Tear Jerker / Dream SMP

In loving memory of Tommy. He was taken from us too soon.

Being a roleplay-heavy series, the Dream SMP has its fair share of sad and depressing moments.

Note: Unless otherwise specified, all tropes pertain to the characters, not the content creators that play them.

Season One

L'Manburg War for Independence

• The L'Manbergians' reactions to Eret's betrayal, most of them telling Eret how much they trusted him.

The Manburg Rebellion

• After L'Manberg's walls were torn down, Tubbo starts recounting stories from the L'Manberg Revolution while aimlessly walking through the almost entirely decimated area. It really hits you just how little was left of the original L'Manburg, especially now that Wilbur and Tommy were no longer there.
  Tubbo: Look, this is where... at the start of the war, Tommy went out, and... Sapnap shot him, and he respawned just inside the caravan... We stood around this table, during... during the Revolution, when things looked the most dire. And... Wilbur asked me what supplies I had, I said I had nothing, Tommy had nothing, Fundy had nothing, Wilbur had nothing... we all had nothing. We then... we then walked outside, and we met them at the gate here, where they detonated TNT. Right at the gate. We– we ran back to the lake! And then we went down Tommy's contraption and met in the final room. (Beat) I miss them, chat...
• Wilbur's Sanity Slippage. The once-great leader of L'Manberg lost everything to Jschlatt, including the perceived moral high ground. With nothing left, Wilbur turned to becoming an Anti-Hero who considered himself a villain. Even worse is Tommy pleading with Wilbur to turn back, knowing his leader and Big Brother Mentor wasn't someone so unhinged like Wilbur was at the time.
  • It doesn't help that Tommy could only trust Tubbo. Dream sided with Wilbur, Techno was a Wild Card, and everyone else was either an enemy or in a position where they were unable to help them. The cherry on top of all of this? When Wilbur revealed himself as the traitor and detonated L'Manburg at the end of the war, what did he have to say about it?
    Wilbur: (salutes) It was never meant to be.
• After Tommy realized he was not getting through to Wilbur, he told Tubbo to meet him at their bench. The two of them meet there, play Tommy's music discs and genuinely contemplate just running away together. It really cements the fact that these two are just children, thrust into opposite sides of a conflict, with way too much responsibility resting on them, especially in Tommy's case.
• How the entire of the Battle of the Lake, despite it being a Moment of Awesome for the Pogtopians, was really just a child enraged at the loss of his closest pet.
• Before the start of the Festival, while explaining his plan, Wilbur quietly says, "I miss Philza... I wonder if he'd be proud of me." While this line was heartbreaking enough on its own, Phil was doing a solo stream at the time, and once his chat told him what Wilbur had said, he had this response.
  Phil: Proud of him for murdering his friends?! Proud of him for becoming a literal terrorist?! ...that's not the Wilbur I knew. He's fallen off the edge, chat. That's not the way.
• While Technoblade usually relishes in being able to fight and kill other players, he was very hesitant when Jschlatt forced him to execute Tubbo. Techno stalled for as long as he could, taking Jschlatt's deadly euphemisms as literally as possible to draw out the execution. When that fails and Jschlatt gave him a direct order, his last words to Tubbo were:
  Technoblade: Tubbo... Tubbo, I'm sorry. I'll make this as painless and as colorful as I can, Tubbo.
  • Tubbo_ whispers to you: I thought he wouldn’t hurt me?
• The day after the Manburg Festival, Schlatt announced the demolition of the White House, to Quackity's protests. Not only did he ignore Quackity desperately trying to stop him, but the scene straight-up descended into Domestic Abuse territory, with Quackity being on the receiving end of Schlatt's belittling and mocking and even pickaxe hits for about eight minutes of real-life time (along with being ordered to help destroy the White House he helped build)... then the tears of anger/pain turn into tears of joy and pride when Quackity finally kills Schlatt and runs for it.
• On the same day, Wilbur showed Tommy and a recently-defected Quackity the Button room. With the latter two frantically trying to block Wilbur from pressing the button and blowing Manburg to smithereens, Wilbur tried to explain why he wanted to do so in the first place, opening up about his own feelings that he had previously attempted to repress.
  Tommy: If you blow this up, you're taking yourself with you. Is that what you want?
  Wilbur: I just–! I just wanna–! (laughing, breathless) Fuck, I just wanna end it! I wanna end it! I wanna press that button, man. (sharp inhale) Everyone's saying– Fuck…
  • When Quackity and Tommy left Wilbur alone in the button room, Wilbur started to sing the L'Manburg anthem to himself as he placed the button back. However, once he got to "A very big and not blown up L'Manburg", his voice cracked and he couldn't finish the rest of the song as he decided not to go through with his plan.
• To end the Pet War once and for all, Tommy made a deal with Sapnap where he would give up all hostilities if Sapnap released Mars, his pet fish, into the ocean. Sapnap did so, sounding very quiet and upset as he does, and he and Tommy watched Mars swim away into the sea.
  Sapnap: Goodbye, Mars...
• While the entire server's confrontation with Schlatt in the Camarvan that ended in Schlatt's death was mostly hilarious, Quackity's side of the confrontation is surprisingly sad, as he told Schlatt that the two could have had something but he couldn't stick around with the White House gone, all the while Schlatt was shooting arrows at him and continuing to mock him and his appearance, which was later revealed to be a source of insecurity for him... which Schlatt caused in the first place. Not to mention that Schlatt, right after dying, decided to trigger his Berserk Button (which doubles as his Trauma Button) by mocking him one last time from beyond the grave, while everyone else laughed at how ridiculous the situation seemed.
  Quackity: I tried to impress you and you took down my house!
• Everything after Tubbo's inauguration.
  • Wilbur ran off to the Button room, determined to finally press it. While there, he's suddenly confronted by Philza, who logged on for the first time to try and stop him. They have an emotional confrontation, during which Phil seemed to be getting through to Wilbur... until Wilbur turned around and pressed the Button. What cements this as a Tear Jerker is how disappointed Phil sounds. He's completely unimpressed by Wilbur's attempts to lie his way out of the situation, and he sounds horrified once Wilbur actually goes through with his plan.
    Phil: (frustrated scream) GOD! You couldn't just let– You couldn't just win! You couldn't– You had to just throw your toys out the pram!
    • After the explosion, Wilbur handed Phil his sword and demanded that he kill him right then and there. Phil refused, insisting that Wilbur is his son and that he couldn't hurt him no matter what, but Wilbur just kept on insisting until Phil finally stabbed him to death.
  • Doubles as Nightmare Fuel for those in L'Manburg. They were dealing with the confusion from both Phil suddenly joining the server and Techno's sudden hostility, desperately trying to manage the situation... and then the ground explodes beneath their feet.
• Wilbur's permanent death (leaving the server) was a fitting goodbye for the first season of the Dream SMP.
• After everything had calmed down, Phil took a walk around the server, but after discovering the remains of Ponk's lemon tree and learning that Tubbo was the one to burn it down, it suddenly becomes apparent that he blames himself for everything that happened.
  Phil: I expect it from Techno! He was born in blood, he was literally– he is the embodiment of chaos. I expect Techno to just murder everyone. But fucking Tubbo burning down a tree?! Wil nuking L'Manburg?! Like... Bruh, what'd I do– Where did I go wrong? Where'd I go wrong? We're having to hit reset now? [...] Yeah, I fucked up, chat. I fucked up. I uh... (laughs) I gotta be a better role model, I think...
• Released weeks later, Wilbur's condensed episode of the Season 1 finale (from his perspective) ends with a sequence of the battle that happens after his death, between Techno (and others) and the L'Manburgian forces. As Kanaya's cover of L'Manburg's National Anthem plays over the background, Wilbur narrates a final closing line in a voiceover:
  Wilbur: There's no– There's no "L'Manburg won", there's no "Pogtopia won", I won.

Season Two

The Reconstruction Arc

• Fundy dealing with the fact that he's an orphan now. Although he and his father had their issues, it's very clear that Wilbur's death left him grieving greatly.
  Fundy: I miss him, alright, I miss him. As much as he was a crazy fucker blowing up Manberg, he was my dad, alright. We've had back-and-forth conversations, and we had love-hate relationships, but listen...
  • Later, when Wilbur returned as a spirit named Ghostbur, Fundy became distraught and very angry at him. Initially, Ghostbur mistakenly thought that his son was upset over not being made president (as what Fundy wanted the most was to be respected by his father), until Fundy said that he was angry at Wilbur for dying and leaving him all alone.
• Ghostbur teaching Fundy, Quackity, and Tubbo the lyrics and melody of the L'Manberg anthem. While it does cross over into comedic territory due to how off-key everyone was, it's still a very haunting yet touching scene, especially with their last attempt performing, where they actually sounded pretty decent.
• During one of Tubbo's streams, it was revealed that Ghostbur has a bad case of amnesia. He claimed to only remember happy moments, and, minus the first war, he was able to give a pretty decent timeline of events... up until the Election, after which he remembered basically nothing. During the entire Pogtopia arc, there was not a single moment where Wilbur was happy.^note It's somewhat justified by Ghostbur describing his living self to have had "crippling depression", but it doesn't make it any less sad. In fact, it arguably makes it worse.
  • Something that Ghostbur does remember, though? Being killed by Phil. He was happy to die.
  • Tubbo offered to fill in the gaps in his memory, but Ghostbur declined, saying he really didn't want to know what he did when he was alive.
    Ghostbur: It's not me, Tubbo. You know that's not me. I'm Ghostbur. [...] I'm different from regular one. He was a bad man, I'm not him.
  • "Everyone likes me more now that I'm dead."
• After Wilbur's death, Phil retreated to a tundra to meditate. Though he was very blasé about it at first, a book he later on gave to Ghostbur described him feeling "cold, guilty, torn apart from the inside". It also mentioned that Phil found a bunch of totems (likely Totems of Undying), along with scriptures detailing how to bring people Back from the Dead, implying that he only came back because he found a way to bring Wilbur back to life.
• Ghostbur's attempt to reconnect with his son goes south in a very tragic way. When he meets Fundy to give him his armor (which he'd dropped when dying and Tubbo picked up) he sounds very enthusiastic and happily talks about how they're bonding... until Fundy breaks the news that Eret has offered to adopt him after Wilbur passed away, and that the only person left who can finalize the adoption is Phil. Distressed, Ghostbur leaves to talk with Phil, who confirms the situation and apologetically informs him that Wilbur wasn't the best father to Fundy when he was alive... which only upsets Ghostbur further. He soon wanders into the abandoned ravine of Pogtopia, looks around in total silence, and then ends the stream.
  Ghostbur: Fundy needs a dad. Fundy needs a dad, for sure... and I need to make up for what I did. I've gotta make up for what I did.
  • Special mention should go to his conversation with Phil, in which Ghostbur realizes just how bad he was when he was alive.
    Ghostbur: (confused, upset) Eret? Eret? Is the... choice?
    Phil: Apparently so... But I'm gonna– I'm gonna find out if he's good enough, though. I gotta make sure... Gotta make sure his– his castle's up to code. All... specked up to be safe.
    Ghostbur: Yeah... Yeah, so he doesn't stick his fingers in the sockets.
    Phil: Or burn himself on torches...
    Ghostbur: Yeah, I was gonna, um... I was gonna... ask. Phil, how bad was I, Phil? How awful of a person was I?! That- 'Cause this isn't a normal thing that happens, is it?! When people die, they normally, y'know, keep their father's legacy alive, y'know? They don't normally look for a new... one... I was just wondering, how awful... How dreadful was I?
    (Beat)
    Phil: Wil... For a good portion of your life, you were the best dad. You were great. But... at some point... you took a turn. And... things got messy.
• Fundy is upset after Eret fails to show up for his adoption so Phil takes him out fishing to cheer his grandson up. It goes well... until Ghostbur shows up. Ghostbur desperately wants to reconnect with his son and Fundy finally finds the courage to call out Wilbur on how hurtful his unintentional patronizing is, but Ghostbur's inability to handle negativity coupled with his worsening amnesia frustrates Fundy and turns the conversation sour. It escalates to Fundy running off when Ghostbur starts treating Fundy like a child just like how Wilbur used to and Fundy yelling at Ghostbur for not taking anything seriously.
  Fundy: Wil, stop. Every single time something serious comes up, you evade it. You just avoid everything. You run away from any serious consequence that might come from your actions. You walk away from it! You just smile throughout everything! You think nothing is going on, you think everything is fine! It's not!
  • The worst and most frustrating part of all this is how you can't really blame either Fundy or Ghostbur. Wilbur was an overbearing father who never treated his son like an adult, but Ghostbur suffers from severe memory loss and is mentally unable to process or retain information that isn't positive. Fundy refuses to give his father another chance, but it's hard to expect him to be able to when he is literally unable to get emotional closure because the fragility of Ghostbur's mental state makes it so they can never truly make progress. It's a painful situation for both sides.
    Fundy: You never take things seriously, you never do.
    Ghostbur: I don't remember doing any of those things, I just...
    Fundy: Let me tell you something, Wil, let me tell you something. You know what happened after all of your memories, after all of your good memories of our quote unquote last talk? Cause it wasn't our last talk, Wil.
    Ghostbur: (stuttering) If I didn't remember it, then it wasn't worth remembering.
    Fundy: It wasn't– ...you don't mean that.

