History Heartwarming / Literature

* In ''Pilgrimage: The Book of the People'', when Peter asks if he and his sister will be sent away because they are half Terran. Valancy says, "Oh my people, my people! Of course not! As if there were any question." Given Valancy's own story, this is especially heartrending.
* ''In This House of Brede'' has a powerful scene in which a nun must go to sleep, even though she wants to stay awake to pray for a dangerously ill friend. As she's leaving the chapel, two other nuns who have never really liked her come in to pray in her place.

* ''Literature/SlaughterhouseFive'' has a lovely desciption of a war film that Billy watches backwards: bombers undamage German cities by pulling bombs back into their planes, the bombs get shipped to factories to be disassembled, and the minerals get sent back to specialists, who "put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so that they would never hurt anybody ever again."

* Gemma, Ann and Felicity watch their friend Pippa, lost to TheDarkSide, get swallowed up in her own pride and vanity and a monsterous house. Felicity, the SchoolgirlLesbian girlfriend, weeps, and Gemma consols her by saying that the love between Pippa and Felicity was probably what kept Pippa from going evil for so long, and is the most pure, powerful, and wonderful magic of all.

* Carl Sagan was really good at these, as well as TearJerkers, but one that really stands out is the end of Pale Blue Dot. In the future, when human colonists on other worlds strain to see Earth in their sky, they will be amazed by how small and fragile it is and remark on "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=iv&v=mTumUJq0CfU&annotation_id=annotation_198192 How many rivers we had to cross- before we found our way]]."

** Another work by Turtledove is ''In the Presence of my Enemies'' set in a world where the Nazis won UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and the few remaining Jews are in hiding in small groups of only a few families. One family is close to being caught and under the heels of the SS. Only for the SS investigator to subtly inform them they are free to go and implies he and many members of his organization are also hidden Jews and more than anyone knows survived...

* The ending to Creator/RosemaryWells's 1998 book Literature/{{Yoko}} [[http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61OOqhE5p4L._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg where Timothy and Yoko are seen having lunch with eachother.]] Since nobody wanted Yoko's sushi and Timothy never got a chance to try the other students' lunches from different cultures. Yoko was the only one that haven't got picked but Timothy joined in. Since the class would usually trade their lunch. Yoko trades her sushi to Timothy while Timothy trades his Peanut butter and Honey to Yoko. This was changed in the AnimatedAdaptation where both are seen eating sushi together.

[[AC: Creator/ChinaMieville]]
* The ending of China Mieville's ''Literature/TheScar'', when Doul orders his men to release the Brucolac, who has been tied to the top of a mast for days. Being a vampire, he's been slowly dying of exposure to sunlight, but the first thing that Doul does when his former master leaves is to free him. This has been compounded with the fact that Doul and the Brucolac have had a relationship of respect and almost friendship even while being enemies throughout most of the novel.
-->"Cut him down. Cut him down and take him home."

[[AC:Literature/TheBookThief]]
* In ''Literature/TheBookThief'' when it is revealed that Max Vanderburg survived the concentration camps and found Liesel in Frau Hermann's house. Frau Hermann taking Liesel into her house also counts as one.
** More than that...words cannot describe it. Literature/{{Discworld}}'s is not the only Death who can manage a {{SugarWiki/Heartwarming Moment|s}}. He's talking about the bombings, and it seems almost heartless... and then he says "It was only the children I carried in my arms." And to sum it all up:
-> "Even death has a heart."
*** When Death finally meets the girl he's spent so much time thinking about, and watching get left behind.
* There's also "The Standover Man" and "The Word Shaker", the stories Max writes for Liesel.

* ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime The Gathering Storm]]'' has one in the form of Verin]]'s final moments. After revealing herself as a ReverseMole and giving Egwene 70 years' worth of research on the Black Ajah, something that can only be done at [[LoopholeAbuse the hour of a Black's death]], she lies back, preparing to die with "the soul of a Brown."]] Egwene's response:

** There are a few very specific reasons for this, other than the fact that the world itself seems to be rejecting [[TheDragon Yama's]] attempt to destroy the false Buddha, [[TricksterArchetype Sam]]. Namely, [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind where]] it takes place, hinting at Yama's coming HeelFaceTurn.

