History TearJerker / AceCombat7SkiesUnknown

---> ""AWACS Sky Keeper:"" "Verifying the situation, stop speculating."

---> ""AWACS Sky Keeper:"" [[BigOMG Oh my god!]] [[BigNO Mother Goose One has been shot down!]]

---> '''Mage 2 sighs:'' '''[[WhamLine ...Trigger was the closest]].'''

---> '''Mage 2 sighs: [[WhamLine...Trigger was the closest.]]'''

---> "[[BigOMG Oh my god!]] Mother Goose One has been shot down!

---> "Verifying the situation, stop speculating."

---> '''Mage 2 sighs: ...Trigger was the closest.'''

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/408d5f47_306d_43c5_a13b_f27f403b2d16.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: '''AWACS Sky Keeper:''' Oh my god! ''Mother Goose One has been shot down!'']]

*** Something to take note of is how Scream interacts and fights with Rage; she ''always'' follows his lead, letting him formulate the plans and issue the orders, and she goes along with him dutifully, even if she occasionally complains or trades barbs with him. Add onto this the way she talks about him postmortem, describing him as having gone to Heaven (while she condemns Trigger and herself to Hell), and more or less saying he was the one good person in not just her world, but ''the'' world by her point of view. It increasingly becomes clear that under that unstable, psychopathic exterior of hers is a girl who absolutely ''adored'' her brother...and you just blasted him out of the sky in front of her.

* After the Battle of Farbanti, which included the death of Wiseman, and the failed EscortMission of Labarthe, the unnamed LRSSG commander who's been giving out mission briefings and debriefings ever since Trigger and Count joined the group is gone from the rest of the game, with the new MissionControl Jaeger remarking that the commander's [[DespairEventHorizon fallen into utter shambles and spends every day sobbing his eyes out in his quarters]]. It's absolutely heartbreaking given that the LRSSG commander has been nothing but professional and amicable to Trigger, Count, and the rest of the group ever since the former two joined (Especially in contrast to the [[UngratefulBastard ungrateful]], credit-stealing [[TheNeidermeyer asshole Colonel]] [=McKinsey=]. The LRSSG commander makes it a point in Trigger's and Count's first LRSSG sortie that [[AFatherToHisMen equipment is expendable and pilots are not]]; "we don't want any more casualties".), and now you have to carry on without him for the final few missions. You never hear from the commander again, not even after the final battle.

* After the Battle of Farbanti, which included the death of Wiseman, and the failed EscortMission of Labarthe, the unnamed LRSSG commander who's been giving out mission briefings and debriefings ever since Trigger and Count joined the group is gone from the rest of the game, with the new MissionControl Jaeger remarking that the commander's fallen into utter shambles and spends every day sobbing his eyes out in his quarters. It's absolutely heartbreaking given that the LRSSG commander has been nothing but professional and amicable to Trigger, Count, and the rest of the group ever since the former two joined (Especially in contrast to the [[UngratefulBastard ungrateful]], credit-stealing [[TheNeidermeyer asshole Colonel]] [=McKinsey=]. The LRSSG commander makes it a point in Trigger's and Count's first LRSSG sortie that [[AFatherToHisMen equipment is expendable and pilots are not]]; "we don't want any more casualties".), and now you have to carry on without him for the final few missions.

** Scream's heartbreaking reaction when she sees her brother goes down isn't much better. Despite her brother's last words telling her to stay focused, she ends up breaking down completely and starts wailing about how she can't fight Trigger and Count alone before telling Trigger to just put her out of her misery, simultaneously laughing and crying at the same time. When Trigger finally shoots her down, her last words completely contrast that of her brother's. Rage said that he'll catch up to his sister to make sure she's okay. ''Scream didn't believe that.'' She thought her brother was the one that would go to heaven while she'll end up all alone in hell, and the only thing she could still do is snarl one last threat to Three Strikes telling him that [[SeeYouInHell she'll be waiting for him there.]] To further twist the knife, pay attention to Scream's fighting methods after Rage is shot down; she actually becomes ''less aggressive.'' This is the same woman who is known as the ''violent'' one, who ranted at how badly she was going to kill Trigger during "Unexpected Visitors." Now, she is so utterly broken by Rage's death that she ''can't even muster the will to fight'' and it's not until her grip on reality slips so much that she believes Rage is still alive that she begins fighting aggressively again.

