Line #36 TearJerker/TheWheelOfTime


1	!!'''''SPOILERS ARE UNMARKED, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!'''''
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3	[[foldercontrol]]
4
5	[[folder:0 - ''New Spring'']]
6	* Gitara Moroso's death following her Foretelling of the Dragon having just been reborn and heralding TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt in the eyes of nearly everyone.
7	-->'''Tamra:''' Oh, Gitara. Not now. [[PleaseDontLeaveMe Not when I need you the most...]]
8	* The death and funeral of Tamra Ospenya, something that hit Moiraine even harder than the death of her uncle.
9	* Siuan catching up with Moiraine in the Borderlands and informing her of the mysterious deaths of Tamra's agents. Moiraine notes it's one of the few times [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Siuan has been genuinely afraid with no idea of what to do]].
10	* Moiraine watching helplessly as a Black Sister throws three people, two of them children, over a balcony and to their deaths. It becomes her moment of MyGreatestFailure.
11	[[/folder]]
12
13	[[folder:1 - ''The Eye of the World'']]
14	* Thom's HeroicSacrifice at Whitebridge by throwing himself at a Fade to give Rand and Mat time to escape. Despite being ultimately subverted, both Rand and Mat feel guilty about it until they find him again later on.
15	** Afterwards, there's Rand being helpless to stop Mat's slow mental and physical deterioration from the corruptive power of his stolen, cursed dagger as they trudge their way to Caemlyn to (hopefully) reunite with their companions, dodging Darkfriends and other brigands all the while.
16	* The feeling of utter betrayal Rand feels after learning that [[CoolOldGuy Padan Fain]] had been the one to lead the Trollocs to the Two Rivers on Winternight.
17	[[/folder]]
18
19	[[folder:2 - ''The Great Hunt'']]
20	* Rand sees multiple possible routes his life could have taken when trying to activate a Waystone. The very first one he sees is heartbreaking: He stayed in Emon's Field and married Egwene the way he wanted, but he suffered from increasingly bad moods that something in his life was ''wrong'' Egwene found some way to quell them, but Rand ultimately outlived her. Rand becomes a half-mad hermit the rest of the village view with a mix of pity and fear. He meets his end as an old man joining a militia and charging into battle against a horde of Trollocs, finally finding what he was meant to do. Not only is it a sad life in its own right, but it drives home that there is no "normal life" for Rand.
21	* Rand's reunion with Thom, followed by Thom's life falling apart once again when his apprentice and lover is murdered. He's thrown into a HeroicBSOD that lasts well into the next book.
22	* Ingtar's HeroicSacrifice at the end. Especially poignant because up until that point, he was a Darkfriend who was [[TheAtoner desperately seeking some way to atone for his crimes]], and believed that recovering the Horn of Valere would lead to his salvation if he could lead the Heroes of the Horn against the Shadow, and then finally decided that he would seek his salvation instead by [[YouShallNotPass giving Rand and his friends the time to escape with the Horn.]]
23	* Egwene's horrific experience while being held captive by the Seanchan; she's dehumanized, tortured repeatedly to break her will, and indeed nearly breaks before she's rescued, unable even to commit suicide to escape. She mentions that the Seanchan have two other Aes Sedai in captivity; one's completely given up and the other is in floods of tears as she desperately tells Egwene her true name, because she knows she won't be able to keep fighting much longer. The instant she's freed Egwene attacks Renna, the woman who held her leash the most, and tries to torture her to death, horrifying Nynaeve, Min and Elayne; when Nynaeve stops Egwene she breaks down sobbing about how much the ''sul'dam'' abused and hurt her while she was powerless to stop them.
24	[[/folder]]
25
26	[[folder:3 - ''The Dragon Reborn'']]
27	* Egwene suffering from ''massive'' PTSD from her time as a ''damane''. The narrative recounts her having countless nightmares and just the ''thought'' of being collared again becomes her BerserkButton for most of the rest of the series.
28	* Egwene's first trial in her test to become Accepted, where she is living a happy life as a wife and mother that she has to abandon. It hurts her even more when she realizes one of the Black Ajah she's tasked with hunting down has the same name as her child in the trial.
29	-->'''Egwene:''' Her name was Joiya...
30	* Mat finding Thom on the edge of the DespairEventHorizon in a tavern in Tar Valon. When it comes time to head for Caemlyn, Thom agrees to go with him as it would be a good chance to commit SuicideByCop as he's still a wanted man there.
31	* On their way to Tear, Nynaeve briefly stops her mission with Egwene and Elayne to heal an Aiel shield maiden named Dailin at the request of her companions. When the trio is kidnapped soon after, the grateful Far Dareis Mai stage a rescue mission alongside their fellow warriors. The attempt succeeds, but to Nynaeve's disbelief and despair, Dailin is a casualty of it.
