History Main / HeartwarmingInHindsight

Some event happens in a work, and then a later event, in either another work or RealLife (often through RealitySubtext or LifeImitatesArt), comes along and makes that first event give you warm and fuzzy feelings. Even if the event was already meant to be heartwarming, this makes it even moreso. Heck, a work could even TastesLikeDiabetes at first, but then something comes along and makes it truly heartwarming.

* In TheProducers (1968 version), there was a scene where Leo agrees with Max to partake in the "creative accounting" idea which was done at night along the Lincoln Fountain(the last scene to be filmed). This is a bit of a send-up of movie cliches Leo says that he wants what happens in the movies followed by the fountain suddenly going off. It's funny and kind of heartwarming, but what makes it even more heartwarming is learning that this was the scene that convinced Gene Wilder to stick with acting.

** Similarly, Martika's Toy Soldiers goes from tear jerker to heartwarming once you learn that not only it wss written for a friend who was knee deep into drugs... but that said friend actually went into rehab and got better.

* "New Kidney in Town", an episode of FamilyGuy, involved Chris plagiarizing a speech about hope from Meg, and getting an interview for it with a local anchor (because the essay won a contest to introduce BarackObama when he came to town at the end of the episode). Chris says, rather plainly, that he got the essay from an angel. He was speaking more in a religious sense, but think for a second about from where, or rather ''who'' it actaully came.

* The La Marseillaise scene in Casablanca is a tearjerking and heartwarming (in some respects) scene of patriotic pride. It gets all the more heartwarming when you learn that most of the extras in the movie whom were singing along were exiled from Europe because of the Nazis and World War II.

* ''Speechless'', by LadyGaga, is a [[TearJerker pretty sad song]]. However, the knowledge that it ''did'' persuade her dad to give up drinking and get the heart surgery he needed makes it this.

* In ''{{Bionicle}}'', Mata Nui has the following line:
-->'''Mata Nui:''' It is said that some endings are really beginnings waiting to be born.
** The end of the Bionicle line was announced a few months later. The creators had no idea it was coming when they wrote that line.
** Then, nine months after that, Greg Farshtey (the head writer), announced that his wife had given birth to a beautiful baby girl. Turns out Mata Nui was right after all!

* One that was mentioned in [[AtopTheFourthWall Linkara's review of]] ActionComics #1: Superman rescuing Lois for the first time and bounding away with her in his arms does indeed become even more adorable now that they're married.
* JenniferLopez and Marc Anthony sang the duet ''No Me Ames'' (Don't Love Me) in 1999, while each was still in their own relationship (she's dating Sean "P. Diddy" Combs while he's married to Dayanara Torres), and the music video of the song cast the two as a married couple. They were eventually married in 2004 after their respective failed relationships and had been a happy couple until today. D'awww... (Here's hoping that the [[TearJerker sad part]] of the music video wouldn't actually happen, though.)

* In ''SlumdogMillionaire'', Jamal promised Latika that he would dance with her at the train station when they were both young. [[BreakTheCutie After all they went through]], he kept his promise in the end dance number.

* YMMV as this one could also be considered HarsherInHindsight, but in the ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer" episode "Forever" Tara is the most vocal opponent of resurrecting Buffy and Dawn's mother after she dies, explaining that it goes against the natural order and that people usually [[CameBackWrong come back wrong]]. This becomes more poignant after Tara was killed off and Amber Benson refused to come back to play The First Evil impersonating Tara because she felt it would be too upsetting to Tara and Willow's fans to see "Tara" torturing Willow that way; indeed, Tara was one of the few characters who never appeared again in any form after dying. It seems poignant and touching that Tara's warnings against raising the dead were later echoed by her actress refusing to come back.

* YMMV as this one could also be considered HarsherInHindsight, but in the ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer" episode "Forever" Tara is the most vocal opponent of resurrecting Buffy and Dawn's mother after she dies, explaining that it goes against the natural order and that people usually [[CameBackWrong come back wrong]]. This becomes more poignant after Tara was killed off and Amber Benson refused to come back to play The First Evil impersonating Tara because she felt it would be too upsetting to Tara and Willow's fans to see "Tara" torturing Willow that way; indeed, Tara was one of the few characters who never appeared again in any form after dying. It seems poignant and touching that Tara's wise warnings against raising the dead were later echoed by her actress refusing to come back.

* One that was mentioned in[[AtopTheFourthWall Linkara's review of]] ActionComics #1: Superman rescuing Lois and bounding away with her in his arms does indeed become even more adorable now that they're married.

* In the ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer" episode "Forever" Tara is the most vocal opponent of resurrecting Buffy and Dawn's mother after she dies, explaining that it goes against the natural order and that people usually [[CameBackWrong come back wrong]]. This becomes more poignant after Tara was killed off and Amber Benson refused to come back to play The First Evil impersonating Tara; indeed, Tara was one of the few characters who never appeared again in any form after dying.

* In ''SlumdogMillionaire'', Jamal promised Latika that he would dance with her at the train station when they were both young.
[[BreakTheCutie After all they went through]], he kept his promise in the end dance number.

{{BreakTheCutie After all they went through}}, he kept his promise in the end dance number.

{{BreakTheCutieAfter all they went through}}, he kept his promise in the end dance number.

Not to be confused with {{Foreshadowing}} a clearly intended heartwarming moment later in the same work.

* DoctorWho pulled one in the series five finale when the Doctor is about to vanish from existence (he's fixing the cracks that are teaering up the universe, but it can't complete the process until he's on the other side, thus making it so the Doctor never existed), and tells a sleeping Amelia a story all about how he left Gallifrey with a "borrowed" TARDIS, a thing ''"impossibly old and brand new at the same time, and the bluest blue there ever was"''. This is heartwarming enough, but the denouement smashes it right up to tearJerker level when Amy brings the Doctor back -just by ''remembering'' him, having been prompted by her own wedding and a gift from River Song.
-->"What is it?"
-->"Something old, something new, something borrowed... [[TearJerker something blue]]."
** Another good Doctor Who one. The Face of Boe dies quite early in the series, episode three. That was pretty sad. Then we discover in the series finale that The Face of Boe [[spoiler: is an ancient Jack Harkness, the man who denied the human gift of death]]. In the end, he'll get his wish.

Examples:

* ''Speechless'', by LadyGaga, is a [[TearJerker pretty sad song]]. However, the knowledge that it ''did'' convince her dad to give up drinking and get the heart surgery he needed makes it this.
* SpaceJam--producers built Michael Jordan (then retired from basketball) a custom court so he could practice his moves to look good for the movie. He credits this with helping him make his comeback when he un-retired.

-->'''Mata Nui''': It is said that some endings are really beginnings waiting to be born.
** The end of the Bionicle line was announced a few months later.The creators had no idea it was coming when they wrote that line.

* Several of the people who participated in the making of the Broadway version of TheLionKing were black South Africans who had left their country due to persecution. In the musical's original playbill, they expressed their sympathy with Simba, who, like them, was exiled but eventually able to return to his homeland.

* In the ''DcotorWho'' episode "Time Crash", Ten says to Five: "I haven't always been proud of you, but I've often wished I was you again!" Later, we realize that David Tennant's favorite Doctor as a child was the Fifth.

Compare HeartwarmingMoments (which are heartwarming upon first watching), HilariousInHindsight.