Line #1 TearJerker/Safehold


1	* [[spoiler:King Haarahld's]] final moments, as well as the [[spoiler:Wylsynns']] and [[spoiler:Nahrmann's.]]
2	* Merlin reading the letter written by [[spoiler:Saint Zherneau, detailing how they knew of Nimue's sacrifice.]]
3	* [[spoiler:Midshipman Lainsair Svairsmahn's]] MercyKill by [[spoiler:Gwylym Manthyr's]] hands, especially with the impassioned plea for [[spoiler:Svairsmahn]] not to blame himself for breaking under torture that precedes it.
4	* Haarahld's conversation with the traitorous Duke Tirian's widow and sons after the Duke is killed for his treachery.
5	* The [[spoiler:Siddermarkian Civil War]] is full of them.
6
7	** A future general in LaResistance comes back from a hunting trip to find his three children (the oldest is six), wife (who was raped first while begging for her killers to spare her children), mother, village priest (who was burned alive with several members of his congregation) and hundreds of his neighbors slaughtered by an old family enemy loyal to the Temple Lands. And somehow, even their unrepentant killers inspire some pity as they lament about how their own children are dying of hunger and cold during the brutal winter where neither side's civilians have adequate supplies. And that's not even going into what happens at the concentration camps.
8	** The entire fate of post-war Sidmark, especially as Temple Loyalists who tried to stay neutral and left Sidmark during the war become hated pariahs when they return. One family is forced to head back to the Temple Lands, but before they can leave, their youngest son, a kindly bookworm, is attacked by a former friend and neighbor whose entire family was killed by the Army of God. He freely admits that the boy (who was seven during the war) has no personal responsibly for what happened, but still relishes destroying the kid's books, blinding him, and breaking his legs. The parents blame themselves for not moving earlier. Their older son kills his bother's attacker, but then tries to abandon the CycleOfRevenge after hearing a sermon by a priest urging reconciliation. Then his maimed brother is DrivenToSuicide, and just as the older boy gets the news, the current Sidmarkian head-of-state (who many people blame for failed reforms while not realizing those reforms are on the verge of improving) happens to ride by. The "heartbroken older brother" lets out his anger by shooting the president, triggering riots and stagnation. The older boy's subsequent fate and his parents' reaction are unrevealed, but probably aren't pretty. Creator/DavidWeber can make Creator/JossWhedon look like a children's book author when it comes to depressing scenarios.
9	** One family, which lost several members during the war but came out largely intact and free of vengeful feelings, has three more members die in a traffic accident caused by a former Temple Loyalist. This makes the patriarch of the family see red after this latest loss and attack the man, leading to violent and widespread riots.
10	** Even without the CycleOfRevenge, post-war Sidmark is a CrapsackWorld as {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s ruin any chance of fast economic revival and a sleazy RabbleRouser eventually takes command of the democracy and threatens to drag it down with him.
11	* One of Ahnzhelyk's agents is being tortured in an Inquisition facility in Zion (an {{Expy}} of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lefortovo_Prison Lefortovo Prison]]) and there's no way to rescue her or the other people (the vast majority innocent) being held there, and there seems to be no way to even [[MercyKill spare them more pain]] without revealing "supernatural power". [[spoiler: Nahrmahn comes up with the plan to use a nanotech attack to allow the prisoners to peacefully and painlessly die mysteriously, with the added benefit of [[PayEvilUntoEvil causing all the Inquisition staff to drop dead.]]]] The attack is told from the POV of the agent as she realizes she's finally going to be released from the endless pain she's suffering.
12	* Members of a Zion family are arrested one-by-one after a woman joins an attempted protest. She is sentenced to Schueler's Punishment, and her father is arrested and presumably executed when he seeks answers about her disappearance. He tells his niece (who he raised) to stay out of this because he doesn’t want to lose both of his daughters, but she is arrested anyway and ends up being tortured to death in a graphic manner.

Context TearJerker / Safehold