Humanizing Tears

When the ice queen melts.

Suddenly another sound broke the stillness.
"Katherine...you're...why, you're not crying!"
Somehow, it seemed impossible to think of Katherine crying. But she was. And her tears suddenly humanized her. Anne no longer felt afraid of her.

— Anne of Windy Poplars

A harsh character breaks down into tears so the audience can easily sympathize with them in their moment of emotional vulnerability.

The tougher a character is, the more emotional it is when a Sparkling Stream of Tears starts pouring out of their eyes. The jerkass/tyrant/stoic/tsundere instantaneously becomes The Woobie, and their endearingly vulnerable sobs and pleas for sympathy make the coldest of hearts want to comfort them.

Sometimes this moment acts as a road stop in a Break the Haughty arc, a turning point in which the character starts to slowly become a better person. However, other times, having felt embarrassed for daring to be vulnerable, the character might immediately thereafter worsen their attitude.

In the case of male characters, what differentiates this from Manly Tears is that whereas Manly Tears shows the sensitive attributes of an already decent male, Humanizing Tears is usually used in a softening context. See also Tender Tears, where the crier is normally nice and sensitive; Tears of Remorse, where somebody cries for feeling guilty; and Tears from a Stone, where a seemingly inanimate or emotionless being cries (it may also apply as this trope if used to humanize said being). This is often a sign of Cracks in the Icy Façade.

A Super-Trope to Cry into Chest. Contrast with Inelegant Blubbering and Crocodile Tears.

