redeem himself was too much work and it was easier just to go back to being a villain, assembling his own equivalent of the Legion of Doom until he is finally defeated in a rematch with his counterpart and banished to the Phantom Zone of Earth-96.
• The Bridge: When the Big Good, Harmony, is finally confronted face to face by the Big Bad, Bagan, she offers him a chance to abandon his mad plans right then and there. He flatly refuses.
• Danganronpa: In Harmony's Wake: While Adagio seems to become much nicer after coupling up with Sunset, all that changes when she learns that the latter played a role in her losing her magic, as she goes full Love-Interest Traitor, destroying her ex's property before leaving her to die, declaring that she no longer loves her.
• In Elements of Justice: A Hollow Diamond, Diamond Tiara finds herself Hated by All and a social pariah in Ponyville after one of her petty schemes against the Cutie Mark Crusaders accidentally caused another pony's murder. While she was legitimately horrified by this, Diamond swiftly slips back into insisting this wasn't really her fault, and latches onto the idea of using a time-traveling spell to go back and fix the past... not for the victim's sake, but entirely her own benefit.
• Empathy: Riley uses her empathic powers in an attempt to invoke a Heel Realization on Callaghan. It almost works, but then the Gorg threatens to kill Abagail if he doesn't hold up his end of their bargain, so Yokai goes right back to fighting the heroes.
• A New World, A New Way: After Gene learns what happened to Hastings' Mienshao, he offers him his sympathy along with his hand, trying to bring their battle to a peaceful end. Hastings exploits his lowered guard by cracking his cane across Gene's face, sending him flying into a tree.
• The Weaver Option: The Traitor Primarch Omegon, facing an existential threat to his Legion from Malal, communes with the Emperor in hope of finding a solution. The Emperor offers to shield his son, but the Primarch and Legion must swear themselves once again to the Imperium. Omegon refuses as he can't bring himself to trust the Emperor.

Amphibia

• Confessions: Time and again, Sasha is confronted with evidence of how horribly she's treated Anne and Marcy. But every time she's on the verge of a Heel Realization, it becomes an Ignored Epiphany as she rejects the notion that SHE could be in the wrong.
• A Moth to a Flame: When Lady Olivia tries to appeal to Marcy's better nature, insisting that she's not acting like herself anymore, Marcy retorts that the Marcy she knew is gone and that she's fully embraced the Core's vision for Amphibia's future.

Beauty and the Beast

• Kissed by a Rose ends with the Beast basically giving Gaston a chance to redeem himself after defeating the hunter in their confrontation. Recalling Belle's literary examples of those who have committed crimes and been given second chances, such as Sir Gawain being allowed to atone for raping a woman, Beast makes it clear that he will spare Gaston if the hunter leaves the castle and doesn't return, despite how Gaston raped Belle. While Gaston is killed when he goes to attack the Beast anyway, the Enchantress later appears to the once-again human Alexander after the curse has been broken to affirm that he did the right thing giving Gaston the choice and it isn't his fault if Gaston simply chose not to take the offer.

The DCU

• Angel of the Bat III: Da Pacem Domine: In the midst of the final showdown, Sadie speaks to Kedar directly as he’s holding a blade to Nijah’s throat to try baiting the Spectre out of Sadie’s body. She tells him he didn’t deserve to suffer through his terrible upbringing and religious brainwashing, and it’s not too late for him to choose to be a better man. It initially seems to be working as Kedar breaks down into tears, but ultimately reasons God will stay his hand like he did Abraham’s if he is truly in the wrong, and proceeds to cut Nijah’s throat anyway.
• In Hellsister Trilogy, Supergirl promises her Evil Twin to help her find her child if she stops trying to kill her and everyone else. Her counterpart replies she can find her baby on her own and resumes her attack.
  Supergirl: You won't believe this, but I'm sorry. On my honor, I am. And if you will swear to stop this battle, I will help you search for your child. That is my promise.
  Satan Girl: (sneering) Ohhhhh, don't you wish, Lightsister. I can find my child. After our war, I will find him. Or her. There is nothing left to us now, except the fight. -You would not tolerate my existence, nor I yours. I am not capable of your empathy, of your petty virtue. You are not capable of my ruthlessness and power. Come, sister. Let us destroy each other.

Frankenstein

• Curse The Darkness: Seeing how similiar Lilith's Dark and Troubled Past is to his own, Samson spares their life, offering to help them find their way much like he did. They respond by attempting to strangle him to death, convincing him that they are Beyond Redemption.

How to Train Your Dragon

• In Rivalry, after surviving his encounter with Toothless, Hiccup decides that their family feud felt inconsequential and tries making peace with Astrid, even trying and failing to convince Stoick to give her the heirship instead. It is not until he accidentally slips that he thinks she's beautiful does she snap at him.

Infinity Train

• The Sun Will Come Up, and the Seasons Will Change: When the two of them are dangling over the train tracks, Mary tries one last time to reach out to Nora. She refuses to take responsibility for any of her actions, claiming that she's "free" as she lets go of Mary's hand and falls to her death.

Jackie Chan Adventures

• Jade Dragon: Viper pulls one on Lefevre after Po Kong's portal is opened — the detective offers to cut a deal in addition to extracting Fei Cui Huo from her in exchange for Viper helping to bring Fei in, but with a little persuasion from Fei, Viper not just refuses but outright lets Po Kong try to eat Lefevre.

Kingdom Hearts

• Instinctively Family: In Big Brother Instinct, Sora tries to convince the Vanitas from the past that he can choose what kind of darkness he wants to be. Vanitas ignores his pleas, while Ventus points out that due to the way time travel works, Vanitas won't even remember the conversation after returning to his own time period.

Love Hina

• For His Own Sake has the Hinata Girls' Karma Houdini Warranties expiring. While some recognize their mistakes and work to turn their lives around, several repeatedly reject every opportunity offered to them to change their ways before it's too late. Naru is the most viciously outspoken of the lot, to the point that she responds to her mother and sister arriving to bail her out of jail by hitting the latter with a Breaking Speech accusing her of being a self-centered Spoiled Brat who demands constant attention... effectively accusing her of all of her own flaws while refusing to acknowledge them as such in herself.

Miraculous Ladybug

• Chat Noir from Back To Us turns his back on Ladybug during her Shaming the Mob speech. As noted elsewhere, it doesn't last.
• CONSEQUENCES: Discussed in MAX-IMUM EFFECT when Lila reveals to Max how she's been slandering Marinette and trying to ruin her life. When Max protests, stating that Marinette's the nicest person in the world, Lila scoffs:
  Lila: Ugh, I know. And that sickens me! Everyone's always going on about how sweet she is, how kind, how helpful, how utterly selfless! Please. She tried to tell me that we could be friends if I didn't lie, that all I had to do was be honest. As if! Why be honest and have friends, when I could lie and have loyal servants?

My Hero Academia

• Apotheosis:
  • Throughout Izuku's rise to power, he is repeatedly offered the chance to surrender, with All Might being the most persistent — even telling him that he can still become a hero after he's helped the League of Villains, caused a ton of property damage, and injured multiple heroes. Izuku rejects each and every opportunity, seeing their efforts as Condescending Compassion and looking down on him for being Quirkless.
  • Izuku later offers Uwabami and Mt. Lady the chance to regain their Quirks and rejoin the hero industry, provided that they prove they learned their lesson by donating to charities and doing volunteer work. Both reject his offer and attempt to pay off the media to spread Malicious Slander about him instead.
• In Dead on Arrival, Hisashi is offered a chance to surrender, and briefly considers it before deciding that he simply can't abide the thought of losing.
• Not That Kinda Fired: Discussed. When Burnin wonders why someone so violent, egotistical nad hot-tempered managed to graduate from UA in the first place, Fatgum clarifies that Bakugou shaped up just enough to avoid expulsion and pass all his exams, then went straight back to his old ways in the field.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