32	-->'''Nynaeve:''' Burn you! Burn you! I did not Heal her so she could die like this!
33	[[/folder]]
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35	[[folder:4 - ''The Shadow Rising'']]
36	* The history of the Aiel certainly counts. It takes up chapters 25 and 26 of the book, and it is ''heartbreaking''. Lewin's line at the end of Chapter 25 when he's exiled from the Jenn Aiel sums up the whole thing:
37	-->'''Lewin:''' I am still Aiel!
38	* It was heartbreaking reading Perrin's reaction to finding out that his family is dead, especially with everything that he risked to get to them quickly. It comes to a head when Faile gives him a CooldownHug to break him out of his shock and tells him to grieve, causing him to break down.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:5 - ''The Fires of Heaven'']]
42	* Aviendha's SlapSlapKiss version of the AnguishedDeclarationOfLove:
43	-->"Yes, Rand al'Thor." She suddenly sounded hoarse. For a moment she turned her face away, eyes shut and quivering. "I hate you with all of my heart. I do. And I always will."
44	** This doesn't sound like much until you remember what Aviendha is feeling. She ''is'' in love with him, but her BFF Elayne also loves him, and she promised Elayne she would safeguard him from the claws of other women. Now she ''is'' the other woman. Poor thing probably hates herself--and that's ''before'' we factor in the whole ProudWarriorRace thing wherein, a book later, she gives Elayne a knife to use to ''kill'' her because of it.
45	* Nynaeve getting a ''massive'' BreakTheHaughty and HeroicBSOD moment when Birgitte is pulled into the real world in and Birgitte herself having a brief HeroicBSOD and breaking down upon realizing that her soulmate may never find her again.
46	* Rand breaking down in tears while reading Moiraine's letter, after she (seemingly) dies taking out Lanfear.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:6 - ''Lord of Chaos'']]
50	* Rand having to give the order to have one of his Aiel friends and supporters, Mangin, hanged for breaking the law he set by murdering a Cairhienan man. He chews out Berelain and Rhuarc for saddling him with the painful decision of having to carry it out.
51	* When Elder Haman is marking all the Waygates for Rand and begins crying on the map for all of the Ogier-built cities and groves lost.
52	* Rand meets with Verin and Alanna in Caemlyn and feels like he's reuniting with a pair of allies. Alanna offers to remove his fatigue and he complies, only to find out she used the opportunity to Bond him against his will at the same time. Rand practically snaps from the feelings of being both betrayed and violated, learns that Moiraine's words to ''trust no one'' are right on the mark, and immediately retreats to Cairhien to attempt to get Alanna out of his mind and ''stop himself from killing someone out of the rage he's feeling''.
53	* Nynaeve Heals Siuan and Leane from stilling, but Siuan also feels the death of her warder all over again from two books previous, causing her to cry at night.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:7 - ''A Crown of Swords'']]
57	* The first encounter with the ''gholam'' as it effortlessly kills several of Mat's men. He laments how one of them simply wanted to sleep in that morning and it became an un-granted last wish.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:8 - ''The Path of Daggers'']]
61	* Perrin's first bitter taste of the burden of leadership was back in Book 4 when he suffered an ambush and several of his men died. He gets his second when he has to make the hard decision to stand by his words by ordering several men hanged and forcing himself to watch the whole thing.
62	* Rand having to give a MercyKill to Fedwin Morr, one of the first Asha'man to join the Black Tower, who succumbed to the taint on ''saidin'' while guarding Min and whose mind reverted to a child's. Rand gave him a poison that allowed him to die in his sleep. While it had been brought up that Taim had had to do the same to others, this was the first time Rand had to.
63	** This is also one of the last examples of Rand's initial humanity prior to hardening himself further until the end of ''The Gathering Storm'' wherein, despite telling Taim to train the Asha'man as weapons, he yells at Taim for treating Morr like a statistic.
64	--->'''Rand:''' Not 'that one!' [[TheDeadHaveNames His name is Fedwin!]]
65	* The death of Adeleas. Her twin sister, Vandene, remains her normal calm and collected self when the body is discovered, as well as the following brainstorm session to try and figure out what happened, but the instant everyone leaves her alone with her sister's corpse, she loses control and starts crying out in pain and grief loud enough for everyone to hear anyway.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:9 - ''Winter's Heart'']]
69	* After Rand is bonded to Elayne, Min, and Aviendha, all three of them immediately begin to feel the constant pain he's had to put up with for months at this point from his never-healing wounds and feeling as though the herons branded onto his palms were still hot. The scene is from Min's POV and she immediately wants to begin crying while asking Rand, "How do you do it?" He really can't provide an answer.
