Line #23 Heartwarming/ThePhantomOfTheOpera


1	* [[BittersweetEnding The Ending]] - [[TheWoobie The Phantom]] is kissed for the first time by Christine, and realises he has to let her go, [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy so she can be happy]].
2	-->''Pitiful creature of darkness, what kind of life have you known?''\
3	''God grant me courage to show you - '''you are not alone!'''''
4	** [[https://youtu.be/F1nmDJmMvUc?si=1ZIR2ZUz-led6Zb9&t=491 Sierra Boggess' Christine cranks it up to eleven]]: she kisses him, ''hard'', then pulls away, looks him right in the eyes - and ''goes back for more''. There's no way he can deny she's doing it of her own free will after that. Also, she deliberately touches his scars the second time, when she's grabbing his face so she can kiss him harder, which is probably something no one has ever done before. You can ''see'' Ramin Karimloo's Phantom melting into her arms on that second kiss, going from disbelief to pure passion.
5	* "Christine, I love you." Both times.
6	* And also:
7	--> '''Christine:''' Say you love m--\
8	'''Raoul:''' You know I do.
9	** The whole rooftop scene is one for Raoul. At this point he doesn't think the Phantom is real, but seeing Christine so utterly ''broken'' makes him realize that her fear of him is - "All I Ask of You" is all about how he takes that fear seriously and wants her to feel safe again.
10	** The entirety of "All I Ask of You" could count as a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment\|s}}, really, especially the iconic spin kiss that the overjoyed couple do at the end.
11	* At the end, the Phantom has finally let Christine go, and the mob is descending upon his lair. He plays the monkey musical box and sings a few lines from "Masquerade", before sitting down on his throne, pulling a blanket over him and disappearing forever (or at least until Love Never Dies). A TearJerker of an ending that will have everyone feeling for the Phantom, at least a little.
12	* Right after "The Point of No Return". The Phantom is no longer playing games, or pretending to be Christine's Angel, or tempting her - he is actually pleading for Christine's affection. The vulnerability of such a powerful character, as well as how crushing his loneliness was, was in itself nearly a TearJerker.
13	--> '''Erik:''' Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime. Lead me, save me from my solitude. Say you want me with you, here, beside you. Anywhere you go, let me go too! Christine, that's all I ask of -
14	* Meg going looking for Christine after "Think of Me" to congratulate her is simple but sweet, as is the fact that throughout the show she never feels anything but genuine, tender pride towards Christine's success. Of all of the characters in Phantom, Meg retains the most honest, innocent outlook through everything that happens; her first instinct is always to comfort and care for Christine, never of revenge. In several ensemble pieces, when even ''Raoul'' is obsessing over outsmarting the Phantom little Meg Giry is the only one who never thinks of anything but Christine's happiness and safety. She's a walking Heartwarming Moment.
15	* Another CMOH that requires a rejection of LND: Christine and Raoul's FinalLoveDuet. The Phantom's devastation is [[TearJerker heartbreaking,]] but the knowledge that he's doing the right thing and [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy his beloved WILL be happy]] are what make the whole thing WorthIt.
16	** ... Come to think of this, more or less all of these Heartwarming Moments requires a rejection of LND...
17	* In the movie, Madame Giry brushes Meg's hair a little bit as they watch Christine sing "Think of Me", silently assuring her that someday she'll be a star, too.
18	* Let's face it. Even though Erik is sympathetic and we love him, Christine would be 100% justified in hating his guts -- after everything he did to her and her loved ones, it'd be a perfectly reasonable and understandable reaction. But... she doesn't. In spite of all he's done, all he's said, she still manages to feel genuine compassion and pity for him.
19	* Depending on the actress playing her [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Carlotta]] sometimes shows sympathy to Christine during "Notes II" when Christine is losing her sanity over the idea of being bait to capture the Phantom, all depending on how the actress delivers the line, "She's mad". In particular, Wendy Ferguson's take on the line in the 25th anniversary concert has her look genuinely saddened, and [[JerkassRealization maybe even a little ashamed of herself]] for accusing Christine of being in on the Phantom's plot. (Indeed, after Christine's breakdown, she never brings that idea up again.)
20	* Turn the volume up in the bit right after “Let me see her!”/“Be my guest, sir.” in the 25th anniversary production, and you can hear Raoul shh-ing, comforting a terrified Christine, and reassuring her that he’s here. He’s come a long way from the man on the opera house rooftop who dismissed her fears, questioned her thoughts, and snapped at her.
21	* In at least some productions, when Carlotta croaks during "Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh," Christine reaches out to try and comfort her and see if she's okay--possibly concerned that Erik really did do something to harm her.
22	* During "Notes," Piangi stands up for Carlotta, saying, "You do not deserve her!" It's genuinely sweet how much he loves her and respects her talent--and when he dies later, she's sobbing from grief.
23	* In "Notes II," at least in the 25th anniversary version, Madame Giry is seen trying to comfort Christine and assure her she doesn't have to do the opera if she doesn't want to, and advises the managers that it's a bad idea. While the reasoning she gives is that they already know the Phantom is capable of murder, it's easy to infer that she's genuinely concerned for Christine's mental health and welfare and doesn't want to subject her to the strain of being bait for her stalker.
24	* During her first visit to his lair, Christine rips off Erik's mask. She sees his face and they both completely freak out... except once she gets over the initial shock (and Erik stops screaming at her), she calmly and gently approaches him and gives the mask back, with some versions having her seem genuinely contrite for taking it. It really helps emphasize her later point that it's not his deformity, but his ''actions'' that drove her away.
25	* Granted it's undermined by the whole "stalking" thing, but Erik [[ComfortingComforter laying his cape like a blanket over Christine]] after she faints at the end of "The Music of the Night" is oddly kind of cute.
26	* Currently in the Broadway production as of 2022, there's a cute background romance between one of the male dancers and one of the ballerinas in ''Hannibal'': they sweetly dance together when Carlotta sings "Think Of Me", and embrace each other in comfort when the backdrop falls.
27	* Christine's response to the Phantom's final AnguishedDeclarationOfLove is always a mix of heartwarming and heartbreak, but the final Broadway show takes the cake.
28	-->'''Christine:''' [[WhamLine I love you, too.]]

Context Heartwarming / ThePhantomOfTheOpera