As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
"...Why? That's fine. I was okay with the way I was. If you were happy, then I was happy. I-I was always protected by you, so...I was always happy.."note
- I see...I guess it was only an illusion after all. It hurts. That's why...I wanted to become a doll...
If one is softhearted enough, Tsukihime seems to run on these, with each route having one or two. Quite appropriate for a story focusing on death as a central theme.
Arcueid
- Arcueid's backstory is immersive enough for you to shed tears as she had been treated as a weapon by the true ancestors instead of a human being as she had never experienced an emotion of happiness or made a single attachment to anyone as she was forced against her will to go into hibernation then wakes up to exterminate Roa every time he reincarnates in another host then went back into hibernation and repeat the same process again for over 800 years.
- Roa kills Arcueid by cutting her in half, and watches as she bleeds out in Shiki's arms. The sheer power of Arcueid's last request, a simple kiss rather than the life energy that would allow her to regenerate, makes this one of the most moving parts of the entire game. The fact that Roa took a flying leap over the Moral Event Horizon by killing Arcueid makes the following speech Moment of Awesome from Shiki even more badass and memorable.
- The Manga's rendition of that scene and the following ending count as well. Arc's farewell is pretty poignant, and poor Shiki's reaction is likely to mirror the reader's.
- Arcueid's True Ending: Tsukihime (Moon Princess)You really are kind, Shiki. Yeah, I knew coming here to say goodbye was a good thing. I love you, Shiki. Your honesty, how you are always spaced out, how I'm the only one you yell at, how you always look forward to the future... I love all of you. So please, keep living like that, okay?
Ciel
- Ciel's backstory, (specifically, the "How can you not hate me?" scene).
- Bad End 13. If Shiki decides to avoid Ciel after being possesed by Roa, Ciel suspects and both are forced to fight. In the climax of their battle, Shiki cuts Ciel lines at the same time she pierces him with her bayonet. It's implied she let herself to be attacked on purpose.What...In the end...I liked her? Until the very end. Feeling sad like this until my own death, she was that dear to me
- The remake gives us poor Noel's death at Ciel's hands. Noel is slowly suffering a massive Trauma Conga Line as the route goes on, which finally reach its apex when Doctor Arach turns her into a Dead Apostle. By the time Shiki and Ciel met her, she was already driven insane due to her trauma, leaving Ciel with no choice as she's forced to Mercy Kill her for good, with Noel is reduced to screaming in anger and despair over her situation and incoming demise at Ciel hand. At the end, Ciel is left broken by the entire thing and feeling responsible for Noel's situation, she breaks down crying and apologizing to her for ruining her life.
- The remake's new Normal End. Unlike the original's Good End, Ciel winds up dying in order to save Shiki from death after he stabs himself to kill Roa. Poor Shiki is left broken by this and decides to train to became an Executor and try to find a way to bring her back before he kicks it as well. Anyone who plays Fate/Grand Order will know that bringing someone back is nearly impossible and it's clear that Shiki's chances of bringing her back stands little to no chance of actually succeeding.
Akiha
- Satsuki's story. She happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and gets bitten by SHIKI. She becomes a vampire and targets Shiki in order to make him into a vampire so that they could be together forever. If the player makes the correct choices, Shiki is about to get bitten by her, until he recalls his love for Akiha, giving him the strength to kill Satsuki.I killed her. I wanted to save her. I even said I would save her. But in the end...I killed her to save myself.
- Akiha's Normal Ending: Distant Reed Warbler. SHIKI is dead, but Akiha is a mindless monster that feeds regularly on Shiki's blood. Poor Shiki can do nothing but wait until she returns to her old self again, which seems pretty unlikely.Even if Akiha's eyes are not staring at anything, I'll keep smiling until the end of the world. So that one day, when Akiha wakes up I would be able to greet her like it was another normal day and say hi.
