History TearJerker / SwordArtOnline

** Vassago was born the illegitimate child of a Mexican woman and a Japanese man, neither of who displayed any sort of love towards him, the father being quick to go back to Japan after forcing Vassago's mother to have him, while his mother regularly hurled verbal abuse and claiming he ruined her life, even going as far as to give him the name Vassago, which unknown to the doctors is the name of a demon from Ars Goetia, an compendium of demons, to illustrate how much she despised him. Then years later, his father returns and reveals that the reason he kept Vassago's mother from aborting him is so that he could use him for a kidney transplant for his ''real'' son, with Vassago only agreeing since he saw it as a chance to leave his abusive mother and go to Japan, where he's forced to join the Korean Mafia due to being an illegal immigrant and would have otherwise been deported. His father is the reason why [[BoomerangBigot he loathes Japanese people, as well as East Asians in general, despite Vassago himself being half Japanese and half Mexican]], due to horrible and manipulative way he was treated by him.

** The fact that Kirito is stuck in UW for 200 in-server years is very heartbreaking, especially when he weeps at the World End Altar while thinking that he won't be able to see everyone in the RW again. Fortunately, he's not the only one: Asuna stays behind UW to be with him.

** Dorothy, despite being a Dark Territory native, is actually a sweet gitl and her DarkAndTroubledPast is way more heartbreaking than the previous GirlOfTheWeek characters. For starters, she lost her mother at a young age, doesn't fully know her father (who is from the RW), and everywhere she goes, bullying and racism would always follow her due to being the infamous [[ChildOfTwoWorlds "Child of Sin"]]. She also has an ''abysmal'' self-esteem, even calling herself an "expendable" right in front of Lipia and is prone to HeroicSelfDeprecation whenever things don't go well as planned. As Kainan puts it, while Dorothy is far from weak, she's emotionally vulnerable. Even Kirito, [[WifeBasherBasher who is well-known for beating up those who bully and rape women]], is ''appalled'' at the other Dark Knights talking shit to Dorothy or her late parents and is about to beat them up at one point.

** Kainan himself is one of the least hostile Dark Territory natives, being a dorky merchant and a valuable ally to Kirito and his party as well as a good chap to Dorothy and Sarai. And yes, [=PoH=] killing him with [[InTheBack a throwing knife to his back]] is an emotional low blow for them.

** Dorothy, despite being a Dark Territory native, is actually a sweet gitl and her DarkAndTroubledPast is way more heartbreaking than the previous GirlOfTheWeek characters. For starters, she lost her mother at a young age, doesn't fully know her father (who is from the RW), and everywhere she goes, bullying and racism would always follow her due to being the infamous [[ChildOfTwoWorlds "Child of Sin"]]. She also has an ''abysmal'' self-esteem, even calling herself an "expendable" right in front of Lipia and is prone to HeroicSelfDeprication whenever things don't go well as planned. As Kainan puts it, while Dorothy is far from weak, she's emotionally vulnerable. Even Kirito, [[WifeBasherBasher who is well-known for beating up those who bully and rape women]], is ''appalled'' at the other Dark Knights talking shit to Dorothy or her late parents and is about to beat them up at one point.

** Dorothy is usually seen as an intimidating Dark Knight with a SinisterScythe as her weapon but is otherwise a sweet girl and her DarkAndTroubledPast is way sadder than the previous GirlOfTheWeek characters. For starters, she's both an orphan and the [[ChildOfTwoWorlds "Child of Sin"]], meaning that everywhere she goes, bullying and racism would always follow her. She also has an ''abysmal'' self-esteem, even calling herself an "expendable" right in front of Lipia and is ProneToTears whenever things don't go well as planned. As Kainan puts it, while Dorothy is far from weak, she's emotionally vulnerable, likely due to being a victim of racism. Even Kirito, [[WifeBasherBasher who is well-known for beating up those who bully and rape women]], is ''appalled'' at the other Dark Knights talking shit to Dorothy or her late parents and is about to beat them up at one point.

--> BE QUIET YUNA! I would gladly [[DealWithTheDevil sell my soul to The Devil]] if I could bring you back! Even if... even if I must repeat what was done by the man who murdered you (Kayaba)... It is worth it if I can bring back those irreplaceable moments!

