Once a hero, always a hero. The January 10 episode of Days of Our Lives revealed that John had performed even more good deeds than we — or he! — realized.

Though Konstantin believed that the erstwhile Pawn had killed his daughter Catharina, it turns out that John had actually only made it look like she was dead. Why? As Cat explained to Marlena, her grandmother Elizabeth had been trapped in a horribly abusive marriage to Konstantin. Desperate to break free, Elizabeth had reached out to Victor for help.So far as John could recall, he’d gone to Greece on Victor’s orders to issue a warning — one that had gone terribly awry and left Catharina dead. But he’d actually flown overseas to help Elizabeth fake Catharina’s death. Once Konstantin believed that she had perished, Elizabeth was able to leave the villain and raise her daughter in secret in the States.

The twist is a bittersweet one for fans. On one hand, it’s lovely to get confirmation of John’s innocence. (As if we ever thought he could’ve done it.) On the other, it’s heartbreaking that John isn’t around to breathe a well-earned sigh of relief at the discovery of the truth. As we know all too well, the character will not survive the special assignment that he is on for Shane, owing to the real-life passing of Drake Hogestyn, whose absence will forever be keenly felt.