The Exile Conflict

• The fight between Tommy and Tubbo. One of the strongest, most iconic friendships on the server is in jeopardy, and there's nothing either party can do about it. Both Tommy and Tubbo have a point, both of them want to prioritize the other but can't, and both of them know the rift between them is because of Dream, but neither of them know how to close it without fucking everyone else over.
  • After Dream gives his ultimatum and leaves the call, Tubbo, for the first time in the server's history, loses his temper. The stress of being president and dealing with such a delicate situation, only for his subordinates to screw it all up finally got to him, and he lets it all out in a "The Reason You Suck" Speech the likes of which we've never heard come from Tubbo's mouth.
    Tubbo: Tommy, you had one job. You had one job. To be positive. To be peaceful. (Beat) And you messed it up.
    Quackity: (shaky whisper) You fuck– you fucked up, you really fucked this up, Tommy...
    Tubbo: No, THIS IS ON YOU TWO AS WELL, actually!
    (Quackity and Fundy stammer out protests)
    Tubbo: You went along with it! You all went along with it!
    [...]
    Tommy: Tubbo... He's only doing this to get under your skin, so you turn on me, alright?
    Tubbo: No, actually, he's made it VERY CLEAR what he's doing! He's doing this TO GET YOUR DISCS! 'Cause he wants them! [...] You had one job! You couldn't do ONE thing for me! You couldn't do ONE! Just ONE thing! And it was for your own good! So you know what, if the roles were reversed, as you said... YEAH! Yeah, you probably wouldn't exile me, BECAUSE I WOULD HAVE ACTUALLY LISTENED TO YOU, AND DONE WHAT YOU SAID! AND MAYBE HAD A COUPLE OUNCES OF RESPECT! You've messed this up for no one but yourself! (Beat) Selfish.
    • Then there's the fact that both Tommy and Tubbo are afraid that history might be repeating itself. They can see the rift forming between them, and with the positions they're in, they're both afraid of following in the footsteps of the "villains" before them.
      Tommy: Wilbur has gone! The villain– fuckin' Schlatt, the dictator who's exiled us before has gone! Tubbo, you can't turn into what you hate, you can't be the next Schlatt! If you exile me, you're following in that man's footsteps! Please!
      Tubbo: M'kay. Well, as long as I can't be the next Schlatt, you can't be the next Wilbur.
  • After the meeting, Tommy and Ranboo go to Tommy's house to reflect on what happened. Tommy, in a rare moment of vulnerability, tells Ranboo just how scared he is that Tubbo might not only turn against him, but that Tommy himself might follow in Wilbur's footsteps.
    Tommy: I know there's that one line, that we all– that rings through my head as I sleep, of Wilbur going, "Tommy... Let's be the bad guys." But I don't wanna... I don't wanna be the bad guys. [...] The reason I didn't make Tubbo the leader, when I– I coulda chose anyone. And I chose Wilbur, the man who was already half insane, but I knew he was coming back around... and I didn't choose Tubbo. It's because I knew that, if Tubbo was the president... (sigh) It would pull us apart, Ranboo. And look at him. He's picking his– his nation... over me. And... If he does on Friday... I don't know what I'm gonna do with myself.
  • It's not just Tubbo that Tommy feels he's losing, either — when Phil accompanies Techno on a mission to retrieve his pets, Tommy's feeling of betrayal is palpable, which only worsens when Ghostbur joins in on their group. From his view, he's watching one of the most trusted figures in his life side with his worst enemy, and he's scared that Ghostbur's going to leave him too. He even lets slip this vulnerability when he asks Ghostbur to stay with him after informing him of his exile, a painful reminder that at the end of the day, Tommy is still just a kid, terrified of being left behind by those he cares about.
    Tommy: Wilbur, if I have to go tomorrow... will you still be there to look after me if I'm alone?
• While talking to Tommy in L'Manburg and generally having a good time, Sapnap suddenly mentions Dream's furious rant from the prior day... specifically, that he didn't care about anything on the server. Sapnap then quietly asks Tommy if Dream still cares about him... and Tommy can't respond for quite a long time. When Tommy finally tells him that Dream doesn't care about him, Sapnap tries to play it off as though it doesn't hurt... when it very clearly does.
• Things seemed to be looking up for Tommy on the night of his exile, as Quackity, Fundy and Tubbo made an agreement to not let Dream walk over them anymore. The four of them made plans to find allies — Tommy would go after Technoblade while Fundy, Tubbo and Quackity would recruit the Badlands — and while Tubbo seemed hesitant, it seemed to be a solid plan. But then, when it came down to it, Tubbo exiled Tommy anyway, despite everyone's protests.
  • Tommy's reaction is absolutely heartbreaking. He's stunned into shocked silence for several minutes, and even when he finds his voice again, all he can do is beg Tubbo to reconsider and ask him why. When Dream drags Tommy off, Tommy doesn't even fight back, he just follows Dream while flipping between stunned silence, screaming and swearing in rage, and pleading for Dream to take him back home.
  • The worst part is, you can't even blame Tubbo for doing this. Another war this soon after the Manburg-Pogtopia war would have devastated L'Manburg, and going up against Dream with what little resources they have would have meant the end of the nation. Appeasing Dream is a bad idea, but it's the only option that wouldn't result in everyone in L'Manburg ending up dead or homeless.
    Tubbo: IT'S NOT THE BEST FOR THIS NATION! NOTHING involving ANY kind of conflict is the best for this nation! Okay?! You guys are thinking EMOTIONALLY, IRRATIONALLY! You need to think LOGICALLY! There's more than just us four that live here! War is gonna bring DESTRUCTION, TERROR! A new regime that we don't want to enforce upon our citizens! [...] You all jump on these merry little bandwagons, of– of destruction! It's not– It's not okay! (stammers) You DEFINITELY do not have the best interests of this nation at heart! And you have made that more apparent then EVER before today!
  • The fight that ensues between Tommy and Tubbo is heartbreaking, as what little bond remained between them is shattered completely.
    Tubbo: All of this is based around the music discs! We can't sacrifice everything for the music discs!
    Tommy: Tubbo, Tubbo, but what– From the beginning, before L'Manburg, e– You know this is our L'Manburg, this is everything, but before everything... The discs, Tubbo... What about the discs... You... Tubbo, the–
    Tubbo: They're just. Music discs. They shouldn't be able to dictate the future of an entire nation.
    [...]
    Tommy: This is what Dream wants! Why... Why would... Why?! Tubbo?
    Tubbo: It's not the way, it's not the way, it's not the right way.
    Tommy: What is the– HOW is this the right way?! Explain, explain! How are the discs wrong, Tubbo?! Can't you see, this has been the thing from the begi–
    Tubbo: THE DISCS DON'T MATTER, TOMMY!!! HOW COULD YOU NOT SEE THAT?! They don't matter!
    (Beat)
    Tommy: Wh– why? What...? W-well, if... If they don't matter, Tubbo... If they don't matter... If you have no attachment to things... If you don't– if nothing matters, then... why does any of– ANY of this matter at all?
    (Beat)
    Tubbo: (coldly) Dream, please detain and escort Tommy out of my country.

The Exile Arc

• Tommy's time in Exile is nothing but heartbreaking.
  • The fact that, for the first time in the server's history, Tommy is completely alone. He's exiled from L'Manburg, he's made enemies out of most major players, his few allies (Sam and Ranboo) can only support him from a distance, and Ghostbur, his only company, doesn't even understand what's going on because he can't retain any information that makes him upset. During his first exile in Pogtopia, he had Wilbur with him, and Tubbo was still firmly on his side, but now Tommy is all by himself, and it's clear he has no idea how to handle that.
  • Dream, Tommy and Ghostbur, on their way out of the Greater Dream SMP, come across Tommy and Tubbo's summer house, which they built together to have a place to get away from everything. Tommy is quiet and sad as he reminisces about the good times he and Tubbo had together... and then Dream blows it up, in a move so cruel even Ghostbur realizes he's being mean.
    Ghostbur: (insulted) I gave you my blue!
  • When they finally reach a field Dream determines to be far enough away, he demands Tommy dump all of his items in a hole so he can destroy them.
    Tommy: Or what?!
    Dream: Orrr... I will kill you.
    Tommy: Fully kill me?
    Dream: Yes.
    Tommy: Well, I... I don't care.
  • Tommy's desperate attempts to get answers out of Ghostbur. He just wants to know whether or not Wilbur planned for any of this to happen... but Ghostbur doesn't remember why he made Tubbo president when he was alive, so Tommy's frantic begging only confuses and upsets him.
    Tommy: Why did you make Tubbo the president...?
    Ghostbur: I didn't, that was Wilbur. That was Alivebur.
    Tommy: Think! Think, man! Why, why did you make– Why?! [...] Did you do this on purpose?!
    Ghostbur: No, I don't– I don't wanna make anyone upset...
  • Sam visits briefly to give Tommy some food and to offer him a place to stay. He's clearly extremely upset about what happened.
    Sam: (close to tears) I'm so sick of seeing this server tear itself apart...
  • Tommy coming to the realization that he's completely out of his depth.
    Tommy: The reason was because Tubbo's the president, so here's what we do! (Beat) ...what do we do? I just... I just didn't wanna go...
  • There's one last moment during Tommy's second day of exile that's absolutely devastating. Tommy activates a ruined nether portal, and manages to find the community hub portal that leads to the rest of the Dream SMP... and he can't even go through it — Dream is there with him, fully intending to kill him for good if he steps through. It only gets worse when Sapnap and Ghostbur pass through, and excitedly talk about the Christmas tree set up nearby on the other side, right in earshot of Tommy. He steps away from the portal and walks to the edge of the bridge he's standing on... and stares at the lava for a long, long, time…
    Dream: (punching Tommy away from the edge) It's not your time to die yet, Tommy.
    Tommy: ... it's never my time to die.
    • "How do you know when it's too much?"
  • As time progresses, Tommy's skin starts to look worse and worse. His hair becomes disheveled, his shirt gets stained and ripped, and he gains progressively larger bags under his eyes, showing that his mental health has declined to the point where he's completely stopped taking care of himself.
  • Doubles as Heartwarming. Ghostbur, in an attempt to cheer Tommy up, spent ages trying to make a gift for him, based on what he remembered Tommy liked. In the end, he wound up giving Tommy a Lodestone Compass that points directly at... Tubbo. Ghostbur does not remember that Tubbo and Tommy had a falling out, nor does he remember that Tommy can't return to L'Manburg under threat of death, so while absolutely well-intentioned, the gift only makes Tommy more sad.
• Tommy spent a full day planning to host a beach party in Logstedshire, building the beach itself, setting up chairs and tables, making a cake and generally being very, very excited at the prospect of seeing his friends together in one place again. And then nobody showed up.
  • Tommy spends the first ten minutes of his stream doing some last-minute setup and hyping himself up, saying that he's very excited to see his friends again and that he's down to make amends with Tubbo. But then, as time progresses and nobody shows up, he starts getting more and more panicked and worried, wondering if they got lost or if Ghostbur put the wrong time zone on the invite. Then Dream shows up, and apologizes for being twenty minutes late. It's then that it sinks in for Tommy that nobody is coming.
    • Dream tells Tommy that they might as well get started on the party. Tommy, still confused and shaken up, grabs the cake and places it on the table.
      Tommy: (dejected) I guess we can eat...
      Dream: A cake? [...] (eats a slice) Eyyy!
      Tommy: Does it taste nice...?
      Dream: Yeah! Here, let me have another piece... (eats another slice) It's good. Have a slice!
      Tommy: (quietly) ...I've lost my appetite...
  • Philza was streaming at the same time, but when people asked him why he wasn't there, he said he didn't want to just show up uninvited... except Phil was invited. So ignoring the possibility that Ghostbur just forgot, the only logical conclusion is that Dream stole the invites to crush Tommy's hopes even more. And the worst part? It works. Tommy, after weeks of loneliness and gaslighting and manipulation, now genuinely believes that his friends have abandoned him.
    Tommy: No one cares, do they?! No one showed up to my party! And I– It's the one thing, the one thing that they had to do for me, after exiling me and fucking me over and not one of them came with me! And n– None of them care about me anymore. 'Cause I'm not in L'Manburg anymore! 'Cause I'm not with– 'Cause I'm not the Vice-President! [...] Have you noticed how, now I've got no power no mo', everyone has fuckin' left me? Everyone left me, everyone's fuckin'... They don't care. [...] Dream, no one cares anymore! Other than... you.
    • After this outburst, Tommy asks for Dream's pickaxe. Dream is hesitant, but complies, and as soon as he hands it to him, Tommy rushes off to the Nether and starts tearing down the bridge between the Logstedshire Portal and the Community Hub. Tommy, in a fit of rage, has figuratively and literally burned the bridges between himself and the rest of the server.
      Tommy: Fuck this, man! If no one's gonna– if no one's gonna put in the fucking effort to come and see me, then I'm gonna– I'm gonna make the effort harder to come and see me, alright?! [...] If they wanna come and see me, fine. But they're gonna have to make the fucking walk.
  • About an hour earlier, Tubbo lost the "Your Tommy"-compass in a creeper-explosion, completely by accident. However, when Tommy catches wind that the compass was destroyed and asks about it, Dream tells him that Tubbo burned it. Tommy, believing that Tubbo destroyed the compass on purpose, grabs his "Your Tubbo" compass, runs to the Nether with it, and stands on the bridge, seconds away from pitching it into the lava lake. Ultimately, he doesn't do it, but the fact that Dream got him to even contemplate it is heartrending in and of itself.
    • Then there's this line.
      Dream: Why don't you sleep on it, Tommy? (Beat) Just wait, don't do anything... Y'know, anything you can't take back...
      (long pause)
      Tommy: I don't sleep anymore, Dream.
  • Tommy winds up wandering back over to the Community Hub, and stares into the Nether Portal.
    Tommy: I just wanna go home...
    (Beat)
    Dream: Um...
    Tommy: Please, can I go home?
    Dream: D'you wanna see the Christmas tree for like, ten seconds?
    Tommy: Can I stay...?
    Dream: You can't stay, but if you wanna look at it, I'll let you.
    Tommy: Why can't I stay...?
    (Beat)
    Dream: Well, it's not like they want you anyway, Tommy.
    Tommy: ...what...?
    Dream: Tommy, no one showed up to your party, and everyone was invited. D'you wanna see the Christmas tree?
    Tommy: (turns back around and starts walking to the Logstedshire Portal) ...let's just go back...
    Dream: Come on, you wanna see the Christmas tree. Tommy! Come back!
    Tommy: No one showed up, Dream. [...] No one showed up. Did they? No one cares anymore. I'm just...
    Dream: I'm sure– I'm sure if you asked them, they'd say they care about you.
    Tommy: Well, I– You invited them, and they didn't show up! (Beat) We did ask them. And they all said "no". They said "no"... (sigh; starts walking back to Logstedshire) Let's go home.
  • A small moment — while walking back to Logstedshire, Dream offers Tommy some food. Tommy refuses, despite the fact that he was on three hearts and about to run out of sprint. Tommy's mental state has declined to the point where he's not just neglecting himself, he's actively refusing to eat.
• The fact that Tommy isn't alone wraps around from being heartwarming to depressing. It's clear other people on the SMP care about Tommy and his wellbeing, but getting banished by his best friend has left him with trust issues. To make matters worse, Dream is doing everything he can to make Tommy think that he is alone and that no one cares for him other then Dream himself, the failed beach party pushes Tommy into believing him. This leads to Tommy lashing out at people who try to visit or help him. Tommy pushes them away despite how lonely he is, claiming they don't really care about him and are only checking up on him out of pity or for streaming clout.
• Tommy, after seeing that his eyes have gone duller and seeing the effects of his declining mental and physical health, comes to a pretty horrifying conclusion.
  Tommy: I don't think I've got very long left...
  • After coming to this realization, Tommy starts to quietly prepare for his own death. It's mostly funny — one of his goals is to write "How To Sex 3" — but the fact that a sixteen-year-old is casually planning out the things he needs to do before he dies of loneliness is pretty heartbreaking.
• Speaking of Tommy's Exile, Mexican Dream's deaths count as this, especially in hindsight. While on his way to Tijuana, M.D. stumbles across Tommy in the Nether and decides to join him in Logstedshire, something that no one else had done before. While the livestream started out as light-hearted, since Dream was too weirded out by M.D's presence to do anything against Tommy, it eventually ends tragically when Dream ends up murdering Mexican Dream because he helped provide Tommy a support system while in Exile, which was something Dream didn't want. M.D's death also heavily contributed to Tommy's spiral in Exile.
• Bad doing anything, even trying to use trolls that he hates and kissing him, to get back his best friend from being possessed by the Crimson.
• While being taken back to L'Manburg by the Butcher Army for execution, when Technoblade sees Philza under house arrest, he completely panics.
  Techno: PHIL! PHIL, WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU?
• Tubbo and Dream try to carry Mushroom, Niki's pet fox, out of Pogtopia into New L'Manburg, only for it to die because of fall damage after Tubbo fell with Mushroom still leashed to him. It quickly goes downhill after Tubbo sees the in-game chat messages from some of the players making fun of him failing to maintain Mushroom's life, causing him to break down far quicker than Tommy during exile.
  Tubbo: Okay, as soon as I murder a pet, as soon as I murder a pet, EVERYONE logs on to witness it! Okay! Okay, I see how it is! I see– I see how it is! Just– everyone comes out to witness my failures! No one wants to be in a hangout, have a fun time, except for Dream! These guys, they just come out to laugh! Point and laugh!... Oh my god– Well, now I'm just– now I'm just– Dream is my only friend! Dream is now my only friend!
  Tubbo, after looking at the bone named "Mushroom", which Mushroom the fox once held: Ohhh, man... I'm never gonna be able to live off the guilt! I'm never am! It's gonna eat me up and kill me!
  • Even telling Niki what happened did not help Tubbo, as he still felt the guilt of Mushroom's death, and some players still mocked him for it.
    Niki: Hello?
    Tubbo: No, no, no–
    Niki: What happened?
    Tubbo: –No, no, no, (continues for a few more seconds, with Nihachu asking what happened)
    Tubbo: Niki, he just started shaking, there's nothing I can do; he had a stroke, Niki, he had a stroke! He just started shaking– and then he fell! He fell a far distance! It was out of my control! I'm so sorry!
    Niki: Oh...
    Ranboo through private chat to Tubbo: LMAOOO
    Tubbo: (laughs in exasperation) You should've seen him! He just started shaking! We had it so under control until we very much did not have it under our control!
• After Quackity and Tubbo make the decision to go after Dream, Tubbo runs to Logstedshire to talk to Tommy, saying how much he missed him, how excited he is to see Tommy again, and how he hopes Tommy is okay. Tubbo runs through the portal, confused as to why there's a second, broken portal frame, then horrified as he sees the craters where Logstedshire and Tommy's tent used to be... And then he spots the tall, narrow pillar Tommy built to jump to his death from. Tubbo, after putting the pieces together, just quietly mutters, "Surely not..." to himself, before ripping his earbuds out and ending his stream.
  • The most painful part is that Tommy is still alive. He didn't go through with his suicide, he ran away from Logstedshire and allied himself with Techno. It's even worse in that as seen in the in-game chat, Tommy chatted to Techno after Tubbo logged out of the server/ended the stream, which means Tubbo is under the impression that his best friend killed himself without finding out the truth, and that it was his fault for driving him to do this.

