Tear Jerker / The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The price of victory is a costly one...

• Courtesy of Andy Serkis, the film begins with a tearjerker mixed with nightmare fuel: how Smeagol became Gollum. As you watch the Ring corrupt him, make his body thin and emaciated, and see his painful hacking cough, the way he grips his throat in pain afterward, and watch the shadows grow darker around him, you can see how wretched and bereft he has become. Just like his song from the last film.
  And we wept, Precious, we wept to be so alone...
• The parting of Merry and Pippin — Pippin doesn't understand what's happening, and Merry understands it all too well. Merry gives Gandalf a look as if saying "can we please get this over with?" and Pippin, finally realizing that they're going to be separated, cries out his friend's name. Then Merry's Anger Born of Worry turns to grief and he races up the stairs to the battlements, knocking aside a guard on the way, so as to keep his best friend in sight as long as possible. Not to mention the way Dominic Monaghan's voice utterly breaks on the "I don't know what's going to happen anymore" line as he steps away.
• Arwen's flash of prophecy as she sees Aragorn holding a little boy, wearing the Evenstar, and realizes what it means. She rides hell for leather back to Rivendell, and storms up to her father:
  Elrond: I looked into your future and I saw death.
  Arwen: But there is also life! You saw there was a child! You saw my son!
  • That scene, indeed, is a comfort against Elrond's dire prediction for Arwen: though Aragorn will pass away, he will always be alive in his son's eyes.
  • It's even understandable why Elrond tried to manipulate his daughter into leaving for the Undying Lands: Elves and Men go to different afterlifes, meaning he will not see her again until the very ending of the world (if even then). And his twin brother had made the choice to become human. And the books heavily imply that Elrond's sons would eventually choose to also stay in Middle-earth.
• One line from Pippin will always get you: "The strongest man may be slain by one arrow. Boromir was pierced by many."
• The Gondor Calls for Aid scene was also very moving. A famous quote from World War I — "The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime". (It's worth noting that Tolkien himself lost all but one of his friends during that The First World War, so the scene was especially poignant).
• In addition to that, there's a Freeze-Frame Bonus where Gimli suggests going to request more aid from the Dwarves and Legolas informs him that they're very likely already fighting their own battles. The look on Gimli's face when he realizes the truthfulness of that statement and just how much different his home could appear when he returns says it all. It's also really the only time alluded in the entire films that the war is waging across a much larger scale than just in Rohan and Gondor.
  • It's the music that does it. Howard Shore has struck again!
• Theoden is able to gather 6,000 Riders of Rohan to Dunharrow and is prepared to wait a day more for the rest to arrive, claiming the number present was "Less than half of what [he] hoped." Aragorn, realizing that time is not on their side, asks him to speed up the timetable and be ready to begin the ride to Gondor in the morning. Theoden looks briefly disappointed before agreeing. Assuming more men were indeed on their way, that means a lot of loyal Rohirrim were delayed and weren't able to make it in time to participate in the final act of their King. One can only imagine the shame they must've felt.
• Denethor and Faramir, before Faramir rides off to try to retake Osgiliath. It's one thing to have favorites, but to tell your son that you wish he were dead and the other were alive? And the way Faramir's voice breaks, and he goes off on basically a suicide mission, and his father still doesn't care?
  • Gandalf calling out, "Your father loves you, Faramir!" Faramir's expression just screams "Yeah, right."
  • Not to mention the scene with Faramir's charge itself with Pippin singing on the soundtrack. Eerily beautiful and absolutely heartbreaking.
  • Faramir's love for his city and his people is just as strong as Boromir's, and yet his father never sees him for what he is. Then Denethor admits that he wished Faramir had died... having tried (and succeeded, mostly) to keep stony-faced throughout the beginning of the movie, that one sentence and Faramir's pained reaction just set it off.
  • Pippin barely knows Faramir at this point (even the Extended Edition only includes a short scene of them interacting), yet he's so upset by the doom that awaits Faramir and his men that he cries after he finishes singing.
  • What really tops that whole scene off is that long shot of Gandalf at the end, sitting all by himself in the shadow, staring blankly with a sorrowful expression which is devoid of hope, in one of the most understated Heroic BSODs. Beyond the politics of the situation, Faramir was his student ("wizard's pupil"), so it would be especially painful that someone he had taught as a youngster (Faramir may have even looked up to Mithrandir as a Parental Substitute to a limited degree) and had grown to care for him as a friend is riding towards his death in a needless sacrifice.
