History Main / TearsofRemorse

* Meg in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' crumpled to the ground in tears after Hades revealed her betrayal to Hercules. This was made even worse by the fact that the hero had given up his incredible strength to rescue her.
* If you look closely, you can see that in ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'', Diego has tears in his eyes when he realizes that Manny forgives the humans for killing his wife and child and that he nonetheless is willing to helping the humans to get their baby back, while Diego himself is about to lead Manny, Sid, and the baby into an ambush to his pack.

* In the 1978 film ''Anime/RingingBell'', after Chirin tries and fails on protecting a bird's nest and it's eggs. Chirin starts crying to himself, especially after [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he accidentally crushes all of the mother bird's eggs]].

* Kahlua from ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'' might as well be the codifier, as every time she weeps, it's because she's about to kill somebody, despite her truly gentle nature.

** Shining Armor does this several times as he [[GuiltComplex beats himself up over his mistakes]]. The first time is when he's being taken away from Canterlot. The next when Cadance tells him how Twilight helped them to become a couple (both before and after the recount). And again when he and his sister finally reconcile.
** Spike when he's left alone in a dark forest and discovers that Jewelius has given him the wedding cake toppers [[KickTheDog as a cruel reminder]] of turning his back on Twilight.

* In the ''[[WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SuperMarioGlitchy4]]'' episode "Meggy's Boot Camp", this is how Meggy [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone reacts]] upon realizing that her attempts to win the upcoming Splatfest by pushing her teammates to train harder has resulted in her becoming a [[TookALevelInJerkass massive jerk]] and [[TrainingFromHell borderline abusive to them]].

* ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'': Occurs in [[Recap/Doraemon1979E1759SoapBubbles "Soap Bubbles"]]. Noby's friends cry tears of remorse after the Soap Bubble Straw forces them to feel guilty.

** In "Dying For Pie", Squidward sheds these when he thinks [=SpongeBob=] has exploded.

* Used to powerful effect in ''Literature/LesMiserables'': Hardened ex-convict Jean Valjean has never shed a tear since he was imprisoned nineteen tears ago. But in the midst of his inner conflict after the Bishop of Digne shows him mercy when he least deserves it, he instinctively and half-consciously robs a little boy of a forty-sous coin. When he finally comes out of his mental fog and [[HeelRealization realizes what he's done]], he tries desperately to find the boy and give him back his money, and after failing to do so, he collapses and sobs for hours in remorse. This marks the beginning of his [[HeelFaceTurn transformation]] into a virtuous hero.

* [[spoiler:Shizuru, after being resurrected]] in ''Anime/MaiHime''. Considering her usually calm demeanor, this comes off as quite shocking.

** In "Dying For Pie", Squidward sheds these when he thinks SpongeBob has exploded.

* In the 1978 film ''Anime/RingingBell'', after Chirin tries and fails on protecting a bird's nest and it's eggs. Chirin starts crying to himself, especially after he accidentally crushes all of the mother bird's eggs.

-->'''Roo:''' ''*sobbing*'' ItsAllMyFault! He never would've left if it wasn't cause of me. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone I didn't mean to make him feel bad.]] I just...I just wanted him to be my big brother...

* ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'': [[http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F141.jpg here]]
-->''Sizemore, you weep for those you have ended. I love you for that.''
* ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'': [[http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2003-09-16 From a crippling case of self-hatred.]]

* ''Webcomic/MegaTokyo'':
** [[http://megatokyo.com/strip/872 after Piro stands up for himself against emotional abuse]]
** [[http://megatokyo.com/strip/1028 What kind of magical girl hurts people?]]
* ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'': Shelly still feels guilty about her mom's death: [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/04272005/ "I couldn't call for help"]]

* In ''Webcomic/TheBeastLegion'', Gorgorath [[http://www.thebeastlegion.com/issue-04-page-33-what-remains/ asks Xeus to kill him]] after being defeated repenting for his sins.
* In ''Webcomic/EvilDiva'', [[http://www.evildivacomics.com/?p=1718 after deceiving the boy she was interested in.]]

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', Barry was crying when he put the locket on Agatha (in a flashback). She needs it to protect her, but [[DirtyBusiness it will damp her down and make her unhappy]].
* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Vaarsuvius cries some heartfelt and quite, until then, uncharacteristic TearsOfRemorse in strip #843. For a very, very good and spoilerific reason.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Terezi tricks Dave into creating a doomed version of himself and then tries to persuade him to kill his doomed clone. [[spoiler:Dave refuses, and leaves his clone sleeping on the Quest Bed. As soon as doomed Dave wakes up and steps off the Quest Bed, Jack Noir teleports in and slices his throat. This causes Terezi to feel guilty for killing the Dave, and she runs away from the lab to cry.]]

