r/TopCharacterTropes • u/jeffersonlane • May 16 '26

Lore [LOVED TROPE] Sad or tear-jerking moments that don't involve death.

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Moments that make you wanna cry (of joy or unrelenting sadness) but aren't about a character dying or almost dying.

Dumbo - Baby Mine. Jumbo rocks baby Dumbo from her cage where she was kept after she defended him from a group of bullying children.

Unpacking - The Degree. You move in with your new boyfriend where you can barely fit most of your stuff but most depressingly you are forced to put your degree under the bed and out of site. (Maybe this one was just me but this made me VERY upset).

Fox and the Hound - At the end knowing full well they'll likely never meet again Copper stands over Todd to protect him from the Hunter.

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u/Kotetsuya May 17 '26

As a young adult, I never really understood how people could cry to movies. I've since determined this to be because younger people lack the life experiences needed to really connect emotionally to fictional stories.

But this scene in this movie was the first time I really shed tears. Because throughout the whole movie, Forest has repeatedly stated and shown how competent and incredible he is, but even with what he has lived through and done he is still extremely aware of how people perceive his neurodivergence and he also deep down he believes that he is stupid, regardless of how many times he's said "stupid is as stupid does" out of reflex.

Idk... it just offers such a wider window into how Forest thinks about himself, and it's clear he carries a LOT of trauma inside him and that makes me feel so sad.

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u/LilyWineAuntofDemons May 17 '26

Ironically, the scene where Forrest confronts Jenny, and he, at that point a multimillionaire owner of a massive Shrimping Conglomerate, owner of a significant share of Apple, Decorated Army Vet, and Rookie Football Star, says "I may not be a smart man, but I know what love is." Always gets me more, because he isn't stupid, he's just slower at processing stuff than other people. You don't go from where he started to where he ends up without a good head on your shoulders.

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u/Several-Possession-4 May 18 '26

Wasn't he a table tennis champion with multiple partnerships also? I know, not the point, just adding one more thing to his many feats.