** More than that...words cannot describe it. Literature/{{Discworld}}'s is not the only Death who can manage a SugarWiki/Heartwarming Moment|s}}. He's talking about the bombings, and it seems almost heartless... and then he says "It was only the children I carried in my arms." And to sum it all up:

** More than that...words cannot describe it. Literature/{{Discworld}}'s is not the only Death who can manage a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming. He's talking about the bombings, and it seems almost heartless... and then he says "It was only the children I carried in my arms." And to sum it all up:

** Actually, ''the whole poem'' is one big CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.

* After she had spent many hours singing him nursery songs in his own tongue, and essentially been his only friend in a harsh environment. And finally, the climax of the trilogy, when Phèdre speaks the Name of God to banish an angel and save her childhood best friend {ItMakesSenseInContext) from an immortality of tortured existence. The Name is a word which cannot be pronounced or understood (it's all a bit magical), but everyone who was present heard it in their own languages. The Name of God? Love. Doubles as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

* ''{{Literature/Redwall}}'': Blaggut. Nothing specifically that he ''did'', just Blaggut's existence is the entire series' CMOH. He starts out as the typical UglyCute PunchClockVillain rat, patiently enduring his boss Slipp's abuse, then starts to get second thoughts when Slipp is contemptuous of his being nice to the lost baby mouse and mole they find. Then he cries his eyes out for hours when Slipp kills the badger mother. Slipp gets angry and starts to beat him up again, and Blaggut gets a CrowningMomentOfAwesome / TheDogBitesBack moment by killing him and going back to the Abbey to face the music. And they exonerate him of all blame and he gets to be one of only two vermin in twenty books whose MookFaceTurn actually worked out.]] ''Awwwwwwwwwwww.''

* Linda Sue Park's ''A Single Shard'' combines DeathByNewberyMedal (""Wherever you are on your journey, Crane-man, I hope you are traveling on two good legs") with CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Min: "How are you to help me if you do not have a wheel of your own?" and Ajima: "Be home in time for supper."

* The Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration novel ''Ghost Ship'': Every time Geordi and Data talk to each other. Every time they ''look'' at each other, or look at someone else in ''regards'' to each other, you know there's an [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming aww moment coming]].

* ''Literature/HaloGhostsOfOnyx'', when [[spoiler: Kurt, in his last moments, sees every deceased Spartan, including his students and Sam, giving him thumbs up, right before he [[NuclearOption detonates the nuke.]]]]

* ''Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos:'' In the last book of the trilogy, [[spoiler: when Vanity is horribly injured, the normally-stoic warlock Quentin babbles frantically in the background, begging deities he doesn't even believe in to spare her life.]]
* ''Literature/WarOfTheDreaming:'' Raven's story of how he met his wife; Peter's speech to his son; Wendy's reunion with her parents; Varovitch drawing pictures to remind himself of the future; [[spoiler: Oberon welcoming Varovitch to his realm]]...
* ''Literature/TheGoldenOecumene'': Phaethon's LoveEpiphany--even more effective than most because it [[spoiler: happened to somebody else.]]

* Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd: [[spoiler:"Here is everything you need to know about John. John never once referred to you as 'the girl with the missing hand'."]]

* In the Palace of Laughter, Miles and Little( a song Angel) have come all this way so Little can return home, and as she's about to leave, the Null attacks. Miles tries to fend him off, but it's clear that he can't, so Little does the only thing she can- [[spoiler:she sings ''her own, true name'', which can never be spoken or sung aloud, lest the angel be doomed to a life as human.]] She doesn't have to think about it- she cares more about her friend than [[spoiler:her whole existence.]]*sniff*

* After she had spent many hours singing him nursery songs in his own tongue, and essentially been his only friend in a harsh environment. And finally, the climax of the trilogy, when Phèdre speaks the Name of God to banish an angel and save her childhood best friend {ItMakesSenseInContext) from an immortality of tortured existence. The Name is a word which cannot be pronounced or understood (it's all a bit magical), but everyone who was present heard it in their own languages. The Name of God? [[spoiler:Love.]] Doubles as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

* From ''Kushiel's Justice'', after [[spoiler: Imri's wife Dorelei has been brutally murdered along with their unborn child, her bodyguard Urist reveals that she had charged him to deliver Imriel safely home to his true love Sidonie if anything happened to her in an especially moving IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy moment. /spoiler]].

