History TearJerker / FinalFantasyXVI

* 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.

[[folder: Main Story]]

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** 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.

* She deserved it, but Anabella's state when she kills herself is so pathetic that it illicits pity. On top of having her new home collapsing around her ears, she's forced to deal with the two-fold blow of seeing Dion kill her son Olivier (who disintegrates into aether, confirming he was ''never alive'') and Joshua alive after believing he was dead all these years. It breaks her completely, and she spends her last moments convinced that everything that's happened is a bad dream and screaming at Joshua to stay away from her. Even ''Clive'' can't help but feel pity at her suicide.

* It's subtle, but Clive and Joshua never hug each other at any point prior to the former's death. [[CradleOfLoneliness He never even holds him one last time, not even his corpse if it was still there]]. It's possibly one of the saddest scenes in the history of ''Final Fantasy''.
* Clive discovering that ''he'' is the Dominant of Ifrit, and ''he'' was the one who killed his own brother and subsequently falling into a HeroicBSOD.

* Dion having a full mental breakdown as he tries to convince his father the Emperor that his half-brother Olivier is ''evil'', having being possessed by Ultima. At his wits' end, he throws his spear at the undead child...only for the Emperor to throw himself in front Olivier, taking the fatal blow instead. Seeing his father's limp body and enduring a BreakingSpeech from 'Olivier' is what finally triggers his transformation into Bahamut, and he subsequently lays waste to the home that he has been trying to protect.
* She deserved it, but Annabella's state when she kills herself is so pathetic that it illicits pity. On top of having her new home falling down around her ears, she's forced to deal with the two-fold blow of seeing Dion kill her son Olivier (who disintegrates into aether, confirming he was ''never alive'') and Joshua alive after believing he was dead all these years. It breaks her completely, and she spends her last moments convinced that everything that's happened is a bad dream and screaming at Joshua to stay away from her. Even ''Clive'' feels pity at her suicide.

* Dion having a full mental breakdown as he tries to convince his father the Emperor that his half-brother Olivier is ''evil'', having being possessed by Ultima. At his wits' end, he throws his spear at the undead child...only for the Emperor to throw himself in front Olivier, taking the fatal blow instead. Seeing his father's limp body and enduring a BreakingSpeech from 'Olivier' is what finally triggers his transformation into Bahamut, and he subsequently lays waste to the home that he has been trying to protect.

** Clive is so deeply broken that as soon as he wakes up and Cid visits him, Clive ''begs'' Cid to kill him for having killed Joshua and everything he had loved with his own hands, straight-up calling himself a monster and sobbing on the ground, uncaring about his nakedness, once Cid punches him down and tells him to cool off.

* Later in the game, Clive's reaction when he discovers that ''he'' is the Dominant of Ifrit, and ''he'' was the one who killed his own brother.

* It's subtle, but Clive and Joshua never hug each other at any point prior to the former's death. [[CradleOfLoneliness He never even holds him one last time, not even his corpse if it was still there]]. It's possibly one of the saddest scenes in the history of ''Final Fantasy''.

** The ensuing boss fight against Ifrit sees Joshua [[DeathOfAChild splattered into a red mist by the new Eikon of Fire]]. All the while, Clive can only watch in horror as his younger brother is torn apart.

** The worst part is that [[BlessedWithSuck ''he doesn't want'' to be Phoenix's Dominant]]. The role puts him under immense pressure, not the least of which is from his own mother. In his conversation with Clive, he almost makes it sound like he'd rather be the one ignored[=/=]scorned by Anabelle.

** Even the beginning before the flashback starts is a bit sad. What triggers Clive remembering his past is seeing a fellow conscript of Sanbraque die. Think about it. Clive is definitely not willingly following Sanbraque's orders, but despite how stoic and aloof he is towards the other soldiers, either out of empathy over their shared hopelessness or genuine camaraderie, his last words before falling unconscious and dreaming about what happened years ago are that of "Brother...". Alternatively, it could be that he is traumatized enough that just seeing a fellow soldier die helplessly would make him remember how he too was once powerless to stop the fall of Rosaria and his brother's death.

** Even the beginning before the flashback starts is a bit sad. What triggers Clive remembering his past is seeing a fellow conscript of Sanbraque die. Think about it. Clive is definitely not willingly following Sanbraque's orders, but despite how he is stoic and aloof towards the other soldiers, either out of empathy over their shared hopelessness or genuine camaraderie, his last words before falling unconscious and dreaming about what happened years ago are that of "Brother...". Alternatively, it could be that he is traumatized enough that just seeing a fellow soldier die helplessly would make him remember how he too was once powerless to stop the fall of Rosaria and his brother's death.

** Even the beginning before the flashback starts is a bit sad. What triggers Clive remembering his past is seeing a fellow conscript of Sanbraque die. Think about it. Clive is definitely not willingly following Sanbraque's orders, but despite how he is stoic and aloof towards the other soldiers, either out of empathy over their shared hopelessness or genuine cammaderie, his last words before falling unconscious and dreaming about what happened years ago are that of "Brother...". Alternatively, it could be that he is traumatized enough that just seeing a fellow soldier die helplessly would make him remember how he too was once powerless to stop the fall of Rosaria and his brother's death.

* Joshua’s relationship with Anabella is pretty sad from his perspective, since he was the Phoenix, his mother actually liked him even if he was mean and strict on his well-being.

