History TearJerker / FinalFantasyXVI

** And even then, Benedikta's "usefulness" as a tool of Barbabas' schemes is not done. Scarcely a chapter later, Hugo is sent a box containing her ''severed head'', [[FalseFlagOperation apparently under Cid's orders]], leaving him visibly distraught and broken by the sight of it, all so the Dominant of Titan will turn his full might upon Cid and his UndergroundRailroad and cause further chaos and destabilisation in the realms even without Benedikta whispering in his ear. Barnabas never even mentions her afterwards despite [[DesecratingTheDead using her corpse as a piece in his game plan]] for Clive and the others, underscoring just how little she really meant to him, despite all that she tried to do for Barnabas and his kingdom to prove her worth.

* Clive watching as Hugo destroyed the Throne of Rosaria where Elwin once sat in order to spite Clive for apparently wanting to protect the empty throne. You can clearly hear the pain in Clive's voice as he cries out ''no'', and then you'll realize that this is the second time Clive has failed to be the ''First Shield of Rosaria'', and on a more personal level, to Clive, the mark of him having failed his father. While he had discovered that Joshua was alive at that time, it still clearly didn't take away the fact that Clive had failed his father's high hopes for him: He had almost killed Joshua and left Rosaria vulnerable to the Empire and the Iron Kingdom as Ifrit, and now he was powerless to do anything as the throne of Rosaria is destroyed in front of his own eyes.

-->'''Clive''': I...I did this. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone I killed him.]]
** Then a memory of Joshua calls for Clive. Guilt-ridden, Clive stumbles over to this Joshua and hugs him.

* Returning to Eloise and Theo starts a storyline where they settle an abandoned town for Bearers that they buy and free. Late in the storyline, the duo learn that the village is under attack by [[TheCorruption Akashics]], and Theo leads the charge to protect the village. Unfortunately, by the time Clive finds him, he himself is corrupted, as the beasts trapped him in an aetherflood and he couldn't get away. Eloise makes it to the scene just as he has enough will left to say goodbye as [[DyingAsYourself he kills himself]]. El later confesses that everything she did was so she and her brother could be together in peace, and breaks down sobbing over the death of her beloved brother.

--->'''Clive:''' Joshua's every waking moment was spent trying to shoulder the burden that you, and the Phoenix, AND THE DUCHY FOISTED ON HIM! ''THAT'S'' WHY I BECAME HIS SHIELD! TO HELP BEAR THE WEIGHT! BUT ''WHAT'' DID YOU DO!? YOU BETRAYED YOUR ''OWN'' BLOOD, '''AND SURRENDERED YOUR SON TO HIS FATE!!'''

* Joshua's body [[YourDaysAreNumbered finally breaks]] after the Ultima he sealed fatally breaks his prison. He has just enough time to transfer the powers of Phoenix to Clive, and tells him that he has [[SoProudOfYou always been proud to have Clive as both his Shield and brother]] before he succumbs. All Clive can do is sob brokenly and cradle his younger brother's body. It's implied that Clive potentially revives him using Phoenix's powers before destroying the last Mothercrystal, as evidenced by the ambiguously DistantFinale, but there's no immediate sign that the revival attempt worked at all, or if it was merely Clive fixing a wound that didn't matter anymore.

* In L'ubor's questline, the people of Dalimil decide to elect him as the town mayor. Things are going well for him up until the local bandit problem rears its ugly head as they've taken a page out of the townsfolk's book and begun organizing and joining ranks. When Clive deals with one of their camps, Viktor informs him that L'ubor had to protect a couple of children from another group of bandits and outed himself as a Bearer in the process. With the exception of the children he saved, ''everyone'' now hates his guts and pissed that he lied to them for so long. Some townsfolk even complain about him taking as if he were equal to "his betters" when L'ubor comforts the kids who think him getting exposed was their fault. This culminates in the townsfolk ([[UngratefulBastard for whom L'ubor had done a lot]]) [[CassandraTruth refusing to heed his warnings about incoming Akashic]] and ''beginning to stone him,'' only halting when the kids engage in ShamingTheMob.