** [[WhatTheHellHero "Trigger, you can't fly for a while. You understand why."]]

** Tabloid doesn't even get to fight alongside you in Mission 19, as he is [[DroppedaBridgeOnHim unceremoniously killed off-screen alongside several refugees]], trying to save a little girl from falling drones after the power supply for Arsenal Bird is disabled in order to shut down its energy shield. Many players voiced their opinions that it is a lame way for a squadron-mate to die. And Scrap Queen drives her point home after it happened: that wars will find the way to inflict senseless death to people, even the ones that have totally nothing to do with it. [[WarIsHell Nobody is safe, not even the innocent]].
-->'''Scrap Queen''': "Everyone, can you see this? These people were alive up until a few moments ago. My friend was here."

** One of Rage's lines during his VillainousBreakdown is him ranting to Trigger that he and his sister "tried to be heroes, too" in the past, but whatever happened resulted in both of them being turned into the broken mess that they are in the present. It gives nasty implications to what both of them went through under Clemens's (or someone else's) command which caused them to snap and turned into crazy BloodKnight who are out for Trigger's blood personally because they hated seeing someone else becoming the hero that they really hoped to be but could not, and are instead being used as expendable tools for someone who doesn't even care if they live or die. It makes the Dalsen siblings not so different from you while you are flying in Spare Squadron. They are what you could have been, and that almost makes them [[TragicVillain tragic villains]] in their own right.

%%* Mobius 1, a bringer of freedom and justice to the Usean Continent [[VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies when it was occupied by Erusea in 2004]], has more or less become a pawn for the Osean-dominated International Union Peacekeeping Forces. In the Continental War, he fought under the aptly named ''Independent States'' Allied Forces. But with ISAF gone (perhaps out of Osean pressure) and being transferred to the IUN-PKF, everything he does benefits Osea more than his native land. Granted, he still fights against Free Erusea (whose members are nothing but terrorist scum), but it doesn't change the fact that his nation does not have the same perceived independence as it once did. Nor are his sorties even about ''fighting for his homeland''.

** The life's work and sole remaining connection between Avril and her late-grandfather gets shot down on its maiden flight just because she is in a wrong place at the wrong time.

** HarsherInHindsight when you remember that the Osean government didn't reveal the true circumstances of Wardog/Razgriz Squadron until about a decade after the Circum-Pacific War. Harling died only ''nine'' years after the Circum-Pacific War, never seeing the fighter squadron that saved his life and became one of his closest allies be vindicated. He may know the truth, but the rest of the world believed that Wardog's pilots had died a coward's death as traitors, and he would not be able to be there when that was finally overturned. Sure, there was speculation about how suspicious it was that days after the best squadron in the air force commits treason and vanishes into the ocean another squadron with the exact same numbers shows up so anyone with half a brain can probably realize it but Harling was probably counting the days until he could clear the names of the people who saved his life. It gets even worse when you consider that one of the pilots of Wardog Squadron, Kei Nagase, is in space and needs the Space Elevator to go back down.

* Stonehenge firing for the last time is sure to bring tears to your eyes. The battery was originally built to protect humanity from the ''Ulysses'' asteroid and even losing one of its guns to an asteroid from Ulysses, but then the Eruseans captured it and used it to secure air superiority in [[VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies the Usean Continental War]], forcing the [=ISAF=] to destroy all but one of the railguns. Fast forward to the Lighthouse War, the Oseans repair the remaining railgun that was knocked out during the Ulysses impact to bring down one of the Arsenal Birds, but in-between the facts that the gun was rusting in the desert for around a quarter of century and that they're only able to provide enough energy to fire [[ItOnlyWorksOnce just one shot]] it's clear from the get go that this is it's last act. In a way, destroying the Arsenal Bird redeemed Stonehenge of the death and destruction that it caused, and when the railgun powers down, the battery is finally laid to rest.