Hisui
- Makihisa Tohno had been portrayed as a ruthless bastard, due to abusing Kohaku, orchestrating the extermination of the Nanayas and imprisoning his biological son SHIKI. However, after Shiki reads his diary, he shows regret for raping Kohaku and comments that the reason he imprisoned SHIKI instead of killing him was because they were apparently close and hoped that he would recover his mind one day. It shows that he was a caring father after all.
- Hisui's True Ending: Midday Moon. It features a powerful double-whammy: First, Akiha dies protecting Kohaku from SHIKI. This is pretty terrible on its own, since it shows that she cares for someone other than just Shiki, and because if it hadn't been for Shiki's appearance, she wouldn't have been distracted enough to let that attack happen. In other words, it's your fault that she dies. Killing SHIKI lacks any real satisfaction or closure, as a result.
- However, the real impact comes afterwards. After SHIKI reveals with his last words that he didn't recognize him, Shiki comes to the realization that he must have had someone to aid him throughout the route. Putting everything together, he (and the reader, if they've been sharp enough) realizes that Kohaku must have helped him. Confronting her, she confesses at length that she essentially put into motion the entire plot of the game, all because she was sexually and emotionally abused by Tohno Makihisa ever since she was brought to the Tohno Mansion. It's an avalanche of revelations, the final piece of the puzzle that the reader needs to realize how events can change so much from one route to the other, and filling in any inconsistencies. Kohaku then kills herself, having fulfilled her goal of taking revenge. Even though Shiki and Hisui have each other, it's still pretty bleak.
Then, she passes away. The hollow eyes endlessly look into the blue sky. Not a fake smile, but a quiet and very sad face.
Kohaku
- A mild moment, but Akiha seems to be genuinely sad after killing SHIKI. This is pretty harsh on its own, since she showed nothing but contempt towards him over the years for being a Creepy Child, inverting, and ultimately killing Shiki.
- Not so noticeable, but in the manga, she actually hesitates about killing him and keeps a photo of them as kids together with Shiki.
- Shiki returning Kohaku's ribbon and saying that he remembers their promise, causing the poor girl to shed Tears of Joy.I don't have the right, but thanks. I really was happy that you waited here for me.
- Akiha's breakdown after being defeated by Shiki. She confesses that she knew Kohaku's Batman Gambit to destroy her family and played along out of guilt. She asks Shiki and Kohaku to kill her, only to a tearful Kohaku making her snap out of it.It is because I like you, Akiha-sama. No matter how much you hate me, I always want to serve you. So Akiha-sama, if you feel sorry for me at all, please don't die. If you die like this, I will go back to being the Kohaku from before.
Manga
- Young SHIKI has just been possessed by Roa and he fears that he will invert. So he asks his best friend to give him a Mercy Kill if he ever inverts, since as a Nanaya he can easily kill things. Shiki refuses to do it, because they're friends. When the time comes and SHIKI inevitably inverts, Shiki decides to Take a Third Option and protects Akiha at the cost of his life.I didn't want it to disappear...I didn't want it to become just a memory...I didn't want to kill it, but...but in the end I...
- Ciel's backstory, which is expanded. We see how Roa possessed her, forced her to kill her parents and how she was found and tortured by the Church, until they decided she'd be more useful as a Burial agent. Afterwards, Ciel is shown as completely broken and resigned.
- After Akiha reveals to Shiki the truth about him and his connection to SHIKI, Shiki sympathizes with his former friend's situation, cursing Roa for turning him into a monster. Cue a image of Shiki happily drinking tea with Akiha and the maids as SHIKI is lying alone in the basement.
Kagetsu Tohya
- The sidestory Dawn. A young woman, Maiko Yamase happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets devoured by Nrvqsr Chaos, but she gains some of his powers. She wanders around the town mindlessly and just remembers who she is after seeing a family photo. Not wanting to harm anyone, she ends up dying at the hands of Shiki, unaware of anything other than her nature as a vampire and dies happily in her sister Akemi's arms. On her sister's birthday, no less!
