Favorite acts of redemption

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Cathy C

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It's been sort of quiet in the room lately, so I thought it might be fun to play with some "what if" threads. A pretty common element of romance novels is one of the pair doing something stupid/thoughtless/misleading that causes the other person to become angry. Obviously, the act can't be anything so hideous that there's no coming back from it, but needs to be serious enough that there's a real question whether the other person is willing to forgive the act to reach the HEA.

So, let's say that the horrible thing has happened and one person is not speaking to the other one---for perfectly legitimate reasons. What is your favorite act of redemption? What is good enough to let the love shine through and let the anger fade?

My personal favorite is when the person who screwed up, in their grief, realizes what they did and knows that there's probably no fixing what is broke. But they do the "right thing" anyway and solve the other person's (or a third party's) problem, despite knowing it won't help get back their true love.

How about the rest of you? What's your favorite redemption (feel free to cite favorite books if you want.) :)
 

Renee J

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Mine is when you think the person who screwed up is lost forever (or that they were bad all along), but then they show up at the last minute to help save the day.
 

Pisco Sour

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My favourite kind of redemption involves pain and suffering for the person seeking to make up for his/her actions. And to qualify, silent pain and suffering, the kind their loved one will never know about because they don't dump it on them. Because that's the price they pay for what they did, otherwise it's not redemption. And if their loved one doesn't forgive them it doesn't matter. Like Cathy, I love it when there's probably no chance of finding the HEA but they do it anyway. Ah… Crikey, gotta go write now…
 

sunandshadow

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I like when a character knows they need to apologize to the person they offended, and do so with a good attitude, not grudgingly. A good act of apology is gathering up their patience and doing something that normally irritates them a lot but that they know will please the offended person. The choice of what to do should show that they truly want to please their offended partner, and exercizing their patience in a situation they wouldn't normally be in will ideally lead to them learning some kind of positive lesson.
 

Sandbar

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Forr me the most believable break-up-because-he's-done-something-dreadful thing is when Character B acts in such a way as to make Character A think he doesn't see her, that she's invisible or insignificant on a fairly large scale. So the corresponding act of redemption would be to not only negate that, but to exhibit such crystal clarity that there's no doubt left that it was a moment's stupidity rather than an ongoing pattern.
 

Ann_Mayburn

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It may make me a bitch, but I love it when the hero screws up then has to grovel. I mean big time groveling. Like he's a hot mess but doing everything he can to make things right with the leading lady. I also like grand gestures, like getting her name tattooed on him/selling his car so he can send her to college type of thing.
 

Rebe14

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I believe it's when the person who has done something unforgiving. And instead of fighting and begging they let the other one go.

Beauty and the Beast is a prime example. One of my favorite stories.

But also one of my all-time favorite books Daughter in the Forest by Juliet Marillier does a wonderful job of this.

It's about a girl who has to give up everything to save her six brothers. A suffer in silence, in the truest form. And then it turns into a kinda romance, that's one of the most well-written Fantasy novels I've ever read. I seriously recommend it. :)
 

slicing_angel2003

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My favorite are those characters who hurt the significant other out of necessity, such as lying to lead the villain in the wrong direction or letting the villain kidnap them because fighting back would be too dangerous. Then the character has to fight through heck and creation to set it right somehow. They fix the problem, lay their cards on the table and let the significant other decide. If they're forgiven then they have their HEA and if not then it's just part of saving your loved one (and I silently feel the need to slap the significant other).
 

HSLane

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If the character did something or participated in some activity that he promised not to do, then him/her giving up said activity (and faithfully abstaining from it) takes the cake for me. Bonus points if the activity had some kind of material significance to him/her.
 

Katallina

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I like it when a situation escalates, the 'redemptive' character role shifting so that neither character is the 'bad' guy for a bulk of the book. I feel that in a worthwhile relationship this seems more believable. I also care about whether it makes sense that the action(s) taken by the character(s) were needed--either directly or because they are true to the characters--rather than being stupid things that only serve the plot. If one character just continues to screw up again and again, I tend to lose patience with them for doing so, and with their love interest for going back / tolerating it again and again.
 
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