** What leads the Sol Squadron to return to their own homeland in the first place; while Princess Cosette leads the Erusean in a war for 'independence', younger Sol Squadron pilots who hail from the former ''Grand Duchy of Shilage'' before it was eventually occupied by Erusean grudgingly tell Mihaly that some of their generation don't even remember their own language anymore. Comes the mission ''Lost Kingdom'' and they go back to Shilage Castle and try to rebuild their own homeland, away from Erusean influence, like many other nations after the massive Usean communication blackout. As with the fiasco with Harling's space elevator, unity is nothing if it means having to shut up and blindingly go along with the rest of the world.
* The deaths of various named Spares. The first few times you might not even care about the convicts, but it's when Full Band is killed in unintentional friendly fire incident that it really starts to sting, considering that all of you just [[FireForgedFriends began fighting as a 'real' squadron moments earlier]].

** The way he just sinks to the ground instead of having a true VillainousBreakdown speaks legions. Here's a man who went into his project full-bore, but the further he got, the more disillusioned he became, especially when it was clear Mihaly was sufferring under the strains of combat, and his granddaughters were beginning to resent Schroeder for it. He makes it clear in his own monologue that despite him putting everything into this project, he no longer held the optimism that he did before, and honestly just wanted to go back to Belka, his home, but [[IHaveComeTooFar he couldn't bring himself to walk away.]] While Ionela's destroying the disk freed him of that burden, at the same time, it finalized the fact that his drone program, and all the hard work in the end, was [[AllForNothing completely pointless]] except to cause unneeded death and destruction.
* When you think about it, Hugin and Munin's lives are tragic. The two [=AIs=] are clearly intelligent and self-aware, and are capable of planning and learning. And yet because they are trapped in their programming to win the Lighthouse War by any means necessary, they have to be stopped. If they didn't serve as an extension of the Radical Erusean's will to win the Lighthouse War, they could have become something greater than a weapon. It doesn't help that their successor, [[VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere Nemo]], is also created to serve as a weapon as well.

** The kicker? The OmegaEnding of ''Electrosphere'' reveals that the Inter-Corporate War will be set in motion by the researcher who created Nemo himself, and whom blamed a ''fighter pilot''[[note]]Or rather the consciousness of one that [[BrainUpload uploaded itself to the Electrosphere]] to escape death[[/note]] for the death of someone close to him. Once again, the lust for revenge undoes the work of those who sacrificed everything to achieve peace. And adding to that, said researcher [[TheApprentice just so happened to have]] [[HistoryRepeats worked for Schroeder]].

* Scream and/or Rage's [[VillainousBreakdown breakdown]] in Anchorhead Raid. When Trigger shoots down one or the other, the surviving sibling [[AngstySurvivingTwin completely loses it]], and will go after Trigger [[DoNotGoGentle with everything they've got.]] Long Caster tries to convince them to eject, but they refuse, choosing to die rather than be taken prisoner. Rage's breakdown is arguably sadder considering that he was originally the more level-headed of the two, and was often the one looking out for his sister. When she dies, his calm demeanor completely and utterly ''shatters.'' His last words before his plane explodes makes it clear he lost his grip on reality and is desperately trying to find his sister and make sure she is okay.

** Scream's heartbreaking reaction when she sees her brother goes down isn't much better. Despite her brother's last words telling her to stay focused, she ends up breaking down completely and starts wailing about how she can't fight Trigger and Count alone before telling Trigger to just put her out of her misery, simultaneously laughing and crying at the same time. When Trigger finally shoots her down, her last words completely contrasts that of her brother's. Rage said that he'll gonna catch up to his sister to make sure she's okay? ''Scream didn't believe that.'' She thought her brother was the one that would go to heaven while she'll end up all alone in hell, and the only thing she could still do is snarl one last threat to Three Strikes telling him that [[SeeYouInHell she'll be waiting for him there.]] To further twist the knife, pay attention to Scream's fighting methods after Rage is shot down; she actually becomes ''less aggressive.'' This is the same woman who is known as the ''violent'' one, who ranted at how badly she was going to kill Trigger during "Unexpected Visitors." Now, she is so utterly broken by Rage's death that she ''can't even muster the will to fight'' and its not until her grip on reality slips so much that she believes Rage is still alive that she begins fighting aggressively again.