• Aftermath of the Games has Villain!Starlight refuse to change her ways in her clash with Twilight on the grounds that Twilight is just trying to get the latter to stand down so she can capture her. This forces Twilight to Ret-Gone her by taking her past self back to the future^*Don't you DARE. and making Filly!Starlight her student.
• In Bad Future Crusaders Silver Spoon is offered a second chance by Trixie but coldly shoots it down. It's made into something of a Tear Jerker since it's implied Silver Spoon wants it but knows she can't accept it since she's a wanted criminal.
• Loved and Lost: During King Jewelius' attack on Ponyville, Celestia flies to her rotten nephew and offers him a chance to stop and make atonements, promising even that if he wishes so, he can rule Equestria as the princesses' equal so that he won't have to feel overshadowed by them. She gets in response cruel laughter from Jewelius who doesn't want to share power with anypony before she's subdued by a magic-proof net.
• Marionettes: Upon being freed from their Brainwashing, Longhorn and his herd promptly decide that they'll kill the Mane Six, then follow that up by getting revenge upon the ones actually responsible for their plight.
• Pony POV Series:
  • Queen Chrysalis is offered several chances to end her plans to conquer Equestria and enslave the inhabitants. Even after it becomes clear that befriending and working with ponies is beneficial to the Changelings (as it creates much more love that does not get used up like when the Changelings drain it by force), and even after seeing alternate worlds where she accepted the chance to reform and was happy, Chrysalis still refuses out of misplaced pride and a bad case of Revenge Before Reason.
  • The Nameless Filly crafted the Concept Killing Spear and murdered Cupid with it, which Ret Goned Cupid and every creature in the universe who existed because of him. After she died, the gods confronted her with the consequences of her actions and gave her several chances to repent and atone. However, even seeing all the damage she had done and being threatened with Hell failed to invoke a shred of remorse and she refused to apologize, so into Hell she went. Inmates in Hell will be released if they genuinely want to atone for their actions, but it becomes clear that she never will.
• RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse: Throughout the series, Corona repeatedly rejects all efforts to help her realize the error of her ways, stubbornly insisting that Luna is the one in the wrong for opposing her and that she has done no wrong. Eventually, it's revealed that part of the issue is that Luna crossed the Godzilla Threshold in order to defeat her sister, using dark rituals to transform a copy of herself into Nightmare Moon. Corona is convinced that Luna was corrupted by that power, unaware that she cleansed the copy while sealing Corona into the sun.
• In Volume II of Spectacular Seven, Moondancer is offered several chances to open up to someone about her troubles: the Big Bad is essentially holding Moondancer and her father hostage, she has to put on different masks every time she goes outside, she desperately wants Twilight Sparkle's love and affection, and she feels like she'll never be as good as other people in her life. Moondancer's uncle Artemis dotes on her and treats her nicely with no ulterior motive, and Twilight tries to lift Moondancer's spirits even without knowing that Moondancer is in love with her. Despite multiple chances to atone, Moondancer always rejects them and keeps Slowly Slipping Into Evil.
• We Can't All Be Friends has Starlight Glimmer reject Twilight's offer, forcing Twilight to use a spell to remove Starlight's ability to use magic.

Naruto

• Son of the Sannin: When Hinata finds out that Toneri broke out of the Kotoamatsukami brainwashing, she tells him they don't have to be enemies anymore, and he agrees... but immediately refuses her offer to join them to take down Akatsuki, stating that he wants to let the war rage on so the current world can be destroyed, as he feels it's beyond saving. Him stating his plan to become the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki and become the ruler of the new era with Hinata as his queen is what makes her realize he's beyond redemption.

Odd Squad

• In All Mixed Up!, Carlos tries to get Mariana Mag to stop what she's doing by reminding her of all the good times she had with him back when she was employed with Odd Squad as Agent Ocean, and by trying to get her to realize that what she's doing is wrong and full of flaws. Mariana is actually stricken by his words and appears to be won over by him, but then she reverts right back to being evil and tells him that she has to finish what she started. Unfortunately for her, Otto, who used the redemption offer and subsequent distraction to his advantage, figures out how her alphabet keyboard works and uses it to induce Hoist by His Own Petard as Mariana fires a beam from her lifeline at him and he uses his compact handheld mirror to return it to sender. Once she's revived by Oprah, she has a genuine Heel–Face Turn and begins to atone for her actions.

Rosario + Vampire

• Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness Act IV: For the first few chapters, Luna Cii's evil sister, Falla, appears willing to clean up her act through several acts of kindness... but in chapters 10 and 11, just as Luna is convinced that Falla has changed and finishes the spell to restore her magic, Falla promptly drops the act and slices Luna in half before cruelly gloating to the others that her attempts at redemption were all just an act in order to dupe Luna into giving her her magic back. By the end of chapter 11, however, Falla is killed by a far more genuinely benevolent Alternate Timeline version of herself, who takes her place in the mainstream timeline.

RWBY

• Coeur Al'Aran:
  • Arc Royale: While fighting the White Fang, Blake offers Adam a chance to join their side, pointing out that Salem's plans threaten to destroy all of humanity and Faunuskind alike. Adam acknowledges that if Salem wins, it will result in The End of the World as We Know It... and presses the attack, having decided he doesn't care about ensuring there's a future.
  • Professor Arc II: Headmaster Arc: Jaune offers Adam Taurus a chance to stand down, join Beacon and win rights for the Faunus through more peaceful methods. Adam refuses, saying it's years too late for that, and instead he chooses to go down fighting.
• Destinies of Remnant: In the Fallen Petals story, Yang is basically spending almost the entirety of the fic trying to convince Ruby — who's run away from Beacon, committed multiple murders, and become a crime lord in Mistral for the last couple of years — to come home with her and rejoin Ozpin's side, but Ruby, hell-bent on getting her answers about her Missing Mom and knowing she's gone too far to just be let free, staunchly refuses. It isn't until after Ruby incites a gang war in the streets, blows up Haven Academy and threatens death on Yang that Yang finally gives up on redeeming her.
• I Rewrote RWBY Volume 8: Ironwood, instead of strong-arming Watts into helping him as in canon, earnestly apologizes to Watts for overlooking his hard work which drove Watts to betray the kingdom and side with Salem, and he extends an offer to rebuild bridges if Watts will help him. Watts, being Watts, only feigns accepting Ironwood's hand of friendship so that he can screw over everyone later.

Warrior Cats

• Better Bones AU: Oakstar, along with Darkstar, is begged by StarClan to atone for their roles in the exile and death of Mapleshade's kits. While Darkstar does her best to redeem herself, Oakstar responds by not changing his ways and instead launching "crusades" on the kittypets of the nearby city to impress StarClan. It doesn't work and he gets sent to the Dark Forest after he dies.

• In Barbie as Rapunzel, Rapunzel offers Gothel forgiveness for everything she's done and the chance to start over. Gothel angrily refuses, and gets her comeuppance shortly afterwards.
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney): Frollo fears going to Hell as much as any sane man, and he knows damn well that this will happen to him if he doesn't let go of his obsession with Esmeralda, but he throws away every chance to save his own soul.
• Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths: Batman attempts this on Owlman, saying he must have been a good man once.
  Owlman: No. Not good. Never good. After all, I'm only human.
• Kung Fu Panda:
  • In the first movie, Shifu apologizes to Tai Lung for helping to shape him into the monster he's become, saying that his pride blinded him to the fact that his pupil had a few darker tendencies that he should have noticed and possibly fixed. Tai Lung appears genuinely moved for a moment... and then angrily says that he didn't come here for apologies: he only wants the Dragon Scroll. During the final fight, Po gives Tai Lung one last chance to redeem himself by explaining to him what the Dragon Scroll actually means (it doesn't instantly grant the user amazing powers, but is meant to show them that the potential for greatness already lies within themselves). Tai Lung, however, still refuses to see reason and continues to attack, whereupon Po no longer holds back and defeats him.
  • In Kung Fu Panda 2, Lord Shen's fleet is wrecked, his weapons are destroyed, and Po offers him a chance to reject his philosophy and repent. He instead tries to kill Po one last time. It doesn't go well for him, though unlike Tai Lung he seems to find peace right before the end.
• Near the end of The Lorax (2012) all the townspeople partake in a musical number where they sing about the benefits of bringing back real trees. Eventually the main villain joins in. "My name's O'Hare, I'm one of you!/ I live in Thneedville too./ The things you say just might be true./ It might be time to start anew/ And change my point of view... Nah! I say let it die! Let it die, let it die, let it shrivel up and... Come on! Who's with me?"
• NIMONA (2023): Just as Ballister has given Nimona a Cooldown Hug during the film's climax, the Director orders the Laser Cannon to be fired at her. As it's both clear to the public that Nimona has never been a threat and that the Cannon would take out half the city, Sir Ambrosius implores her stand down. The Director says nothing and blasts him with a hidden laser before rushing off to fire the Cannon herself. (Downplayed as it's less about rejecting redemption proper and more her refusing to stop being an irredeemably bigoted piece of shit.
• In The Simpsons Movie, upon learning that the government is about to destroy Springfield, Marge tries to convince Homer to come with them by saying "In every marriage you get one chance to say, 'I need you to do this with me.' And there's only one answer when somebody says that." Homer's response?
  Homer: That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard!
  Marge: Homer Simpson!
• Toy Story 3: When Lotso is about to be crushed by landfill machinery, Andy's toys go out of their way to save him. He repays them by walking away and abandoning them to near-certain death, which they're only saved from by the timely intervention of the Little Green Men. This costs him.
• In the original version of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, main antagonist Zira would have done this before her death. Kiara, Simba's daughter, attempted a Take My Hand! as Zira dangled over a cliff above a raging river. Zira, however, has harbored an irrational hatred of Simba since Scar's day, and verbally rejects Kiara's offer before letting go willingly. This was changed in the final cut for being too dark.
• Zootopia 2: After Pawbert reveals his true colours and attempts to kill both both Judy and Gary, he explains that he set up this whole scheme to try and win the approval of his father, even if it means being just as evil as the rest of his family. Judy pleads with Pawbert, telling him it's still not too late to be different from his family. Pawbert seems to genuinely consider it for a moment, but reaffirms that he doesn't want to be different.

