Heartwarming / Grand Theft Auto V

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The Main Game

• Michael mocks his wife for getting into yoga, but then starts genuinely enjoying yoga exercises and meditation.
• Any time Trevor gives a Pet the Dog moment to, and is genuinely nice to, anyone in the game (and trust us, it happens more than a few times). Even for one of the most screwed-up and downright violent characters in video games in general, somewhere deep inside of him is a heart.
  • Trevor's friendship with Ron. As much as Trevor's extremely unstable and regularly goes on psychotic tangents about how he's going to kill Ron if he ends up messing up a situation, it's clear the two are quite close friends.
    Trevor: It's nervous Ron!
    Ron: It's crazy Trevor!
  • Trevor's relationship with Lamar Davis. As Trevor simply wants to be his friend and there's no evil motive he's going for. Likewise, Lamar quickly takes a liking to Trevor, affectionally calling him "crazy dude".
• In Johnny Klebitz's cameo, he tells Trevor he still loves Ashley. They are even back together at the time the game takes place. Too bad Johnny wanted to pick a fight with Trevor because he didn't like him fucking Ash on the side, and got his head stomped to a pulp because of it...
• In "Fame or Shame", Michael and Trevor interrupt Tracey's audition for Fame or Shame. Tracey responds with indignance, until she sees Trevor, and sounds genuinely overjoyed to see him back. She's the first person in the DeSanta family not to react in immediate fear to him. There's also Trevor hugging her back with one of the few genuine, nice smiles he gives off in the entire game.
  • There's also Trevor and Michael going Papa Wolf on Lazlow Jones for Tracey. Mere minutes beforehand, Trevor was ready to put Michael on the spot about why he was still alive, but the two put all of this aside to rescue Tracey from embarrassment. Trevor sums it up best:
    Trevor: When she was two years old, that little girl sat on my lap. That is when I swore to God I would rip the fucking skin off of anyone who fucking wronged her.
  • A less obvious example happens earlier on in the mission, when Michael subtly puts himself between Trevor and Jimmy after Trevor walks into the house. Keep in mind, this was almost immediately after they started an argument over a pot brick Michael found in the fridge.
• Trevor's interactions with Maude in his bounty hunting sidequest. He's nothing but polite and respectful, albeit a little sarcastic at the same time and she's nothing but polite, respectful and a little sarcastic right back and once the sidequest's over, he sincerely wishes her the best. If it were Michael or Franklin, it wouldn't mean much but since it's Trevor, it means heaps.
• A lot of Reuniting the Family:
  • The heart to heart between Jimmy and Michael at the beginning of the mission. Also a funny moment.
  Jimmy: I'm sorry I spiked you, okay? I just... I get so mad and I can't control things, and then, you know, shit just falls on top of me; my life sucks right now and I don't know what to do except I want to say I love you and hug it out, but all that wimpy shit is just... well, I'd say gay but I have some friends who are gay so that's not cool anymore, and the ones that I don't really like it's not 'cause they're gay so... lame! Alright, you are just a lame and angry psycho sometimes. You do bad shit and things, and I don't know if I love you and I'm pretty sure I hate you a little bit, but I'm just so fucking upset that we can't even see each other. You're just a drunk lame dad.
  [beat]
  Michael: You know what? That might just be the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me.
  • Amanda agreeing to go see a therapist with Michael to work out their issues.
  • Michael going Papa Wolf on Lazlow Jones (again) and ordering him to give Tracey a chance on his show, without her having to give him head.
  • The conversation between Michael, Jimmy and Tracey, on their way to therapy.
  • After a brutal argument in the therapist's office, Michael and Amanda calmly talk on the way home, and she asks Michael to not get himself or the family killed. He promises so.
  • Michael wears his wedding ring through the entire game, even when he's separated from his wife. What is Amanda wearing when she and Michael meet back up? Her wedding ring.
• The opening of "The Paleto Score", which is just the trio (plus one hired gun) driving from Trevor's meth lab to the bank and shooting the shit about their first jobs. Crosses over with CMOF when Franklin opens up about his first job, a bank heist that failed because the dye pack went off, and Trevor teasing him about it.
