Favorite female villains that get redemption arcs (Bond girls or similar characters don`t count)?

[DMC]

26 minutes ago, Vaughn said:

enslaving people for liquor money

....you mean the prisoners with jobs?

[HexMachina]

Helena from Orphan Black. Starts as the out and out villain and is full sestra by the end.

I wanted to say Rachel too but I don’t think that she is ‘redeemed’ in the series.

[DanteGabriel]

9 hours ago, Vaughn said:

 

Summer on 'the OC'

By the same token, maybe Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl as well.

[Annara Snow]

18 hours ago, TheLastWolf said:

Cordelia in Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel

Sansa in the Abomination 

Alexis Rose in Schitt's Creek 

Cordelia was never a villain. She was just a "Mean Girl" high school antagonist.

But the first one that comes to mind is from Buffyverse - Faith. Also, Darla on Angel (kind of), and if we count main characters turned villainous turned good again, Willow (though she was only a villain for a few episodes)

Octavia Blake (The 100) - also in the category of main characters who turned into a villain, then got redemption - and her villainous period was a full season long, unlike Willow. Diyoza from the same show may also count. (But not Echo, because she never got a real redemption arc, it was just crappy writing where they suddenly expected viewers to accept a former villain as one of the good guys.)

Regina on Once Upon a Time (I dropped Once Upon a Time during season 2, but she definitely counts, doesn't she? she was a real villain at the start of season 1)

Raina on Agents of SHIELD

Caprica and Athena on BSG (already mentioned)

YMMV if Empress Georgiu on Star Trek: Discovery or the moms from Runaways count

[DMC]

2 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Helena from Orphan Black.

Self-promoter!

18 minutes ago, Annara Snow said:

Regina on Once Upon a Time (I dropped Once Upon a Time during season 2, but she definitely counts, doesn't she? she was a real villain at the start of season 1)

Oh, that's a good one!  While I'm fairly ashamed to admit I watched that show throughout (or until its weird reboot), Regina is the main villain in Season 1 and basically fully redeemed by Season 3 IIRC.

[Poobah]

Would someone like Aeryn Sun from Farscape count?

She's never a villain in the present of the show and is merely somewhat of an antagonist in the first episode, but as an ex-Peacekeeper she certainly was a villain and we get some info on some of the bad stuff she did in various flashbacks and reveals. Her arc throughout the show is about her growth as a person.

It's true that she doesn't really live the villain redemption arc trope in the same way that Crais does though.

[Annara Snow]

7 minutes ago, Poobah said:

Would someone like Aeryn Sun from Farscape count?

She's never a villain in the present of the show and is merely somewhat of an antagonist in the first episode, but as an ex-Peacekeeper she certainly was a villain and we get some info on some of the bad stuff she did in various flashbacks and reveals. Her arc throughout the show is about her growth as a person.

It's true that she doesn't really live the villain redemption arc trope in the same way that Crais does though.

Xena would also count in that case.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Meetra Surik

The Exile from KOTOR 2 is canonical female with the redemption ending.

Yes, DMC reminded me by bringing up the Sith in the US politics thread.

[TheLastWolf]

13 hours ago, Inkdaub said:

14 hours ago, Vaughn said:

Dolores Umbridge

You're a bad person

Yes. Really bad. Umbridge was obnoxious, snobby, racist, elitist, conservative extremist and a plain old bitch, pain in the ass 

17 hours ago, GallowKnight said:

Doesn't Gal Gadot's Fast & Furious character start as a villain in whatever movie she debuted in?

Grey character like most in the F&F franchise 

13 hours ago, Vaughn said:

Valkyrie from Thor should count because she was, you know, enslaving people for liquor money but it was presented more as being a victim of circumstance than a villain

[Werthead]

Helena from Orphan Black. Almost Rachel as well, although she backslides a few times.

Admiral Cain in Battlestar Galactica showed some signs of redemption before being offed. Obviously the various Sixes and Eights/Boomers/Sharons.

