History TearJerker / StarCraft

* Tassadar's HeroicSacrifice at the end of ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' combines this with SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
** Also, the end of ''Brood War'' was crushing. What was done to [=DuGalle=], Stukov, Raynor, Mengsk, and most of all, Zeratul. Definitely Zeratul.
*** Bonus missions from the N64 version are canon by Main/WordOfGod, and thus Stukov Lives! After being infested, then de-infested, and left a broken half-shell of a man. But he lives!
** Or the part where Arcturus abandons Kerrigan to [[HordeOfAlienLocusts the Zerg]]. Especially in the novelization, after Raynor decides to evacuate a group of survivors and civilians rather than keep looking for her.
*** This is made even worse via a cinematic in ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'', where we see Kerrigan, the last person left at New Gettysburg, calling for backup. She's implied to have watched ''her entire force'' be devoured by the Zerg, and she's darting from place to place, fighting off zerglings and hydralisks erupting from every shadow, as her cloaking device runs out of energy and her ammunition runs out. Down to just her sidearm, she sees a mass of zerglings coming towards her, and knows from the lack of radio contact and the mutalisks wheeling overhead that her rescue is not coming. [[AvertedTrope Instead]] [[TheLastDance of fighting to the last]], [[DespairEventHorizon she drops her gun, completely broken, and just]] ''[[DespairEventHorizon stands there]]'' [[DespairEventHorizon as the Zerg wave rushes her]]. If this wasn't Arcturus's MoralEventHorizon moment before, it certainly is now.
** Or, just this:
--->'''Raynor''': Sarah? Is that really you?
--->''' Infested Kerrigan''': [[ThatManIsDead It was.]]
** Bear in mind the reason for Arcturus' betrayal in the first place: Kerrigan was one of the three Ghosts who murdered his family for resisting the Confederacy. He only survived because he'd ''enlisted in the Confederate Marine Corps.'' He willfully spent years working with one of the three who murdered his mother, father, and little sister...because she could help him topple the Confederacy. That smug smile he has during the cinematic depiction in the sequel of his original betrayal suddenly makes more sense: he didn't just kill her. He knew about her and Raynor. He let her fall in love, and ''then'' killed her. Just remember: they couldn't even find his father's head. That explains an awful lot about Arcturus Mengsk.
*** Mengsk's backstory in general, really. His sister was ''fifteen'' when the Confederacy had her assassinated for her parents' rebellion. He decided to form a resistance group, and in exchange, the Confederacy ''glassed his home planet with nuclear weapons''. Mengsk may have been a terrible man, but nobody can say he didn't have his reasons for becoming one.
%%* Pylo the Pylon...
* The entirety of the Refugee mission chain in ''Wings Of Liberty'', involving the Koprulu Sector's [[TheWoobie unluckiest bunch of colonists]] and your efforts to save them from the Zerg - up to and including picking a fight with ''a Protoss purification fleet'' if you choose to do so. At the end, if you chose to protect them, their leader leaves the ship, thanking Raynor profusely for giving the colony a second chance. If you chose to help cleanse the infestation instead, she winds up infested as well, and Raynor is forced to kill her.

** And the worst part? '''Neither it, nor the entire zerg-protoss war, was supposed to happen.''' The zerg, while they are normally a fairly hostile and paranoid species, are not naturally cruel or sadistic, and don't need to overwrite the personality of the infested to make them as heartless as Queen of Blades Kerrigan. It was all because of a single Xel'Naga's selfishness and greed.

* The entirety of the Refugee mission chain in ''Wings Of Liberty'', involving the Koprulu Sector's [[{{Woobie}} unluckiest bunch of colonists]] and your efforts to save them from the Zerg - up to and including picking a fight with ''a Protoss purification fleet'' if you choose to do so. At the end, if you chose to protect them, their leader leaves the ship, thanking Raynor profusely for giving the colony a second chance. If you chose to help cleanse the infestation instead, she winds up infested as well, and Raynor is forced to kill her.

*** This is made even worse via a cinematic in ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'', where we see Kerrigan, the last person left at New Gettysburg, calling for backup. She's implied to have watched ''her entire force'' be devoured by the Zerg, and she's darting from place to place, fighting off zerglings and hydralisks erupting from every shadow, as her cloaking device runs out of energy and her ammunition runs out. Down to just her sidearm, she sees a mass of zerglings coming towards her, and knows from the lack of radio contact and the mutalisks wheeling overhead that her rescue is not coming. [[AvertedTrope Instead [[TheLastDance of fighting to the last]], [[DespairEventHorizon she drops her gun, completely broken, and just]] ''[[DespairEventHorizon stands there]]'' [[DespairEventHorizon as the Zerg wave rushes her]].]] If this wasn't Arcturus's MoralEventHorizon moment before, it certainly is now.

