History TearJerker / StarWarsLegends

* ''Order 66'', which is amazing considering it's the sequel to a series about ''Mandalorians''. The bit just after [[spoiler: Etain dies after being cut down accidentally by a panicking Jedi Padawan who then falls victim to Skitira going berserk with rage]], when everyone's dealing with what happened and trying not to break down completly. Darman's reaction and Skitira torturing himself afterwards with how badly he treated her.

* 'Order 66', which is amazing considering it's the sequel to a series about ''Mandalorians''. The bit just after [[spoiler: Etain dies after being cut down accidentally by a panicking Jedi Padawan who then falls victim to Skitira going berserk with rage]], when everyone's dealing with what happened and trying not to break down completly. Darman's reaction and Skitira torturing himself afterwards with how badly he treated her.

*** And in Traviss' notes for the now canceled Imperial Commando 2, she stated that Scout would have remained a Jedi with Jedi Master Djinn Altis' sect of Jedi in-hiding. The ''only'' thing that would have changed is Scout being adopted by the aformentioned Mij Gilamar as his daughter, and not a problem in Altis' family-friendly Jedi sect.

** No, Anakin's death at the end of [=RotJ=]. Anakin's death scene is mostly told from his point of view, emphasizing both his guilt and horror at what he's done, while also his wonder at feeling, seeing, and tasting for the first time in twenty years without the aid of his suit.

** The prologue in Revenge of the Sith novelization - with the dispirited populace and the children saying "Skywalker and Kenobi will come". Also meta because if you're geeky enough to be reading the novelization, you know what's coming later and the entire section talking about what their brotherhood means to everyone is all the more powerful. Doubles as heartwarming and awesome (when they actually do come)... and awesome even more because this is the moment when you know the novel is going to be as awesome or better than the movie.
** When Obi-Wan finds out the full extent of Order 66 in the novelisation of Revenge of the Sith, he spends more than a page-and-a-half shaking uncontrollably with grief and despair before he [[IronWoobie pulls himself back together again.]] In fact, pretty much any time Obi-Wan allows himself to react to the tragedy is a guaranteed tearjerker, as he is obviously heading towards the DespairEventHorizon. And it only gets worse when he discovers Anakin's involvement...
** A lesser example, but the novelization gives us a look inside the head of General Grievous and reminds us that once upon a time, the General was an actual living being who had things to care about. "He remembers joy. He remembers sorrow and he remembers hate. He doesn't actually feel any of them. Not anymore. He's not designed for it."
** In ''Literature/DeathStar'', you get into the mind of the gunner that destroyed Alderaan. Turns out, he hated himself for not having the guts to say no to such a massive atrocity. He died delaying the Death Star from firing. Gives new meaning to the phrase "Stand by".
* In the young adult series ''Jedi Apprentice'', set before ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Qui-Gon Jinn and Tahl, a Jedi that he grew up with, finally admit their love for each other after years of close friendship. [[spoiler: Immediately afterwards, she gets captured and tortured to death, nearly bringing Qui-Gon to the Dark Side in his [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge grief-stricken rage]]]].
* The final book of the Dark Emperor series. While Palpatine is the '''LAST''' person in the universe [[spoiler: worthy of redemption]], the sheer emotion involved, and TheReveal that [[spoiler: he didn't particularly AIM to be the Dark lord Of The Sith, but was captured by agents of Darth Plagueis in his infancy]]. WhatCouldHaveBeen indeed, for both [[spoiler: Sate Pestage AND Anakin Skywalker]].
** However, this is non-canon now with the Literature/DarthPlagueis book, where he is [[EnfantTerrible definitely not]].
** And now, with the announcement of "Star Wars Legends", ''neither'' are canon.

