Tear Jerker / Raya and the Last Dragon

• There are a few sad moments in the prologue revealing what happened 500 years ago. First, there's the bittersweet conclusion of the war against the Drunn, where the humans are restored to life, but the dragons mysteriously remain stone. Second, Raya states that there "should've been this big inspirational moment, where humanity united over [Sisu's] sacrifice. But instead, people being people, they all fought to possess the last remnant of dragon magic," setting up how cynical Raya herself has become toward humanity as a whole, along with how Sisu's legacy has only served to create division. Finally, Raya opines that the world didn't break until she came into the story, leading into the fact she entirely blames herself for "breaking" the world. ^note  Although trusting Namaari did lead to trouble, the blame mostly falls at the other tribe leaders' for breaking the gem.
• During their last conversation, Chief Benja tells his daughter that he plans to help reunite the Five Nations, only for the 12-year-old Raya to write it off as "ancient history". Even before Namaari's betrayal, Raya was rather cynical for one so young. What's more, Chief Benja explains he's trying to bring peace because he knows they'll tear each other apart otherwise. He doesn't want Raya to inherit such a world, which hits hard when you realize she will, indeed, live in such a world for six years.
• While a young Raya and Namaari are socializing, they compare things and talk about which things they like better. It's a pleasant conversation until Raya asks Namaari whether she prefers stew or rice. Namaari is stumped, but not because she can't pick, but she reveals that it's the first time she's had rice in a while. Rice is one of the most common staple foods in Southeast Asia. The fact that Namaari, who, by virtue of title, should live in luxury, can't even afford to eat rice shows how little resources Fang actually has. Not only does it provide context to why Namaari did what she did, it also implies that Namaari had likely been starving her whole life.
  • Generally, watching Raya and Namaari get along as friends for a short-lived scene. It builds up how these two could've fostered a life-long friendship, being dragon nerds together and bridging the gap between Fang and Heart. But, unfortunately, that's not what happens...
• The look of betrayal on Raya's face when Namaari reveals that she tricked her to get the Dragon's gem. Poor kid was just trying to follow her father's example and open up to a potential new friend, and all it got her was the Druun reawakening, a father turned to stone, a home reduced to a wasteland, her people's treasure reduced to stolen fragment, and understandable trust issues.
• While he succeeds in keeping the other tribes at bay from the Dragon Gem, what causes Chief Benja to ultimately let his guard down? His catching young Raya's reflection in his sword, seeing his own loving daughter poised to fight these other tribes to the death by his example. It's a cruel irony that leads Chief Benja to realize that by defending the gem with hostility, he's unwittingly going against what he's trying to teach Raya.
  • And even when he does try a peaceful, diplomatic approach, Chief Benja's Sacred Hospitality and merciful choice ends up with him shot in the leg by a crossbow, among other things.
  • In between, when he tries to appeal to the other tribes with an impassioned speech about how they need to trust each other (lest they risk ruination), the other leaders' faces are noticably hardened, a sobering indication that humanity is past the point where they are too hardened and greedy to listen to reason.
• Raya watching her father turned to stone when the Druun return. He tossed her into the water to send her away, along with Tuk Tuk, and all she could do was scream as the currents carried her away from the devastation.
  • In the junior novelization, Raya vowed to never return to Heart. On the surface, it may seem like a simple case of heroic determination to not return until she found Sisu and fixed everything. But the novel delves deeper by saying she specifically doesn't want to cross the bridge, because deep down, she's traumatized by the memory of being forced to watch her father turn to stone.
• The Time Skip shows that Raya is living on her own, with Tuk Tuk. She's barely getting by with jackfruit jerky and foraging for anything edible. Yet, she selflessly shares her food with Sisu when the latter rummages through her bag, and is surprised when Sisu compliments her cooking.^note Subverted in that Sisu doesn't really like the jerky, and is just trying to be polite.
• Right before she meets Sisu, she prays to the dragon, barely able to hold back tears. For two reasons is her prayer so heartbreaking:
  • First, this river is her final lead to finding Sisu. And if this doesn't work, her father is gone for good, and the world is doomed.