70	[[/folder]]
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72	[[folder:10 - ''Crossroads of Twilight'']]
73	* Perrin's torture of the Shaido captive, culminating in cutting off his hand...then walking away into the snowy woods in a HeroicBSOD before hurtling the axe as far as he can into a tree and leaving it behind. The talk he has with Elyas afterward is especially sad.
74	* Anaiya's murder by Halima.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:11 - ''Knife of Dreams'']]
78	* Learning that all of the people of Amayar committed mass suicide following the cleansing of ''saidin.''
79	-->''"The Amayar were all dead or dying. Men, women" — her voice broke — "children... Everywhere I have been, it was the same. They gave their children a poison that put them into a deep sleep from which they did not waken. It seems there was not enough of that to go around, so many of the adults took slower poisons. Some lived long enough to be found and tell the tale. [...]\
80	"Have none been saved?" Zaida asked. "None at all?" Tears glistened on her cheeks, too, but Harine could not fault her on that. Her own cheeks were wet.\
81	"None, Shipmistress."''
82	* A positive one as Nynaeve rallies as many Malkieri men to rally to and ride with Lan towards Tarwin Gap. The first few men she gathers, knowing they're about to ride to their deaths, still stand and cheer with, "The Golden Crane flies for Tarmon Gai'don!" This eventually proves to Lan that YouAreNotAlone and the blood of Malkier is as strong as ever.
83	* Aram's continual unhinging and eventual death thanks to Masema.
84	* Vandene, still distraught over the murder of her sister, having taken to acting and dressing like her, getting her long-awaited vengeance. Doubles as a DyingMomentOfAwesome:
85	-->'''Vandene:''' ''[As she stabs the murderer.]'' A gift from Adeleas!
86	** On a related note, the discovery that the missing Kinswomen whom were believed to have run away were killed by Adeleas's murderer. One of them had a doll from her childhood that she brought with her to the Tower and then everywhere else she went, hiding it carefully; the doll is found, proving her death since she would never have left it behind. Another? Reanne Corly, smothered in her sleep. [[CallBack Now she'll never get to be Green]].
87	[[/folder]]
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89	[[folder:12 - ''The Gathering Storm'']]
90	* The funeral. Faile and her retainers coming together one night to remember the Mera'din Aiel who watched over and protected each of them in Malden, ultimately at the cost of their own lives.
91	* Rand wailing in his mind as Semirhage is using the Domination Band to make him strangle Min.
92	* Verin's death. Similarly, her warder, Tomas, who opts to spend his final hour with his family.
93	* Rand's MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment when he stops short of ''killing his father'' and nearly repeating the mistakes of his previous incarnation as he gets ready to destroy the entire world rather than continue fighting in a never-ending war against the Shadow. Luckily this turns into a TearsOfJoy moment after he heals his mind, and he and "Lews Therin" become one again.
94	[[/folder]]
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96	[[folder:13 - ''Towers of Midnight'']]
97	* One-shot character Melanrin Rai's POV segment in the prologue wherein he declares his son a man and they complete the son's coming of age ceremony mere moments before the prologue's BolivianArmyEnding after the son essentially performs a HeroicSacrifice by giving his assigned messenger task to another, better rider and one whose parents had already lost four sons to Trolloc invasions.
98	-->'''Melanrin:''' I see no child before me, [[SoProudOfYou for the one I speak to has already become a man]]!
99	* It's a minor moment, but the bubble of evil in Tear that turns a whole district of buildings and people into frozen ash. Nynaeve realizes after probing them that there is nothing left to Heal, simply closing her eyes before sweeping them all away with the Power. The coda to this is Rand arriving and watching her talk to the wife of a man who had been caught in the bubble, desperate to find him; all she can do is hold the woman's hands and give her some money.
100	* Aviendha's vision of the future Aiel: A supremely epic vision of the degradation and fall of your honorable people, all fated to happen and caused by your descendents. The reader cannot help but feel for her and weep. However, Sorilea advices Avienda to ScrewDestiny by changing her future children's names. So maybe it can work.
101	* Noal's last words to Mat before his HeroicSacrifice.
102	-->'''Noal:''' If you ever meet a Malkieri, you tell him Jain Farstrider died clean.
103	* In a surprising combination of TearJerker and BrickJoke, the revelation that the wolf called Boundless is Noam, the half-mad Wolfbrother Perrin freed from a cage ''ten books previous''. Boundless indeed!
104	[[/folder]]
105
106	[[folder:14 - ''A Memory of Light'']]
107	* The moment when Logain's companions are turned to the Shadow and they have to fight their comrades, who are still on the Light. What is more, that nearly happened to Logain himself, and left him becoming unhinged for some time. Remember: that could happen to the whole world if Dark One got his freedom.