** While Eugeo didn't die in this game, [[WhatTheHellHero Kirito calls him out]] for his reckless attempt to kill Quinella by fusing himself with the Blue Rose Sword and charging at her. For those who read Volume 14 of the light novels, Kirito's words to Eugeo are an understandable mix of fear and AngerBornFromWorry.
-->'''Eugeo''': Kirito? You're crying?
-->'''Kirito''': I'm not! And if I were, whose fault it would be anyway!? If... If you died... or if you'd been stuck as a sword forever... Just... don't go off on your own ever again!

** Dorothy is usually seen as an intimidating Dark Knight with a SinisterScythe as her weapon but is otherwise a sweet girl and her DarkAndTroubledPast is way sadder than the previous GirlOfTheWeek characters. For starters, she's both an orphan and a [[ChildOfTwoWorlds "Child of Sin"]], meaning that everywhere she goes, discrimination and racism would always follow her. She also had an ''abysmal'' self-esteem, even calling herself an "expendable" right in front of Lipia and is ProneToTears whenever things don't go well as planned. As Kainan puts it, while Dorothy is far from weak, she's emotionally vulnerable, likely due to being a victim of racism. Even Kirito, [[WifeBasherBasher who is well-known for beating up those who bully and rape women]], is ''appalled'' at the other Dark Knights talking shit to Dorothy or her late parents and is about to beat them up at one point.

** Dorothy is usually seen as an intimidating Dark Knight with a SinisterScythe as her weapon but is otherwise a sweet girl and her DarkAndTroubledPast is way sadder than the previous GirlOfTheWeek characters. For starters, she's both an orphan and a [[ChildOfTwoWorlds "Child of Sin"]], meaning that everywhere she goes, discrimination and racism would always follow her. She also had an ''abysmal'' self-esteem, even calling herself an "expendable" right in front of Lipia and is ProneToTears whenever things don't go well as planned. As Shesta puts it, while Dorothy is far from weak, she's emotionally vulnerable, likely due to being a victim of racism. Even Kirito, [[WifeBasherBasher who is well-known for beating up those who bully and rape women]], is ''appalled'' at the other Dark Knights talking shit to Dorothy or her late parents and is about to beat them up at one point.

** Dorothy is usually seen as an intimidating Dark Knight with a SinisterScythe as her weapon but is otherwise a sweet girl and her DarkAndTroubledPast is way sadder than the previous GirlOfTheWeek characters. For starters, she's both an orphan and a [[ChildOfTwoWorlds "Child of Sin"]], meaning that everywhere she goes, discrimination and racism would always follow her. She also had an ''abysmal'' self-esteem, even calling herself an "expendable" right in front of Lipia and is ProneToTears whenever things don't go well as planned. As Shesta puts it, while Dorothy is far from weak, she's emotionally vulnerable, likely due to being a victim of racism. Even Kirito, [[WifeBasherBasher who is well-known for beating up those who victimize girls]], is ''appalled'' at the other Dark Knights talking shit to Dorothy or her late parents and is about to beat them up at one point.

** Dorothy is usually seen as an intimidating Dark Knight with a SinisterScythe as her weapon but is otherwise a sweet girl and her DarkAndTroubledPast is way sadder than the previous GirlOfTheWeek characters. For starters, she's both an orphan and a [[ChildOfTwoWorlds "Child of Sin"]], meaning that everywhere she goes, discrimination and racism would always follow her. She also had an ''abysmal'' self-esteem, even calling herself an "expendable" right in front of Lipia and is ProneToTears whenever things don't go well as planned. As Shesta puts it, while Dorothy is far from weak, she's emotionally vulnerable, likely due to being a victim of racism. Even Kirito, [[WifeBashedBasher who is well-known for beating up those who victimize girls]], is ''appalled'' at the other Dark Knights talking shit to Dorothy or her late parents and is about to beat them up at one point.

** The first thing Kazuto does after going back home from the hospital is ''[[TheMourningAfter mourn for Eugeo]]''. It hits him '''''[[BreakTheCutie so bad]]''''', even Suguha has to listen to his story in UW after comforting him.