  Trevor: (while dropping Franklin off at the escape point): I'll bring a dye pack JUST for you!
• After you complete the game, check out Michael's Life Invader page.
  Lester Crest: You can retire for real this time, old friend.
• Also after the story is finished, Michael and his family clearly get on much better than before the game's events.
• A minor one during one of Franklin's tow truck missions. In it, you save a man when his vehicle stalls on the train tracks just before the train hits. During the ride to deliver the car to an auto shop, he is sincerely expressing his gratitude to you, even pointing out that were you towing him in any other circumstance, he would be cussing you out.
• There's a random encounter where someone will call out for help after their bike is stolen. If you choose to stop the thief and return the bike to its owner, the victim will thank you incredulously and ride away. Some time later, you'll get an email from the same man stating that he was a high-ranking official in an ecologically-friendly pet food company, and has promptly sent you $100,000 worth of his stock.
• Really, Michael and Franklin's relationship is a CMOH in a sense. Michael took Franklin under his wing and treated him like the son he always wanted.
  • Borders on Papa Wolf in a few cases, such as during the Paleto bank heist, when the crew are fighting the police, Michael will yell for Franklin (the only one of the group not wearing heavy body armor) to stay behind him and let him soak up the brunt of enemy fire. Heck, after their getaway gets their, Michael help toss Franklin into the train cart to safety.
  • Franklin returning the favor and personally coming to Michael's rescue after he is taken hostage by Wei Sheng.
  • After the final mission, if he's still alive, Michael will send Franklin an e-mail that ends with the line, "You're my friend for life. I hope you know that."
• After the horrific torture scene, Steve Haines tells Trevor that their torturee, Mr. K, has outlived his usefulness. After Steve leaves, Trevor proceeds to cut Mr. K's bindings and lets him live, driving him to the airport and urging him to leave the country.
  • One theory is that he did it because he knew Michael couldn't bear to brutally torture and kill Mr. K, leading Trevor to do it himself. It's a small Pet the Dog moment that is very easy to miss.
• There's a minor one in the game's opening mission when Michael is injured and Trevor refuses to leave him behind despite being heavily outnumbered by the police. Michael has to repeatedly beg Trevor to leave him before Trevor finally relents.
  • Right after this, there's a policeman who stays behind to comfort the farmer who was just taken hostage by Trevor. For a series that usually portrays police as Laughably Evil, this is a surprisingly nice little moment.
• After the player character saves Antonia Bottino from being killed, she repays him quite a bit.
• Michael can receive a phone call from Tracey when she's being tailed by a stalker. If you choose to help her and beat up the stalker, Tracey is at upset at first, but is eventually grateful to Michael for helping her.
• A minor one, but after "Reuniting the Family", one of the slices of life you can get when switching back to Mike in the early morning is him getting out of bed with Amanda playfully wrapping her arm around him and the two sharing a quiet laugh and warm smile, showing how far they've come in fixing their relationship.
  • After this mission, switching back to Michael after a few days usually has him interacting more positively with his family in general. It includes playing a friendly and clean game of tennis with Amanda, watching TV with his kids, and even apologizing if you switch back to see Tracey yelling at him for something stupid he apparently did. Michael can even greet his family better with this gem if he greets Amanda, and from the tone, both are sincere about their dialogue.
    Michael: Are we okay?
    Amanda: I think we're gonna be just fine.
  • After Michael's family abandons him early in the game, he will occasionally receive emails and text messages from Tracey telling him that, even though she thinks he's a jerk, she still misses him. She will also comment "Please don't get a divorce."
  • Following "Reuniting the Family", you can cut to Michael walking by some prostitutes. The prostitutes will preposition Michael, and he politely declines by telling them "My wife and I went to therapy. No more pros for me." He also directly mentions sometimes that he is Happily Married.
• After the Golden Ending, Franklin receives a text from Michael thanking him for everything and calling him a friend for life. And when he hangs out with Trevor, the later reluctantly admits how proud he is of Franklin, and says it's good to have a real friend for once.
