For those of us in the US, it’s a short week! But that doesn’t mean we’re going to skip over another installment of Trope Tuesday, our weekly sojourn into TV Tropes and a distraction from the workplace. Up this week is a trope called the Grudging Thank You:

Though it sounds understated, it can mark the beginning of a change in a character or relationship.

Alice has always disliked Bob or people in general or is just very proud. But to Alice’s dismay, she gets helped out by Bob in a moment when she really needs it. Glumly, Alice accepts and just when Bob is leaving Alice goes:

“Oh, and Bob…” Then a pause to indicate Alice biting the bullet. “Thank you.”

This thanks, however grudging, is sincere; insincere ones fall under Embarrassing Rescue. It can often be a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.

Compare Think Nothing of it and Does Not Know How To Say Thanks. If Bob has the same attitude as Alice, he is prone to express it, either because he dislikes the connection it formed, or because he did not act for Alice personally.

Contrast Ungrateful Bastard.

Where have we seen this in the Expanded Universe? Well, let’s go back to Heir to the Empire, the first book of the Thrawn Trilogy. Remember back on Mrkyr?

Mara Jade takes Luke Skywalker prisoner while walking through Myrkr and then has to protect him from the Force-hunting predators native to the planet. She hates him and is also Force-sensitive and reads as prey to the vornskrs, so she tries taking stims to go without sleep. When a vornskr does finally get past her defenses and goes for her, Luke takes back his lightsaber and saves her with considerable difficulty. She has him drop the lightsaber and back off before very grudgingly thanking him and saying that now they’re even for when she did not kill him immediately after finding him. But she still hates him.

You won’t be singing that tune forever, Mara.