History Main / HeartwarmingInHindsight

* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'', Seto Kaiba's obsession with the Blue Eyes White Dragon card, which the series portrays as a combination of Kaiba's preoccupation with power and therefore his reliance on a power deck filled with powerful monster cards; and a strange, inexplicable, almost mystical emotional connection with said cards; is eventually revealed to be the result of subconscious PastLifeMemories: Pegasus, the creator of the Duel Monsters game, based the Blue Eyes White Dragon card on an Ancient Egyptian engraving of a priest directing a spirit-like white dragon with blue eyes in battle - said engraving was a recording of the events of Pharaoh Atem's reign when Kaiba's past incarnation was a royal High Priest named Set who [[spoiler: fell in love with a woman named Kisara who had a hyper-powerful personal spirit animal of a white dragon with blue eyes, and when she died, the dragon lived on, continuing to fight with and defend Set in battle. Kaiba's inexplicable adoration of the supposedly-fictional monster is an echo of his forgotten love for Kisara.]] This became an intentional example, but in the very first appearance of both Kaiba and the Blue Eyes White Dragon, long before the full connection was conceived of and when Kaiba was intended to only be a one-shot character, he gasps in enraptured amazement when he sees the card and tells Yugi "I'm in love with that card!" It's supposed to show how egotistically obsessed he is with what seems to be a simple trading card, but on re-reads it comes off as much deeper than that.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Luffy [[spoiler: asking Jimbei to join his crew]] in the [[Recap/OnePieceFishmanIslandArc Fishmen arc]] [[spoiler:with the latter officially doing so in the [[Recap/OnePieceWholeCakeIslandArc Whole Cake Island arc]]]] becomes even more heartwarming when you remember that [[spoiler: Jimbei was there to pull Luffy out of his HeroicBSOD after Ace's death]]. Hence, Luffy already had [[spoiler: a Straw Hat with him]] when the rest of his crew couldn't be there for him.

* At the start of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' Kaoru's implicit acceptance of Kenshin's life as a Manslayer ten years before when she says she doesn't care about his past, while sweet, is largely brushed over. It is only later [[spoiler: when Kenshin says goodbye before leaving for Kyoto]] that it becomes apparent how much that simple statement meant to him and changed his life.

** Likewise, Reinforce explaining to Nanoha why [[spoiler: she's willing to perform a HeroicSacrifice for Hayate's sake]] in ''[[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs A's]]'' becomes this when Nanoha adopts Vivio in ''[[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers StrikerS]]''.

* The wizards of ''Manga/FairyTail'' have a tweaked "Number One!" sign as a gesture to denote guild solidarity, and first appearing after the BarBrawl in the second episode. At the end of the Fantasia arc, we discover that [[spoiler: ''[[{{Jerkass}} Laxus]]'' was the one to come up with it [[UsedToBeASweetKid when he was a young boy]] so he could signal to his grandpa during his first Fantasia parade]], a full 46 episodes later.
-->'''Makarov''': You'll hold up your hand?\\
'''[[spoiler: Young!Laxus]]''': It's a message! When you see me holding up my hand like this, it means even if I can't see you, I'm looking your way!
* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''

* ''Manga/MyMonsterSecret'': Future Mikan at first appears to be a SoreLoser who spends most of her time trying to motivate her past self to pursue the protagonist and end up "winning" over the other girls who are interested in him (including the girl that ''he'' likes). It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler: Future Mikan is trying to spare the protagonist a BadFuture in which he spends most of his life alone after Youko is outed as a vampire and disappears.]]

* After [[spoiler: the Motherfucker's defeat]] in ''ComicBook/KickAss'' Volume 2, he promises to never bother Dave again if he lets him live. [[spoiler: [[RedemptionEqualsDeath Volume 3 shows that he very well kept his promise]]]].

* ''Fanfic/QueenOfBloodSirWill'' gets Taylor almost BuriedAlive in the Simurgh's attack, until [[MakingASplash Neptune]] saves her. Neptune is quite new in the cape business, and the first person he saved was [[spoiler: a mourning Daniel Hebert, who yelled at Neptune for saving him instead of his daughter whom he just attended the funeral.]] Three months later, Neptune did exactly that. [[spoiler: His rescuing Taylor becomes even more meaningful when he's revealed as Daniel Hebert's projection since the man was so guilt-ridden for failing to help his daughter he triggered. Maybe he wasn't directly here, but Daniel managed to protect his baby girl when she needed saving this time.]]

* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/38046232/chapters/95031946 Hazy Days]]'', a [[WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcGee Mollibby]] Future fic, Chapter 1 has Libby as a successful writer who takes a moment from her story to help her daughter Hazel with writing advice. This becomes more heartwarming due to [[spoiler: Like Father Like Libby revealed Libby wanted her deadbeat dad (who cared more about writing his book series than his family) dreamt of him being there for her.]] So, her taking a moment for her daughter shows her being a better parent than him.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'' had Master Oogway choosing Po to be the Dragon Warrior after the latter accidentally landed in front of him [[Heartwarming/KungFuPanda and, despite everyone's worries, having full-on confidence in him and believes that Po landing in front of him wasn't an accident]]. This becomes more heartwarming after ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3'' revealed that [[spoiler: Oogway's life was once saved by Pandas, which gives [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe a new perspective of his attitude towards Po]]]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTiggerMovie'' ends with [[spoiler: Tigger handing his family locket to Roo as a PassingTheTorch to his fanboy. Quite fittingly, Roo would get an upgraded role in a long string of projects afterwards, culminating in [[WesternAnimation/PoohsHeffalumpMovie his own spotlight movie]], meaning Tigger essentially signalled Roo becoming BreakoutCharacter just like he had before.]]

* In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', Batman says to Commissioner Gordon that anyone can be a hero, [[spoiler: even doing something as simple as putting a coat around a boy's arms and assuring him that it's not the end of the world. In the film, it was a CallBack to ''Film/BatmanBegins'' to the flashback where Gordon put a coat on young Bruce and tries to comfort him after his parents were murdered and it was used to tell Gordon who Batman was]].

** Every time Ebenezar [=McCoy=] protects Harry, and every interaction between them, gets ten times sweeter when it's revealed in ''Literature/{{Changes}}'' that, unknown to Harry, [[spoiler: they're not just master and apprentice; Ebenezar is his maternal grandfather]].

* In ''Literature/RangersApprentice,'' Halt explains that he first became interested in Will as an apprentice when he saw the young man sneak into a kitchen to steal some pies, and was impressed by how stealthily he moved even with no training. Book 11 reveals that he'd been keeping an eye on Will [[spoiler: since he was born, [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe and felt a debt to]] [[IOweYouMyLife Will's parents]], both of whom had saved his life]].

** Sabrina passes a test in season 1 to see if what she feels for Harvey is true love. Even though they split up in season 4, they remain AmicableExes until the finale where [[spoiler: Sabrina ultimately chooses Harvey]].
* ''{{Series/Cheers}}'' once opened with Woody's parents ordering him to come home because his uncle told them Boston was a dangerous place. They change their minds when Al sends them a letter saying "Let your son pick his own path and it will all come back to you." Just before the GrandFinale, Woody gets elected to the city council. Unfortunately, Al doesn't live to see he was right.

** In the season 3 episode "The Wind That Blew My Heart Away", when Mouth and Rachel are both trapped inside her house due to the storm, Rachel is telling him he can get more "elite" girls like her if he starts being more mean. To which Mouth says that he can never be that kind of person and mentions how someday he will find someone who might not be Rachel's idea of "elite" but that she'll be "elite" to him and she'll love him for who he is and always be there for him and they won't have to play games with one another. A couple of seasons later pretty much exactly that happens when Mouth meets Millicent (who is somewhat insecure about her looks and weight) and they really hit it off, and in the GrandFinale they [[spoiler: end up married with her pregnant with twins]].

** Additionally, the Turaga mentoring the Toa Mata/Nuva becomes this trope when we discover in the 2004/2005 arc that the Turaga [[spoiler: used to be Toa themselves]]. They've been there before, and they know what it's like.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', it's revealed that [[spoiler: Nobodies can grow new hearts over time, and it may be possible for others with no hearts to grow one as well (eg: puppets, programs)]]. It's mainly a HarsherInHindsight for most cases, but it does make the goodbye scene with Tron, a program, near the end of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' more heartwarming, considering just before, he suddenly gained emotions, implying a heart.

* Many moments where Kratos takes on the role of TheMentor to Lloyd in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' get even more heartwarming once you find out [[spoiler: he's Lloyd's father.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "It's Way Ed," the Eds kept falling behind on the latest fads. Edd tries cheering Eddy up by saying fads come in a cycle and that they'd be back in style in ten years. Ten years after that episode aired [[spoiler: TheMovie ended with the Eds being accepted by the kids of the Cul-De-Sac]].

** Bruce tries to retire Terry so the Joker won't go after him. Already heartwarming but after TheReveal that [[spoiler: Terry is actually Bruce's biological son and there are hints that Bruce knew all along]], it becomes more heartwarming as Bruce was terrified that the Joker would [[spoiler: hurt another son of his.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': with the finale making [[spoiler: Korra and Asami]] the OfficialCouple, rewatching the show now makes their slow-burn relationship and its development quite heartwarming to watch.

