History Main / UnnervinglyHeartwarming

* In the ''Manga/{{AKIRA}},'' current BigBad Tetsuo has been using his undisputed power over the ruins of Neo-Tokyo to acquire {{Sex Slave}}s; one of the few who survive the mutual drug trips, Kaori, ends up serving as something of a MoralityPet to Tetsuo, even hugging him when his withdrawal pains briefly overwhelm him. Later, when one of his soldiers enters their quarters to alert him to ongoing troubles, [[PetTheDog Tetsuo warns the man not to wake Kaori]], [[SleepCute who is still hugging him in her sleep]]. This might have been a genuinely touching scene... but Tetsuo is still clearly in a lot of pain, the expression on his face indicates that [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity his sanity is hanging by a very narrow thread]], and [[spoiler: his arm has begun to mutate into a hideous mass of tentacled flesh.]]

* Phase V of ''ComicBook/{{Zenith}}'' features Dr Michael Peyne being condemned to DeathByDeaging by the Lloigor as they celebrate their victory. Over the next few issues, Peyne is left alone with his thoughts as he slowly regresses into infancy; however, in his final moments, he's visited by Ruby Fox. She apparently wanted to say goodbye, and even appears to comfort the baby; this might seem heartwarming at first... but even if this moment ''wasn't'' delivered by a stark-naked HumanoidAbomination, it swiftly becomes clear that Ruby is just gloating over a dying victim, her tone swinging from condescendingly soothing to smugly sadistic. The scene ends with Ruby throwing baby Payne into the air, where he shrinks into a fetus and vanishes.

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* In Chapter 2 of ''WesternAnimation/TheHouse2022'', after the Developer accidentally swallows poison and has to be taken to hospital, the Odd Couple end up being his only visitors, even taking him back to the House - where their extended family is hosting a welcome home party for him, applauding him as he enters. However, as bizarrely sweet as this is, it's still undeniably creepy because the Developer has been driven insane by the Odd Couple's unwanted squatting... and the family are not only staring totally dead-eyed at him as he entered, but are starting to look ''[[RedRightHand very weird]]''. [[spoiler: And the final scene features the Developer regressing to animal intelligence and joining the family of ''giant beetles'' in destroying all his hard work.]]

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* In Chapter 2 of ''WesternAnimation/TheHouse2022'', after the Developer accidentally swallows poison and has to be taken to hospital, the Odd Couple end up being his only visitors, even taking him back to the House - where their extended family is hosting a welcome home party for him, applauding him as he enters. However, as bizarrely sweet as this is, it's still undeniably creepy because the Developer has been driven insane by the Odd Couple's unwanted squatting... and the family are not only staring totally dead-eyed at him as he entered, but are starting to look ''[[RedRightHand very weird]]''. [[spoiler: And the final scene features the Developer regressing to animal intelligence and joining the family of ''giant cockroaches'' in destroying all his hard work.]]

* In Chapter 2 of ''WesternAnimation/TheHouse2022'', after the Developer accidentally swallows poison and has to be taken to hospital, the Odd Couple end up being his only visitors, even taking him back to the House - where their extended family is hosting a welcome home party for him, even applauding him as he enters. However, as bizarrely sweet as this is, it's still undeniably creepy because the Developer has been driven insane by the Odd Couple's unwanted squatting... and the family are starting to look ''[[RedRightHand very weird]]''. [[spoiler: And the final scene features the Developer regressing to animal intelligence and joining the family of ''giant cockroaches'' in destroying all his hard work.]]

Here, what ''should'' be a perfectly ordinary heartwarming moment is deliberately undermined by eerie, disturbing, unpleasant or flat-out horrific elements. The reasons for this (in-universe and out) vary: in some cases, it's meant to convey an element of danger, indicating that however heartwarming this scene might be, the participants probably shouldn't relax just yet; in others, it might indicate insincerity or even manipulation of some kind; and in a few cases, there's nothing immediately dangerous or villainous going on in this moment, and the characters are just intrinsically ''creepy'' by nature.

* In ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'', the third segment of Primrose's route has her reunite with Simeon, a gardener and poet who worked at her home before her father was murdered by three mysterious assassins, leaving Primrose destitute. The two reminisce on Primrose's childhood, and present-day Simeon expresses signs that he was smitten with her even back then. Their reunion after many years is a sweet moment... except that Primrose was a young girl in their flashback, and Simeon was already a grown man. This has paedophilic implications and is a ''very'' good sign that something is wrong. [[spoiler:Sure enough, it is later revealed that [[EvilAllAlong Simeon himself is responsible for the murder of Primrose's father]] and is a [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] [[TheSociopath sociopath]] who had deliberately become close to Primrose in her childhood so that he could inflict maximum emotional pain on her at a later time, all for the purpose of [[ItAmusedMe his own amusement]].]]

