History TearJerker / Halo

Examples from ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'' and ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' go [[TearJerker/Halo5Guardians here]] and [[TearJerker/HaloReach here]], respectively.

** Thel Vadamee's trial. Think about it from his point of view: You are the Covenant's greatest commander, so feared the UNSC singled you out for assassination. You just fought a glorious battle at Reach, the peak of your career, and to top it off, while chasing the Pillar of Autumn, you found the one object that would bring you and your people to glorious salvation, unaware that the halo ring is really a [[LostSuperweapon massive superweapon]] that is meant to not just kill you and your men, [[ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure but all sentient life in the galaxy.]] When the Master Chief, the Demon destroyed the ring, even when you rightfully point out that the Flood were a high priority threat but didn't realize what the Master Chief was going to do until it was too late, everyone in the room calls you a heretic despite your many years of service and only trying to do the right thing. Then everyone is cheering on Tartarus for torturing you and stripping you naked essentially in front of a massive crowd even though you are not a heretic, but you feel so much guilt on what happened that you just accept the scar on your chest.

* [[BittersweetEnding Bittersweet tears]] in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGR1V7IRLXs "Rebirth" epilogue]]. Humans and Forerunners gather together as equals in mourning and celebration, and finally part ways in peace. Perhaps most touching, Bornstellar remarking that one day "Perhaps your children will make their way back, and I hope meet our children." It gives one hope that maybe humanity and Forerunners can exist together as brothers like they were meant to.]]
-->'''Bornstellar''': "Hope..."
* MortalDictata - We get to see from the parents of one of the Spartans just how terrible it is to lose your child. Any parent will be in tears just thinking of how Naomi's parents must have felt when they couldn't find her and how she was acting so different when they did.

** Thel Vadamee's trial. Think about it from his point of view: You are the Covenant's greatest commander, so feared the UNSC singled you out for assassination. You just fought a glorious battle at Reach, the peak of your career, and to top it off, while chasing the Pillar of Autumn, you found the one object that would bring you and your people to glorious salvation, unaware that the halo ring is really a massive superweapon that would kill you and your men. When the Master Chief, the Demon exploded the ring, even when you rightfully point out that the Flood were a high priority target but didn't realize what the Master Chief was going to do until it was too late, everyone in the room calls you a heretic despite your many years of service and only trying to do the right thing. Then everyone is cheering on Tartarus for torturing you and stripping you naked essentially in front of a massive crowd even though you are not a heretic, but you feel so much guilt on what happened that you just accept the scar on your chest.

-->'''Rtas:'''...these are my Elites. Their lives matter to me, yours does not.

* Foehammer. For all those missions, she's one of the very few UNSC ally that isn't replaceable, that isn't just a generic soldier running to his death (and getting in your way, no less). As often as she can be, she's there to cover your back by picking up survivors, dropping off a warthog or guiding you towards an objective, and all the while with her heartening voice, full of vitality and upbeat humor. And then you watch her die ''while coming to your rescue,'' and there's nothing you can do. Even Cortana chokes up.
* Keyes was one of the UNSC's best, a brilliant tactician and damn fine commander to boot. Every time you see him, you can tell that he's the kind of commander who can inspire the men serving under him to their fullest potential. And not only does he die an ignoble and terrible death, but it's absolutely horrifying--his body slowly mutilated and his consciousness erased by the Flood. The novelization details how he can feel each memory and thought of his own slowly being stripped away, his identity draining away like sand in a sieve. It doesn't help that Chief has to immediately take the neural chips and keep going....

'''Cortana:''' Scanning... Just...dust and echoes. We're all that's left.
* Some of the terminals in the anniversary edition do a good job of portraying 343 Guilty Spark as a sad, incredibly lonely being. He's been trapped on a super-weapon in the middle of space, completely and utterly alone (save for the flood), without even any wildlife to interact with. Spark spends his days fantasizing about how much better his job would be if he had been sent with another monitor, and how he could easily take a short break and fly to a nearby planet, although he would risk failing his task should the flood escape by any chance. Then finally, when sentient life actually locates his installation and he discovers that the mission he was sent on millennia ago was a success, they proceed to undo all his hard work within the course of a few days and destroy his home.

* In ''[[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Midnight]],'' Cortana is forced to eject her rampant personality spikes to bring down the Didact's shield. So far, so good. But when the shield finally goes down, [[OhCrap the Composer activates]]. The Chief moves to retrieve Cortana's chip, but then [[PlayerPunch THE TERMINAL EXPLODES]], and [[NotSoStoic the Chief desparately calls out her name]].