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Examples

Anime & Manga

• Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day: Tsuruko always shows herself as the most aloof and level-headed member of the group, but she finally breaks down in tears as she confesses to her selfish reasons for fulfilling Menma's wish.
• Assassination Classroom:
  • The usually cool-headed Hayami sheds tears for Koro-sensei as he is disappearing after she, Chiba and all of Class 3-E finally assassinate him, later weeping bitterly in the aftermath.
  • Invoked and Played for Laughs. Ritsu cries just to show how emotional she has become from her Emotionless Girl state after Terasaka insists that she is still just a machine. Kataoka scolds Terasaka for making her bawl her eyes out, and he admits that such a thing makes him sound like a total douche.
• Attack on Titan usually deals with Inelegant Blubbering, but several notable examples stand out.
  • Emotionless Girl and resident badass Mikasa shows little vulnerability or emotion, right up until she is reunited with Eren after his supposed death. Her stoic mask finally breaks, and she cries while holding him in her arms, showing her softer side for the first time.
  • After The Reveal that he is the Colossal Titan, it seemed as though quiet Bertolt Hoover was the only villain without any remorse over his actions. But when his former friends push him hard enough, he suffers a Villainous BSoD and begins to cry hysterically while alternately admitting he knows his actions are unforgivable and stating that his time as their comrade was the only time he was genuinely happy. This breakdown is sufficient to defuse Mikasa's Roaring Rampage of Revenge and earn the offer of a Last-Second Chance from the others. His statement that he can't do that, while crying and begging someone to "please find us", reveal him to not be the soulless monster the audience expected.
  • In the aftermath of the Female Titan's battle with Levi and Mikasa, Levi takes one final look in her direction and sees her sitting against a tree, weeping. However, her actual feelings at that moment remain a mystery and it isn't clear whether her tears are because of remorse, frustration, or something else. Nevertheless, it provides a hint that she's more than a ruthless monster and serves to humanize her.
• Louis the red deer has an emotional breakdown in Beastars at the height of his character development. Louis tries to dissuade Legosi, who is in terrible condition, from returning to a fight that could possibly end with the latter being killed. Despite Louis' best efforts, Legosi is determined to see the fight through to the end, and something he says triggers a memory of Ibuki saying something similar before he died. Upon realizing that nothing he says will convince Legosi to stop the fight, Louis angrily tells Legosi do what he wants, but to leave him out of it. Louis tries his best to keep his cool-headed persona and remain detached, but inside he questions why he feels hot. Finally, he tells Legosi to go as tears pour from his eyes. Louis finds himself puzzled, and at first mistakes the tears for rain. However, when wipes his face, more tears spring forth. The sudden emotional display catches Legosi off guard. Legosi, being the kind wolf he is, offers to stay a little while longer with Louis while the latter loses his composure completely, collapsing to his knees. It is apparent that crying is a new experience for Louis, as he comments on how the tears feel, and even mentions that it is likely the first time he has ever cried. Louis is left unable to stop crying and it takes quite a while for him to calm down.
• Death Note: Light Yagami, starting as a vigilante and evolving into a megalomaniac tyrant killing everyone trying to get on his way is given a moment of sympathy from the audience when he cries over the death of his father.
• In Fullmetal Alchemist, the generally stoic Riza freaks out when she thinks Lust has killed Roy and, after putting a dozen bullets in her body (to no effect), slumps down in tears. Lampshaded later on when Roy fondly remembers Riza crying and tells her he'd like to see her "pure tears" again.
• In her introductory chapter, Inomata from Gakuen Babysitters has a moment of this kind when she realizes and admits in an emotional state that she's studied so much in her school life that she knows little else in terms of socializing. This is what allows the daycare children to be able to sympathize with her after she's been (as they perceive it) mean to them.
• Ichiko Sakura of Good Luck Girl!, otherwise a selfish, haughty Rich Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, has already broken down crying many times throughout the series: when she fears her butler and Parental Substitute Suwano could die after suffering a heart attack, after finding a box containing Suwano's letters since she "dismissed" him in the middle of a large landfill after they were mistaken for garbage, after humiliating herself by wetting her bed while staying with the Tsuwabuki siblings (whose elder brother Keita was her crush), and recently after being restored to her teenage form after said stay stuck in child form (implying that she will miss her happy days with them).
• In G Gundam, Domon Kasshu is a Hot-Blooded Jerkass... but the few times he spends tears are a sight to behold. Specially when he finds his master again and explains his trouble to him not knowing about his Face–Heel Turn, and much later when he must give his brother a Mercy Kill right after finding out the truth about him and almost immediately afterwards he fights his Master for the last time and the old man dies in his arms, asking for forgiveness.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers: England is a diehard Tsundere (and extremely heavy on the 'tsun', especially when America is around), but his tears in "Cleaning Out the Storage" tagged him as an Defrosting Ice Queen.
• K-On!: For all her attempts playing cool-headed and reasonable, Azusa Nakano finally breaks down crying in front of her senior bandmates after Graduation Day, venting out all her pent-up feelings since they hit third-year (and she second-year) of melancholy and loneliness, begging them to not leave her all alone.
• Mekakucity Actors: In the manga, after Kano is shot and killed by Kuroha, Kido runs to him, holding his lifeless body while screaming and crying. It's especially hard to read as, up until this point, she's never completely dropped her "tough" persona.
• Sure, her facial features aren't the prettiest, but you can't help but feel sorry for her when Tomoko Kuroki of No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular! cries to the point of thinking how adorable she looks, when her mask of indifference breaks...
• Fakir of Princess Tutu spends the first half of the series being an Ineffectual Loner; it's not until he cries by the lake (admittedly hugging the duck didn't hurt) that he starts to become a sympathetic character.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica: An interesting variant occurs with Homura. When she breaks down crying in Episode 8 after shooting Kyubey full of holes with a Beretta 92-FS to prevent Madoka from contracting, it's adorable, sad, and REALLY STRANGE since up until now she's been the Emotionless Girl. Then comes Episode 10, and suddenly it all makes sense.
• Akane Tendo from Ranma ½. Sure, she's uptight, hot-tempered, emotional, and catapults to conclusions far too much for her own good... but when she cries, even Ranma can't help but think this way.
  Ranma: Gosh, you're cute when you cry.
• In Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games, the thing that causes Aya to rescind her refusal to play fighting games is witnessing Shirayuki bursting into frustrated tears. After no longer seeing a world that "shone like diamonds" after her love for fighting games fizzled out, seeing Shiraruki's passion and emotions over shows Aya she's more than just a weird fanatic and might be able to reignite the passion she herself once felt.

Fan Works

• Fantasy of Utter Ridiculousness: Yuuka Kazami. One of Gensokyo's oldest and mightiest youkai, if not the mightiest. Has no qualms with trying to reduce Megas to dust. Is the type of person to make jokes about violence and genocide... and, after being given some packets of sunflower seeds after the Garden of the Sun's pieces are blown across Gensokyo, is surprisingly adorable when she's trying not to cry. "Youkai moe", indeed.
  Reimu: Look at this. This is the most pathetic thing I've seen in years. Someone with her strength isn't supposed to look so... helpless!
• Faith spends the first several chapters of Marching Orders being distant if not outright hostile to everyone, especially Xander. But after the teddy bear he bought her gets its ear ripped off by a vampire, she breaks down crying, wondering if Xander will be mad that it got damaged.
• In the Punch-Out!! fanfic Home Sick (NoonboryKedabory), Aran Ryan cracks under the pain from his illness and cries into Disco Kid's chest.
  • Similarly, in Ma Fille, he sheds some tears after his Heel Realization that he's become the bully he hated so much in his childhood.
• I Hope You're Prepared For An Unforgettable Wedding!: The first chapter portrays Agnes Skinner as jealous, bitter, smothering, and just as hateable as she is in canon, but in the second chapter, during her mother-son dance with Seymour, she loses all energy to be angry about her son moving out, and breaks down crying into Seymour's chest because she's going to miss him so much.