• Trevor cries like a little boy when saying his farewells to Patricia (with "If You Leave Me Now" playing on the radio), Martin Madrazo's abused wife, whom he kidnapped after Madrazo refused to pay him and Michael for silencing Madrazo's cousin. Then Trevor warns Madrazo not to hurt Patricia again, or he will cut his remaining ear off.
  • From that same mission.
    Trevor: (crying) For...for some... for some reason, everyone I love abandons me.
    Patricia: I'm not abandoning you Trevor; I'm going home.
    Trevor: ...if he mistreats you...!
    Patricia: I know... I know...
• If you switch to Michael after the mission "Reuniting the Family", you'll sometimes catch him playing video games with Jimmy before he Rage Quits. It's touching to see that the two are getting along so well, especially since Jimmy wouldn't even talk to Michael earlier in the game.
  • Same with Amanda. Before she wouldn't even look at him. After the mission, they actually seem like a couple, and it's pretty sweet.
  • If Michael takes Amanda out drinking after "Reuniting the Family", the two of them leave the bar drunkenly declaring their love for each other.
• For all his big talk about gang banging, after the drug deal with the Ballas goes sour, Lamar reveals that his dream would be for him and Franklin to retire out in the suburbs. Not such a fatalist afterall?
• Hang around with certain gangsters enough and you may see one of them getting a call from a nephew or a little brother and telling them to stay in school and stay away from the game of the streets. Even in the twisted world of GTA, this is heartwarming to hear.
• During one version of "The Big Score" you end up taking a terrified gold convoy guard hostage, and force him to give your crew clearance during the gold transfer. When the gold is safely transported from the bank to the fleet of Gauntlets (Challengers) the crew will make their getaway in, Trevor thinks that the poor guard has Outlived His Usefulness, and that the crew should Leave No Witnesses... but Michael gives him a solid gold bar worth $300,000, and told him he should tell the police he was jumped, and had nothing to do with the heist.
• Saving Taliana Martinez after she's barely survived a car crash. Although the character that picks her up is initially skeptical of her ability (until she describes the heist), they offer to let her join the crew as a team driver. Seeing as she lost her entire crew escaping the police, and was barely saved from certain death, Taliana's 5% cut isn't really her being cheap so much as being her unspoken "I Owe You My Life".
  • Bonus heartwarming points for being a straight-up badass Action Girl on the heists, rather than one of the brainless, lusty MsFanservices the Grand Theft Auto series is most notorious for, and basically One of the Boys when compared to the rest of the crew.
• If Michael and Trevor hang out together after completing the game, they finally reconcile after all the bitterness and anger between them for most of the storyline. Michael even goes as far as offering his entire share of the gold to Trevor as an apology for Brad's death, but Trevor turns it down, saying that pulling heists was never really about money for him.
  • Also, Trevor can explain to Franklin that - while his anger at Michael was still intense - he couldn't bring himself to kill the man when he had a family, especially when said family came back to him and was willing to trust him again.
• Option C. Instead of killing Michael or Trevor, Franklin decides to unite with the two against everyone who wronged them throughout the game. This results in the trio, with help from Lamar, taking on Merryweather in a massive assault before going after Steve Haines, Stretch and Mr. Cheng all at once. This ends with Trevor kidnapping Devin and the trio meeting at a cliffside with Devin still in the truck of a car, and they push him off the side of the cliff, ending the game.
  Franklin: *to Devin* My bad homie! I picked C; ain't that a bitch.
  • After agreeing they all need to kill their worst enemies to avoid being hunted down in the future, Franklin is about to take down Stretch after Lester tracks him down, but Michael stops him so he can deal with him himself since Stretch doesn't know who Michael is, which gives him the element of surprise and to avoid putting Franklin or Lamar in more trouble.
  • Another highlight of the Option C ending is Trevor mocking and threatening Devin Weston, who is locked in the trunk of his car. Devin Weston has always thought that his money and his connections made him invincible, and when he realizes that he can offer Trevor nothing he already has, he has an epic Villainous Breakdown.
