Follow TV Tropes

This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.

Following

Tear Jerker / Erfworld

Go To

Book 1

  • "Dora... We have done... our Duty! Eyaaaaagh!"
  • Jillian and Vinny's reaction to Ansom's death. "Hey, you're the only one grievin' right now, right? Right?! IZZAT WHAT YOU THINK?"
  • This is either one, or narrowly avoids it by virtue of snarky hamster.
  • Bogrolls death. Parson basically goes on Roaring Rampage of Revenge upon hearing that he croaked, in form of destroying everything on the city, except location where remaining Gobwin Knob forces are located.

Summer Updates

  • The story of Wrigley, Stabber of Unaroyal. He was born into a world devoted to war, with the sole purpose of fighting in that war. Yet, he never got the chance to serve in combat, living a mind-numbingly dull life. When the city he is in finally does come under attack, the enemy so outclassed the defenders that it was like he wasn't even there. And so he sits chained in the mud, waiting for his execution and the only thing he can bring himself to wish for is to know what happened to his spear.

Book 2

  • A subtle one, but poignant when one takes the Summer Updates into account: on this page a portrait of a lady we have not seen before is visible over Don King's shoulder. Instead of being an obvious Transilvitian, however, she has red hair, skin that isn't grey, and dresses in orange as opposed to the normal monochrome of Transylvito. Conclusion? This was Queen Bea of Unaroyal, a close friend of Don's who disbanded herself and her entire side when Wanda beat down the door. This is in a panel where Don tries to convince his Moneymancer accountant to be true to her ideals in vain.
  • Such was the worth of the king's currency, and Slately spent his lies well.
    • Mitigated somewhat, as Slately has changed his mind.
  • King Slately asking Don King for a loan to promote Tramennis to an heir.
    • And Don, preparing to break the news that he can't indulge his old friend's last request.
      • Bunny's heartbroken face at seeing the Don and Caesar at odds a few panels before only adds to it.
  • The second to last panel of this page is a very subtle moment. If you look closely you can see that Ossomer's eyes are red rimmed - meaning that the anguish he's been feeling at having been turned away from the home and ideals he still loves was so great that even he couldn't contain it.
  • Tramennis hearing the news of Ossomer's death and decryption.
    Tramennis: She really croaked him. You saw it? She turned him into a little puppet? Like Ansom?... The fate of the world shall be as the world deserves, but not so with each one of us.
    • The warlord crying in the background just drives the point home.
  • Going... home.
  • "Father. Doubles don't leave a body."
    • So this is what it's like to feel alive!
  • "That's... irony, really."
    • Jack?
  • There is something just a little disturbing about Antium's first death. The heroes don't even seem to regard him at all and the way he goes into a mini Madness Mantra and the look on his face when he is hit by friendly fire. 's a little depressing to say the least.
  • Trammenis and Slately have to say goodbye. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, for a few reasons. But make no mistake, it is their final farewell.
  • Stanley isn't what you call a nice guy and he isn't the most mature, but he's smarter than he looks. It's a little odd to see him doubt Wanda and, a little sad, when he starts telling himself that Wanda didn't try to set him up and get him killed in the attack on Faq. Of course, the audience knows that she did try to get him killed and she really doesn't give a rat's ass about him at all. She's just interested in his attunement. Given what he was saying in previous strips, it's obviously been bugging him for a long while.
  • As Spacerock burns around them, Antium and his two surviving subordinates, already injured, struggle heroically to save Parson's life, worsening their burns in the process and managing to push him to safety through the reopened portal. That done, they know themselves trapped in the inferno, note  and as they wait to croak, Antium holds his two frightened men close. Sizemore comes through with a Big Damn Heroes moment shortly, luckily.
    Antium: Hold fast. Our Duty's done now.
  • The journal entry of Trammenis aka King Trammenis the Reluctant. He's filled with self doubt regarding his worthiness to the throne which is not helping the fact that he is currently Jetstone's Only Sane Man.
    Trammenis: I must be brave. But first I must find a Chief Warlord who will agree with me. And how can I do that, when I lack the bravery even to turn a few pages and read what my father wrote of me?
  • Parson straight up asks Sizemore what's wrong, and gets an answer. Parson hasn't just forced Sizemore to kill, he's completely ruined his life. Sizemore used to be everybody's friend in the Magic Kingdom, loved by everyone he met. Since Parson turned Gobwin Knob into the most feared side on Erf, everybody hates Sizemore now. And then Parson went and brought the war to the Magic Kingdom, destroying the only place Sizemore ever felt safe, forever.
    Sizemore: I was Qualified, you know that? Everyone here was my friend. Now I'm nothing. It's over.

Book 3

  • Bunny's Rhymeamancy, particularly the first two stanzas. Don King has had to watch his two closest friends die at the hands of an encroaching horde that he can do nothing to stop. His side is crumbling under the weight of its repeated failures and internal struggles. The ally he had hoped to prop into a new and powerful friend betrayed him. Don King is a broken man.
  • Charlie's grief over the Archons he lost in the failure of Operation: Big Game. Even Evil Has Loved Ones, and Charlie truly does care for his Archons, mourning not only their deaths, but the loss of their loyalty to and love for him when they're Decrypted by Wanda.
    But now look how many more were lost! Fifi, his shield and his spine. Belle, his singular pearl. Gone. Dinah, his thorny rosebush, his work in progress. Gone as well.
    And Bonnie, his misreckoning, the mistake he could not bear to discard, now she had been re-Tooled with her heart and soul all wrong. He may have made a broken masterpiece out of her, but she was a counterfeit even of
    that now.
  • Page 217: Bunny uses her Thinkamancy to kill Don King to protect Caesar, and gets her mind torn to shreds by the Great Minds' Badness spell.
    • Page 218, and Caesar's reaction.
  • Christ... Poor Isaac He lost the closest thing to a family that he had and he thought he was lonely before...

Book 0

  • Tommy Firebaugh's sudden death would have been heartbreaking for Wanda, but the kicker is that she knew before anyone else because of her croakamancy senses, which she took great pride in.
  • Wanda's father promotes her to Heir to preserve their side, which is under attack while she's away. Her new "Ruler Senses" allow her to know when each unit back home croaks.
    Narration: Even as she struggled to comprehend, this brand new part of her mind calmly told her the score. The Garrison had seven Goodminton units left. Four.
    "No", she said.
    One.
    • Even worse when you consider that an heir doesn't gain those ruler senses until they're promoted to overlord, which only happens when the previous overlord dies. Meaning that her father used his dying breath to make Wanda his heir.

Top