Films — Animated

• In Shrek, crying is used to make the Dragon, the terrifying reptilian beast that had kept Fiona imprisoned, sympathetic: Dragon flies off and sobs by a pond after her love interest runs away.
• In Turning Red, Tyler crying Tears of Joy at the 4*Town concert along with Mei and her friends emphasizes how he's just like them.

Films — Live-Action

• Glass Onion: For much of the film, Whiskey is little more than a Blonde Republican Sex Kitten, appearing ditzy and party-happy, and later revealing herself to be an ambitious Gold Digger who is smarter than she seems, using the men in her life to build her career. However, when one of those men, Duke, is poisoned and dies in front of her, Whiskey breaks down weeping and hugs his dead body, having to be gently led away by Blanc, showing that in spite of her scheming, she does have a heart and probably has at least a little genuine affection for Duke.
• Godzilla (2014): The MUTOs that act as Godzilla's enemies throughout the movie are ruthless, and completely indifferent to the destruction and loss of life that they inflict on the cities and other human settlements they invade, but it's hard not to feel a little bad for the female MUTO when she frantically rushes back to her exploding nest, wailing all the way, and she breaks down into anguished cries over the incineration of all her unborn young. Although no literal tears are shed given the MUTOs' "eyes" appear to be insectoid compound eyes, the MUTO's emotions are completely clear and the trope is otherwise in full effect.
• Played for drama in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) as the foul-mouthed Jerkass Cyborg Racoon Rocket holds the bundle of sticks that remains of his sentient-tree-man friend Groot (it's that kind of movie) after his Heroic Sacrifice, and finally resembles the adorable Racoon he should be as he weeps bitterly like a child.
• In Kick-Ass 2, Mindy does this after being left in the woods by the Alpha Bitch after Mindy was able to beat her on the dance team. She arrives at Dave's house in tears. It is one of the only times in the movie that she actually appears vulnerable.
  Mindy: [in tears] I just wanted to see my Robin...

Literature

• In Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne decides to invite her antisocial and sarcastic coworker Katherine Brooke to Green Gables for Christmas vacation, since she suspects that despite Katherine's unfriendly behavior, she's really not a bad person deep down. This turns out to be true when they go out for a moonlight walk and Katherine, overcome by the welcoming atmosphere of Green Gables that she never received as a child, suddenly starts crying.
  Somehow, it seemed impossible to think of Katherine crying. But she was. And her tears suddenly humanized her. Anne no longer felt afraid of her.
• Aria the Scarlet Ammo: Even a battle-hardened Action Girl like Aria H. Kanzaki cannot help but break down crying in the middle of the street after a visit to her mother, imprisoned on false charges of being a serial bomber, ends with said mother having to be dragged back to her prison cell. She tries to fight back her tears in front of Kinji, who joined her visit, only to give in to her soul-crushing grief.
• Full Metal Panic!
  • Kaname Chidori, resident Defrosting Ice Queen, has more than one moment when she breaks down crying, probably to keep her sympathetic despite her abrasive personality.
  • Then there's the climax of the final volume, where Sousuke completely breaks from his lifelong stoic soldier persona and begins sobbing uncontrollably upon realizing he's about to die without ever seeing Kaname or his schoolmates again.
• Haganai has this trope Played for Laughs with Sena Kashiwazaki, a Rich Bitch who loves lording herself over her male schoolmates at the school her father runs. This is usually triggered by her Sitcom Archnemesis, resident Jerkass Bully Yozora Mikazuki, saying or doing something outright mean to her. This is followed by Sena retorting with childish insults before running away crying. And there's another one, courtesy of Yozora herself, after Kodaka finally recognizes her, with her hair cut short, as his long-lost childhood friend "Sora", after a few months they spent together with Kodaka none the wiser as to who she is.
• Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl: Mai's emotionally and financially abusive mother is depicted much more sympathetically once she breaks down in tears, immediately after being notified about the death of her daughter.
• In World After, soon after Raffe realizes Penryn is alive, for one of the few times in the series he doesn't hide his emotions and cries.

