Thread:Mesektet/@comment-27729149-20151002041329/@comment-3581997-20151010234252

Well The best exampe I can think of that sort of conflict is Lady/Grace from Shadow Hearts: From the New World. In Grace's case she was a girl who was being brought back from the dead with her brother. Her father, the one preforming the ritual/experiment was inexperienced at the magical elements and Grace was being brought back but there was not enough spirit energy to restore her brother's soul. Grace sees this and gives up her's to stabilize her brother. Ritual is completed, smoke clears, "Grace" walks out of her test-tube past her father who tries to stop her to see how she is, "Grace" deals with the minor incontinence of someone in her path by killing the man outright and just walking past him. Grace was Pure of heart and the new Lady is a soulless creature of malice, though not quite a Complete Monster (since she doesn't go out of her way to hurt others she just mows them down.)

Now even if Lady was a Complete Monster with Grace being Pure of heart we would probably do what was done in that case. Grace is labeled as a Pure of heart here, and Lady would be labeled as a Complete Monster on Villains wiki. She may not be possessed as much as her soul was obliterated but for all intensive purposes we are talking about 2 different characters at that point. The effect is permanent but they neither naturally became that way, nor can the damage be undone. Those situations are unlike brainwashing or possession because the person involved wasn't removed from their body or placed under a temporary spell or control-collar or whatever, they have ceased to be.

Now this doesn't work for say Kefka, because not only do we not know who he was really before he became Dr Evil Mc A-hole, but whoever that character was is no loner involved in the story so who can say. This also doesn't work with say The Joker, because he was never Pure of heart, he was just a stand up guy before his life fell apart. But as demonstrated with Lady it can work conceptually to have the original labeled as a Pure of heart here and a Complete Monster on Villains wiki. Be aware though these are by in large exception to the rule based on circumstance, I've said before reincarnation can be an exception to this transformation, which is effectively what that sort of situation is.