History TearJerker / Peanuts

* In "You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown", seeing Linus's harrowing reaction to [[BitchInSheep'sClothing Melody-Melody's]] betrayal is really depressing when you think about it: his love isn't the best; his favorite teacher ran with her boyfriend before he could her a box of candy, his short-lived romance with Truffles was thwarted by both Snoopy and Sally and Lydia just annoys the heck out of him, and he put a lot of value and trust in Melody, [[YankTheDog'sChain only to find out she was just playing him.]]

* The 1990 TV special ''WesternAnimation/WhyCharlieBrownWhy'', which tells the story of a pretty little girl named Janice, who not long after becoming friends with Linus, [[LittlestCancerPatient is diagnosed with leukemia.]] Linus is especially hit hard as he has gained feelings for Janice, and is scared over whether she will survive her illness. Throughout the show, Janice suffers a number of health setbacks, endures bullying from a classmate (who until he is told to walk a mile in her shoes refuses to understand her illness) and a {{lack of empathy}} from Lucy (she "fears" that Janice's illness will spread similar to how the common cold does) and jealousy from her two older sisters, who are healthy and feel ignored. Eventually, there are tears of joy as Janice returns to school with a full head of long, blonde hair -- she had lost her hair earlier due to chemotherapy -- and seemingly in full health again. The special ends there, but it leaves her future to the imagination of the viewer. Either Janice will remain healthy, or her cancer will eventually come back, or [[FridgeHorror most tearjerking of all]], it may be that she isn't cancer-free, but that her illness is terminal and that she and her parents have decided to stop treatment, knowing that death is imminent. [[LongLostUncleAesop Indeed, Janice is a one-time character who is neither seen again nor referred to in future specials.]]

* ''Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown'': Charlie realizes that Snoopy hasn't come home and later watches him board a cart as the circus prepares to leave town. Made even worse when he calls out to Snoopy but the gate slams shut before he can escape. Snoopy's [[OhCrap reaction]] sells it, as does Charlie saying "Dognapped!"
** Later on, Snoopy and Fifi run away from Polly. Fifi decides to stay with the circus because it's her life, leaving Snoopy to board the bus alone and heartbroken.

* ''Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown'': Charlie [[AdultFear realizes that Snoopy hasn't come home]] and later watches him board a cart as the circus prepares to leave town. Made even worse when he calls out to Snoopy but the gate slams shut before he can escape. Snoopy's [[OhCrap reaction]] sells it, as does Charlie saying "Dognapped!"

* In one series of strips, Peppermint Patty and Marcie invite Charlie Brown and Snoopy to play a type of hide-and-seek called "Ha Ha Herman." As Patty and Marcie search for the hiding Charlie Brown, Marcie asks Patty if she likes him; Patty denies it, asking how anyone could be in love with "boring, dull, wishy-washy Chuck"...[[OhCrap right next to the bush Charlie Brown is hiding in]]. Cue a heartbroken Charlie Brown emerging from the bush and leaving with Snoopy, as a horrified Patty [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone desperately tries to explain herself]]. The next few strips reveal that both a depressed Charlie Brown and a guilt-ridden Peppermint Patty have taken to their beds because of what happened.

* The first segment of the episode, "Better Off Beagle", starts off lighthearted as Snoopy performs a magic show for his friends. His final trick involves Snoopy seemingly transforming Woodstock into a Tennis Ball. But things take a disastrous turn after the show when Snoopy is seemingly unable to transform Woodstock back. His panic slowly turns to grief when Snoopy assumes the worst, and his [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone reaction]] is just [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/peanuts/images/9/93/Snoopy%27s_Grief.png/revision/latest?cb=20210711002057 HEARTRENDING]]. In fact, he spends almost HALF of the segment [[InelegantBlubbering crying]]. It’s not even played for laughs here. [[spoiler: Luckily at the end, Snoopy finds out that Woodstock is alive, and that he didn’t turn him into a tennis ball in reality. Still,]] watching a grief-stricken Snoopy unable to stop bawling over the apparent loss of his friend is really hard to watch.

'''''The Snoopy Show'''''

** Notable in this category is the 1969 storyline in which the Little Red-Haired Girl ''moved away'', and Charlie Brown was depressed not only because she was gone, but because he was never able to work up the courage to even tell her goodbye. Even a ski vacation he took with Linus and Snoopy not long afterward provided any respite from his heartache... because guess whom he saw at the ski resort?

* The first segment of the episode, "Better Off Beagle", starts off lighthearted as Snoopy performs a magic show for his friends. His final trick involves Snoopy seemingly transforming Woodstock into a Tennis Ball. But things take a disastrous turn after the show when Snoopy is seemingly unable to transform Woodstock back. His panic slowly turns to grief when Snoopy assumes the worst, and his [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MyGodWhatHaveIDone reaction]] is just [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/peanuts/images/9/93/Snoopy%27s_Grief.png/revision/latest?cb=20210711002057 HEARTRENDING]]. In fact he spends almost HALF of the segment [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InelegantBlubbering crying]]. It’s not even played for laughs here. [[spoiler: Luckily at the end, Snoopy finds out that Woodstock is alive, and that he didn’t turn him into a tennis ball in reality. Still,]] watching a grief-stricken Snoopy unable to stop bawling over the apparent loss of his friend is really hard to watch.

