Heartwarming / Dances with Wolves

• John Dunbar's declaration that the Sioux were nothing like he'd been told - specifically that they weren't beggars and thieves. It becomes seriously heartwarming when you realize that he made that declaration after the Sioux tried to steal his horse three separate times. Beggars? No. Thieves? Well... no more than any other man.
• John gets a literal Pet the Dog moment when he dances for Two Socks and earns his Sioux name. Though he tries to chase the wolf off the next day, he's soon playing with him instead, taking the rough wolf play in stride as the Sioux watch amusedly. Turns into a Tear Jerker when the now-tame Two Socks tries to follow the captive Dunbar and shot to pieces by the soldiers, just for shits and giggles.
  • The very next scene, he's playing wargames with the Sioux children, who think the "Leu ten tant" is the bee's knees. At that point he has his own tipi and is completely integrated with the tribe.
• The goodbye Wind in His Hair shouts from the cliff as Dunbar/Dances With Wolves and Stands With a Fist leave the Lakota to make their own home. Paired with Tearjerker.
  "Dances With Wolves! I am Wind in His Hair. Do you see that I am your friend? Can you see that you will always be my friend?"
  • What really sells it is the Meaningful Echo—early in the film, when encountering Dunbar at his home, a defiant Wind In His Hair screams, "Do you see that I am not afraid of you?". Fast-forward to the end of the film and it's obviously the complete opposite.
• Stands With a Fist and Dances With Wolves/Dunbar's reunion after his capture at the Fort.
• After months and months of gaining his trust, Dances With Wolves/Dunbar finally gets Two Socks to eat from his hand for the first and only time.
• Wind in His Hair's words to Dunbar/Dances with Wolves as he's helping him dress for his wedding with Stands With a Fist:
  Wind in His Hair: You know, the man she mourned for... he was my best friend.
  Dances with Wolves: I didn't know that.
  Wind in His Hair: He was a good man. It has been hard for me to like you. I am not the great thinker Kicking Bird is. I always feel anger first. There were no answers to my questions. But now I think he went away because you were coming. That is how I see it.
• Timmons has been shot with six arrows and Wes Studi's Pawnee warrior is standing over him with a knife. But he doesn't beg for his life or plead for mercy. He simply asks them not to hurt his mules.
  • Before leaving Dunbar at his post, he sincerely wishes him good luck.