Cordelia, Willow, Faith, Darla, Anya, Harmony and Illyria in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (arguably Anne as well, but she was a bit low-key as a character).

Asajj Ventress in The Clone Wars (more semi-redeemed than actually redeemed but okay).

Kai Winn on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, although she couldn't quite make it stick until the very last moment.

Clarissa Mao on The Expanse (arguably).

Missy on Doctor Who (again, it didn't quite stick and certainly not past her next regeneration).

Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager, though that is debatable.

Xena in Hercules: The Legendary Journey and Xena: Warrior Princess (possibly the most elaborate redemption arc of them all).

Azula sort of redeems herself in the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics, but not in the show itself, although Ty Lee and Mai were redeemed in the series itself.

Nebula in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (also arguably Gamora, but her redemption arc was already mostly done by the time she showed up). Some people might say Scarlet Witch, but I'm not sure her being hoodwinked by a robot for 5 minutes really counts as her starting off evil. Ghost is another good possibility.

Princess Sorsha in Willow.

Regina in Once Upon a Time.

Root in Person of Interest.

Catwoman in a lot of iterations of the Batman franchise.

 

In video games it's an even shorter list. Sadie Adler from Red Dead Redemption 2 is a probably not (starts off as an outlaw and becomes a more respectable citizen, but she was pushed into becoming an outlaw for fairly good reasons and is never a villain working against your interests as Arthur).

Kerrigan from StarCraft I'm tempted to say not: the games massively retcon her motivations every five minutes and whenever she's maximum evil, it's because she's under the Zerg influence, so it's questionable how much of her redemption arc is down to her and down to things beyond her control.

Arguably Maieve Shadowsong and Sylvanas Windrunner in the WarCraft games.

Iden Versio from Star Wars: Battlefront II.

Doesn't Ada Wong in Resident Evil become more of an ally in later games (not played enough to know)?

GLaDOS in Portal 2.

Judith Mossman in Half-Life, although we don't know if her redemption has stuck.

[DMC]

4 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Some people might say Scarlet Witch, but I'm not sure her being hoodwinked by a robot for 5 minutes really counts as her starting off evil.

Well she does give Tony the impetus to create the murderbot at all costs in the first place.

Ventress is a good one, although from what I read on Wookiepedia sounds like she more thoroughly completes her redemption arc in..other media I'm assuming?  Novels?

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Xena started off evil?

[Vaughn]

11 hours ago, TheLastWolf said:

Yes. Really bad. Umbridge was obnoxious, snobby, racist, elitist, conservative extremist and a plain old bitch, pain in the ass

All authors write themselves into their works somehow, right? You are all right of course, Umbridge is the most detestable character in HP.

Azula redeemed herself? I'll have to check out those comics sometime.

Fennec on 'the Mandalorian', although she wasn't a 'big bad' but minor villain in the course of the story.

[Annara Snow]

1 hour ago, Werthead said:

 

Admiral Cain in Battlestar Galactica showed some signs of redemption before being offed. Obviously the various Sixes and Eights/Boomers/Sharons.

(..)

Kai Winn on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, although she couldn't quite make it stick until the very last moment.

 

Did she? I don't think Cain had any signs of potential redemption, or any moments where she questioned or regretted her decisions.

Kai Winn didn't either - momentarily questioning your evil ways doesn't a redemption arc make.

[Werthead]

33 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Xena started off evil?

Oh yeah, in Hercules she was a bad guy for a couple of episodes, then Hercules set out to redeem her and she eventually decided to start making up for her evil ways in an entire spin-off show. Pretty much the same deal as Angel in Buffy and then this own show.

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Azula redeemed herself? I'll have to check out those comics sometime.

It's a bit borderline whether you can say she redeemed herself, especially as the franchise didn't really make it clear if Azula was really evil by choice or was actually mentally ill. She did save Zuko a couple of times.

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Did she? I don't think Cain had any signs of potential redemption, or any moments where she questioned or regretted her decisions.

