Batman: The Animated Series/Tear Jerker

Other than being one of the better known Batman adaptations, Batman the Animated Series has its ample share of tear-jerking moments, both on the Hurting Hero himself as well as plenty of his adversaries.

""I have failed you. I wish there was another way I could say it. I cannot... I can only beg your forgiveness, and hope that you can hear me somehow... someplace... where a warm hand waits for mine...""
 * "Heart of Ice". Just..."Heart of Ice".
 * The scene where Batman himself is horrified when
 * The video shows Victor explaining his experiment: his wife Nora has an incurable disease, and he wants to use cryogenics to freeze her while researching treatments. You could argue it was morally and ethically ambiguous for Victor to use company cryogenics and funding to put his wife in stasis until he could find a cure for her disease, what Boyle did was much worse. He comes with security and orders them to turn off the cryogenics chamber because it was leeching funds from the company. A desperate Victor grabs a gun and fends them off to save his wife, but Boyle convinces him to put the gun down and they'll talk about it. Victor does, and Boyle physically kicks him into a table of chemicals, which causes the room to go up in flame while Boyle and the team evacuates. The last shot is Victor reaching for Nora's chamber, begging her to hang on for him.
 * As Batman puts it, "My God" indeed.
 * The 'summer day' speech moves this troper to tears every time. Mr. Freeze, rather than kill Batman, freezes him to the ceiling, and waits for him to revive, having realized that the Bat is not his enemy. Batman apologizes to Victor for what happened to his wife and himself, but Mr. Freeze says he doesn't need to apologize, but revenge. They talk about the fact that Boyle is guilty, but there are dozens of innocent people in the building, and Batman asks if Freeze would kill them all for his revenge. Victor's
 * Freeze doesn't turn the entire building to ice, but he does get some revenge on Boyle by freezing his legs. As Boyle's teeth chatter and he says, "Please, I beg for mercy," Freeze coldly asks where were those words for Nora.
 * The ending, where . *sooooooooob*

"Tetch/Hatter: Would not, could not - would not, could not... oh, could not join the dance."
 * Freeze's final appearance in TAS. After the events of Batman and Mister Freeze Sub Zero, Nora . This, along with causes him to cross the 'Despair Event Horizon' and decides that if he can't have a happy ending, no one can.
 * Poor, poor Mary aka Baby Doll. "Why couldn't you just let me make believe?!"
 * "I... didn't mean to." Sob.
 * "Growing Pains", where Robin helps a scared amnesiac girl, Annie, run away from a superstrong man. 
 * "Any other charges?" "...yeah. Murder." ... *sniff*
 * It was worse if you actually read the comics at the time. At that point, Tim Drake/Robin was still early in his solo series, and he had a love interest his age for whom Annie was a dead ringer, and who had a similar name. For someone watching who thought the show was bringing her from the comics to the screen, the ending is an even bigger shock.
 * Really, "Batman: TAS" was very good at this. Other especially sad episodes include "Mad as a Hatter", "Mudslide", "Home and Garden", "Deep Freeze", "His Silicon Soul", and "Robin's Reckoning". Additionally, it is very hard to think of a character on the show who doesn't have a backstory that's really sad. Except Riddler, maybe.
 * Riddler doesn't seem too tragic a character at first, but Word of God and background information outside his on-screen appearances makes him very sympathetic and pitiable. Extremely intelligent and frankly quite an oddball, he was always a social outcast, but hoped to make something of himself by utilizing his intellect in designing a hugely successful video game... only for his greedy boss to cheat him of the credit for it and fire him when he tried to sue. Is it really any wonder the Riddler sought revenge? And then there's his obsession with outsmarting Batman that pushes him back into villainy after an attempted reform.
 * To elaborate a little on the Mad Hatter - he pines after Alice, feeling that he's not good enough for her, and she has a boyfriend. They break up, and Tetch sees an opportunity to finally woo her, succeeds at it (albeit toeing the Moral Event Horizon by using Mind Control to get others to help impress her), but is then shut down when Billy comes back in the picture. Enraged, he crosses the Horizon firmly

"Bruce: You keep thinking... "If only I've done something differently. If only I could've... warned them". But there isn't anything you could've done. There isn't anything either of us could've done. Dick: (looking at Bruce's parents' portrait): Your mom and dad? (Bruce nods) Dick: Does the hurt ever go away? Bruce: I wish I could say "yes". But it will get better in time. For you. That I promise. (The two hug.)"
 * As it stands, there are perhaps three villains (Dr. Moreau type, Firefly -- since he crossed into the Moral Event Horizon early on, and the Joker) that don't have a terribly sad backstory.
 * We'll always have this guy to despise. He's the one with no tragic backstory whatsoever. And he's responsible for half the stuff in this folder.
 * But the Joker does speak of his abusive father. The way he tells it made it pretty sad for me. And let's be honest, anyone as messed up as the Joker MUST have a sad and tragic backstory.
 * Well, he might have a tragic backstory... but he's gone through so darn many of them, no one would believe him if he told the truth.
 * Which, in itself, is actually kind of sad.
 * Dick's farewell to his circus friends in "Robin's Reckoning" has always brought tears to Bruce Timm's eyes.
 * To elaborate on Robin's Reckoning, while Dick's parents' death is pretty strong, what's really strong is Bruce and Dick's flashback talk near the end of part one, when Bruce sees quite a bit of himself in the acrobat.