  • A moment before, while knowing his older son is dead is terrible enough, but to learn how he died really broke his heart. Denethor refused to believe Boromir would be so weak to be easily corrupted by the Ring and would even betray his own father. He's likely in serious denial that he is in some way responsible for his own son's fall from grace and eventual death, hence why he thinks he should have sent Faramir the first time he asked.
    Faramir: He would have kept it for his own! And when he returned, you would not have known your son.
    Denethor: BOROMIR WAS LOYAL TO ME, NOT SOME WIZARD'S PUPIL!
  • After collapsing out of grief, Denethor stands up and seems to have a My God, What Have I Done? moment regarding his ill treatment of Faramir, calling him his son. Then it turns out that he's actually hallucinating Boromir coming back to him and his expression of joy is meant for his late son, not Faramir.
• The scene where Gondor's cavalry marches to what we all know will be a losing battle in Osgiliath, where the citizens all toss flowers before their feet, and where one guard even receives a flower directly from hand-to-hand.
  • The civilians' farewell to their doomed soldiers feels more like a funeral procession; they throw flowers on to the road as if coffins are passing by. Everyone in the crowd looks utterly depressed and in mourning.
• Pippin singing for Denethor while Faramir and his soldiers make a futile attempt to retake Osgiliath.
  Home is behind, the world ahead; and there are many paths to tread. Through shadow, to the edge of night, until the stars are all alight. Mist and shadow, cloud and shade, all shall fade. All shall fade.

• "DEATH!!!"
  • Even better: In the film, that line was said as the Rohirrim were, as far as they knew, making their Last Stand. In the book, the Rohirrim ride off to a rousing speech and the "DEATH!" line...
    "And so [Théoden] died, and knew not that Éowyn lay near him. And those who stood by wept, crying: 'Théoden King! Théoden King!"
    "But Éomer said to them:
    
    Mourn not overmuch! Mighty was the fallen,
    meet was his ending. When his mound is raised,
    women then will weep. War now calls us!
    
    "Yet he himself wept as he spoke. [...] Then he beheld his sister Éowyn as she lay, and he knew her. He stood a moment as a man who is pierced in the midst of a cry with an arrow through his heart, and then his face went deathly white, and and a cold fury rose in him, so that all speech failed him for a while. A fey mood took him.
    "'Éowyn, Éowyn!' he cried at last. 'Éowyn, how come you here? What madness or devilry is this? Death, death, death! Death take us all!'"
    [Rohirrim charge, crying for their king and screaming death]
• The development of Merry and Éowyn's friendship in the films, especially "I'll look after you", Éowyn's reaction to thinking Merry's been squashed by an oliphaunt, and the fact that just after having slain the Witch-King, she's trying to find him.
  • "Courage, Merry. Courage for our friends."
• During the battle with the Haradrim, we see one of the Oliphants rear up on its hind legs right before toppling over. Word of God is that the filmmakers were intentionally trying to bring to mind the mistreatment that real-life circus elephants go through. The victims of Sauron also include those on his side.
• The whole situation of Denethor almost unwittingly killing Faramir. The icing of the cake is when Pippin says this before he's dragged out of the Tomb of the Stewards by Denethor, "He's not dead. HE'S NOT DEAD!!!"
  • Even worse, everyone who is not Denethor completely ignore Pippin and don't even stand up for him or take his side, or even asks Denethor about the possibility of Pippin being right. Although possibly they fear incurring his wrath at such a terrible time as well.
  • What does Denethor say as Faramir is being rescued? "You will not take my son from me!" He clearly cared for him, as Gandalf said earlier in the film.
  • Denethor's reaction to seeing Faramir wake up is to whisper his name and look on the verge of tears of joy. His first moment of true, fatherly love towards Faramir is sadly and quickly put to an end when he begins to burn up.
• Gandalf and Pippin's talk waiting for almost certain death during the siege of Minas Tirith. Gandalf was being very reassuring about how 'this is not the end' but seeing them calmly prepare themselves to facing death during the upcoming restart of the battle was extremely moving. Pippin is afraid to die and Gandalf reassures him that death is the next adventure.
  • This one line that Gandalf says, along with the accompanying orchestral version of "Into the West": "The gray rain-curtain of this world rolls aside and all turns to silver glass; and then you see it: white shores, and beyond, a far green country into a swift sunrise."
