Tearjerker - Tear Jerker Tropes

Tear Jerker Tropes

Some of the tropes that are often used to produce tear jerker moments:

• A Death in the Limelight
• Adult Fear
• Alas, Poor Villain/Scrappy
• Anguished Declaration of Love
• Book Ends
• Break the Cutie/Haughty
• Broken Tears
• Crossing the Despair Event Horizon
• Died in Your Arms Tonight
• Disney Death
• Driven to Suicide
• Dying Alone
• Dying Moment of Awesome
• Face Death with Dignity
• Face Heel Turn (if the character was well-known and loved enough)
• Became Their Own Antithesis, when it is this combined with much too much changes.
• False Friend
• Fond Memories That Could Have Been
• Go Out with a Smile
• The Grotesque
• Heroic Sacrifice
• He Will Not Cry, so I Cry for Him
• I Die Free
• It's a Wonderful Failure
• Particularly cruel Kick the Dog moments
• Whenever a beloved character is Killed Off for Real
• Kill The Cutie
• Let Them Die Happy
• A character crying Manly Tears
• Meaningful Funeral
• Mercy Kill
• Moral Event Horizon-Especially if you did not expect it and the person who crossed it was lovable
• My God, What Have I Done?
• Never Got to Say Goodbye
• Not So Stoic
• Parting Words Regret
• Planning For The Future Before The End
• Please Don't Leave Me
• Please Wake Up
• A Type-A Stepford Smiler
• Shoot the Dog
• Stay With Me Until I Die
• Tragic Hero/Monster/Villain
• Together in Death
• Was It All a Lie?
• We Used to Be Friends
• The Woobie
• Yank the Dog's Chain
• You Are Worth Hell

Many downer endings and bittersweet endings include tearjerking moments.