Do you want to write a villain who transforms into a hero? This transformation is commonly known as a redemption arc.
Read on to discover more about redemption arcs, see examples of effective ones in popular literature, and learn how to write them well.
What is a Redemption Arc?
When an initially villainous character ends a story as a hero, their character arc can be described as a redemption arc. This character has been redeemed through their heroic acts.
Redemption Arc Meaning
Well-written redemption arcs have created some of the most beloved characters in fiction.
Redemption arcs carry deep resonance and meaning for many readers. They connect with a deep human desire for our flaws to be forgiven, and for our strongest qualities to be brought to light.
Redemption arcs infuse stories with hope that even the most reprehensible character can overcome their inner demons, and finally be appreciated for their best qualities.
How to Write a Redemption Arc: 4 Steps
Writing a convincing redemption arc is no easy task. To achieve this, you should take this character arc into account as you plan, write and edit your story, checking to see how well the arc works at each stage of your story.
Sometimes your story might feature a redemption arc for your protagonist; sometimes it might be your antagonist or another character who undergoes this transformation.
Because of the wide variety of options, I’ve created this four step guide to apply to any character in your story.
Be aware that showing convincing redemption arcs takes time, so in order to write one well, you’ll need to give whichever character undergoes the transformation enough page space to draw out the key issues.
This guide can be used as you plan, write, and edit your story.
Step One: Consider Character Psychology When Planning
Your character’s repressible tendencies will likely have arisen due to some early adversity, trauma or negative influence in their life.
In order to create a convincing redemption arc, you need to understand what it is that your character must first heal from in their past, before they can grow into a force for good.
This backstory development should help create a bond between reader and character so that the reader roots for the character to grow and develop.
It’s worth developing this backstory thoroughly off the page first, and then figuring out which aspects of the history should be brought into your story for the reader to see and engage with.
Step Two: Character’s Growth Must Have a Cause
A convincing redemption arc must be fully integrated within the action of your plot and character relationships. If it’s also integrated with your setting, that’s a strong bonus.
As you plan, write or edit your story, ensure that this redemption arc is an integral aspect of your plot, character and setting development.
If your redemption arc can be cut from the story with no harm done to the rest of your plot, character development, and themes, it’s not seamlessly integrated yet.
Step Three: Character Growth Should be Gradual
Redemption arcs are generally most effective when they’re shown in depth.
You can’t just tell a reader that a villain has become a hero. You need to show this coherently and believably.
One way to do this is to demonstrate the gradual shifting of a character’s mind-set through subtle changes in their behaviour, thoughts, emotions and speech as your story’s scenes progress.
Change is rarely consistent, and characters usually take some steps backward as they proceed along their redemption arc.
To prevent your readers getting virtual whiplash as they see your character flip forward then backwards in their growth journey, see if you can demonstrate subtle growth even as your character takes a step backwards. Maybe they feel more guilt as they carry out unethical actions, or perhaps their body language shifts to show a greater level of discomfort.
Step Four: Develop Your Character’s Psychological Journey
As you edit your story, ensure you’ve given your character’s psychological journey sufficient page-space and development. It’s useful to get reader feedback at this point, as it can be hard for you to see your character’s journey objectively.
Redemption arcs can be challenging to edit because you need to look at them on three levels: the macro, medium and micro.
A redemption arc should be seamlessly integrated within the macro-structure of your story arc. Check that you haven’t rushed the character development at the end, or drawn it out too slowly and confusingly in the middle.
At the medium-level, ensure the action and conflict within your scenes is having a direct impact on your character’s learning and growth.
At the micro-level, ensure your character’s perspective, attitude and language are all slowly shifting at a believable speed of progress.
Redemption Arc Examples
People love a good redemption arc, and these characters are some of the most troubled of them all.
Regina in Once Upon a Time
Evil Queen Regina, stepmother to Snow White, undergoes a substantial redemption arc throughout the course of this seven-season television series.
In the beginning, Regina’s a key antagonist, having cursed the town of Storybrooke. Over time, new antagonists and villains emerge and Regina, in her desire to protect the adopted son she loves, slowly grows into one of the story’s heroes.
This isn’t an instant transformation; it takes place over many seasons.
Regina’s a great example of why successful redemption arcs often work well in long-running series, where there’s time for extensive backstory exploration, shifting perspectives, and for characters to slip up in realistic ways as they slowly grow into more admirable people.
Jaime Lannister in George RR Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series
This is another example from a long-standing series, with five books and eight seasons. Over the course of the story, Jaime slowly develops from a violent killer into a more empathetic and honourable character. This comes about in part through his survival of difficult experiences, including losing his hand.
Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series
Here’s yet another example from a long series (seven books and eight films).
During Harry’s years at Hogwarts, our perspective of Snape shifts from that of the typical bullying teacher, into a character who’s well-rounded, relatable, and heavily troubled but on the right side of good vs evil. He is a tragic hero.
