History TearJerker / Castlevania

* In ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheDraculaXChronicles Dracula X Chronicles]]'', if you don't save Annette, [[spoiler:she gets turned into a Vampire-Succubus and Richter has to kill her.]]
--> "Oh my God, [[spoiler:Annette]]... I'm so sorry I didn't save you. But you know what I do to vampires. What I have to do."

* The worst ending in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance Harmony of Dissonance]]'' could count.
* In ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheDraculaXChronicles Dracula X Chronicles]]'', if you don't save Annette, [[spoiler:she gets turned into a Succubus and Richter has to kill her.]]

[[quoteright:254:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/987be130b289e0f2a941af8550ab4190.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:254:''[[WhenSheSmiles "Smile for me.]] [[LastRequest That will be enough."]]'']]

* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia''. Pretty much any scene involving Shanoa and Albus counts, but the major tear jerker comes at the very end, when [[spoiler:the now dead-by-your-own-hand Albus, who had given up his soul to Dominus in order to spare Shanoa from making the same sacrifice, takes off for the afterlife after seeing Dracula's end.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Albus:''' If you want to repay me, you can grant me one final wish... Smile for me. Please... before I fade away.]]\\
And Shanoa does, as tears run down her hitherto-stoic face.

* The ending to ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]'s'' Dracula fight. The revised dub particularly, excluding (mostly) the original version's NarmCharm. View it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_QlNfb5WVY here]]
** On that note... The whole series from Dracula's viewpoint. Yes, Dracula is a monster. Yes, his life sucks, basically because LoveMakesYouEvil... And also there is the pieces of art by Kojima with him holding his first and second wife in the exact same way... A tearjerking continuity nod.
** Oh by the way, to add this up further? In the Japanese version, Alucard was practically ''sobbing'' while he was uttering his mother's words to Dracula. So basically, even if his dad is an utter prick, it's still pretty sucky for Alucard to beat the crap outta him just to convey his mother's words.
--->'''Dracula''': Tell me... What... what were Lisa's last words?\\
'''Alucard''': ...She said, "Do not hate humans. If you cannot live with them, at least do them no harm, for theirs is already a hard lot." She also said to tell you... that she would love you for all eternity.\\
'''Dracula''': Lisa... Forgive me! Farewell... my son...
*** One final twist: the [[WesternAnimation/{{Castlevania}} animated series]] gives us the scene of Lisa's execution. Dracula was even on his way home, and only a few hours too late to save her... solely because he chose to live with her as a man.
* Regardless of the [[NarmCharm cheese value]] of song itself, the lyrics of "I Am The Wind" solemnly convey Alucard's character.
--> ''All things must end / Goodbye my friend / Think of me when you see the sun of feel the wind''

!! Games

[[quoteright:254:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/987be130b289e0f2a941af8550ab4190.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:254:''[[WhenSheSmiles "Smile for me.]] [[LastRequest That will be enough."]]'']]

--> Narrator: [[spoiler:The years before their next meeting pass slowly and quietly, but with finality; the intermission from this exquisite play in which two souls will never escape.]]

-->'''Dracula''': Tell me... What... what were Lisa's last words?\\

** To twist the knife, listen carefully to [[spoiler: Dracula!Soma's roar upon entering his second phase.]] Very carefully. Sounds a little bit similar to [[spoiler: "Ha...kuba...", doesn't it? [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes He's still grieving for her.]] And he dies completely unaware of the truth.]]

** First off, the Burnt Paradise and Nation of Fools. Both of them contain a carnival set on fire with nothing but monsters roaming there. The FridgeHorror in VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin s YMMV tab has noted this may be where Brauner's actual daughters might have died and shows how his world turned upside down (much like the stage itself). As fridge logic notes, given how Romania in 1944 had embraced Nazism and sent many jews, romani and romanians to the death camps, the boss of the area, Legion, a monster that wears LOADS of human corpses as a protective shell could represent the people sent away. Medusa for Burnt Paradise could represent the country going stagnant or [[JustForPun petrified]] by the nature of Nazism.

** Finally, there's the City of Haze and 13th Street. The most obvious impression one gets from these places is that these can represent Britain, specifically London. Sure, these look the least harmless, but think about the factor that PoR takes place in 1944. The City of Haze is deserted save for monsters patrolling it's streets, and the theme is called "Victorian Fear". Meanwhile, 13th Street looks the same, except that it's during the night at sunset. Or more explicitly, what appears to be sunset. What if the far off red light in the background is really fire? What if the City of Haze and 13th Street represent Great Britain before AND after the German Air raids respectively?

* The bad ending of ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Dawn of Sorrow]]'' probably counts.

** In Julius mode, [[spoiler:If Julius is the one to land the final blow against Dracula!Soma, he apologizes to his former friend for being unable to save him.]]
*** Or, if you're feeling particularly cruel, [[spoiler:You can make Alucard land the final blow, forcing him to kill his father for the third time.]]

