History TearJerker / StarWarsTheCloneWars

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[IDieFree The mission... The nightmares... They're finally... over...]]'']]

--> '''Rex''': I hate to tell you this, but they don't ''care!'' This ship is going down! And those soldiers, ''my brothers'', are willing to die and take you and me along with them!

** The painted helmets scene really kicks you in the heart. At first its almost tears of joy at seeing the 501st putting on this show of loyalty and respect towards Ahsoka, reminding her they still see her as one of them despite her no lonnger being part of the order. That feeling sours horifically though when you remember that Order 66 is coming, and those same men will soon be forced to hunt and kill her.

* In the final scene, Darth Vader has tracked down the crash site and finds Ahsoka's old lightsaber by the crashed Star Destroyer, the very same one he gave her the last time they met as friends. He brushes off some of the ice, ignites it for a few moments, then walks away with the lightsaber still in hand. It serves as a sad reminder of the tragedy that befell Anakin, the great friendship that he and Ahsoka once had, and how things will never be the same between them when they meet again.

** Ahsoka's last interaction with [[ParentalSubstitute Plo Koon]] was when she refused his and Council's offer to her to rejoin the Order. And he couldn't join the meeting in the previous episode because he was busy flying with his squadron... Unlike with Yoda, Obi-Wan, or Anakin, he never got to make some sort of amend with Ahsoka before everything came crashing down.

* Finally, while [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels we all]] [[Film/RogueOne know]] [[Film/ANewHope better]], the fact is that the series ends with no [[RayOfHopeEnding glimmer of hope]]. Every movie and series before it ended with a celebration or a reassurance of hope, from the Naboo Victory Celebration of ''The Phantom Menace'' to Rey rechristening herself as a Skywalker ready to rebuild the Jedi in ''The Rise of Skywalker''. Even in ''Revenge of the Sith'', even after genocide, even at the lowest point of the Jedi Order, we still see the glimpses of [[Film/ANewHope a new hope]], coming to save the galaxy. We don't get that here - ''The Clone Wars'' ends with a clone graveyard in the shadow of a crashed Republic ship, as a fallen hero visits it as the galaxy's tyrant.

* [[ForegoneConclusion After twelve years in the making]], [[FinalSolution the time has come]].

[[folder:Meta]]
* While ''The Clone Wars'' is full of glorious, happy and funny moments alike—like the reunions between Anakin and Padmé; the antics of the future [=501st=] Legion troopers; and Yoda's words of encouragement to the clone troopers—they all hit harder knowing [[DoomedByCanon what's going to happen in]] ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''.
** Despite Yoda's claim that "the future is always in motion", every Force vision Anakin has in the Prequel Trilogy lends legitimate insight into future events. This would imply Anakin's visions of Vader (especially in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS3E17GhostsOfMortis Ghosts of Mortis]]") weren't just possible, but ''inevitable:'' on a metatextual level, the mere existence of the Original Trilogy meant that Anakin's role was [[YouCantFightFate set in stone]], and he never had a choice but to become Darth Vader.
** The series retroactively presents Anakin's FaceHeelTurn in horrific detail. In the [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsMovie pilot movie]] he is brave, resourceful, humorous, compassionate and wise; but over the first three seasons, he pushes himself further and dances with TheDarkSide to save those he cares for. It's only in the final seasons that show not all of it was his fault, like Obi-Wan [[FakingTheDead faking his death]] and Ahsoka's wrongful conviction. Considering the Jedi Council knows that Anakin has ''issues'', you'd think they were trying to turn him against them; and depending on how you take [[GoodIsNotNice Mace Windu]]'s actions, maybe they were.
** Rex speaking to Cut about how he fights so that their children and their children's children won't have to fight in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS2E10TheDeserter The Deserter]]" becomes HarsherInHindsight when you realize that the Sequel Trilogy exists and tells the story of how people about 50 years later (including the children and grandchildren of those who lived through the Clone Wars) are still fighting in a conflict that had roots in the Clone Wars or possibly even further back.
* Every time a clone goes to certain death, saying something like "This is what I was born for."
* Think of all the times in the series that Obi-Wan works with Commander Cody, how well they seem to work together... and now remember the Battle of Utapau that will occur in ''Revenge of the Sith''.
** Heck, think of all the times the clone troopers have worked with the Jedi and remember the execution of Order 66.
* Kix was the last person to see Fives before the latter was killed for learning about Order 66. In the Canon, it turns out that he decided to follow his lead, which unfortunately, also attracted the attention of Dooku and the Separatists once again. He got captured before he could warn the Jedi and the Republic, put into cryogenic sleep, and was supposed to be sent to Dooku for personal interrogation, but the transport was ambushed by clone troopers. As per protocol, the ship was randomly sent through hyperspace, crashing into a remote desert world, far out in the Outer Rim. It isn't until nearly ''[[FishOutOfTemporalWater half a century later]]'' that a group of bounty hunters find him, and he has to deal with not only all the advances from the past several decades, but the fact that all his friends are dead and that he couldn't save the Republic, the Jedi, or anyone, including those even after the Clone Wars. ''Wow''.
* For viewers who saw the GrandFinale of ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]'', knowing that Ahsoka is the only one of this series' PowerTrio to come out of the original six Star Wars film alive ''hurts.'' All their adventures, their triumphs, their failures, all the meaningful moments they shared...and in the end, only [[SoleSurvivor Ahsoka]] is left to tell the tale of ''The Tragedy Of Anakin Skywalker''.
* To fans of the show who grew up with it from their childhood, the last scene of "Victory and Death" (where Vader visits the wreckage of the ship) will likely hit home even harder; to see twelve years of the show come to a satisfactory but tragic ending will leave childhood fans of ''The Clone Wars'' without a dry eye.

