Heartwarming / The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie

Warning: Spoilers Off applies to Heartwarming pages.

Lloyd Route

Chapter 1

• The reunion between KeA and Shizuku. So sweet Noel starts crying.
• Estelle and Joshua share a moment with ice cream. Especially sweet, given the last time they were seen having ice cream.

Chapter 2

• Rixia shows her support by taking the questions Ilya told her in Azure and giving them to Lloyd.
  What is the most important thing to you? And when faced with that thing, can you not give it your all?
  • Rixia then tells Lloyd that the things most important to her are Arc-en-Ciel...and Lloyd himself. That's at least a borderline love confession.

Chapter 3

• Just when Lloyd and Tio are losing hope, Wazy comes in save the day by reminding everyone of what the Special Support Section is supposed to be about. He also admits that he's come to love Crossbell more than his own homeland.

Chapter 4

• When Randy finds Lloyd and Noel again. He was so worried about his friends' wellbeing that he couldn't help but hug Lloyd as soon as he knew they were safe.
  • After that, Randy and Lloyd have a conversation about how Randy is feeling about the whole mess with Crossbell and how he almost reverted back to his Jaeger ways in order to protect what was precious to him and how he couldn't forgive them - or himself. Thankfully, Lloyd calls him out on this mindset, claiming that this would go against their efforts to get Crossbell back their way. Noel, Machias, and Towa also chime in, pointing out how much of an impact Randy has had on them. It all wraps up with this sweet ending:
  Lloyd: We'll take Crossbell back - That is our "declaration of war"!
  Randy: "Declaration of war". That sounds nice.

Rean Route

Chapter 1

• Upon meeting Rean's parents, Altina immediately confesses to how she had abducted Elise during the Civil War and swiftly apologizes, outright admitting that she felt that she feels that she didn't deserve to be there after what she did. Teo and Lucia however make it clear that they understood she was just a child that was Just Following Orders and forgive her entirely, saying she belongs there just as much as Rean and his other students.
• Rean and Claire have a heart-to-heart while taking a bath in the hot spring together. She asks if Rean can consider himself truly happy at the moment. With some hesitation, he says he is trying his best to get his own happiness, with Claire herself saying that by doing her best, she can maybe one day love herself again.
  • This comes back full cycle in the post-game conversations we have in the Corridor. Rean truly came far ever since he first appeared in Cold Steel I. After everything he went through in past games, Rean's character arc in the game is about finally finding his own happiness together with his loved ones.
  Rean: The one that appeared, he was someone else I could have been, huh... I think I was able to face myself properly because of him. This time I’ll be happy—no, I’ll show him that I can be. Because this is the best way to thank all the many people who saved me.

C Route

Chapter 3

• When Lapis and Rufus finally are able to talk with each other alone outside Jingo's ship, Lapis wonders if Rufus is a good person or a bad person, with the latter answering that he's most definitely a terrible person. But then Lapis ends up telling him inadvertently that whatever kind of person he is, Rufus will always be Rufus because that's how humans are. Rufus ends up taken aback by this, as this is the first time he finally took a good look at himself. Which is why his moment with Lapis at the end of the chapter is a powerful moment as while he tries to encourage Lapis for who she is, Rufus finally starts to realize who he is as well.
• The Emperor attempts to bring Swin and Nadia down by claiming that, as tools that are only good for killing, they don't have the right to act like humans and have things as wonderful as "friends." Lapis, Renne, and Rufus, however, prove that his words mean nothing to them, affirming that Swin and Nadia's past has no effect on how they view the two.
  • The scene is even more powerful because, with the exception of Lapis, everyone in that party has done some horrible things in their lives and yet they've decided to live on and atone for their sins. There's a good reason why the route is called "the Miserable Sinners", after all.
• Before that, we have Rufus and Lapis talking to each other in a separate place. Lapis is worried over her memories returning and slowly losing her sense of self. After they find a bunch of copies of Lapis in the next room, they attack her and she freaks out over so many other dolls having the same appearance and name as her. When she finally starts to give up, Rufus finds her in the middle of all the dolls and reaches for her hand, saying only she is the Lapis Rosenberg he knows. After that, she asks what he means by it because she is not sure if a doll like her can have an identity or even a soul - that's for humans, not someone like her, and we have one of the most touching dialogues in the entire game, which makes Lapis cry and recover her resolve:
  Rufus: People also lose their memories. And in any case, where does this thing called a soul reside? In the heart? In the head? Or does it reside in the entire body?
  Rufus: Whatever the answer is, there isn't anyone who can prove it. This is something only Aidios knows.
  Rufus: In that case, can one declare that a mechanical being doesn't have a soul inside it?
  • Chapter 4 adds a subversion to that scene when it turns out that Rufus had planted a tracker on the real Lapis that the doubles didn't have, providing him with an objective distinguishing feature that let him find her in the pile.

