History TearJerker / StarTrekDeepspaceNine

*** And remember, Kira's only in her late twenties at this point - twelve years ago? [[ChildSoldier She was a teenager.]] And she was part of the Resistance cell who liberated Gallitep, and witnessed all of this firsthand.

* The battle in "The Siege of AR-558." The haunting, mournful music playing over the phaser fire and screams of battle makes it even harder to watch dry-eyed as the away team and the Starfleet officers who have been slowly dying, both physically and psychologically, fight a brutal and ugly battle for the sake of a hunk of technology and many of the episode's characters are killed.
** One of the soldiers recounts to Bashir how his arm was bandaged by a guy he despised for being a motor mouth. By the time the soldier finishes the story and proclaims that the man finally shut up after having a hole shot into his chest, he's practically shouting at Bashir and sobbing.

** In its own way, seeing the alternate future for the [=DS9=] characters is this as well, knowing that it won't come to pass - despite losing Captain Sisko, the future isn't all that bad. Sure, the Klingons annexed the Bajoran system, but there was no Dominion War, Nog's gotten a captaincy, Bashir and Dax are married, Jadzia survived to have a long and happy life, Quark finally got his own moon, Morn's running the bar on [=DS9=]... For all the reasons to feel sympathy for Jake, one could also think that his selfishness in getting his father back undid a lot of good as well.

* During "Cardassians," Garak has brought Bashir to an orphanage on Bajor, seeking the file of Rugal, a Cardassian boy who was left behind, whose father turns out to be a political rival of Dukat, who has set about trying to bring the boy back to Cardassia. Garak wanders around the orphanage smuggly, as he knows the Bajoran who runs the facility has no reason to offer any Cardassian any sympathy, so he gives her exactly what she expects. But as he and Bashir prepare to leave with the files, he's brought up short as a young Cardassian girl leads several other Cardassian children out to see him, and gently asks if he's there to bring them back to Cardassia. All of Garak's facade crumbles as he looks at her pleading face.

** Another heart-wrenching detail is how ''Garak'' ends up breaking before Odo. He literally begs Odo to talk, even lie if he must, just to see it end, because he can't stand seeing a man he respects go through so much agony.
** Even worse is Garak ''succeeds'' in prying Odo's DarkSecret out of him, and it's [[AllForNothing not tactically useful or strategically important]] -- it's the simple fact that after everything, Odo still misses his people and wants to go home to them.

** Before that, while sulking and DrowningMySorrows at Quark's after his experience with the Orb. Mirror Bareil finally snaps at the curious Bajoran's gawking at him, thanks his resemblance to the deceased Vedek Bareil.
--> '''Mirror Bareil''': What are you two staring at? Same goes for the rest of you! I am not Vedek Bareil! I just want to be left alone.

* The ending of "Resurrection", when Mirror Bareil decides to take the Intendent back with him to the Mirror Universe. He reveals to Kira that he doesn't want too. Rather because even after being tempted by the happy future he saw in his Orb vision, of himself and Kira settling down. He thinks that he's not good enough for her and will ruin their relationship, The poor man is convinced he can never be anything better than a thief.

* "Today the guns are silent. A great tragedy has ended... we have known the bitterness of defeat and the exultation of triumph, and from both we have learned there can be no going back. We must move forward to preserve in peace what we've won in war". Doubly sad as these words also closed out the the Second World War.

* "Afterimage": Ezri Dax tries to settle in at Deep Space Nine, but besides Sisko and Quark, everybody, especially Worf, is uncomfortable having her there. Then, while she's trying to help Garak with his claustrophobia, he delivers a brutal TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that utterly [[BreakTheCutie crushes her spirit]], leaving her so devastated that she heads to the Bajoran chapel where Jadzia was killed and cries.
** The sheer relief on Worf's face when Ezri tells him that Jadzia loved him as much as he did her, at hearing that just one more time, from the only person who would know for certain, speaks to how much that little fear in the back of his mind had been gnawing at him. It's like he lets out a breath he'd held since Jadzia had died.

* Right up until she turns around and accepts them, Winn is sympathetic in her horror about the Pai-Wraiths speaking to her - these are, effectively, the devils of her faith, asking her to believe in them and to give up the love of the Prophets. Of course, that still ends up going out the airlock once she realizes that the only way to turn away from the Pah-Wraiths is to give up her position as Kai, but up to the point she makes her choice, you legitimately do feel sympathy for her in her crisis of faith.