--->'''Clive:''' No! Stop it! Take your hands off my brother! Joshua... Stop it... Stop it! I swore I would protect him... Please... Please, stop it! Joshua! '''[[BigNo NO!!!]]'''

--->'''Clive:''' Murderer... I'll kill you! ''I'll '''fucking''' kill you!''
** And just when you think Clive's day couldn't get any worse, [[FromBadToWorse it does]]. [[TheMole Clive finds out his mother Anabella is a traitor]], [[ParentalBetrayal and orders Clive killed when he's found after the battle at the Phoenix Gate is over]]. But, then she decides to spare him... just to spite her now-dead husband one last time by [[MadeASlave forcibly conscripting Clive into the Empire of Sanbreque as a Branded]]. And it's implied that Anabella is doing all of this just because [[SocialClimber she wants a better social status than she had as the archduchess]], [[EvilIsPetty which comes off as chillingly petty]].

* The prologue/playable demo is a full-fledged DownerBeginning. Not that a story about {{revenge}} was ever going to go smoothly, but the tone that ''XVI'' sets early on makes it clear that the game isn't pulling its punches.

** 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]]'' or Nora Estheim from ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII]]'' due their small amount of screentime.

** 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/Final Fantasy XII]]'' or Nora Estheim from ''[[VideoGame/Final Fantasy XIII]]'' due their small amount of screentime.

** And just when you think Clive's day couldn't get any worse, [[FromBadToWorse it does]]. [[TheMole Clive finds out his mother Anabella is a traitor]], [[ParentalBetrayal and orders Clive killed when he's found after the battle at the Phoenix Gate is over]]. But, then she decides to spare him... just to spite her now-dead husband one last time by [[MadeASlave forcibly conscripting Clive into the Empire of Sanbreque as a Branded]]. And it's implied that Anabella is doing all of this just because [[SocialClimber she wants a better social status than she had as the archduchess]], [[EvilIsPetty which comes off as chillingly petty]].

** The ensuing boss fight against Ifrit sees Joshua [[DeathOfAChild splattered into a red mist by the new Eikon of Fire]]. All the while, Clive can do nothing but watch helplessly as his younger brother is torn apart.
--->'''Clive:''' No! Stop it! Take your hands off my brother! Joshua... Stop it... Stop it! I swore I would protect him... Please... Please, stop it! Joshua! [[BigNo NO!!!]]

--->'''Clive:''' Murderer... I'll kill you! ''I'll fucking kill you!''

* The prologue/playable demo is a full-fledged DownerBeginning. Not that a story about {{revenge}} was ever going to go all that smoothly, but the tone that ''XVI'' sets early on makes it clear that the game isn't pulling its punches.
** Clive's status as TheUnfavorite is set very clearly when Anabella shows up. Joshua gets some ParentalFavoritism from Anabella, while Clive gets little more than a DeathGlare and seeing contempt from his mother. The other soldiers even comment on how unfair it is to Clive.
** Joshua gets to witness [[OffWithHisHead his father's head being sliced off right in front of him]]. As if that wasn't bad enough, he even gets covered in Elwin's blood. Small wonder that [[BloodSplatteredInnocents Joshua ends up traumatized enough to]] [[TraumaticSuperPowerAwakening awaken the power of the Phoenix]].

** And just when you think Clive's day couldn't get any worse, [[FromBadToWorse it does]]. [[TheMole Clive finds out his mother Anabella is a traitor]], [[ParentalBetrayal and orders Clive killed when he's found after the battle at the Phoenix Gate is over]]. But, then she decides to spare him... Just to spite her now-dead husband one last time by [[MadeASlave forcibly conscripting Clive into the Empire of Sanbreque]]. And it's implied that Anabella is doing all of this just because [[SocialClimber she wants a better social status than she had as the archduchess]], [[EvilIsPetty which comes off as chillingly petty]].

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--->'''Clive:''' Murderer... I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you!
** And just when you think Clive's day couldn't get any worse, [[FromBadToWorse it does]]. [[TheMole Clive finds out his mother Anabella is a traitor]], [[ParentalBetrayal and orders Clive killed when he's found after the battle at the Phoenix Gate is over]]. But, then she decides to spare him... Just to spite her now-dead husband one last time by [[MadeASlave forcibly conscripting Clive into the Empire of Sanbreque]]. And it's implied that Anabella is doing all of this just because [[SocialClimber she wants a better social status than she had as the duchess]], [[EvilIsPetty which comes off as chillingly petty]].

** And just when you think Clive's day couldn't get any worse, [[FromBadToWorse it does]]. [[TheMole Clive finds out his mother Anabella is a traitor]], and orders Clive killed. But, then she decides to spare him... Just to spite her now-dead husband one last time by [[MadeASlave forcibly conscripting Clive into the Empire of Sanbreque]]. And it's implied that Anabella is doing all of this just because [[SocialClimber she wants a better social status than she had as the duchess]], [[EvilIsPetty which comes off as chillingly petty]].

** And just when you think Clive's day couldn't get any worse, [[FromBadToWorse it does]]. He finds out his mother is a traitor, and orders Clive killed. But, then she decides to spare him... Just to spite her now-dead husband one last time by [[MadeASlave forcibly conscripting Clive into the Empire of Sanbreque]]. And it's implied that Anabella is doing all of this just because [[SocialClimber she wants a better social status than she had as the duchess]], [[EvilIsPetty which comes off as chillingly petty]].