Remorseful villains are characters who feel sorry for their past or present actions, but have not necessarily "turned good".

With almost every of these characters, their remorse can eventually lead to their redemption, but this is not always the case, as they can no longer fall under this category. Some of these villains may also move to another evil plan (usually a less evil one).

In many cases, a remorseful villain can also be a Villain by Proxy, as those never wished to be evil (however, not all remorseful villains are automatically Villains by Proxy, as it depends on how remorse they show.).

There are several reasons a villain can feel remorse, which includes:

• Feeling terrible for exceeding in their misdeeds, they may not truly redeem themselves in some cases but they still show real concern about their actions and the consequences that affect others and the villain(s) themselves.
• Helping another villain far eviler than them, unaware that they were tricked and then eventually get betrayed once they have no more use.
• Having committed atrocities in the past and now showing concern in the present on how to fix everything they've done.
• Realizing their schemes didn't go as they wanted and now want to either solve it with help of the heroes or do it themselves.
• Realizing that they were wrong all along about what they thought and believed was the right thing to do.'

Important Notes[]

• This category is solely intended for villains who have genuine remorse but don't redeem themselves anyway.
• Psychopaths/sociopaths usually do not show remorse for their actions because they tend to lack empathy, guilt, and/or emotional connections and act violent and twisted. However, exceptions can exist if they at least show some remorse for their actions in any way possible.
• HIGHLY IMPORTANT: For obvious reasons, Complete Monsters can NEVER be in this category as they completely lack empathy, never feel bad about their wrongdoings and as a result are utterly remorseless. Even if there was point in their life where they felt genuine remorse, they will drop their repentance facade once their needs and/or wants are fulfilled (e.g. Mari and SpongeBob SquarePants) Remorseful villains are portrayed in positive ways regardless of how terrible their acts they feel sorry for are. Therefore, if villains feel ANY remorse at all, then they are never Complete Monsters, despite the fact that they may never completely redeem themselves due to their acts. However, a remorseful villain can still be Near Pure Evil if their remorse is minimal and they meet all criteria (e.g Simon Fitzgerald).
• Also, DO NOT add these kinds of characters to this category, even if they are not Pure Evil:
  • Those who pretend to show remorse for their actions in an attempt to let the hero's guard down and kill them, these should go under Cowards and/or Trickster instead. (e.g. CyborSpy)
  • Those who give a sarcastic apology to their foes, they should go under Faux Affably Evil and/or Provoker instead (e. g. GentleSpy sarcastically apologized to his victims after he sadistically killed them.).
  • Those who merely regret not being able to commit the crimes or achieving their ambitions, or merely the failure of their crimes, instead of regretting their evil actions. these should go under Envious and/or Failure-Intolerant instead (e. g. Leader, Nightmare Medic and Doppelganger).
  • Those who look like they are feeling bad for their actions, but then proceed to attempt to attack/kill the hero(es) anyway. (e. g. C'h'ristian Brutal Sniper and SMG3's Gang).
  • Those who feel regret for a few specific acts they commit, but learn nothing from it and continue to commit more acts regardless.(e.g. William Afton (AUCFNAFT))
  • Those who used to feel regret for their actions, but not anymore.