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* [[KillEmAll The last Domino has fallen]].

* FridgeHorror wise, what may have happened to AZI-3, the main source of comic relief in this otherwise dark story arc? Considering that he was involved in helping an allegedly "defective" clone rebel against the Kaminoans, he was most likely deactivated or memory-wiped sometime after Fives went back to Coruscant.

* Master Even Piell's death in the episode.

* Kalifa's death at the end of [[DownerEnding the episode]].

* Anakin and Ahsoka's friendship, which we knew from the beginning was [[DoomedByCanon doomed]] from the very moment they met since Ahsoka was never mentioned or seen in Revenge of the Sith. Every happy moment you see onscreen is overshadowed by what eventually will happen. It's hard to see them get so close, only for their friendship to break apart by Ahsoka's departure from the Jedi Order and Anakin's descent to the dark side.. It hurts even more to realize that these two never had a proper goodbye.

* Anakin and Ahsoka's friendship, which we knew from the beginning was doomed from the very moment they met since Ahsoka was never mentioned or seen in Revenge of the Sith. Every happy moment you see onscreen is overshadowed by what eventually will happen. It's hard to see them get so close, only for their friendship to break apart by Ahsoka's departure from the Jedi Order and what will happen in Revenge of the Sith. It hurts even more to realize that these two never had a proper goodbye.

** Tragically and ironically, Ahsoka's UndyingLoyalty to her master is the ''one'' thing that prevented her from being able to stop him from falling to the Dark Side. Ahsoka probably was the only person at this time who might've been able to stop Anakin's descent to Darth Vader, but her faith in him blinded her. As seen in later media, this seems to be Ahsoka's [[MyGreatestFailure greatest regret]].

* Finally, while [[Film/ANewHope we all]] [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels know better]], the fact is that the series ends with no [[RayOfHopeEnding glimmer of hope]]. Every movie and series before it ended with a celebration or a reassurance of hope, from the Naboo Victory Celebration of ''The Phantom Menace'' to Rey rechristening herself as a Skywalker ready to rebuild the Jedi in ''The Rise of Skywalker''. Even in ''Revenge of the Sith'', even after genocide, even at the lowest point of the Jedi Order, we still see the glimpses of [[Film/ANewHope a new hope]], coming to save the galaxy. We don't get that here - ''The Clone Wars'' ends with a clone graveyard in the shadow of a crashed Republic ship, as a fallen hero visits it as the galaxy's tyrant.

* Then, there's Fives' FamousLastWords to Rex. "The mission... The nightmares... They're finally... over..." After everything he's gone through, he just sounds relieved to finally be free.

* Finally, while [[Film/ANewHope we all]] [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels know better]], the fact is that the series ends with no [[RayOfHopeEnding glimmer of hope]]. Every movie and series before it ended with a celebration or a reassurance of hope, from the Naboo Victory Celebration of ''The Phantom Menace'' to Rey rechristening herself as a Skywalker ready to rebuild the Jedi in ''The Rise of Skywalker''. ''The Clone Wars'' ends with a clone graveyard in the shadow of a crashed Republic ship, as a fallen hero visits it as the galaxy's tyrant.

** Even [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJrEkTEkE4Q the music]] adds onto the tragedy; it isn't dramatic or sweeping, but a low, mournful tone that musically reinforces what the episode's final moments tell us: ''everything'' the heroes did was for [[AllForNothing all for nothing.]]