Live-Action TV

• The Devil Judge: The ruthless, Manipulative Bitch Sun-ah weeps for the first time ever due to feeling guilty when she sees that the teenage girl she liked became unconscious and had nasty bruises on her body because of her own deeds. She has a horrified and heartbroken My God, What Have I Done? reaction when she sees the girl.
• The Good Wife: After hearing about Will Gardner's death, David Lee immediately storms out of the main boardroom, finds a conference room, orders everybody in the room out, and then bursts into a brief sob over the death of his friend. It's probably the greatest indication in the entire show that Lockhart/Gardner's Token Evil Teammate really does have a heart.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Sauron being Sauron, spent most of his time subjugating others, especially the Orcs. And yet, he cries when he confesses to Galadriel how relieved he was to be finally free of Morgoth.

Myths & Folklore

• Older Than Feudalism: Classical Mythology states that the monstrous Gorgon Euryale cried mournfully when her sister Medusa was slain by Perseus.

Video Games

• The Big Daddies from BioShock 2 are essentially monstrous people in diving suits that only exist to protect the gathering girls known as Little Sisters. The Alpha series was scrapped due to getting too attached to their assigned Little Sister and some breaking down in tears as their protected died, eventually going insane.
• Fire Emblem:
  • Soren from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, in his A support with Ike. Normally cold and taciturn, the tears start before telling Ike about his Branded nature. He does one better in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, with a difficult to unlock conversation about his Forgotten First Meeting with Ike that ends with him outright bawling.
  • Fire Emblem: Awakening: Gerome sheds tears during the end of his talk with his mother Cherche in the Future Past DLC.
  • Fire Emblem Fates has several cases of this: The Dark Magical Girl Rhajat starts sobbing when her father Hayato tells her that despite claiming to be The Aloner, she doesn't truly to be alone.
• Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach: Roxanne Wolf is initially presented a straight-up Narcissist, admiring and praising herself in the mirror. While hunting Gregory, she taunts him with insults such as "I bet you don't even have friends." and "Nobody will miss you!". Later on, the player is treated to a scene of her crying in her room, telling herself she is not a loser, revealing she has self-esteem issues. According to Glamrock Freddy (who knows Roxanne personally), she is actually supposed to be more like him.
• Galaxy Angel: Vanilla H starts out as an Emotionless Girl who's constantly suppressing her feelings but slowly opens up to Tact as the story advances. On her route, she breaks down into tears when she's unable to save her pet rabbit from dying despite her best efforts, as it reminds her of when she couldn't save her adoptive mother. Tact hugs her and assures her that she shouldn't blame herself for the death of her loved ones
• If a male Shepard romances Jack in Mass Effect 2, she comes to his cabin later, and once she is assured that he's not going to bombard her with more questions and will just be there with her, she embraces him and starts to openly weep, making her makeup run. It speaks volumes that she has allowed herself to be so vulnerable with someone, considering her Dark and Troubled Past.
• Meet Catiua, sister of Denam from Tactics Ogre. She's haughty, possessive, manipulative, and ultimately performs a Face–Heel Turn. She's not completely lost yet, though: if Denam manages to talk sense into her, the floodgates open and suddenly the bitchy older sister transforms into a vulnerable little girl who begs for forgiveness for all that she has done. It's a turning point in her characterization.

