History Main / TenderTears

* WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}}, a KindheartedSimpleton is quite easily moved to tears, especially in later incarnations. One example of note is the ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' episode "A Goof of the People," wherein during Goofy's mayoral campaign, his political rival Pete tells a sob story about owning a puppy as a child. When Pete gets to the part where the puppy dies, Goofy bursts into tears. [[{{Jerkass}} Pete]] is disgusted by this and [[SayingTooMuch admits that he made the whole thing up]].

* WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}}, a KindheartedSimpleton is quite easily moved to tears, especially in later incarnations. One example of note is the ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' episode "A Goof of the People," wherein during Goofy's mayoral campaign, his political rival Pete tells a sob story about owning a puppy as a child. When Pete gets to the part where the puppy dies, Goofy bursts into tears. Pete is disgusted by this and [[SayingTooMuch admits that he made the whole thing up]].

* In ''Anime/DevilmanCrybaby'', protagonist Akira Fudo is prone to tears. It is noted in this adaptation that Akira does not cry for himself, but for others. Akira is extremely empathetic towards the suffering of others, often picking up on people's hidden emotions. Merging with a demon and becoming Devilman did not change this aspect of his personality at all, he remains the titular [[MeaningfulName crybaby]].

** Vash. He has a few ManlyTears moments, but he cries quite a bit as a sign of sensitivity and empathy to other people's suffering. Even when said suffering happens to be a completely made-up story. He's less teary in ''Anime/TrigunStampede'', because, "I don't deserve to cry," but he still turns on the waterworks more than once. [[spoiler:At the climax of the first season, he bursts into tears over the realisation that he can't save his brother from himself and they no longer understand each other.]]

** Vash. He has a few ManlyTears moments, but he cries quite a bit as a sign of sensitivity and empathy to other people's suffering. Even when said suffering happens to be a completely made-up story. He's less teary in ''Anime/TrigunStampede'', because, "I don't deserve to cry," but he still turns on the waterworks more than once.

* ''[[Film/{{Emma2020}} Emma (2020)]]'' at first has Emma disparage this trope - when Mr. Knightley asks who cried most at the Westons' wedding, Emma replied that no one cried, and they "all behaved very well". Of course, at [[spoiler: Emma and Mr. Knightley's own wedding]] at the end of the film, both Emma and Mr. Knightley shed tears. Amusingly, Mr. Knightley's brother John, who up until this point has been either annoyed or sarcastic, is more overcome than either of them, and is openly weeping.

** Being the GentleGiant that he is, Hagrid does this a lot as well. When he sends the trio letters, informing them of Buckbeak's execution and later the death of Aragog, both letters are stained with tears.

%%* Tohru from ''Manga/FruitsBasket''.

** In a more twisted take, Bishop Mozgus cries these as a sign of his insanity, as he sends a woman and her baby to be tortured to insanity and sniffing on her courage and how he hopes she will "overcome God's trial".

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' manages to take tender tears and twist them in a disturbing manner when Slan of the Godhand weeps them [[spoiler: while Griffith/Femto rapes Casca.]] She apparently thought the scene was very beautiful.

* Vash from ''Manga/{{Trigun}}''. He has a few ManlyTears moments, but he cries quite a bit as a sign of sensitivity and empathy to other people's suffering. Even when said suffering happens to be a completely made-up story. He's less teary in ''Anime/TrigunStampede'', because, "I don't deserve to cry," but he still turns on the waterworks more than once.

* Vash from ''Manga/{{Trigun}}''. He has a few ManlyTears moments, but he cries quite a bit as a sign of sensitivity and empathy to other people's sufferings. Even when said suffering happens to be a completely made-up story.

* [[BigBad Johann]] [[EnfanteTerrible Liebert]] from ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' can shed the most incredible Tender Tears known to man. Of course, given his [[ManipulativeBastard personality]], they are fake, [[MindScrew probably]].

SuperTrope of HeWillNotCrySoICryForHim and TearsOfJoy.

* [[NiceGirl Enju]] [[AllLovingHero Aihara]] from ''LightNovel/BlackBullet'' is [[ProneToTears prone to cry a lot]], [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer mainly due to the suffering she has endured as a cursed child]], and the emotional fragility of her character.

* From ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'', [[AntiVillain Kiyama-sensei]] gets these going after [[spoiler:the Child Errors she spent most of her screen time trying to help finally wake up. It is quite a sight.]]

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' being...''Berserk'' manages to take tender tears and twist them in a disturbing manner when Slan of the Godhand weeps them [[spoiler: while Griffith/Femto rapes Casca.]] She apparently thought the scene was very beautiful.

* ''Manga/{{Gals}}'': Aya is very prone to this, to the point where Ran assumes that "[Aya's] entire head must be filled with tears...!" in Volume 6.

* ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità]]'': Let's just say these, along with PuppyDogEyes, helped Italy convince Germany and Japan to not utterly murder Austria for the [[AbusiveDad hundreds of years of abuse Austria had subjected Italy to]].
* Invoked by Colonel Moran in ''[[Fanfic/ChildrenOfTime Every Good Fairytale]]''. Young Beth Lestrade is dead, and Literature/SherlockHolmes is being tortured within an inch of his life, repeatedly. Moran suggests that Beth's ghost (he's being metaphorical) will weep over Holmes's devastated state. Holmes says that he would not expect that honor from her, and Moran points out that she would have given it, anyway. [[spoiler:Not much later, she ''does'', in fact.]] Beth is portrayed in the 'verse as being very compassionate beneath a paper-thin exterior of snark, toughness, and the occasional StepfordSmiler act.

* In ''Fanfic/KaraOfRokyn'', [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]] cries with joy and happiness after coming back -for the first time in fifteen years- and cleaning up her hometown Argo City, which had become contaminated by Kryptonite radiation.
-->Tears came to Kara's eyes and evaporated instantly into the void. She floated them nearer, and then brought them both to a flat-footed landing on one of the main streets of Argo. <This is my hometown,> she said. <This is where I grew up.>

* In ''Fanfic/JuniorOfficers'', Deborah does this when she sees [[spoiler:Barnacles with a broken leg]].
* ''Fanfic/DuranAndKiyohimesOmakeTheater'': Natsuki begins crying in Chapter 10 after seeing the lengths Shizuru has gone to for her, and coming to the conclusion that all she's done in the relationship at that point [[AllTakeAndNoGive is accept Shizuru's ovations without returning them.]] She amends this with a promise by way of a kiss.

* In ''Film/WhatsEatingGilbertGrape'', the titular character's little brother Arnie is completely inconsolable because he killed the cricket he was playing with. He snapped its head off with the lid of the mailbox and was left bewildered and wondering where the head was. Bit of a TearJerker when you consider that he has Down's Syndrome and even seems to think [[MoralEventHorizon he's reached a new low.]]
* In ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'', Newt Scamander is shown with a great capacity for empathy despite his awkwardness, often visibly tearing up during the heavier moments of the film.
* In ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'', true romantic Giselle, upon discovering the concept of divorce during her time in New York, cries openly when she witnesses a couple in the midst of a divorce arguing. However, her tears prove to make this couple realize that love is forever, and they ultimately call off the divorce, saying it was no accident meeting Giselle.

* The TinMan from ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''. He believes that because he has no heart, he has no feelings, so he consciously strives to be kind and loving to all. Dorothy is careful to keep a filled oil squirter in her basket, as he cries rather often, causing him to rust.
* In ''Literature/TheLastBattle'', Lucy cries over the end of Narnia while all the rest are gladly following Aslan. Tirian backs her up and asserts that crying over it is not unmanly.
* In Creator/JamesSwallow's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/HorusHeresy novel'' ''The Flight of the Eisenstein'', Keeler cries over the [[BearerOfBadNews news they brought]] [[spoiler: Dorn; they have broken a brother's heart]].
** In another of his ''[=40K=]'' novels, ''Faith & Fire'', Verity stops counting how many times she administered last rites when she realized the number would make her cry.

* Lucie Manette sheds these all the time in ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities.'' Meant to show off her great compassion and sensitivity - and to her credit, these tears are rarely for herself.
* The Prioress weeps most piteously for her little dogs in ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales'' if any are hurt - though she doesn't seem to care so much about the poor.
* In both ''Angela's Ashes'' and ''Tis'', Frank [=McCourt=]'s family tells him "his bladder must be near to his eye" because of how easily he tears up.

* ''Everybody'' in ''Literature/TheTaleOfGenji''.
* Myth/KingArthur and his knights in various media, especially the old stuff. Even more TearsOfRemorse and a lot of TearsOfJoy. And Malory has Gawain and Arthur do two rounds of synchronized swooning out of pure sorrow after Lancelot kills Gaheris and Gawain, who were ''on his side'' while rescuing Guinevere.
* In Creator/AdrianTchaikovsky's ''[[Literature/ShadowsOfTheApt Dragonfly Falling]]'', Che over [[spoiler:Totho]].
* In Literature/TheBible, Jesus goes to the grave of his dear friend Lazarus and meets with his sister Martha who is in mourning and asking Jesus why he didn't come to help her brother sooner. Martha proclaims that had Jesus arrived days earlier then he could have healed him and saved his life with his miracles, and Jesus seeing this is deeply moved by Martha's plight and the shortest sentence of the entire Bible states simply, "'''Jesus wept.'''" Jesus loved Lazarus and he is deeply saddened that death has such tyranny over Mankind, but he then proclaims to Martha that since he is the Son of the Living God and the Messiah anyone who believes in him yet shall he die he shall still live. Then in one of the greatest miracles in the Bible Jesus calls forth to Lazarus to rise and he comes back to life. In his humanity, Jesus wept for Lazarus and in his divinity, he raised him from the dead.
* It really [[DependingOnTheAuthor depends on the author]], but there are still a number of times in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse that Luke Skywalker cries openly. Maybe the most notable examples are the times in the ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' {{novelization}}. There's also a line in the ''Rebel Force'' series that implies he cries when some Imperials die horribly.
* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', Prim. She would cry whenever Katniss did without even knowing why, and get teary and hope to save any animal Katniss shot.
* In the world of ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', men are [[GenderRarityValue rare and kept secluded]], and considered to be in need of protection. They're also considered softer and more emotional. Jerin, who's one of the most attractive men on the market, weeps several times over the course of the book.

