It's FromSoftware. Prepare to cry here too.
- Near Ashina Castle Gate, there's a lone soldier kneeling beside the body of a horse. Eavesdropping on him reveals that he is mourning the death of his loyal steed — who happens to have an item you can loot, should you take care of him.
- Blackhat Badger's questline — after using the Puppet ninjutsu to get a "rat" to raise up a kite for the pair of you, you find Badger at his son's grave. After Ashina is invaded and set ablaze, you can find him near the building you first talked to him at, dying of wounds inflicted by the three samurai he'd killed. The reason he'd stopped hiding? They were attacking a child, reminding him entirely too much of his own son's death, so he intervened. The item he gives you is a "Mibu Pilgrimage Balloon", which was supposed to go to Tenkichi, presumably Badger's deceased son. What makes this even more heartbreaking is the very real possibility that the boy Badger saved was Kuro, who was supposed to be making his way to the castle's secret escape passage.
- The conclusion of the Praying Woman's questline - the first time you meet this old hag is at Ashina Castle, where she cryptically alludes to the Divine Child of Rejuvenation at Senpou Temple, while coming off as mildly gaga. After this you may meet her by the Bottomless Hole, deep in the Sunken Valley and on the slopes of Mt. Kongo, and each time she cryptically alludes to what you should do in order to progress, pointing Wolf in the right direction with the exclamation "over there!". In the latter two cases you can give her rice for some additional (if still cryptic and mildly gaga) hints before she drifts off to sleep. Wth her assistance, you may find The Depths of Ashina as well as a pair of "fruits," one which is fresh and one that is dried, that you require in order to reach the Golden Ending. If you return to the Senpou Temple Main Hall after Ashina is invaded, you can find the old hag once more. There she asks you if the Divine Child of Rejuvenation has eaten the two "fruits" - if she has done so, the old woman is relieved and states that "everything will be fine". Then, she wishes the Divine Heir and Divine Child fortune upon their journey, weakly raises her arm, points and cryptically mumbles "over there" one last time before slumping over.
- Anayama and Kotaro's fates once the Interior Ministry invades for the second time. The Ministry soldiers take everything from Anayama, leaving Kotaro dead and Anayama badly injured. Anayama himself insists that Kotaro is just sleeping, and he'll sell you one last item for a measly one sen. Anayama promises Wolf that he'll turn it into a mountain of gold, and slumps over dead immediately afterwards.
- The Sculptor will succumb to Shura's wrath at the end of the game, becoming the Demon of Hatred, and Wolf may or may not recognize him. Either way, Sculptor will recognize Wolf at the end of his boss fight, thanking him for putting him down.
- During the second invasion of Ashina Castle, you can find two Taro Troops standing in a courtyard, and rather than attacking you, they simply stand around loudly weeping for the dead Ashina soldiers around them.
- Ashina's situation when you think about it. Isshin rebelled against the Ministry to take back his ancestors' land from them, yet not even two generations later their power is crumbling. Gwyn at least got to enjoy a prosperous Age of Fire. But for the Ashina, they are poorly equipped, running low on resources, and basically stand no chance against the Interior Ministry, who seem intent on burning everything to the ground.
- In the end, no matter the ending you get, Ashina is pretty well doomed since once all's said and done, those who could lead the army (Genichiro, Isshin) are all dead. And in the Shura ending, you single-handedly destroy it yourself.
- And poor Isshin. He's seen his efforts come to naught, and when he's not out prowling the lands as the Tengu, he's cooped up in a tower by himself unless Emma or Wolf come by. His friends are either dead (Dogen) or have betrayed him (Owl), and his grandson is going down a dark path he cannot be dissuaded from. He doesn't even get to die in a blaze of glory defending his land from the Interior Ministry, instead he simply drops dead on the spot from illness and old age.
- Genichiro's situation. Born in poverty, he knows what it's like having to fight for basic necessities and the things you desire. He is ultimately no villain and simply wants to protect the province that gave him everything, going to any lengths to achieve it. Ultimately he falls short and either ends up being unceremoniously killed off-screen by Owl or realises he can't best you upon being defeated once more by Sekiro on the silver flower field, turning his mortal blade on himself and sacrificing his own life to bring back Isshin from the depths of the underworld in a desperate attempt to save the region he has given everything for to protect.
- The Shura ending. Sekiro obeys the Iron Code and betrays Kuro, who at this point has always been so appreciative of your service. Emma and Isshin both try to stop you, but are ultimately slain for their efforts. Doing this causes Sekiro to succumb to Shura, turning him into a heartless killing machine roaming around the country. It really is a horrible end for everyone involved.
- The Immortal Severence ending. Sekiro obeys Kuro to the very end and kills him to free themselves of the immortality of the Dragon's Heritage. The next scene shows Sekiro taking up the Sculptor's job, carving away at Buddhas with a forlorn expression, while Emma looks on, trying to offer the Shinobi Prosthetic to him again, with an equally sad look on her face. It's not hard to see that the death of Kuro has affected them greatly, it's almost as if they've lost their purpose with Kuro not being around anymore.
- The Purification ending also has some. Instead of Kuro having to die, Wolf takes his place so that his Lord can live as a normal human, May you live on, and embrace what it means to be human. One of them has to die in the end.
- The ultimate fate of Great Carp Attendant. Regardless of how Sekiro completes his quest (either by killing him or finishing his quest to the end), he will ultimately succumb to death, failing to achieve the immortality he desired. His last moment if Sekiro chose to kill the Great Carp is to say he is grateful to Sekiro, knowing that he had fulfilled his duty. The next time Sekiro sees him, he is already laying dead in peace, with one of his daughters by his side, saying that she would be with him for eternity before finally joined him in the afterlife. Surely he didn't yearn for this kind of eternal torment, but was unable to break free from it. Coupled with the sad and solemn mood of Fountainhead Palace theme
, it should invoke a lot of feelings.- His other daughter also met a sad death. With her last strength, she murdered all the Palace Nobles in the highest house of the Fountainhead Palace, lamenting and crying on how they tricked her father into false eternity and nobility, before she succumbed to death herself.
- O'Rin of the Mibu. Say what you want about her malicious intent to kill Sekiro, but if you think more thoroughly, you will realize what a sad and tragic life she has been through. Who knows how long she has been searching for her former lover, Lord Sakuza? How long has she been waiting for his response in vain, so much so that even in death, her sorrow still binds her to the world of living? What do we know about Lord Sakuza, the man O'Rin yearned so much for, and the relationship between them? Isn't she the image of women at the time, patiently waiting for their loved ones who either perished or were lost during the bloody wars of the Sengoku era?
- By bringing Jinzaemon Kumano to her place, Sekiro finally brings her the release she wanted. Sure, you have to fight her and finish her off for good, but at least she can finally rest in peace, knowing that Lord Sakuza (somehow) sent Jinzaemon in his stead.
- The Armored Warrior is a European mercenary who guards the bridge leading to the main hall of Senpou Temple. He is motivated by a desire to protect his son Robert, who is sick and being treated by the monks of the temple. Except he isn't, the Senpou Monks killed Robert long ago using him as a guinea pig for their research into immortality, and they have been keeping this fact from the Warrior all this time. The Warrior screams his son's name in anguish as he plummets off the bridge to his death, believing he had failed his son, but he would have failed to protect his son even if he had won his fight with Wolf and he would have never known it.