* Another StarWars example: [[Literature/XWingSeries X-wing: Iron Fist]]. The death of [[spoiler: Ton Phanan]]. Creator/AaronAllston is really good both at funny and tears. The author said on [[http://www.aaronallston.com/faq.html his site]]: "Although he feared death, although he struggled against it, [[spoiler: Ton Phanan]], deep down, didn't want to live." Also, a little earlier, when he is confessing to Face that he feels like his EmergencyTransformation [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul ate his future]], and he's getting farther and farther from who he once was.
** Come on! That's all you could find from Star Wars? To writ: Corran dies in ''Wedge's Gamble'' (he gets better); in ''The Krytos Trap'' it's Mirax (who also gets better) and [[spoiler:Diric]] (who doesn't) that tear people up. Also, Tycho's Return monologue at the ruins of Alderaan.

** Jesmin's death in ''Wraith Squadron'', and also [[spoiler:Falynn's]] for its effect on [[spoiler:Donos]]. Same book, Kell bugging out of a fight, returning only because of [[LoveRedeems Tyria]]. [[spoiler:Phanan dying]] in ''Iron Fist'', but also Dia's meltdown when she [[spoiler:shoots Castin (who's ''probably'' already dead)]]. Donos/Lara's and Gavin/Asyr's "resolutions" in ''Solo Command'' and ''Isard's Revenge'' respectively (both got more resolution later. One was better. One... wasn't). Wedge's speeches, including all of them in ''Starfighters of Adumar'', but especially the one to Iella about the "two reasons nothing's going to happen to [him]". [[spoiler:Chewie dying]] in ''Vector Prime'', Karrde's fight for Yavin IV (including an in-universe example, when he thinks [[spoiler:Shada is dead]]). Order 66 redux, when the Vong start Jedi-hunting. The fall of Coruscant, complete with [[RousingSpeech impassioned speech]] from Leia. Wedge's supposed-to-be-suicidal stand at Borleias, when it almost become truly suicidal for him. Anakin dying. Jacen dying, Jacen coming back. Oh, and Pellaeon giving Han and Leia the painting at the end of ''The Unifying Force''.
** And of course Mara Jade Skywalker's death in ''Sacrifice''. Just the description of Luke knowing instantly through the force that "his whole world was gone" or something like that. And after he manages to get his X-wing into port, he's numb and out of it. Someone has to call his name three times to get him to hear them.
*** So, long story short: Star Wars? Good at emotions in any media.
** Also, ''The Cestus Deception'', in which a clone is given a real name, learns to think of himself as more than just part of the army, then [[spoiler:gives up his newly valued life to save millions, leaving behind the woman he'd fallen in love with, with a message including the following: "Know that more than anything else in the world, I was a soldier. And know that you, and no one else in the galaxy, held this soldier's heart in your hands."]]
** "[[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy But, it was so artistically done]]...." Cue tears.
*** That's not a tearjerker, it's a crime.
** There's this exchange in the ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'' duology:

** [[Literature/DarthBane Zannah's]] [[BreakTheCutie ordeal with the death of Laa]]. Made almost worse by the fact that the Jedi she immediately kills were only trying to protect her. And that they killed the only sane Bouncer left on Ruusan.
** 'Order 66', which is amazing considering it's the sequel to a series about ''Mandalorians''. The bit just after [[spoiler: Etain dies after being cut down accidently by a panicking Jedi Padawan who then falls victim to Skitira going berserk with rage]] , when everyone's dealing with what happened and trying not to break down completly. Darman's reaction and Skitira torturing himself afterwards with how badly he treated her.
*** The young Jedi [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tallisibeth_Enwandung-Esterhazy Scout]] from "Yoda: Dark Rendezvous" wasn't strong in the Force, but she believed in her cause and tried to make up for it in other ways. Being a Jedi - everything about her boiled down to that, and Yoda's little speech about not giving up on one who burns so brightly could qualify for this trope. "Order 66" tells us that after her culture was annihilated/driven underground she got scooped up and most likely converted by the Mandalorians, who ''hate'' Jedi and are antithetical to them... well, she's not Scout after that. She's just another smug Mandalorian; the core of her being is gone. Sure, it's never stated that she got converted, and it can be hoped that she found other Jedi and left. But it's so sad to think of Scout losing herself and being another ProudWarriorRaceGuy - the line referring to her implies that she thinks the Jedi thought she was of little value so she was rejecting them, and that ''was not true.'' Don't write her anymore, Traviss. Don't do that to her.
*** Except that '''none''' of that happened. Aside from Yoda and her master, Jai Maruk, she really ''wasn't'' very well liked by the Jedi, and Mace Windu suggested sending her off to the Agricultural Corps (where weak-with-the-Force, failed Jedi go). She was telling the truth. And once rescued by the Mandalorians and brought to Mandalore, Scout was offered the chance to become a Mandalorians if she wanted to and she '''''turned them down'''''.