  • Second, building on the above, Raya blames herself because she trusted Namaari with the location of the stone. It shows the scope of how Namaari's betrayal greatly damaged Raya's outlook on life and led the latter to believe that it's practically a sin to trust other people.
• Although funny on the surface, one can't help but feel bad for Sisu when she learns the dragon gem's been broken. After all, it was the last remnant of her brothers and sisters, and the only memento of them. So she has a point when she says it's cold comfort to tell her "we still have a big chunk of [the dragon gem]".
• Granted, she and the other leaders are at fault for messing up the world, but there's something poignant about seeing the Chieftess of Tail (after the Time Skip) reduced to a skeleton helplessly clutching her shard of the Dragon Gem. Not six years ago, she was a proud leader of a people, alive and healthy, and now she's literally a shell of her former self. She's a pathetic reflection of what Raya and everyone else would be if they had further clutched to the "trust no one" mindset that's destroying their world.
• Sisu has feelings of inadequacy compared to her siblings, due to them possessing greater magic powers, and she isn't even sure why they trusted her with the Dragon Gem in the first place.
  • It makes it somewhat Harsher in Hindsight that she downplays the story as "a bunch of kids in a group project, and I'm just the kid who turned it in". She thinks so little of herself that she nearly didn't realize how much faith her siblings had in her.
• Virana and Namaari's conversation when Namaari tells her that Raya is on the move collecting gem shards. She then requests an army to follow the girl. Virana admits that her biggest mistake was betraying the Heart tribe, and tells Namaari that Raya will kill her in revenge. She doesn't want to lose her only daughter, after endangering their own people for a selfish goal. Namaari says that she understands, but it's a matter of life and death for their tribe so personal feelings don't matter. Virana then gives her permission to take an army to hunt down Raya, and says she's proud that her daughter is thinking like a leader, feeling that it may be the last time they speak.
• Everyone that Raya meets has lost family to the Druun. It's especially sad to see 10-year-old Boun and infant Noi having to provide for themselves without parents, and Tong, the only non petrified member of the Spine tribe, who lost not only his peers, but also his own child.
• An old lady betrays Sisu when the latter in human form blabs about having gem shards, revealing she's the replacement chief. After Raya rescues her, they have a moment where Sisu speaks in shock about how she trusted the other lady. Raya tells her that she's sorry the world is this way, sharing empathy about how one person can act selfishly and ruin your world.
  • What's more, Raya's come to believe that the reason the dragons (minus Sisu) are gone is because the world doesn't deserve dragons. Ouch!
  • It's all but stated that the old chief may have been the mother/grandmother of Dang Hai, so it's unfortunately quite likely that she had been forced into the position after the petrification of her son/grandson, even after being long retired.
• Raya's attitude towards Tong changes when realizing he's not the chief that got her father killed, and she sees the empty crib. Without her usual suspicion, she tells him that he can join their crew if he evacuates the others.
• When Namaari's tribe shows up at Tong's hut, Namaari shows No Sympathy about the fact that the place is debilitated. She says to burn down the hut to smoke out Raya, not caring that innocent people may be inside. It shows how far she's fallen and would have hit This Is Unforgivable! if Raya hadn't shown up to fight her.
• Raya gives her shards to Tong, Sisu, and Boun, telling them that she'll distract Namaari and fight her so the others can escape from Tong's hut. It will be a Curb-Stomp Battle since Namaari has an army and wasn't just knocked out by a booby trap the way Raya was. Sisu doesn't like this plan, but Raya points out logically that she's just a human and not valuable, compared to the last dragon in the world, and she may not trust everyone, but she trusts them to stop the apocalypse. It speaks to how low Raya thinks of herself since she trusted Namaari with the Dragon Gem's location. Sisu eventually expresses that she finds Raya valuable, rescuing her from the Fang tribe.