* For a while, people were looking forward to a {{Metroidvania}} starring Julius Belmont in his youth, chronicling his truly epic adventure in finally killing Dracula for good in the Battle of 1999. Now with Iga having left Konami to continue the Castlevania Legacy with the SerialNumbersFiledOff with VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight (and thus not being allowed to make the story himself), Konami generally showing no interest whatsoever in continuing those styles of games or even that continuity of Castlevania, and Iga's declining to reveal what his 1999 game would have been in the event Konami ever decides to actually do it, it looks like that story is never going to be told.

* For a while, people were looking forward to a {{Metroidvania}} starring Julius Belmont in his youth, chronicling his truly epic adventure in finally killing Dracula for good in the Battle of 1999. Now with Iga having left Konami to continue the Castlevania Legacy with the SerialNumbersFiledOff with VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight (and thus not being allowed to make the story himself) and Konami generally showing no interest whatsoever in continuing those styles of games or even that continuity of Castlevania, it looks like that story is never going to be told.

And Shanoa does, as a single tear runs down her hitherto-stoic face.

* Perhaps a saddening thing that crosses over with FridgeLogic is the nature of the portraits in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. First off, the Burnt Paradise and Nation of Fools. Burnt Paradise shows a carnival set on fire with nothing but monsters roaming there. A few posters have noted this may be where Brauner's actual daughters might have died and shows how his world turned upside down (much like the stage itself). The Nation of Fools shows somewhat the same material as Burnt Paradise. As fridge logic notes, given how Romania in 1944 had embraced Nazism and sent many jews, romani and romanians to the death camps, the boss of the area, Legion, a monster that wears LOADS of human corpses as a protective shell could represent the people sent away.
** It can get worse. Take the Sandy Grave and the Lost City. It was around the beginning of the 1900s when the Egyptian Pyramids were being excavated and their stuff being taken to museums within Europe. This adds at least a little more emphasis when Brauner mentions within the Sandy Grave of how "humans despoil the natural world". The Lost City by comparison is one undespoiled and the monsters within probably represent "the mummy's curse".
** Then there's the Dark Academy and the Forest of Doom. Both of them are broken down or horrifying academies with forbidden things being learnt or simply schooling left in ruin. Part of the Nazi Agenda was censorship of non-Nazism ideals and teaching them over other curriculums. These can respectively represent the Forest of Doom (other ways being left to ruin) and the Dark Academy (where bad ideals are taught).

* In ''VideoGame/Castlevania64'' and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLegacyOfDarkness'', when you play as Reinhardt you get to know a female vampire named Rosa, who against all of Reinhardt's expectations as a vampire killer, is a noble and kind woman who suffers because she is forced to exist as a cursed vampire. She even attempts to kill herself by stepping into the sunlight, from which Reinhardt saves her... Only for Rosa to be controlled later by Death and made to fight Reinhardt. Reinhardt is forced to kill her and as she dies in his arms she asks Reinhardt if God would ever forgive her. [[spoiler: Thankfully, if you get the Good ending, just as Reinhardt despairs over the unending cycle of war against Dracula despite his victory over the Vampire Lord, Rosa is materialized, having been resurrected and cured from her curse. Reinhardt and Rosa then get to have a kind of HappilyEverAfter ending.]]

* In ''VideoGame/Castlevania64'' and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLegacyOfDarkness'', when you play as Reinhardt you get to know a female vampire named Rosa, who against all of Reinhardt's expectations as a vampire killer, is a noble and kind woman who suffers because she is forced to exist as a cursed vampire. She even attempts to kill herself by stepping into the sunlight, from which Reinhardt saves her... Only for Rosa to be controlled later by Death and made to fight Reinhardt. Reinhardt is forced to kill her and as she dies in his arms she asks Reinhardt if God would ever forgive her. [[Spoiler: Thankfully, if you get the Good ending, just as Reinhardt despairs over the unending cycle of war against Dracula despite his victory over the Vampire Lord, Rosa is materialized, having been resurrected and cured from her curse. Reinhardt and Rosa then get to have a kind of HappilyEverAfter ending]]

* Perhaps a saddening thing that crosses over with FridgeLogic is the nature of the portraits in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. First off, the Burnt Paradise and Nation of Fools. Burnt Paradise shows a carnival set on fire with nothing but monsters roaming there. A few posters have noted this may be where Brauner's actual daughters might have died and shows how his world turned upside down (much like the stage itself). The Nation of Fools shows somewhat the same material as Burnt Paradise. As fridge logic notes, given how Romania in 1944 had embraced Nazism and sent many jews, romani and romanians to the death camps, not to mention how Legion the monster that wears LOADS of human corpses as a protective shell is the boss of that area, could represent the people sent away.

!!The animated series
* Lisa's first meeting with Dracula, where the two quickly warm to each other's company, becomes much HarsherInHindsight if you already know what happens to her. Indeed, not one minute later, it flashes forward 20 years to show Lisa being accused of witchcraft and burned alive, and with her dying breath, begging Dracula not to hurt anyone, [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre to be better than them.]] [[ForegoneConclusion Sadly, we all know]] [[KillAllHumans what comes next...]]
* Later ''Alucard'' comes to ''comfort'' his father over what happened, all the while pleading with him not to give in to his wrath. [[ForegoneConclusion It doesn't work.]]
--> ''Alucard: "I grieve with you..."''