- Red Demon God. After living an empty life as a killer, Kiri Nanaya finds some joy in his life after his son Shiki is born. However, he and his clan are killed that fateful day by Kishima Kouma. The final scene shows little Shiki waking up as he wonders where his father is and walks towards the forest in order to look for him...
- Kouma's backstory is also pretty sad.
- Drinking, Dreaming Moon is pretty heartwarming because Shiki and SHIKI discuss past and present on friendly terms. However, Shiki is crying the whole time as they talk, because he believes everything to be All Just a Dream, because the real SHIKI was Killed Off for Real, feels guilty for all the crap he put on him before he died and still believes SHIKI resents him. This is pretty terrible on its own, since it shows that despite all the hell that they went through after SHIKI's inversion, Shiki still cares about him and considers him as his friend.Shiki: Will we meet again?SHIKI: Who knows? Won't we? If this is a dream, then we can meet again soon. But if this is real...then it'll have to wait until you die.
- And in the end it is revealed that it was a Dead Person Conversation.
Tsukihime (2021 Remake)
- Bad End 19. After killing the vampiric Noel, Shiki realizes Ciel is still trapped by Noel's power. After waiting for her to wake up all night, Shiki realizes that while Ciel has all the time in the world, he does not, as his mind is slowly being consumed by Roa. To stop himself from doing anything to her once Roa takes over completely, Shiki kills himself. Before he dies, he thinks about all his loved ones, and wonder how their life might actually improve with him gone, and all the wonderful what-ifs if things had turned out differently. Then Shiki kills himself, praying that at least Ciel would wake up when dawn comes, and be proud of his sacrifice.
- Noel's backstory is pretty tragic. She lived a normal life until she was fourteen years old, when a Roa-possessed Ciel decided to drop by her town with a group of Dead Apostle Ancestor allies. The scene quickly turns into a nightmare, with Noel's friends and neighbors butchered like animals until the streets literally run red with blood. Noel herself only survives through dumb luck, after being forced to watch everyone she knows and loves be tortured to death at Roa's hands.
- In Ciel's route things manage to get even worse for her. After being bitten by Vlov, Noel's sanity rapidly deteriorates. The fear that she might have been infected with Vlov's vampirism eventually causes her to go rogue and start hunting and torturing Vlov's lesser vampire lackeys, including several who may not have been fully turned. This eventually results in a confrontation with Ciel, which Noel loses badly. This causes her to succumb to her inner demons and accept Dr. Arach's deal to transform her into a full Dead Apostle - only for Dr. Arach to reveal that Vlov's bite was far too shallow to turn her and that Noel has sacrificed her humanity for nothing.
- The above eventually leads to a fight between Ciel and the newly vampirized Noel. Throughout the fight Noel rants about how Ciel / Roa took everything from her, and uses her Mystic Eyes to show both Shiki and Noel how much she suffered at Roa's hands. After being driven into a corner, Noel uses the last injection Dr. Arach gave her despite knowing that doing so is a death sentence. The battle ends not with a bang, but a whimper, with Noel impaled on the Seventh Scripture, desperately reaching for Ciel as her body crumbles, begging her to give her back her family, friends and the peaceful life she used to have.
2003 Anime
- Every time Arcueid angsts about the fact that she is a vampire and cannot be with Shiki.
- Young Shiki's Death Wail after witnessing the corpses of his family.
- Never a little child repeating a Madness Mantra in his cell has been so creepy yet heartbreaking. Poor SHIKI.Help me...Help me...Help...me...Help me!
- The rendition of the anime when Arcueid is seemingly killed by Roa. The Background Music does not help much.
- Also, when Shiki kills Roa for once and for all, killing SHIKI as well, Shiki seems to be genuinely sad about being forced to kill him. Cue SHIKI's face as he dies, when instead of his usual Slasher Smile, he has a very sad face. It feels more like Shoot the Dog than Karmic Death.
- Satsuki confessing her love to Shiki and him rejecting her off-screen. Seeing her running away tearfully was pretty sad.