* During the first segment of the episode, Better Off Beagle, it starts off lighthearted as Snoopy performs a magic show for his friends. His final trick involves Snoopy seemingly transforming Woodstock into a Tennis Ball. But things take an alarming turn after the show, when Snoopy is seemingly unable to transform Woodstock back. His panic slowly turns to grief when Snoopy assumes the worst, and his [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MyGodWhatHaveIDone reaction]] is just [[https://peanuts.fandom.com/wiki/File:Snoopy%27s_Grief.png#file HEARTRENDING]]. In fact he spends almost HALF of the segment [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InelegantBlubbering crying]]. It’s not even played for laughs here. [[spoiler: Luckily at the end, Snoopy finds out that Woodstock is alive, and that he didn’t turn him into a tennis ball. Still,]] watching a grief-stricken Snoopy unable to stop bawling over the apparent loss of his friend is really hard to watch.

* During the first segment of the episode, Better Off Beagle, it starts off lighthearted as Snoopy performs a magic show for his friends. His final trick involves Snoopy seemingly transforming Woodstock into a Tennis Ball. But things take an alarming turn after the show, when Snoopy is seemingly unable to transform Woodstock back. His panic slowly turns to grief when Snoopy assumes the worst, and his [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MyGodWhatHaveIDone reaction]] is just [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/peanuts/images/9/93/Snoopy%27s_Grief.png/revision/latest?cb=20210711002057&format=original HEARTRENDING]]. In fact he spends almost HALF of the segment [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InelegantBlubbering crying]]. It’s not even played for laughs here. [[spoiler: Luckily at the end, Snoopy finds out that Woodstock is alive, and that he didn’t turn him into a tennis ball. Still,]] watching a grief-stricken Snoopy unable to stop bawling over the apparent loss of his friend is really hard to watch.

* During the first segment of the episode, Better Off Beagle, it starts off lighthearted as Snoopy performs a magic show for his friends. His final trick involves Snoopy seemingly transforming Woodstock into a Tennis Ball. But things take an alarming turn after the show, when Snoopy is seemingly unable to transform Woodstock back. His panic slowly turns to grief when Snoopy assumes the worst, and his [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MyGodWhatHaveIDone reaction]] is just [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/peanuts/images/9/93/Snoopy%27s_Grief.png/revision/latest?cb=20210711002057 HEARTRENDING]]. In fact he spends almost HALF of the segment [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InelegantBlubbering crying]]. It’s not even played for laughs here. [[spoiler: Luckily at the end, Snoopy finds out that Woodstock is alive, and that he didn’t turn him into a tennis ball. Still,]] watching a grief-stricken Snoopy unable to stop bawling over the apparent loss of his friend is really hard to watch.

* Charlie Brown's failures at something become expected after a while, but when you keep seeing it for decades, and even up to the strip's end, you tend to really feel disappointed.

* WesternAnimation/SnoopyComeHome - especially the farewell party, at which Charlie Brown is supposed to give a speech but is too emotional to say a single word and just stands there with tears running down his face.

* The occasional references to Peppermint Patty's MissingMom. A self-described "latchkey kid," she frequently loses sleep [[DaddysGirl waiting for her dad to come home]], causing her to zonk out in class, according to Jean Schultz. Charles Schulz never specified whether her mother was dead or [[ParentalAbandonment simply missing from her daughter's life]]; to a query on why she can't stay with her mother while her father is out of town, she replies with a simple, "I don't have a mother, Marcie!"

* The story arc in 1968 in which Linus's favorite teacher, Miss Othmar, was terminated following a teacher's strike. The poor kid was completely devastated.
-->'''Linus:''' Snoopy, I'm crushed... they've fired my favorite teacher. I've never felt so depressed in all my life... what am I going to do? ''[walks away, head bowed down in despair]''\\

* It's perhaps an overstatement to call it a tearjerker, but there is a joke where Linus confesses that he feels uncomfortable reading the New Testament epistles because he feels that he is reading someone else's mail. It makes you wish for a scene where his church's reverend could reassure him that the epistles are open letters meant to be read by as many people as possible and the various apostles would likely be please to see such a talented boy take the trouble to read and practically memorize them.

-->'''Snoopy:''' My books! My records! My pool table! [[OneOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers My Van Gogh!]]\\

* The occasional references to Peppermint Patty's MissingMom. A self-described "latchkey kid," she frequently loses sleep [[DaddysGirl waiting for her dad to come home]], causing her to zonk out in class, according to Jean Schultz. Charles Schultz never specified whether her mother was dead or [[ParentalAbandonment simply missing from her daughter's life]]; to a query on why she can't stay with her mother while her father is out of town, she replies with a simple, "I don't have a mother, Marcie!"

** And of course the [[https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/2000/02/13 final comic strip ever made.]] Of all the top CashCowFranchises in the ''world'', "Peanuts" was the longest running of ''any'' of them that had a definite end. Schulz always thought the comic would outlive him and it did...by ''one day''.