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Stan's growing obsession with [[spoiler: the portal device in the Mystery Shack's secret basement]] becomes heartwarming in "Not What He Seems", when [[spoiler: it turns out he was using a device that could potentially [[ApocalypseHow cause a Class X apocalypse]] because he was ''that'' desperate to see his long-lost brother again.]]
* What we learn about [[spoiler: Garnet]] in the first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' retroactively makes a lot of her best moments even better because she basically ''is'' ThePowerOfLove. But another one that's more Fridge Heartwarming (if there was such a page) is what it says about Steven and Connie's accidental fusion. As we see with most fusions, it is difficult to initiate, difficult to maintain, and sometimes difficult to control. Pearl and Amethyst could only make it work while Steven was in great danger and popped apart the moment it was over and they started arguing again, and Garnet and Amethyst were once ''the MonsterOfTheWeek'' with Pearl and Steven having to ''stop'' their uncontrollable OneWingedAngel form who just wanted to fight and didn't care who. The FusionDance is a literal one and a lot longer and more complex than the ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' edition, too. On the other hand, because of how total their love for each other is, [[spoiler: Ruby and Sapphire]] require only a TwirlOfLove to become [[spoiler: Garnet]] and ''stay'' that way for as long as they see fit. That means for Steven and Connie to be able to ''accidentally' fuse just while having fun together after only a few steps of dancing just for the heck of it, and stay that way for a long time, only separating when Connie's social anxiety was pushed to the extreme, it means that even if they're only at the ShipTease stage romantically, their bond must be very close and very deep. Nothing's more intimate than fusion and for them, it's as natural as breathing!
** Also, when we find out that Pearl was jealous of Rose Quartz's growing relationship with Greg back in the day, Pearl's friendship with Steven is made even more meaningful: After all, Rose Quartz [[spoiler: gave up her physical form to make Steven with Greg, effectively dying]]. Rose was Pearl's close friend, and Pearl may have wanted a RelationshipUpgrade, so the amount of pain and loss Steven represents for her is extreme. You would ''never'' know that from her relationship with Steven, who she never treats as anything but a dear friend... and we ''know'' from the episode where we learn all this that it's definitely not because Pearl is this perfect person who's just not capable of being unfair.

* In Creator/SamAndMickey's MediaNotes/AcademyAward show spoof "Award Show," two of Franchise/{{Barbie}}'s movies earn recognition from the Doll Actor's Guild, even though at the time of the video's release, it seemed unlikely that a real Barbie movie would ever receive an Oscar nomination. However, ''Film/Barbie2023'' now has eight, including Best Picture and a win for Best Original Song.

* In Creator/SamAndMickey's MediaNotes/AcademyAward show spoof "Award Show," two of Franchise/{{Barbie}}'s movies earn recognition from the Doll Actor's Guild, even though at the time of the video's release, it seemed unlikely that a real Barbie movie would ever receive an Oscar nomination. However, ''Film/Barbie2023'' now has eight, including Best Picture.

* ''Film/{{Airheads}}'': Chazz (Creator/BrendanFraser) explaining why he's willing to hold Rebel Radio hostage so that he can play his song on the air, saying "I'm average and screwed up enough that I might just write a song that will live forever. And then it's all going to be worth it.", became this after Fraser, after years of struggling to get new roles, got a widely-praised comeback part in ''Film/TheWhale'' and won the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Actor for it in 2023.

** After June's death, her fellow voice actress Creator/TaraStrong tweeted [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFuATgJUwAI1YBH.jpg a photo]] of them both at the UsefulNotes/{{Annie Award}}s. Tara would assume the role of Rocky for [[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfRockyAndBullwinkle the 2018 reboot]].

* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/38046232/chapters/95031946 Hazy Days]]'', a [[WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcGee Mollibby]] FutureAU fic, Chapter 1 has Libby as a successful writer who takes a moment from her story to help her daughter Hazel with writing advice. This becomes more heartwarming due to [[spoiler: Like Father Like Libby revealed Libby wanted her deadbeat dad (who cared more about writing his book series than his family) dreamt of him being there for her.]] So her taking a moment for her daughter shows her being a better parent than him.

* In Creator/SamAndMickey's MediaNotes/AcademyAward show spoof "Award Show," one of Franchise/{{Barbie}}'s movies earns recognition from the Doll Actor's Guild, even though at the time of the video's release, it seemed unlikely that a real Barbie movie would ever receive an Oscar nomination. However, ''Film/Barbie2023'' now has eight, including Best Picture.

** In the,''A Trainer and Child Reunion!'' episode with Aaron and his Beautifly features flashbacks to Ash's Butterfree, with Ash expressing a desire to see him again. Come Episode 136 of ''Journeys'', he'll get his wish.

