Heartwarming / A Storm of Swords

• Small Paul deciding to carry Sam to safety.
• A small bit where the Tyrells are trying to wed Sansa to Willas Tyrell. Margaery sees Sansa's doubts and begins to speak lovingly of her brother's attributes. Keep in mind that they don't actually need Sansa's approval or consent; Margaery just wants her brother to be happy and for Sansa to see the same good in Willas that she does. It works, as Sansa was looking forward to the wedding. Too bad the Lannisters got wind of the plan.
  • Sansa daydreaming about what it would be like to be married to Willas: she imagines them with puppies in Highgarden, and thinks about the names she would give her sons: Eddard, Brandon, and Rickon. She even pictures a daughter that reminds her of Arya.
  • The entirety of Sansa and Margaery's friendship. Although the events of the story prevent them from staying close and the fact that the Tyrells might be manipulating Sansa, Margaery does genuinely seem to care about Sansa and calls her "sister". This is particularly shown when, despite cutting ties with Sansa when Sansa is forced to marry Tyrion, Margaery still sheds tears for Sansa and her situation.
  • Following on from this, the fact that in spite of the fact that his family have cut ties with Sansa (due to her being a potential problem with their plans to supplant the Lannisters as the power behind the throne, now that she's married to Tyrion), Garlan still goes up to Sansa during her melancholy wedding feast and asks her to dance. Sansa had always imagined dancing with her husband at their wedding feast (something she both cannot and will not do with Tyrion), and this small gesture lets her have even a small portion of her dream back, if only for a moment. Well-named was Ser Garlan the Gallant. (And he even manages to make Sansa laugh by telling her how he got his nickname.)
• Stannis making Davos a Lord and his Hand for being honest and loyal to him. Stannis may seem like a harsh man but he certainly appreciates loyalty.
  • When Davos admits his fears of failing in this duty to Maester Pylos, believing that a highborn lord or knight would do a better job, Pylos tells him that many of the worst Hands had been highborn lords and knights, and that Septon Barth, a blacksmith's son, had gone on to become one of the greatest Hands in history, before offering to help Davos in his duties.
• Jaime initially leaves Brienne behind with Roose Bolton and the Bloody Mummers to return to King's Landing. But then he has a dream about her being a "light in the darkness" who stands and fights at his side. When he wakes up, he convinces Steelshanks and his men to turn around and go back to save her.
  "Ser Jaime?" Even in soiled pink satin and torn lace, Brienne looked more like a man in a gown than a proper woman. "I am grateful, but...you were well away. Why come back?"
  A dozen quips came to mind, each crueler than the one before, but Jaime only shrugged. "I dreamed of you."
  • He finds that Hoat has put her in a bear pit with nothing but a tourney sword to defend herself, and demands her release. Hoat just responds, "You want her? Go get her," and Jaime promptly does just that and jumps into the pit after her.
  • A subtle one, but Jaime's joke about only rescuing maidens after freeing Brienne is an understated way of making sure that she really was unharmed during her captivity. Considering that just a few chapters ago he was an amoral bastard who cared only about himself and his twin sister... Also, "Her name is Brienne." What happened to calling her "wench", huh, Jaime?
• Robb Stark reminding Catelyn in A Storm Of Swords that Eddard Stark had four sons, not three. Thus reminding her that Jon Snow is also his father's son. Shows how close the two brothers are. And throughout the book, Arya and Bran often think of their big brother and even Sansa, the child closest to her mother, realizes how much she misses Jon and how much she wants to see him again. All the Stark siblings — Robb, Jon, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon — think of each other with love and miss one another throughout the series, which is considerably heartwarming in this Crapsack World. Robb subsequently uses his powers as king to legitimize Jon as a Stark and make him the heir to Winterfell, confidently assuring his mother that Jon is his brother and would never harm a son of his. Made more poignant when Jon ends up turning down Winterfell in A Storm of Swords despite believing all of his family are dead.
• The Hound's Pet the Dog moment with Arya after the Red Wedding: "This thing about your mother..."
• Jon getting elected Lord-Commander of the Night's Watch. For reference, Jon is the bastard son of Lord Eddard Stark, and was often derisively addressed by his comrades-at-arms as "Lord Snow" (Snow being a surname given to noble-born illegitimate children in the North) as Jon is an illegitimate child with a young lord's upbringing. Only now, he really is Lord Snow.