The Vengeance Arc

• Quackity talks with Tubbo about wanting to execute Ranboo, but Tubbo immediately vetoes it, bringing up how the exact situation that they would execute Ranboo in will be the exact same as when Tubbo was executed, though without outright saying it. It seems like the pain of the Red Festival is still fresh in Tubbo's mind. What stings more is that he's bringing this up to Quackity in particular, the person who caused Schlatt to take over in the first place.
  Tubbo: This is just– This is just going to be history repeating itself! He decorated the festival, he will be murdered in his own decorations! Does that not sound familiar? Does that maybe sound a little bit, like, maybe it's happened before? Can you, can you– I don't know if it's just me that remembers that! Do you realize that maybe it's happened under someone else's administration? Someone who we swore to never be like? Do you maybe– Maybe, you know– The fact that– You know, why don't we blow them up with a rocket launcher?! Maybe that would, you know, get the cogs moving in your head a little bit!
• When Ranboo loses his memory book, he absolutely freaks out, scouring the server for any signs of it while frantically trying to reassure himself. It quickly becomes clear that Ranboo's Extreme Doormat tendencies have come back to bite him, and that he's gotten himself into a position where if any of his secrets get out, he might lose everything, from his home, to his friends, to his own personal safety.
  Ranboo: (to himself) Why?! Why did you do it immediately?! Why– what– what was your thinking process when you IMMEDIATELY GAVE BACK THE ARMOR TO THE ONE PERSON THAT'S THE ENEMY OF THE ONE COUNTRY THAT'S GIVEN YOU A HOME?!
• Doubles as Nightmare Fuel — the complete and utter decimation of L'Manburg. The entire nation is razed to the ground by Withers, then carpet-bombed with TNT until the entire city more closely resembles the surface of the moon. Everyone tried their best to stop it, to kill the Withers and fight Technoblade, but at some point they all give up, and just watch as their nation is destroyed before their eyes. Tommy and Tubbo climb on the obsidian grid above, and solemnly agree that there is no rebuilding this. L'Manburg, the oldest nation on the server, the nation that started everything, is gone.
  • After Techno, Philza and Dream leave, Tommy, Tubbo and Quackity are joined by Ghostbur as they survey the damage done to the city. The four of them stand in the spot the L'Mantree used to be, and solemnly sing the national anthem together, as they say goodbye to their home.
  • Prior to the early invasion of L'Manburg, multiple members of the defense who were on the fence such as Fundy, Nihachu, Ranboo and Eret were discussing the possible aftermaths regarding this war, and considered both to be undesirable. Either Dream will win, or will inevitably have another go at destroying the country, which has been known to have corrupted its leaders and forced people into choosing sides on multiple occasions with Wilbur, Quackity and Tubbo, among others for petty reasons such as Tommy's discs. Due to this, several members have decided to abstain the battle entirety, or instead sped up the destruction via active sabotage (such as Fundy's destruction of war equipment or Niki's burning of the L'Mantree), or simply convincing other members to give up.
    • And it needs to be emphasized. Niki of all people, burned the L'Mantree down, saying, "It was never meant to be." It really goes to show just how tired and broken she is, the words almost being a tribute to her fallen friend, Wilbur.
  • Ghostbur's response in particular is heartbreaking. He walks up to his sewer entrance, happily talking to his chat, only to realize that his sewer, his home, is gone. He immediately starts looking for Friend, his pet sheep that he left in Phil's care, but Phil's house is gone too, and Friend is not there. Ghostbur picks through the rubble for a good five minutes, trying to find Friend, but after realizing that, not only is Friend definitely dead, but Phil is one of the people that blew everything up, Ghostbur calls Phil. When Phil picks up, Ghostbur — who is completely in tears at this point — proceeds to scream at him, furious that his dad would even consider doing something like this.
    Ghostbur: You knew friend was in your house!
    Phil: (dismissively) He's got infinite canon–
    Ghostbur: (crying; furious) YOU KNEW FRIEND WAS IN YOUR HOUSE!
    Phil: He's got infinite canon lives!
    Ghostbur: YOU KNEW– STOP, STOP, STOP! YOU KNEW FRIEND WAS IN YOUR HOUSE! YOU KNEW EVERYTHING EVERYONE OWNED WAS IN THIS TOWN!
    • After tearfully venting his frustrations to Phil and getting completely stonewalled, Ghostbur comes back to Tommy's call, and tells him that he wants to be brought back to life. Keep in mind, the reason he didn't want to be brought back was because if Wilbur was brought back to life, Ghostbur would die. Ghostbur has reached such a low point that he's willing to die, risk bringing back an unstable maniac, and remembering everything he wanted to forget, just to try and preserve something.
    • What makes it worse is that Ghostbur himself is the spectral form of a suicide victim, and Doomsday caused him to be Driven to Suicide.
  • While not nearly on the same level as many of the other events from that day, Techno's interaction with Tommy shows a hint on just how much he's wanting more real friends, and how much it hurt for the constant backstabs he receives whenever he tries.
    Technoblade: Remember when I was sitting there alone against the whole government, and you and Wilbur just sat there on the sidelines and watch? Did you step in? Did you step in? Were you guys the ones who stepped in and said, "Don't worry, Technoblade, we know you're in a high pressure situation, but we'll fight the world for you, Technoblade"? No, you guys watched. You know what I did yesterday when you were surrounded by thirty people and the whole world was against you? I walked in. I was willing to fight all of them for you, Tommy. I would've been there.

The Disunion Arc

• The voice in Ranboo's head tells him during their confrontation that, during one of the gaps in his memory, Dream gave him one of Tommy's discs. Ranboo instantly runs back home, panicking as he starts searching through his chests and tearing up the ground around his shack, quietly pleading to not find anything, because if he found the disc, that would mean the voice was telling the truth about him destroying the Community House and helping Dream with destroying L'Manburg... and then he hits a chest. He spends a good five minutes frozen in absolute terror, before finally managing to open it... and seeing the disc. Ranboo then bursts into horrified tears, whimpering, "No, no, no," over and over again, before blacking out.
• When Tommy and Tubbo are captured by Dream, Dream reveals that his plan is to lock Tommy up in the prison... and kill Tubbo. Tommy desperately tries to save Tubbo, but Tubbo quietly stops him, reassuring him that it's okay. Earlier, when Dream made Tommy pick between Tubbo's life and the disc, Tubbo begged him to just take the disc. Tubbo was more than willing to die for the discs, to die for Tommy, and didn't even seem all that upset about his impending death.
  Tommy: So, are you really– are you accepting this? Are you okay–
  Tubbo: Yeah. It's alright. It's alright, hey! It was fun, we said our goodbyes already, at the start!
  Tommy: But that was– We were optimistic, you know that we were... [...] This isn't what...
  Tubbo: Well, y'know, you get backed into a corner. This is... like, he described me as a pawn? This is checkmate. This is it. This is the end. I suggest you resign.
  Tommy: ...Tubbo. Even though, for this entire server, I've always regarded you as... as my– as my sidekick. Really, Tubbo, I was– I was your sidekick.
  Tubbo: (laughs) No...
  Tommy: Please, don't go...
  Tubbo: No, it's fine. It's about time, anyway. It's about time.
• While Tommy and Tubbo are sitting on the bench after the season finale, Wilbur (the actual Wilbur, not Ghostbur) returns very briefly to speak to them, in a moment that's as heartwarming as it is tearjerking.
  • Tommy, upon hearing Wilbur's voice, instantly turns off the jukebox. He spends the entire conversation in complete shock, clearly not knowing how to feel about it all, despite Wilbur's repeated attempts to get him to smile.
  • Upon hearing that them imprisoning Dream means he could come back, all Wilbur has to say is that he really doesn't want to come back. He's horrified when he hears about their plans, especially since it would result in the death of Ghostbur.
    Wilbur: YOU'RE GONNA KILL CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST!
  • After getting into a shouting match with Tommy, Wilbur takes his last moments to say that he's proud of him.
    Tommy: ...See you soon, Wilbur.
    Wilbur: See you soon.