• In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Li Mu Bai confronted Jen after she stole his sword, the Green Destiny. After handily defeating her, he offered to make her his student, admiring her talent as a fighter and recognizing that unless that talent was nurtured, she might become corrupted by Jade Fox. Jen bitterly denounced Li Mu Bai and his teachings.
• A Dry White Season: Suzanne remains firmly committed to South Africa's white supremacist apartheid out of a refusal to give up her wealth and privilege, no matter how much Ben begs her.
  Ben: Jesus, Susan, this is not just about Gordon! This is about all of us!
  Susan: No. It's about all of them. And I will be damned if I let them destroy my family. I don't want Gordon's ghost in my house! I don't want the one with the dark glasses, any of these kaffirs here ever again! I just want to go back to the way it was!
  Ben: If you had come with me... if you had seen what was happening in that court, you would know that we can never go back to the way it was.
  Susan: I was in the court.
  Ben: What?
  Susan: Listen to me, Ben. I heard what the police did, and I'm not saying it was right. But you think the blacks wouldn't do the same thing to us, and worse, if they had half the chance? Do you think they'll let us go on living our nice, quiet, peaceful lives if they win? They'll swallow us up! It's our country, Ben, we made every inch of it! Look at the rest of Africa, it's a mess... It's like in war. You have to choose sides. You are not one of them and they don't want you to be!
• In The Godfather movies, Michael is responsible for oh so many murders, earning him quite the guilty conscience. In the third movie a priest tells Michael that he can still make amends for his sins; however, the priest realizes that Michael won't believe his crimes can be forgiven, and so won't bother changing his ways.
• Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers: During the climax of the film, Loomis tries to reason with Michael, proposing that he fight his rage and redeem himself through a positive relationship with his niece Jamie. It initially seems to work, with Michael calmly listening to Loomis and even lowering his knife, but when Loomis tries to take the knife away, Michael promptly slashes him across the gut and tosses him through the banister in a frenzy.
• The Irishman: Nearing the end of his life, Frank is visited by two FBI agents who once again ask him what happened to Jimmy Hoffa. By this point everybody who had anything to do with the murder besides Frank himself is already dead, most of his family has disowned him, and even the mafia has basically forgotten he exists. Nevertheless, he still refuses to tell them anything rather than come clean.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • In The Avengers (2012), Thor tells his brother Loki (the villain) that it's not too late to stop his plan after unleashing an army of aliens on New York. For a second it seems like Loki will back down, but then he stabs his brother in the stomach and blows off his offer as 'sentiment'. This finally pushes Thor over the edge, and he quickly curb-stomps Loki.
    • Loki makes a habit of this, up until his actual redemption and subsequent death. In Thor: The Dark World, Loki is given a chance to help Thor avenge their mother by stopping the Dark Elves, and Loki, after much bickering, sincerely helps save Thor's love Jane and kills the monster that killed their mother. It appears to be a Redemption Equals Death moment...except Loki instead uses this as an opportunity to fake his death, return to Asgard in disguise, kidnap Odin, and assume his place as king. In Thor: Ragnarok, after this was exposed and the two ended up on Sakaar, Loki is captured by Valkyrie before he can turn Thor over to the Grandmaster, and offers Thor a means to escape back to Asgard. During this plan, however, Loki attempts to betray Thor just as they seem to have an understanding, only for Thor to see this coming and incapacitate Loki with the control disk previously used on Thor, allowing Thor to give him a speech where he points out that Loki is always squandering his potential with betrayals when he could be something more. Loki takes this to heart and arrives later to help evacuate the Asgardians, after which he sincerely redeems himself and rejoins his brother, later dying while trying to protect him from Thanos.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): Nebula refuses the Last-Second Chance given by her step sister and exits the scene via High-Dive Escape.
  • Avengers: Endgame: The now-redeemed Nebula gives her past self from an alternate timeline the opportunity to join her and Gamora, and is forced to kill her when she refuses to betray Thanos out of fear.
  • The Marvels (2023): Dar-Benn plans to drain the Earth's Sun to use its energy to reignite her planet Hala's sun, and get revenge on Carol by destroying Earth where she is from. Carol, Monica, and Kamala battle her. When Dar-Benn gets pinned under debris, they beg her to stop and say if they work together, they can use their powers to reignite Hala's sun without hurting anyone. She appears to agree, but as soon as they free her, she attacks them again since she hates Carol that much.
• At the end of Oz the Great and Powerful, Oscar tries to sympathize with the Wicked Witch of the West (Theodora), stating her Start of Darkness was not her fault, and should she ever find a speck of light within her rotted heart, he'd welcome her back with open arms. She replies with a Big "NEVER!", and flies away on a broom while cackling, setting her eventual fate 15 years later.
• Amon Goeth from Schindler's List has two major redemption rejections in the film. First, Schindler convinces him that pardoning people rather than killing them for minor infractions is a sign of true power. Goeth tries this for a while before shooting a young man for not cleaning his bathroom properly. Second is his relationship with his maid, Helen, who he seems to care somewhat for and who almost convinces him that Jews are more than just vermin, but he ends up beating her mercilessly.
• In Sodom and Gomorrah, after receiving a message from Jehovah about the impending destruction of the title cities, Hebrew leader Lot tries to appeal to Queen Bera of Sodom and her subjects to repent their sinful ways and join the Hebrews in following Jehovah to spare them from His vengeance. But none of the Sodomites are interested (one in particular tells Lot he's happy in Sodom and throws a goblet of wine in his face), while Bera tells Lot that she feels she has nothing to repent, and even a final warning from Jehovah Himself does not sway her.
  Bera: What you call sin, to me is virtue. And all-powerful Death, whom you hate, I worship. I turn my back on you, Lot. (stands up) On you... and your impotent god. (the Sodomites cheer as she turns to leave; Jehovah promptly signals that He means business with a bolt of lightning in a largely clear sky, and Lot looks meaningfully skyward, but Bera smirks defiantly) Clouds, lightning. Such simple wonders you teach your people to fear.
• The Sound of Music: This happens to Rolfe thanks to Adaptational Villainy. While the play had him still being a Nazi, but deciding not to turn the Von Trapps in because of his feelings for Liesl, the film has Capt. Von Trapp briefly urging him to go with them in defiance of the Nazis, though after the Captain disarms him, Rolfe defiantly signals to the other Nazis that he's found them.
• In the Star Wars series, The Heavy Kylo Ren does this twice:
  • The Force Awakens: Han Solo offers Kylo (a.k.a: his son Ben) a chance to reject The Dark Side and come home to his family who love him. Ren appears to consider it, shedding tears and even handing Han his lightsaber, but ultimately impales Han with it and throws his body into an abyss, saying his love for Han is a weakness he has to give up.
  • The Last Jedi: Rey offers Kylo the chance to join her after he kills his master, the Greater-Scope Villain Snoke, and they fight off his Praetorian Guard together. Instead, he tries to pull a We Can Rule Together on her and stays behind to take over the First Order.
• Superman (2025):
  • Superman gives The Engineer a final chance to stand down and stop obeying Lex Luthor, but she keeps attacking him, forcing him to knock her out.
  • Superman gives Luthor a speech saying despite being an alien, he sees himself as a human and believes Humans Are Special and he hopes Luthor believes it too. Luthor responds by doubling down and saying he will never stop hating and trying to kill Superman for being an alien, at which point Krypto takes him down.
• In Tales from the Hood, the fourth and final story focused on a gangbanger named Crazy K. After getting shot by enemies from another gang, Crazy K is saved at the last minute by police and taken to prison. There he meets a Mysterious Woman in White who offers him a chance at redemption which he accepts. She begins by forcing Crazy K to witness the horrors he inflicted over his years of gangbanging. At the end, she puts him in an isolated room, where he sees visions of the many people he killed: enemies, friends, even an innocent girl who was a bystander during one of his many drive-by shootings. Ultimately, however, Crazy K rejects redemption, telling the lady (who was really an angel) that he doesn't give a fuck. The lady finally gives up and Crazy K, who really died from his gunshot wound and was given a chance to save his soul, was sent to Hell. Discussed by the Narrator who mentions that people like him are too far gone and can't be saved.
• In TRON: Legacy, Kevin Flynn tries to talk sense into his creation, the Program Clu, who, in following Flynn's orders to create "the perfect system," turned the Grid into a dystopian society were Programs are oppressed. Flynn, having realized that such an order was doomed to fail, sincerely apologizes to Clu for giving said order to him (Clu, meanwhile, is bitter at his creator for breaking their promise of "[changing] the world together"). After apologizing, Kevin silently offers to give Clu a hug. Clu seems at first willing to embrace his creator... but then quickly kicks him to the ground, revealing that he will never stop in his quest for perfection.