• The scene in which Sansa remembers a snow fight with her siblings and builds a snow-castle Winterfell. And then it is reversed when her own aunt tries to kill her in the very same chapter.
• Before he ruins the scene completely, Littlefinger is actually quite endearing when he stops to help Sansa to build snow-Winterfell and gets hit in the face when she throws a snowball at him. Helps that, judging by some of his facial expressions and actions, he genuinely seems to be intent on helping Sansa build a snow castle by using his own creative mind. Makes you think that, despite all his actions as Littlefinger, Petyr is still in there somewhere...
• Another Bronn moment is — after he refuses to be Tyrion's champion when he's on trial for murdering Joffrey because his opponent would be Gregor Clegane and Tyrion can't offer him enough to make it worth risking his life against such an opponent — Bronn still shows some concern for Tyrion in regard to what will happen next. Bronn may be too much of a Combat Pragmatist to fight for Tyrion this time, but he still cares about him to some extent.
  • Bronn seems to have made Lollys Stokeworth his Morality Pet, being kind to her beyond the demands of necessity. Maybe the battle-hardened killer is willing to be nice to people who are no threat to him?
  • Lollys is a victim of a riot gang-rape and a bit daft but decent person, formerly single mother to his adopted bastard son, one of the last few living members of her family, not to mention his claim as head of the rich House Stokeworth. Perhaps despite what Bronn professes he has a soft spot for fundamentally decent/innocent people who suffer from some manner of social/physical handicap, are discriminated against by those around them and are caught up in bad situations not of their own design? Bonus points for those in some position of power who might help elevate his fortunes. Explains a lot, really.
• After Jaime gives Oathkeeper to Brienne and sends her off to find and protect Sansa on his behalf (itself a minor moment), he turns to the White Book where the deeds of the Kingsguard are recorded (and he had been disappointed before to find his own list depressingly short because of the disdain Ser Barristan Selmy held for him—Selmy didn't even include most of his tournament victories). Struggling to write with his left hand, he records his defeats, imprisonments, disgraces and maiming. But he ends with "Returned safely to King's Landing by Brienne, the Maid of Tarth." Even more so when you consider how much it would mean to Brienne, who only strives to live her life by knightly ideals even though she knows for the most part she'll get nothing but scorn for it, to know that a deed of hers has been recorded in the legendary White Book for all posterity.
• Jaime and Tyrion Lannister are neither of them sweet fuzzy bunnies. It's clear, however, that there is a great deal of genuine affection and trust between them. It's especially heartwarming because it tends to turn up the most at moments when each is at his lowest. When Jaime is trying to get back to King's Landing from Riverrun, for example, he keeps himself going by remembering that he's going home to Cersei AND Tyrion, and the first thing that the usually proud Tyrion says when Jaime sees his scar is, "well, they sent me into a battle without my big brother to protect me."
• One thing that makes these books frustrating is that so many of the reunions that we hope for never happen. One does, however: after more than a year apart, Jaime rescues Tyrion from the dungeon and the two brothers see one another for the first time since Ned Stark's feast. Fittingly for the two snarkiest characters in the series, it starts with a joke.
  Tyrion: Come and get me, you sons of a poxy whore! Afraid to fight a dwarf?
  Jaime: ... now, is that any way to speak of our lady mother?
• Throughout A Storm of Swords, Jaime seems to find Loras Tyrell arrogant and rather annoying. When he asks Loras about Renly, however, all of Loras's arrogance fades, and Jaime realizes that he was basically the same person when he was younger.
• Tyrion gets a few Calling the Old Man Out moments before he and Tywin have their final reckoning but this one stood out as a bittersweet one that might overlap a bit with Tear Jerker territory after Tywin asks if he'd forgotten that he's supposed to be impregnating his wife Sansa.

  “I had not forgotten, though I’d hoped you had. And when do you imagine Sansa will be at her most fertile?” Tyrion asked his father in tones that dripped acid. “Before or after I tell her how we murdered her mother and her brother?”

  • Tyrion seems rather protective of Sansa during their marriage, even though it was forced. After the Red Wedding while Joffrey is gloating about his victory and saying that he's going to make Sansa kiss her brother's severed head, Tyrion coldly hits him with the following:
    Tyrion: Sansa is no longer yours to torment, you monster.
