History TearJerker / TheBindingOfIsaac

[[folder: General]]

[[folder: Original game]]

[[folder: ''Rebirth'']]

[[folder: ''Afterbirth'' and ''Afterbirth+'']]

* Ending 18, obtained by clearing Greed Mode. After successfully defeating Ultra Greed, Isaac is buried by a cave-in. He hangs himself, and [[ViciousCycle his corpse becomes the next Greed]]]

** Which leads to a topic that isn't as touched upon: Isaac's school life. The loading screen flashbacks heavily imply that it's not much better than his home life and there have quite a few instances of kids pointing and laughing at Isaac's misfortunes, even when he's not doing anything but just trying to mind his own business, hinting at a possible history of bullying from [[KidsAreCruel cruel classmates]]. Granted, the validity of these flashbacks is questionable, given that it's still from [[UnreliableNarrator Isaac's]] perspective, his mind is shutting down from oxygen deprivation in the chest, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and one of them involves his junk falling off]]. But with the inclusion of a schoolbag as a passive item in ''Afterbirth+'', one has to wonder if he really did go to school at one point, and how long he stayed there]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0WaIPMqb30 Jesus Loves Viggo]]. There's something weirdly fitting that you only unlock this after you've truly done everything and gotten the Dead God achievement. It's reminding you there's nothing left at all, in a weirdly meta way: no more items to unlock, nothing left to learn, no more to see, nothing at all. At that point, there is absolutely nothing left for you to do past run through the game over and over. In story terms, this translates to the fact that there is nothing left for Isaac except the fact that he will die, and you get to listen to him sing the exact song he will likely sing to himself as he suffocates to death (though the end suggests he's singing it with Mom, I think it'd be real damn close in the chest). Your reward for truly completing Isaac's final dying adventure, fittingly enough, is getting to actually hear him die.

** "I'm so sorry, Isaac..." That one line from Dad says so much. He may have lost all patience and affection for Mom, but he clearly still had attachment to Isaac. Even when he realized he needed to pull a ScrewThisImOutOfHere, he was filled with serious regret over his son having to bear witness to all of this.

* The ending shown after killing "Mother" reveals that the creature was in fact a drawing that Isaac came up with, only for the real Mom to come in and look at it. In spite of her seemingly abusive behavior, [[EtTuBrute she is genuinely hurt at the realization that Isaac sees her as a monster]], even tearing up after she locks him in a closet.

* More of a happy tearjerker, but in the ending of the fact that [[GoodAllAlong Isaac's parents (or at the very least the father) were actually just normal and supportive parents of Isaac]] and the entire thing was his [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior dark and twisted bedtime story idea]], with the father even giving Isaac one last happy bedtime story to help him sleep.

** Anyone who's had to put up with parents arguing and steadily approaching divorce will DEFINITELY emphasize with poor Isaac. Remember, Isaac is around five when this is happening, and the entire game is influenced by it. What makes it worse is how realistic it is - instead of portraying one parent as the sole bad guy and the other the definite good guy, both Dad and Mom have done equally bad things that led to their marriage falling apart (Dad taking Mom's money and being an alcoholic, Mom growing increasingly fanatical and putting a lot of blame on Dad's shoulders for how Isaac has turned out to be). In a game as insane and messed up at this, the strikingly realistic portrayal just makes everything even sadder, because it really puts into perspective how much it's affected the poor boy.

** Want more tears to fall? Isaac is honestly right about his mother. Sure she's not trying to kill him but she really isn't winning parent of the year reward. (See KickTheDog on Mom's trope's page for more info.) Plus,[[DisproportionateRetribution her actions are not the way to handle a child who is really trying to cope with everything he's going through.]] So honestly Isaac isn't really in the wrong for thinking his mother like that, and yet she says [[KickTheDog her own son is the disturbed one.]]

** Want more tears to fall? Isaac is honestly right about his mother. Sure she's not trying to kill him but she really isn't winning parent of the year reward. (See KickTheDog on Mom's trope's page for more info.)Plus,[[DisproportionateRetribution her actions are not the way to handle a child who is really trying to cope with everything he's going through.]] So honestly Isaac isn't really in the wrong for thinking his mother like that and yet she says [[KickTheDog her own son is the disturbed one.]]