*** Some people hate Karen Traviss's Republic Commando series and some people love them. But the whole series was full of tearjerkers. Her version of the clones are wildly tearjerking. Especially Skirata's boys. And their backstory. Even if they are psychopaths.
** The ending of Literature/OutboundFlight. Lorana and Thrass die to save the last survivors, and [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold no one ever knows what they did]].
** There's a quiet one in ''Literature/{{Allegiance}}'', when the Emperor's Hand Mara Jade "buries" her companion, a smuggler she was working with and had promised a pardon to, out in space as he'd requested. He'd come to trust her. Typically of Zahn, it briefly and economically hints at her character, emotional state, and her hidden awareness that Palpatine is bad, for all that she thinks of him as a "[[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter good and wise man]]" in his presence.

** The end of the novelization of ''Revenge of the Sith''. Starting from "This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker, forever," until the end.
*** Oh god. That entire ''passage''.

* In the young adult series ''Jedi Apprentice'', set before ''ThePhantomMenace'', Qui-Gon Jinn and Tahl, a Jedi that he grew up with, finally admit their love for each other after years of close friendship. [[spoiler: Immediately afterwards, she gets captured and tortured to death, nearly bringing Qui-Gon to the Dark Side in his [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge grief-stricken rage]]]].

** There's this exchange in the ''HandOfThrawn'' duology:

** [[DarthBane Zannah's]] [[BreakTheCutie ordeal with the death of Laa]]. Made almost worse by the fact that the Jedi she immediately kills were only trying to protect her. And that they killed the only sane Bouncer left on Ruusan.

** The ending of OutboundFlight. Lorana and Thrass die to save the last survivors, and [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold no one ever knows what they did]].

* Jedi Healer Hosk Trey'lis's death in StarWarsLegacy is very powerful. Though he's a Jedi the guy's no warrior, and he's been captured by an AntiHero bounty hunter and handed over to [[ReligionOfEvil the Sith]], who proceeded to torture him for months. In the end, he's brought before the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, Darth Krayt, who wants Cade Skywalker (the above bounty hunter) to kill Hosk in cold blood to save his own life, completing his slide towards the dark side. Despite knowing full well what's going on, Hosk finds in within himself to forgive first Cade and then Krayt himself before accepting death at the Dark Lord's hands with quiet dignity. The whole scene exhibits what a Jedi should be so powerfully that even [[{{Jerkass}} Cade]] is moved to snap out of his StartOfDarkness long enough to get one of his few Crowning Moments of Awesome by defeating Krayt and his elite and escaping.

* StarWarsLegacy is just...painful. 137 years after a farm boy blew up a super weapon to bring freedom and peace to the galaxy, and even after all that time, there could be no peace for the galaxy, and in time his last living descendant even rejected the force.

** However, this is non-canon now with [[Literature/DarthPlagueis]] book, where he is [[EnfantTerrible definitely not]].
** And now, with the announcement of "Star Wars Legends," ''neither'' are canon.

** "[[TheThrawnTrilogy But, it was so artistically done]]...." Cue tears.

* Another StarWars example: [[Literature/XWingSeries X-wing: Iron Fist]]. The death of [[spoiler: Ton Phanan]]. AaronAllston is really good both at funny and tears. The author said on [[http://www.aaronallston.com/faq.html his site]]: "Although he feared death, although he struggled against it, [[spoiler: Ton Phanan]], deep down, didn't want to live." Also, a little earlier, when he is confessing to Face that he feels like his EmergencyTransformation [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul ate his future]], and he's getting farther and farther from who he once was.