108	* The deaths of a good chunk of the main cast, including Siuan, Gawyn, and Egwene, along with plenty of lesser named characters.
109	** The moment when Logain gives up searching for the other male sa'angreal in order to help save the refugees from Caemlyn and their children from the Shadowspawn, and thus fulfills Min's viewing of "glory of men to come":
110	--->''He had abandoned that power for what? To save these refugees? People who would spurn him and hate him for what he was. People who...''\
111	''... who looked at him with awe.''\
112	''Logain watched with wonder as the people flocked around his Asha'man,'' ''[[MeaningfulEcho weeping for their salvation]]''. ''Elderly men took Asha'man by the hands, overcome, praising them.''\
113	''Nearby, a youth looked at Logain with admiration. A dozen youths. Light, a hundred. Not a hint of fear in their eyes.''\
114	''"Thank you," the young mother said again. "Thank you."''\
115	''"The Black Tower protects," Logain heard himself say. "Always."''\
116	''"I will send him to you to be tested when he is of age," the woman promised, holding her son. "I would have him join you, if he has the talent."''\
117	''The talent. Not the curse. The talent.''
118	** The entirety of Rand's RousingSpeech to the Dark One, particularly when he overcomes TheDeadHaveNames to instead celebrate their lives and heroism, and performs an epic AndThisIsFor to completely demoralize and enrage his adversary with not just his being TheDeterminator, but ''all of humanity''.
119	--->HERE IS THE TRUTH, SHAI'TAN. YOU CANNOT WIN UNLESS WE GIVE UP. THAT'S IT, ISN'T IT? THIS FIGHT ISN'T ABOUT A VICTORY IN BATTLE. TAKING ME... IT WAS NEVER ABOUT BEATING ME. IT WAS ABOUT BREAKING ME. THAT'S WHAT YOU'VE TRIED TO DO WITH ALL OF US. IT'S WHY AT TIMES YOU TRIED TO HAVE US KILLED, WHILE OTHER TIMES YOU DIDN'T SEEM TO CARE. YOU WIN WHEN YOU BREAK US. BUT YOU HAVEN'T. YOU CAN'T.
120	** Oddly enough, Lanfear is the subject of a couple of these. Her confrontation with Rand in his dreamshard, where he reveals to her he does not love her and never did, is rather heartbreaking, and she almost, ''almost'' relents, allowing him into her mind and coming this close to coming back to the Light. In the end even Rand pities her for not knowing love and in fact being incapable of ever feeling it because of her need for power. Then near the very end when she once again falls her into TheStarscream pattern and attempts to get Perrin to kill Moiraine, so she can kill Nynaeve, claim Callandor, and use Moridin's power to make Rand kneel while saving the Dark One from him and thus earning the greatest power she can possess, Perrin is forced to kill her. She had gone so mad from isolation, loss of love, pride, and desire to rule that she had to be put out of her misery... but it's still quite tragic. It's also an in-universe example since Perrin, still under Compulsion to love her, cries over her body.
121	*** FridgeHorror also sets in when taking into account everything Perrin did to rescue Faile from the Shaido over the course of several earlier books to prove his devotion to her were all to prepare him for this moment. If he had abandoned the rescue mission, would he have been able to break the Compulsion?
122	** Each time one of the Great Captains realize they have betrayed the light due to Compulsion is rather heartbreaking. These are good and great men who serve the light willingly and are prepared to die for Rand and the world, and then they realize that they have been forced to betray their men and their oaths. Each one is different but when they realize they sent good men who trusted them to die is terrible.
123	** Olver.
124	--->"Suddenly, Olver felt a deep warmth. He had lost so many people, but one of them... one... had come back for him."
125	** Gawyn's last words.
126	--->'''Gawyn''': You won't be [left without a brother]. You have another brother, Galad. One you do not know. A son of... Tigraine... who went into the Waste... Son of a Maiden. Born on Dragonmount... Don't hate him, Galad. I always hated him, but I stopped. I... stopped...
127	*** In a FridgeHorror sense, this hits even harder for Galad, because he begged Gawyn to not die so he wouldn't be left without a brother. In Galad's eyes, he loses the other brother he just learned about not very long after.
128	** "Rand's" funeral, especially for those who don't know he's not really dead. Tam's words hit hardest as he can only really repeat his words of SoProudOfYou to his adopted son.
129	*** Also Moiraine, who simply echoes what had been believed in-universe to have been ''her'' own last words, in the letter she left Rand in Cairhien: "You have done well, Rand." And caresses his face.

Context TearJerker / TheWheelOfTime