* ''Film/{{Gigli}}'' was infamously rewritten to capitalize on Creator/BenAffleck and Creator/JenniferLopez's relationship, a popular subject of media attention at the time. The film ended up bombing badly and received extremely negative reviews, and they broke up shortly after. However, in 2021, nearly two decades after ''Gigli'' was released, Affleck and Lopez decided to give their romance another shot and rekindled their relationship, getting married a year later.
* ''Film/{{Airheads}}'': Chazz (Creator/BrendanFraser) explaining why he's willing to hold Rebel Radio hostage so that he can play his song on the air, saying "I'm average and screwed up enough that I might just write a song that will live forever. And then it's all going to be worth it.", became this after Fraser, after years of struggling to get new roles, got a widely-praised comeback part in ''Film/TheWhale'' and won the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Actor for it in 2023.
* While Dr. Burke doesn't get to marry Ophelia in ''Film/DoctorInTrouble'', their actors (Creator/LesliePhillips and Creator/AngelaScoular) would get married twelve years later.

* Creator/DrewBarrymore was the voice of ''WesternAnimation/OliveTheOtherReindeer''. Her firstborn daughter's name is Olive.

* In the [[TheSeventies 1970s]], people said that there would be a ''black'' U.S. president [[CueTheFlyingPigs when pigs fly]]. [[HilariousInHindsight Eventually in November 2008]], we got UsefulNotes/BarackObama, and sure enough, [[BlackComedy swine]] ''BlackComedy [[flu]]''.

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E4Survival Survival]]", the last story of the 1989 series, the Doctor closes with [[AndTheAdventureContinues a beautiful speech culminating with, "Come on, Ace. We've got work to do."]] At the time, it was unknown if the show would ever come back, due to ExecutiveMeddling. Fast-forward sixteen years, and the Doctor is back on our screens, with the show as good as (many would say, better than) ever, and since then it's only gone from success to success.
** A later [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E10VincentAndTheDoctor story]] has the Doctor meet Van Gogh and inspire him, though sadly it's not enough to prevent the artist from committing suicide. Later, new research showed that he may not have committed suicide at all, that it may have been accidental. If this is so, then the Doctor and Amy were far more successful than they realized.
** Back in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]," the Doctor tells Sarah Jane and Harry that even though he failed to destroy the Daleks, he knows that out of their evil must come something good. This can be easy to dismiss, given all of the evil the Daleks are responsible for, but given stories such as "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd Journey's End]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWho2017CSTwiceUponATime Twice Upon A Time]]," where Daleks actually help the Doctor, it turns out that ''he was actually right.''

* WebVideo/AmazingPhil made a video in 2009 where he predicted his future via tarot cards. According to his fortune, he would meet an energetic, impulsive man who would have a huge impact on his life. Not long after, Phil would meet and become HeterosexualLifePartners with [[WebVideo/{{danisnotonfire}} Dan Howell]]. And then in 2019...[[ComingOutStory Forget that first word.]]

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Luffy [[spoiler: asking Jimbei to join his crew]] in the [[Recap/OnePieceFishmanIslandArc Fishmen arc]] [[spoiler:with the latter officially joining in the [[Recap/OnePieceWholeCakeIslandArc Whole Cake Island arc]]]] becomes even more heartwarming when you remember that [[spoiler: Jimbei was there to pull Luffy out of his HeroicBSOD after Ace's death]]. Hence, Luffy already had [[spoiler: a Straw Hat with him]] when the rest of his crew couldn't be there for him.

* In ''{{Film/Clerks}}'', the main character, Dante Hicks, is on the verge of pissing away a firm good relationship with girlfriend, Veronica Loughran, in order to chase after his ex, Caitlin Bree. Then Jay and Silent Bob, two drug dealers who spend their time loitering outside Dante's place of employment, enter to shoplift. They learn of his dilemma and give him advice. During this conversation, Jay mentions all the good things Veronica has done for Dante, who responds with "She's my girlfriend." To which Jay replies "I had some girlfriends too but all they wanted was weed and shit." Come ''Film/JayAndSilentBobStrikeBack'' 7 years later, Jay would finally get a girlfriend who loved him for him, and not just for his drugs.

* In ''{{Film/Clerks}}'', the main character, Dante Hicks, is on the verge of pissing away a firm good relationship with girlfriend, Veronica Loughran, in order to chase after his ex, Caitlin Bree. Then, when Jay and Silent Bob, two drug dealers who spend their time loitering outside Dante's place of employment, enter to shoplift. They learn of his dilemma and give him advice. During this conversation, Jay mentions all the good things Veronica has done for Dante, who responds with "She's my girlfriend." To which Jay replies "I had some girlfriends too but all they wanted was weed and shit." Come ''Film/JayAndSilentBobStrikeBack'' 7 years later, Jay would finally get a girlfriend who loved him for him, and not just for his drugs.