History TearJerker / Warhammer40000

** With both the above points taken into account, the Dark Eldar go from being a race of cackling, [[CardCarryingVillain CardCarryingVillains]], to borderline [[JerkassWoobie JerkassWoobies]], as while they're depraved sadists, they're by and large victims of TheChainOfHarm, where they're raised into being vicious monsters, only to pay that treatment forward to the next generation, all while living in constant paranoia of others around them, and being near-incapable of properly processing emotions like grief and love.

** The extreme xenophobia? It seems like every powerful species out there in the galaxy is made of AlwaysChaoticEvil monsters. The Orks are biological battle robots that have been abandoned to run wild for eons. The Tyranids are a HordeOfAlienLocusts that exist only to scour bio-mass from the universe. Genestealers are are subversion agents bred by the Tyranids. The [[TheWormThatWalks Slaugth]] are sadistic necrovores that regard human flesh as a delicacy. The Rak'gol seem to be insane. And the Drukhari are the worst of them all; the remnants of an empire that devolved into the deepest depths of solipsism, sadism and decadence, now literally ''feeding'' on the suffering and grief of others to extend their own lifespans.

*** Even worse, Donal was Cain's successor is all but name. Cain took extra care to watch over him because he reminded him of himself. That scared Cain, because he knew how close his recklessness and fear had come to kill him at that age. It just goes to show that Cain survived his first few outings by pure luck and even he could have ended up dead on his first battlefield, alone and forgotten like poor Donal. Cain makes extra sure that Varan dies a very ignoble death for it.

* The Emperor of Mankind's fate, if you think about it. For all his flaws and his inability to understand others, his dream of uniting mankind under his empire is born from a genuine desire to ascend mankind to its rightful place is the galaxy. For all the blood he shed, for all the planets that were wiped out and for all the battles he waged was because he ''believed'' in his dream of a united mankind, not because of a self-interested desire for power. That dream was cut short during the Horus Heresy, where the Master of Mankind himself is entombed upon the Golden Throne to power the Astronomicon, utterly helpless as the empire he sought to create slowly degenerate into a fanatic, xenophobic carcass in ''his'' name. What's even worse is that the Emperor is ''aware'' of how things have changed for the worse in 10 millennia, but is '''utterly helpless to do anything but shed tears for the people who died in his service'''. AndIMustScream doesn't even ''begin'' to cover his situation.

* Zahndrekh has what it's essentially robot alzheimer, not knowing that he is in a robot body and soulless, thinking that he and everyone he knows are still Necrontyr and that he is only fighting rebels, one time, his bodyguard, Vangard Obyron experiences a case of PTSD realizing he can't breathe, to which Zahndrekh comes to console him. It's possible that Zahndrekh knows he is no longer a Necrontyr and now a soulless robot and he is only hiding his sorrow in the veil of a man who believes he is still alive.

** The 10th Edition trailer adds to this as well - displaying how the Imperium is struggling with the Tyranids, losing one world after another; and yet the Imperium continues to chant "Victory" in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. It's abundantly clear from his speech during the trailer the weight on his shoulders.

--> '''Guilliman:''' "Our people sing of victory... victory, as the galaxy burns. Victory, as the imperium rots around us. Victory, as humanity rages against the dying of the light! Victory..."

--> "Our people sing of victory... victory, as the galaxy burns. Victory, as the imperium rots around us. Victory, as humanity rages against the dying of the light! Victory..."

* The situation of the Necrons is both terrifying and saddening. Being trapped in a robot body for eternity and being soulless, never be able to feel again due to the lack of soul is already depressing enough, many of the Necron overlords, phaerons and phaeraks have expressed a desire to come back to flesh and blood, to have a soul again, to feel again, to be alive once again. This goal seems very unlikely to ever succeed.

* The situation of the Necrons is both terrifying and saddening. Being trapped in a robot body for eternity and being soulless, never be able to feel again due to the lack of soul is already depressing enough, many of the Necron overlords, phaerons and phaeraks have expressed a desire to come back to flesh and blood, to have a soul again, to feel again. This goal seems very unlikely to ever succeed.
** It gets worse in case of the Flayed Ones, who were cursed by LLandu’gor, the Flayer. Imagine losing slowly of yourself, trying to eat the meat you will never taste, wear the skin of your victims so that you can feel the warmth that should bring you but only to feel the same coldness that has been annoying you, losing your mind in the process and becoming a mindless beast that seeks for the blood of your victims. To make things worse, the Flayed Ones are perfectly concious of what is happening to them, but they can’t stop themselves and keep flaying everything they see. Killing them is the most precious gift you could do for them.