* Lucy has often made no secret of the fact that she wished she were an only child or ''at least'' had a sister. In a 1959 story arc published shortly after Sally's birth, this hurt Linus so deeply that he decided to run away from home (though he didn't get far because he wasn't allowed to cross the street alone). In the final strip of the arc, Lucy, seeing Linus in tears, apparently realizes she went too far, and actually ''apologizes'' to and ''comforts'' him, saying, "We're part of the same family... brother and sister... blood relatives." The heartwarming moment doesn't last, because her next words are: "No matter how you look at it, I'm '''stuck''' with you!"

* Lucy has often made no secret of the fact that she wishes she were an only child or ''at least'' had a sister instead of a brother, but a 1959 story arc following the birth of Sally upped the ante in her cruelty to Linus: she essentially told him she wished he'd never been born at all. While Linus typically had his own way of dealing with Lucy, this realization floored and devastated him. In the final strip of the arc, Linus was actually seen ''crying'', and Lucy, perhaps realizing she went too far, actually ''apologized'' to him. The heartwarming moment didn't last, because Lucy then told him, "No matter how you look at it, I'm ''stuck'' with you!"

* The 1966 storyline in which Lucy and Linus' father got a new job and the family had to move away - especially when Linus ''gives Charlie Brown his blanket'' to remember him by. Even Schroeder seemed to miss Lucy. As it turned out, though, Mr. Van Pelt changed his mind about the job and the family moved back just a few days later.

* Schulz's death.
** He ended the strip in a proper send-off strip to his newspapers and viewers. It was a ''coincidence'' that the last strip went out mere hours after he died, but it's too easy to believe it wasn't. He knew his health was failing anyway so he probably planned the strip at the right time semi-accurately.
*** He might not have realized just ''how'' quickly he was fading. Hours before his death, he had spoken on the phone with Bill Meléndez about a new TV special to be called ''Marbles'' (which would later become ''He's A Bully, Charlie Brown'', which involves a game of marbles), and they planned to meet the next week at Schulz's Santa Rosa studio to hash out the idea further.
** [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/peanuts/images/d/d8/20000213.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110331081858 Here's the last strip]]. If you had ever been alive and seen a comics page before the year 2000, it should have been enough to bring a tear to your eye. If you had grown up as a fan of the series… Let's just say that five generations of American comic readers all wept from the sheer emotion of it all the day this was published.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q0CY1SQ1nY One interview late in his life was recorded on video and it was played on news channels right after his death.]] When talking about the characters, he said that Charlie Brown never got to kick that football… and then he repeated it… and then ''cried''. For a minute straight. It shows just how much the characters were really the most important part of the job to him.
** After his death, more than 50 of the greatest newspaper comics creators at the time got together and agreed to include a ''Peanuts'' reference in each of their comics, all timed to appear on the same day. [[http://peanuts.wikia.com/wiki/Peanuts_tributes More details can be found here.]]
** The last line of Schulz's biography: "Charles Schulz died the night before his final Peanuts strip was published. When Sparky ceased to be a cartoonist, he simply ceased to be."
* ''WesternAnimation/ABoyNamedCharlieBrown'' can be this, knowing that he came [[YankTheDogsChain so,]] ''[[FailureIsTheOnlyOption so]]'' [[SecondPlaceIsForLosers close]].

* Lucy's HeelRealization in ''You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown''.

* A meta-example being Schulz's family life. At the height of the strip's popularity (the 1960's), Schulz relationship with his first wife was deteriorating. This was because he wasn't a good disciplinarian to his kids and this caused several fights with him and his wife, which sometimes resulted in him sleeping in his office at times. He began to have an affair with another woman, and the Schulz's divorced in 1972. Schulz eventually married his second wife, Jean Schulz, and the two were married up until his death.
** Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography covers the worst of these fights. Their oldest child Meredith, was never given TheTalk or allowed to ask about her adoption papers (Sparky wasn't her biological father and adopted her when Joyce was a single parent), and was busted inviting boys along for a girls only gathering. The parents decided to send Meredith to an all-girls boarding school as punishment; she said she was so furious that she decided to be the bad girl that her parents thought she was. TheLastStraw for both parents and daughter was when Meredith revealed to her mother, when the latter was about to kick her out for coming home at odd hours, that she was pregnant, and was forced to get an abortion in Japan or Sparky would face bad publicity. Meredith moved out soon after the abortion trip and married a man her parents disliked. Joyce in the meantime was more upset that Sparky asked how the sightseeing on the trip went. While eventually Meredith reconciled with her parents, at the time there was so much strife.
* [[https://i0.wp.com/dogwithblog.in/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/peanuts-i-miss-my-dog.jpg This strip]] is sad when you realize Schulz made it [[RealitySubtext after his own beloved dog passed away.]]

** The storyline became HarsherInHindsight in 2017, when California wildfires burnt down Charles Shultz's old house, which his widow Jean still inhabited.
*** [[http://www.caglecartoons.com/viewimage.asp?ID={66FA289C-20EC-4D6C-B438-94544DE5F8F1} "That's our house!"]] Dear God...