* As a result of their country's long history of meddling in world affairs since the Belkan War, [[FantasticRacism the Belkan people have come to be viewed with suspicion and hostility amongst the nations of Strangereal]], to the point that the image of the Belkan as an conspiring warmonger is a commonly held stereotype. After Usea descends into chaos following the collapse of the satellite network, and the reveal that the pro-war Radical faction developed Erusea's drone army thanks to technology loaned from Belka, elements of the anti-war Conservative faction in retaliation start to hunt down and kill any Belkan national in Usea that they can find regardless of whether they were affiliated with the Radicals or not, including the Belkan engineers that lived and worked at the Tyler Island Space Center, and their families. In the end, the actions of the [[VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar Grey Men]] and other Belkan ultranationalists have not only done nothing to restore their country's former glory, they have made their own people, many of whom want nothing to do with the cause of Belkan revanchism, victims of their grudge against Osea and the world.
* Mobius 1, a bringer of freedom and justice to the Usean Continent [[VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies when it was occupied by Erusea in 2004]], has more or less become a pawn for the Osean-dominated International Union Peacekeeping Forces. In the Continental War, he fought under the aptly named ''Independent States'' Allied Forces. But with ISAF gone (perhaps out of Osean pressure) and being transferred to the IUN-PKF, everything he does benefits Osea more than his native land. Granted, he still fought against Free Erusea (who are nothing but terrorist scum), but it doesn't change the fact that his nation does not have the same independence as it did. Nor are his sorties even about ''fighting for it''.

* As a result of their country's long history of meddling in world affairs since the Belkan War, [[FantasticRacism the Belkan people have come to be viewed with suspicion and hostility amongst the nations of Strangereal]], to the point that the image of the Belkan as an conspiring warmonger is a commonly held stereotype. After Usea descends into chaos following the collapse of the satellite network, and the reveal that the pro-war Radical faction developed Erusea's drone army thanks to technology loaned from Belka, elements of the anti-war Conservative faction in retaliation start to hunt down and kill any Belkan national in Usea that they can find regardless of whether they were affiliated with the Radicals or not, including the Belkan engineers that lived and worked at the Tyler Island Space Center, and their families. In the end, the actions of the [[VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar Grey Men]] and other Belkan ultranationalists have not only done nothing to restore their country's former glory, they have made their own people, many of whom want nothing to do with the cause of Belkan revanchism, victims of their grudge against Osea and the world.

** Tabloid doesn't even get to fight alongside you in Mission 19, as he is [[DroppedaBridgeOnHim unceremoniously killed off-screen alongside several refugees]], trying to save a little girl from falling drones after the power supply for Arsenal Bird is disabled in order to shut down its energy shield. Many players voiced their opinions that it is a lame way for a squadron-mate to die. And Scrap Queen drives her point home after it happened: that wars will find the way to inflict senseless death to people, even to the undeserved ones. [[WarIsHell Nobody is safe, not even the innocent]].

* During the final SP Mission, 'Ten Million Relief Plan', Torres asks one of the [=SACS=] pilots if he has any family left. To which the pilot responds that his family died in the war, and Torres clears him to take off, and tells him to sacrifice himself to hold off Trigger while he prepares to fire the ''Alicorn'''s main cannon to Oured.

** One of Rage's lines during his VillainousBreakdown is him ranting to Trigger that he and his sister "tried to be heroes, too" in the past, but whatever happened resulted in both of them being turned into the broken mess that they are in the present. It gives nasty implications to what both of them went through under Clemens's (or someone else's) command which caused them to snap and turned into crazy BloodKnight who are out for Trigger's blood personally because they hated seeing someone else becoming the hero that they really hoped to be but could not, and are instead being used as expendable tools for someone who doesn't even care if they live or die. It makes the Dalsen siblings NotSoDifferent from you while you are flying in Spare Squadron. They are what you could have been, and that almost makes them [[TragicVillain tragic villains]] in their own right.

** Tabloid doesn't even get to fight alongside you in Mission 19, as he is [[DroppedaBridgeOnHim unceremoniously killed off-screen alongside several refugees]], trying to save a little girl from falling drones after the power supply for Arsenal Bird is disabled in order to shut down its energy shield. Many players voiced their opinions that it is a lame way for a squadron-mate to die. And Scrap Queen [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped drives her point home after it happened]]: that wars will find the way to inflict senseless death to people, even to the undeserved ones. [[WarIsHell Nobody is safe, not even the innocent]].