10 Video Game Villains Who Lived Long Enough To Become The Hero
Everybody loves a good redemption arc.
You’ve heard it a dozen times.
The Dark Knight’s “You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” has become one of the most well-known, and oft repeated, quotes in pop-culture.
But having the fall of Harvey Dent become a meme is probably not what the writers intended. Be it Hulk Hogan joining the Outsiders and forming the New World Order, Superman turning Tyrant in Injustice: Gods Among Us, or Luke Skywalker joining the reborn Palpatine in Dark Empire, seeing a hero fall is always a nasty shock, a moment of disappointment, heartbreak, even anger.
And yet, the greater the fall, the greater the catharsis, and seeing a villain join the light, or even better return to it, is a moment to bring the thunderous cheers from fans, reigniting faith in humanity and confirming the old adage that evil is not unbeatable. No one is beyond redemption.
In this article we’re diving into ten of the most famous Heel-Face turns in video gaming, celebrating the moments when villains did the right thing and wrote their legends into the history books.
10. The Arbiter - Halo
A
loyal soldier of the Covenant ‘Vadam was one their greatest sons,
serving
as the Supreme Commander of the Covenant fleet and
inflicting billions
of casualties on
humanity during the Human-Covenant war,
including
presiding
over the
infamous
fall of Reach.
Then it all went wrong.
Learning that the Covenant High Council had reneged on centuries old agreements with his species was bad enough, but learning that the Covenant religion was a lie and that the Halos were not holy relics but doomsday weapons intended to wipe out most of the life in the galaxy, and having the truth confirmed by a heretical human in the form of Master Chief, was the final straw.
‘Vadam switched sides. Forging an alliance with humanity, he would prevent the activation of the Halos, saving untold billions, and in time fight alongside Master Chief to defeat The Flood, saving untold billions more.
But his greatest achievement would be signing the peace treaty between his species and humanity, an act that would prompt Captain Thomas Lasky, a hero of humanity in his right, to say of him: "The Arbiter. Maybe more than any other figure, a symbol of what the galaxy could one day become."