History Main / TearfulSmile

May be an attempt to paper over the grief, especially to fool a child, but often indicates a -- complicated emotional state. As when NoOneCouldSurviveThat is succeeded by NotQuiteDead so quickly that the characters suffer emotional whiplash. (Compare AngerBornOfWorry.) Sometimes a character will lie about crying, invoking SandInMyEyes.

* ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'': The ending of the game has Luigi react this way after [[spoiler: he finally saves Mario after a horrifying night in the titular mansion]]. Luigi just stands in silence for a moment with his mouth open in a wide smile, like he can't believe it, and then tears start rolling down his face as he slowly bursts into a most heavily relieved laughter, with tears still rolling down his face all the while.

* ''Videogame/EarthBound'': The famous song "Smiles and Tears".

* ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'': Misty gets a tearful smile when Ash and Pikachu come [[BackFromTheDead back to life]] thanks to a friendly Ghastly, Haunter, and Gengar after being accidentally killed by a falling chandelier. Pikachu also gets one in the first movie after Ash is restored from being [[TakenForGranite turned to stone]].

* Casca from ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'', several times throughout the series, but most notably during the Eclipse. While helping [[spoiler:a mortally wounded]] Judeau walk, she is reminded by him that Guts loves her, and smiles. The tears in her eyes are barely noticeable, but prompt Judeau to say "You cry a lot when you're alone, don't you?" as his final words before falling to the ground.
** It gets worse in the movie adaptation, while Casca is suffering [[spoiler: an excruciatingly painful and humiliating rape at the hands of Griffith right in front of Guts and a menagerie of other demons. There's no doubt that what she's feeling both physically and emotionally is unimaginably horrible, but yet she manages to [[GoOutWithASmile give Guts a smile during her last moments of consciousness]] ([[GoMadFromTheRevelation and inevitable sanity]]) while tearfully telling him [[DontLookAtMe not to watch her be violated.]]]]
* In the After Story arc of ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'', [[spoiler:after reconciling with Ushio and promising to take care of her, Tomoya finally begins telling her about her deceased mother, Nagisa. He starts out composed but scarcely gets past the story of how they met before beginning to cry and smiling as he remembers his late wife.]]

* In ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', Henry does this when [[spoiler: Terriermon and the rest of the Digimon were forced to leave and return to their Digital World.]] [[TearJerker *sniff*]]
* Jotaro Kujo has a moment in the finale of part three of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''. That he would smile while on the verge of crying is quite surprising, considering the type of [[TheStoic person]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Jotaro is]] much of the time. Jotaro's grandfather Joseph and friend Polnareff also smile through their own tears and all three of them [[InsultOfEndearment throw insults at each other]] while they embrace and bid farewell to one another.
* When Kaguya's cellphone breaks in chapter 100 of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'', she starts smiling since she now has an excuse to upgrade to a smartphone. It's only once the fact that [[PreciousPhoto all the photos stored on it]] were lost (since the phone was old enough that it had neither cloud storage nor an SD card) sinks in that she starts crying. [[spoiler:This happens again when she's giving a practice confession to Hayasaka regarding all the things she loves about Shirogane while admitting she could never keep him from going to Stanford.]]
* Misty from the ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' anime gets a tearful smile when Ash and Pikachu come [[BackFromTheDead back to life]] thanks to a friendly Ghastly, Haunter, and Gengar after being accidentally killed by a falling chandelier. Pikachu also gets one in the first movie after Ash is restored from being [[TakenForGranite turned to stone]].
* Yata attempts this in the last episode of ''Anime/ProjectK'' after [[spoiler: Mikoto's death.]] It doesn't hold for long and he ends up [[TearJerker sobbing halfway through the HOMRA chant.]]

* At the end of the ''AudioPlay/SaintBeast'' [=OVA=], Maya wakes up Shin from a HappyFlashback turned FlashbackNightmare and asks why he's crying. Shin responds that he's crying over happy memories, and when pressed further, explains it's because he's sad that those times are now over.

* Vash the Stampede in ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' does a bit of this, being prone to complicated emotional states. (See chapter 32 of ''Maximum'', 'Colourless Emotions.') Though mostly when he's ''really'' sad he [[UnableToCry goes right past tears]] to the ThousandYardStare, and more often cries out of [[TenderTears relief, frustration, sympathy,]] occasionally [[TearsOfRemorse guilt]], or as a gag.