"Batman: Why. Why did you do it? Why? The Mad Hatter: You, of all people, have the gall to ask me that?! You ruined my life! I was willing to give you any life you wanted... just to keep you out of mine!"
 * "Old Wounds" is one of the worse tearjerkers in the DCAU as it shows the events leading up to the original Robin's split from Batman. The worst part is if you go back and watch the entire series from the beginning you can actually see their relationship slowly break down over time due not only to the clash in their personalities and idealoligies, but also Bruce's growing obsession and struggle with his own inner darkness. Truth be told, by the time Dick returns to moonlight in Gotham as Nightwing he's Not So Different from Bruce, but it's too late to salvage any relationship they had and he's mostly seen working with Tim and Barbara or else on his own, and then Batman Beyond reveals that Bruce and Dick never truly reconcile, and while Bruce will occasionally reminisce about past adventures with Barbara and Tim he never talks about Dick.
 * In "Perchance to Dream", already a highly emotional episode if ever there was one, ends with The Mad Hatter launching a tirade against Bats when he asks the Hatter why he trapped him in a ideal dreamworld. Of course, the Hatter is quite mad, but it's delivered with such anguish...

"Harley Quinn: My fault...I didn't get the joke."
 * For me, it's
 * The entire episode "See No Evil", aside from being prime Nightmare Fuel. We have a creepy ex-con whose former wife and young daughter have a restraining order against him. Batman intervenes, he's exposed and foiled, and the episode ends with the girl  The whole episode is heartbreaking.
 * I don't know about Accidental Nightmare Fuel- that is very much and Adult Fear episode and creepy by design.
 * It's impossible not get teary eyed in the ending of the episode (and Trope Namer) "Mad Love". Poor Harley Quinn.

"Harleen Quinzel: Never again. No more obsession, no more craziness, no more Joker. I finally see that slime for what he is: a murderous, manipulative, irredeemable... (notices the flower on the nightstand) Harley Quinn: ... Angel!"
 * The tear jerker value of any episode featuring the Joker mistreating Harley will be increased after seeing Mad Love.
 * To aid in that, here's a brief summary. Never before has such a frank look at an abusive relationship been on television (something that the average Lifetime Movie of the Week wishes it could do).
 * And it gets worse - at the end of the episode, it looks like Harley is about to swear off the Joker for good and reform... only to find a flower in her cell saying "Feel better soon - J."

""I'm not an actor anymore, Teddy. I'm not even... a man.""
 * "Mad Love" is probably one of the greatest episodes in the entire series because it doesn't back down on abusive relationships and it's a KID'S SHOW (for the most part). While most of the interactions between Harley and Joker are played for laughs (The final act in Harlequinade for example), "Mad Love" shows just how obsessed Joker is with getting the Batman in ways that "The Man who killed Batman" only hinted at. And to see him snap at her the way he did was horrifying because she IS a fan-favorite and the writers and animators tried hard to make her cute, quirky, and adorable. Usually when she's happy, it makes at least some fans hearts melt and when she finally sees the Joker for what he is...the Joker knows just what to do to make her come running back. Mad Love wasn't the first episode to show their abusive cycle, but it didn't hold anything back in showing how devastating abuse can be. This troper liked to think that the Joker had at least a little caring in his heart for Harley, but this episode ripped up that idea pretty quickly.
 * Bruce's guilt-fueled dream in "Two Face Part II".
 * That's it? The entire Two-Face arc was absolutely heartbreaking. With the first episode, it starts uncomfortable as we see the angry side of Harvey coming out more and more. It ends with his face getting scarred so badly that it basically destroys his mind, and the scene where he walks out and is seen by his fiance, Grace, is the capper. But it gets worse in the second part, whether it be his constant thinking about Grace and longing to be with her, Grace's shock at realizing that she accidentally led Thorne to Harvey which was further proof to Harvey that life is ruled by chance, and capping it with his complete psychotic breakdown when he can't find his coin, having a closer resemblance to an animal than a man. It finally ends with Batman going to a fountain after telling Gordon that there's always hope, wishing Harvey luck, and then flipping the coin in as it lands heads up. The arc rivals Heart of Ice for the biggest Tear Jerker of the series.
 * And how about the very last time we see Harvey? He went even crazier and developed a second alternate personality called The Judge, a personality so separate from his 'normal' ones that it tried to kill him. Batman stops him eventually and sends Harvey back to Arkham. We see Harvey in his cell, in a straightjacket as he hears the Judge saying, "The People versus Harvey Dent. How does the defendant plead?" And all poor Harvey can do is brokenly say over and over again, "Guilty... Guilty... Guilty..."
 * Why couldn't you save us, son?
 * "Over the Edge", period -
 * One of the more poignant parts is that
 * "Feat of Clay".