  • Though the scene is rather unsettling from Sansa's point of view, in hindsight Tyrion and Sansa's wedding night could be seen as this. Tyrion refuses to force himself on her and rather kindly tells her they can wait to consummate the marriage until she is ready. The whole situation sucks for both of them, but unlike the rest of the Lannisters, Tyrion at least seems to care about Sansa's feelings.
  • During the actual wedding, Garlan Tyrell reassuring Sansa that her husband is better than the rest of his family, praising Tyrion's actions and plans during the Battle of the Blackwater and saying he was "made to do great deeds". At least someone noticed all the good Tyrion has done.
• Another one for Garlan Tyrell: when Joffrey spitefully pours wine over Tyrion's head for making a joke at Joffrey's expense, Garlan speaks up for Tyrion, calmly but firmly telling Joffrey that was not behaviour worthy of a king.
• At the end of Daenerys's story in A Storm of Swords, Dany wakes up in the middle of the night with her servant Missandei, looking over Meereen for a house with a red door.
• Oberyn Martell reveals to Tyrion that he and his sister Elia once visited Casterly Rock when they were children and Tyrion himself was a baby. When Elia saw baby Tyrion, she thought he was absolutely adorable, cooing over him and picking him up.
  Oberyn: Elia even made the noise that young girls make at the sight of infants, I’m sure you’ve heard it. The same noise they make over cute kittens and playful puppies. I believe she wanted to nurse you herself, ugly as you were.
• A moment that proves in a Lovable Rogue has his feelings: when Davos is returned to Dragonstone after the Battle of Blackwater and taken to see Sallador Saan, the sly, swift-talking pirate stops still and stares at his friend, apparently back from the dead. There is a pause, and the normally-cheerful, dismissive Saan makes a remark about having something in his eye. So did we, Sallador. So did we.
• Jaime trying to comfort Loras over the fact that he killed two innocent men that he thought had helped murder Renly.
  Jaime: I would have done the same, ser.
  The lie came easy, but Ser Loras seemed grateful for it.
• “Mhysa! Mhysa!”- tens of thousands of newly freed slaves proclaim Dany as their mother in scores of different tongues.
• Lady Stoneheart is pure Nightmare Fuel, but she has a Pet the Dog moment: the Brotherhood told her that Arya was alive and traveling with them before the Hound kidnapped her. She knows at least one of her children is alive, along with Sansa, and has the Brotherhood interrogate anyone they capture about if they saw the Hound.
• Kevan Lannister defending his older brother Tywin against Tyrion, arguing that while Tyrion has good reason to despise his father, Tywin had to singlehandedly restore House Lannister's name and reputation when he was little more than a boy after their father Tytos nearly destroyed it, and then ran the realm efficiently for nearly two decades, and all he got for it was abuse and disrespect from a jealous Aerys Targaryen. Tyrion is genuinely surprised that the uncle he considered his father's sycophantic lackey genuinely loves Tywin the same way Tyrion adores Jaime.
  Kevan: Tywin seems a hard man to you, but he's no harder than he's had to be. Our own father was gentle and amiable, but so weak his bannermen mocked him in their cups. Some saw fit to defy him openly. Other lords borrowed his gold and never troubled to repay it. At court they japed of toothless lions. Even his own mistress stole from him. A woman scarcely one step above a whore, and she helped herself to my mother's jewels! It fell to Tywin to restore House Lannister to its proper place. Just as it fell to him to rule this realm, when he was no more than twenty. He bore that heavy burden for twenty years and all it earned him was a mad king's envy. Instead of the honor he deserved, he was made to suffer slights beyond count, yet he gave the Seven Kingdoms peace, plenty and justice. He is a just man.
  Tyrion: You love him.
  Kevan: He is my brother.
• After Strong Belwas defeats the Meereenese champion, Dany's entire army, most of whom (including her) had been rather dismissive of him previously, gives him a roaring hero's welcome. Brown Ben shares a plum with him, and Daenerys immediately calls for a healer to treat his wound, remembering how her husband Khal Drogo had died from a similar "shallow cut". While the healer is working on him, Belwas complains loudly that the treatment hurts, and Dany has to call him a "big bald baby".
• At Margaery and Joffrey's wedding, when Sansa tells Lancel it's good to see his wound getting better, he and his father Kevan both smile.