->[[ItsAllMyFault I did this]] and could have stopped it.
-->-- '''Unknown''', "Whatever You Please"

Surprisingly, ''Marathon'' can be very tragic when it wants to be.

!!Examples from the original trilogy:
* Depending on how sympathetic you are to him, [[spoiler:[[MissionControl Dura]][[AIIsACrapShoot ndal's]] death(s) are this. [[DeathIsCheap All of them.]]]] Especially the one in Marathon 2 where the player himself [[spoiler:has to kill him by smashing the computer core that he's running on, telling you to do so in his normal [[TheStoic cool, collected]] manner while falling apart. He gets better, but not before Robert Blake tells you outright that he and most of the [=BoBs=] are glad he's gone. Also, the end of Hang Brain where Durandal is taking himself apart so that he can store some fragment of himself in the [[PlayerCharacter Security Officer's]] brain.]]
--->[[spoiler:Finish me. I won't [[MindRape be]] like [[TeamMom Lee]][[BusCrash la]].]]

** Durandal's terminal on [[spoiler:Hang Brain]] was much more of a TearJerker than his terminal on [[spoiler:Begging For Mercy Makes Me Angry]], since it implies he's [[spoiler:undergoing a mental breakdown as you're destroying him]].
---->''[[spoiler:What to save and throw away?]]''

---->[[spoiler:pr?The last hour is on us both?mr.s?tuck this little kitty into the impenetrable]]
---->[[spoiler:this little kitty into the impenetrable]]
---->[[spoiler:brainpan?]]

---->[[spoiler:pr?Contents under pressure?Do not expose to]]
---->[[spoiler:excessive heat, vacuum, blunt trauma,]]
---->[[spoiler:immersion in liquids, disintegration,]]
---->[[spoiler:reintegration, hypersleep, humiliation,]]
---->[[spoiler:sorrow]]
---->[[spoiler:or harsh language?]]

---->[[spoiler:pr?When the time comes, whose life will flash before yours?]]

---->[[spoiler:pr?A billion paths are here inside me?]]
---->[[spoiler:pr?yes, yes, yes, Bernhard, 110?]]
---->[[spoiler:pr?potential, jewels, jewels, yes, jewels?]]
---->[[spoiler:%]]

** The references to his creator just make everything worse. [[spoiler:Particularly since he's heavily implied to have abused Durandal... which makes the whole thing look like some sort of HeroicBSOD (or VillainousBSOD depending on your stance) with much of Durandal's repressed trauma coming to the surface.]]
** As you progress through [[spoiler:"Begging for Mercy..."]], more and more lights short out, until you're in almost total darkness. [[spoiler:Tycho force-teleports you out the second you destroy the final set of circuits, perhaps implying that Durandal was using his final reserves of strength to block the signal.]]

* You [[spoiler:having to kill humans under Tycho's orders. You can do nothing but slaughter them in droves, while they try futilely to fight back and call you a traitor. Nothing like playing half the game knowing you're now the bad guy.]]
* The ''very first terminal'' in "Ne Cede Malis" (''Infinity'') is a message from a [[NotSoStoic broken and terrified Durandal]] begging the Security Officer to find a way to escape the chaos unfolding all around them, and all but telling them outright not to waste time trying to save him.
* ''Infinity'' is frequently this, when it's not [[NightmareFuel terrifying]].

Examples from fan scenarios have been moved to TearJerker.MarathonExpandedUniverse.