** More examples are probably redundant - yes, ''Star Wars'' rocks at this - but this editor would like to add the farewell and attempted suicide of Depa Billaba at the end of ''Shatterpoint'' in a brief moment of sanity after the war broke her to pieces, as well as Mace Windu's monologue at the end; the death of Jai Maruk in ''Yoda: Dark Rendezvous'' as well as Yoda's speech about loss: "Do you think Yoda's wisdom comes at no cost?"
*** Another from Shatterpoint. Mace has to order some of his clone troopers to fly cover for him in unarmed transports - a suicide mission:
---->'''Mace''': Detail your best pilots - wait. Ask for volunteers.\\
'''Commander''': It would make no difference, sir.\\
'''Mace''': What?\\
'''Commander''': We always volunteer, sir. All of us. It's who we are.
*** Also, [[spoiler: Chalk's death]] from the same. A thirteen year old rape victim, fighting so that no one else has to go through that, [[spoiler: gets shot through the stomach and keeps shooting. No one notices her fatal wound until they're about to leave and she is in the process of ''actually dying''; she has to draw their attention to herself because she took the bullet without a sound.]]

* Proof that there can be unintentional tearjerkers; in one of the old ''ComicBook/MarvelStarWars'' annuals, Darth Vader finds a rebel wannabe that found his mother's dead body, which is tearjerking enough. Vader walks up to him and sympathizes, telling him that he himself was once in that position. What makes this unintentional is that we're meant to think Vader's lying to gain his trust...but after ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' came out, it sounds more like he's reminded of the horrible memories of his mother dying in his arms, and he really ''does'' feel his pain after all...

* Proof that there can be unintentional tearjerkers; in one of the old ''ComicBook/MarvelStarWars'' annuals, Darth Vader finds a rebel wannabe that found his mother's dead body, which is tearjerking enough. Vader walks up to him and tells him that he himself was once in that position. What makes this unintentional is that we're meant to think Vader's lying to gain his trust...but after ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' came out, it sounds more like he's reminded of the horrible memories of his mother dying in his arms, and he really ''does'' feel his pain after all...

* Proof that there can be unintentional tearjerkers; in one of the old ''ComicBook/MarvelStarWars'' annuals, Darth Vader finds a rebel wannabe that found his mother's dead body, which is tearjerking enough. Vader walks up to him and tells him that he himself was once in that position. We're meant to think Vader's lying to gain his trust...but after ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' came out, it seems he really ''does'' feel his pain after all...

* Proof that there can be unintentional tearjerkers; in one of the old ''ComicBook/MarvelStarWars'' annuals, Darth Vader finds a rebel wannabe that found his mother's dead body, which is tearjerking enough. Vader walks up to him and tells him that he himself was once in that position. We're meant to think Vader's lying to gain his trust...but after ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' came out, it seems he really [i]did[/i] feel his pain after all...

* Proof that there can be unintentional tearjerkers; in one of the old ''ComicBook/MarvelStarWars'' annuals, Darth Vader finds a rebel wannabe that found his mother's dead body, which is tearjerking enough. Vader walks up to him and tells him that he himself was once in that position. We're meant to think Vader's lying to gain his trust...but after ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' came out, it seems he genuinely sympathizing with him after all...

* Chewbacca's death. ItWasHisSled applies.
** And Han's ensuing HeroicBSOD.

* Another StarWars example: [[XWingSeries X-wing: Iron Fist]]. The death of [[spoiler: Ton Phanan]]. AaronAllston is really good both at funny and tears. The author said on [[http://www.aaronallston.com/faq.html his site]]: "Although he feared death, although he struggled against it, [[spoiler: Ton Phanan]], deep down, didn't want to live." Also, a little earlier, when he is confessing to Face that he feels like his EmergencyTransformation [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul ate his future]], and he's getting farther and farther from who he once was.

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