Line #13 TearJerker/SoulMusic


1	* The entire book is Death and Susan's attempts to cope with grief:
2	** Death with his unique memory - he not only remembers the past flawlessly, but he also remembers it as the future. No matter how hard he tries, he can never, ''ever'' forget.
3	** Susan is so buttoned down that she seems like an EmotionlessGirl, and even her best friends don't know that anything has happened, and it seems like she's accepted it as a logical fact... but throughout the book, she's angry at the lack of logic, at mischance, and at pointless death, changing what she can, because it isn't ''fair''. It's only at the end that she finally allows herself to properly grieve.
4	* Mixed with SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments, but Death's attempts to be a grandfather to Susan, despite having previously said in ''Literature/{{Mort}}'' that he wasn't cut out for it, and how fond of her he was - and clearly, still is.
5	-->'''Albert:''' Normal girls don't get a My Little Binky set on their third birthday! Your dad took it away. The Master was very upset about that. He was ''trying''.
6	** In the animated adaptation, the story goes into flashback mode when Albert tells the story, and we actually get to see Susan as a little girl and how ''excited'' she is about her present; a stark contrast to her present-day deadpan attitude to everything.
7	** The line above is also one of the few times we see Albert, who's usually grouchy and irritable at best, sad.
8	* When everything is over and Death asks, clearly expecting the answer to be "no", if she has a kiss for her granddad. Susan, borderline EmotionlessGirl and DeadpanSnarker realizes that being what he is makes him more alone than any creature in the universe, actually gives him one, just before going back to her school dormitory and finally letting herself cry over the loss of her parents, who died at the beginning of the book.
9	** "The blue glow in Death’s eyes gradually faded, and as the light died it sucked at her gaze so that it was dragged into the eye sockets and the darkness beyond...\
10	...which went on and on, forever. There was no word for it. Even ''eternity'' was a human idea. Giving it a name gave it a length; admittedly, a very long one. But this darkness was what was left when eternity had given up. It was where Death lived. Alone."
11	** There's also something of a Fridge Tear Jerker in the Quirm scenes, that may take several readings to spot: Susan's friends Gloria and Jade aren't treating her with particular care or compassion when they're chatting together. Even Jade's complaints about how she's being pressured to get married don't invite any concerned glances at Susan, when the troll princess mentions her own father. Susan is so closed-off emotionally, she ''never even told her best friends'' that her parents had been killed in a coach-crash.
12	* In one line:
13	-->"The music had poured over (the beggars). They ignored it. Music With Rocks In was the stuff of dreams, and there were no dreams under the bridge."
14	* Susan going back to the night her parents were killed. Death's line from the opening scene ("[[AC:Yes. I could have done something]].") is revealed to be directed at her, as he explains that "There has to be a law" because he can't create life, and then tells her they died instantly without pain as a desperate attempt to make her feel better.
15	** In the animated adaptation, it's even worse; when [[LittleNo Susan realizes]] [[OhCrap what she's seeing]], [[IWantMyMommy she calls out to her parents]] as the carriage crashes. Then she breaks down into sobs and argues with her grandfather, saying she could go back in time and save them.
16	** [[AC:"For what? A life that's gone out? Some. Things. ''End.'' This is what I am. Without duty, what am I? There has to be a law."]]
17	* Buddy's innocence and fierce love of music (something he had from the very beginning) makes the music's takeover that much sadder and more sinister. What he loved destroyed him... and it thought it was giving him everything he could have wanted.
18	** On stage, when he ''begs'' the guitar to let him play his harp again, just this one time, this last time. Understanding that it'll demand everything of him in return, and pleading with it in his own accent -- pleads as Imp, not Buddy -- to show he's ''not'' being controlled by it, then: that sharing "Sioni Bod Da" with the world really is ''that'' important to him.
19	** The animated adaptation makes it an even bigger tear jerker because we actually get to ''hear'' the melody, and see the reactions of a few more characters, most notably Death.
20	** The shy and quiet way Imp answers the question of what the song was and asking for his bandmates' opinion.
21	* The destruction of Imp's beloved harp, the more so in that it's such a stupid mistake that does it.
22	** Try being a serious musician and reading that line. Every professional/semi-professional player has built some kind of emotional bond with their instrument.
23	** And when his friends, being serious musicians as well, have it repaired and give it to him, Buddy, who was normally practically speechless outside of concerts, tells them how he got the harp for his own song, Sioni Bod Da... with his Llamedosian accent returning, stronger than ever.
24	* One word from the animated version. One single word, in the middle of a hilarious scene of Death trying (and failing) to get drunk and right before one of the most hilarious bits of the animation. As Death laments his inability to forget anything, bemoans the fact that he will always recall absolutely everything and then utters one name:
25	-->[[AC:[[OutlivingOnesOffspring ''Ysabell'']]]]
26	* [[AC:"I remember everything. Everything. Doorknobs. The play of sunlight on hair. The sound of laughter. Footsteps. Every little detail. As if it only happened yesterday."]]
27	* The brief moment in the climax where Susan rages at the fact that despite her best efforts, Imp/Buddy and the rest of the band ''still'' end up dead - in a carriage accident, just like her parents.

Context TearJerker / SoulMusic