Other

Victory Link Quotes

• When combined with Lapis hugging Nadia, you can't get more wholesome than their second quote:
  Nadia: You up for some desserts after this LP?
  Lapis: Am I? I thought you never asked! I love you Nadia!
• The Victory Animation between Lapis and Rufus evolving to a headpat after they grow closer in chapter 3. It's rare to find a player that didn't say "aaw" at it.

Daydreams

• The Swin/Nadia/Rixia Daydream: When Rixia expresses her worries about not giving up being Yin, Swin and Nadia convince her that she can continue the role to do the things that "heroes" aren't able to do. This briefly leaves Rixia speachless, causing her to think of Lloyd and realize how much she wants to help him.
• The Olivert/Schera Daydream has Aina, Bleublanc, and Luciola congratulating the two of them on their marriage. Just hearing Schera say "I love you, Olivier" can also make one feel all warm and fuzzy.
• The Ash Daydream: no matter how much Ash thinks he doesn't deserve to be happy with everyone else, it's clear that his classmates want him to stay. Even Musse.
• The "Through Memories Aglow" Daydream is about Rean experiencing the contents of Giliath Osborne's diary as a sort of dream. It then ends with a truly adorable picture◊ of young Rean cuddled in the arms of Giliath and Kasia over the Daydream end screen.

Final Chapter

• Before they go to the last dungeon, everyone is reunited to discuss what they will do. The heartwarming part in this scene is how the previous protagonists and their friends say they should look at each other properly now, leaving behind their hate and prejudice. After so many games, Liberl, Crossbell and Erebonia are finally united for real.
• Valimar, Ordine, and El-Prado coming back to help their respective Awakeners. As Crow said, they were always watching over them.
• Despite what he did in the past, Lapis, Jusis, Swin, Nadia, Lloyd, and Zeit still decide to go back and risk their lives to rescue Rufus from his Zero-Approval Gambit. Lloyd puts it best when "arresting" Rufus:
  Lloyd: Your sins are too numerous to count, but the worst... the very worst of them all, is the crime of not understanding just how damn loved you really are.
• After Rean is finished talking with his friends, he leaves the scene while asking himself if Valimar could agree about how they would be fine in the future, only for the player to see Valimar answering "YES REAN" on the screen.
• It's touching to see the scene in the hospital once Rufus is awake. At that point the player is attached to him and how much he has changed, so it's heartwarming to see him waking up after trying to blow himself up only to see Lapis right by the bed's side sleeping, indicating that she has been keeping an eye on him for a long time. When she hugs him, crying at how she thought he would never wake up again, he is so surprised at someone caring about someone like him that he is left speechless.
  • There's also the scene when Lapis invites Rufus to travel around the world together with her, Swin and Nadia. He spent 29 years of his life without making any meaningful connections besides Jusis, and now the three kids he grew attached in some days want to keep him around.
  • Jusis and Rufus finally having a healthy relationship again, after three games of Jusis growing more disappointed at his older brother's choices.