History TearJerker / TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime

* Something that made this troper quite sad was the fact that [[spoiler: though the adult timeline was saved, the friends and people you met in the adult timeline were left behind. The Hero of Time left that time and could never come back. You could feel the sadness in the scene as Zelda took Link's ocarina with her hands resting on his. Even worse is the fact that in the end Link had very little to await him in the child timeline. Navi was gone, his reputation in the forest was ruined as he was wrongfully blamed for the death of the Great Deku Tree, and he lost all close relations to practically every character. Selfless hero indeed.]]

* Saria's goodbye to Link as you leave Kokiri Forest.

* Something that made this troper quite sad was the fact that [[spoiler: though the adult timeline was saved, the friends and people you met in the adult timeline were left behind. The Hero of Time left that time and never came back. You could feel the sadness in the scene as Zelda took Link's ocarina with her hands resting on his. Even worse is the fact that in the end Link had very little to await him in the child timeline. Navi was gone, his reputation in the forest was ruined as he was wrongfully blamed for the death of the Great Deku Tree, and he lost all close relations to practically every character. Selfless hero indeed.]]

* As much of a BaseBreaker as she is, the moment where Navi [[spoiler: leaves Link at the end of the game]]. She and Link have been through so much together, and it's [[spoiler: her departure that inspires Link to look for her]], setting the events leading up to [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]] in motion.

** Thinking about any of them too hard is a real downer. No matter the outcome of the final battle, Ganondorf's immortality renders it a forgone conclusion. If Link falls, Ganondorf wins the Triforce and goes on to wreak utter havoc for several more years. If he wins, he gets returned to his youth... except that in the "adult" timeline he leaves behind, [[spoiler:Ganondorf returns and Hyrule is ultimately wiped off the map in an act of divine intervention.]] And in the child timeline -- despite giving them fair warning of the danger -- [[spoiler:the sages still manage to botch Ganondorf's execution, leading to ''two realms'' being placed in danger.]] And then there's ''Majora's Mask''. Oh God, ''Majora's Mask''. It's like a goddamn Greek tragedy.

* [[This]]. It's just its own comic in the Fanboys archive, so you're flipping through jokes about consoles and then WHAM.

* A PlayerPunch[=/=]TearJerker, but in the Forest Temple, before you kill the last Poe, pause and look at what she's doing in the middle of the lit torches. That weird sound she is making is not laughter, but crying because [[WhatTheHellHero you killed all her sisters.]]

** The manga adds another layer of anguish to this story: [[spoiler:Link's father was a soldier slain in battle during the previous warring era, and his mother was mortally wounded trying to escape the war, but suffered on for a long time trying to find sanctuary for her baby boy.]]

* [[http://www.fanboys-online.com/index.php?id=345 This]]. It's just its own comic in the Fanboys archive, so you're flipping through jokes about consoles and then WHAM.

* The manga puts Volvagia in a different light. Instead of being an evil dragon revived by Ganondorf, it was a [[spoiler:long-lost pet of Link who was possessed by Ganondorf. Despite Link's unwillingness to fight Volvagia and his attempts to [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight talk it back to normal]], he is forced to kill it to keep it from destroying Goron City. Only when Link has fatally sliced off its head does Volvagia finally remember him, letting out one last "Li...nk..." before disintegrating away]].
** [[spoiler:This later comes back to haunt Link when the Desert of Illusions makes the disembodied head of Volvagia appear saying "It hurts, Link"]].

* [[spoiler:Rauru]] is not present at the ending of the game when [[spoiler:the other five awakened Sages travel to Death Mountain to gaze down at Hyrule for one last time before returning to the Sacred Realm]]. Once again, the manga explains this. [[spoiler:In truth, Rauru is no longer among the living, but a spirit.]] Hyrule Historia takes this one step further and reveals [[spoiler:Rauru is in fact Kaepora Gaebora in the form of a spirit guardian animal, which means [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments Rauru has been watching over Link from the moment he began his journey outside of the Kokiri Forest.]]]]