• The Extended Edition where Éomer catches sight of Éowyn (who wasn't even meant to be in the battle) lying apparently dead on the Pelennor Fields, and this proud, poised warrior throws away his sword, drops everything and runs to cradle his little sister's body, howling with raw grief. It's even worse when you remember that this was the last thing he expected to see—not only was she not meant to be in the battle, but he thought she was safe and in Rohan.
  • Not to mention that Théoden's body can't be far away, so Éomer seems to have lost his entire family in this one battle. Made even sadder when you recall Théoden's death scene (a massive tearjerker as well), which starts off with him staring lovingly into Éowyn's eyes, saying, "I know your face...Éowyn," in a Meaningful Echo of the equally Tear Jerker-inducing scene in Two Towers when he is first freed from Wormtongue's influence. She smiles back, in yet another Meaningful Echo, this time to when he was telling her that all he wants her to do for him is smile again and be happy.
    Théoden: My eyes darken...
    Éowyn: No. I'm going to save you.
    Théoden: You already did. Éowyn...my body is broken. You have to let me go...I go to my fathers, in whose mighty company I shall not now be ashamed...Éowyn.
    • The fact that his last word is her name...and her wordless sob as he finally dies...the acting is just amazing. Bernard Hill and Miranda Otto are too brilliant for words.
  • And similarly, when Pippin finds Merry's cloak on the battlefield and realizes that he was in the battle is a tearjerking moment. Especially in the Extended Edition when several hours are shown to have passed before he finally finds him.
    • Even worse when you learn that Dominic Monaghan re-dubbed Merry's words to Pippin in that scene. In the film he asks "Are you going to leave me?" Originally, he said "Are you going to bury me?" It was decided that this was far too depressing, so it was re-worded (even though it actually doesn't make much sense for Merry to ask Pippin if he's going to leave him when Pippin never showed an interest in being parted from Merry).
• It is a Tear Jerker for somewhat different reasons, but the Houses of Healing scene with the gorgeous, haunting song sung by Liv Tyler where Éowyn gets up in the middle of the night and walks to her window and then catches Faramir looking at her as if he's just seen an angel...
  • And also the scene where Éowyn is standing alone staring desolately into the East and Faramir walks up to her to give her some meaningful words of encouragement while still looking at her like she's the most amazing thing he's ever seen. Then she contently leans into him and they clasp hands. Awwww. Also counts as a Heartwarming Moment.

• Frodo (under heavy influence from the Ring and Gollum) selfishly and heartlessly tells Sam to go home. And Sam—loyal, loving, ever-cheerful Sam—just... breaks down. He doesn't even try to fight Frodo's accusations; he simply sits down again and starts sobbing openly into his hands.
  • When Frodo thinks Sam wants the ring and tells him to leave. Then Sam is climbing down the stairs sobbing and then...then he slips and...
• Frodo's remorse over accusing Sam and telling him to go home when he's in Shelob's lair. His last words before passing out briefly are an apology to his absent friend, and the quickness with which the apology spills out of his mouth when they're reunited in Cirith Ungol reiterates how sorry he feels over treating Sam that way, even though probably more of the blame lay with the Ring and Gollum than with him.
  • When Sam has defeated Shelob and thinks Frodo is dead rather than just asleep, you can tell just how heartbroken he is that he thought he wasn't able to save his friend. It's even more heart-wrenching when you factor everything that happened prior to and during the entire Shelob's Lair sequence in regards to Frodo's behaviour towards Sam and then feeling remorseful. Then you can tell that he's angry at himself when he realises the mistake he made when the orcs find Frodo, explain that he's alive, then take him as a prisoner. It doesn't help that if Sam got there about 5 minutes sooner, he might've been able to save Frodo from Shelob's sting.
• While Gollum's tragic near-repentance from the books doesn't happen in the movies, there is a scene in Shelob's lair that drives home the same point. When Frodo fights Gollum in Shelob's lair, his Sméagol-persona returns causing Frodo to feel pity towards him and spare him. However, Frodo then admits the purpose of the quest to Gollum, at which he snaps and attacks Frodo again. This is the last time his Sméagol-persona appears in the movies...
  Gollum: It wasn't us! It wasn't us! Sméagol wouldn't hurt master! We promised! You must believe us! It was The Precious! The Precious made us do it!
  Frodo: I have to destroy it, Sméagol... I have to destroy for both of our sakes...
  Gollum: Noooooo!

• "I can't carry it for you, Mister Frodo — but I can carry you!" Cue the waterworks. Sean Astin did an awesome job all throughout the movies, though — seriously, Sam gets possibly the most awesome moments.
