They started out on our screens and in our books as cruel, terrible, and evil. But over the course of their movie, show, or series, they managed to change our hearts by showing off their gentler side with acts of kindness. We're counting down the top ten villains who taught us that there can be more to a person than meets the eye. Warning! This list contains spoilers. 

10. The Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas

This may be one of the most well-known cases of someone who was once evil, turning good. The Grinch had a messed up childhood of being different - and getting bullied for it, causing him to hate all of the citizens of Whoville and everything about Christmas. But when Cindy comes along, she changes his life by making him care again. He takes away Christmas, only to return it once he's acknowledged his mistake. Once he realizes that not all people are bad and the good feeling of bringing joy and Christmas spirit, he changes completely.  

9. Maleficent 

This Disney remake showed Maleficent in a completely different way than Sleeping Beauty ever did. In this retelling, Maleficent doesn't become an evil dragon who despises Aurora, in fact, it's quite the opposite. She becomes the woman who ends up caring for Aurora and being the hero instead of Prince Charming. What was once hatred for a young girl, turns into love that is able to wake her from a spell. This movie shows us that a character we once always assumed was bad, could be completely different in a story told another way. 

8. Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender

On a mission to earn respect and admiration from his father, Zuko is sent to capture Aang and bring him back to the fire nation. With his uncle, the two go on the hunt for him, having several confrontations. However, Zuko soon begins to see the evil in his father and his army and joins Aang in fighting them - even helping Aang master the fire element by training him. Zuko's definitely one of our favorites when it comes to character development! You've got to have admiration for someone who is able to turn their back on their own family and everything they've ever known when they realize how corrupt and wrong it is. 

7. Damon Salvatore in the Vampire Diaries

When we're first introduced to Damon, we assume that he is responsible for all the vampire related deaths of humans happening during the first season. He's cunning, heartless and shows no alliance to his own brother, making us think that he's definitely the one to hold accountable. However, we soon find out the murders weren't due to him and over the next coming seasons, we watch him change completely. He teams up with Elena and Stefan, helping them on many occasions in doing the right thing. The sassy-badass attitude never goes away - but that's just the way we like it. 

6. Severus Snape in Harry Potter

This one may be a little different to the others. Snape is portrayed pretty villainous throughout all the Harry Potter movies, but his case is not a bad man turning good. In fact, he's revealed to be a man that was majority good for the entire series, simply following Dumbledore's instructions to work as a double agent for the Death Eaters. Sure, he actually was a part of the Death Eaters for a little while and maybe did some not okay things, but overall, he didn't seem like the worse guy. He also experienced his fair share of bullying from none other than Harry's dad and had to deal with the heartbreak of losing Lily, the love of his life. He's certainly one of the more complex characters out there, but there's no denying we see him in a completely different light after the Deathly Hallows. After all this time? Always. 

5. Theon Greyjoy in Game of Thrones

There's no denying it - Theon Greyjoy did some messed up sh*t. From killing farm children and just being his cocky arrogant self, he didn't start the series as the most favorable character. It wasn't until he was captured by Ramsay Bolton that we saw him change as a person altogether. After his horrific experience, he becomes known by his servant name 'Reek' and is conditioned to view himself at the lowest status and serve others. When he's finally rescued, he becomes Theon again, and a whole new man. His traumatic past experiences have changed him and it's likely we won't ever see him go down the bad path again. The arrogant Theon is gone and replaced by a man who is just happy to be alive. And after what he did for Sansa, he's a hero in our books. 

4. Gru in Despicable Me

This entire movie is centered around the fact that Gru is a villain who is trying to become the evilest villain out. He plans on stealing the moon, becoming powerful and having the world at his fingertips. But all that changes when he adopts three girls. They were meant to be a part of his plan and only used as pawns, but soon he finds himself caring for these girls and becoming like an actual father to them. The revelation causes him to become a hero for the orphan girls by putting them first and forgetting his evil plans out of pure love. Awwww

3. Chuck Bass in Gossip Girl

If anyone remembers the pilot episode of Gossip Girl, they'll probably also remember that Chuck Bass wasn't the nicest guy out. Throughout the entire first season, he was a playboy, mean, rich kid with a stupid haircut and ugly scarf. I remember hating him when I first started watching the show but being told by somebody to wait until I got to season 3 because then I would fall in love with him. At first, I thought they were out of their mind but wow, were they right. As the series grows, so does Chuck and we get to see him become an adult, deal with his feelings and try to make the best choices. It's a bumpy journey but pretty soon we find ourselves rooting for a character we once despised. 3 words 8 letters. 

2. All the OiTNB Prisoners

When we think of a prisoner, we probably automatically think of somebody who has done something terrible and deserves to be locked away. However, Orange is the New Black provides a different insight into this. These characters are already in prison after committing their crime, but what follows are their personal stories of hardship or backgrounds of mental illness that led them to that point. I'm not saying their crimes can be justified by that, but not a single character that is currently in Litchfield seems to be completely evil. (Minus Vee, she was pretty terrible).  With each character, we get to see what lead them to the certain point where they committed their crime or were pressured by somebody else to do it. We also get to see their life in prison and they're attempts to better themselves as people. If anything, Orange is the New Black has taught us that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to people in prison - and just like all humans, they made a mistake. The only difference is, they're paying for it. 

1. Darth Vader in Star Wars

I'll admit, that scene from Return of the Jedi still gets me sometimes. After three entire movies of Darth Vader doing evil things (Blowing up Alderaan, killing Obi Wan, ect.) it's hard to believe that this guy could ever be good. But right at the end of Episode VI, he surprises us all by killing the Emperor in order to save Luke. And as if that scene wasn't already emotional enough, then he slowly starts to die literally right after Luke takes him away from the Dark Side. Luke tells him "I'm not leaving you here, I've got to save you." To which he responds, "You already have."  I HAVE GROWN UP WITH THIS MOVIE, SEEN IT MORE TIMES THAN I CAN COUNT, AND YET, THAT PART WILL ALWAYS MAKE ME CRY. EVERY SINGLE TIME.  For his last act before death, Vader does a complete 180, and becomes Anakin again. It's tragically beautiful. Probably the best character development of all time. 

So that's that! Some of the top characters in history that have proven that everyone has a conscience and can improve themselves - even the bad guys.

Lastly, from Maleficent herself:

Do you have a favorite evil character-turned good that we didn't mention here? Leave them in the comments below!