  • What's the best thing about this whole thing? It's implied to be the true ending to the game, since it has its own artwork and a few scenes in the trailer, along with franchise tradition signaling the protagonists' victory.
  • Particularly satisfying is when Trevor takes out Steve Haines, clipping him on a ferris wheel with a sniper rifle. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy...
  • And finally, there's the fact that this ending is confirmed to be canon by numerous hints from GTA Online. Franklin can live comfortably on his newfound wealth, Michael can be a movie director with a stable(ish?) family, and.. Trevor can be Trevor. Earn Your Happy Ending indeed.
• After spending the whole game being bullied and pushed around by Trevor, Wade finally catches a break when Trevor takes over the Vanilla Unicorn and hires two strippers to lavish attention on Wade. Wade spends the rest of the game sitting in a booth at the Vanilla Unicorn with those two strippers fawning all over him.
  Trevor: Hey, you two! You two! I want you to give this boy a good time... for a long time!
• During the gunfight at the foundry in the Option C final mission, Trevor goes silent on the radio for a few minutes. Michael becomes genuinely distressed when he believes that Trevor might be dead, and is relieved when he finds Trevor is still alive. This scene is even more touching when you realize that just a few minutes earlier the two men were pointing guns at each other and shouting insults. Despite everything bad that happened between them near the end of the game, deep down they still considered each other friends.
• Franklin helping out Tonya to keep her drugged out boyfriend JB from losing his job. He helps her out multiple times, even though he is not getting paid and is frequently insulted by Tonya. Franklin does it out of respect for the woman Tonya used to be before drugs took over her life. After completing all the jobs, Tonya will actually recommend Franklin to buy the Tow Company itself.
  • Franklin's friends in general are pretty hard to put up with. But Tonya will leave some really nice comments on her Lifeinvader page about Franklin after he helps her. She says that even if he's forgotten about the hood, he's still got her back.
• In the cutscene where Trevor shows up at Michael's house for the first time, Michael and Jimmy are in the middle of an argument, and Michael is ENRAGED after being called an asshole by Jimmy. As soon as Trevor makes an appearance, though, he reached back to move Jimmy behind him, shielding him from Trevor.
• There are some random events where someone will get robbed and you can choose to kill the robber and take what he stole for yourself or you can give it back to the person who was just robbed. Needless to say, the latter option is very heartwarming, indeed.
  • The majority of the random events are full of this if you choose the helpful options. One example that's fairly easy to get has a construction worker getting caught in an accident, damaging the tanker truck he's in and leaving it threatening to explode while he's trapped inside. You can just leave him to his fate or you can work to free him. If you do, after the two of you clear the blast area, he repeatedly thanks you for saving his life. It's little surprisingly warm and fuzzy moments like that where you can show that even though your characters are criminals, they aren't monsters.
• This random event allows you to save a victim from the Altruists.
• During the period where Michael and Trevor have been exiled to the desert, if you stop by Trevor's trailer while playing as Mike or Franklin, you'll sometimes see Trevor and Patricia standing outside Holding Hands. It's actually kind of cute.
  • Most of the interactions between Trevor and Patricia - it's hard to find a person who can act as a Morality Pet for Trevor, let alone one who is able to calm him down rather than serve as an excuse to brutally murder whoever crosses them.
    • Initially, Michael treats Trevor's relationship like a bit of a Jerkass, claiming that it was idiotic for him to risk having Martin Madrazzo's Cartel hunting them both down for kidnapping his wife, and believed Patricia's affections were pure Stockholm Syndrome. However, even he eventually seems to warm up to Patricia (possibly because she could get away with Dope Slapping Trevor when he did something stupid), and when Dave Norton asks if Trevor was "fucking with him" when he claimed he had to resolve some "matters of the heart", Michael admits that he's "Probably not."
