History TearJerker / TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck

* Scrooge and Goldie all the way. Because of just [[ForWantOfANail a well placed ice block from a fire hose]], Scrooge misses his opportunity to make up with her, and later on throws away a letter she sends him, thinking it'll just be more harsh words, while Goldie strongly implies it involved a romantic request for him to return to her. Later, when Scrooge makes a last trip to Dawson (which is hinted there but much more confirmed in later stories) with the intention to ''propose'' to Goldie, he loses his sleigh in a blizzard and nearly dies, ultimately causing him to change his mind and from that point on give his heart to nothing but money. From then on it would take 50 years before they met again, Goldie at her old age being more open with her still existing feelings, down right telling Scrooge at one point she's ''still waiting for him'' (in "A Little Something Special"). Scrooge on the other hand, while clearly still having feelings for her as well, remains firmly in his "money is my only love" mindset.

*** And then there's what Scrooge's absence left Duckburg vulnerable to: ''Flintheart Glomgold becoming mayor and robbing the city blind'' while Fantomius was stranded years in the future before being ran out by a returned Fantomius - in the middle of the Great Depression. By the time Scrooge comes back the city's economy is in shambles - hence the hero welcome he's given, as he's literally their last hope.

** Meta: Don Rosa also drew two pictures for fans of Scrooge giving the letter to Goldie in their young days, with Goldie ''crying from joy'' when she reads it.

--> '''Scrooge''': I remember it as if it was yesterday. My papa took me to see the ancestral home of our clan, the desolate castle on Dismal Downs, abandoned since the 17th century. Now inhabited by no one but golden eagles in its turrets. Ptarmigan and grouse in the heather o' clan cemetery. In this site of former glory, of ochre grass and bracken, of sadness and hope... this is where I begin my story. Rannoch Moor, 1877. The eve of my tenth birthday...

* The complete DownerEnding to the series, at least until the TimeSkip. Sure, Scrooge reaches his life-long goal of becoming the richest man in the world, but at the same time he disowns his family and has a reaction leaning more towards LaughingMad than genuine happiness. His family leaves with a broken view on him, and we're then treated to the said time skip of 17 years in which five of them Scrooge lives in complete solitude within his mansion. When an adult Donald and his nephews are introduced to him, the previous badass everyone's come to know has been reduced to a depressed and tired old man, needing a cane to walk, barely being able to stand up straight no more, all his previous spirit and passion completely vanished. Thankfully however, a new generation of Beagle Boys appear, and, after a hazardous chase to retrieve stolen money from them along with his nephews, Scrooge has an AdrenalineMakeover, realizing that "my greatest adventures are yet to come!" reviving his spirit completely and turning him into the Scrooge [=McDuck=] of today.
** The separation from the family gets ''worse'' in the Italian series "Le Strabilianti Imprese di Fantomius-Ladro Gentiluomo", set in the Duckburg of the twenties, after Scrooge's fight with his sisters and in the period he was constantly sidetracked from returning home to try and mend fences... Except that, according to that series, he had in fact managed to come back a first time in secret in ''1922'', and ''immediately asked about his sisters''... Who were either out of town or had told Miss Quackfaster to tell Scrooge so if he came back, at which point he immediately said he wasn't worried for them running into Fantomius but for Fantomius attacking the Money Bin while they were away. If only they had been there...
*** And the following chapter makes it ''worse''. While [[GentlemanThief Fantomius decides to not rob Scrooge due interference from another thief and promises to not attack the money bin as long as it's in care of his sisters]], he also swears that, as soon as he's back for good, he'll rob him blind and steal even ''the mattress he's sleeping on'', resulting in Scrooge leaving and not returning until after Fantomius has disappeared. And not only we know how it ended, but in the end it didn't even work: Fantomius may have disappeared, but upon finding his journal and becoming the Diabolical Duck Avenger, ''Donald'' would keep the promise in his stead, stealing Scrooge's mattress while he was sleeping on it.

--> '''Scrooge''': I remember it as if it was yesterday. My papa took me to see the ancestral home of our clan, the desolate castle on Dismal Downs, abandoned since the 17th century. Now inhabited by no one but golden eagles in its turrets. Ptarmigan and grouse in the heather o' clan cemetary. In this site of former glory, of ochre grass and bracken, of sadness and hope... this is where I begin my story. Rannoch Moor, 1877. The eve of my tenth birthday...

** There is also Flintheart Glomgold and [[spoiler: his death at age 99, the year before Scrooge, and unlike his lifelong rival, he [[AlasPoorVillain died completely alone in his own moneybin in South Africa]]. No friends, no family, not even a nurse at his side, and nothing to show for it other than a life spent on bitterness and revenge. Sure, he brought it on himself, and he was a huge asshole in life, but DyingAlone is never a pleasant fate.]]

** ''The Empire-Builder From Calisota'': Scrooge has driven away his family with his greed, and has a moment of realization... but then he notices the board of the riches men in the world, with himself at the top. As his family leaves him for the last time, he breaks out in triumphant laughter, sounding more like a cackling madman.