• When it appears that Namaari was going to defeat Raya, Sisu storms into the battle and stops the fight. All of the other warriors back off, but Namaari doesn't. When Sisu tries to intimidate Namaari into backing off by growling, instead of feeling Namaari is frozen in shock with a mixture of joy and fear even as Sisu launches at her and grows in her face. There is a small moment between Namaari and Sisu as they lock eyes and it's clear that Namaari is on the verge of tears from the encounter. Even if she is going too far, her trust and belief in dragons seemed to overwhelm her at this point and she is overcome by the fact that there is still atleast one dragon left alive. It is enough that Sisu breaks her growl when she realizes the depth of Namari's expression and hesitates more than once to try to say something before backing off to escape.
  • Given how sacred the stone dragons within Fang territory are, it's possible that Fang wasn't just aiming for the stone for their people; They may have been looking to resurrect the dragons.
• After Sisu shares her backstory at Heart, Raya takes the time to visit her stone father and leave a flower at what is essentially his grave. She then soberly wonders to Sisu "Do you think he'll recognize me?" The saddest part is to imagine she's not just talking about appearance-wise: she's talking about whether or not her father will recognize the cynical, distrustful lone wolf she's become as his sweet young daughter.
• Namaari pulling a crossbow on Sisu and Raya, just as the latter has agreed to combine their gem shards to save the world rather than fight for it or stage an elaborate heist. You can tell by Namaari's expression that she knows this is stupid, and pulling a weapon on the last dragon is not the best way to show that you can be trusted, but she's been too indoctrinated by Fang's ideology that she can't help it. Tong then says bitterly that no one from the Fang Tribe can be trusted, showing he hasn't forgiven them for taking away his family. The team then prepares to attack and would have if Sisu hadn't told them to stand down.
  • Sisu tries to talk Namaari down and Namaari looks both hurt and terrified of what she's doing. While it seems like she was going to pull the trigger on Sisu, it's unclear if she really would have if Raya hadn't tried attacking her. It's saddening to think that the needless destruction would have been avoided if Raya had just waited just a little longer for Sisu to talk Namaari down.
• Naamari expressing remorse for everything that's happened after being defeated by Raya. She's even remorseful to the point where she begs Raya to kill her.
  Naamari: (in tears) I never meant for any of this to happen!
  Raya: LIAR!! (raises her sword to strike her down.)
  Naamari: (crying) I don't care if you believe me. Sisu did. But you didn't trust her! That's why we're here. Do what ever you want. But you're as much to blame for Sisu's death as I am!
  • Following this, Raya reflecting upon her self as she looks at herself in her sword and realizes how her distrust has jeopardized the world.
• The gang is surrounded by Druun, and Raya knows the only way to repair the Gem is to entrust the pieces to Namaari. After Raya gives her the Heart clan's piece, Raya turns to stone. The others follow suit, with Boun holding Raya closely before he is turned, and Tong is holding Noi as they become stone with the Ongis. Finally, Namaari joins them after she puts the stone together. Thankfully it doesn't last long.
  • Even before Raya took the first step, when she makes the suggestion to entrust one another with the pieces of the dragon gems, nearly nobody wants to trust Namaari with their gems for being a member of Fang. If it hadn't been for Raya, one gets the feeling they would've sooner fought off the Druun in futility than trust somebody they blame for everything.
  • After the entire group turns to stone, Namaari is the only one left. She considers running away with the gem pieces but decides to put the gem together to honor the trust put in her. When she does and nothing happens, Namaari looks devastated. Despite still having a chance to escape, Namaari decides that it's just better to accept her fate and lets herself turn to stone alongside the others.
  • The looks on Namaari when Everyone decided to give her the gem pieces and let themselves turn to stones.
• Even when the curse is lifted, there are hundreds of families who've lost (at most) six years' worth of time that could have been spent with their loved ones. How many woke up to find children as grown adults (like Chief Benja), spouses who are a little older (like Tong's wife), or even elderly parents who could have perished during that time their adult children have been stone? It's Avengers: Endgame all over again.

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