• Nevyn from the Deverry series urges his enemies to repent at various points in the story, because he knows that if they don't, this will have severe consequences in their next life. Most of them refuse his offer of redemption, but he notably gets through to Sarcyn.
• In Dragons of Requiem, Dies Irae almost has a Heel Realization when Benedictus calls him by his childhood nickname, which spurs a few childhood memories. He quickly disregards them and resumes attacking Benedictus.
• In The Dresden Files book Skin Game Michael Carpenter asks Nicodemus to abandon his service to his Fallen Angel, telling him to look at the path it's led him on. This comes shortly after Nicodemus has sacrificed his daughter, likely the only person in the world he actually cared about. For a moment Nicodemus seems tired, uncertain, and then he laughs. He declares that he's not a puppet of the Fallen, but that after two thousand years they follow him, and that he's forged his own path of war and plague through the ages. True to the second part of the trope, Michael then goes at his foe with all his might, not holding back at all.
• In Going Postal, the book ends with Reacher Gilt being offered a similar choice to what Moist was offered at the start. Vetinari tells Gilt he can either carry out a risky government job (in this case, sorting out the Royal Mint) or he can walk out the door and "never hear from me again." Unlike Moist, Gilt walks away. Unlike Moist, Gilt does not manage to avoid falling to his death through the hole in the corridor floor.
• In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry, after seeing Voldemort's ultimate fate, urges Voldemort to feel remorse for his crimes in order to make his soul whole again. Seeing as feeling remorse had a high probability of killing Voldemort and given how terrified Voldemort is of dying, the Dark Lord refuses and unknowingly damns himself in the process.
• The Heartstrikers: When Julius defeats the Evil Matriarch of his clan and tries to reformat them into a more peaceful, democratic organization that doesn't kill each other on a whim, he decides to spare his mother, since killing her would be hypocritical. She hates him for this, and the only reason he is able to keep her from being Stupid Evil (much less actively trying to kill him) is to lock her in a Magically Binding Contract. While at first she has a lot of success getting her other children to try to kill him for her, it doesn't take long for her power to slip away as they all realize how crazy she really is. By the end, she's little more than a figurehead kept around because of tradition, but she's still yelling about how she's right and Virtue Is Weakness.
• Gríma in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Two Towers is offered the chance to redeem himself by fighting alongside Théoden, the king he has betrayed, but Gríma just snarls and slinks away to Saruman.
  • Saruman himself, thrice: first at Orthanc after his army had been defeated, second, after the war, when he meets Gandalf and the Hobbits on their way home, then last after the Battle of Bywater.
  • Also part of Sauron's backstory in The Silmarillion. After the War of Wrath and Morgoth's defeat and exile, Sauron was genuinely repentant at first and wanted to return to Valinor. Unfortunately, the price of redemption proved to be too high for him. Having gotten a taste for power as The Dragon to the Lord of Evil, Sauron wasn't about to settle for much less, let alone whatever penance the Valar were surely going to impose on him for his rebellion. So instead, he vanished into the unknown east of Middle-Earth for the next thousand years, returning in the guise of the sorcerer Annatar, with a Master Plan to manipulate everyone into helping him conquer the world.
• The Other Americans: Jeremy's best friend Fierro is another Shell-Shocked Veteran, left emotionally stunted by his refusal to deal with his problems. Jeremy tries several times to help Fierro out of his spiral, but Fierro constantly refuses to admit he has a problem. Jeremy's last straw comes when Fierro calls Nora a racial slur; the two get into a brawl, and though Jeremy apologizes, he recognizes they've grown apart and lets Fierro go.
• Lucifer in Paradise Lost - "he would rather rule in Hell than serve in Heaven".
• Reign of the Seven Spellblades: Demitrio Aristides's stated motive for his part in Chloe Halford's murder was that he found himself responding emotionally to her ideals of wanting to make the world better to live in so that Gnostics would have a harder time gaining a foothold. Intellectually, he found this a frighteningly risky path, and he killed her in hopes of killing the part of himself that agreed with her. He speculates Headmistress Esmeralda may have been the same.
  “I acted to shore up my resolve. To force myself to never again cling to my memories of Chloe. To never let myself hope for the future she spoke of. By ending our relationship in the worst imaginable light—with that dark suggestion, I sealed away Chloe Halford’s light. I knew I’d need it if I was to continue down this path afterward. To avoid my footsteps faltering. ... Her idea of the future placed too much hope in people. I weighed the damages in the event of a betrayal against the price of maintaining the status quo. Protecting the darkness of the present over chasing a blinding dream…”
• In The Scarlet Letter, Hester talks Chillingworth into realizing that he has hurt Dimmesdale, but he later ignores that realization.
• Harold Lauder from The Stand uses this trope when the Boulder Free Zone not only accepts him but begins to regard him as a hero. He realizes full well he has a choice between putting his childish grudges aside forever or holding onto them, even though he knows that they're poison. In the end, he decides he's carried his hate for too long to just let it go, and joins up with Flagg. As he lies dying after Flagg decides he has outlived his usefulness, Harold finally lets go of his hate and writes an apology to everyone he hurt/killed before shooting himself.
• Star Wars Legends: Darth Bane: Rule of Two: Zannah's cousin Darovit offers her more than one chance to turn away from the dark side. She pretends to accept his final offer, then uses Sith sorcery to drive him insane and convince the Jedi Order that he is the Sith Lord they've been hunting.
• In Watership Down, on the eve of the Final Battle, Hazel tries to convince General Woundwort that their warrens don't have to go to war, and can in fact coexist peacefully. Woundwort seriously considers the proposal for a moment, but ultimately brushes it aside, sneering "I haven't time to sit here talking nonsense".
• In the last book of The Wheel of Time, Rand tries to convince his Evil Counterpart Moridin to abandon the Shadow and help him defeat the Dark One. Moridin throws it in his face-after all, the Dark One has promised him oblivion, for himself and the world, and Rand can't offer anything that would tempt Moridin more than that.

• 24:
  • Two quarters through Day 4, a traitorous fighter pilot named Mitch Anderson has stolen a jet and has set his sights on Air Force One. Jack Bauer manages to get in contact with him and tells him that he can still walk away from everything. Anderson seems to consider what Jack says for a moment, but ultimately shuts down his comm link and blows Air Force One out of the sky.
  • In the Day 7 finale as the now-rogue Tony Almeida prepares for his endgame that'll take out the man behind his wife's murder, a dying Jack attempts to appeal to whatever good is left in Tony by reasoning with him to drop his crusade. Tony responds by gagging Jack's mouth shut and arming a bomb on him that will be used to kill the man.
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Grant Ward, former member of the team who turned out to be a HYDRA mole, does this twice. First, during the late first season when given the chance to let Fitz and Simmons escape (instead choosing to drop them into the ocean to drown, which he'd later retroactively claim was actually trying to 'give them a chance' to escape). And second, late in the second season when offered another chance when circumstance forces Coulson to ask him for help, only for him to use this as an opportunity to manipulate SHIELD so him and his brainwashed lover Kara Palamas can kidnap Bobbi Morse (who they decided was at-fault for Kara's brainwashing and were using as a scapegoat for revenge). In-between these, he does make what he thinks is a genuine attempt at redemption, by turning over information about HYDRA, but the team recognise that, given he's clearly a sociopath, he doesn't really regret any of the things he's done and is only now attempting redemption because his other choice is life in prison, and even his love for Skye is just a deluded obsession on his part, so they wisely reject it.
• Angel: After Angel ruins Jasmine's plan to create world peace at the expense of free will (and eating people), he finds her wandering distraught through LA. She chews him out, asking if her price for ending war, disease and poverty was really too high. He insists that it was, but suggests that she can still try and make the world a better place the old-fashioned way, even if she's lost her powers.
  Jasmine: Not all of them. [punches him off a bridge]
• Babylon 5 has Londo Mollari, who is told he'll have three opportunities to choose redemption, or suffer the consequences. In a possible subversion, these moments are never directly revealed, and it's arguable whether he's saved his people or condemned them.
• In season 4 of Battlestar Galactica (2003), the Cylon John's mother says he isn't a mistake and offers him redemption if he could just accept himself for the boy she made. He considers it for a moment before he angrily rejects her love and prepares to pick apart her brain to extract the information he wants.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Faith expects this trope to be played out in "Choices", but Willow surprises her.
  Faith: Give me the speech again, please. Faith, we're still your friends. We can help you. It's not too late.
  Willow: It's way too late. You know, it didn't have to be this way. But you made your choice. I know you had a tough life. I know that some people think you had a lot of bad breaks. Well, boo hoo! Poor you. You know, you had a lot more in your life than some people. I mean, you had friends in your life like Buffy. Now you have no one. You were a Slayer and now you're nothing. You're just a big selfish, worthless waste.
• Though the drivers on Canada's Worst Driver and related shows aren't actually villains, there have been two contestants who fit the basic premise of this trope: Colin from Season Two and Scott from Season Six made a big joke of everything and refused to learn. Colin became the first to be expelled from any Driver Rehabilitation Center in the world, while Scott became the first (at least on the Canadian show) to be effectively expelled by his own nominator (who cancelled Scott's insurance, meaning Scott was no longer a valid driver).
• CSI: Cyber: In "Fire Code", Brody is furious when he figures out who Ju5tu5 is (it's his best friend from his hacking days), but offers to vouch for him to the FBI to give him a lighter sentence. He gets hit with a "The Reason You Suck" Speech instead. Brody then punches him and plants a Tracking Device on him in the scuffle.
• Doctor Who: In "Evolution of the Daleks", the Doctor and the now-Half-Human Hybrid Dalek Sec try to redeem the Daleks by creating a new, non-evil race of Daleks, which would have ended their genocidal war with the rest of the universe. The other Daleks reject this idea, violently.
• Barney from How I Met Your Mother uses this trope quite often. Practically Once a Season there's an episode that focuses on how shallow, selfish, and cruel his life as The Casanova is. By episode's end it looks like he's about to learn an important lesson and be more considerate of women from now on ... and then, without fail, Barney will explain that, no, seducing an endless stream of anonymous bimbos really is all he wants out of life.
  Lily: So you made a life-changing decision not to change your life at all?
  Barney: True story.
• Jessie: Emma tells Bryn they can still be friends if she could just start being nice to people. However, Bryn refuses and throws cheesy nachos at Rosie before escaping.
• Mr. Eko from Lost had a tragic backstory about being kidnapped and made into a child soldier, becoming a criminal, and feeling responsible for causing the death of his brother, Yemi. His main Story Arc on the Island was trying to talk to Yemi's ghost. As it so happens, Yemi was a Catholic priest, so their eventual meeting takes the form of a confession. Eko must be ready to ask for forgiveness, right? Of course, as it turns out, "Yemi" is actually the Smoke Monster/Man In Black in disguise, and he promptly kills Eko after this. So any future chance of redemption is lost right then and there.
  Mr. Eko: I ask for no forgiveness, Father, for I have not sinned. I have only done what I needed to do to survive. A small boy once asked me if I was a bad man. If I could answer him now, I would tell him that, when I was a young boy, I killed a man to save my brother's life. I am not sorry for this. I am proud of this. I did not ask for the life that I was given, but it was given nonetheless. And with it, I did my best.
• Once Upon a Time (2011):
  • Rumpelstiltskin is almost de-powered by Belle's True Love's Kiss... but of course, he has a bit of a freak-out and rejects it. Quite possibly regrets that pretty hard. The same thing happened when he gave up a chance to travel to another world with his son, for the exact same reason.
  • In the flashback sequence of "The Cricket Game", Snow lets Regina out of prison and offers the chance to leave all her evil deeds behind and start fresh, and Regina takes the opportunity to attempt once again to kill Snow. She even lampshades the concept, pointing out it's never that easy. No one ever just gives up that much hatred. This is contrasted against the present scenes in Storybrooke, where Regina really does want redemption, but understandably Snow and Charming are unwilling to give her another chance.
  • Both Rumpelstiltskin and Regina do ultimately find redemption by Season 3. Regina sticks with it. Rumple...not so much.
• A recurring theme in Oz. Frequently, a prisoner will waste an opportunity at redemption because they simply don't care about doing so. Perhaps the most stark example is the prisoner "Poet", who manages to get a book contract on the basis of his poetry and is granted early parole (a rarity in the series; many of the convicts are hardened criminals and murderers with life sentences). He immediately uses his new income to buy drugs and is sent back to Oz after he shoots his drug dealer at a book signing event.
  Hill: To be saved, you have to want to be saved.
• Power Rangers Wild Force: In an attempt to end the conflict peacefully, Princess Shayla tells Master Org that it isn't too late to change, since Cole forgives him for killing his parents. Master Org doesn't care about this and goes on with his plans to destroy the Rangers.
• Stranger Things: In the series finale, Will learns that, much like himself, Vecna, or rather, Henry Creel was once a young child who fell victim to the forces outside our dimension, and he pleads for him to turn against the malicious supernatural forces. The Duffer brothers reportedly considered having Will's words get through, but they decided that such a villain was "too far gone" to accept such an offer.
• Walker, Texas Ranger: In "Mr. Justice", several young offenders are sent to Camp Justice, run by Walker, as an alternative to being arrested. Most of them stick with the program and turn their lives around. Unfortunately, Mad Dog tries to escape and ends up in prison as a result.
• The Walking Dead (2010) has one for The Governor in episode 8 of season 4.
  "Liar!"
• Xena: Warrior Princess: Xena had a number of chances to redeem herself before her actual Heel–Face Turn, but she rejected them. Her most notable was in the land of Chin when she rejected two chances from Lao Ma in one day. The first time was when she let her rage over Borias' betrayal consume her desire for redemption with the leader. Later that day, when she had the chance to make peace with the leader, she instead kills him and offers Lao Ma the chance to rule together. Lao Ma relunctantly beats the crap of her and has her unconscious body dragged out the kingdom.

