History TearJerker / CourageTheCowardlyDog

* Observe the relationship between Eustace and his mother, both of them cruel, cold people. Eustace is the way he is due to his mother, and, if one episode in particular is anything to go by, his mother was made this way by a loved one too. Two of the biggest assholes in the show are the result of a cycle of abuse.

*** It also shows that the narrator had been [[UnreliableNarrator lying all along]]. Courage's parents didn't abandon him, they were taken away from him.

* "Mute Muriel" has Muriel deciding that since Eustance never listens to her, she decides to stop talking altogether. No matter how much Courage begs her to speak, she refuses so Courage goes to Shirley who summons a giant starfish monster to get Muriel to speak. While it works, this is only because Courage decides to throw himself at the monster to Muriel’s horror. And all of this occurred because Eustance decided [[JerkassBall to be a bigger jerk than usual.]]

* The death of Thea White, Muriel's voice actress, on July 30, 2021.

*** Speaking of rat and what subsequently happens to him, an especially sad moment is during the climax when a now-furious Dr. Zalost is trying to finish off Courage with his last Unhappy Cannonball and the babyfied-Rat runs up to him wailing, obviously wanting some comfort, and Zalost angrily kicks him away. [[HeartwarmingMoments Thankfully, after Zalost's own depression is cured courtesy of Muriel's Happy Plums, when Rat comes back he's much more eager to give him a hug that the little guy so desperately needs]].

-->'''Dr. Zalost:''' Pizza? What pizza?! I didn't order any pizza! Get away from me!

* "Son of the Chicken From Outer Space" stars a three-headed alien chicken who tries to kill Courage in order to avenge their father and restore [[FamilyHonor their family's honor]]. The kicker is that their mother (who assigns them the mission) gives them a choice between succeeding and ''[[YouCantGoHomeAgain not coming home]]''. Of course, since Courage [[PlotArmor isn't allowed to be permanently killed off]], [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption they ultimately fail]]... which causes them to break down crying, knowing that this means never coming back home to their family. It gets even more sad when the chicken shows in tears what their mother told them to Courage, prompting him to cry as well.

* "Son of the Chicken From Outer Space" stars a three-headed alien chicken who tries to kill Courage in order to avenge their father and restore [[FamilyHonor their family's honor]]. The kicker is that their mother (who assigns them the mission) gives them a choice between succeeding and ''[[YouCantGoHomeAgain not coming home]]''. Of course, since Courage [[PlotArmor isn't allowed to be permanently killed off]], [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption they ultimately fail]]... which causes them to break down crying, knowing that this means never coming back home to their family. It gets even more sad when the chicken shows in tears what their mother told them to Courage, prompting him to cry as well.

!!Meta
* [[http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/043/259/courage.png This comic]] depicting Eustace [[AntagonistInMourning crying over Courage's inevitable death]]. It's also HarsherInHindsight considering Eustace's actions in "Ball of Revenge".
* [[http://moviepilot.com/posts/3867140 The 2016 passing of Eustace's second voice actor, Arthur Anderson.]]
* [[http://rebloggy.com/post/asleep-part-1/70836997952 The AU comic]] ''[[https://i.pinimg.com/236x/f8/e7/c3/f8e7c3ab37d581053bd721a391bf2674--cartoon-network-my-childhood.jpg Asleep]]'' is this and NightmareFuel, as said comic concerns a terminally ill and widowed (Eustace died of his injuries due to a car accident) Muriel in her final weeks of life, while she worries about what will happen to Courage after she dies, leading her to contemplate and come close to ''killing'' him because, as far as she knows, he'd be "better off with her". She backs out of killing him but wakes him up, leaving him to find her at the toilet.
-->''' Muriel''' ([[InternalMonologue internally]]): ''And that's what saddens me the most...''
** The worst part is the line that precedes that one. As Muriel is approaching Courage with the knife, she's getting more and more erratic (it's only shown in shadow, but take a good look at [[LaughingMad what that shadow is expressing]]), she tries to rationalize her actions with Courage's UndyingLoyalty to her.
-->'''Muriel:''' If I asked him to come with me...''he'd probably agree...''
* Many comics depicting the destruction of their family is sad. Eustace and Muriel are old [[WeAreAsMayflies and Courage is a dog]]. No matter which one of them passes first the other two are going to be devastated.
** [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9258694/1/The-Dog-and-The-Farmer Here's a non-comic example]] wherein Muriel goes first. Especially hard-hitting is when Courage finds Eustace breaking down into sobs in his sleep over the death of his wife. It has a [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments beautiful]] [[BittersweetEnding ending]] though.
* A Fridge Tearjerk comes from the "Courage (Heart of Love)" Cartoon Groovie that depicts the Bagges to be rather well to do, just before the song starts Eustace actually requests for the singer to do so, rather than order and without the trademark snarl in his voice. It shows just how much being the universe's whipping boy damaged Eustace. Eustace in the short actually has a proper posture that makes his baldness look fashionable rather than funny.
* On July 30, 2021, Thea White, the voice actress of Muriel, died at the age of 81. Before her death, she reprised her role for the last time in the crossover film ''WesternAnimation/StraightOuttaNowhereScoobyDooMeetsCourageTheCowardlyDog''.