*** As with the AI, this is made sadder: as terrible as those races are, they are ''not'' the norm. Many alien races were once completely neutral to humanity, or even helpful to it. Those who helped humanity were effectively wiped out at the Emperor's command, their human allies either betraying them or burning alongside them -- thus perished the noble Interex, and the peaceful Diasporex. And then the Imperium turned its sights on once-peaceful alien races, scourging and destroying them in the name of humanity's so-called UsefulNotes/ManifestDestiny; those who escaped the genocides now hate and hunt humanity because they have been ''taught'' that humanity is not to be trusted, that humans cannot be reasoned with or lived alongside. No better example exists than the remote world of Traynor's Rest: it had been home to a human/alien alliance that had known nothing but peace and brotherhood for over ''twenty thousand years''. Then came the Imperial missionary Genevieve Almace, who manipulated the human population with lies and forgeries until they turned on their former neighbors and utterly erased them in a seven year long slaughter, an act for which Genevieve is now considered an Imperial Saint. With examples like these, it is no wonder that aliens hate and torment humanity: ''humanity deserves it''.

*** As with the AI, this is made sadder: as terrible as those races are, they are ''not'' the norm. Many alien races were once completely neutral to humanity, or even helpful to it. Those who helped humanity were effectively wiped out at the Emperor's command, their human allies either betraying them or burning alongside them -- thus perished the noble Interex, and the peaceful Diasporex. And then the Imperium turned its sights on once-peaceful alien races, scourging and destroying them in the name of humanity's so-called UsefulNotes/ManifestDestiny; those escaped the genocides now hate and hunt humanity because they have been ''taught'' that humanity is not to be trusted, that humans cannot be reasoned with or lived alongside. No better example exists than the remote world of Traynor's Rest: it had been home to a human/alien alliance that had known nothing but peace and brotherhood for over ''twenty thousand years''. Then came the Imperial missionary Genevieve Almace, who manipulated the human population with lies and forgeries until they turned on their former neighbors and utterly erased them in a seven year long slaughter, an act for which Genevieve is now considered an Imperial Saint. With examples like these, it is no wonder that aliens hate and torment humanity: ''humanity deserves it''.
** But between the helpful aliens and the Emperor's terrible command lies a simple, terrible fact: when the everything started to go wrong in the days leading to the Age of Strife, humanity's alien allies, one and all, '''turned on them.''' The sad example of Almace points to an even sadder truth: that while humans can trust aliens on a smaller scale, on the larger, trust and fellowship can never be permanent.

* Trazyn likes to come off like an eccentric collector who tries to have fun in this galaxy of misery, but it becomes clear very fast that literally ''millions of years'' being a soulless robot has left him desperate to actually feel anything of worth. We see just how far this goes in ''The Infinite and The Divine'' where the prospect of finding an intact and preserved Necrontyr sounds like the ultimate item to add to his collection. All throughout the book however, it's easy to see the cracks in his hollow enthusiam start to build over time until finally, he's at the cusp of aquiring his prize. At that point, he couldn't lie to himself anymore. He didn't want to find it just as another artifact to steal, he wanted to use the preserved Necrontyr to try to revive himself as he originally was. To actually be ''alive'' again. And then it turns out It was just a '''very''' long term plan set up by The Deceiver. You can practically ''feel'' the hope drain out of Trazyn in that moment.

** [[https://youtu.be/SHU1fIN_DOs?si=dciCy85k87yG2mN7 This comic]] is quite the tearjerker and really puts his entombment into a harsher light. The Emperor wakes up one day, coming face-to-face with Horus himself. Understandably confused as he remembers killing his favored son, Horus waves it off and helps up his father, gesturing to all the Primarchs enjoying themselves and happily talking amongst one another. Horus assures him that the dream he fought for has been complete and all his sons are together at last, telling him to rest because the galaxy is free of war and strife, with the panel switching to the Emperor's face...only for Horus's voice to turn mocking, becoming more demonic and the Emperor's visage switch into the skeleton we're all familiar with, tears flowing from where his right eye once was. The Emperor ''knows'' his mistakes and how much he screwed up, hence why he had the Grey Knights created. Despite that, he's utterly helpless to do anything as much like how he went from a superhuman into a decaying corpse, the Imperium of Man went from a thriving empire to a decaying wreck that's rotting from the inside and out. His favored son's last words are a harsh reminder of a dream that is now in tatters, unable to be achieved again.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hEr-9BWYg4 This comic]] perfectly encapsulates the bleakness of Guilliman's situation. Another battle won for the Imperium of Man, but Guilliman isn't satisfied. He knows with every battle there's more ahead. Between the forces that attack the Imperium from outside as well as the internal issues it faces, he wonders where his brothers are, searching for them and missing their council. He laments his revival, seeing it as a cruel joke and wondering ''why'' is he still alive, but he has to keep going, as entire planets are counting on his administration and tactical brilliance. The video ends with Guilliman's hands wrapped around his head, telling himself to push these feelings of doubt and fear away as well as begging his adoptive parents, ''anyone'' to help him. You don't see a glorious son of the Emperor, but a man who has many burdens innumerable upon his shoulders. A man who can't be everywhere at once and has to carry the entirety of the empire they forged on his back, not only fending it off from outside invasions but also fixing the corruption and rot that festers within. ''Everyone'' is counting on him, and he can't afford to let these feelings of weakness show, lest the Imperium loses morale. The five o'clock shadow he sports and the beer bottle at the end really highlights how depressed and miserable he feels.