• In "Reviewing the Situation," from the musical Oliver!, Fagin briefly considers the attractions (or lack of same) of a moral and upstanding life, but ends up deciding that a comfortable old age is much more important to him.
• Alluded to in "The Hounds" by The Protomen:
  If there ever was a time, if there ever was a chance
  To undo the things I've done and wash these bloodstains from my hands
  It has passed and been forgotten, these are the paths that we must take
  'Cuz you and I, Tom, we are men and we can bend, and we can break

• According to Christian thought, this is what causes damnation as all other sins can be forgiven if the sinner sincerely repents. This sin is called Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Orthodox Christianity considers Despair, in this context giving up hope of salvation, to be the eighth and deadliest cardinal sin (while Catholic theology folds Despair into Sloth), as it directly challenges the nature of God's forgiveness. In fact, so deadly is the sin of Despair to Orthodox Christianity, that it is considered to be unforgiveable (or rather, impossible to forgive, as the sinner believes they are damned, and absolutely rejects the saviour). Its corresponding virtue is Hope.
  • This ties into why Satan and his minions are Beyond Redemption; unlike humans who may or may not know not what they do, Fallen Angels consciously chose to betray God and become unrepentant Card Carrying Villains with full knowledge of the consequences. Many theologians believe Christ could forgive even them if they asked, but if there was any possibility of them regretting their actions, they never would have done them in the first place. According to legend, Saint Paisios of Mount Athos, an Eastern Orthodox ascetic, fasted and prayed for two weeks for the devil to reconcile with God, only for him to appear and mock his efforts.

• After Kevin Von Erich defeated "Gentleman" Chris Adams, who recently betrayed him with a Superkick after aligning with Gary Hart, the former stated to the latter that he was willing wipe the slate clean on the condition that Adams got rid of his new manager. Adams responded with a brutal assult with a chair from behind.
• After The Nation Of Intoxication destroyed the makeshift team of Drew Blood, Ron Mathis and Rory Mondo at the 2014 CZW Tangled Web, Danny Havoc was willing to apologize for trying to burn Mondo alive and put their bad blood behind him, with the crowd roaring his name in appreciation for the toughness he showed even though his team decisively lost the match...that was until Mondo cursed the name of Havoc, necessitating their feud continue.
• The heroic return montage World Wonder Ring STARDOM put together for Act Yasukawa before the final match of the 2015 Five*Star Grand Prix, combined with a huge pop from the audience, actually brought her close to tears and had her spew a fountain of rum in appreciation... before she proceeded spit on all the audience members she could, reject Haruka Kato and Momo Watanabe's welcome then had Kyoko Kimura preoccupy the referee while she destroyed them.

• Adventures in Odyssey: When Jack Allen confronts Dr. Regis Blackgaard, he tells Blackgaard that despite everything Blackgaard has done, it isn't too late for him and his soul can still be saved. Blackgaard, however, says it is too late, revealing that he sold his soul years ago (it's implied that he did so to keep a virus he was injected with from killing him, and he wanted to destroy Whit's End because he believed it was sitting atop a deposit of the Unobtainium he needed to have a cure made). He then threatens to set off a bomb and blow them both up. Jack tries once more to persuade him...
  Jack: You don't want to kill me.
  Blackgaard: You fool! Why wouldn't I?
• Torchwood (BBC Radio): In "Golden Age", Jack gives the Duchess the opportunity to leave the Torchwood India base before it got frozen in time by the Time Store, giving her a chance to change her Evil Colonialist ways. The Duchess chooses to stay behind however, still believing modern India to be against everything she agreed with. By all accounts, the majority of her former team felt the same way and also chose to stay behind.

• Dungeons & Dragons:
  • Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus: In the climax, the players have the chance to try to talk the Fallen Angel and archdevil Zariel into accepting the spark of goodness that remains within her old sword and turning away from evil. This is a challenging task, and if they fail she violently rejects the idea of rejoining the hosts of heaven and shatters her sword, putting herself forever beyond redemption.
  • Dragonlance: When the deity Mishakal offered Lord Soth a chance at redemption by stopping the Kingpriest of Istar and preventing the Cataclysm, he initially accepted the request but then put aside his mission to confront his second wife about her infidelity. As a result, he was cursed to become a death knight. While in Ravenloft, Soth was given an opportunity by the Dark Powers to put his evil past behind him; he rejected their offer and was made into the Darklord of Sithicus. After spending a long time with a magic mirror showing him all of the mistakes in his life, Soth finally accepts that all of his misery was ultimately his own fault. The Dark Powers send him back to Krynn since nothing they can do to him could be worse than his own guilt and apathy. When Takhisis comes calling again, Soth rejects her. She then restores his mortality and brings his castle down upon him.
• Vampire: The Masquerade: In the Gehenna sourcebook, one ending has the Antediluvians forcing open a gate into Heaven so they can devour God and become the rulers of the universe. An angel appears and pleads with them one last time to accept their Creator's forgiveness. They refuse and exultantly jeer that God MUST fear them, or he wouldn't be giving them a chance to surrender. They demand to face God. Their wish is granted, and they are wiped from existence in a heartbeat.
  • In a different scenario Caine (the Biblical one, here the first vampire) comes face to face with the ghost of his slain brother Abel. Abel says he forgives his brother and offers him the chance to move on together with him. While the notes state that the gamemaster could have Caine accept this offer it is much more in character for Caine to tell his brother to shove it. At several points the same sourcebook it also implies that Caine could end his vampiric curse at any time by accepting God's forgiveness but refuses to do so until God apologises first for setting him up to sin, although depending on one's interpretation of the Old World of Darkness version of God Caine might be in the right there.

