History TearJerker / MassEffect

-->[[spoiler:'''EDI''': No matter how far we advance, [[DueTheDead we will remember the sacrifices of those who made it possible]]... And we will remember Shepard. [[HeroicSacrifice Because of him/her]]... [[TearJerker I am alive]], and [[YouAreNotAlone I am not alone.]]]]

** His father then proceeds to remind him to conserve his ammo, to make every shot count. Their past tension forgotten and his father doing what he can to help his doomed son. Of course, this is when Garrus scopes in on an [[BigDamnHeroes N7 badge]], and realizes that he isn't going to die after all..

*** I'd say that seeing what happens after you expose Rael at the trial is the worst TearJerker in the whole game.

*** For that reason (because Tali was of the "ICantBelieveAGuyLikeYouWouldNoticeMe" variety), [[IronBalls16 this Troper]] went back and played through MassEffect1 again ''without'' a love interest.

** Not to mention seeing [[spoiler: Kaidan or Ashley's face]]. OH GOD WHY!?!?!

** This may be odd compared to the other parts of that mission, but seeing the old M35 Mako, wrecked on that pile of rubble. . . I just stood there for a few minutes, staring at it. I may have hated driving it in the first game, but, dammit, it deserved a better end then that.
*** Wrecked? It wasn't. It was pretty much the only unscathed thing there. Not TearJerker, it's a LampshadeHanging.

** Hell, the opening itself. This troper has never liked the design of the ''Normandy''; too much like a vajazzled private yacht, compared to (say) the stately elegance of the [[Franchise/StarTrek NCC-1701]] or the lean utility of a [[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Colonial Viper]]. But the sight of her hulled and burning... "What did you do to my ship?" (And that's the first time this troper has ever ''called'' her "my ship". [[FirstKiss First]][=/=]LastKiss, indeed.)

** [[spoiler: For me, it was the way that after the eyes stop glowing, he stands perfectly still, then gives this little twitch, then looks around. It's like, the General suddenly regained knowledge of who he was, and gets to truly take in everything around him for the first time in quite possibly his entire life, just in time to be blown to bits.]]

*** Though, it's a bit hard to sympathise with him when he starts going on about eating salarian eggs...

** [[spoiler: Not just the fact that she has to kill her own daughter, but also the talks with the mother of said daughter's latest victim.]]
*** It wasn't talking to Diana that hit this troper the most - it was [[spoiler: going through [[KillTheCutie Nef's]] diary, which would have been a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming if you didn't already know what happened to her. [[TheVamp Morinth, you sick woman]]...]]
*** The combination of talking to Diana and reading that journal was very heartbreaking. This troper's only regret was that [[spoiler: Samara kills Morinth quick and clean.]] Would've much preferred to put the bitch in stasis and feed her to some hungry Varren.
*** Varren would be too quick. I'd give her to the Collectors and let her get [[spoiler:dissolved alive]].
*** I wouldn't. Samara would be quite upset if her daughter were to meet a horrible fate. Both because she's too much of a valued member of the team to leave her with such thoughts about the fate of her daughter, and because I'd be scared sh**less if she ever found out I was responsible for it.
*** Samara and Morinth knew that their reunion will never be a happy ending. Two of them enters, one of them leaves. She states this after the mission.
** After the mission, when you talk to Samara, she talks about being free. A ruined vessel of sorrow and regret, but free. She also talks about all her hopes and dreams being bound up in her children. And how proud she is of Morinth.
** Samara's deliverance of how she feels the release of hunting her daughter for nearly half her life span truly pulls at your heart strings.

** The kicker? You can further talk to Nef's mother and Samara shakes her head at Diana's breakdowns, who has several. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Then she and Shepard hunt down Morinth to kill her.]]

%% Please see thread to suggest a new image.

** My personal interpretation gives rise to the image of a 16-year-old Shepard coming home to find it ablaze, digging frantically through the rubble only to find his/her entire family dead. From the distance comes the sound of Batarians laughing as they round up another family. Without a moments pause, Shepard picks up their father's gun, cocks it and spends the next several hours proceeding to ''[[TranquilFury give them hell]]''.

***** It's like it was trying to see what would make the Quarians love them again, but no amount of consensus and research could find out what is required for the peace between both races

* An elcor diplomat on the Citadel asks you to help get some elcor troops back to their homeworld to defend evacuating civilians. When you do it and go back to him, you can ask how many got away. His answer: A simple "Not enough." He doesn't specify his tone. He doesn't need to.

*** ''Creator Megara, what is your status?...........Creator Megara?''

** Then there's the dialog, and the Vermire survivor thoroughly ''rejects'' you harshly.

* Because someone had to: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3A6I_0DwbY&feature=related Samara's suicide]]. And then Shepard makes it a SenselessSacrifice by ''killing her daughter anyway.''

*** [[spoiler: It's even worse if you go the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-1FAxiUAoo Renegade path]].]]

* [[spoiler: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOe-cysb-DA Mordin's sacrifice]].]]

*** CrowningMomentOfHearthwarming: He's grateful and serene when you find the Batarian religious artifact, and even then, he lost his anti-humanity prejudice before you did.

*** [[spoiler:Also with non-romanced FemShep, at the end of the prayer she says:
--->'''"Bye, Thane. You won't be alone for long."'''
It clearly means she knows, she will die soon after. ]]

*** [[spoiler:Even without romancing him, if you play a FemShep she will notice the "She" in the last verse, and after closing Thane eyes when she asked why to Kolyat, you know she understand it was for her but by respect asked. That scene is one of the most tearjerking for this Troper. ]]

*** Being given what they wanted? Never heard [[LotusEaterMachine that]] before.

*** Being given what they wanted? Never heard [[that LotusEaterMachine]] before.

** ItGetsWorse. [[spoiler: Samara then commits suicide if you don't stop her. And it's entirely possible to then mercilessly gun down Falere right over her mother's body. Seeing an entire family get slaughtered in the space of minutes is heartbreaking, and it's so callous that it might just make you ''hate'' a Shepard that does it.]]

** ItGetsWorse, Kelly can become DrivenToSuicide if you get angry with her during a conversation. The once so chipper Yeoman turned so incredibly ''[[BrokenBird fragile]]'' and it's ''[[PlayerPunch all your fault]]''.

**** [[spoiler:Also with non-romanced FemShep, at the end of the prayer she says:
--->'''"Bye, Thane. You won't be alone for long."'''

*** And, unfortunately, [[ItGotWorse it gets even worse than that]]: [[spoiler: When you enter the Collector ship later, your party will mention that, due to the ship's main power being off, all the pods have cut out and show zero life signs. So all the abducted Horizon colonists are dead. And while you initially think Turian ships disabled it, it turns out to be a trap by the Collectors, meaning they shut off their own power knowing it'd kill all the abductees.]] Thanks a lot, you alien bastards.

** ItGotWorse... she's about to go kamikaze on a Reaper!

** [[ItGotWorse Even the fandom's theory on]] [[UpToEleven the ending holds no solace]]. [[spoiler: Throughout the game, there are very subtle hints that the child Shepard sees isn't really there, and the dreams he/she has are his/her mind telling him/her the child will be the death of him/her. This all gathers up into one large PlayerPunch in the end where the entire ending is Shepard in a fight for his/her very sanity and soul against Reaper indoctrination. Two of the choices would result in Reaper domination while another, while risking almost everything Shepard fought for, will be his/her final push to break out of the fantasy the Reapers built around him/her.]] [[BrokenBase Whether you believe it or not]], it shows just how much trauma Shepard really has put up with throughout the entire game.