* Then there's [[http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ16/DisplayOQ16.html this]] ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'' cover. Cutter was grievously wounded in the previous issue, and Leetah's expression here is deliberately ambiguous.
* In ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'', both Lois and Clark do this as they say goodbye after Lois breaks off their engagement and decides to leave Metropolis.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWomanBlackAndGold'': When Diana gives Badra her mother's crown the princess thief turned museum curator smiles and cries in heartsore joy at seeing not only something from her ruined home planet, but something her long lost mother wore every day.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'',
** Miriam gives a horrified Moses one when she sings their mother's lullaby and he recognizes it, fully realizing he is a Hebrew and he runs away in shock and confusion

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Mei and Ming exchange these at the end of the climax due to their mixed emotions.

* At the end of ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', Data and Counselor Troi are searching the wrecked [[spoiler:Enterprise]] for survivors, and discover Data's pet cat, Spot alive under some rubble. Data begins to cry and wonders if his [[PersonalityChip emotion chip]] is malfunctioning, but Troi assures him it's working fine.
* Creator/CharlieChaplin cries tears of joy at the very end of ''Film/CityLights''.
* The end of ''Film/KillBill'', where [[spoiler:Beatrix is reunited with her daughter]] has the main character crying in the bathroom before it turns into tearful laughter.
* Near the end of Ang Lee's ''Film/SenseAndSensibility'', Elinor dissolves into tears when she hears that [[spoiler:Edward is NOT married to Lucy]]. Since this is actually the release of tension and despair that she (and the audience) had been holding for nearly the entire film, she soon smiles.
* Hermione does one of these at the end of ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' in the infamous "there's no Hogwarts without you, Hagrid" scene.
* Joe and Ann during the press conference in ''Film/RomanHoliday''.
* In ''Film/{{Babe}}'', Mrs. Hoggett hasn't finished crying with horror and embarrassment because she thinks her husband has gone crazy for entering a pig in a herding contest, before she begins laughing because [[spoiler: he won]].
* The film adaptation of ''Film/{{Filth}}'' ends with [[spoiler:Bruce grinning falsely at the camera with tears in his eyes, just before he hangs himself]].

* In Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'', when Nutt says they can leave to go back to the city, cutting off her chance to speak, Glenda bursts into tears. Then, minutes later, she manages to smile on top of it.
* In Creator/CaroleNelsonDouglas's ''Literature/SixOfSwords'' when Irissa has lost her powers and gone blind, she starts to cry. Kendric is cruel to her and leaves, taking the horses, causing her to sob. Then Kendric returns and Irissa finds her vision returning, and she sees that the tears were solid and colored; she regains both her sight and her powers and smiles even as she weeps the last of the problem away.
* In T. H. White's ''Literature/TheOnceAndFutureKing'', after Lancelot and Guinevere quarrel and make up:
-->''The Queen dried her tears and then looked at him, smiling like a spring shower.''
* In Creator/JaneAusten's ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility'', when Elinor learns that Edward is free:

%%* [[spoiler: Lyra]] at the end of ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials.''
* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/TheGoldenOecumene The Phoenix Exultant]]'', Daphne both when she is recovering from her tears at remembering Phaethon's exile and seeing what a mess she made, and when she meets him again, and he remembers that she is Daphne Tercius, not Daphne Prime.
* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', Jerin [[TenderTears feels like crying]] when he's about to leave home to get married, but knows that actually letting tears fall will make his [[PromotedToParent little siblings]] even more upset than they already are, so he forces cheer. Later he's upset because he's too modest to enjoy [[BeAWhoreToGetYourMan wearing tight clothing to appeal to women]] but knows no one wants to marry a crying boy, so he doesn't. His Eldest sister knows, all the same, and tries to console him.
* ''Literature/HowToMakeYourselfMiserable'', a parody self-help book geared to cultivate the reader's sense of self-pity to where nobody would want anything to do with them, featured a gallery of appropriate holiday cards, including one with a little man in an elf hat, smiling bravely with a tear in his eye with the caption "Don't Feel Obligated to Send Me a Christmas Card".

* Bernadette Peters invokes this after she helps a contestant win the big prize in a 1974 telecast of ''[[Series/{{Pyramid}} The $10,000 Pyramid]]''.

* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', Chloe does this when Clark saves her in "Crush" and "Obscura".
* Charlotte in the final scene of ''Series/QueenCharlotteABridgertonStory'', when her senile husband has a moment of clarity and recognizes her, and the two share a happy memory of their early marriage.

* Miranda in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' [[DefrostingIceQueen smiles tearfully after meeting her adult sister for the first time]] if Shepard encourages her to introduce herself.
* In the end of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'', [[spoiler:Shanoa did this per Albus' [[LastRequest final request]].]]
* ''Videogame/EarthBound'''s famous song, "Smiles and Tears".
* [[spoiler:Aqua]] in the secret ending of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' when [[spoiler:Ansem the Wise]] tells her [[spoiler:Sora]]'s name.

