History TearJerker / DiabloIII

* Imperius may be a JerkAss, but he clearly is saddened with how far Malthael has fallen. Asking the nephalem, who he has already showed his hated for, to kill his brother must have been heart-wrenching for him.

** ''A Sister's Voice'', Eirena's quest which has you accompanying her into the realm of Pandemonium in search of one of her sisters, whose voice has been haunting her. During the quest, you come across the spirits of three of the sisters, whom it is learned have sacrificed themselves in order to allow Eirena to awaken in the Nephalem's era. When Eirena and the Nephalem finally find the source of the mysterious voice, the other sister named Lysa, it is learned that Lysa considered herself equal to, if not more powerful than Eirena, and did not want to sacrifice herself, instead finding a way into Pandemonium to escape the fate of her sisters. She has gone evil, and you and Eirena have to kill her. Then the Prophet shows up, providing poor Eirena with some much-needed closure and reassurance that what her sisters did was the right thing.

* Some of the add-on stories of certain characters, especially those whose canonicity were confirmed via ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'' can invoke this. In one swift night, Valla (Demon Hunter) lost her sister Halissa and her whole family, there's no wonder that after all that she became grim and really demon-hating. Meanwhile, Li-Ming (Wizard), just as she was really getting along with her master Isendra... well suddenly, said master was assassinated. To combine this with the extra sadness, Isendra was assassinated by a Viz-Jaq'taar assassin. She also worked with one during [[VideoGame/DiabloII her last quest to kill off Diablo.]] We don't know if it's the same Assassin, but the prospect of two former friends battling each other to death is sad.

* The death of [[spoiler:Deckard Cain]] at the hands of Maghda. And then the funeral scene. [[spoiler: Stay just a little while longer Cain... I'll listen...]]
* And then there's the death of [[spoiler:Leah as her mother Adria uses her as the vessel for Diablo's resurrection in one of the most horrible betrayals of the entire franchise]]. Especially sad if [[spoiler:you've gone through all her conversations and know about her dream of running an inn of her own someday...]]
* In Act V, the Nephalem finds out that the one with intelligence on Malthael's whereabouts is [[spoiler:Adria]]. From then on, every sentence out of the hero's mouth about [[spoiler:Adria]] can be paraphrased as "I will find her and fucking kill her," and given the above events, it's not hard to see why Sanctuary's hero comes dangerously close to putting RevengeBeforeReason.

* The aftermath of [[spoiler:Diablo's resurrection]] in Bastion's Keep.

---> [[spoiler:"If you are reading this, my husband and I are both gone. We would like to be buried side by side, preferably in a sunny spot. Oh, and please don't bury my husband's sword with us. He won't need it anymore."]]
** The old fat mayor of New Tristram gets one too. [[spoiler: After Diablo rises again, you find his corpse with a guard looking over him who comments that he never ran even though he could have. After being yelled at by you and the villagers for fleeing from New Tristram and being called a coward for all of the game, it's a very emotional moment when you realize you finally got through to him when it counted the most.]]

** The young couple inside Bastion's Keep. One of them is a soldier who, in the beginning of the Act, begged his wife to leave the place and get to safety. She would have none of it. As the battle starts to turn in favor of Bastion's Keep, they talk about starting a family and the like. They're overjoyed when Azmodan is finally defeated. [[spoiler:Then he dies during Adria's betrayal. She stays behind in complete shock, always having believed that they would die together. And she bitterly asks that if someone had to die, why it could not have been her instead.]]
* Kormac's despair upon discovering [[spoiler:the AwfulTruth of his order, and subsequently his remorse over killing Jondar, wondering if he could have saved him instead.]] Gets even worse in ''Reaper of Souls'', where [[spoiler:he realizes that his previous desire to reform his Order is hopeless, since the corruption goes all the way to the Grand Maester, and he sees no other choice but to kill the man who essentially raised and mentored him to prevent him from hurting anyone else like he did Kormac and Jondar.]]