** Want more tears to fall? Isaac is honestly right about his mother. Sure she's not trying to kill him but she really isn't winning parent of the year reward. (See KickTheDog on Mom's trope's page for more info.)Plus,[[DisproportionateRetribution her actions are not the way to handle a child who is really trying to cope with everything he's going through.]] So honestly Isaac isn't really in the wrong for thinking his mother like that and yet she says [[Hypocrite her own son is the disturbed one.]]

** Want more tears to fall? Isaac is honestly right about his mother. Sure she's not trying to kill him but she really isn't winning parent of the year reward. (See KickTheDog on Mom's trope's page for more info.)Plus,[[DisproportinateRetribution this is not the way to handle a child who is really trying to cope with everything he's going through.]] So honestly Isaac isn't really in the wrong for thinking his mother like that and yet she says [[Hypocrite her own son is the disturbed one.]]

** Want more tears to fall? Isaac is honestly right about his mother. Sure she's not trying to kill him but she really isn't winning parent of the year reward. (See KickTheDog on Mom's trope's page for more info.)Plus,[[DisappropriateRetribution this is not the way to handle a child who is really trying to cope with everything he's going through.]] So honestly Isaac isn't really in the wrong for thinking his mother like that and yet she says [[Hypocrite her own son is the disturbed one.]]

** Mom really did [[ThenLetMeBeEvil show him what a monster looks like.]] To a child his age, Isaac just had one of his stories brought to life, and thus began the descent into religion-induced self-loathing and insanity.

** Which leads to a topic that isn't as touched upon: Isaac's school life. The loading screen flashbacks have quite a few instances of kids pointing and laughing at Isaac's misfortunes, even when he's not doing anything but just trying to mind his own business, hinting at a possible history of bullying from [[KidsAreCruel cruel classmates]]. Granted, the validity of these flashbacks is questionable, given that it's still from [[UnreliableNarrator Isaac's]] perspective, his mind is shutting down from oxygen deprivation in the chest, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and one of them involves his junk falling off]]. But with the inclusion of a schoolbag as a passive item in ''Afterbirth+'', one has to wonder if he really did go to school at one point, and how long he stayed there]].

* The new endings of ''Rebirth'' also count. The first, number 15[[note]]if you're curious about the numbering, there are now 11 Womb endings instead of 10, so the previously-mentioned Ending 13 is now Ending 14[[/note]], shows that Isaac has gone missing, with his Mother desperately searching for him. The second, 16, shows Isaac locked in his chest, as his breathing gets faster and harsher, and his heart beats quicker and quicker. Flashes are shown of him turning into a demon, and as his heartbeat slows down, Isaac morphs into a demon, ''and stays that way''. A harsh DownerEnding.

[[folder: Original]]

[[folder: Rebirth]]

[[folder: Afterbirth and Afterbirth+]]

[[folder: ''Repentance]]

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5mnDcZu0I0 original Isaac theme]] does a good job at setting the tone for a sad and sinister game.
* Ending 13. It depicts Isaac, his pre-insanity mother, and a skinny man who's presumably Isaac's dad, the first few pictures are of all of them living happily, then it gets dark, it shows Isaac crying by a chest, a demonic him in the mirror, and the very last photo? Isaac, with his mother setting her hand on his back to comfort him, looking out to the hill where an earlier picture showed the family picnicking at, [[DisappearedDad that now shows Isaac's father abandoning the family]]. [[DownerEnding The End]].
* Somewhere among this and NightmareFuel is Isaac finding Guppy's head ([[UncannyValley a real cat's head at that]]) in one of ''Rebirth'''s trailers, where he holds it in his hands with despair.
* The new endings of ''Rebirth'' also count. The first, number 15[[note]]if you're curious about the numbering, there are now 11 Womb endings instead of 10, so the previously-mentioned Ending 13 is now Ending 14[[/note]], shows that Isaac has gone missing, with his Mother desperately searching for him. The second, 16, shows Isaac locked in his chest, as his breathing gets faster and harsher, and his heart beats quicker and quicker. Flashes are shown of him turning into a demon, and as his heartbeat slows down, Isaac morphs into a demon, ''and stays that way''. A harsh DownerEnding.
*** This ending is extended further by ''Afterbirth''[='=]s Ending 17, which confirms for good that Isaac is dead. His mother finally decides to look in the chest and finds nothing but flies and bones inside. Isaac's spirit is then seen looking over the afterlife's wastelands while a demonic shadow emerges from him. At least he seems surprisingly calm about it.
* Ending 18, obtained by clearing Greed Mode. After successfully defeating Ultra Greed, Isaac is buried by a cave-in. He hangs himself, and [[ViciousCycle his corpse becomes the next Greed]].