* Both Sarah and Tedd in [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2004-06-23 this]] ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive.''

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': Sari after Optimus's FirstEpisodeResurrection.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has a lot of this, with one of the most memorable being when [[spoiler: Iroh and Zuko are reunited in the finale.]]
** A somewhat depressing example occurs in the sequel, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', with [[spoiler: [[BigBad Amon,]] [[AlasPoorVillain right before his death.]]]]

* A particularly heartbreaking example comes from ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'', from the episode "Cheer Up, Pops," when Pops is having a mental breakdown.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' episode "Jet Cooks Dinner", the Propulsions begin to miss Bortron 7 and the Classic 3-part Bortronian Meal. After they sing the commercial tune, Jet gets nostalgic about Bortron 7 and starts to [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/readyjetgo/images/5/5d/Screen_Shot_2017-04-20_at_12.37.21_PM.png/revision/latest?cb=20170421000231 cry a little bit while smiling.]]
* Buttercup does this in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "Buttercrush" as she's buying Gangreen Gang leader Ace's sob story alibi. (Blossom and Bubbles aren't.)
* Late in the run of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'', Daphne smiles with tears in her eyes when Fred announces his love for her and they kiss. Velma follows suit.
* Lena does this in the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode "Friendship Hates Magic!" [[spoiler:when Webby's attempt to rescue her from the Shadow Realm (seemingly) fails and she beings to fade away.]]
* Charlie Brown effects this in the special ''Charlie Brown's All-Stars'' after the gang presents him with a sweater that reads "Our Manager."

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', Moses has one after his first encounter with God, where he is tasked with leading the Hebrews out of Egypt.

Compare GoOutWithASmile and TearsOfJoy, a less ambiguous expression of happiness. See also CryLaughing, a similar expression of mixed emotion.

* Charlie Brown effects this in the special ''WesternAnimation/CharlieBrownsAllStars'' after the gang presents him with a sweater that reads "Our Manager."

** This is used to a more... ''unnerving'' effect in ''Manga/FourKnightsOfTheApocalyse'', [[spoiler:where [[SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome Jericho is now a traitor to Liones.]] She ends up doing this as she admits to her 16-year-old former apprentice, Lancelot, [[{{Ephebophile}} that she has a disturbing crush on him]], and that she joined King Arthur because he could create a reality where she can be with a "Lancelot" of her own. The moment she snaps back into combat, her tears freeze and shatter.]]

* Misty from the ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' anime gets a tearful smile when Ash and Pikachu come [[BackFromTheDead back to life]] thanks to a friendly Ghastly, Haunter, and Gengar after being accidentally killed by a falling chandelier. Pikachu also gets one in the first movie after Ash is restored from being [[TakenForGranite turned to stone]].

* Vash the Stampede in ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' does a bit of this, being prone to complicated emotional states. (See chapter 32 of ''Maximum'', 'Colourless Emotions.') Though mostly when he's ''really'' sad he [[UnableToCry goes right past tears]] to the ThousandYardStare, and more often cries out of [[TenderTears relief, frustration, sympathy,]] occasionally [[TearsOfRemorse guilt]], or as a gag.
* In the After Story arc of ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'', [[spoiler:after reconciling with Ushio and promising to take care of her, Tomoya finally begins telling her about her deceased mother, Nagisa. He starts out composed but scarcely gets past the story of how they met before beginning to cry and smiling as he remembers his late wife. ]]
* At the end of the ''AudioPlay/SaintBeast'' [=OVA=], Maya wakes up Shin from a HappyFlashback turned FlashbackNightmare and asks why he's crying. Shin responds that he's crying over happy memories, and when pressed further, explains it's because he's sad that those times are now over.

* Yata attempts this in the last episode of ''Anime/ProjectK'' after [[spoiler: Mikoto's death.]] It doesn't hold for long and he ends up [[TearJerker sobbing halfway through the HOMRA chant.]]

* In Carole Nelson Douglas's ''Six of Swords'' when Irissa has lost her powers and gone blind, she starts to cry. Kendric is cruel to her and leaves, taking the horses, causing her to sob. Then Kendric returns and Irissa finds her vision returning, and she sees that the tears were solid and colored; she regains both her sight and her powers and smiles even as she weeps the last of the problem away.

* "How to Make Yourself Miserable", a parody self-help book geared to cultivate the reader's sense of self-pity to where nobody would want anything to do with them, featured a gallery of appropriate holiday cards, including one with a little man in an elf hat, smiling bravely with a tear in his eye with the caption "Don't Feel Obligated to Send Me a Christmas Card".