[[folder: Ordinal Scale]]

* Professor Shigemuras StartOfDarkness altogether. Think about it: He made use of his connections in Argus to get his hands onto a NerveGear and a copy of SAO for Yuna, simply because he wanted to make his precious little girl happy. In the flashback we can see how happy she was about it indeed. She seemed to be looking forward to getting to play too, but then Shigemura sees the first coverage about SAO and Kayabas plot on the news. He's genuinely shocked at this and comes to realize that his precious daughter is in life-threatening danger, simply because of an innocent surprise...

[[folder: Villainous Starts of Darkness]]

** Like Sugou above, the Shinkawa brothers could be considered to have had similar problems, having to deal with their parents wanting them to become successors to their father's hospital. Based on Kikouka's explanation of their background, the both of them likely started out as an ordinary, if privileged, pair of brothers who cared for each other growing up. However, Shouichi was [[IllBoy always sickly and had to be in and out of the hospital]] to the point where he had to drop out of High School, which prompted his father to all but [[IHaveNoSon disown him]], kick him out and only give him an allowance to help him get by, forcing the Hospital's inheritance on Kyouji. Kyouji himself doesn't fare much better from this, not only becoming stressed by these expectations but also becoming a victim of bullying due his family's wealth and his small frame, which got to the point that he had to switch to being home-schooled. [[FromBadToWorse Then SAO starts and Shouichi gets trapped inside]], not only putting him in a very unsafe and stress-inducing environment to say the least, but also forcing Kyouji to live up to two whole years without his brother, who at this point can be presumed to be the only family member to care for his well-being, to go to for support with his problems, and constantly having to fear that he may very well die while in SAO, either due to his sickly nature or by being killed in-game. By SAO's end, Shouichi has become a mass-murdering {{Sociopath}}, thanks [[TheCorrupter [=PoH=]'s]] influence, while Kyouji has taken to VR gaming as a means of escapism that is ''far'' beyond what's healthy.

* In Episode 5 of the anime version of the Aliciation Arc, you see some added scenes with Midori and Suguha, shortly after Kazuto is rushed to the hospital with after Johnny Black's attack on him, and when they learn that he has severe and seemingly irreversible brain damage. Once again, they're forced to endure the same heartache as when Kazuto was trapped in SAO, and there's no guarantee that he'll recover this time.

* In Episode 16, you hear the story of the elevator operator, whose existence("life" is a misnomer) revolves around operating the lift in Central Cathedral. She's been operating the lift for over a century, only taking breaks to eat and sleep, and the only thing she wants to do if she gets released from her Calling is to fly the platform through the air. Kirito and Eugeo are immediately moved to pity the girl, and are outraged by the inhumanity of the Axiom Church.
* In Episode 19, Eugeo has a nightmare where he meets his mother and questions where his brothers were. His mother nonchalantly replies that he killed them out of jealousy, to where a horrified Eugeo sees blood on his hands. Later on, poor Eugeo continues being preyed upon by Quinella, who convinces him that he desires to be loved and has never truly received that, as his mother shared her love among his brothers while a young Alice also had feelings for Kirito. She tells him the only one who truly loved him alone was Tiese, which was what led Eugeo to violently attack Raios for trying to lay his hands on her. As Eugeo begins to submit to Quinella's manipulations and is led to believe that love is something gained as a reward, in his mind visions of Tiese, young Alice, and Kirito try to convince him to stop, but each one of them gets walled off and fail to sway Eugeo. Finally a broken Eugeo lies down on a naked Quinella and recites the Sacred Arts she tells him to state "Remove Core Protection".

* Episode 25. A really sad beginning for the second half of the Alicization arc. All throughout the episode, Kirito doesn't even speak a word; he just has that catatonic and completely broken expression in his face. Worse, he still [[AnArmAndALeg has his arm missing]] from the fight against Quinella.