When it comes to heartwarming moments, they're usually pretty straightforward: it's a scene featuring a romantic, cutesy or purely happily moment. For the most part, they're not all that complicated and frankly, aren't meant to be anyway.

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* In ''Literature/TheObeliskGate'' and ''Literature/TheStoneSky'', Schaffa becomes a kind ParentalSubstitute for [[ChildMage Nassun]], who desperately needs the support and affection. [[DramaticIrony The reader knows]] Shaffa from ''Literature/TheFifthSeason'' as a merciless, villainous MageKiller with ''many'' [[WouldHurtAChild child victims]], who terrorized Nassun's mother in particular and would have killed Nassun were it not for [[spoiler:the Evil Earth manipulating his mind to advance its plans.]]

* The good ending of ''VideoGame/{{Eversion}}'' has the hero rescuing and embracing the Princess... [[spoiler:only they're now both monsters.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': When BMO befriends a sapient bubble in the episode "BMO lost" it gets popped in the end. After hearing Bubble's voice again, BMO thinks, he goes crazy. Bubble assures him, that his is fine, having been "air" the entire time, but he forgot as he got trapped in the bubble. In the end BMO is still sad that air, now that he isn't lost anymore, wouldn't need him to feel at home. Air responds with this:
-->Bubble/Air: ''"Nooo, see that's what's so great. Now we can be together forever, BMO, every minute of every day. No more privacy, no more quiet, no more alone. Every room you ever go in, I'll already be there... waiting... forever and ever, until the end of time."''
-->To which BMO's response is a simple ''"Yaaaaay!!"'' while happily waving his hands around.

* Thanos and Gamorra's first interactions in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' reek of this trope: on the face of things, their first meeting features Thanos offering assistance to a young and extremely frightened Gamorra, taking her in and even giving her a balancing game to play - during which he congratulates her on her success. It's a genuinely heartwarming moment in which Thanos [[PetTheDog gets to show off his paternal side]] after spending most of his previous appearances as nothing more than a genocidal extremist... but the whole scene takes place on a planet that Thanos has just conquered; in the background, his army is [[ThePurge executing half the population]], even as he encourages young Gamorra to continue the game and ignore the sight of her people being shot dead en mass.

* Invoked in the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' episode "The On With the Butt": after Joey gets fired as [[Creator/AlPacino Al Pachino's]] "stunt butt," the gang tries to cheer him up, but he says that his mom will be disappointed - because she was so happy that she would get to his see his butt in an Al Pacino movie; Chandler responds, "Something so sweet and... disturbing about that."
* ''{{Series/Hannibal}}'': Any time Hannibal is nice to Will (or Margot or Abigail or, you know what, anybody) is creepy, even if he genuinely seems to mean what he says, because he's still a [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalistic]] SerialKiller who won't hesitate to manipulate, torment, and ruin the lives of the people he claims to care about. Especially Will, who suffers ''a lot'' by his hands, and yet [[spoiler:the finale confirms Hannibal's in love with him.]]

* This is essentially the premise of Series/WandaVision. Wanda and Vision are living a seemingly idyllic life as a married couple in a town reminiscent of an old-timey sitcom, but the lack of an explanation for how [[spoiler:Vision is BackFromTheDead]], various hints that there is something ''off'' about the town and all of its residents coming off as {{Stepford Smiler}}s can make even the show's most heartwarming moments seem disturbing rather than uplifting.