Season Three

The Imprisonment Arc

• Dream in the prison is a genuinely sad sight to see. He's trapped in an obsidian box completely submerged in a massive box of lava, and the only decorations in his cell are a cauldron of water, a lectern, a chest full of writing books, a clock in an item frame, and a few pieces of glowstone for lighting. He says the only time he has company is whenever Sam comes to bring him food, and all he gets to eat are raw potatoes. When Tommy asks him how he's feeling, he answers that he feels sad, because he's lost everything. And the worst part is, Tommy can't even afford to sympathize with him, because garnering sympathy is one of the most commonly used tactics in psychologically abusive relationships, and for all he knows, sad, lonely Dream is just putting up an act to manipulate him again.
  • Tommy has a small moment of his own. He gives Dream five prompts to write books about, telling him to write at least ten pages for each prompt. They're mostly funny... except for the third prompt, which consists of one word: "Why?"
• Bad's prison visit is pretty sad. The visit showcases how terrible Pandora's Vault is, while Dream continuously insists that he is being treated fine and the cell isn't so bad even as he repeatedly jumps into lava and talks about how he is only being fed raw potatoes, has very little to zero social contact, and is going to never leave. Then to add to the tears, the visit ends with Bad saying he will come back and try to help Dream make the cell better, something he ultimately never does.
• Sapnap's visit with Dream in the prison is a big one on both sides. For Sapnap, he's visiting his Evil Former Friend that he clearly still cares about but believes is too dangerous and incapable of changing or coming out. For Dream, his longest friend and almost brother-like figure is denying he'll ever be able to leave Pandora's Vault and that if he ever does try to escape, that Sapnap will be the one to track him down and permanently kill him. When reflecting back on their friendship, and how Dream probably believed he was doing what was best for his friends and Sapnap still cares about him... yeah, prepare for some tears.
  • Not to mention the strange way that the visit ends as well as Sam's suspicious behavior, and Dream's refusal to speak. The entire visit gives off bad vibes, and just showcases how far Dream has fallen, how broken his friendships are, and how something wrong is happening in Pandora's Vault.
• Bad and Ant trying to force Tubbo, who clearly has PTSD, into yet another box to try to corrupt him, is horrifying. Especially considering how kind-hearted BBH normally is, seeing him trap a child in an obsidian box is heart-wrenching, and a testament to how powerful the Egg's influence is.
• By the time Puffy gets the chance to save Sam from the Egg, he's completely exhausted, his skin has been falling off, and all he can do is quietly beg for help. When Puffy and Tommy finally get him free, he barely responds to any of Puffy's questions or Tommy's attempts at banter, just quietly mumbles that he wants to go home.
• When Jack Manifold accidentally dies right next to Tubbo, Tommy starts grief counseling him as a joke. It's kind of funny... until you realize that Tommy's idea of dealing with grief is extremely unhealthy, showing that he has not in any way processed the loss of Wilbur.
  Tommy: I don't do well... with grieving people. Uh, well, I'm sure it's going to get better over time... and that you– y'know, you'll live and you learn and you'll forget about him. Um, I'm sure that he probably wasn't as good of a friend as you remembered. Uh, usually when people pass away, you remember them better, I'm sure he probably wasn't even that good, probably a bit average at best... um, I'm sure– y'know, I'm sorry about the trauma, just make sure you clean yourself up. Don't let this ruin your life.
  Tubbo: You're not– you're not good at... dealing with grief, are you?
  Tommy: ...count– count from ten, backwards.
  • Where does the counting backwards from ten come from? During the first duel for L'Manberg's independence, Wilbur counted up to ten before Tommy and Dream were to turn and aim their bows. It's possible that Tommy has turned this situation into a (albeit very unhealthy) coping mechanism in an attempt to deal with both Wilbur's death and his own lowest moments in life.
• The confrontation Quackity and Bad have over the egg. You can really tell that Quackity feels hurt and betrayed by someone who is supposed to be one of the most kind-hearted people on the server, but also by someone he trusted as a friend.
  Quackity: FUCKING SNAP OUT OF IT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!
  BadBoyHalo: What are you talking about...?
  Quackity: WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT– ARE YOU HEARING YOURSELF RIGHT NOW?
  BadBoyHalo: Are you hearing YOURSELF?!
  Quackity: I was just gonna take a small trip, get the HELL out of here. I was FINISHED with it. Bad! You're probably the one of the only people on this server, who I have a little bit of hope in. And you start saying these things– You start doing these– What– WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WHAT– WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?!
  BadBoyHalo: Quackity–
  Quackity: What's wrong with you?! What's going on, C'MON! Look at me! Look at me! BAD–
  [...]
  Quackity: Bad– Bad, out of all the people on this server, that I trust, you were the one that I never expected to be corrupted! What's going on...! This– this is so unlike you! In every way, shape and form, you're not like this. You are NOT like this.
  • After further pushing, Quackity finds out why and how Bad has gotten to this point with the egg. Bad truly didn't feel like he had any other choice.
    BadBoyHalo: Oh my goodness... OKAY! You know Skeppy, right?
    Quackity: Yeah..?
    BadBoyHalo: He got infected by the Egg. Okay? He got infected by it! And I realized, okay? I realized that there is no way that I was gonna get him back to normal, okay? So, I knew I had one job, okay? If I got infected by the Egg too– everything would be fine! The Egg told me that everything would be fine! Okay? He said that's all– he said that's all I had to do, okay?!
    Quackity: For you to be with Skeppy– For you to be with Skeppy, you have to be infected too... Oh my god...
    BadBoyHalo: LOOK! My friend was infected, okay?! What am I gonna do?
    [...]
    BadBoyHalo: Quackity... Everything, everybody, has something that they want, okay? Something... you know, when you lose something, that you are really close to, right? And you worry that you lost it for good... sometimes, you are willing to make the tough sacrifices, okay? In order to try to get that thing back.
    • When Quackity questioned why BBH never asked for help before resorting to desperate measures:
      Quackity: Well, you didn't ask for help! WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK FOR HELP?! Why didn't you– why didn't you tell me, "Hey, this is going on–" I would have helped you! I WOULD HAVE–
      BadBoyHalo: QUACKITY! YOU DON'T THINK I TRIED?! Okay?! I reached out to people, okay? We worked on it. Nothing. Worked. Okay? Nothing we attempted, no matter what we tried... Nothing. Worked... Skeppy stayed infected or messed up or whatever! Nothing WE DID, was putting him BACK TO NORMAL, QUACKITY! Okay?! I had to make a choice, I didn't have time to consult everybody, okay? And see everything, my friend was suffering, okay?! My friend was suffering, and I realized that– joining the Egg was better… than losing my friend, Quackity. THAT'S what I realized, okay? I made– I made that decision, Quackity. Okay? I made that decision...! I made that decision... and you know what? If I get to be with my best friend...? Then I don't care. Okay? I. Don't. Care.
• Doubles as Nightmare Fuel. When Tommy realizes he's trapped in Dream's cell for up to a week, he breaks down completely. He screams for Sam to come let him out, cries out for Phil to come help him, even tries threatening Dream to see if that will prompt Sam to come for him. But nobody comes to get him. Tommy is trapped, with his abuser, feeling like he's been abandoned again.
  • Sam's situation is pretty heart-wrenching too. He is the only person aside from Tommy and Dream who knows about the hell Dream put Tommy through, and he'd made it his mission to keep Tommy safe and stop his mental state from deteriorating further. And now, as warden of the prison, he's required to leave Tommy trapped alone, with Dream, for up to a week, until he can figure out what happened.
• While it's quick, the death of Pussboi the cat in the prison deserves a respectful silence. It was yet another death of an innocent animal, used against someone because they happened to be attached to it. While Dream is far from innocent at this point, it's hard to see him get attached to something only for it to be ripped away, once again reaffirming his unhealthy belief that attachments make you weak and will be used against you. And on Tommy's end, he killed his own cat to demonstrate to Dream that the server had taught him not to get too attached to those that he loves for this very reason, while he was having a mental breakdown for being trapped with Dream, his abuser, for at least a week.
  Tommy: And that's what happens when you love something, bitch.
• Tommy's death. Tommy didn't die quickly, or heroically, or poetically. He died during an argument that got blown way out of proportion, at the hands of his abuser, brutally beaten to death with bare fists. His last words weren't an epic one-liner or a heartfelt goodbye, they were panicked pleas for Dream to stop. Tommy died, alone, terrified and in pain, in the place he came to seek closure, over something as petty as a book.

The Mourning Arc

• Everyone's reactions to Tommy's death are heartbreaking as well, the whole server atmosphere of Dream SMP suddenly changed.
  • Tubbo takes it extremely hard.
    • His first reaction was hard denial, telling Ranboo that it's probably just Sam playing a trick on them, and continues with his day while barely acknowledging what Sam has said. After the end of his stream, it seems to have sunk in, as the only tweets he sent out that evening were lyrics to "Say Something", a song that's sung from the perspective of someone who's just lost a loved one.
    • The next day, Tubbo built a memorial for Tommy to try to find closure, but as he stared at it, he said that it was only making him feel more angry. He launched an investigation into who set off the bombs that caused Tommy to be trapped in the prison, purely because he needed someone to blame, but he tried to indict people on the flimsiest of evidence (his entire argument against Techno rested on the fact that a chest of gunpowder wasn't all the way full) because he didn't have anything else. His theories got wilder as he got more desperate, until he was screaming and firing arrows at the Egg, begging it to just tell him who did it.
  • Ranboo doesn't know how to react, and just kind of follows Tubbo's lead, joining him in denying Tommy's death. Later, he plants flowers all over Tommy's house, lamenting how nobody even tried to help Tommy while he was in jail, but now that he's dead everyone is suddenly in mourning. He also reads Sam the riot act over how his protocol killed Tommy.
  • Sam is absolutely crushed. Tommy, the boy he's been trying to keep safe from Jack, Niki, the Eggpire, and anyone else who would do him harm, died in the one place where Sam was supposed to have total control, at the hands of the man who's hurt him the most. It's not hard to imagine the sheer amount of guilt he must be feeling, because when you think about it, this whole situation is his fault! While Dream should obviously carry the brunt of the blame, Sam is the one who trapped a victim of abuse with his abuser in a confined space for a whole week, then told them they'd have to stay there longer.
    Sam: Today I believe I made my first mistake as Warden...
    • On top of this, the Eggpire (who are more than elated to hear the news) tries to comfort Sam... by victim-blaming Tommy.
    • Sam's response to Ranboo's scathing accusations, while he tries to defend himself, definitely sounds distant and introspective, even going as far as to tell Ranboo to blame him for the death by writing in his memory book.
  • Speaking of the Eggpire, while they are happy that Tommy is out of the way, and openly celebrate his death, none of them are in their right minds. Based on what Bad has said on Twitter, if the Egg released his hold on him, he'd not only be thrown head-first into grief, he'd also be absolutely horrified at himself for celebrating the death of a sixteen-year-old.
  • Jack is initially overjoyed, as he's been trying to kill Tommy for months now, and his death means that he can keep the Big Innit Hotel for himself. However, once the initial joy wears off, Jack starts reminiscing, and starts feeling a lot more upset than he expected to. He winds up walking around the server, trying to process his emotions, as while he hated Tommy's guts, they were friends once, and he doesn't know how to cope with suddenly losing someone like that. Despite initially saying he doesn't want anyone remembering Tommy, he still winds up being the one to break the news to Foolish, Ant and Quackity.
    • The sadness from Jack's point of view is understandable, Jack was lucky enough to cheat his death when he momentarily got sucked into Hell before willing himself back to life with 3 more canon lives. No such miracle can happen to Tommy.
  • Quackity logs on after everything went down, and starts chatting to Jack Manifold. Jack tries to break the news to him gently, but Quackity doesn't understand and just keeps talking over him, excitedly planning what they should do when Tommy gets back from prison. When Jack finally bluntly tells him that Tommy is dead, Quackity completely crumples. He asks in an uncharacteristically small voice when it happened, why Sam didn't step in, how Dream even managed it with Mining Fatigue. The two walk over to Tommy's house to have a quiet moment, and while Quackity eventually tells Jack to keep working on the hotel, it's very obvious he's holding back tears.
  • Puffy is absolutely heartbroken. She blames herself for not being there to get Tommy out or talk some sense into Dream, and while logically she knows it's not her fault, she's still completely wracked with guilt, feeling like she's failed. This guilt turns to absolute rage once she finds the Eggpire celebrating Tommy's death in Tommy's own house, saying that if it wasn't for the fact that Tommy's death happened just hours ago, she would have slaughtered them on the spot.
  • Sam Nook doesn't know what happened. Nobody on the server has the heart to tell him. He just stands there, by the hotel, waiting for Tommy to come back, not knowing that he's never going to.
  • Eret struggles to even process it. They have to ask Puffy about three or four times what she means before it really sinks in. Eret and Puffy then walk around the server while Eret rants about how they thought the server would be fine without them for a while, and that they could go on a break and not come back to the news that one of their own is permanently dead. They decide to pay their respects to Tommy by hosting a celebration of life, attended by Puffy and Foolish, before giving Tommy a Viking funeral and announcing a plan to make a crypt under the museum dedicated to Tommy's memory.
  • Foolish didn't know Tommy very well, and doesn't deal well with death in general, as he's seen so much of it that it barely affects him. But he tries his best to be there for those who are grieving, and builds a memorial to Tommy over his house.
  • Even Sapnap is completely enraged at Dream.
  • What makes all of this worse? It turns out that Dream only killed Tommy to prove a point and revived him after two days. The group is processing a death that has been negated without them knowing.
• While cleaning up the area in front of the AAC, Ranboo and Phil get to talking about Wilbur, and Phil's perspective of the Pogtopia arc. According to Phil, Wilbur had moved out to the Dream SMP, and often sent him letters telling him about the things he was doing and how much fun he was having with his new friends... and then one day, the letters just stopped. Phil got worried and traveled to the Dream SMP to see if Wilbur was okay, only to find him in the Button room, at the end of his rope, about to commit an act of terror. Phil failed to stop him, and not only got his own wings shredded when he shielded Wilbur from the blast, but was then forced to kill Wilbur himself.

