The blessed relief when you know that you've done with it all that you haven't got to carry the burden any longer. You'll feel that too some day...
—General MacArthur
Amidst the mystery and the psychological horror, And Then There Were None offers some tragic moments.
The book
- Among the guests, General MacArthur has the saddest backstory. His wife's lover was a soldier under his command during World War I, so the General sent him out in a mission with no chance of survival. He didn't gain anything from his crime, since his wife died shortly after the war, leaving him alone with his guilt. Once the accusations are brought up, he calmly accepts the impending death. Owen kills him quickly because of it.
- Hugo, Vera's lover and the uncle of the boy she set to die, becomes an alcoholic after his nephew's death. Vera never thought that the boy dying and Hugo knowing he's the cause would kill any chance of the two to be together. As Hugo says to Wargrave:Nobody else ever thought of it. But I knew the moment I looked at her — when I got back — after... And she knew I knew... What she didn’t realize was that I loved that kid...
- Marston ran over and killed kids with his car. And he feels no remorse or guilt whatsoever for them, only feeling annoyance that his license was suspended.
- The guilt that Mrs. Rogers feels for having killed their old employer by withholding her medication is apparent when she drops the service tray and faints after hearing the record announce their crime. She's so distressed, in fact, that she needs to be put to bed and sedated—which is, of course, how the murderer is able to slip her a lethal drug overdose. He notes at the end that Mr. Rogers was the stronger-willed of the two, and had likely pressured her into their crime, which is why he killed her so early (as only the second murder). Even he felt sorry for her and thought she deserved a Mercy Kill.