* ''Anime/{{Death Note}}
* Light Yagami cries before he dies

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Believe it or not, [[spoiler:Missy]] of all characters has these at the end of [[spoiler:Lie Of The Land]] when thinking of all of [[spoiler:her]] victims, as part of [[spoiler:her]] process of attempting to undergo a HeelFaceTurn. The Doctor says it's a good sign of progress.
** Both she and the Doctor are crying in ''The Doctor Falls'' when he asks her to stand with him and she has to turn him down. It's their last conversation before both these incarnations die, and their next ones both think they betrayed the other.

* Andrew in the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Storyteller". After several attempts to justify the murder of Jonathan, he breaks down crying as he realizes he killed his only true friend in cold blood.
* Faith in ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "Five by Five". She agrees to take assassination contract to Angel but keeps giving him openings he doesn't use. Eventually she's rendered a sobbing wreck, revealing that she was trying to get Angel to kill her in order to stop her past crimes from haunting her.

* Squard from ''Manga/OnePiece'' does this after [[spoiler: he betrayed Whitebeard and stabbed him in the chest. When he realizes that the Marines played him like a fiddle, and that Whitebeard still considers him a "son", Squad breaks down sobbing]].

* ''FanFic/AProtectorsPride''. Yuzu is depressed and tearful in the epilogue over having enjoyed seeing [[spoiler:Hell]] suffer and having wanted to see more of it, until Ichigo talks it over with her.

* If you look closely, you can see that in ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'', Diego has tears in his eyes when he realizes that Manny forgives the humans for killing his wife and child and that he nonetheless is willing to helping the humans to get their baby back, while Diego himself is about to lead Manny, Sid and the baby into an ambush to his pack.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', [[spoiler: [[BloodKnight The Hound]]]] literally ''[[ManlyTears sobs]]'' when he recounts not interfering when the Kingsguard beat [[spoiler:Sansa]], threatening her with a knife, and trying to rape her, to her younger sister. However, it's also implied that he [[spoiler:might regret not having raped her]], although he may have just said that to piss off the sister.
* ''Literature/SisterhoodSeries'' by Creator/FernMichaels: Alexis Thorne in ''Lethal Justice'' says that Roland Sullivan was apparently shedding these kind of tears at her trial, after he helped Arden Gillespie frame Alexis. However, Alexis knows that Roland must have [[IgnoredEpiphany Ignored the Epiphany]] afterwards, so she has little sympathy for him.

* Faith in ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "Five by Five". She agrees to take assassination contract to Angel, but keeps giving him openings he doesn't use. Eventually she's rendered sobbing wreck, revealing that she was trying to get Angel to kill her in order to stop her past crimes from haunting her.

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' offers us some examples. For example, in "Mosley Lane", as he's spreading the ashes [[spoiler:of a boy his wife has cremated alive]], Roger Roycewood tells a woman in the graveyard that he likes to think to roses as the souls of forgotten people. Although he doesn't acutally shed tears, his voice breaks and he sniffs. Then he gets back to his role as accomplice of the MonsterOfTheWeek.

* In Music/FallOutBoy's music video series The Youngblood Chronicles, Patrick becomes BrainwashedAndCrazy and goes into violent episodes whenever he experiences a certain trigger. During one of these episodes in ''Where Did The Party Go'', he [[spoiler:kills Joe]]. Once he snaps out of it and realizes what he's done, he starts crying helplessly as the rest of the band look on in horror.

[[folder:Videogames]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Terezi tricks Dave into creating a doomed version of himself, and then tries to persuade him to kill his doomed clone. [[spoiler:Dave refuses, and leaves his clone sleeping on the Quest Bed. As soon as doomed Dave wakes up and steps off the Quest Bed, Jack Noir teleports in, and slices his throat. This causes Terezi to feel guilty for killing the Dave, and she runs away from the lab to cry.]]

* Max from ''WesternAnimation/CapitolCritters'' cries these when he thinks he killed a cat. Keep in mind that Max is a mouse and he was saving a girl mouse by knocking the cat unconcious with a stage light. Goes to show you that Max is really pure of heart.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' has an [[TearJerker absolutely pitiable]] breakdown from [[spoiler:[[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Nox]], when he finally realizes that his dream is truly impossible and all the people who he's killed to reach it died for nothing]].

* In the 1978 film ''Anime/RingingBell'', after Chirin tries and fails on protecting a bird's nest and it's eggs. Chirin starts crying to himself, not to mention he accidently cracked a few of the eggs.

** Shining Armor does this several times as he [[GuiltComplex beats himself up over his mistakes]]. Firstly when he's being taken away from Canterlot. The next when Cadance tells him how Twilight helped them to become a couple (both before and after the recount). And again when he and his sister finally reconcile.

** Shining Armor does this several times as he beats himself up over his mistakes. Firstly when he's being taken away from Canterlot. The next when Cadance tells him how Twilight helped them to become a couple (both before and after the recount). And again when he and his sister finally reconcile.

* In the final issue of the original ''ComicBooks/HarleyQuinn'' comic, [[spoiler:Harley encounters the little girl she promised to save from going blind, only to do so anyway when offered the reward]]. We see a close up of her (Harley's) eyes, and she is very clearly trying to hold back her tears.