Snape’s flaw is linked with his redemption. His strong antipathy and bullying behaviour towards Harry turns out to have originated from his unrequited love for Harry’s mother. It’s also his love for her which causes Snape to sacrifice himself for her son in the end.
Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol
A classic example of a story’s protagonist undergoing a redemption arc. Scrooge begins the story miserly and mean, but he ends the story with generosity and empathy for others.
The entire story centres around the learning experience he undergoes, with visitations from the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. These experiences are what cause him to understand how his miserly instincts harm himself and others.
Boromir in JRR Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings
Boromir’s an interesting character. He’s not a traditional redemption arc character per se, rather a great example of a multi-layered character who struggles with his inner demons but is redeemed through his actions in the end.
Boromir is presented as a well-intentioned character, who nevertheless struggles with an innate desire for power.
For much of his journey with Frodo, Boromir keeps this desire controlled. But when the opportunity to seize great power presents itself, Boromir briefly succumbs. However, he redeems himself by fighting to save Frodo’s life, dying a heroic death in the process.
It should be noted that out of the five redemption arc character examples here, three of them die, and the other two have near-death experiences. Life and death stakes are common for these character types.
Tips to Write the Best Character Redemption Arcs
Integrate into the Overall Story Structure
How closely your redemption arc leads your overall story structure depends on which character undergoes redemption. If it’s your protagonist, then showing key pivot points in their character development happening alongside key plot points will be critical.
If a secondary character is undergoing redemption, then their pivot points might happen at slightly different times to the protagonist’s journey, and therefore not within the key plot points. Nevertheless, the more you integrate the secondary character’s redemption arc into the main story arc, the more powerful the redemption arc will feel.
Deeply Explore Emotions
It can be tricky to write a convincing redemption arc for a character who isn’t one of your point-of-view characters, because we aren’t able to get into their head to see their thoughts and emotions gradually shifting.
For example, as Regina begins to shift, we see more episodes of Once Upon a Time from her viewpoint, alongside a deeper dive into her backstory.
In Game of Thrones, it would be harder to connect with Jaime Lannister if we weren’t given scenes from his perspective.
Nevertheless, redemption arcs can still work for characters whose point-of-view we never gain access to, but you’ll need to find creative methods of showing us how the character’s emotions and perspective are developing.
In the Harry Potter series, it’s when Harry gains access to Snape’s memories through the Pensieve that we really begin to understand Snape’s motivations, and see his arc more clearly.
In The Lord of The Rings, Tolkein uses the device of the ring to show us much about Boromir’s thoughts and emotions, his craving for power as he eyes up the ring and seeks to seize it. Later on, we’re given insight into Boromir’s backstory through the words and actions of his father and brother.
Ultimately, though, it’s Boromir’s actions which first condemn and then redeem him.
Our lack of access to Boromir’s thoughts isn’t particularly problematic because his redemption arc is smaller-scale, not covering the entire trilogy. He’s not a profoundly evil man turning into an angel; he’s an all-too-human character with normal flaws finding redemption through sacrifice for a cause greater than himself.
Another way to handle redemption arcs for characters whose point-of-view we don’t see, is to show that this character may have been misperceived by the character whose point-of-view we do see. We see this to a degree with Snape: Harry’s point-of-view shifts once he gains access to Snape’s memories.
We also see this in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, when Elizabeth visits Pemberley and discovers Darcy is a much better, kinder person than she realized. This realization makes Darcy’s transformation from an arrogant, prideful suitor into a more empathetic romantic hero far more convincing than it would have been otherwise.
In general, however, it’s easier to write a convincing redemption arc if the reader is connected with this character’s thoughts, backstory and emotions.
Use Key Epiphany Moments
Change is difficult, and a process.
Although epiphany moments are powerful and important to a story, think of Jaime Lannister staring at his amputated sword-hand, these single-moments rarely work if we don’t see the character also really struggle to change throughout the story.
A villain can’t just realise the error of their ways and suddenly decide to be a hero. They need to conquer a multitude of inner demons first. This ongoing struggle is what makes them relatable to readers.
We all struggle to grow into the people we’d like to be: the immensity of this challenge is what makes redemption arcs so compelling to readers.
Conclusion
Characters only grow from villains into heroes after undergoing a real, meaningful struggle.
And they’re not the only ones.
Writing a successful redemption arc can present a real, meaningful struggle for writers too.
Writing a compelling redemption arc requires you to handle with skill all the most important aspects of storytelling: writing powerful emotions with strong resonance and without trite clichés; handling point-of-view narration with skill; integrating thoughts, dialogue and actions seamlessly to show gradual arcs of change through thematic lessons; presenting character relationships and interactions with just the right amount of subtlety and subtext; and integrating character arcs seamlessly with all the plotlines in your story.
Think of it this way: writing a strong redemption arc has the potential to teach you a huge amount within your own journey as a writer.
And so, to write a redemption arc, I recommend you follow in your character’s footsteps: embrace the challenge, and grow into the best writer you can be!