8 Villains Who Made Good On Their Second Chance

Video game characters don't come much more "complicated" than God of War's Kratos, who despite being the protagonist of Sony's beloved action franchise, is hardly much of a hero - at least in the earlier Greek era of games.

Kratos' bloodthirsty quest for vengeance against the gods for manipulating him into killing his own family leads him down an extremely dark path, his mission leaving a massive trail of corpses in its wake, some of them totally innocent people.

But 2018's Norse-themed God of War reconvenes with a very different Kratos who now has a son, Atreus, and is desperately trying to leave his ultra-violent past behind him.

Sure, Kratos still kicks a whole lot of ass in the newer God of War games, but typically only when necessary and with considerably less sadistic relish than in his Greek days. 

The Kratos of the Norse era renounces his rage-filled past albeit without ever forgetting it, lest he be doomed to repeat it, while hoping to chart a more constructive path forward for Atreus. If that ain't character growth, what is?