Tear Jerker / The Ring

In general

• Most obvious are the tragic backstories of Sadako Yamamura in all continuties, as well that of Samara Morgan and Park Eun-Suh. All of them end up thrown down a well where they die and turn into Stringy Haired Ghost Girls.

The novels

Ring

• Tomoko's death in the first chapter. Especially Shizu's description of her parents, who cherished Tomoko because she was their first grandchild.
• The novel's subtle usage of Unreliable Narrator. 90% of the novel is from Kazuyuki's perspective and from what we hear of him, he is a great father who loves his wife and daughter dearly and would do anything to keep them safe. But when we switch to Shizu's perspective...it turns out that Kazuyuki is rather distant (he'd rather work on the newspaper than attending his niece's funeral) and also implied to be emotionally abusive, refusing to tell her about the tape and chastising her when she asks why, which, by the way, ends up causing her to carelessly watch the tape anyway.
• Sadako's backstory. At the age of nine, her parents' lives were destroyed when the media continued to harass them after a botched demonstration of Shizuko's powers. Shizuko eventually committed suicide, while Ikuma, half-insane, tried to unlock powers of his own by meditating in a remote mountain, which caused him to contract tuberculosis and spend the rest of his life in a TBC ward, leaving Sadako in the care of relatives in an isolated island. When she was a teen, Sadako moved to the mainland to try out new things, but she just couldn't escape the shadow of her family's fate, not to mention having to hide the powers that claimed her mother's life. She had to abandon her dream in theater and ended up taking care of her ailing father. It's then than she was raped by Jotaro Nagao, who, upon finding out that she was intersex, tossed her down and trapped her inside a well. Only then she decided to take her revenge against the world.
• Right before going down into the well, Asakawa calls his wife and daughter just to hear their voices one last time. He is worried sick that he is going to die, and he is desperately trying to hold back tears as he talks to them.
• Ryuji Takayama's death, especially as it happens in first person. He curses fate and keeps wondering why he has to die while Kazuyuki didn't, trying to call him but end up calling Mai instead, who in turn is forced to hear Ryuji die screaming.
• Mai revealing the truth about Ryuji to Kazuyuki, which casts him in an entirely different light. It turns out that he had been fabricating the lewd acts he did in life and never had sex with anyone (not even Mai). Mai subsequently tells Kazuyuki how important he was to Ryuji, causing him to leave the apartment trying hard to hold back his tears.

Spiral

• Ando losing his son in a tragic accident that was partly his fault. He's had recurring nightmares, tries to take his life once, and is hounded repeatedly by his ex-wife, who keeps reminding him of the event by accusing him of killing Takanori.
• The book kills off Kazuyuki and his family: Shizu and Yoko both die of the ring virus while the family is driving, causing Kazuyuki to lose control in his panic, crash his car, and be rendered catatonic, before dying several weeks later.
  • The first two books in general are really harsh on the fates of the Asakawa-Oda family. First, the eldest grandchild, Tomoko, becomes one of the first victims of the virus. Then her aunt Shizu and baby cousin Yoko both die despite having copied the tape, because they don't figure out that the virus has mutated; they are basically fated to die no matter what they do. But this is after they have copied the tapes to show Shizu's parents, who both die offscreen, thankfully without sharing them further. Finally, Shizu's husband and Yoko's father, Kazuyuki, dies in the aftermath of his car accident. By the end, all that's left of the Oda family are Shizu's two sisters, Yoshimi (Tomoko's mother) and Kazuko, and Kazuko's son, Kenichi.
  • In the aftermath of his autopsy, it is revealed that Kazuyuki was one of the few people to have survived the virus, because he unwittingly helped it mutate into a new media. And judging by what his doctor told Ando earlier, Kazuyuki could have recovered from his condition any time, since the crash wasn't that damaging. But it didn't matter. Shizu and Yoko were his entire world and when they died so did he.
• Mai's Family-Unfriendly Death when she gives birth to the reincarnated Sadako and her body is found crammed into a ventilation shaft on top of her apartment building.

Loop

• The state of the Futami family after Hiroyuki's MHC diagnosis: the family's fortunes are spent on his hospitalization, while his wife, Machiko, becomes depressed as she turns to alternative medicine. Their son, Kaoru, has to become the family's breadwinner at an early age.
• Kaoru's description of Hideyuki's state post-MHC is particularly heartwrenching for those who have experiences with cancer patients. The cancer first attacks his pylorus, forcing doctors to remove a large part of his stomach, but a few years afterward his colon is attacked, forcing his anus to be removed as well. Finally, the cancer attacks his lungs, leaving the family no choice but slowly waiting for Hideyuki to die, as there is no way for them to be removed without killing him.
• Ryoji's suicide. After seeing Kaoru sleeping with his mother Reiko, Ryoji felt betrayed by both and ended his young life by leaping out of a window in front of both.
• Reiko emotionally breaking down on Kaoru in the weeks after Ryoji's death, outright admitting that she is considering suicide despite carrying Kaoru's child, because she doesn't want their child to grow up in a world where hope is impossible.
• Kaoru's emotional final phone call with his father, and his attempted call to Reiko.