* Near Moore, you can find a little girl asking you to find her pet, one with white hair. Assuming this to be a dog, Clive asks around for if anyone has seen one, and gets pointed at the windmill. But, once you reach the windmill, you find a brown dog, instead... and a white-haired Bearer that has been [[TakenForGranite killed by the curse]]. The little girl has apparently considered the Bearer her pet, but Clive immediately lays it on thick, and that's when you realize: this is a young girl that had never even once considered that they were actually human beings like her. Her entire life, she'd been told they were something else, and that they didn't even have ''parents''. To top it all off, she learns the horrific truth of all: that them turning to stone isn't just something temporary like she thought, but that they are dead, gone forever, as a result of how poorly they had been treated. And after realizing this, she begins to sob profusely, barely even able to speak as she sputters out tearful apologies to a corpse that she only just realized was ''even a corpse'', leaving you with a little girl now burdened with the crushing reality of the cruel world around her, and of the horrible consequences of her own actions. And you can't do anything else but simply leave her to grieve.

--->'''Clive:''' Murderer... I'll kill you! ''I'LL '''FUCKING''' KILL YOU!!''

*** Another sad note is that Clive leaves Annabelle's body in the collapsing room. Clive has gone out of his way to bury people including strangers who died around him. Annabelle was so evil that the kindest man in the world who just so happens to be her son has no kindness to give her.

** Your mileage might vary but ironically had Annabelle been a better mother to Clive ,Joshua and Jill she would have gotten all that she ever wanted.

* In L'ubor's questline, the people of Dalimil decide to elect him as the town mayor. Things are going well for him up until the local bandit problem rears its ugly head as they've taken a page out of the townsfolk's book and begun organizing and joining ranks. When Clive deals with one of their camps, Viktor informs him that L'ubor had to protect a couple of children from another group of bandits and outed himself as a Bearer in the process. With the exception of the children he saved, ''everyone'' now hates his guts and pissed that he lied to them for so long. Some townsfolk even complain about him taking as if he were equal to "his betters" when L'ubor comforts the kids who think him getting exposed was their fault.

** Your mileage might vary but had Annabelle been a better mother to Clive ,Joshua and Jill she would have ironically gotten all that she ever wanted.

** Joshua's perspective can also be a bit sad. Despite how his mother orchestrated the events that lead to him and Clive being separated, his brother enslaved, and their home falling, Joshua clearly did retain more genuine sentiment towards his mother than Clive, and then you realize no matter how strict Anabella was on Joshua, she ''still did love him'' and Joshua can't just forget about that, no matter how evil Anabella truly was. He probably did recognize her as just a pawn of Ultima and wanted to give her a chance to redeem herself. The despondent tone on his voice as he laments his mother's death can still tug a bit of heartstrings.

* CLIVE BESTED. A sobering victory screen that is meant to illustrate just how much of a threat Odin/Barnabas is. ''You are not match for him at this time''.

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** Subtle, but when Clive finally gets to meet Anabella, he is definitely furious and disgusted with Anabella and doesn't hesitate to call her out over her disdain of Elwin and her betrayal of Rosaria, but while he was rejecting her beliefs, he never once defends ''his own self'', even when she rants about him not becoming the Dominant of Phoenix and being strong in ways that only made things harder for her. Either he is just resigned to Anabella never having any affection for him at all, or he actually ''agrees'' with her to an extent that had he been born as the Dominant of the Phoenix, things would have been better for his entire family, both of those possibilities can still be saddening.

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* Near the end of the game, Joshua's body [[YourDaysAreNumbered finally breaks]] after the Ultima he sealed fatally breaks his prison. He has just enough time to transfer the powers of Phoenix to Clive, and tells him that he has [[SoProudOfYou always been proud to have Clive as both his Shield and brother]] before he succumbs. All Clive can do is sob brokenly and cradle his younger brother's body. It's implied that Clive potentially revives him using Phoenix's powers before destroying the last Mothercrystal, as evidenced by the ambiguously DistantFinale, but there's no immediate sign that the revival attempt worked at all, or if it was merely Clive fixing a wound that didn't matter anymore.

** While the trope of killing off parents and siblings in the franchise is as old as the hills, Joshua is one of the few brothers Square had the guts to give the player time to get to know before their death, in contrast to Reks from ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII Final Fantasy XII]]'' or Nora Estheim from ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII Final Fantasy XIII]]'' due their small amount of screentime.

* A sidequest in Martha's Rest sees Clive asked to find a Bearer before the Imperials do. Before he can set off, a man named Roland loudly complains about how he was "deceived" by Norris who claimed to be one of them. When you find Norris, he lacks the same mark all Branded do, which is how he managed to avoid detection up until now. When Clive returns to the quest-giver, he informs Roland that Norris is dead and hands him a lantern as "proof". Roland is notably shaken by this as he previously gave it to Norris as a gift. Any remorse he might have is quickly forgotten as he rants about how Norris may as well have ruined his reputation and people will see him as a "Bearer lover".

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