When a character is tempted to do a Face–Heel Turn or a Heel–Face Turn, it is often the result of much Character Development in their lives, forcing them to weigh their nature, goals, loves, and even hates in balance. It is by no means a simple or trivial matter, so we here at TV Tropes have decided to make discovering the likelihood of such an event for a character simpler. But since we already have a TV Tropes Wiki Drinking Game, we decided to make it a sorting algorithm instead!
To use the Algorithm, take each column's "Score", divide it by the number of applicable rows in the column, repeat for every column, and add the results together. Post your results in the WMG page for this article, where these tables have been copied for your convenience.
The Algorithms
| Likelihood of turning Face | Never | Highly unlikely | Who knows? | Quite probable | "I've seen the light." |
| Score: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Species if there are multiple species | Inhuman: Eldritch Abomination, Demons, The Fair Folk, Always Chaotic Evil, Starfish Aliens | Humanoid: Rubber-Forehead Aliens, human looking androids, some vampires | Humans, Human Aliens, Animals | Pretty: Green-Skinned Space Babe, elves, Superior Species | Rare and special (Last of His Kind, Half-Human Hybrid) |
| Gender | Ambiguous Gender | Male, Sex Shifter | Genderless and stoic, Hermaphrodite, One-Gender Race | Female | Genderless but outgoing |
| Age | Older | Children such as Creepy Child, Enfant Terrible | Middle Aged | Young Adult | Teenagers such as Troubled, but Cute, Broken Bird, Dark Magical Girl |
| Role | Leader or the one Big Bad, Faceless Mooks | Opportunists | Middle Ground, members of the Quirky Miniboss Squad | High ranking supporters of the Big Bad, such as The Dragon | Freelancers such as Rival Turned Evil, Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy |
| Aesthetics | One-Winged Angel, Across the Bishōnen Line, Reptile-themed | One seriously creepy part: Red Right Hand, Glamour Failure | Plain-looking, Genuinely ugly, Creepy Awesome, Monstrous | Unnaturally Beautiful | Gorgeous Gorgon, Cute Monster Girl, Pretty, Ugly Cute |
| Motivation for doing evil | Complete Monster, Plain likes being evil, For the Evulz | Unscrupulous with some kind of goal: Money, For Science!, power, or Blue-and-Orange Morality | Hubris and Worldview: Straw Nihilist, Social Darwinist, The Unfettered, Obliviously Evil, or sheer anger and despair (Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, Rival Turned Evil) | Means Well: Knight Templar, Well-Intentioned Extremist | Love and Loyalty: My Master, Right or Wrong, My Country, Right or Wrong, "Well Done, Son" Guy or alternatively, Forced into Evil |
| Characterization | Flat Character, Hate Sink, Obviously Evil, Card-Carrying Villain | Checking off the Seven Deadly Sins, strange and erratic, plain nuts | Lawful Evil, cold blooded | Possesses honor: Even Evil Has Standards, Graceful Loser, Worthy Opponent, Noble Demon | Someone very lost and confused, Rounded Character |
| Contentness with life in general and evil in particular | Enjoying every minute | Doing well | Neutral | Life is hard | Angst, angst, angst... |
| Morality of the story | Black-and-Gray Morality, Evil Versus Evil | Black-and-White Morality | Grey-and-Gray Morality | The Good, the Bad, and the Evil, Morality Kitchen Sink | Rousseau Was Right, White-and-Grey Morality |
| Idealism of the story | Very Cynical | | | | Very Idealistic |
| Likelihood of turning Heel | Never | Highly unlikely | Who knows? | Quite probable | "Muhahaha!" |
| Score: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Species if there are others besides humans | Rare and special (Last of His Kind, Half-Human Hybrid), Little People, Civilized Animals, Proud Warrior Race, Token Heroic Orc | Pleasant sapients: Green-Skinned Space Babe, Friendly Neighbourhood Vampire, elves, Little Bit Beastly, Cute Monster Girl | Superior Species, Humans, Other Animals, Not Quite Human | Anything inhuman that looks creepy, anything just human enough to look creepy | The Fair Folk, Sentient technology: Cyborgs, uncannily clever AI |
| Gender | Genderless but outgoing | Sex Shifter, Hermaphrodite | Female, One-Gender Race | Male | Genderless and stoic, Ambiguous Gender |