** The 3DS remake gave this already amazing ending one last heart-string tugging touch: [[AwesomeMusic A medley of your favorite Legend of Zelda songs played by a]] ''[[AwesomeMusic freaking orchestra]]''.
* [[spoiler:Rauru]] is not present at the ending of the game when [[spoiler:the other five awakened Sages travel to Death Mountain to gaze down at Hyrule for one last time before returning to the Sacred Realm]]. Once again, the manga explains this. [[spoiler:In truth, Rauru is no longer among the living, but a spirit.]] Hyrule Historia takes this one step further and reveals [[spoiler:Rauru is in fact Kaepora Gaebora in the form of a spirit guardian animal, which means [[CrowningMomentOfHeartWarming Rauru has been watching over Link from the moment he began his journey outside of the Kokiri Forest.]]]]

** In that same scene, Link learns that he's actually [[spoiler: an orphaned Hylian whose mother brought him to the Deku Tree when he was an infant.]] Imagine if you will, you go to the grave of the man you one saw as your father, then his son comes to you and says, [[spoiler: "I'll now tell you your origins!! You're really of another race entirely, your parents are dead, and you have to go save the world from a great evil!"]] Link may look stoic, but internally, it must be a hurricane of emotions. IronWoobie indeed.

** If you visit Lon Lon Ranch at night, you can find Malon in the barn singing Epona's song. She says that the only time it's safe to sing is at night, and if she tried to leave Ingo would hurt the horses.

* Every single one of the conversation with the newly awakened sages. It's utterly heart-wrenching, seeing these people, accepting their new roles, but with the remorse of the cost that it has for them.

** And it's a '''disgraceful''' failure, as well. In the backstory of Link to the Past, the Hero of Time obviously became nothing more than a statistic, mentioning only that "many of the Knights of Hyrule were lost..."
** Thinking about any of them too hard is a real downer. No matter the outcome of the final battle, Ganondorf's immortality renders it a forgone conclusion. If Link falls, Ganondorf wins the Triforce and goes on to wreak utter havoc for several more years. If he wins, he gets returned to his youth... except that in the "adult" timeline he leaves behind [[spoiler: Ganondorf returns and Hyrule is ultimately wiped off the map in an act of divine intervention.]] And in the child timeline - despite giving them fair warning of the danger - [[spoiler: the sages still manage to mangle Ganondorf's execution, leading to ''two realms'' being placed in danger.]] And then there's ''Majora's Mask''. Oh God, ''Majora's Mask''. It's like a goddamn Greek tragedy.
* Zora's Domain. Each other area reclaims pretty much all of its former glory, but not there. You beat the Water Temple and you're told Zora's Domain will recover... eventually. So the Gorons are saved, the Gerudo have had their evil leader tossed out, the Kokiri have the Deku Tree's protection back and Kakariko is now sans an eldritch horror, but Zora's Domain will remain a frozen wasteland for some time... that just seems rather sad, you know?

* During the ending credits, we're treated to a scene of just about every character seen in the game partying at Lon Lon ranch. Everyone seems to be having fun, except for Mido and the Zora King who are sitting by the front gate looking sad. And then you remembered that both of them has [[spoiler:had someone precious to them become a sage and leave them forever. Mido's longtime crush is gone for good, in spite of him trying to convince her not to, and the king lost his daughter and only child.]] Then they both look up to the sky, and which Sage lights appear in the sky first? [[spoiler: Saria and Ruto.]]
** Even sadder when you consider that due to circumstances, [[spoiler: Link cannot attend the party due to returning to his normal timeline]].

** This is even sadder if you've met him and his father as Kid Link [[spoiler: During the day, the head carpenter says considers his son useless because all he does is sit and mope under his tree every night. During the night, Grog muses that people, including his own mother and father, are disgusting]].

* The manga puts Volvagia in a different light. Instead of being an evil dragon revived by Ganondorf, it was a [[spoiler:long lost pet of Link who was possessed by Ganondorf. Despite Link's unwillingness to fight Volvagia and his attempts to [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight talk it back to normal]], he is forced to kill it to keep it from destroying Goron City. Only when Link has fatally sliced off its head does Volvagia finally remember him, letting out one last "Li...nk..." before disintegrating away]].

* [[spoiler:Rauru]] is not present at the ending of the game when [[spoiler:the other five awakened Sages travel to Death Mountain to gaze down at Hyrule for one last time before returning to the Sacred Realm]]. Once again, the manga explains this. [[spoiler: In truth, Rauru is no longer among the living, but a spirit.]] Hyrule Historia takes this one step further and reveals [[spoiler:Rauru is in fact Kaepora Gaebora in the form of a spirit guardian animal, which means [[CrowningMomentOfHeartWarming Rauru has been watching over Link from the moment he began his journey outside of the Kokiri Forest.]]]]