** ''Bound By Blood'', Lyndon's quest, has you trying to bust Edlin, his ex-guardsman brother who he's been trying to help set free, out of the prison he's been moved to in Westmarch, only to find that [[spoiler:the Thieves' Guild that Lyndon was involved in, which has been causing trouble elsewhere in Westmarch, have taken the place over. You and Lyndon (and any other follower if they're following you) kill your way through practically the entire Thieves' Guild in a furious bid to save Edlin, only to find that it's too late for him. While Lyndon originally believes that the Thieves' Guild killed him, the killer actually turns out to be Rea, the woman who married Edlin and who Lyndon has always carried a torch for]].
** ''A Sister's Voice'', Eirena's quest which has you accompanying her into the realm of Pandemonium in search of one of her sisters, whose voice has been haunting her. [[spoiler:During the quest, you come across the spirits of three of the sisters, whom it is learned have sacrificed themselves in order to allow Eirena to awaken in the Nephalem's era. When Eirena and the Nephalem finally find the source of the mysterious voice, the other sister named Lysa, it is learned that Lysa considered herself equal to, if not more powerful than Eirena, and did not want to sacrifice herself, instead finding a way into Pandemonium to escape the fate of her sisters. She has gone evil, and you and Eirena have to kill her. Then the Prophet shows up, providing poor Eirena with some much-needed closure and reassurance that what her sisters did was the right thing]].
* Covetous Shen's final farewell to [[spoiler:Liria, the woman he's come to love]] during his sidequest. Hearing him have to [[spoiler:deliver his ThatManIsDead speech regarding Zei, his past self, and send her off on her final journey]] is both heartwarming and heart-breaking.

* [[spoiler:The death of Deckard Cain at the hands of Maghda. And then the funeral scene.]]
** [[spoiler: Stay just a little while longer Cain... I'll listen...]]
* And then there's [[spoiler:Leah's own death as her mother Adria uses her as the vessel for Diablo's resurrection in one of the most horrible betrayals of the entire franchise]]. Especially sad if [[spoiler:you've gone through all her conversations and know about her dream of running an inn of her own someday...]]
** In Act V, [[spoiler:the Nephalem finds out that the one with intelligence on Malthael's whereabouts is Adria. From then on, every sentence out of the hero's mouth about Adria can be paraphrased as "I will find her and fucking kill her," and given the above events, it's not hard to see why Sanctuary's hero comes dangerously close to putting RevengeBeforeReason.]]

* [[spoiler:The aftermath of Diablo's resurrection in Bastion's Keep. Nearly every single NPC save for the merchants and your party is either dead or in despair, including the sweet woman and her soldier husband.]]
--> [[spoiler:"If you are reading this, my husband and I are both gone. We would like to be buried side by side, preferably in a sunny spot. Oh, and please don't bury my husband's sword with us. He won't need it anymore."]]

*** Before that, after you've have chewed him out several times, he still hasn't left yet, and he says he's not a coward; he just wants to live. There's something about the tone in his voice that strikes a chord.

* [[spoiler:Kormac's despair upon discovering the AwfulTruth of his order, and subsequently his remorse over killing Jondar, wondering if he could have saved him instead.]]
** Gets even worse in ''Reaper of Souls'', where [[spoiler:he realizes that his previous desire to reform his Order is hopeless, since the corruption goes all the way to the Grand Maester, and he sees no other choice but to kill the man who essentially raised and mentored him to prevent him from hurting anyone else like he did Kormac and Jondar.]]

* Another mother appears midway through Act V, calling for her children, who apparently are playing somewhere else. Her carefree demeanor sounds out of place from the beginning and when her children aren't coming back, you get the feeling there might be something very wrong. The whole thing ends with the woman asking the protagonist to pass along a message to her children should they see them. The protagonist simply agrees. It's never spelled out, but it doesn't take a lot of imagination [[DeadAllAlong to see what's going on]]...

* Some of the add-on stories of certain characters, especially those whose canonicity were confirmed via ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'' can invoke this. In one swift night, Valla (Demon Hunter) lost her sister Halissa and her whole family, there's no wonder that after all that she became grim and really demon-hating. Meanwhile, Li-Ming (Wizard), just as she was really getting along with her master Isendra... well suddenly, said master was assassinated.
** To combine this with the extra sadness, Isendra was assassinated by a Viz-Jaq'taar assassin. She also worked with one during [[VideoGame/DiabloII her last quest to kill off Diablo.]] We don't know if it's the same Assassin, but the prospect of two former friends battling each other to death is sad.