Heartwarming / Nancy Drew

Games

Stay Tuned For Danger

• Rick's reason for him and Mattie splitting up. It wasn't because he didn't love her. It was because he wasn't sure if he was acting out Rory Danner's feelings for Serena, Mattie's character. He may be a womanizer, but he does seem to care about Mattie enough to figure out his feelings for her before making any serious commitment to her.
• Rick and Mattie's overall relationship throughout the game. They used to date before the game's events, but they don't seem to bear any ill will towards each other. They continue to work on Light of Our Love despite their characters' onstage romance. Once Rick starts getting threats and creepy gifts, Mattie is concerned enough to call Nancy to investigate.

The Final Scene

• The reveal that Harry Houdini gave his part of the theatre to Louisa Falcone, Nicholas Falcone's grandmother.

Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake

• For a one-time gangster, William Akers evidently wasn't such a bad sort in the end. His journal's final entry, where he gives up his ambition to find Malone's gold so he can devote himself fully to supporting his wife and children, is a touching example of how some criminals do change for the better.
• When Nancy calls Vivian a second time for the headstone password, the one who answers the phone is Eustacia Andropov, Harry Houdini’s cousin-in-law. She’s the friend Vivian has over from Florida and they’re having an off-screen match of canasta. Compared to how depressed she sounded in “The Final Scene”, it’s nice to hear her having fun and being with a friend.
• When Nancy finds the culprit’s lair, she also finds the “ghost dogs” that had been haunting Sally’s house. If Nancy interacts with the dogs, she will fawn over them in an affectionate voice.
• The ending with Sally adopting the "ghost dogs".

Haunted Carousel

• The subplot involving a theme park worker who, after losing her mother, grew to resent the park (despite working there as a family business) and refused to even get on the carousel, which used to be her favorite ride. After the game, wherein Nancy helps her deal with her grief and PTSD using a machine her eccentric father made, Nancy mentions that she is riding on the carousel, accompanied by a picture of the character with a smile on her face.

Secret of Shadow Ranch

• Dirk's treasure: a small chest filled with solid gold hearts.

Curse of Blackmoor Manor

• The game is terrifying, and the titular clan seem cold and detached — until you get through the moving rooms, and reach the family's ancestral laboratory. There are messages from dozens of generations there, all recorded in the same book, all welcoming the newest heir and telling him/her You Are Not Alone. The room itself is...ancient, but not in a scary way. You can really feel how important family is to the Penvellyns, and how their traditions have bound them throughout the ages. It's a pity certain children of the family would never have gotten to see it, but it's still a very sweet moment that marks the game's shift to a more optimistic tone.
• Mrs. Drake's reaction to the fountain being turned on again. Turns out she's quite the Sugar-and-Ice Personality.

Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon

• The glowing yellow lights that surround the train are Nightmare Fuel—unless you read the in-game pamphlet that explains the original owner of the train saw them as a manifestation of his wife's ghost, come to say hello and celebrate the train she loved.
• "Above all, my dear niece, let nothing happen to my train. It holds wonderful things." There's just something so adamant, so dedicated, in the way Lani Minella says it.
• Nancy puts it best — Jake Hurley's greatest treasure wasn't gold, but his uncanny knack for making friends. He has a letter from his good buddy Abraham Lincoln, sent on the day he was assassinated, which turns out to be the treasure the villain is after.

Danger By Design

• Nancy finding the hidden room in the windmill, which contains one final letter from Noisette along with various pieces of stained glass. According to her letter, she and Hans both took the stained glass so they wouldn’t be lost to the war. She also didn’t hold anything against her country for trying her as a criminal.

White Wolf of Icicle Creek

• Whenever Lou leaves, Bill falls asleep on the table and snores.

The Haunting of Castle Malloy

• At the very end, Kyler Mallory and Matt Simmons are so happy to be reunited that by the time Kit, Matt’s best friend, brings a ladder to help Matt and Nancy get out of an underground laboratory where they were trapped, Kyler tells Matt that she loved him 150 times, while Matt tells Kyler that he loved her 200 times! That is so sweet!
• Donal Delany spends most of the game being a Grumpy Old Man, but when he learns the full scope of Fiona's situation, he calmly convinces her to be taken into custody and subsequently a nursing home where she's become more sociable.