• Both Your Houses: Pure-hearted congressman Alan has a heart-to-heart with Corrupt Politician congressman Sol in which Alan appeals to Sol's better nature and says that he knows Sol doesn't really want to vote for the bill. Sol in turn tells Alan that it's way too late for him, that in his early days he had a Good Angel, Bad Angel thing going but the longer he stayed, the weaker the Good Angel got until it finally gave up.
• Marlowe's Doctor Faustus wrings a lot of tension out of this trope as the time comes for the title character to relinquish his soul to the devil — he wants to repent, but is too afraid of the physical torture the demons will inflict on him if he does. He doesn't, and they do it anyway.
• Heathers: The Musical: Veronica pleads with J.D. to abandon his murderous desires, dismantle the bomb, and come with her before it's too late, saying she wishes things had turned out differently. He just snarls, "I wish I had more TNT." But when Veronica takes the bomb, intent on taking the blast to protect everyone else, J.D. has a genuine change of heart and rescues her.
• Les Misérables sees the stone-hearted policeman Javert given a chance to change his life that parallels the opportunity given to Valjean at the start of the musical. But where Valjean stared into the night and made a choice to be better, Javert stares into the night and … throws himself into the Seine to drown.

• In Darksiders, when War finally encounters The Destroyer face-to-face, he seems legitimately sad and regretful as he holds an unconscious Uriel in his hand while reminiscing on their shared love from long ago. However, he then invokes That Man Is Dead and gives War a We Can Rule Together speech, making it clear that unlike the truly-repentant co-conspirators Azrael and Ulthane, any regret Abaddon has for his radical yet well-intentioned role in starting Armageddon early to defeat Hell has long since been snuffed out and he would rather run from responsibility that face judgement for his role, up to and including becoming a general of Hell's army. When War rejects him by calling him a coward, Abaddon angrily tosses Uriel aside and begins the final battle.
• Dispatch: This can happen with Sonar/Coupé if you haven't beaten them during the dispatch portion of the episode before the city is fully destroyed. Blazer will offer them a chance to help the Z-Team stop Shroud, but they will reject it. Then, during the final cutscene, Blazer isn't even going to give Robert the option to let them return to the team. Also, if Robert doesn't send Invisigal out on enough missions and takes sides against her, she will kill Shroud and take his mask, choosing to return to villainy.
• During the final battle in DmC: Devil May Cry against Vergil, Dante tells him "It's not too late". Vergil responds "Yes, it is" and continues fighting.
• Final Fantasy XVI: Cidolfus Telamon has apparently been making redemption offers to Benedikta Harman for several years before Clive comes into the picture. Benedikta spits in his face every single time, and punts him into a statue during the last one for good measure. Clive does not show her the same restraint.
• In Fire Emblem: Three Houses this happens on two routes with Edelgard, and it's implied that she does this because she believes she has fallen too far, and her survival would cause too many complications for the victor.
  • On the Azure Moon route, Dimitri offers her mercy and forgiveness after defeating her. In return, she offers him a dagger in the shoulder. He kills her with his spear, and she dies with a smile.
  • On the Verdant Wind route, if you bring her down to low health without defeating her, Claude will beg her to stop fighting because he doesn't want to kill her. She refuses. She then requests that Byleth kill her.
• Weaponized at the end of GrimGrimoire where the demon Grimlet agrees to a contract where he grants the protagonist a wish in exchange for her soul. Her wish is for him to "embrace God", something he can't or won't do. Unfortunately for him, since he won't grant her wish this means he just violated his own contract and is thus banished to hell.
• God of War:
  • A heartbreaking example in God of War: Chains of Olympus. After Persephone reveals her scheme to undo reality, Kratos was forced to put aside his redemption and ends up slaughtering the pure souls of Elysuim in order to gain his powers back that he can stop both her and Atlas. The price he ends up paying is very high; in order to save the world and the underworld, he would never see Calliope again. The quicktime event where Kratos must push away his daughter and embrace his monstrous self again is possibly the most heartbreaking use of this type of gameplay ever created.
  • The final bosses of God of War (PS4) and God of War Ragnarök are each offered a chance to walk away and live in peace, but both immediately reject it and are promptly killed. Baldur tries to strangle Freya right after Kratos warns him not to do that, and Kratos snaps his neck. Odin outright tells Atreus after his boss fight that he'll never stop his mad quest for knowledge, and Atreus puts his soul into a marble which Sindri then breaks.
• In Hyrule Warriors, after Lana, Link and Zelda have beaten Ganondorf away in the Temple Of Souls scenario and try to tell Cia to stop using magic that ultimately could kill her, Cia tells them to screw off. Needless to say, Cia continues to use magic that uses her life force and she ultimately dies shortly after.
• In Knights of the Old Republic and the sequel, many dark side-aligned enemies can be persuaded to give up and redeem themselves, either through persuasion or using a Jedi Mind Trick. However, the vast majority of force-sensitive dark side users will throw the offer right back at the player's face, either calling the player weak for not embracing the Dark Side, or more rarely saying that they are too far gone to go back now.
• Mass Effect 3: At the end of the Citadel DLC, a Paragon Shepard can attempt to rescue the Shepard Clone while they are dangling off the Normandy's ramp. However, at that point, the Shepard Clone has crossed the Despair Event Horizon at realizing that while they might have Shepard's abilities and augmentations, they don't have any friends, allies, or comrades like Shepard does, and the only companion they had has betrayed them. The despair at this causes them to reject Shepard's offer and drop to their death.
• In Mega Man 11, when Mega defeats Wily again, Dr. Light shows up to point out that both of their dreams had come to light in the form of Mega Man and it's not too late to turn back. However, Wily flat out refuses and all he wants is both of them kneeling in front of him. As Wily escapes, Light laments that his friend might never return.
• In Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Ori finds out that Shriek's vendetta against them and just about anything else stems from living in exile since birth, having been rejected and feared by other creatures when she sought company. Seir later strikes her down and tries to finish her off, but Ori stops Seir and attempts to offer kindness to Shriek. Unfortunately, she rejects their kindness and later returns to try and stop Ori from joining with Seir and restoring the light in Niwen, eventually choosing to die in her dead parents' embrace instead of finally leaving the darkness after she loses the battle against Ori.
• Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous lets you reform several of your companions and enemies, with redemption being a major theme of the story. Camellia, however, will not entertain any possibility of changing her murderous ways no matter what the player tries, and will actually attempt to kill the Commander if forbidden from killing any more innocent people.
• In the climax of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, N comes to rescue your player character from being frozen alive by Ghetsis. He then offers Ghetsis a last chance after the latter has been beaten by the player, pleading him to overthink his doings and start anew. Instead of taking this chance, Ghetsis just continues to hurl insults at N, calling him a monster over and over again, at which point he completely loses his mind and the Shadow Triad appears and takes him away, never to be seen again. When meeting the Shadow Triad in the postgame, they imply that Ghetsis has become completely insane and non-functional.
• Towards the end of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, the gang learn of Penelope's betrayal. She was only using her boyfriend Bentley to build weapons to sell for billions of dollars, and sold her soul to Le Paradox for the lives of Sly and Murray. Bentley, after recovering from his Heroic BSoD, tells his ex-girlfriend that Le Paradox is only using her for his own desires, and intends to dispose of her when she's outlived her usefulness. He still loves her, and hoped that by pointing this out, she'd reconsider her betrayal and return to the Cooper Gang. She rejects this spitefully, and attacks him in murderous rage, showcasing that Penelope is a sociopath who's selfish to the core and never loved Bentley in the first place. This ends in Bentley renouncing his love, and declaring Penelope an unredeemable monster and the greatest mistake of his life.
• In Suikoden IV, there are several moments where Lazlo can offer his former best friend Snowe Vingerhut the chance to join the rebellion. If the player chooses to do so, Snowe angrily rejects it. In their last encounter, this can then be inverted into a Heel–Face Door-Slam, with Lazlo deciding to execute the now thoroughly broken-down Snowe instead of offering him one last chance now that he's ready to accept it.
• In Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido: After finally beating the Emperor of the Empire, Octavias, in a sushi struggle. Musashi offer him some sushi and tells him he doesn't have to take it from others. Octavias does seem to consider it and starts to eat it until he throws it on the ground. Rejecting Musashi's philosophy that people can't be greedy (as Octavias' father was to him) and disappears to where "sushi comes from" declaring that people's greed will start up the sushi struggles once more someday.
• In Tales of Symphonia, All-Loving Hero Lloyd repeatedly offers the Big Bad the chance to join their side and work to fix the problems he caused, after learning the details of his Freudian Excuse and traveling with him for a while. Every time, it's Mithos who rejects the offer, and even in his final words he insists on holding fast to the path he'd chosen.
  Mithos Yggdrasill: Farewell, my shadow. You who stand at the end of the path I chose not to follow.
• Tekken 8:
  • If Kazuya wins a match against Jun, he's not as vicious as others. But he still shoots down her attempts to redeem and save him, since he believes that there's no need to save someone as evil as he is.
    "I don't need salvation! Leave my sight."
  • The Tekken Monks attempt to set an amnesiac Heihachi Mishima on the path of righteousness. As soon as he regains his memories, he thoroughly rejects their teachings by remorselessly disposing of them.
• In Triangle Strategy, this happens in certain endgame routes with Exharme and Idore.
  • In the Liberty and Golden routes, Serenoa (and potentially a few other characters, through battle dialogue) can try to convince Exharme to lay down his arms, since Exharme admits to having his own issues with Hyzante. However, Exharme turns them down, since he refuses to do anything unless he gets all the credit for it.
  • In the Golden route, Serenoa tries to extend mercy to Idore after the final boss fight. Idore is too set in his Control Freak ways to accept, and he opts to blow up the castle (with House Wolffort still in it) instead.
• In Undertale, this can potentially happen on a second playthrough, depending on player choice. Asgore can be given a second chance in redemption if you choose to spare him after defeating him in battle (Flowey must be defeated in a previous playthrough to trigger the event). Asgore entertains the idea at first, but then rejects the redemption because he feels that it cannot make up for the sins he had committed and the idea may not have worked out anyway. Asgore kills himself, entrusting his soul to you so you can escape the underground.
  • Seeing a Genocide Route to completion requires the player to do this twice, first with Papyrus, and then much later with his brother, Sans. Papyrus openly offers friendship to the player character which can only be rejected in the form of killing him, whereas Sans is written to directly appeal to the player by reminding them of previous playthroughs they may have completed in which they became friends. ^note Sans does not literally know the player exists, however, all of the game's mechanics exist in-universe and Sans is one of the few characters who is aware of them, allowing him to address the character in such a way that he might as well be talking to the player Notably, Sans immediately kills you if you do accept his offer, telling you that if you really want to redeem yourself, you'll put your money where your mouth is and reset the game, effectively undoing all the harm you've done. This is designed to test the players commitment to redeeming themselves, as they might be tempted to simply go right back to fighting him out of anger.
• World of Warcraft has the Naaru Xe'ra offering Illidan the chance to be cleansed of his demonic taint and reborn in the Light as The Chosen One. Illidan is enraged by the offer as it is a denial of everything he has endured and worked for in his life. When Xe'ra tries to force the redemption on him, Illidan kills it.
• Yakuza 2: At the climax of the game, with both men wounded and a bomb set to go off, Kaoru begs Kiryu and Ryuji (her Love Interest and long lost brother, respectively) to come with her and drop their conflict. Instead, they lock themselves in with the bomb and have one final brawl to determine who's the real Dragon. After he's defeated and as he bleeds out, Ryuji confesses to Kaoru that while the idea of living a life of peace sounds nice, he's ultimately got too much Jingweon blood in him and his thirst for violence is too great, choosing instead to Go Out with a Smile and die at peace.
• Metal Wolf Chaos: At the game's climax, despite Richard Hawk's attempts at ruling the United States of America by launching a coup d'etat against the country, destroying the country's freedom, nearly nuked the country into oblivion through his Ultimate Weapon from outer space, Michael Wilson was willing risk his life to spare his running mate from burning up during re-entry and give him another chance. Hawk, however, wanted none of it, and instead throws his mercy away, laughing in his face as he burns among the stars.