The Post-Lockdown Arc

• Tommy's return to the server was almost as heavily emotionally charged as the news of his death making the rounds.
  • Tommy himself is a complete wreck. He has flashbacks, completely freaks out whenever people hold weapons around him or he takes even the smallest amount of damage, and just wanders around a server that has started trying to move on from him. As the people around him — quite understandably — react with shock and confusion, Tommy takes this to mean that they don't care about him, and that they only want the secret to how he came back. He even feels like Tubbo has abandoned him, due to the fact that he married Ranboo while Tommy was trapped in jail. Tommy just wants everything to go back to the way it was, and he can't handle the fact that that's just not possible.
    Tommy: Why are they running away from me...?
    • As he walks by Puffy's therapy office and reads the sign, Tommy runs in, grabs a book, scrawls "help me" on the first page and throws it in the hopper, before walking out and trying to pretend nothing happened. He's desperate for help at this point, but his mental state is so in tatters that he doesn't even know who to turn to anymore.
  • Sam is initially shocked, then absolutely crippled with guilt as he leads Tommy out of the prison. He doesn't even try to rebuke any of the furious insults Tommy slings at him, just quietly takes the abuse.
  • Tubbo is completely shocked, stammering as he runs away from Tommy, shouting that he's not real. When Tommy pinches him and Tubbo finally realizes that Tommy is, in fact, really there, he's both elated and completely confused. Even when Tommy leaves to talk to other people, Tubbo keeps following him around like a lost puppy, as if afraid Tommy is going to disappear again if he looks away.
    Tubbo: This is like the second time you've done this to me!
  • Jack is absolutely furious. He flies into a rage when he sees Tommy, screaming every grievance he has right in Tommy's face. And Tommy doesn't even listen to him, just zoning out, before handing him ownership of the hotel and walking away.
  • Connor, who has moved into Tommy's house after hearing he died, screams, believing he's seeing a ghost. After that, he dejectedly moves back into Ninja's house, but not before quietly asking Tommy what happened. Tommy then starts venting to him, telling him what Dream did, about his flashbacks, and begging Connor to tell him that he's real.
  • Ranboo tries to take it in stride, but is clearly shocked as well. When Tommy asks him if he's Tubbo's new best friend, Ranboo tries to deflect, but Tommy gets the message anyway. Ranboo then tries to gift Tommy an allium... which Tommy promptly burns, before walking away.
  • Quackity initially assumes someone is pranking him by dressing up as Tommy, and is absolutely furious, demanding that whoever is doing it change their skin immediately. Tommy then quietly tells him about the time when they, Tubbo, and Jack started a cartel and stole a bunch of phantom membranes. While Quackity is initially freaked right the hell out, once he realizes it's actually Tommy, he's completely over the moon, nearly crying Tears of Joy as he welcomes Tommy back to the server. Tommy, however, does not share his excitement, and just quietly leaves.
• "Las Nevadas" Episode 1:
  • Quackity's conversation with Schlatt is largely funny, and mostly about furthering his own interests, but it reveals some pretty heartbreaking details about Tommy's time in the afterlife. Apparently, near the start, Tommy was so distraught that he couldn't even form coherent sentences.
    Schlatt: I don't even know if he speaks English, he just comes down here and he's like, (mock gasping; imitating Tommy's accent) "He killed– Dream– Dream killed me–" (gasping)
  • It also sheds a surprisingly large amount of light on their relationship during the Manburg days, as well as Quackity's trauma from it. The Manburg streams don't seem as funny now, with this in mind…
• The events after Ponk steals the unusable key cards from Sam and refuses to give them back to him are heartwrenching. Those events include Sam straight-up canonically killing his ex-valentine and then torturing him with lava and poison potions, as Ponk says that Sam has changed for the worse, and declares that he'd rather be dead than see Sam acting as the ruthless Warden in front of him. Sam eventually responds by threatening to take Ponk's entire arm off, and then proceeds to do that. The pained sobbing and screaming after that only makes it worse.
• Tommy, while visiting Snowchester, realizes that Henry, his pet cow, was alive in Dream's vault when he and Tubbo where there. Tommy and Ranboo travel there, and after a lot of hesitation on Tommy's part, he concludes that that Henry is, in fact, the real deal. He and Ranboo take Henry and Friend (who was also there) up to the surface, and start transporting them over to the ocean so they can boat them home... and then Henry falls off a ledge and dies, again. This seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back for Tommy, as whatever veneer of stability he had immediately collapses, and he reverts back to the mindset he was in during Exile. He becomes completely and utterly hopeless, tells Ranboo that it's too much and that he can't take it anymore, and even briefly stares into the lava in the Nether again, all while Ranboo very obviously doesn't know how to comfort him.
  Ranboo: Maybe you could... I dunno, try and find another thing that can make you happy?
  Tommy: What else could make me happy, Ranboo? Dream's still alive, he'll just destroy it...
  Ranboo: I mean... he's in the prison, though...
  Tommy: Mmyeah, but he's gonna break out of the prison, isn't he? You– you already know that, I told you after I came out... What's even the point, Ranboo, what else would make me happy?
  Ranboo: I don't– I think only you know the answer to that question, really...
• In a flashback scene in "Las Nevadas" Episode 2, we get to see how Sam coped with Tommy's death. He retreated to a small island, with a pathetic little farm, where he spends his days just farming and fishing. He'd made a grave for Tommy in the backyard, a cobblestone cross with a single music disc, and he's so completely wracked with guilt that, when Quackity tells him it wasn't his fault, he refuses to even consider it.
• Before the visit to Dream, Quackity met up with George after a long while of not seeing each other. It's a happy reunion... until George mentions Kinoko Kingdom. Quackity has no idea what he's talking about, so George explains that it's a new nation, founded by himself, Sapnap and Karl, the old citizens of El Rapids. Quackity is absolutely heartbroken to find out that, while he was away, everyone just up and left without him, leaving him behind.
  • Thing is, George claims that Karl was tasked with finding and telling Quackity... except Karl, due to his time traveling, has huge memory problems, and it's more than likely that he meant to tell Quackity, but forgot. Kinoko Kingdom didn't mean to leave their friend (in George's case) and fiancé (in Karl and Sapnap's case) behind, but due to circumstances outside their control, Quackity now fully believes he's been abandoned.
  • What makes it even sadder is that it is revealed that Quackity had built Las Nevadas with his fiancés and George in mind, with customized casinos for each of them (despite previously claiming that the budding gamblers' faction had no place for emotions, when in fact his sentimentality is a cornerstone to it)... but due to a terrible combination of Poor Communication Kills and Karl's time travelling-induced amnesia finally visibly kicking in, Quackity was left utterly heartbroken, and there are implications that this, alongside his Schlatt-related trauma, helped trigger him into spiralling mentally.
  • To make it even more heartbreaking, Quackity, the guy who was an abuse survivor and had been preaching "Don't trust anyone" to those he cared about since then, trusted and loved Karl and Sapnap enough to want to essentially spend the rest of his canon lives with them. And from his trauma-skewed perspective, they didn't reciprocate those feelings after all; he was willing to give them his heart and soul, and to him, they were just as willing to throw it away. And his first response to that? It was to say that them leaving made sense. To him, it was devastating... but not surprising.
    Quackity: You don't understand! We had El Rapids and– and you gu– we had a whole thing there, and I was working on this project, and I wanted to pr– (Beat as he cuts himself off) No, nonono, you're– Uh, that makes sense, that explains so many things...
• Wilbur's speech in the flashback scene is heartbreaking when you consider his stance on things before the L'Manburg Revolution. Before the war, Wilbur was a pacifist, insisting on resolving L'Manburg's problems with words, and was more than willing to engage diplomatically with Dream. Eret's betrayal completely shattered his trust in people, and he started to genuinely believe that everyone secretly hated him, and that he needed to consolidate his power by any means necessary, even if that meant crossing just about every moral boundary. And after the amount of shit Quackity has gone through, from the abuse he suffered under Schlatt, to the fight for El Rapids, to the fight with Techno, and now feeling like he's been abandoned by his friends and lovers... he has now internalized that same mindset.
• While under the Egg's influence, Bad and Skeppy got into an argument which cumulated into Bad accidentally punching Skeppy into a pit of lava, taking his first canon life. Bad immediately realizes what he had done, screams out a Big "NO!", and was left heartbroken by the end of the stream.
• While the Red Banquet was mostly terrifying, Foolish's first canon death falls into this. After Bad chooses to execute Eret first, Foolish, who is a literal Physical God, steps up and tries to call down a Bolt of Divine Retribution to destroy the Egg to save Eret, who he regards as an Old Friend... and it doesn't work. Then does the Eggpire choose to execute Foolish first, and throughout all that, Antfrost was victim-blaming Puffy, claiming that her son getting killed wouldn't have happened had she stayed with the Eggpire, and Foolish's last words were reassuring Puffy that it wasn't her fault. The visceral reaction from all the attendees towards his death doesn't help either, with Puffy's despair standing out the most.

The Banquet Aftermath Arc

• Tubbo, Tommy, Ghostbur, and Ranboo construct a TNT cannon; however after firing it, Ghostbur gets freaked out by the explosions, as they triggered unpleasant memories.
• Fearing he might hurt the ones he loves while Enderwalking, Ranboo begs Sam to lock him in the prison. As in, the inescapable Hellhole Prison known as Pandora's Vault. Sam refuses, since Ranboo hasn't done anything wrong (at least, nothing that Sam knows about), but Ranboo keeps it up, going from tearful pleading, to furious screaming, even offering to pay Sam at one point, just to be locked away for years at the very least.
• Tommy's attempts at facing his fears showcase just how badly traumatized he is. It doesn't help that the method he attempts to use (exposure therapy) only works in a very carefully controlled environment and with the help of a professional, so Tommy's clumsy attempts at healing might have only traumatized him even more.
  • His visit to Logstedshire starts off alright, and while Tommy is by no means having a good time as he explores the area and reminisces, he stays relatively calm throughout... until he spots the pillar he nearly jumped to his death from, which nearly triggers an anxiety attack that he barely manages to hold at bay.
    Tubbo: How was it...?
    Tommy: (breathing heavily) It's... It's not ideal. This is ha– this is much harder... than I thought it would be. This is hard. This is where I... almost... (Beat) Okay... (breathes out) We've done the easy one.
    Ranboo: Okay...
    Tubbo: ...wait, this was the easy one?!
  • Next, Tommy goes to the replica of the Final Control Room in Eret's museum, and asks Ranboo to lock him in. Ranboo does, and Tommy is trapped in the room that looks exactly like the one he lost his first life in. He immediately starts trembling, and holds onto the Totem of Undying Tubbo gave him like a lifeline, barely holding the panic at bay.
    Tommy: (to himself) Speak your feelings... okay... I am feeling like... this room has a lot– (spots a gap in the roof; gasps) Air! This room has a lot more to it than peop– than– than– than– remembered... It's hard to be in here and I don't want to, I don't want to, but I have to... if I'm going to do what I'm gonna do. If I'm gonna do the plan that I agreed to myself... and that I know I have to do... For everyone... (shaky exhale) For everyone. So no one has to do what I did, I know I need to do this, but... fuckin' hell!
  • The replica of the prison cell was the absolute worst, though. Tommy starts to panic as soon as Tubbo shuts the entrance behind him, talking through his feelings only seems to make things worse as it reminds him of what Dream did to him, and he barely makes it twenty seconds before he's begging Tubbo and Ranboo to let him out.
  • Later, when talking to Tubbo, Tommy finally starts to open up more about how he's actually feeling... and it's horrific.
    Tommy: When I was in there... Dream killed me. He s– I f– I felt it, and I've died, and I came back. I am... I've been... broken. I'm broken, Tubbo.
    Tubbo: (quietly) Oh, God...
    Tommy: And it's because of him. And when I last went in there, it was to end it all... but it just made it so much worse. And Tubbo, me and you had the chance... we had the chance to slit. Dream's... (sigh) We had the chance to slit his throat. Tubbo, we had the chance to slit his throat, and we didn't, we fucked up! But I'm not messing that up again.
• Tommy's attempt to kill Dream goes horrifically wrong. When Sam spots him on the bridge after he accidentally pulls out his axe too early, they get into a screaming match, both furious at one another... Until Dream takes Ghostbur hostage, threatening to revive Wilbur (i.e. kill Ghostbur) if he's not let out. Sam continues tearing into Tommy while Ghostbur starts to panic and Tommy practically begs him to do something, but Sam keeps saying there's nothing he can do... and he drops the lava while Ghostbur is sobbing and pleading for his life on the other side, before Dream murders him.
  • What makes this worse is that this very action, followed closely by Sam being utterly convinced that Tommy was trying to bust Dream out, is what ruined any friendship Tommy and Sam had on both sides, with Sam even threatening to kill Tommy if he so much as set foot near the prison.
  • To add salt to the wound? Earlier in the year, Ghostbur was wanting Wilbur to come back after Doomsday, even if it meant he would die in the process. His last moments are spent begging anyone not to let Wilbur return.
  • When Tommy is forced out of Pandora's Vault, he comes across Friend, Ghostbur's pet sheep, in the entrance hall located in the Nether. Previously, Ghostbur had left Friend behind there, promising that he would come back for him once he and Tommy had successfully killed Dream and left the prison. Not only had the mission to kill Dream failed, but Ghostbur would never come back for Friend...
  • Later, when Tommy, Tubbo and Ranboo find a freshly revived Wilbur in the ruins of L'Manburg, he describes Ghostbur's arrival in the afterlife before being brought back to the land of the living.
    Wilbur: The last thing I saw... was a train pulling in. And there were two people on that train. One man... a desaturated me, came rolling into town, came rolling into my limbo, he's in my limbo! He came rolling in, his face was steaming with tears, they looked like they were burning him? I dunno.
• A few days after Ghostbur's death, Wilbur (the content creator) told Reddit about how he's doing...

  WilburSoot: Ghostbur has been in limbo for about half a year now and I promise you he is scrunching his eyes up real tight and imagining someone came back for him and he's safe at home with friend
  
  WilburSoot: Ghostbur is at the train station. However it's darker, damper and every now and then he gets flashes of text on the dot matrix displays saying in written words what everyone he loves is saying about Alivebur's return.
  Phil's one broke his heart.
  
  Festiff: so– is ghostbur eventually going to forget why he's even at the station? i presume your own death would be a pretty bad and traumatizing memory.
  WilburSoot: He won't. He'll never forget how he failed Tommy that day.