""Too late, Batman. Curtain's going down...for good this time.""
 * Clayface's final moments in "Mudslide." As his only hope of redeeming himself or ever being human again quite literally melts away, he miserably looks up at Batman and admits defeat:

""There's nothing for me anywhere"."
 * "Second Chance". The end. Just watch it without a small drop.
 * The show even makes you care about villain-of-the-week characters who never show up again. In "Tyger, Tyger", you're introduced to a deranged geneticist and his creation, a cat-man hybrid named Tygrus. The scientist has Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) kidnapped to be transformed into his mate. You're largely indifferent towards the creature until you find out he's sentient and capable of speech: he thinks of the doctor as his father and the only reason he's an antagonist in the episode is because the doctor lied to him, telling him that Selina would grow to love him once Batman was out of the way. He's eventually persuaded that Batman isn't his enemy, but this angers the doctor, and in an ensuing struggle with Batman, he dies. Upon being confronted once and for all with the crushing reality that Selina definitely does not want to remain a cat-person, he forks over the antidote to her and bids her goodbye. Selina tries to persuade him to come with them, saying there's nothing for him on the doctor's island anymore. His response is terribly depressing:

"Tim: This must've been a fun place to grow up. Dick: (looking up at the trapeze) It was."
 * There are scenes throughout the series that make it pretty clear just how strongly Bruce feels that his parents' deaths were entirely his fault.
 * A great example of that is when Batman returns to the spot where his parents were shot and he's with the woman who originally helped comfort him as a child.
 * "Birds of a Feather": You will pity the Penguin.
 * To explain for those who never saw it. In this episode Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot is released, fully intending to retire from crime - and finding that without his criminal friends, his life is pretty void of companionship. He meets up with Veronica Vreeland a shallow former love interest of Bruce Wayne's, and a male friend (it's never shown whether they're romantically involved) who's an ever bigger Jerkass than she is. They decide to amuse themselves by pretending to like Penguin and bringing him into high society, being inspired by the fact that the most-talked about party of the year involved The Joker crashing it and holding people hostage. The Penguin falls for it, going so far as to plan to propose to Miss Vreeland. Even Batman congratulates him on the new direction of his life (although still decidedly unconvinced that he's truly reformed). Unfortunately, Oswald finds out that they were playing him for a fool the whole time and goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Vicky and her Upper Class Twit of a friend. Batman stops him and the saddened Penguin returns to prison, musing ironically to himself: "I guess it's true what they say. Society is to blame. High society."
 * After Oswald came to her defense and fought off some muggers, she could actually have been falling for him, and the conversation where The Penguin found out about the plan to use him was because Veronica was chatting with her male friend about having second thoughts about the entire thing.
 * A subtle one in "Animal Act," in which Dick and Tim visit the former's circus home.


 * Poison Ivy's introductory episode, where she accidentally kills her mutant flytrap plant, then sets her whole greenhouse on fire. You actually feel sorry for fiction's ultimate eco-terrorist when you see the look on her face at what she's done.
 * For that matter, even though she escaped at the end of the episode, the one where she tried to have some kind of a family and normal life (even though it was all a fake) left you feeling some pity for Pamela.
 * Selena desperately searching for Isis in the early scenes of "Cat Scratch Fever."
 * Plus when she does this later on, . To make matters worse,    .
 * Almost all of "I Am the Night," which starts with Bruce despondent over how crime will always exist no matter how many small battles with it he wins, and his spiral of depression getting worse when he blames himself for Gordon being shot.
 * In "Sideshow," Croc escapes into the wilderness and is taken in by a group of ex-sideshow performers who think he's escaped his own brutal circus masters. Eventually Batman finds them and his true nature shows itself, and as he's taken back to prison the "seal boy" who first found him asks why he didn't just retire from his criminal life and stay with them in peace. Croc's response is surprisingly insightful, for him anyway: "You said you could be yourself out here, remember? I guess that's what I was doing: being myself."
 * Tim overhearing that his father is dead in "Sins of the Father."
 * The reveal that Calendar Girl's face is perfectly normal, and beautiful, but she's so psychologically screwed up from the way the modeling industry treated her that she only sees the flaws in it.
 * Made even worse with the Reality Subtext, as the voice-actress of Calendar Girl was told the exact same thing by the modeling industry, but didn't have psychological damage because of it.
 * Pretty much any origin story. The BTAS villains are tragic.