Visual Novels

• Area X: As a child, Elcia did her best to present herself as tough, but breaks down crying when her mother leaves again, after which she swears never to cry again. At the end of Livan's route, before she and Livan sacrifice themselves, she breaks out in tears again, with Livan telling her that she's been strong for long enough.
• Tsugumi in Ever17 as an example where the character genuinely stops being a jerkass. There were signs beforehand that she wasn't, sure, and they were even getting more common. Seeing her cry makes you forget her doing stuff like pretending to push Takeshi down an elevator shaft for shits and giggles or randomly sucker-punching him at the beginning, though. Mostly applicable to Takeshi's routes so they could spring a whole bunch of surprise reveals on you by letting her stay a jerk in The Kid's.
• Caius from Frozen Essence completely breaks down in his Light path after Mina almost dies saving him, pinpointing the moment where he goes from a Jerkass to a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Majikoi! Love Me Seriously! has two notable examples:
  • Momoyo, while definitely a hero, is a badass Blood Knight whose soft side is strictly limited to flirting with cute girls, but in one of the routes when her sister Wanko runs away and Momoyo meets up with her, she cries for probably the only time in the entire series. Everyone is surprised. She's not all that happy about Yamato praising her for it, though.
  • Kokoro Fushikawa is a haughty ojou, but one time when she cries in the anime, Yamato calls her cute. Her reaction, quite unlike Momoyo, is shown as a shot by a Cupid's arrow.
• Franziska von Karma spends 99% of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All as an overly harsh and physically abusive rival prosecutor who whips anyone who doesn't meet the perfectionist standards she's learned from her father Manfred von Karma. In the ending, she has a unique crying sprite when she meets up with her adoptive brother Edgeworth, which reminds the player that she's still just a teenager who has recently lost her father, feels crushing pressure to live up to the family creed of total perfection in everything, and fears losing Edgeworth so much that the idea of it finally makes her crack and show her vulnerability.

Web Animation

• RWBY: After General Ironwood descends into complete, murderous and genocidal madness, which in turn instigates Winter to betray him in favor of aiding Team RWBY, Ironwood gives Winter (whom he admits was previously the only person whose loyalty he never doubted) one chance to stay out of his way. When Winter refuses, Ironwood's response is to shed a Single Tear whilst trying to keep up his icy Heroic Safe Mode before he engages her. It's one of the last and only potent displays of humanity that ever get all the way through Ironwood's ruthless mask following his fall from grace.

Webcomic

• The Goddess's Guide to Farming: Lampshaded by Bongsu, who's a little dumbstruck when Seol — who had previously been proud in her financial superiority, confident in her skills, and abrasive — turns up at his doorstep sobbing and in tears because she's scared of the spooky noises. He softens considerably towards her afterwards.

Western Animation

• Happens not once, but twice in Phase 5 of Gorillaz with Murdoc of all characters. First in the music video for Desolè, where the rest of the band leaves Murdoc behind while they go out and have fun. When he realizes he's been left he ends up breaking down and sobbing alone on the couch in their studio. It happens again during the Last Chord video during the band's surprise trip back to Plastic beach, where Murdoc sheds tears upon being reminded of some of his most reprehensible actions. Both these moments do wonders to show that, for all the horrible things he's done in the past, Murdoc really might be changing as a person and is starting to regret how he's treated his bandmates, and how his actions have pushed them all away.
• The Loud House: Ronnie Anne is a tomboy who is a Loving Bully to Lincoln but she can be quite sensitive to Lincoln's opinions, much to his surprise. She cried after hearing Lincoln call her "rude, and gross and totally annoying" and say that he would rather lick the bathroom floor than kiss her. Her crying is definitely another example of how different she is from her older brother Bobby, a Kindhearted Simpleton prone to Inelegant Blubbering.
• My Little Pony 'n Friends: King Charlatan spends most of the "Baby, It's Cold Outside!" arc as a cruel penguin with a cold heart who believes the creatures who can't withstand the cold are inferior to penguins. However, he shows the first signs of emotions when he cries after accidentally freezing his son, which thankfully thaws him.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash are not jerks outright, but they are frequently arrogant, cold-natured, and unwilling to express weakness, and their breakdowns nearly always occur when their prideful act has finally been broken down.
• Enforced Trope for Ren of The Ren & Stimpy Show. Executives request a softer side to the character, who was initially written as a Jerkass. One example is "Stimpy's Fan Club", where Ren is miserable upon discovering the fact that Stimpy is a more well-liked character than him and is jealous of the tons of fanmail that he receives. After having pondered murder and several other less radical methods of making himself more popular, Ren eventually gets a fan letter himself and starts rubbing it in Stimpy's nose... before realizing it was from Stimpy himself. Ren breaks down into tears and cries on Stimpy's chest, sobbing about how pitiful his actions were.
• Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gives us Donnie, an Insufferable Genius with an Inferiority Superiority Complex who insists every chance he gets that he doesn't"feel things." Said claim loses most of its merit when he ends up breaking down in tears in a later episode when he realizes his Dad lied to him about wanting to spend time with him. It's impossible not to want to hug him after that.
  • Happens again in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie, where Donnie spends a good chunk of the movie trying to remind his brothers and the audience how much he isn't a fan of emotion...only to become utterly broken at witnessing Leo's Heroic Sacrifice.

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