That's what the whole arc was about. She reverses her order to assassinate Adama at the last minute, indicating that she was willing to at least moderate her behaviour, although I agree she was unlikely to ever really apologise for it. But she did show some capacity for growth and redemption before Gina plugged her, and Starbuck indicates that during her eulogy.

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Kai Winn didn't either - momentarily questioning your evil ways doesn't a redemption arc make.

Winn saved Jake during the Pah-Wraith/Prophet showdown (inadvertently setting up the entire rest of the series at that point) and was willing to defy the Dominion after realising what a shitheel Weyoun was (in In the Cards), plus at one point she tears down Kira by pointing out her own resistance to the Cardassians and spending years and years in a concentration camp. She does waver a few times from selfishness, but only really throws in with Dukat and the Pah-Wraiths at the end, and then recants (briefly distracting Dukat and helping Sisko defeat him for good).

[Vaughn]

5 minutes ago, Werthead said:

It's a bit borderline whether you can say she redeemed herself, especially as the franchise didn't really make it clear if Azula was really evil by choice or was actually mentally ill. She did save Zuko a couple of times.

If we're going to start labeling the mentally ill as not really evil (a reasonable take, within limits), a reassessment of a lot of DC and horror villains maybe required.

As for Cain, not being the worst isn't exactly the same as redemption to me.

 

[Fez]

Off the top of my head from video games:

Glory in Shadowrun: Dragonfall goes from basically soulless cybernetic that's done a lot of really bad stuff (including torturing children) to somewhat redeemed and re-humanized mercenary that's on a vigilante kick.

Yotsuyu in Final Fantasy XIV maybe counts; or maybe she just gets a sudden face-turn near the end of her involvement in the story. Depends on your point of view.

Depending on your choices, a female main character in Tyranny. Though maybe that doesn't count, since you could be a male main character instead. Also, you can totally stay evil if you want.

A female Boss in the Saints Row series goes from nobody to gangbanger to heinous criminal kingpin to friendly criminal kingpin to goofy corrupt US president to heroic defender of humanity. Though you could be a male Boss instead.

I'm sure I could think of others, especially from JRPGs. But I don't know if I would count any as my "favorite".

[Annara Snow]

20 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Oh yeah, in Hercules she was a bad guy for a couple of episodes, then Hercules set out to redeem her and she eventually decided to start making up for her evil ways in an entire spin-off show. Pretty much the same deal as Angel in Buffy and then this own show.

Yep. And there are quite a few Xena/Angel parallels, they even have a lot of similar plots. Just comparing XtWP and AtS:

Spoiler

Xena = Angel

Hercules = Buffy

Gabrielle = Cordelia

Ares = Darla

Calisto = Holtz

Eve = Connor

As for Cain, what  @Vaughn said. Winn seemed like she was going to get a redemption, then she did not. She was a Bajoran leader, there was no reason to think she would be in favor of the Dominion or Cardassians, but the question was if her ego and love of power would outweigh everything - and it did.

Generally, I think people often throw around the word "redemption" too often when it comes to fictional characters (that goes to male villains, too). That's why I put a "kind of" qualifier with some of my picks too (like Raina in AoS or Darla in AtS - they didn't really undergo a redemption arcs; the former realized what her true purpose was, which was always her motivation, but it happened to put her on the side of the "good guys" for once, and Darla finally found something she cared about enough to overcome the soulless vampire thing).

[broken one]

Kriss de Valnor from Thorgal. I know her only from her villain times but I know she redeemed in "Kriss dle Valnor" album. Sort of.  She is nasty, but likeable. 

[Vaughn]

49 minutes ago, Annara Snow said:

Generally, I think people often throw around the word "redemption" too often when it comes to fictional characters (that goes to male villains, too).

Bingo. Zuko and Nebula are true redemption arks but too often just being less evil is framed as redemption vs. a mere return to a minimum basic acceptable level of behavior.