!!From the first film:
* The TwistEnding of ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'', which this troper had always wanted to see in this sort of fairy tale: [[spoiler:"...I'm supposed to be beautiful..." "But you ''are'' beautiful."]]
** And don't forget the scene after Shrek and Fiona split up, and everything's going as planned, but both are completely miserable. What really pushes it into tearjerker territory is the heartbreaking "Hallelujah" playing in the background.
*** That particular version of "Hallelujah" gets my tear ducts going like no other song ever recorded.
** This troper still finds the misunderstanding where Shrek overhears Fiona saying, "Who could ever love a beast so hideous and ugly?" painfully hard to watch.
*** Extra points for being depressing both from Fiona's side ''and'' Shrek's side of the conversation.

!!From the second film:
* Shrek's DespairEventHorizon. He's left [[DrowningMySorrows skulling shots of]] [[FrothyMugsOfWater milk]] in the Poison Apple, and lamenting why he even saved Fiona in the first place, alongside Donkey and Puss. It's the lowest we've seen Shrek get, and it is depressing.
-->'''Shrek:''' Look guys, it's for the best. Mom and Dad approve and Fiona gets the man she's always dreamed of. Everybody wins.
-->'''Donkey:''' Except for you. I don't get it, Shrek, you ''love'' Fiona.
-->'''Shrek:''' Aye, and that's why I have to let her go.
* At the climax, where Shrek and his allies all raid the castle. Mostly, it's just full of [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome the crowner moments for nearly every character]] but it's the giant Gingerbread Man that gets the tearducts flowing during this scene. His "be good" line was especially tearjerker-worthy...
** Why'd you say that? I cried as a child when he fell. I kept saying, "Get up buddy..." You've made this unbreakable troper cry now...

!!From the third film:
* [[spoiler: King Harold's death]]
* Artie explaining about his father abandoning him.
* When Shrek get captured by Charming and has to lie to keep Artie from being killed. The music that plays afterwards is on par with Hallelujah in terms of sheer emotion
!!From the fourth film:
* At the end, there's an ''extended'' amount of time where it appears that [[spoiler: Shrek failed]]. And, technically speaking, he ''was'' [[spoiler: dead for a while]]. This movie being DarkerAndEdgier than the others, it wasn't unbelievable that they'd do it.

!!From TheMusical
* ''Who I'd Be'', which has been called the [[Theatre/{{Wicked}} Defying Gravity]] of Shrek.
-->''An ogre always hides,''
-->''an ogre's fate is known.''
-->''An ogre always stays in the dark''
-->''and all alone!''
----