* Berkeley Breathed's ''WesternAnimation/MarsNeedsMoms'' had the protagonist going from complaining bitterly of all the 'awful' things his mother makes him do, such as eating his vegetables, to [[spoiler:realizing how significant and important she is in life after she sacrifices herself and gives her space helmet to her son to prevent him from dying from Mars exposure after his helmet breaks.]]

* In the final book, [[spoiler: Mrs. Rabbski and Mr. Howell become a couple. What makes it even better is that they're now (mostly) on the kids' side now, so it makes you feel really happy for them.]]

--> [[spoiler:Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad. I am so happy... I love you.]]

* Boris Strugatsky's ''Literature/ThePowerlessOfThisWorld'' has a rather dark, depressing plot, for the most part. From the very beginning of the novel, the main character, [[ButtMonkey Vadim]], is hounded and assailed by a major crime boss and his mooks, becomes a nervous wreck from the experience, while getting no support whatsoever from a Jerkass of a "friend" and some fairly cryptic advice from his TricksterMentor. He does get some concern, sympathy and emotional support from the rest of his old friends, but nobody seems willing or able to actually help him solve his problem. Unbeknownst to him, however, some of his friends (including at least one major JerkWithAHeartOfGold, or at least with a sense of solidarity) did already begin working on a plan to get the crime boss off his back. This culminates in a BigDamnHeroes moment, which works out perfectly and is followed up by male bonding as the friends reunite. The fact that [[spoiler:it was by then made quite redundant]] doesn't really reduce the heartwarming factor of the scene.

* ''{{Literature/Redwall}}'': Blaggut. Nothing specifically that he ''did'', just Blaggut's existence is the entire series' CMOH. He starts out as the typical UglyCute PunchClockVillain rat, patiently enduring his boss Slipp's abuse, then starts to get second thoughts when Slipp is contemptuous of his being nice to the lost baby mouse and mole they find. Then [[spoiler:he cries his eyes out for hours when Slipp kills the badger mother. Slipp gets angry and starts to beat him up again, and Blaggut gets a CrowningMomentOfAwesome / TheDogBitesBack moment by killing him and going back to the Abbey to face the music. And they exonerate him of all blame and he gets to be one of only two vermin in twenty books whose MookFaceTurn actually worked out.]] ''Awwwwwwwwwwww.''

* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' actually turns out to be a one in its entirety. [[spoiler: Beatrice is actually the Baudelaires' mother. Lemony wrote the series partly to protect the children he never had, to honor his lost love's memory, and to expose the wrongness in VFD's constant bickering, how no one is right in the matter.]]
** There was also a much smaller one in the eleventh book, where [[spoiler: Fiona is reunited with her long-lost brother, Fernald.]]

* Shel Silverstein's ''Literature/TheGivingTree''. A young boy spends every day with his favorite tree, climbing her trunk, swinging from her branches, eating her apples. When he becomes a young man, he's sad because he has no money, [[spoiler: so the tree gives him her apples to sell.]] When he becomes older, he wants a house so he can have a wife and family, [[spoiler: so the tree gives him her branches to build a house.]] Later, he wants to sail away and forget his troubles, [[spoiler: so she gives him her trunk to build a boat.]] When he returns, many years later, the tree is sad [[spoiler: because she has nothing left to give to him.]] He tells her that he's very tired ... all he wants is a place to sit and rest, [[spoiler: and the tree, who is by now nothing but a stump, offers him a place to sit and rest.]]

* The short story "Saint Junior," by Sherman Alexie. The story follows a middle-aged man and his wife as they wake up on a snowy morning and watch a rerun of a Michael Jordan press confrence while they reminesce about how they met and courted in college. Firstly, there's the husband thinking about how people choose the ones they love--and how he and his wife, every single day, continue to choose each other. And then, finally, they go out into the snow, both of them chubby and out of shape, and play basketball. In the short story collection it's in, it's also placed [[MoodWhiplash right after the two most depressing stories in the book]], just to make it all the more obvious.

* Linda Sue Park's ''A Single Shard'' combines DeathByNewberyMedal ("[[spoiler: "Wherever you are on your journey, Crane-man, I hope you are traveling on two good legs]]") with CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: [[spoiler: Min: "How are you to help me if you do not have a wheel of your own?" and Ajima: "Be home in time for supper."]]

** Culminating when Data tells Geordi that he considers him his best friend [[spoiler:before pulling off Geordi's communicator, dumping him on top of a stack of storage equipment that's too high for him to get down easily, locking him in the storage room and going off to risk his hide in an attempt to save the crew from a Giant Life Sucking entity.]]