The Captive Curse

• Frank and Joe cheering up Ned when he has a nasty argument with Nancy. During one of the conversations with Ned, Joe apparently will do his best to make someone happy if they're upset about something.

Alibi in Ashes

• Alexei Markovic's conversation with Nancy after she gets out of jail. He's the only suspect who didn't ever think she did it, and he's positively ecstatic that she's free to solve the case herself, even complimenting how dedicated her friends were to helping her.
• Deirdre in the end game conversation: Of course Deirdre hates Nancy and tries to annoy her, but that doesn't mean she wants to frame her. She knows that her rivalry with Nancy isn't worth committing a crime for, and the two actually go on to have a civil, honest discussion. Thank you, Deirdre, for showing more common sense than nearly all of the villains in the series, including the actual culprit, Brenda Carlton! (It was also a neat way of outlining the 'shades of grey' theme- there's a difference between being a jackass and being a criminal, and both characters accept this.)
• When Ned questions Deirdre, she doesn't want to answer any more questions, until he gives her "that desperate look". Oh, Ned.
• Hannah sending Nancy a box of snacks to cheer her up while she's trying to clear her name.
• Just the lengths that Ned, Bess, and George go to in order to clear Nancy's name and get her out of jail.

The Deadly Device

• While only implied (heavily), Frank’s crush on Nancy is rather sweet. He respects her relationship with Ned and only tries to confess when he thinks she’s about to die.

Ghost of Thornton Hall

• During one of the conversations with Colton, Charlotte used to spend time in the family crypt just because she couldn't bear the thought of anyone being forgotten.
• Even though Harper seems insane, she still cares about her family, including Jessalyn and her older sister Charlotte. It turns out that she found Jessalyn and was willing to leave the basement when Jessalyn told her to.

The Silent Spy

• Nancy's flashbacks with her mother, especially with the sheet music. Kate wrote themes into her song representing her daughter, her husband, and herself. They're used to solve a puzzle, as a bonus.
• Her growing relationship with Carson (her father) throughout the game. Carson starts off trying to get Nancy to come home, but after she and Ned confront him, they begin to open up, culminating in a long conversation over the end credits.
• You can find Kate's final letter to Nancy in the villain's secret lair at the end of the game. Heartrending, especially as Kate suspects she's going to die, but it gives Nancy the closure she so badly needs.
• Nancy's final letter (the wrap-up at the end of the game) is written to Kate. If you find Kate's letter, you get a very sweet monologue from Nancy.

Sea of Darkness

• Gunnar defrosting (no pun intended) after Nancy returns his box because he realizes his deceased daughter would be ashamed of the way he has acted thus far.
• Everything about Elísabet and Magnus' relationship. Even though they recently broke up, and despite Elísabet's often-angry tone towards Magnus, it becomes more and more obvious throughout the game that she really does love him. After Nancy finds Magnus, one of his first reactions is "I need to speak to Elísabet." And the post-game letter reveals that the two of them reconciled and are now sailing the world together.
• "For even in this darkness, something calls for me to find / (And cities may all turn to ash, and stone walls fall to time...) / My love still lies there buried, under silent ice in sleep..."
• The phone conversation with Ned that heavily implies he was going to propose to her is so sweet.

Films

Nancy Drew (2007 film)

• After Nancy explains to Leshing that he's Jane Brighton's biological father, and Leshing tells Jane this, their ensuing conversation leads to them hugging for the first time.
• After Nancy and her dad return to River Heights, Jane sends them a video that shows that she's turned the Draycott estate into a home for single mothers and their children, and at one point near the ending of the movie, it shows Jane at her new home in LA, and in the background, Leshing's shown playing with his granddaughter (Jane's daughter).
• Nancy and Ned's kiss at the end of the movie.
• Inga and Trish seeming to be genuinely friendly with Nancy by the end of the film.
• The elderly neighbor who Nancy asked to call the police asking her straight away if she's alright after they've been arrested.
• Everybody in Nancy's hometown being so fond of her and comparing her favorably to her mother.
• Nancy's determination to help Jane and Allie.
• The man at the adoption agency being reminded of his mother's baking when Nancy gives him a cake. What's sweeter is that it wasn't intended as a bribe - Nancy genuinely thanked him for his help and wanted to show her appreciation, even though he couldn't give her any.

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