• Everything to do with Michael and Meltdown. Even aside from his obvious glee at meeting his idol, movie producer Solomon Richards, it becomes obvious over the course of the missions that making films is one of, if not the dream, for Michael. He's incredibly proud of his contribution to making the film happen, shows Jimmy around the studio in almost childlike awe that he's even there and describes making the film as him finally doing something worthwhile with his life.
  • If you choose Ending C, Solomon will call Michael for an update, telling him that while the film got mixed reviews, it was a huge hit at the box office, the biggest one in Solomon's career. Rockstar could have easily made Michael a Butt-Monkey by having the film tank, but it's nice to see that instead, they made Meltdown something that was worth Michael being proud of.
• The GTA5 panel starring Ned Luke, Shawn Fonteno and Steven Ogg at New York Comic Con. The trio are basically super close and it shows and throughout the whole video, they do nothing but sing each other's praises and have nothing but respect and love for Rockstar's crew and how amazing a job they did as well as the fans.
• After "Lamar Down", Lamar and Franklin part after a bitter argument that seems to leave them quite pissed with each other. The next time Franklin calls Lamar, it's when he's in over his head in the "Deathwish" ending. Lamar first tells Franklin he'll help, and then asks what it's about. Whatever other flaws he might have, Lamar's comments about standing by his homies aren't hypocrisy.
  Franklin: You a real homie, and I love you, dog.
  Lamar: You too, homie.
• There are a couple of silver linings to be found in the sea of depression that is Ending B.
  • Jimmy calls Trevor to express his grief for Michael's death. Despite his lingering anger towards Mike as well as general awkwardness in having no idea what to say, Trevor doesn't speak ill of him, and apologizes to Jimmy for his loss, as well as telling Jimmy that he sends his best to Amanda.
  • Despite arguing with and mocking Lamar for the entirety of the game, after Franklin kills one of his best friends and permanently alienates the other, the first thing he does afterwards is phone his oldest friend up to seek comfort.
  • In a Pet the Dog moment from Lester, he sends Michael's portion of the massive Union Depository Heist Score to his now bereaved family.
• Police officers will leave cover to drag injured comrades to safety.
• At the start of "Bury the Hatchet", Trevor angrily states "No one gives a fuck about me!!" to which Michael boldly and sternly replies with "I do". Despite all their problems, it really does seem that Michael does care about Trevor.
• There's an Easter Egg in Grove Street that you can find - three people in green, riding bikes, resembling CJ, Ryder and Big Smoke. Apart of the obvious nostalgia wave, it's also sweet to see that if these characters are CJ, Ryder and Smoke, it's safe to assume that the latter two haven't betrayed the GSF, and likely will stick with them in this era.
• After "Daddy's Little Girl" (in which Michael drags Jimmy along for an outing - specifically, bike riding on the beach), Jimmy will leave a comment on Michael's LifeInvader page saying that even though he was kind of weirded out by it and would much prefer something indoors with less physical activity next time (and asking about Michael replacing his broken TV), and they spent most of the outing arguing, he did have a good time hanging out.
• At the end of "Repossession", Lamar takes the bike he and Franklin were to repossess for Simeon and claims he's going to keep it for himself. After the mission "Complications", where Franklin and Lamar are fired for a combination of Lamar stealing the bike and Michael forcing Franklin to drive Jimmy's car into Simeon's dealership, Lamar gives the bike to Franklin. It's like he's apologizing for getting Franklin in hot water.
• In the final mission of the Golden Ending, you control all three protagonists at once... as they push the Bound and Gagged Big Bad off a cliff in a car trunk to his fiery demise. Which is kind of sweet, in a slightly twisted way.
• If Trevor hangs out with Jimmy, one possible conversation has Jimmy expressing concern over Tracey and Trevor insists that he look after her because he can't necessarily count on his parents to do so.
• Lamar Down really establishes how the three protagonists are True Companions in spite of their ups and downs. Despite Michael and Trevor's relationship having soured greatly by this point in the story, what do they do when Lester calls them and says Franklin needs help? They both drop what they're doing and immediately drive to the rendezvous without any hesitation. They trade barbs with each other but notably neither of them goes as far as putting the rescue mission in jeopardy.