* [[Creator/StephenKing The Running Man]], in the later chapters. Its slightly subverted with the[[spoiler: hollow death-threat. Amellia could have had this random, scruffy man whom kidnapped her killed, by simply saying he diden't have a bomb, but, even though he woulden't have time to kill her under fire from the hunters, she cooperates. Then, at the end, he returns this by giving her the parachute. Following this, it doubles as a TearJerker as Ben crashes the plane into the goverment building, destroying the totalatarian monsters that rule the country. Why? [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge They had his wife murdered.]] ]]

** From the climax of the same book, [[spoiler:Thursday's father deciding to sacrifice himself to safe all of life on earth.]]

* From ''First Among Sequels'', we see a sweet PetTheDog moment: [[spoiler:the Goliath Corporation sends a crew to get the McGuffin from a disaster poem. When Thursday gets there, she finds that the poem's characters and the Goliath crew have all frozen to death, except for a little girl, wearing a Goliath thermal jacket.]]

* Let's just say that if you've read all the way through Creator/TadWilliams' ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'' {{Doorstopper}} CyberPunk series, you've been wondering what Olga Pirovsky has to do with J Corp, the Other, and all the other mysterious nastiness that's been going on. Certainly there have been clues seeded throughout the novels, but it isn't until the climactic [[TheReveal reveal]] that we learn the truth ('''SUPER SPOILER WARNING'''): [[spoiler:the Other is her son, stolen from her at birth and imprisoned in a satellite as the "brain" of Otherland's operating system. [[TearJerker And his name is Daniel]].]]

** "How had this happened? How had I become so caught up in the lives of these little tackers? One moment they'd been a hopeless nuisance, marching off on their own, getting lost, [[spoiler: causing Darina's death]]; the next, they had wound fifty metres of baling twine around my heart and pulled it so tight that I wasn't sure I could survive the pain of losing them."

* ''Walk Two Moons'', after [[spoiler:Sal's grandmother dies]].

** At the end of the two page chapter "Souls", [[spoiler:Ben and Sal both draw the same symbol representing their soul; an oak leaf within a circle]].

* Towards the end of ''Literature/WatershipDown'', months after their adventures, Hazel happens upon a mother rabbit telling her kits a story ''ostensibly'' starring the rabbit's legendary hero El-ahrairah. It gradually dawns on him that the tale is [[spoiler:really ''his'' story; the tale of his TrueCompanions' escape from Sandleford and journey to Watership Down]]. Many tears of joy ensue.

** At the end, when an old and weary Hazel suddenly starts feeling better than he ever had in his whole life... [[spoiler:then turns and sees his own dead body laying in the grass. He feels just a fleeting moment of regret, then happily bounds off to join all those who've gone before.]]

* ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime The Gathering Storm]]'' has one in the form of [[spoiler: Verin]]'s final moments. [[spoiler: After revealing herself as a ReverseMole and giving Egwene 70 years' worth of research on the Black Ajah, something that can only be done at [[LoopholeAbuse the hour of a Black's death]], she lies back, preparing to die with "the soul of a Brown."]] Egwene's response:
--->'''Egwene''': "Your soul is not [[spoiler: Brown.]] I can see it...Your soul is of a pure white, [[spoiler: Verin]]. Like the Light itself." [[TearJerker Sob]].
** Rand gets an amazing one as well in the climax of The Gathering Storm. In the height of his madness, atop the mountain that serves as a tomb for his past incarnation, trying to find a reason why he shouldn't take the Godlike mass of Power he's channeling and obliterate the world to just end the misery of the cycle of reincarnation and rebirth, and what does he come up with? [[spoiler: "Because each time we live, we get to love again."]]

* Summer of the Monkeys. A boy with a gang of monkeys he somehow obtained from a zoo. At the end, he [[spoiler: sells the monkeys for money to help pay for his little sister's operation (she's a cripple and this is to help her walk.) The book ended with the two of them running like mad across a field...together...*sniff*]]
* ''Literature/MakeWaysForDragons'' by Thorarinn Gunnarsson is about a fey-like good dragon named Dalvenjah [=FoxFire=] who followed a monstrous evil dragon to Earth to fight. She meets human Allan, and they get along very, very well and she even teaches him magic. But he can't keep the magic, because the only way would be to keep the magic Name he would have; which being Dragon magic, would transform him into a dragon. She defeats the evil dragon, and she and her daughter are about to go....when she asks if she'll come with him as a dragon and he accepts.