** All of this act just prove one thing. All the Fluclights that took form as human beings in Underworld were completely corrupted with their personalities. Technically, they are just heartless beings with no kindness and no mind to think at all. Even the parents acted like that towards their own children and continues this cycle eternally. This all happens because one of the earlier users, which Asuna passed by an unknown staff at Ocean Turtle nurtured his descendants in underworld to create an order that separates nobles and bluntly servants with wicked personalities. In time, all of that give birth to Quinella and the residents become unable to act on their own beliefs, being heartless and do not even consider each other's circumstances when in trouble. It is no wonder Alice felt rather reluctant to fight for them and Cardinal wanted to delete the whole Underworld in the first place. They took things for granted. And yes, most people might say, serves them right for those corrupted people to die in torture in the hands of a heartless monsters from Dark Territory had the leader of the Integrity Knights had a sane mind and sense of justice to protect them. Simply saying, Project Alicization was a huge failure in terms of replicating the good nature of humans to most of the civillians.

* Kirito, despite not having an arm and cannot even speak, try to reach up to the Night Sky Sword hanged on the wall. Yes, if Alice had not volunteered to go in his place, Kirito would go commit suicide in the hands of the army of Dark Territory. Perhaps, he might even die on the way there.
* As it's later revealed, not all of the flughtlights in the Dark Territory were AlwaysChaoticEvil. Case in point, the commander of the Dark Knights, Vixur Ul Shasta, and his NumberTwo, Lipia Zancale, were honorable people who actually wanted peace with the Human Empire. The commander even believed that the current leader in charge of human empire, Bercoulli would agree to discuss about this matter and achieved harmony between two sides of Underworld. Moreover, they loved each other deeply and wanted to use the chance to get married. Then Vector shows up and it all goes to hell.
** It was even mentioned later on in light novel, Bercoulli desired the same wish, peace between the two sides of Underworld and puts his hope to speak with Vixur to achieve it. However, the mutual wish would not be achieved because of Gabriel's interference to instigate war annihilates Vixur. Bercoulli could only feel hatred for Emperor Vector or Gabriel that destroy their hopes for peace.

* Episode 8, War of Underworld. Lilplin, the orc leader is forced to watch his fellow Orcs die horrible deaths as they are turned into resources for Dark Mages arts, by the ''ORDER OF THE EMPEROR''. He loathes the human race so much because of [[FantasticRacism their impressions that demi-human races, for example Orcs, are low-lifeforms]].

* Bercoulli's death, full stop. After his DyingMomentOfAwesome to destroy Vector, we see him showing Alice his fatherly love for the first and last time, and then she wakes up to see him dead. Alice can only scream in anguish.

* Sheyta and Ishkahn lament that things turned out this way upon seeing how many people have died because of their conflict. Sheyta finally realizes that the reason she felt those killing urges was because she wanted to find something to ''not'' kill, something to protect... in other words someone she could love. Ishkahn then states that he would have liked to form a family with her, and she agrees. The two then embrace each other as they await the inevitable...
* The anime doesn't pull any punches when showing the anguish and despair of Kirito's friend being so brutally wounded and impaled by the foreign players, who are still unaware of what ''really'' is going on. Even worse in the anime, where Yuuna tries to break [=PoH=]'s influence on them, [[HopeSpot and it seems like she will succeed]], only for him to reinforce it and get everyone (barring a few who manage to resist it) to start killing ''each other''.

* ''Alicization Invading'', ''Exploding'' and ''Awakening'' as a whole, really, which has Eugeo dying, Cardinal dying, Charlotte dying, all within a few dozen pages from one another. Eugeo's death {{Main/BreakTheCutie}}'s Kirito, who [[HeroicBSOD blames himself]].

** Ronie and Tieze learn from Alice that Kirito is in a coma and Eugeo is no more. Words might not be enough to describe how despairing the reaction of those two are. Alice could see Tieze took this harder compared to Ronie. The former can still see Kirito and hope that he'll recover, but the latter has lost Eugeo.

** Vassago isn't just kicking our hero while he is down, he's doing it [[ForcedToWatch in front of [[TrueCompanions Asuna, Lisbeth, Silica, Agil and Klein]], all of them made virtual prisoners of war by the legion of foreign invader players, and they can only watch in horror as their friend gets beaten like a ragdoll. Also doubles as NightmareFuel. [[ShellShockedVeteran Lis' reaction even feels like someone experiencing PTSD from fighting a war]].]]

** Kirito's JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind moment is a mix of this, and NightmareFuel. Seeing his past memories and Eugeo's dead body [[HeroicBSOD takes a huge toll on the poor kid ]] to the point that '' [[DrivenToSuicide he would've killed himself ]] . [[BeatStillMyHeart by crushing his heart with his bare hands]]''... if it weren't for the "spirits" of Asuna, Leafa, Sinon, and Eugeo [[YouAreNotAlone snapping him out of it]].