• Over the course of about a week, Fundy's nightmares have apparently ramped up to an unmanageable degree, both in frequency and intensity, to the point where he's so completely exhausted and fed up that he packs up his valuables into a cart, then blows up his own base in a final attempt to just make them stop.
  Fundy: I don't wanna deal with this anymore! NO ONE would wanna deal with this! Do you know what it's LIKE?! To– to fall asleep, and then just be stuck in your own– in your own– (stammering) I don't know what it is! I've done research! I've done my best!
• While looking for Wilbur in the L'Manburg crater, Phil decides that he should probably be the one to break the news to Fundy. While everyone else has taken the news moderately okay, Fundy... does not.
  Fundy: (away from the mic) WHY?!?!
  Phil: It's– it's– it's– I know. I know. At first, it's... It's pretty– pretty insane to think about, he's back! Um... But... Here's the thing, Fundy... Can you hear me?
  Fundy: HE SHOULD NOT BE REVIVED! DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE'S DONE?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE'S DONE– LOOK AT THE PLACE! HE'S BLOWN IT– HE'S STARTED EVERYTHING! HE'S DONE– Everyone was friendly! HE started L'Manburg, I tr– I– I was BORN there! I was born in that place... That he blew up himself... Wh– Why is he back?! WHY?! WHY?! [...] (sobbing)
  Phil: I know, I know, it's... a lot. It's okay, it's okay. Initially I was happy, but then, instantly... 'Cause that– it's... he's my son, Fundy, I can't...
  Fundy: HE'S MY FATHER!
  • Later in their conversation, Phil and Fundy get to talking about the letters Wilbur sent to Phil... except the events described in the letters do not match up with reality at all. Wilbur wrote to Phil that he won the election, then handed the presidency off to someone he highly trusted (which Phil assumes to have been Tubbo), and left to form a new nation and do it all again. Even the letters he sent from Pogtopia, where he was so miserable that Ghostbur had absolutely no memory of it, only talked about how much fun he was having with his friends, and the last letter he sent talked extensively about Tommy accidentally trapping himself under two pistons. From Phil's perspective, he saw that his son was having an absolute blast with his pals, then he suddenly got nothing but radio silence. When he got worried enough to travel to the Dream SMP to see what was going on, he found Wilbur right when he was carrying out a terrorist attack, before turning around and begging Phil for death.
    • Wilbur's likely motive for lying is pretty heartbreaking as well. After Eret's betrayal completely shattered his self-esteem, all Wilbur wanted was to feel wanted by his citizens, and tied his entire sense of self-worth to L'Manburg. Losing the election and getting booted by Schlatt likely made him feel like such a colossal failure that he didn't even want to admit to Phil what had happened.
    • Fundy's mental state isn't exactly stellar either. When Phil tells him how Wilbur described the events (most of which Fundy was there for), instead of clearing things up right away, Fundy starts to question his own memory, and wonders out loud if Wilbur's version of events is actually what happened.
• Though Quackity's May 22nd lore stream is a prime source of Nightmare Fuel, it's still very clear that he is still very heartbroken over being unintentionally abandoned by his loved ones, to the point that any mention of Kinoko Kingdom or its residents cause him to briefly drop his ruthless capitalist façade. When Sam makes a joke about recruiting the aforementioned residents for Las Nevadas as initially planned, it is met with Quackity telling him that "it's not fucking funny".
  • Related to the above, Quackity also claims that Karl, Sapnap and George weren't "made for" Las Nevadas... despite the fact that he built the country for them all. Quackity's attempt at "rationalizing" the situation into "it was never going to work out anyway" is... painful, to say the least.
  • Speaking of the Nightmare Fuel from the stream, seeing exactly how badly Quackity has fallen, from his more idealistic and pacifistic early days on the server, to his more learned "don't trust anyone" mentality during the New L'Manburg arc, to his current heartbroken, manipulative state that his past self would have viciously opposed and be horrified by. And all it took was an eight-month-long Trauma Conga Line and mental spiral.
  • Branching off of Quackity's manipulations, no matter how horrifying it all is, it's still heart-wrenching to know that the beliefs he promotes now are based off his personal experience, and the manipulation itself is rife with self-projection. This man has reached his Despair Event Horizon, and it shows. Moreover, since Quackity had previously stated that Las Nevadas has no place for emotions or personal feelings, it is heavily implied that he is suppressing his pain and fears, and trauma-venting through his manipulation, because it's the only outlet he can use without going against his cynical mindset.

Las Nevadas Era

• In Foolish's stream of touring Las Nevadas, it's notable that a stone recreation of the Eiffel Tower^note (the first "Eiffel Tower", built out of wood, was constructed for Karl and Sapnap's honeymoon in September 2020) and a wedding pavilion can be seen among the many builds in the faction, just to drive home the fact that Las Nevadas was built for Karl and Sapnap by their fiancé that they inadvertently left behind.
  • And on top of that, by continuing with Las Nevadas, Quackity is constantly reminded of their absence and the pain of abandonment, and no matter how much he claims otherwise, how would it be possible for him to find true happiness while insisting on being surrounded by his misery triggers?
• Fundy's May 24th stream has him visit and tour Las Nevadas, the first time we see his perspective after his nightmare on Quackity's stream a couple of days before. It goes as great as one might expect.
  • Prior to the visit, Fundy tells his chat about how he had not seen Quackity since the L'Manberg days, and starts speaking about how he couldn't stop the nation from being blown up and how he had helped Schlatt kill Tubbo, to the point of beginning to believe that everything that went wrong was his fault.
  • During the visit itself, Quackity mentions that building Las Nevadas makes him feel the happiest he's ever been, even though the faction had only existed for about three months. He then shows Fundy the wedding pavilion, and talks about trust and hope and relationships in a way that seems to immediately contradict his own previous statement.
    Quackity: This is like a little wedding place, you know? Someone wants to have a wedding with their significant other or others, they can have it right here. Just make sure you choose the right person, Fundy!
    Fundy: Of course, of course. (mumbling) I mean... I haven't found that right person, but...
    Quackity: (mishearing) Really? Alright! Oh, you haven't?
    Fundy: No...
    Quackity: Oh, sorry. It's okay, Fundy, it takes time. I thought so too, that I found someone, but you know– (Beat) well, not specifically– I don't even know, I don't even know anymore where things have gone. But you know what, Fundy? Weddings are not– I gotta tell you something. You gotta choose the people you trust wisely. Alright?
    Fundy: (quietly) 'Kay.. okay...
    Quackity: There's something I can tell you, Fundy, is that... I've trusted people my entire life, you know, I've– I've put my trust... and hope on people — more than anything, hope, I don't think 'trust'– I think I've been very good with that aspect, but...
• When Wilbur went to Las Nevadas with Tommy, he expected to be received with open arms, but Quackity almost immediately barred him from the nation because of his "unpredictability". He did, however, invite Tommy in, and offered him a job in Las Nevadas. Wilbur, in a rush of pettiness, took Tommy to an area just outside Las Nevadas and told him they were starting a new country. An argument between Quackity and Wilbur ensued, both trying to drag Tommy over to their side while slinging insults at the other... while Tommy slowly shrinks in on himself as if trying to make himself invisible. By the time the argument starts to fizzle out, Tommy is practically hiding under his desk.
  • Not only that, but when Tommy tried to say something while Wilbur and Quackity were talking, Wilbur burst out, "TOMMY, SHUT UP!", emphasising just how changed Wilbur has become since his death at the hands of Philza.
  • When the group go up to the top of the Space Needle, Tommy climbs on the railing and casually remarks how it'd be a good place to "jump off and just end it". It's a painful and chilling reminder of just how close Tommy was to actually ending his own life back during Exile and how he is still recovering from the traumatic events he's been put through.
• Niki takes the news of Wilbur's revival extremely hard.
  Niki: (to Wilbur's picture) Why did no one tell me that you're back? Why do you have to BE back?! (sigh) I thought I got rid of you... I thought I got rid of the thought of you in my head... and now you're back. What do you want? What do you want? Why are you back? And what are you doing here? In the ONLY place that I feel safe, you have to invade! Why? Because you always do that! You always have to be... where I feel safe. So what is your plan? What is your plan? (sigh) Who are you going to manipulate next? Huh? Because it's not gonna be me this time! It's not gonna be me this time...
  • She then takes a long walk around the server, going to her city, then to L'Manburg. She vents about Wilbur's promise to rescue her from Schlatt, which he never followed through on, and how, when she finally made it out and fled to Pogtopia, he wasn't himself anymore. She vents about being alone for months, feeling abandoned by everyone, taking out her anger on the people around her, and how even the city that she built as a safe haven failed miserably. She's furious with Wilbur for blowing up L'Manburg, seeing it as a power grab, and seethes that he never cared about anyone around him, only that power, and that he only ever reaches for that which he can't have. And still, even then, she expresses sadness over his death as she looks out over the ruins of New L'Manburg.
    Niki: You never got to see the lights...
• By the L'Sandberg arc, the members of the Eggpire, implied to have been disbanded by that time, are not doing well at all, especially when confronted with their actions while Brainwashed and Crazy around the time of the Red Banquet.
  • Antfrost is incredibly guilty about his actions under the Egg's influence, calling himself a monster and being too ashamed to even face Foolish.
  • Bad is so guilty about what happened he's in complete denial, continuously trying to convince himself it was all the Egg's fault.
• Almost three months after Wilbur's resurrection, the Devil, aka Wilbur the content creator, kindly gave the fandom an update on how Ghostbur was doing in the Afterlife, which is to say, terribly.
  WilburSoot: Just a little reminder that as you've spent the past few months living a life of ups and downs, ghostbur has spent 6 years in total misery. waiting at the train station wondering why the dot matrix display (which shows what people on the material plane are saying about him) is getting more and more sparse with communication.
  The last sentence ghostbur saw on that board was "who's ghostbur?" Said by an unfamiliar name he's never met before.
  This should have caused him to break even more but sadly ghostbur is already as far numb as he can possibly be. Maybe it's for the best that everyone forgets him anyway. He only had two jobs after all and he blew them. L'Manburg is gone and Dream is still alive and in prison.
  He heard through the display that Friend was killed by Skeppy too. just another thing he was suppose to protect, another thing that gave his existence meaning. gone due to his negligence.
  Hopefully Phil lied about friend having infinite lives... then they can meet again.
  Friend isn't here.
  He curls up on the concrete for his 2,301st night on the platform. Falls asleep.
  • Though Wilbur later elaborates in a comment that Tommy still frequently speaks highly of Ghostbur and he treasures those messages greatly, it's still heartbreaking to know that, as far as we know, no one else mourns him or remembers him… not even his own father.
• In Sapnap's first lore stream, he mentioned to Mexican Dream that it was okay to cry, and that he himself cried sometimes. What did he have to cry about again? Oh, right, one of his former best friends was a toxic piece of shit who was rotting in jail, one of his other best friends was sleeping his days away and barely interacting with anyone, his (adoptive?) father was brainwashed by a Botanical Abomination into becoming the leader of a cult surrounding it, one of his fiancés was presumably missing in action and having memory problems, he hadn't seen his other fiancé in ages and missed him a lot... Sapnap's story might be one of the more overlooked ones on the SMP, but by God, it doesn't make it any less somber.
• During the livestream where they built the Ranvan, Ranboo told Wilbur that he wasn't inherently a terrible person, trying to appeal to him. However, this small statement alone was enough to bring Wilbur to tears, believing that he is feared by everyone; and having such a terrible self-image that he longs for punishment solely so that people would start to see him as deserving of redemption.
• Jack, unable to cope with the feeling of abandonment when his friends didn't bother to stop by, locked himself up in a room in the hotel for over two months, drinking heavily the entire time. By the time he came out of that room, it was his birthday (the anniversary of the day he joined the Dream SMP), and nobody was even online to wish him a happy birthday, or talk to him at all.
• For the one-year anniversary of L'Manburg's independence, Wilbur and Ranboo visit the ruins. There, they encounter Tubbo sitting on the remains of Ghostbur's crane, dressed in the uniform he wore as president, tearfully singing the L'Manburg Anthem and playing the ukelele. While Wilbur greets him happily and tries to get him to cheer up, Tubbo is very obviously extremely sad over the loss of L'Manburg still.
  • Tubbo eventually slowly opens up about his feelings about the country. He says he's felt directionless since L'Manburg got destroyed, partially blames himself for said destruction, since he was the one who authorized the Butcher Army, and still has nightmares and flashbacks to the explosions that destroyed L'Manburg and the fireworks used in his execution during the Red Festival. He also says that, while he does forgive Wilbur for the destruction of L'Manburg, he's not ready to trust him until he proves that he's willing to be better, and is implied to still be bitter about Wilbur failing to save him during the Red Festival. In the end, Tubbo stays behind, turning down Wilbur's offer to show him Paradise and Ranboo's offer of comfort, starting to cry again as the two leave and he's left to mourn his nation, alone.
  • Wilbur, similarly, opens up about his feelings. He feels remorse about yelling at Tubbo that he was president of a crater, and seemed happy to hear that L'Manburg was rebuilt in his absence. Similarly, he expresses guilt over not saving Tubbo during the Red Festival, and promises him over and over that he's changed. However, Tubbo turns down his invitation to Paradise, saying that he can't get involved in something like that again after what happened to L'Manburg, not until Wilbur proves he can be trusted.
  • The one-year anniversary of L'Manburg's creation shows just how horrific of an event Doomsday was. Tubbo is drifting, not knowing what to do with himself now that he doesn't have anything to anchor himself on. Jack feels completely abandoned now that everyone he knows has scattered all over the server, too preoccupied with rebuilding their lives to think about him. Wilbur claims that Tommy has gotten over it, but Tommy's refusal to visit the crater and somber, wistful tone whenever L'Manburg is brought up suggests that he's not over it at all, and that he's just moving on with his life because he really doesn't have another choice. Despite what Techno and Phil may claim, Doomsday only made everything worse for the L'Manburgians.

Breakout Era

• Doubles as Heartwarming. The message Technoblade wrote for Phil that also acted as a will in case he did not survive his visit to Pandora's Vault.
  "Dear Ph1lza Minecraft,
  I am going to the prison to visit Dream and make sure he's alright. If I do not return within a few days, activate the pearl I left in our book club's meeting room. If the pearl is gone, well, it was nice knowing you. Look after the others for me when I'm gone.
  