Birthday

• Toyama, Sadako's lover, reunites with Sadako before he dies.
• The virus which rapidly ages all clones in LOOP, mainly because this affects Kaoru, who goes from 20-year-old to an old man within the span of several years. Even Reiko sympathizes with Sadako, recalling that she dreaded getting old when she was an actress.
• Reiko having to watch Kaoru die as an old man in LOOP, alone, while dreaming of her face. Nobody moves a hand to catch him on his deathbed, even though his actions saved the denizens of the reality from the virus.

TV series

Ring: The Final Chapter

• Ryuji's death in the well, dying in Kazuyuki's arms.

Rasen

• Ando's story arc, dealing with the loss of his son Takanori. Sadako resurrects Takanori via cloning and offers Ando to keep his son alive in exchange for spreading her curse. Ando refuses and Takanori dies a second time in the same place he died before.
  • It gets worse when Ando's wife blames him for Takanori's death and is manipulated by Sadako into trying to kill him. Ando instead embraces his distraught wife and apologises for hurting her. They embrace, much to Sadako's disbelief.
• The tragedy of Rikuta's experiment. To wit, Rikuta placed seven boys in a social experiment of jailer and inmates. However, power went to the jailer's head, and he abused the others mentally, physically, and emotionally until two committed suicide. The other four are all tracked down by the jailer years later to manipulate and use them for his own ends.

Japanese films

Ring

• Reiko's Despair Event Horizon while staying at the inn. During which she begs Ryuji to be with her when she dies, and use whatever knowledge they gain to save Yoichi. Ryuji responds by pointing out that Masami went insane from seeing Tomoko's death, and expresses fear of what'd happen to him. Then he takes Reiko's insistence that he'll be fine as an insult:
  Ryuji: Why, because I'm already not right in the head?! If that's the case, why not have all three of us die? Yoichi was a mistake, anyway.
  Reiko: (ducking away in a Troubled Fetal Position) STOP IT!
  • Doubles as Harsher in Hindsight when Reiko is only able to hear Ryuji's final moments over the phone near the end.
• The discovery of Sadako's corpse in the original (doubles as Nightmare Fuel, since the sight of her skeleton — with her rotting skin slowly falling away from her skull — is very unsettling).

Ring 2

• The death of Reiko.
• There's a scene where Mai looks out from the train she's in, and notices a place where Ryuji would sit to do his work. It's minor, but does show how much his death affected Mai.
• The Heroic Sacrifice of Reiko's father.
• Masami's unfortunate death during Dr. Kawajiri's experiment to remove the psychic energy in her head.
• The Bittersweet Ending. Yoichi and Mai escape Sadako's curse, but both of Yoichi's parents are dead. And poor Sadako will most likely be stuck in the well forever.

Ring 0: Birthday

• The entire film, really. Even though the viewer knows what's coming, it is completely and utterly heartbreaking.
• The aftermath of Sadako's Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Her adoptive father, Dr. Ikuma, finds her, having temporarily returned to her old self, lying on the floor, guilt-ridden and frightened, sobbing uncontrollably.
• Just before the already heartbreaking final scene — after attacking Sadako and throwing her down the well, Dr. Ikuma breaks down sobbing, begging her to forgive him.
• The ending is just cruel. Sadako wakes up in Toyama's house, with her smiling lover standing over her, telling her it was all a dream. She goes to reach for him, only to touch the cold wet wall of the well. Realizing where she is, Sadako screams for Toyama, then looks up. The shot changes to looking over Sadako, who can only scream in terror as she is sealed in darkness.

Sadako 3D

• Akane's backstory.

Sadako 3D 2

• The pretty heartwrenching scene where Fuko considers throwing her niece Nagi over a bridge, believing she is responsible for numerous murders and is Sadako's child. Nagi wakes up and starts crying, asking if Fuko hates her. They end up hugging, and Nagi reveals she can see how people will die, and hates being afraid, isolated, and unable to see her mother.
• Akane's death at the hands of a deranged policeman whose wife was killed by Sadako's curse.

American films

The Ring

• Finding Samara's corpse, much like the above Japanese version, with Rachael tearfully holding Samara's body and gently telling it "It's okay" before it decomposes in front of her.
• Samara's death. What makes it so sad is how Anna seems regretful of killing Samara, considering she wanted to have a daughter, but Samara was just such a horrible influence on hers and Richard's lives. It's even believed Anna killed herself in guilt over it (although it could be because Samara still tormented her in death, like she did to Richard).
  Anna: (tearfully) All I ever wanted was you...
  • Worse, she just bashes Samara's head with a rock and tosses her in a well.
• Noah and Aidan's talk in the car, where it's revealed Noah's his father. The talk is pretty depressing, especially when Noah reveals the reason he basically became a "deadbeat dad" was because he felt he wouldn't make a good father. Doesn't help that even though it seems Noah and Rachel are going to get back together again, he dies.
  • Noah's death in general along with Rachel's reaction.

The Ring Two

• Samara's fate at the end, where Rachel drugs her and seals her back in the well - and just as she was finally got what she always wanted; a mother who could care for her.