• Alucard of Hellsing Ultimate Abridged is on the Earth because Satan tasked him with killing worse monsters than himself, as he swore he would during his decapitation by God's worshippers, the same God whom he believed had been on his side throughout his mortal life. So when that very same God shows up to offer Alucard forgiveness, Alucard is having none of it and reads God the riot act before affirming, No, he does not need God's forgiveness, thank you very much.
  God: Alucard... you are forgiven. And if you are brave enough to accept it—
  Alucard: Didn't ask; don't need it; go fuck yourself!
• In Gildedguy & the Dragon of Mar, Gildedguy fights tooth and nail to sever Mar from the curse that transforms him into a murderous dragon, only to be blocked by Mar himself either out of self-loathing or a desire to stay within the dragon. Later, Gildedguy succeeds in severing the connection, but Mar again refuses redemption after seeing both the judgment of the villagers and the temptation of their gold one more time, willingly re-merging with the dragon.
• in Wolf Song: The Movie, Cobalt is offered a chance to redeem himself by Zar, however, instead he affirms that he is still evil, laughs it off, before killing Zar in a highly brutal fashion

• In Earthsong, Willow offers the Mandragora the means to leave Beluosus service when she develops her stonecrafting ability, which allows her to remove his infection from their soulstones. Only one of them chooses this — the rest of them return to him with varying degrees of hesitation. Neuria and Jormand decide they want it after all once they learn that Beluosus consumed two of their comrades, but it leads to disaster.
• The Order of the Stick: The Tinkertown subplot sees Crystal returning to the story as a golem who is in constant pain. When Haley offers Crystal a chance to cure her condition, Crystal denies her because she finds that in addition to distracting her from the pain, she enjoys murdering people way too much to do that. Haley realizes Crystal is too dangerous to keep alive and drops her into a magma pit.
• Captain Estar Goes To Heaven (side-comic in Subnormality) is about a miserable, self-hating hired assassin whose latest target claims he found a shortcut to Heaven. She doesn't believe him. Soon after, she's hunted down and captured by other hitmen, who decide to go to the shortcut so they can loot whatever ambush was set up there, and then they visit the "pearly gates" for kicks. Turns out, it definitely isn't paradise and the hitmen are slaughtered by the natives - but they spare Estar. They then rewrite reality so she never screwed up her life, giving her a second chance to be a normal person. She flips them all off and goes straight back to killing, claiming that heaven and hell don't exist - you end up right where you belong, and what matters is how fast you learn to live with it.

• Critical Role: In Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, Zerxus spends a significant portion of the season trying to show compassion to and redeem Asmodeus, one of the Betrayer Gods, believing that everyone is capable of redemption. Asmodeus takes advantage of that compassion just long enough to manipulate Zerxus into becoming his champion. He then snaps and denies the attempt to redeem him by brutally killing and resurrecting Zerxus multiple times and casually counterspells any attempts to stop him to remind Zerxus that he's far out of his league, monologuing the whole time about how presumptuous and arrogant Zerxus was to even try to redeem him in the first place.
  Asmodeus: You're trying to atone me, and I didn't do anything wrong. [...] To reach a hand down to somebody, they need to be beneath you! And I am beneath nobody!
• Just like its original counterpart, Undertale the Musical has Papyrus attempt to redeem the human during the Genocide Package, making up the collection's third song. He is repaid this kindness with a slash to the neck before his skull gets crushed into dust.
• Vampires SMP: One of the methods for Turning Back Human from vampirism is "The Retribution" spell, which forces a vampire to choose between becoming human again or dying. When Abolish uses the spell on Owen in the finale, he declines and chooses to die as a vampire instead.