** The manga adds another layer of anguish to this story: [[Link's father was a soldier slain in battle during the previous warring era, and his mother was mortally wounded trying to escape the war, but suffered on for a long time trying to find sanctuary for her baby boy.]]

----

** Making it sadder is Ingo firing Talon and forcing him to leave the ranch, ''effectively seperating him from his own daughter'' in the process.

* Saria's sacrifice at the end of the temple. She agrees to give up living in Hyrule forever. To leave her friends, her home, the Lost Woods, everything she knows for something she knows next to nothing about. The other sages had to make this kind of sacrifice as well.

* The Great Deku Tree's [[spoiler:demise]] certainly deserves a mention. Even after going into the tree and destroying Gohma, [[spoiler:the tree still passes away, and what's worse is that the Great Deku Tree ''knew'' that [[AllForNothing he was destined to die anyway even before you set forth on your valiant efforts to save him]], but possibly most unsettling about it is (even if you weren't afraid of the tree's visage or size) that something so meaningful to the Kokiris and ''massive'' even as an adult that was once green and alive slowly becomes and remains brown and dead.]] Plus, the sad and creepy music that plays as it happens...
** Although as an adult, we get the [[spoiler:Deku Tree Sprout, which will ''eventually'' grow to the original tree's size]], it is still a [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet ending]] at best.
** In that same scene, Link learns that he's actually [[spoiler: an orphaned Hylian whose mother brought him to the Deku Tree when he was an infant.]] Imagine if you will, you go to the grave of the man you one saw as your father, then his son comes to you and says, [[spoiler: "I'll now tell you your origins!! You're really of another race entirely, your parents are dead, and you have to go save the world from a great evil!"]] Link may look stoic, but internally, it must be a hurricane of emotions. IronWoobie indeed.

* How about the scene where you return to the Sacred Forest Meadow as an adult and you watch/hear Link slowly and mournfully stride up to Saria's sitting-stump and then stopping right in front of it while the camera lingers on it for awhile. And people praise ''Portal'' for simplistic, yet emotional, storytelling....

* The manga puts Volvagia in a different light. Instead of being an evil dragon revived by Ganondorf, it was a [[spoiler:long lost pet of Link who was possessed by Ganondorf. Despite Link's unwillingness to fight Volvagia and his attempts to [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight talk it back to normal]], he is forced to kill it to keep it from destroying Goron City. Only when Link has sliced off its head does Volvagia finally remember him, letting out one last "Li...nk..." before disintegrating away]].

* Doesn't anyone realize Saria's sacrifice at the end of the temple? She agrees to give up living in Hyrule forever. To leave her friends, her home, the Lost Woods, everything she knows for something she knows next to nothing about.
** It's not just Saria. The other sages had to make this kind of sacrifice as well.

** Although as an adult, we get the [[spoiler:Deku Tree Sprout, which will ''eventually'' grow to the original tree's size]], it is still a [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet ending]] at best.

* The Great Deku Tree's [[spoiler:demise]] certainly deserves a mention. Even after going into the tree and destroying Gohma, [[spoiler:the tree still passes away, but possibly most unsettling about it is (even if you weren't afraid of the tree's visage or size) that something so ''massive'' even as an adult, that was once green and alive slowly becomes brown and dead.]] Plus, the sad and creepy music that plays as it happens...

* Before entering the Forest Temple, you hear Saria has gone in alone and is surrounded by monsters, suggesting, though not stating outright, that [[spoiler:each potential Sage must die to become a Sage, and Darunia, Ruto, Impa, and Nabooru soon follow.]] After each time you receive a medallion, the cutscene text says "[name of sage] awakens as a Sage and adds [his/her] power to yours!" ''Awakens''. That's as close to an outright statement as you can get in a Zelda game. Not to mention the weird things they do (like turning into balls of light) that can only be described as ghostly.
** In one case, it's a bit blunter than that. [[spoiler:Darunia goes into Volvagia's room to fight it without the hammer. He's not in there when you go in. Make of that what you will.]]
** Hell [[spoiler:Nabooru]] gets zapped by Koume and Kotake and EXPLODES into a ball of light right in front of you right before the boss.

** The 3DS remake gave this already amazing ending one last heart-string tugging touch: [[AwesomeMusic A medley of your favorite Legend of Zelda songs played by a]] ''[[AwesomeMusic freaking orchestra]]''.