* [[spoiler: Tassadar]]'s HeroicSacrifice at the end of ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' combines this with SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
** Also, the end of ''Brood War'' was [[spoiler: crushing]]. What was done to [[spoiler: [=DuGalle=], Stukov, Raynor, Mengsk, and most of all, Zeratul. Definitely Zeratul]].
*** Bonus missions from the N64 version are canon by Main/WordOfGod, and thus [[spoiler: Stukov Lives! After being infested, then de-infested, and left a broken half-shell of a man. But he lives!]]
** Or the part where [[spoiler: Arcturus abandons Kerrigan to [[HordeOfAlienLocusts the Zerg]]]]. Especially in the novelization, after [[spoiler: Raynor decides to evacuate a group of survivors and civilians rather than keep looking for her.]]
*** This is made even worse via a cinematic in ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'', where we see [[spoiler:Kerrigan, the last person left at New Gettysburg, calling for backup. She's implied to have watched ''her entire force'' be devoured by the Zerg, and she's darting from place to place, fighting off zerglings and hydralisks erupting from every shadow, as her cloaking device runs out of energy and her ammunition runs out. Down to just her sidearm, she sees a mass of zerglings coming towards her, and knows from the lack of radio contact and the mutalisks wheeling overhead that her rescue is not coming. [[AvertedTrope Instead]] [[TheLastDance of fighting to the last]], [[DespairEventHorizon she drops her gun, completely broken, and just]] ''[[DespairEventHorizon stands there]]'' [[DespairEventHorizon as the Zerg wave rushes her]].]] If this wasn't Arcturus's MoralEventHorizon moment before, it certainly is now.

--->'''[[spoiler: Infested]] Kerrigan''': [[ThatManIsDead It was.]]
** Bear in mind the reason for Arcturus' betrayal in the first place: Kerrigan was one of the three Ghosts who [[spoiler:murdered his family for resisting the Confederacy. He only survived because he'd ''enlisted in the Confederate Marine Corps.'' He willfully spent years working with one of the three who murdered his mother, father, and little sister...because she could help him topple the Confederacy. That smug smile he has during the cinematic depiction in the sequel of his original betrayal suddenly makes more sense: he didn't just kill her. He knew about her and Raynor. He let her fall in love, and ''then'' killed her.]] Just remember: they couldn't even find his father's head. That explains an awful lot about Arcturus Mengsk.

* The entirety of the Refugee mission chain in ''Wings Of Liberty'', involving the Koprulu Sector's [[{{Woobie}} unluckiest bunch of colonists]] and your efforts to save them from the Zerg - up to and including picking a fight with ''a Protoss purification fleet'' if you choose to do so. At the end, [[spoiler:if you chose to protect them, their leader leaves the ship, thanking Raynor profusely for giving the colony a second chance. If you chose to help cleanse the infestation instead, she winds up infested as well, and Raynor is forced to kill her]].
* The semi-secret ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'' mission "In Utter Darkness", which is a playable peek into a BadFuture [[spoiler:that will result if Kerrigan is killed]]. Basically, [[spoiler:without Kerrigan to guide them, the Void Daemons took control of the Zerg. Humanity is extinct, and you get to play as the last Protoss force in existence, holding Zerg off until the Templars can seal away a record of the conflict, and then the mission continues with the objective "Fight until the last Protoss is killed". Guiding the Protoss in a final, glorious, doomed LastStand, you get to watch as the last vestiges of the species, including every named Protoss in the game, are killed, all while they lament the fact that they killed Kerrigan and thus allowed this horror to happen]].

** Especially when one considers the possibility of it [[spoiler:being a case of SuicideByCop]]. It is very difficult to believe that Tychus could have faked enjoying himself during the revolution story arc or appearing VERY reluctant to get anywhere near Char. Once he realizes that nothing will stop Raynor from going to Char, he might as well have resigned to the idea [[spoiler:that dying by the hands of his own friend is better than letting Mengsk kill him via that booby-trapped power armor]].

* Fenix's death in Brood War. [[spoiler:Especially considering that she killed him with broodlings.]] That just felt too cruel.
** And the worst part? [[spoiler:'''Neither it, nor the entire zerg-protoss war, was supposed to happen.''' The zerg, while they are normally a fairly hostile and paranoid species, are not naturally cruel or sadistic, and don't need to overwrite the personality of the infested to make them as heartless as Queen of Blades Kerrigan. It was all because of a single Xel'Naga's selfishness and greed.]]
* The real reason Infested Terrans now have timed life. [[spoiler:It's how long it takes them to muster enough HeroicWillpower to [[DrivenToSuicide kill themselves]]]].
* The various short stories in the Project Blackstone anthology book ''War Stories'' are all over the place in tone, some being extremely bleak. There's stuff like a Dominion marine being forced to confront [[spoiler: his own resocialization and the crimes he committed that lead to it]], or the last of the creatures that were assimilated into zerg Overlords going mad with grief over losing its mate to a couple of marines that didn't know any better, or a lone zealot risking his life to inform his fleet that [[spoiler: the world he was trapped on was too dangerous for them to rescue him]]. And then there's the main story, which has stuff like [[spoiler: Jake Ramsey]] having a nervous breakdown and the mother of the refugee leader mentioned above finding out [[spoiler: her daughter is apparently dead.]]

En taro Tassadar.

* The real reason Infested Terrans now have timed life. [[spoiler: it's how long it takes them to muster enough HeroicWillpower to [[DrivenToSuicide kill themselves]]]].