| Age | Children Are Innocent | Older and Wiser | Middle Aged | Teenager | Young Adult |
| Role | The Hero | Faceless soldier | True Companions | Freelancer | Second-in-command such as The Lancer |
| Aesthetics | Cute, pretty, or attractive, Ugly Cute | Dignified | Average, Genuinely ugly | A bit predatory (such as yellow eyes) or somewhat "gothic" (such as Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette) | Attractively scarred, sexy and seductive or otherworldly such as white hair, red eyes |
| Motivation for doing good | Good Feels Good, compassion | Love and loyalty | Worldview and honor such as The Fettered, Defector from Decadence | Habit, Blue-and-Orange Morality | Actually, why? Or for the glory |
| Characterization | Evil can't touch them: Incorruptible Pure Pureness, All-Loving Hero, The Fool | Won't sink any lower than this: Anti-Hero, Byronic Hero | Surly, bitter | Bordering on hubris: Hotheaded, arrogant, likes to play with dangerous stuff | Loners Are Freaks, or Les Collaborateurs |
| Contentness with life in general and good in particular | Enjoying every minute | Doing well | Neutral | Life is hard | Angst, angst, angst... |
| Morality of the story | Rousseau Was Right, White-and-Grey Morality, Good Versus Good | Black-and-White Morality | The Good, the Bad, and the Evil, Morality Kitchen Sink | Grey-and-Gray Morality | Black-and-Gray Morality |
| Cynicism of the story | Very Idealistic | | | | Very Cynical |
Examples:
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Fan Works
EXO
- Reminiscencia: The traitor amongst the Reminiscentes' ranks turns out to be Luhan for whom Being Good Sucks. His body is ill-equipped to accommodate his powers to the point that he can't leave the base or leave behind the Magitek wires on pain of crippling migraines. Falling frees him from those limitations. Furthermore, he's described as attractive but in an almost inhumane way—too perfect, too doll-like. The story is fairly cynical with a complex morality, ensuring no character is safe from turning coats.
WinxVerse
- 【Amaranthine Shadows】: The fic's premise hinges on Musa's eventual betrayal, which is brought about by several reasons but is depicted as very unexpected—after all, Musa is characterized as a kind-hearted fairy who does good because it's the right thing and is part of a team of True Companions. Her reason to join Darcy is motivated because the quest to obtain the Water Stars had the steepest cost of all on her, as it required her to give up the opportunity to resurrect her mother, and it was absolutely wasted by Bloom's posterior actions. In fact, even after Bloom dies, the other Winx girls still worry for her well-being.
Literature
- Claroscuro: The fact that Roncefier falls to the far end as a direct result of the first three acts' events should, in hindsight, come as a surprise to no-one. He's a prideful, middle-aged knight in shining armor who does good out of duty to his noble house and was appointed to lead a campaign into horrific lands in an extremely cynical setting with Grey-and-Black Morality. It doesn't help his task is bordering on impossible and, as a result, increasingly pragmatic and callous means are needed to even retrieve one Sun key.
Visual Novels
- Melody (2019): Bethany, having behaved sociopathically up to this point, finally accepts the romantic relationship between MC and Melody. She has a favorable demographic (a beautiful young woman) for seeing the light, but her individual character makes it seem forced.
Western Animation
- Miraculous Ladybug: Chloé Bourgeois, resident Alpha Bitch and the protagonist's main tormentor during the first two seasons, appeared to have been undergoing a redemption arc only for it to become, as fans call it, a damnation arc instead. In the second season, her Freudian Excuse for being an obnoxious, classist, and bullying attention whore is revealed—she's modeling herself after her mother because she desperately wants said mother to notice her and be proud of her. Then, with the help of Adrien and a long-suffering Ladybug, she starts doing good deeds and having more patience. Yet, her score on the algorithm is low enough that Chloé ultimately doesn't change her ways and even doubles down by joining the Big Bad.