  • At that moment, Sean Astin is no longer acting. He has become a complete physical embodiment of Samwise Gamgee. That blood, sweat, and tears? It's gotta be none other than the real deal.
    • Also, when Sam thinks Frodo is dead. Don't leave me here alone. Don't go where I can't follow.
• The deleted scene from the Extended Edition where the Mouth of Sauron tells them Frodo was tortured to death. The look on Pippin's face when he holds Frodo's mithril vest, and Gandalf comforting him. Aragorn's whacking off the head of the Mouth of Sauron is highly cathartic.
• "For Frodo."
• Shortly beforehand, Legolas and Gimli have a brief exchange that leaves even the cynical Gimli visibly touched:
  Gimli: Never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an Elf.
  Legolas: What about side by side with a friend?
  Gimli: Aye. I could do that.
• When Aragorn falls under the attacks of the troll the camera cuts to Legolas panicking not far away, completely ignoring the battle around him to go and help. He tries to fight through Orcs but is cut off. The sheer horror is heartbreaking because this is the first time he shows emotions this clearly. It's like his mind is just yelling "I can't lose my friend again!"
  • Look closely and you'll notice that Legolas is fighting his way through orcs and men with absolutely no regard for his own safety. The helplessness when he's blocked is absolutely heartbreaking. Even more so now that The Hobbit films have confirmed them to be old friends. Legolas is forced to watch his best friend's apparently inevitable death. Ouch.
• Sam trying desperately to save Frodo after Gollum has taken the Ring with him to the bottom of Mt. Doom. It's taken everything they had and more to finish their quest, and now Frodo has nothing left to give. Just look at his face, he's exhausted, in every possible sense of the word.
• Gollum's death. For one brief, shining moment, he gets back what he has searched for for so long.
  • In general, Gollum is such a tragic character, but the world was probably safer without him.
• The great Gollum-related Tear Jerker is when he falls into the fires of Mount Doom, blissfully unaware that he's falling, clutching his "Precious" to the very end... and the last thing he sees is the Ring, still quite fine, though for not much longer, abandoning and betraying him for the very last time.
• A brief one, but the moment as the remainder of the Fellowship watch Mt. Doom erupt. In the space of a few seconds, they go from triumphant joy to shocked sadness as they realize that Frodo, who has just been proven alive by the destruction of the evil forces, might have lost his life in gaining this unexpected victory. You see the realization on Merry's face, Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, and then it cuts to Pippin openly weeping and saying Frodo's name...
  • Not just the realization that Frodo and Sam are most likely dead, either. It's probably only then that Merry and Pippin, at least, fully grasp that the expedition to Mount Doom had always been a suicide mission.
• The scene with Frodo and Sam following the destruction of the Ring. First, you have Frodo realizing that his burden is gone ("It's gone...It's done."), then, while trapped on a rock in a sea of lava, Frodo recalls the Shire again, which makes Sam think of Rosie Cotton ("If ever I was to marry someone...It would've been her...It would've been her"). Because let's face it, where else in the trilogy does Sam get the chance to be selfish (and justifiably, too)? And then, to cap it all off, Frodo using the last of his energy to sit up and hug his best friend as they wait to die, and his delivery of the line, "I'm glad to be with you, Samwise Gamgee...here at the end of all things."
  • Frodo and Sam see that solitary star through the clouds while on the slopes of Mount Doom.
  • The goddamn music again! It's so hopeful and happy and for a second there you might think they're going to die with such happy music playing.
• As Elrond is passing Arwen on to Aragorn during the latter's coronation, after he whispers to her, "Go to him", look at Hugo Weaving's eyes. It barely lasts a quarter of a second, but it was enough to turn the triumphant feeling having watched the entire trilogy back to back to one of sadness and empathy. He's so torn between joy that all is well and Arwen is with someone she loves, and grief that she has chosen mortality.
• How about when everyone bows down to the hobbits ("You bow to no one") at the end? That's one of the most powerful moments in the trilogy.
  • The hobbits standing there shell-shocked, awkward and looking so young in their finery, as first the King, then an entire cityful of people kneel before them and do them honor. And they're suddenly the tallest people there.
• The Hobbits' homecoming, or lack thereof, at the Shire. The locals just carry on their business as if the four just stepped out when in fact they survived the greatest, bloodiest war in Middle-Earth history. All the four can do at the tavern is silently look at each other and acknowledge that only they know what they did to make sure the Shire was untouched during the war. It's another element that can be related to WWI: the soldiers returning home, shell-shocked, and trying to adjust to a civilian world that is unknowing or uncaring of what they went through.