  I left my valuables in a barrel hidden in the top floor's ceiling and a chest under the stone in a corner of that one weird room under the house with pistons. Distribute them as you see fit. Please keep Steve and the foxes well-fed; the wolves can be released into the wilderness.
  
  Tell Ranboo & Niki that they're stronger than they know.
  Tell Tommy I hope he finds what he's looking for, whatever that is.
  Phil, I'm glad I met you in this life.
  
  Tell the rest of the SMP that having abolished all governments of men, I have ascended to heaven to take on the Kingdom of God."
  –Technoblade
• In Tina's first livestream on the SMP, Sapnap admits to missing Dream even though he was locked away in jail for crimes against the server, even saying that there wasn't a day that he didn't think of him. Sapnap even wanted to invite him to his wedding, making him the sole confirmed exception to the rule that only residents/members of Kinoko Kingdom could attend.

• Almost seven months after Wilbur's resurrection and about four months since the last update, Wilbur Soot the "Enjoyer of Tears" returns with a vengeance and as a menace to Reddit with more "good news" about Ghostbur's situation... so "good" that the comments are half-filled with salty and/or resigned fans lambasting him once again, and "Ghostbur" is on the Trending tab on Twitter because people over there are once again asking Wilbur what the fuck was wrong with him.
  Ghostbur isn't dead. Ghostbur is suspended. He's never had a 'living' body and never will but to say he is dead is a misrepresentation.
  
  Ghostbur is as close to a torturous limbo as he can possibly get. He has been in the afterlife for almost 6000 days! (That's 16 years) and it never seems to get easier.
  
  Not only is he confined to a life of loneliness and silent darkness but every ache, every pain, every little sting he feels on his body never seems to subside. He hurt his fingers scratching a wall over a decade ago but they still feel raw as if it was yesterday.
  
  But that's not pertinent to his current situation. That's the last injury Ghostbur was afflicted with. He has spent the past years sat, limply leaning against the damp wall. Even if he was to retain any injury he contracted it wouldn't matter.
  
  He hasn't moved in years.
  
  He hasn't checked the dot matrix out of fear. The room lights up whenever it updates and Ghostbur scrunches his eyes up as tight as he can until the light fades a few hours later.
  
  This also helps dam the tears from burning his cheeks as he himself is damned to this plane.
  
  He has spent 5 months on the material plane.
  He has spent 16 years in limbo.
  
  A new addition to Ghostbur's horrific existence is the slow burning of his memory. As time elapses he seems to lose track of his good memories as well as the bad ones he forgot long ago. Only a few remain;
  
  He remembers the smell of baked bread.
  He remembers sparring with technoblade as a child.
  He remembers the crowds and the loud cheers.
  He remembers a guillotine.
  He remembers a cold eternal icy wasteland.
  He remembers Tommy's kindness.
  
  One thing remains true. Ghostbur is the remnant of a plighted man who was sentenced to death for his evil. Ghostbur's situation is a result of that man's return.
  
  Ghostbur feels guilty.
  
  Ghostbur misses everyone.
  
  Goodbye
• For Quackity's November 27th "Las Nevadas" lore stream... well, let's just say the man himself told us to "bring tissues" for good reason.
  • The "Lessons" section is comparably tamer when compared with the rest of the livestream, but it's filled to the brim with Fridge Sadness.
    • In Week 2, the lesson in question is that "Politics are the way to power", but Slime remains doubtful about whether he should want power. Then plays a montage from the aftermath of Schlatt's election, of when Quackity tried to use politics to gain power (albeit for a noble cause), and Tubbo and Niki talking to him in private about the incident's negative effect on L'Manburg. And to think those conversations were only the tip of the iceberg for the disaster known as Manburg and the Schlatt administration... and especially for Quackity in particular, as it marked the beginning of his own Trauma Conga Line that led him to where he is now. Also judging by the clip flashbacks, it is once again heavily implied that he blames himself for the rise of the corrupt regime that ruined him.
    • In Week 5, Quackity explains to "Create no emotional attachments to anything [because] everything gets destroyed" by recapping Wilbur's story with L'Manburg, then Dream's story in Season 2, and finally his own with El Rapids. That last part also explicitly shows that Quackity believes he's been abandoned through his choice in wording in recounting his past... yeah.
    • In Week 6, in a demonstration of what "bad authority" is, Quackity imitates Dream and recaps some of his atrocities while chasing Slime and ends his mock-statement with "Hopefully I don't end up in prison or I'll get what I FUCKING DESERVE!!", which can indicate either 1) he is starting to crack from the stress and pressure, or 2) Dream's entire issue hits too close to home for him to the point that he's showing exactly what he thinks of himself... and it isn't good.
    • In Week 11, Quackity tries to teach "Seek successful revenge because if you fail, the consequences are going to be bitter", but Slime, with his many years of observing humanity, asks him if the Cycle of Revenge is worth it after all. Quackity, after months with a Revenge Before Reason mentality, eventually admits that it wasn't.
    • In the final week, Quackity imparts the lesson that "Legacy is all you leave behind in this world", and expresses belief that his legacy is Las Nevadas, and that's why he cares about the place so much. Now Call-Back to the time when he said that if Las Nevadas falls, he'll die with it. Coming from the guy who essentially placed all his self-worth into his nation/faction, one might even call this effectively self-dehumanization. Now think about what made him feel this way, is it any wonder that this guy has issues?
  • In the section "Loose Ends", Sapnap comes across Las Nevadas and Quackity, and the two have a fairly happy reunion, all things considered. Though Quackity continuously avoided the subject whenever Sapnap suggested he visit Kinoko Kingdom, Sapnap eventually convinced him to do so. The tour itself was fairly happy... until they reached the Library and Karl comes up the ladder. At first, Karl appears to be fairly cordial about the whole thing, if a bit spacey, forgetful, and more civil than affectionate (as one would probably be towards one's own fiancé). Then Quackity and Sapnap ask Karl about El Rapids, and Karl suddenly pulls Sapnap away to tell him something... and that's when everything starts going downhill.
    • The quote that marked the beginning of the end:
      Karl: Sapnap... that guy down there's the reason I died.
    • As they talked, it was revealed that Karl remembers nothing about Quackity... other than the belief that he lost a life because of him. In spite of Quackity and Sapnap reminding him that he agreed to the life loss and that he chose to do so, Karl starts to grow hostile towards Quackity.
    • Quackity then responds by continuously asking Karl about their shared experiences. Even with Sapnap trying to keep the peace and act as the mediator between the two feuding fiancés, and telling Karl that the 'joke' was no longer funny, Quackity eventually asks Karl if he was going to "ignore all the history [they'd] had together", and is then met with this response.
      Karl: WHAT HISTORY?
    • Quackity responds by lashing out, starting to snark at Karl — who then calls him a "terrorizing murderer" who contradicts Kinoko's values of peace — and telling him that he was glad about them never cooperating to make a country together, would rather work alone without having anyone by his side, that "[he]'ll live up to [his] standards", and no longer wanted contact with him again. Even with Sapnap trying to calm Quackity down as he leaves, Quackity swears to never return to Kinoko Kingdom again. Absolutely a far cry from the Sickeningly Sweethearts they used to be last season.
    • Heck, at the start of the Kinoko tour, Sapnap tries to reassure Quackity in his hesitance to visit that he's "overthinking", but considering the fallout of the ensuing confrontation... in Quackity's admittedly trauma-addled mind, it proves that he was Properly Paranoid all along.
    • What makes it worse is that the section takes place two days before the prison visit to Dream and Techno, where Quackity starts to resort to torture again despite not having been to Pandora's Vault for three months. Guess Quackity did "live up to Karl's standards", huh?
    • Even without a perspective at the time, Karl's side of the story is pretty sad too — his fiancé was fraternizing with someone that he remembers to be his own murderer, and since he cannot control his Loss of Identity, he's just as much of a victim in these circumstances. He also wanted to use that power to protect the ones he loves, but instead all it ended up doing was hurting them and his relationships with them.^note It only gets worse with the Tales episode "The Maze" in mind, as the confrontation occurs just after Karl's return from that trip as the server god's chosen victim, and that episode was a shitshow in its own right.
    • It's not easy for Sapnap either. After having no clue where Quackity has been for months, he finally finds him and is able to bring him back home… only for Karl to start being hostile seemingly out of nowhere, causing Quackity to become upset, all the while Sapnap tries his best to do damage control but it ends up not being enough and Quackity ends up leaving him once again. What should've been a happy reunion between the three fiancés ended in one of them leaving upset and angry, the other suddenly behaving very oddly and agressively after completely misremembering an event, and Sapnap caught in the middle. To make it worse, remember that this isn't the first time Sapnap has had to watch a trio he's a part of fall apart, and not too long ago, his father had been possessed by the Egg. It was not a good day for any of them.
    • To sum up what the fandom feels about this entire section, we have this Tumblr post:
      420technoblazeit: for months we've been coming up with the most angsty scenarios for sapnap and quackity finding out about karl's memory loss and somehow they came up with something TEN TIMES WORSE
  • After the fateful prison visit, Quackity finds Slime in Las Nevadas and asks him to find everyone else in the faction to alert them of the prison break. This is when Purpled shows up and tells Quackity about a strange double-chest that apparently wasn't placed by any members of the faction. The three go to investigate it, and as Slime opens the chest... Purpled pulls a lever and the floor opens up underneath them, causing Quackity and Slime to drop onto an underground platform suspended over and surrounded by lava.
    Quackity: What... the... fuck?! Wh– (Beat) What the fuck are you doing, Purpled? What the hell is this?
    Purpled: I think it's time we have a bit of a talk.
    • Purpled demands Quackity for the resurrection-book and confronts him, telling him that he's been "doing nothing but spoonfeed [them] lies" and tries to kill him for the book when Quackity says he doesn't have it. Quackity responds by Purpled that even if he had the book, he wouldn't give it to Purpled anyway... and Purpled doesn't take it well.
      Purpled: (enderpearling to Slime) Fine. Have it your way.
      Slime: (quietly) What?
      Quackity: What? No no NO, PURPLED, NO!
      (Purpled hits Slime into the lava)
      Quackity: NO! No, Purpled, no–
      Slime: (falling) QUACKITY!
    • When Purpled hits Slime into the lava, Quackity is quick to follow to try and save him, but it's too late.
      Quackity: (panicked) Slime, get in the sand. GET IN THE SAND, SLIME.
      Slime: (not moving) Thank you... for showing me what it's like to be human.
      Quackity: (begging) NO! GET IN THE SAND, GET IN THE SAND!
      Slime: Maybe I almost was–
      (Slime burns to death in the lava)
      Quackity: (stunned) SLIME! (Beat) PURPLED! WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? PURPLED, WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?
  • The epilogue in its entirety is pretty sad. It reveals that Quackity has been spending the weeks following Slime's canon death tirelessly researching slimes to try to bring him back and documenting their memories together while in tears, without even trying to take care of himself.
• In Technoblade's 28th November lore stream, Sam holds Ranboo hostage in exchange for Dream going back to prison, to which Dream responds by screaming that he doesn't care. Techno, on the other hand, refuses to leave Ranboo behind and when Dream refuses to comply with the demand, Sam kills Ranboo. Techno, having grown attached to Ranboo, still refuses to listen to Dream telling him to "go" and starts fighting Sam, Bad, and anyone else who comes near them.
  • An extra layer of this is that Dream now owes Techno a favor, but it doesn't occur to Techno until Dream is long gone from his base that he could have cashed in his favor to revive Ranboo via the book.
  • While discussing the outcome of the prison break, Techno doesn't consider it a win because Ranboo didn't make it out alive.
  • Some time after that, Techno brings news of Ranboo's death to Tubbo, upon hearing the news, the poor boy is so devastated that he can't even say anything for a few seconds, and when he does speak, all he can say is a quiet "why?". It gets worse when he goes to find MICHAEL, only to not find him anywhere, with the implication that he's been kidnapped. In just a day, Tubbo's lost two of the most important people to him.
  • What makes this worse is that even after Tubbo's entire Trauma Conga Line that was Seasons 1–2, he's tried to rebuild his life from bedrock and up... only for it all to come crashing down on him again when his son get kidnapped and he becomes a widower before even turning 18.
• After being chased down by Dream in easily one of the most terrifying chase scenes the SMP has ever seen, Tommy finally loses him by running into the Syndicate's base while screaming for Phil. Phil rushes out of his house to protect Tommy, only to find that Dream is gone. Tommy then completely breaks down, begging Phil to believe him, insisting he's not crazy, and crying over how, after all the progress he's made to heal and move on from Exile, he's been kicked right back to square one.
  Tommy: He hit me, Phil– Phil, he– he killed me, I can't go through– I can't go through that again, Phil! I've spent all this time rebuilding myself up ALONE, working on my– my self-confidence, my HEALTH, and I– I– I CAN'T go through it again, Phil! Alright?! When I– When he killed me, that sent me down the worst spiral I've ever been– I c– (panting)

Season 4

The Freefall Era

• After spending almost a week in the prison, watching Dream's former cell in the hopes that Dream forgot to set his spawn and would end up right back in the Vault, Sam finally realizes how futile his actions are. He fixes everything up, locks all the doors, and leaves as the lights turn off behind him, retiring from his job as the warden. After returning to his base and taking off his armor for probably the first time in months, he notes that it would only ever be meaningless; Dream could never have been locked away forever, all he could have done was slow him down. Crosses over with Heartwarming when he notes that, while he's not able to help the server as the warden anymore, he'll still try to help people in other ways.
• The "Saving Michael/Avenging Ranboo" stream:
  • While preparing to get their revenge on Sam, Tubbo compares his situation of being allied with Techno and Eret to the "Uneasy Alliance" advancement in Minecraft, with himself being the ghast. In case anyone doesn't get the memo, the advancement is for the player to bring the ghast to the Overworld from the Nether, then kill it while it's in the Overworld. This implies that Tubbo was full-well expecting to get betrayed again by either one or both of them after the mission, and in spite of the joking tone he says this in, who could blame him?
  • During the scenes on Sam's little grief island and base, Tommy's suicide tower in Logstedshire can be observed from afar in a few moments. Since Dream previously taunted Sam about Exile and its ongoings while he was in prison, one would wonder how guilty Sam actually feels for failing to protect Tommy, especially since he tried to offer Tommy refuge and a safe place during the start of the Exile Arc.