• Amphibia: In season 2, Sasha Waybright makes an effort to be a better friend to Anne. In "True Colors", she reveals she only pretended to accept that Anne Grew a Spine to manipulate her into helping Sasha and Grime conquer Newtopia for Toad Tower, all so Sasha could retake control of the situation and their friendship.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • In the Book 2 finale, Prince Zuko seems like he is going to finally defect from the Fire Nation and join Team Avatar. He comes very close, even allowing Katara to attempt to heal his scar, but his sister Azula convinces him to join her in conquering Ba Sing Se. This choice plagues Zuko's conscience for the next half a season, until he finally defects and joins Aang midway through Book 3.
  • In the Book 3 finale, Avatar Aang gives Fire Lord Ozai one last chance to stand down and end the Hundred Year War in peace. Ozai rejects Aang's offer, stating he has all the power in the world with Sozin's Comet and tries to kill Aang on the spot. After the battle ends with him losing his fire bending and thrown in prison for his war crimes, Ozai is again given an another offer of redemption from the now-Fire Lord Zuko, simply by giving him the whereabout information of his Missing Mom. While the show doesn't give Ozai's answer, Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Promise reveals that he refused to give that information to Zuko and instead tried to corrupt his son into a tyrant with poisonous political advice.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold: In "Scorn of the Star Sapphire!", Wonder Woman tells Baroness Paula Von Gunther that her warlike ways will bring her nothing but pain and sorrow, and asks if they can start over as friends and sisters. The Baroness says her speech made her sick and punches her in the face.
• Ben 10:
  • In the original series, Ben offered his enemy Kevin 11 a chance to do good, but the latter refused the offer and attempted to take the Omnitrix. From then on, Kevin was treated as someone who's actions couldn't be redeemable; indeed, by the time of Kevin's second appearance, when Kevin mockingly asks Ben if he wants to help him, Ben refuses, telling Kevin point-blank that he's done trying to help him, because Kevin already had plenty of chances to get help and screwed them all up.
  • Still, that didn't stop Ben from making the offer again in the second series. Apparently, after regaining his humanity and getting his head on straight (plus new writers behind him) Kevin became wise enough to accept the offer. It wasn't until much later, in the third series, that it was shown why Ben felt Kevin deserved another chance.
  • Ben 10: Omniverse has Malware being subject to this. In "Showdown", after destroying his own homeworld, he confronts Azmuth about it, leading to this exchange (quite reminiscent of the Kung Fu Panda example) between them:
    Azmuth: Sowing chaos doesn't take any special talent, Malware. If that's the best you can do, I am not impressed.
    Malware: No! Nothing I do could ever impress you, could it, "father"? In your eyes, I am nothing but your failed experiment. Your... shame!
    Azmuth: My only shame is that I have been unable to heal your pain. But it's not too late. Give up this vendetta of yours, and we will work together to make you whole.
    Malware: (hesitates for a second, then breaks down) LIES! Even now, you conspire against me! It is too late!
  • In the same series, reformed villain Hex tries to get his troubled niece Charmcaster to join him in a peaceful life. But wanting revenge on her enemies and being high as a kite on magic power, she refuses. In the end, Gwen and Hex capture and essentially force rehab on her.
• DC Animated Universe:
  • Superman: The Animated Series: In "Action Figures", an amnesiac Metallo ends up befriended by two children, Bobby and Sarita, due to his memory loss and they encourage him to save others and do some good. But after he regains his memories, he immediately returns to his old ways, and manipulates the two of them and their friendship in an attempt to destroy Superman.
    Sarita: Steel Man, no! Don't do it, Steel Man!
    Metallo: Steel Man? Steel Man is dead. And so are you, Superman.
  • Batman Beyond:
    • In "The Last Resort", Terry teams up with a delinquent named Sean to escape from a brutal correctional school. After exposing the director's abuses of power Sean still tries to kill him despite Batman's protests, ruining the second chance he'd earned.
    • Terry still holds a soft spot for his former friend Charlie "Big Time" Bigelow, even though he's the one who got him his juvie sentence, and tries to help him go straight after he gets out of jail, but Charlie refuses to let go of his ambition to be a 'big time' criminal and exploits every chance Terry gives him to further that goal.
  • Justice League: In "The Doomsday Sanction", after trapping Doomsday, Superman offers him a chance to help them take down the organization Cadmus. Doomsday only says that he will never stop trying to kill Superman, so they are forced to send him to the Phantom Zone.
• The Dragon Prince: In Book 4, Viren contemplates letting go of his ambitions — which got him killed — and simply spending the time he has left with his daughter. Claudia slaps him and snaps that she didn't spend two years doing unspeakable things to resurrect him only to have him give up, and Viren relapses into his old power-hungry self when he reclaims his staff. However, Season 5 subverts this, as after using Dark Magic for the first time since he was resurrected, Viren undergoes a Vision Quest in which he realizes the wrongs he had committed and that he risks dragging Claudia down his footsteps if he proceeds any further in his journey. Instead, he ultimately decides to let the resurrection spell expire naturally rather than let himself be fully revived while he and Claudia are following Aaravos.
• Happens a lot in Gargoyles with Demona, largely because she's the queen of the Ignored Epiphany- she's several times offered a chance to change her ways, but ultimately never repents for more than about a minute. Goliath still seems to wish she'd find redemption, but no longer considers it a realistic possibility.
• Green Lantern: The Animated Series: Just like in the comics, Atrocitus wants to destroy the Guardians as revenge for their Manhunters wiping out almost all life in his sector. In "Homecoming", Hal admits that what the Manhunters did to the people of his sector was a tragedy, and that his rage was earned, but offers the Green Lanterns' aid in helping to rebuild the Forgotten Zone as restitution. However, Atrocitus is too far gone and consumed with hatred to take the offer.
  Atrocitus: You can help, Earth man. Your dying screams will help soothe the restless souls of our dead! [blasts at Hal]
• Hazbin Hotel: Cherri Bomb provides a rare positive example: when Angel Dust invites her to stay at the Hotel, Cherri politely declines, telling him that she's happy it's working out for him, but also that she prefers living her usual hedonistic life and assuring him that she'll be fine. Come season two, she changes her mind, both because she wants to be around to support Angel Dust on his own redemption and because she wants to get into Heaven in order to see Sir Pentious, who managed to redeem himself at the end of season one, again.
• In an episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002), He-Man offers a second chance to Evil-Lyn after rescuing her from a Fate Worse than Death at Skeletor's hands (long story) telling her that he was sent by someone who thinks she deserved one. (He-Man doesn't know that it was her father, but she clearly does.) Evil-Lynn does seem to consider it for a few brief minutes, but then quickly decides against it, knocking him down and saying, "Think I'll pass." Ironically, He-Man did tell himself "I'll probably regret this later", before he rescued her.
• The Legend of Vox Machina: In the episode "Cloak and Dagger", Percy (having previously rejected the idea of vengeance himself) is confronted with his rival, Anna Ripley, who has fully embraced the idea. When he finally defeats her and has the chance to kill her, he decides to offer her a chance at redemption as well, as her brilliant mind could be a genuine asset to the world. Ripley reaches out a hand to accept... then shoots him in the heart with a pistol hidden up her sleeve, killing him instantly.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • During the episode "Viva Las Pegasus" Applejack and Fluttershy are forced to pull an Enemy Mine with recurring villains Flim and Flam in order to bring down Gladmane. After all is said and done, Fluttershy hopes that the con ponies will feel good about using their skills to help others and change their ways — but the brothers quickly state that was a one-time thing only and go back to their normal behavior.
  • In "To Where and Back Again Part 2", as shown in the page image, Starlight Glimmer encourages Queen Chrysalis to become a positive leader to the newly-reformed changelings. Chrysalis seems tempted, then slaps Starlight's hoof away and vows revenge on her.
  • In "School Raze Part 2", when Cozy Glow is defeated, she refuses to repent or apologize for her crimes, so she is sentenced to Tartarus.
  • In "Frenemies", Grogar's Legion of Doom, consisting of Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow, slowly begin to realize that Good Feels Good when they complete their mission and discover they enjoyed working together. Before things go too far though, they realize what is happening and all refuse to become friends. Chrysalis in particular says that the Magic of Friendship is a disease, agreeing only to work together until they can find a way to get rid of Grogar and then they can all go back to trying to destroy each other.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Adora gives Catra chance after chance to leave the Horde, but Catra refuses to join the Rebellion because that would mean returning to Adora's shadow. After Catra nearly destroys the world out of spite, Adora concludes that she's been wasting her efforts.It's ultimately subverted when Catra decided to redeem herself and become a better person by saving Glimmer and joining the Rebellion.
• In the season 2 finale of Skylanders Academy, Spyro, having found out that his dragon family is alive in another dimension and having abandoned Master Eon because he was responsible for banishing them when he had no other choice, thinks his best shot at finding them is to seek help from the evil dragon king Malefor because of him having dimensional powers himself, despite the fact that their two dragon families are sworn-enemies to each other. Spyro says himself that he wants Malefor to do the right thing without them needing to fight or be enemies, but to Malefor, not only does he stick to the rivalry, but he also has a beef with Spyro because he helped convince Malefor's daughter Cynder to leave her birthplace. What happens is that Malefor beats down Spyro and takes him captive.
• In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "F.U.N", SpongeBob tries to make friends with Plankton in the hopes that having a friend will make him stop being evil. Plankton plays along, in the hopes that it will get him to the Krabby Patty secret formula, but he appears to be reformed by The Power of Friendship. Then SpongeBob catches him with a Krabby Patty, and this tearsome confession follows:
  Plankton: All right, it's true! I tricked you to get to the Krabby Patty, but then you showed me friendship; and now I realize... that's all I ever really wanted.
  SpongeBob: Really?
  Plankton: (grabs Krabby Patty) No, not really! Being evil is too much fun!
• In the Steven Universe episode, "Earthlings", Jasper's gem becomes corrupted and Steven attempts to heal her. However, Jasper shoves him away and rejects his help out of her hatred for Rose Quartz and a desire to not be seen as weak.
  • In Steven Universe: Future, Steven offers Bluebird Azurite, the fusion of Aquamarine and Eyeball Ruby, one last chance to change. They turn it down flat and Steven begrudgingly has to accept that while everyone can change, not everyone wants to.
• Transformers:
  • The Transformers: Near the end of the "Five Faces of Darkness" five-parter, Rodimus Prime offers Blitzwing, who had been helping the Autobots stop the Quintessons, to switch sides. Blitzwing of course refuses, espousing his loyalty to the Decepticons, but in a surprisingly polite and non-hostile manner considering the character's usual abrasive personality.
  • Happens near the end of the Transformers: Animated episode "Predacons Rising". When Bumblebee discovered that his former comrade Wasp has been mutated during a lab experiment while vowing revenge on Bee for (accidentally) imprisoning him for being a spy, Bumblebee feeling guilty about what he did, immediately apologizes to Wasp. Wasp's response? "Wasp... ...forgive... ...Bumblebot... ...BUT WASPINATOR NEVER FORGIVE!!!"
  • In Transformers: Prime, Dreadwing grows disillusioned with the Decepticons after finding out they turned his twin brother into a zombie robot. He delivers the Forge of Solus Prime to the Autobots hoping they will do some good with it. Optimus once again offers Dreadwing a place among the Autobots. Dreadwing refuses, claiming that just because he doesn't believe in the Decepticons anymore doesn't mean he's ready to believe in the Autobots. Dreadwing then tries to kill Starscream for turning his brother into a zombie and is shot in the back by Megatron when he refuses to stand down.
• In the finale of Wander Over Yonder, Wander offers Lord Dominator friendship, only for her to reject this, storming off into space.
• At the end of one episode of Xiaolin Showdown, after an Enemy Mine situation between Jack and the heroes that has resulted in a great victory against Wuya, Omi offers this chance to Jack; he considers it briefly, but then tells them it would never work out. (He does, however, offer to take them out for ice cream one day when they aren't fighting over Shen Gong Wu, saying he'll buy.)
  • Though later on he does sincerely try his hand at being a monk, only backing out of truly reforming out fear that he would hurt those who now care about him.

• The infamous pirate Edward Teach (better known as Blackbeard) was at one point pardoned and had the chance to reform himself. Blackbeard soon returned to piracy and continued to plunder the high seas, and paid for it in what may have been one of the toughest battles the British navy ever had to fight against pirates.
• Eddie Slovik (1920-1945) was the only American soldier since the American Civil War to be executed solely for desertion. During World War II, Slovik fled his unit in October 1944. He returned to headquarters later and, after admitting what he did, was offered not one but three chances to return to frontline combat duty without any punishment. Slovik refused and was promptly arrested; he was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. The death sentence came as a shock to Slovik; he had honestly expected to be imprisoned.