--->'''Alice''': I have met with people of the real world many times. In this strange world where I'm all alone, they encouraged me, cheered me up. They taught me many things, showed me to lots of places. I like them. But that's not all...... There is only one person in this world, I love him. Now that I think I might not be able to see him again anymore...... this mechanical chest feels like splitting apart...

** The first thing Kazuto did after going back home from the hospital is ''[[TheMourningAfter mourning for Eugeo]]''. It hits him '''''[[BreakTheCutie so bad]]''''', even Suguha has to listen to his story in UW after comforting him.

** Later, before preparing for the Bullet of Bullets, Kazuto is asked what�s troubling him by Nurse Aki. A flashback shows Kazuto had spent the previous night tormented by his repressed memories of killing Kuradeel and the other two Laughing Coffin members, along with Death Gun�s probing question. Upon asking if Aki can remember patients who died in her care and if she ever wished she could forget, he is distressingly quick to call himself [[IAmAMonster a monster]]. Props to Bryce Papenbrook for flawlessly conveying the immense pain and guilt the poor young man is feeling, practically mentally TORTURING himself out of a belief that he is a remorseless killer who doesn�t deserve to find peace. Thankfully, Nurse Aki is swift to give him some kind reassurance by reminding him of all those he managed to save, which later lets him do the same for Shino.

* ''Alicization Invading'', ''Exploding'' and ''Awakening'' as a whole, really, which has Eugeo dying, Cardinal dying, Charlotte dying, [[AnyoneCanDie all within a few dozen pages from one another. Eugeo's death {{break|the cutie}}s Kirito, who [[HeroicBSOD blames himself]].]]

'''Asuna''': "No... No, Lis! It�s not your fault, Lis. It was me... if only I could have thought this out more, if only I could have predicted this..."\\
'''Lisbeth''': "Asuna... I... didn�t know anything. [[WarIsHell How horrifying war is... how painful it is to lose... I didn�t know anything..."]]

** In Episode 19, Eugeo has a nightmare where he meets his mother and questions where his brothers were. His mother nonchalantly replies that he killed them out of jealousy, to where a horrified Eugeo sees blood on his hands. Later on, poor Eugeo continues being preyed upon by Quinella, who convinces him that he desires to be loved and has never truly received that, as his mother shared her love among his brothers while a young Alice also had feelings for Kirito. She tells him the only one who truly loved him alone was Tiese, which was what led Eugeo to violently attack Raios for trying to lay his hands on her. As Eugeo begins to submit to Quinella's manipulations and is led to believe that love is something gained as a reward, in his mind visions of Tiese, young Alice, and Kirito try to convince him to stop, but each one of them gets walled off and fail to sway Eugeo. Finally a broken Eugeo lies down on a naked Quinella and recites the Sacred Arts she tells him to state "Remove Core Protection".
** Episode 24. Eugeo uses his last breath to deliver some parting words for Kirito, who begs him that he stays alive and desperately tries to heal him. Eugeo replies that it's better that way, because he has to atone for having raised his sword against him before. Plus, Eugeo realizes that they would have had to fight against each other, because Eugeo wanted to restore the original Alice's memory, while Kirito has bonded with Alice the Integrity Knight. The only silver lining is that, at least, young Alice and Eugeo can now be TogetherInDeath.
*** Moreover, the fact that saving one Alice meant [[DeathOfPersonality that the other would disappear]], and there was no way to save them both. Eugeo had realized it and he was happy to die knowing that it didn't come to that.
*** The insert song that plays during Eugeo's brainwashing in Episode 19 and his death in Episode 24, ''Niji no Kanata ni'', only serves to make both scenes even more painful. Not only is the song itself sad, but the lyrics describe Eugeo's true nature as an artificial intelligence (a machine without a heart). The shortened version in Episode 19 is used to show him succumbing to Quinella's manipulations and not understanding what love is, but the full version in Episode 24 is him thanking Kirito for showing him that he had a heart and a soul, and hoping that they'll meet again someday as he dies.