* ''Literature/TheTimeTravelersWife'' is constructed of these - but the most poignant scene was Henry's "meeting" of Alba in the museum - and her joy at seeing him since [[spoiler: he has been dead for several years]]
* The end of [[Literature/TheBartimaeusTrilogy Ptolemy's Gate]], when [[spoiler: Nathaniel's heroic sacrifice]] is just like Ptolemy's.
* ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'' pulls one of these off at the end when Rachel the Dragon is [[spoiler:reunited with Simon]].

* The end of ''Rock of Ages'' by Creator/WalterJonWilliams, where Maijstral [[spoiler: comes to the realization that he might not be such a coward after all. Because of Ronny Romper.]]

* ''The Gods of War'', fourth book in Conn Iggulden's ''Emperor'' series, has one following the Battle of Pharsalus. Caesar orders that no one may kill [[spoiler: the traitor Brutus]] if he is found, and when he finds him himself he grants him forgiveness in a rather heartwarming scene (two scenes, to be picky).

* In the 9th Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan book, ''Killers of the Dawn'' [[spoiler: when Mr.Crepsley dies. Paticularly how Darren mentions how he was his greatest friend...]]
* In ''Pilgrimage: The Book of the People'', when Peter asks if he and his sister will be sent away because they are half Terran. Valancy says, [[spoiler: "Oh my people, my people! Of course not! As if there were any question."]] Given Valancy's own story, this is especially heartrending.

** The ending, while a {{Tearjerker}}, has a moment of this when [[spoiler:Vivien, now Peter's mother Birdy on her deathbed]] tells Claire that she shouldn't waste her one beautiful life on grief and instead focus on how things will recover.

* In ''Literature/TheBookThief'' when it is revealed that [[spoiler: Max Vanderburg survived the concentration camps and found Liesel in Frau Hermann's house.Frau Hermann taking Liesel into her house also counts as one.]]

* Chris D'Lacey's book ''The Fire Within'' is a Crowning ''Book'' Of Heartwarming. Especially the ending. [[spoiler: "Wuzzled off." Cue tears, especially at how sweetly and gently it was handled. Even though they weren't truly able to save the squirrel's life, they managed to find happiness in what they did do for him.]]

* In ''The Sweet Far Thing'', Pippa [[spoiler: goes completely batshit insane, tries to kill her friends, and ends up trapped in a building that was pulled under the ground by [[ItMakesSenseInContext extremely vicious weeds.]]]] After everything is said and done, Gemma tells Felicity that she believed that Pippa was uncorrupted for so long because of [[spoiler: Pippa's love for Felicity, and visa versa,]] and that such love is probably the strongest magic Gemma had ever seen.
** Also, [[spoiler: Kartik's HeroicSacrifice]].

-->[[spoiler:"Um. Silas. If you're ever in trouble, call me. I'll come and help."\\

"As you say."]]

[[AC:[[PeterPan Peter Pan in Scarlet]]]]
* ''Peter Pan in Scarlet'', the sequel to PeterPan, has at least four, potentially crossing over into TearJerker:
* Curly choosing to [[spoiler:grow up and become a doctor because Peter is sick, even though he knows that Peter won't accept him once he's well again. 'Ask me, Ravello.']]
* Wendy tending to [[spoiler:Captain Hook]] as he dies. [[spoiler:'Goodnight, James.']]
* [[spoiler:'Those ladies there are the Heartbroken! There's none other would make a voyage like that. They do what they have to. Instinct, see. Can't help theirselves. They'd do ''anything'', Mothers would.']]
* [[spoiler:'You didn't take this, my darling, when you went missing.']]
* And what about [[spoiler:Tootles' father recognising his son immediately, even though his son was at that point a little girl.]]

[[AC:JohnnyAndTheBomb]]
* ''JohnnyAndTheBomb'' has one at the very end, as Kirsty runs to Johnny's house in the rain just to let him know she ''remembers'' their adventure (unlike ''everyone else''). It makes it clear exactly who Kirsty ''is'' to Johnny: the one person who can actually share in all the weirdness that surrounds him.

[[AC:JonBerkeley]]