  "How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on... when in your heart, you begin to understand... there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep, that have taken hold."
  • Truth in Television: Many veterans have expressed watching that scene and understanding exactly what's going on, even without any dialogue. These four heroes have been through an experience that they could never fully explain or articulate to someone who hasn't gone through it. They don't need to say anything to each other.
• Bilbo after the Ring is destroyed. It's heartbreaking to see someone who used to be so feisty and child-like suddenly become so old and fragile. His conversation with Frodo in the cart—his confusion and the fact that he needs to be rugged up carefully to keep warm.
  • And at the Grey Havens, one last glimpse of the old adventurous spirited Bilbo - the gleam in his eyes and the eager tone when he says "I think I'm quite ready for another adventure." Doubly so after seeing him in action in The Hobbit trilogy.
  • Not to mention that even though months has passed since the Ring was destroyed (and even more since he parted with it), Bilbo still seems to have withdrawals as he wished he had the Ring again.
• The ending at the Grey Havens. If you've somehow gotten through this trilogy without shedding a tear, prepare for full on weeping. The scene really brings home the franchise: We're followed these characters in the good times and the bad, seen them suffer loss and heartbreak, and struggle on when they could have given up many times over. And now it is at an end. If it doesn't bring you to tears, a good number of people could tell you to ask your doctor to see if your heart has turned to ice.
  Gandalf: Well, well. My brave hobbits. Here at last, on the shores of the Sea, comes the end of our Fellowship. I will not say, do not weep: for not all tears are an evil.
  • The hobbits finding out that Frodo is leaving. The dialogue plays out as follows:
    Gandalf: It is time, Frodo.
    Sam: What does he mean?!
    Frodo: I set out to save the Shire, Sam. And it has been saved... But not for me.
    Sam: You don't mean that... You can't leave!
    Frodo: *hands Sam the red leatherbound book* The last pages are for you, Sam.
  • After Gandalf says his line, the hobbits all look at Frodo in sorrowful bewilderment, and begin to silently weep. Sam actually starts sobbing as he begs Frodo to stay, but Frodo wearily accepts his fate. Merry begins to cry, and Frodo hugs him as Merry softly cries into his shoulder. Frodo lets go, and Merry looks at him with the most agonized, contorted tearful grimace. Then, Frodo approaches Pippin, who is holding himself together a little better than Merry, and Frodo hugs Pippin as well. Frodo and Sam exchange a long, loving look, before Frodo wraps his arms around Sam in a warm embrace, gently rocking him as he cries into Frodo's shoulder. Frodo rubs Sam's back to comfort him, then plants a tender kiss on Sam's forehead. Frodo rubs Sam's shoulder, as if to tell him that everything will be all right. As Frodo walks away, hand in hand with Gandalf, Merry and Sam sob quietly as Pippin stares at Frodo in tearful, stunned disbelief. As Frodo boards the boat, he looks back and smiles at his friends, who respond with the saddest, most choked-up smiles. Frodo's smile widens, and then he turns away...
  • Watching that scene closely, it almost breaks the Fourth Wall; Frodo give that smile and nod as if to tell the audience, who have at the least soaked in every bit of these movies, and at most have started with the books and have seen them brought to life, "It's all good. No worries, friends."
• In a sobering way, Middle Earth wasn't saved solely by the humility and determination of man. Frodo would've walked off with the ring if Gollum hadn't tackled him, grabbed the ring and fell into Mt Doom. Middle Earth was also saved by the conflict of two broken men clinging to what was becoming the only thing that seemed worthwhile in their lives anymore.
• Particularly the end, where Frodo has to leave Sam behind to sail with Gandalf and the Elves to the Undying Lands, never to return. And then the song "Into the West" comes on. Damn it, you, Peter Jackson and J. R. R. Tolkien, both are responsible for this.
  • Specifically, the way Frodo hugs Pippin and Merry goodbye, before just throwing his arms around Sam and gently kissing his forehead.
  • Unless you started crying at Pippin's song, in which case you will just have recovered in time to start crying again at the end.
  • Then, as Frodo boards the ship, he looks at the sunset, then turns back to the camera, and delivers a real smile, which we haven't seen him do in a while. You feel like there is hope for him to finally begin healing. On top of that, a combination of makeup and lighting in this moment rather makes it seem he's finally gone back to Frodo at the beginning when we first met him, his lightness and innocence and hopeful idealism returned to him at last.

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