Bubble/Air: ''"Nooo, see that's what's so great. Now we can be together forever, BMO, every minute of every day. No more privacy, no more quiet, no more alone. Every room you ever go in, I'll already be there... waiting... forever and ever, until the end of time."''
To which BMO's response is a simple ''"Yaaaaay!!"'' while happily waving his hands around.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': When BMO befriends a sapient bubble in the episode "BMO lost" it gets popped in the end. After hearing Bubble's voice again, BMO thinks, he goes crazy. Bubble assures him, that his is fine, having been "air" the entire time, but he forgot as he got trapped in the bubble. In the end BMO is still sad that air, now that he isn't lost anymore, wouldn't need him to feel at home. Air responds with: "Nooo, see that's what's so great. Now we can be together forever, BMO, every minute of every day. No more privacy, no more quiet, no more alone. Every room you ever go in, I'll already be there... waiting... forever and ever, until the end of time."
To which BMO's response is a simple "Yaaaaay!!" while happily waving his hands around.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': When BMO befriends a sapient bubble in the episode "BMO lost" it gets popped in the end. After hearing his voice again, he thinks, he goes crazy. Bubble assures him, that his is fine, having been "air" the entire time, but he forgot as he got trapped in the bubble. In the end BMO is still sad, that air, now that he isn't lost anymore, wouldn't need him to feel at home. Air responds with: "Nooo, see that's what's so great. Now we can be together forever, BMO, every minute of every day. No more privacy, no more quiet, no more alone. Every room you ever go in, I'll already be there... waiting... forever and ever, until the end of time."

* This is essentially the premise of Series/WandaVision. Wanda and Vision are living a seemingly idyllic life as a married couple in a town reminiscent of an old-timey sitcom, but the lack of an explanation for how [[spoiler:Vision is BackFromTheDead]], various hints that there is something ''off'' about the town and all of its residents coming off as {{StepfordSmiler}}s can make even the show's most heartwarming moments seem disturbing rather than uplifting.

** In "''[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling Once More, With Feeling]]''" Tara sings the seemingly heartwarming love song "''Under Your Spell''" to Willow, which is extremely uncomfortable for the audience, who are aware of the DramaticIrony in Tara's lyrics, as she doesn't know that she has literally been put under a spell by Willow to make her forget a fight they had recently had.

** In "''[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling Once More, With Feeling''" Tara sings the seemingly heartwarming love song "''Under Your Spell''" to Willow, which is extremely uncomfortable for the audience, who are aware of the DramaticIrony in Tara's lyrics, as she doesn't know that she has literally been put under a spell by Willow to make her forget a fight they had recently had.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer:'' early in the second season, Spike and Drusilla are completely devoted to each other despite the fact that she is quite out of her mind. Their first episode ends with them going off to relax and watch tv together - after Spike has just casually murdered the local BigBad, who looks like a little kid.

!!Examples

--> '''Penumbra''': I can't believe you're just gonna let that [[FantasticRacism Moon hater]] run free. You've gone Earth-soft.
'''Lunaris''': That Earth dweller managed to defeat our greatest enemy like it was nothing. She could be useful.
'''Penumbra''': Or dangerous. ''(to Della)'' Watch your back, ''Earth dweller''.

** The episode "Bone To Be Wild" ends with [[BigBad Scorpius]] making the acquaintance of [[MonsterOfTheWeek M'Lee]], a bone-devouring predator in the guise of a DamselInDistress. For some reason, the normally-heartless commander demonstrates a surprisingly compassionate side, taking her in and even hugging her. It's made abundantly clear that this scene isn't as adorable as it first appears: M'Lee is clearly sizing Scorpius up for her next meal, and Scorpius is most likely being AffablyEvil so he can use M'Lee for his own ends - further evidenced by the fact that he doesn't seem too concerned when the guard he'd assigned to her mysteriously vanishes in the next episode.
** In "Look At The Princess Part 1," Scorpius reintroduces himself to Crichton by striding into the room and warmly hugging him around the shoulders, treating him as a long-lost friend. It's a bizarrely sweet touch neatly undercut by the fact that Scorpius has tortured Crichton very brutally in the past, and is likely planning on doing the same if he can manage to recapture him; for good measure, [[TraumaButton the merest sight of Scorpius prompts Crichton to suffer a flashback]].

* During the climax of ''Film/{{Candyman}}'', Helen agrees to sacrifice herself to save the life of the infant that the eponymous villain has kidnapped. The scene that follows is portrayed almost ''romantically,'' with Candyman demonstrating surprisingly tenderness towards his victim, complete with slow piano music, a BridalCarry, and a held gaze as he assures her that they will be immortal as [[OurGhostsAreDifferent living urban legends]]. However, Candyman has still essentially ruined Helen's life by getting her framed as a murderer, so the romance of the scene has a distinct undercurrent of ''wrongness'' about it. [[spoiler: And then Candyman reveals that under his coat, he's just a skeleton wreathed in the many hundreds of bees that killed him, and as he leans in for a kiss, we see even more of the damn things pouring out of his mouth...]]