History TearJerker / NancyDrew

''And cities may all turn to ask and stone walls fall to time''\\

** Considering how the terrible news of [[spoiler: President Lincoln's death]] would've been spread by telegraph rather than through the post, Jake would've known that [[spoiler: his old friend had been murdered by the time Lincoln's letter caught up with him]].

* While it's [[SugarWiki/AmazingMusic an amazing song]], "The Word I Couldn't Keep" is full of this. Especially the chorus. [[spoiler: It gets even sadder when you learned the Captain of the ''Heerlijkheid'' wrote it as a song for his newborn daughter.]]

** The whole backstory of the Captain of the ''Heerlijkheid''.

* On a meta level, the delayed release of ''Midnight in Salem.'' Because of Her Interactive's decision to move to a new gaming system (and reportedly, internal trouble within the company itself), the game's release continues to get pushed back. As a result, both the company and the fans have experienced a four-year hiatus in which no new games have come out. Considering how Her Interactive used to release a minimum of two games per year, it's sad for fans who miss their favorite sassy detective.
** The fact the game itself is regarded as a disappointment is this as well. All that hard work, all that waiting, and in the end, nobody was really happy.

* On a meta level, the fact that this is the last installment of the series to feature [[Creator/LaniMinella Lani Minella]] as Nancy Drew's voice actress. Considering she had been with the games ever since the first installment, a number of fans - many of whom had grown up hearing her voice - were heartbroken to hear the news, and considered it to be the end of an era. It didn't help that rumors surrounding her dismissal imply that it wasn't willing on her part.

* Joseph. The theater he's looked after and loved for so long is slated for demolition, and there's nothing he can do about it. His original plan afterwards was to move out to Arizona to be with his brother, [[spoiler: until he gets a letter from a lawyer revealing that his brother has died. This makes his motives behind kidnapping Maya [[JerkassWoobie more understandable]] because he was desperate to save the place that had essentially become his home. In addition, he was so nice to Maya during her captivity that she is even willing to ''testify'' on his behalf.]]

* William Akers' journal entries about how badly-off his family ended up after Mickey Malone's arrest are pretty heartwrenching to read.

** The historical backstory is pretty sad as well. Rolfe Kessler, the titular carousel's creator, [[spoiler: was in love with and married a woman named Amelia, but his personality was so intense and moody that she could not live with him, although she loved him in return. As a result, they separated and he wrote letters to her, but never sent them. Eventually they reunited, only for her to die of tuberculosis shortly afterwards.]]

* The entire backstory of Noisette Tornade. [[spoiler: She coded messages for the Resistance during World War II, and moonlighted as a French spy translating for the Germans. Out of an intense love for Paris and its art, she employed the help of her German lover, Hans, to steal and hide several pieces of beautiful stained glass so they wouldn't be destroyed during the war. After the war, when her countrymen discovered her liaisons with Germany, they immediately accused her of treason. Although she was acquitted, she remained bitter that the city she loved had turned so suddenly against her. This led her to never reveal the location of the stained glass windows, even during her time as Director of Public Works for the city. To top it all off, Hans went back to Germany and despite promising otherwise, Noisette never saw him again.]]

* [[StoicWoobie Henry Bolet.]] Think about it: his parents die in a car crash when he was eight, and having no other family, he's sent to live with a great-uncle who had no idea how to raise a little boy. This resulted in him shipping the young Henry off to boarding school, summer camp, military school, and college, leaving Henry to grow up feeling alone and unloved. This resulted in Henry having few friends and a [[ManipulativeBitch horrible girlfriend]] as a result of a his inability to connect with other people.[[spoiler: Gets slightly better at the end of the game when he discovers how much Bruno actually cared for him, and not just financially either.]]

* The drama involving [[spoiler: Izzy and Leela. To put it bluntly, Leela's boyfriend asked Izzy to an upcoming dance, and she accepted. That's enough to make anybody feel like garbage, and the fact that Izzy feels no remorse for it makes it even worse. Made slightly better by the fact that Leela appears to bounce back afterwards, but it's still a crummy thing to go through.]]

* [[spoiler: The [[MultipleEndings ending]] where Nancy chooses not to save anyone. You find out in her letter to Ned afterwards that as a direct result of her actions, Jessalyn and Harper have been hospitalized, Wade and Colton aren't returning her calls, and Clara still hasn't been found. She then admits she doesn't know what to say this time and wishes she could go back and do things differently. The regret she displays is utterly heartbreaking, especially when the actions that lead her there are so [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness out of character]] for someone like Nancy. Thankfully you have two other endings to choose from so it doesn't have to be this way, but it's still sad.]]

* One of the flashbacks with Nancy and Kate. When Nancy asks if her mother will come back from Glasgow, Kate says that she's not sure and that she knows how unfair it is to not know. She may have been aware that going to Scotland was a one-way trip, but she felt inclined to go because she wanted to stop Revenant. By doing so, she knew she would be leaving her family behind and miss out on Nancy growing up, but she did it anyways because she wanted to keep the world - and by extension, Nancy - safe from harm. That's a hard decision to make for any parent.

* [[spoiler: Mike and Pua's reasoning for destroying the pineapple crops and blaming it on the Hilihili's research facility. As it turns out, Mike owes quite a bit of money to some local loan sharks, and since he would be the first to inherit the Hilihili if it went out of business, he and Pua saw this as a way out of their dilemma. Not exactly an ethical plan, but knowing how desperate they were to find a solution (and probably to avoid Mike being killed by the loan sharks) makes their actions ''somewhat'' [[IDidWhatIHadtoDo easier to understand]].]]

* [[spoiler: Mike and Pua's reasoning for destroying the pineapple crops and blaming it on the Hilihili's research facility. As it turns out, Mike owes quite a bit of money to a local loan shark, and since he would be the first to inherit the Hilihili if it went out of business, he and Pua saw this as a way out of their dilemma. Not exactly an ethical plan, but knowing how desperate they were to find a solution makes their actions ''somewhat'' [[IDidWhatIHadtoDo easier to understand]].]]

** [[spoiler: Julius's own story is equally pitiable: disillusioned with people, living in isolation with only a barely-tamed animal just as lonely as himself for companionship, until he catches pneumonia and trudges for miles to a hospital where he dies on Christmas Day. He had no one to mourn him except Isis, and his body was never claimed.]]