* Some of the text flashes that randomly appear when you start the run, presumably written from Isaac's point of view, just ramp the sadness up with lines such as: "Mom?" "Where are you?" "Do you really want me to die?"
* Not precisely game related, but the notice that Guppy, Edmund [=McMillen=]'s cat and the base behind the Guppy-related items in the game, passed away. Becomes HarsherInHindsight, considering that in the game, Guppy is obviously dead.

* Isaac's life in itself is a massive tear-jerker. Everything that is presented to us about him only makes him look more and more miserable, and we're ''still'' in the dark about many other aspects of it. Not that the game leaves that many possibilities for a happy ending, and if it does, [[HopeSpot it's more than likely it won't last long]]. And now that we also know the true ending and the nature of the game itself, it's little wonder Isaac thought [[DrivenToSuicide ending his own life]] was a valid option...
** It's doubtful by this point that Isaac's mother is chasing her son around the house and into a basement with a knife on her hands, but there IS enough evidence to support that she's cold and unloving at best, and [[AbusiveParents psychologically abusive]] at worst. Isaac is still deprived of his clothes for most of the game, one of the endings shows that his bedroom window has ''metal bars'' on it, he perceives his own mother as a ''literal monster'', laughing maniacally as she tries to ''stomp him to death'', and to top it all off, he's had a pet cat (likely more than one, if items like Tammy's Head and Bob's Brain are taken into consideration) which has been long dead - most likely due to his mother's negligence - and all he has to remember Guppy by are his ''torn body parts''. The loading screen showing his mother giving Isaac a turd as a gift is probably one of the least awful things she's done, and she did that out in public for others to laugh at her own son, and, as previously mentioned with the other item examples above, there's a lot more leads to her treating her son like an afterthought, if not worse.
** Which leads to a topic that isn't as touched upon: Isaac's school life. The loading screen flashbacks have quite a few instances of kids pointing and laughing at Isaac's misfortunes, even when he's not doing anything but just trying to mind his own business, hinting at a possible history of bullying from [[KidsAreCruel cruel classmates]]. Granted, the validity of these flashbacks is questionable, given that it's still from [[UnreliableNarrator Isaac's]] perspective, his mind is shutting down from oxygen deprivation in the chest, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and one of them involves his junk falling off]]. But with the inclusion of a schoolbag as a passive item in ''Afterbirth+'', one has to wonder if he really did go to school at one point, and how long he stayed there]].
** And then there's his father, [[DisappearedDad a man we know very little about]] besides the fact he left Isaac and his mother behind after an angry scuffle, and the items that mention him in-game, none of them too flattering. If anything, [[AbusiveParents he seems very much like his ex-wife]]. The items are "Dad's Lost Coin" (which increases the Range stat and make Isaac look ''positively miserable'') [[note]] Which, [[http://pop-life.com/foursouls/data/cards/002DadsLostCoin(1).png if the card of it in Four Souls is any indication]], is a [[AlcoholicParent Soberity Coin of Alcoholics Anonymous fame]] [[/note]], "Dad's Key" (opens all doors), "Dad's Ring" (creates an aura around Isaac that petrifies enemies) and, albeit only implied to be his, a ''[[DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff belt]]'' (increases the Speed stat).
* This [[http://images.pushsquare.com/news/2015/09/the_binding_of_isaac_afterbirth_will_be_released_on_ps4_vita_this_year/attachment/0/original.jpg bit of promotional art]] depicting Isaac weeping in fear to the point of flailing, clutching his head and wetting himself while a group of bosses looks on with [[EvenEvilHasStandards worried expressions plastered on their faces.]]

* The ending shown after killing "Mother" reveals that the creature was in fact a drawing that Isaac came up with, only for the real Mom to come in and look at it. In spite of her seemingly abusive behavior, she is genuinely hurt at the realization that Isaac sees her as a monster, even tearing up after she locks him in a closet.

* The ending shown after killing "Mother" reveals that it was in fact a drawing that Isaac came up with, only for the real Mom to come in and look at it. In spite of her seemingly abusive behavior, she is genuinely hurt at the realization that Isaac sees her as a monster, even tearing up after she locks him in a closet.