The Counteraction Arc

• A day into Sam's imprisonment in Pandora's Vault, we can already see that having Dream guarding him is taking its toll on him.
  • The stream opens up to Sam mentally fighting against Dream's mocking claim that he was an idiot and various other intrusive thoughts by repeatedly writing "I am not an idiot" into a book... but between this livestream and the last (which occurred just the day before), he'd already filled three pages and more with that very sentence. Oh, and as of that point, he's already down to two hunger bars.
  • During his visit, when Dream tells Sam to tell him about the bad things that people hate him for, and Sam tries to refuse, Dream threatens to leave the cell. Sam quickly starts to spill the beans. One would say he might have already started to Go Mad from the Isolation...
  • When Sam points out that the reason he didn't send the bridge over during the Ghostbur/revival incident was because Dream might use him as a hostage, Dream refutes this and says that the reason he did what he did was because he wanted Ghostbur "alive" (i.e. revived Wilbur) to torture Tommy even more.
  • Near the end of the visit, Sam admits that in being the Warden to try to keep Dream contained in the prison, he literally had not returned home in months to do his duty... but at what cost? He alienated most of the server through his conflation of the Warden's morals with his own, and Dream managed to escape regardless, and now he's the one locked up in the very prison that he used to guard, with his former prisoner being the one guarding him. It's so sad to see how far he's fallen, it's almost pathetic.
• In the livestream where Sam is let out of the prison by Dream, he barely even shows any resistance towards him. Most glaringly, during their tour of the Vault, Sam could have easily taken armour and weapons from the guards' supplies to fight back against Dream, but he never does that and was killed by Dream at the end of the lore stream with him practically barely protesting. One would wonder if he's crossed the Despair Event Horizon a long while ago...
• While Eryn's stream about his origins starts off firmly in the Heartwarming category, there are a few things to take note of:
  • During the sequence where he and Tommy were training at archery during their life in the woods, Tommy misses literally every single shot until Eryn teaches him. This seems funny at first... until archery came down to a matter of life and death in the most literal sense, in four words: L'Manburg Duel for Independence.
  • Eryn returning home to the village he was presumably born in raises two points of sad moments:
    • When he returned, the place was in flames and overrun with (Zombified) Piglins, implied to have invaded from the Nether. Not only does this imply that the Piglins decided to respond to Eryn's parents killing one of their patrols in self-defense (the Piglins raised their crossbows first because Eryn's father wasn't wearing gold armour) by murdering them, but they massacred the innocent Villagers residing there as well. Eryn's reaction to them was to go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the now-Zombified Piglins, but who could blame him? He's a child (or a teenager at most) who just lost his home and family.
    • It is never shown if Eryn ever returned to the taiga village to visit Tommy, and it's implied the next time they met, it was Eryn's debut appearance on the Dream SMP...
  • In a dream-esque sequence, Eryn walks through the empty streets of the Greater Dream SMP at night, saying that he initially thought the DSMP was a happy place, only for it to be reeking with death. He tries to follow the aura of death... which only led to the L'Manhole. Once again, the brutality of the Doomsday War stands stark and is shown loud and clear in the server lore.

The Detachment Era

• This quote:
  Wilbur: I'm– I'm trying so hard and nothing seems to be getting better, and I think there just might be something wrong with me and I– I don't know how I can get people to forgive me, I don't know– but– because they say they do and I just don't believe that they do...
• In Seapeekay's second livestream on 18 March 2022, while he's looking for a house to settle in, Bad offers him Vikk and Lazar's old home in Boomerville as the two "went missing one day". On the surface, this is Innocently Insensitive, but it gets worse — this speaks volumes about how no one on the SMP actually knows they were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by Dream.
• Knowing the history between Aimsey and Guqqie from the Bear SMP gives tragic new meanings to several of Aimsey's actions, such as when he asks Ranboo if they have ever lost anyone or wanting to take a moment to watch the sunset and gaze at the stars.
• Crosses over a bit with Nightmare Fuel. On Wilbur's 29 April 2022 stream, he discusses invading Boomerville with Tubbo, thinking Vikk and Lazar had just "fucked off somewhere" and could "log on at any moment", even going as far as to try to act quickly and sneakily in the 'invasion' itself. This means, even after over a year, there's still no one (other than Chat) that knows the two had suffered a horrendous Bus Crash... caused by the two being kidnapped from their own homes to be tortured and murdered, no less.
  • An extra layer of sadness is added considering Wilbur was also in the Afterlife with them for about three months (of real-life time)... meaning he didn't notice the two crossing over into Limbo. One might wonder if they ever crossed paths, and if they did, Wilbur was probably too consumed by his own mental health issues (that sent him to the Afterlife in the first place) to notice they were there.
• Wilbur's 22 May 2022 livestream "Into Pogtopia" is interspersed with a fair number of sad moments.
  • At the start of the stream, Wilbur wanders into Pogtopia looking for Niki to apologize to her, but instead comes across Fundy, who claimed to be "looking at [his]... good work", regarding his button prank on the ravine. It's not just sad in how no one else on the server knows about that and believe Wilbur was the one who put the buttons there in his spiral, but some fan interpretations go that Pogtopia-Wilbur might have interpreted the prank as a "go and die" message in said spiral, considering Fundy had previously "disowned" him.
  • Once Wilbur was starting to catch up on things with Fundy, Fundy reveals that he had joined Las Nevadas in an attempt to "move on". Wilbur's immediate response was to try to end the conversation and retreat up the stairs to leave... and cue Fundy's reaction that very clearly betray his actual feelings in the moment:
    Fundy: Aw, yeah, you're just gonna leave again, yeah, that's cool. Okay, yeah, no, like you haven't DONE THAT BEFORE! YOU'VE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE! You just– THAT'S THE FIRST TIME YOU'VE EVER LEFT ME! ISN'T IT!?
  • After having fun to try and re-bond with Fundy for a while in response to that, Wilbur recalls what he could remember via Ghostbur, which he describes as similar to looking into a "one-way mirror" with no control over his ghost's actions. Among the many memories, it's made explicitly clear that Ghostbur does not remember Exile, seeing it as not a "happy" memory.^note Of course, watching your younger brother-figure being abused into almost killing himself might not just be "unhappy", but possibly even be triggering, since Ghostbur was the spectral form of a victim of assisted suicide...
    Wilbur: And I remember he went on holiday with Tommy, to like, a beach, for a bit, and then... and then it kinda goes dark, for a while, until Technoblade's there.
  • The ensuing conversation then becomes dead-serious when Fundy starts venting about how he was a part of everything — L'Manburg in all its forms and under all its rulers, family and friends, Las Nevadas — but he didn't once feel cared for by others amidst all of that.
    Fundy: I w– I was always tossed aside. Things started up, they were [like], "Fundy, join us." And I was like, "Yeah! You know what? I've been tossed around every single time, maybe this time, maybe this time they treat me like family. And then the next day, I'm preparing, I'm helping people, it falls apart, everyone leaves, and Fundy is left.
  • Wilbur then said that he cared (and he did, truthfully), and... the conversation takes a rather unconventional turn.
    Fundy: Why did you die?
    (Beat)
    Wilbur: (quietly) Why did I die?
    Fundy: Why did you die, Wilbur?
    Wilbur: (quietly) I... I was... I was very sad.
  • While Fundy was very understandably asking why Wilbur didn't seem to "care" around the Manburg/Pogtopia arc, and if he remembered all he did, Wilbur was left quietly stammering — also understandably so, since that was the time his mental health nosedived until he chose to end it all. Wilbur is well aware of this and apologizes for not "being there" and unintentionally making Fundy feel this way, and ultimately gives Fundy his blessing for being in Las Nevadas as long as he was happy with it.
  • ...However, Fundy reveals he's not even affiliated with Las Nevadas anymore, and would rather have nothing to do with Wilbur or anyone else he used to be around anymore since he felt that they didn't care about him. That's fair enough and valid for him to do so. He's also set his bed/respawn point far away from everyone and everything. Wilbur starts to grow concerned that Fundy's heading down a dangerous path... like he himself had done a while back. Fundy tells Wilbur to just leave, and Wilbur respects this boundary and backs away. Then Fundy jumps into the L'Manburg crater... and that makes the third person to either die or attempt to die from suicide on this damned server.
• While Wilbur's 6 June 2022 livestream "inconsolable Differences" is mostly entrenched in Heartwarming territory, it also has its fair share of heartbreaking moments.
  • Tommy recounting what happened to him in Exile, right down to the abuse.
  • When Tommy reveals the purpose of the Tower to the clouds he built in Exile, Wilbur immediately has an Imagine Spot where he breaks into Pandora's Vault to scream and beat the ever-loving shit out of Dream. The sadness on Tommy's part is obvious, but the sadness on Wilbur's part is that he himself had once decided death was a better fate than continuing to endure a Trauma Conga Line. Considering this is what snaps him out of his positive associations with Dream, one must say that this part of Exile hit him quite close to home.
  • Wilbur's (admittedly misguided) plan to get Tommy out of Dream's control after learning of this goes... quite unexpectedly:
    • While forcing Dream to write and sign a document stating the legitimacy of L'Manberg and his status as a terrorist to the nation, Wilbur threatens to upend a bucket of lava on himself to burn himself alive if Dream doesn't do exactly what he says... which, once again, shows how little regard Wilbur has for his own life, so much that one might suspect he has drifted back into his Death Seeker tendencies.
    • The second step of the plan has Wilbur tell Dream to burn fake Cat and Mellohi discs... without telling Tommy or Dream that the discs in question were fake. While it's revealed at the end of the stream that the discs burnt were fakes, before that reveal, Tommy was screaming at Wilbur for betraying him in such a way for a self-serving purpose, sounding like he was on the verge of tears.

Side Stories

Tales From the SMP

General

• Karl is determined to use his powers for good, but he has no control over when, where, and how long he travels. He probably never will have full control over his powers, which are slowly causing him to lose his memory and sense of self.

The Village that Went Mad

• Pretty much everything having to do with Robin. He lost his parents in a Great Offscreen War, he's unable to do anything as his surrogate father Catboy is accused of murder and executed, and he's such a wreck afterwards that he's unable to properly defend himself from similar accusations and, ultimately, his own execution (with the implication that he became a Death Seeker).

The Lost City of Mizu

• The fact that the story of the SMP has gotten so distorted by historical revisionism that it's practically unrecognizable.
  • The history books paint George as a long-ruling and beloved king, who was murdered by Eret in their bid to usurp the throne and rule with an iron fist. In reality, George was only the king for a week or two, and barely did anything in that time. He was dethroned by Dream and replaced with Eret, who genuinely tried to use their power to make the server a better place to atone for their betrayal... and they are remembered as a ruthless tyrant.
  • There is so much conflicting information regarding Fundy that the consensus historians seemed to come to was that he was Tommy's pet. Nothing about his relationships, accomplishments, or anything about him as a person.
  • Quackity has been flanderized into a nudist bard, who was too stupid to realize that things were falling apart around him. Again, nothing about El Rapids, or running for president of L'Manburg, or the fact that he was one of the first people to see what Dream was actually up to, he is only remembered for his supposed stupidity.
  • Tommy and Tubbo are heavily flanderized as well, Tubbo to a hero with an obsession with bees, and Tommy to Tubbo's sidekick with a love for music discs. What's worse is, the tree room has a replica of their bench... but there's nothing there suggesting they're in any way connected to it. No mentions of L'Manburg or Snowchester here, either, despite how important those places were to the two of them.
  • Wilbur, though... Wilbur doesn't even have a room. The founder of L'Manburg, the person who started it all, the man who fell from grace in the most painful way and went down with the country he built... and history doesn't even remember him.
  • The most painful thing? L'Manburg is barely remembered at all. The history books call it "Manburg", and while its members are remembered individually, the country itself is rarely ever mentioned. The destruction of Ghostbur's library meant that all historical documents that proved the existence of L'Manburg were obliterated as well, meaning that when its founders died, the memory of the country they created died with them.

The Pit

• After having a heartfelt conversation with Jackie about the friendship they had developed throughout his short-lived career as Porkius' cameraman, Karl accepts his execution at Jackie's hands, on Porkius' orders. It doesn't help that there is sad music playing in the background.
  Karl: (quietly) Alright.
  Jackie: So, do you want me to like, off you?
  (Karl quietly turns around to face Jackie, and briefly looks at the dead gladiators)^note Out of universe, they had respawned and were standing on the edge of the arena.
  Jackie: I– Do you– Is that– Oh, this is real sad. Okay, bye...
  Porkius VII: Kill him!
  (Jackie starts hitting Karl with the sword Porkius gave him, as the screen cuts away)
• Doubles as Nightmare Fuel. The other versions of Karl wandering the Inbetween are versions of him from parallel universes that stayed in the Inbetween too long and lost their minds. For every Karl wandering around in the Inbetween, there's a universe full of friends and family waiting for someone who will never come back.

The Maze

• The Stinger where Karl writes his diary entry, noting that he should record down those who are closest to him. Unfortunately for him, he forgot he had two fiancés and not one, thus confirming... welp, Karlnapity fans stay losing, we suppose.
  Sapnap
  George
  Bad
  Foolish
  Tina
  
  i feel like its already starting, like i may have already begun losing sight in who is closest to me...
  • It gets worse. After the episode was livestreamed, Karl has this to say in his private Twitter account:
    THEHONKBOY: Btw canonically, the ending of this ep of tales is suppose[d] to line up exactly w when I bumped into quackity in his lore stream he did a lil bit ago :]
    Just a fun lil bit of info! <3 love u guys!

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