* In "The Moonbirds" by Jenny Jackson, Ellie breaks down into hysterical sobs (possibly leaning more toward InelegantBlubbering) after she discovers an orphaned baby possum after its mum had been shot.

* Margery Kempe of ''Literature/TheBookOfMargeryKempe'' is driven to such tears on many occasions, to other's confusion.

* As a contrast to [[SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan the stoic Arthur]], {{Series/Merlin|2008}} tends to cry every time something bad happens. And fangirls love him for it.

* In ''Series/BrooklynNineNine,'' Sgt. Terry Jeffords is very easily moved to tears by things that are especially sweet and heartwarming, especially where [[DotingParent his daughters]] are concerned.

* In ''Theatre/TheMoonIsBlue'', Patty says she wants to cry out of sympathy for all the "poor, drab, little people" in Brooklyn. Don tells her not to talk like a play by Creator/WilliamSaroyan (whose plays she adores).

* In the interactive romance novel ''VideoGame/{{Moonrise}}'', Rosario can and will cry when confronted with any emotional moment.

* Neimi from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones''.
* Mallow from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' is described by some (including himself) as a crybaby. He causes rain to fall whenever he starts crying.
* Marona from ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave''. She's prone to crying whenever she's sad or happy. [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer You really can't blame her]].
* A very heartwarming moment of tears comes from [[spoiler: G'raha Tia, the true identity of the Crystal Exarch]] towards the end of the Shadowbringers story in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''. He feels personally responsible for placing the player character and their allies in great danger and looks like he is on the verge of tears. If you choose to call him by his true name, he completely breaks down and weeps in TearsOfJoy.
* In TheStinger for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', [[spoiler:after Noctis tells his TrueCompanions of his intent to perform a HeroicSacrifice, he confides that being with them around the campfire for the last time is "more than [he] can take" and briefly tears up. His friends support him, however, and are full-glad that Noctis took the time to open up to them, even if it means they may never see each other again...]]

%%** [[http://megatokyo.com/strip/1180 What is it with you and crying?]]
%%* ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'': [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/04042003/ Why can't he just tell her he loves her?]]

* In ''Webcomic/NoRestForTheWicked'', [[http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/03-42.html Anna cries over the freed Klaus.]]

* Orn "Dutchy" Ayers of ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest" frequently cries when he reads about the plight of the less-fortunate countries.

* Appears in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'', where Tender Tears are the only thing that will cure Hordak of a magical poison.
* [=SpongeBob=] in ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is a male example that's not always played for laughs.
* Male version: Dukey from ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'' is kind of prone to this seeing as how he cried for nearly an entire episode because Johnny forgot his birthday.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'': In "Doomie's Romance," Lydia cries quietly when the effort to bring the Mayor's former car alive fails. When Doomie's tears bring the car to life, Lydia and B.J. cry TearsOfJoy (although B.J. claims it was something in his eyes).
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Steven is very prone to this, though at one point he claims that he's "too tough to cry".
--> '''Pearl''': Just today you were crying about snakes!
--> '''Steven''': ''(wells up a little)'' They don't have any ''arms''!

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Sixteen}}'': In "Enter The Dragon", [[DeadpanSnarker Nikki]] [[AllPeriodsArePMS gets very emotional while she's on her period.]]
* Male version: WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}} D. Bobcat is very often prone to these, such crying for two different missing persons victims on two different occasions.

* Male version: Bobby Santiago from ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', due to being InTouchWithHisFeminineSide.

Contrast CryCute, where crying makes a normally unsympathetic character more likable -- Tender Tears is part of a consistently sympathetic character. This trope is used a lot on ProneToTears and NiceGuy characters.

* ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità]]'': Let's just say these, along with PuppyDogEyes, helped Italy convince Germany and Japan to not utterly murder Austria for the [[ParentalAbuse hundreds of years of abuse Austria had subjected Italy to]].

* Akio from ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' sheds a few tears when he talks about [[spoiler: how much suffering Anthy had to go through just because she wanted to protect him. Given this is from the same man who has raped her multiple times, they're obviously fake.]]

* In the last scene of Franchise/{{Superman}} storyline ''ComicBook/KryptonNoMore'' ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} cries when her cousin tells she should love Earth as much as him.
* In the original story ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' story ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton'' Kara weeps quietly after telling how she lost her home and her parents.
* In ''ComicBook/SupergirlCosmicAdventuresInThe8thGrade'', Kara weeps when she finds out that her cousin doesn't know how to get her back home.