** As Eustace is walking down the street with the raincloud, he sees people in need of help but he turns them away, making the rain cloud worse. But one older-looking gentleman, Floyd, who is being attacked by a tentacled creature, is desperately pleading Eustace to give a love letter to his fiancee, telling him he won't be able to get to the wedding and that he loves her as he's finally taken and presumably eaten by the creature. What does Eustace do? ''[[KickTheDog Toss the letter on the ground, causing it to be swept into the sewer thanks to the rain.]]''

* But the one that is considered the absolute biggest TearJerker by most viewers is "Last of the Starmakers", where Courage is caught in a perilous race against time to save the babies of an adorable squid-like creature from the military.

** The episode opens with the Starmaker's mate sacrificing himself to save her and their babies. Even worse, he ''tearfully bids her farewell'' as she flees with their unborn children. After being found by Muriel and Courage, Muriel asks if there are others like the Starmaker. All she can do is look towards the sky with a pained expression, and Muriel and Courage immediately get the message. Even sadder, after Courage manages to save her children, she uses the last of her life to become a garden, [[TogetherInDeath joining her mate.]]

* The Stitch Sisters (and their enchanted quilt) slowly breaking [[BreakTheCutie Muriel]] in "The Quilt Club." All she's trying to do is impress them so she can join the club, but in reality, the Sisters are making her another energy source for the quilt's FountainOfYouth properties. Even worse, as the ending shows, ''they've done this to other people throughout the centuries''.

* While "The Queen Of the Black Puddle" is mostly a typical Courage episode (it's about a puddle of black water that is actually a passage to another Dimension/World, where there resides a ghastly aquatic demoness), it also says a lot about Courage's loyalty to Muriel. The woman in question charms Eustace and takes him to her world, and unsurprisingly, Courage doesn't give a damn, and he has all the right not to (ok he is very disturbed but he just doesn't feel the urge to overcome that fear). But he then sees how Muriel is devastated by having her husband taken from her, sobbing her heart out, and Courage realizes [[ActOfTrueLove he'd rather put up with Eustace's crap for the rest of his life than to see his benevolent owner suffer]]. The episode makes it very clear that every time Courage's love for Muriel speaks louder than his dislike of Eustace, and every time he saves Eustace--- who doesn't deserve it--- he is really trying to help Muriel. UndyingLoyalty, indeed.
** Muriel's weeping over her lost husband is itself quite touching - even though on a day-to-day basis neither of the couple show too much interest or caring for each other, they really seem to share a deep bond of commitment.

* A Fridge Tearjerk comes from the "Courage (Heart of Love)" Cartoon Groovie that depicts the Bagges to be rather well to do, just before the song starts Eustace actually requests for the singer to do so, rather than order and without the trademark snarl in his voice. It shows just how much being the universe's whipping boy damaged Eustace. Eustace in the short actually has a proper posture that makes his baldness look fashionable rather than funny.

** The fact that Courage is so stricken by the memory of this event that he has no reaction to Eustace using his signature witch doctor mask on him. No screaming, no funny WildTake, no nothing. ''He's become entirely numb.''

* A Fridge Tearjerk comes from the "Courage (Heart of Love)" Cartoon Groovie that depicts the Bagges to be rather well to do, just before the song starts Eustace actually requests for the singer to do so, rather than order and without the trademark snarl in his voice. It shows just how much being the universe's whipping boy damaged Eustace. Eustance in the short actually has a proper posture that makes his baldness look fashionable rather than funny.
* On July 30, 2021, Muriel's VA Thea White passed away due to complications from surgery for liver cancer, thus making ''WesternAnimation/StraightOuttaNowhereScoobyDooMeetsCourageTheCowardlyDog'' the final time she voices the character. She had survived two previous VA's for Eustace (Lionel Wilson in 2003, and Arthur Anderson in 2016).

* On July 30, 2021, Muriel's VA Thea White passed away due to complications from surgery for liver cancer, thus making ''WesternAnimation/StraightOuttaNowhereScoobyDooMeetsCourageTheCowardlyDog'' the final time she voices the character.