History TearJerker / ModernWarfare

* The moment Shepherd reveals his betrayal rather ''violently'' to Roach and Ghost is utterly heartbreaking. To put it into perspective - after a harrowing siege of a household in the Caucasus mountains while waiting for Makarov's data to copy onto the DSM, you're then forced to GTFO and flee into the woods when it finishes. Just as soon as you start hearing about your evac chopper, Roach is wounded by mortar fire and is dragged by Ghost towards the landing helicopter. He then helps you to your feet as the doors open, revealing Shepherd, who steps out to meet you. As you limp along with Ghost, Shepherd approaches you and looks as though he's gonna put an arm around your shoulder and help your wounded ass inside. And then what happens? The screen flashes red and a bang sounds, indicating you've been shot, of course. Ghost cries [[BigNo "NO!"]] as Roach slowly begins to fall backwards, revealing Shepherd's drawn sidearm to be roughly leveled where Roach's abdomen would have been before he fell. Now as Roach collapses, you're treated to the sight of Ghost getting a bullet through the balaclava. The screen fades out briefly then shows you being picked up and swung like luggage into a small ditch by Shadow Company soldiers - followed by Ghost, who tumbles along just enough so his dead, masked and sunglasses-wearing face is staring right at you. The two of you are then doused in petrol by Shadow Company while Shepherd remorselessly looks on and when they're done, he tosses his cigar onto your body and walks away. All this is done from first-person perspective, indicating that Roach was ''[[NightmareFuel still alive]]'' throughout all of this, cremation and all.

** The Remastered version confirms our fears that Roach was still conscious after being shot by Shepherd when, as Shepherd takes the [=DSM=] from him, Roach grabs Shepherd's arm, as if asking why he's doing this, only for Shepherd to callously shove him off.

* The collapse of the Eiffel Tower, made all the more impactful by the mournful music which accompanies it. Worse, it only collapses because air support had to bomb the area in order to prevent you and your team from being overwhelmed by Russian forces. To see one of the most iconic and historically significant landmarks in the world be destroyed just so your team can survive what is ultimately a rather senseless war between NATO and Russia really does give a feeling of the overall scope and tragedy of the conflict.

--> '''Price:'''...I'm sorry.

--> '''Price:''' ...I'm sorry.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyuILHDD-pY The ending credits theme]] of ''Modern Warfare 3''. It's the same music which played during the collapse of the Eiffel Tower, and as such, it really feels like a farewell song. Farewell to Vasquez, Jackson, Griggs, Gaz, Ghost, Roach, Harkov, Griffen, Soap, Yuri, Kamarov, Grinch, Truck, Sandman and all those brave, heroic soldiers who have died throughout the entire ''Modern Warfare'' trilogy.

* The game just seems to churn out these kinds of moments one right after another post-"Blood Brothers". The next one comes at the end of "Down the Rabbit Hole"; after undertaking great pains to infiltrate the Siberian diamond mine and rescue President Vorshevsky and his daughter, the joint [=TF141=]-Delta Force unit finds itself pinned down by a huge contingent of enemy forces just as their rescue chopper arrives. The mine has become unstable, and it becomes clear that if they don't get the hell out of there ''now'', no one will make it...so, Sandman, Truck, and Grinch decide to stay behind and hold off the enemy while Price, Yuri, and the others escape. Yuri, injured, can only watch helplessly as he's dragged back to the helo, while they gradually run out of ammo, taking glancing hits and striking back with their sidearms and knives as Makarov's men slowly overtake them. Finally, the helicopter takes off, and an anguished Price screams Sandman's name into his radio as they fly away, having just watched one of his last living friends die mere hours after they reunited.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyuILHDD-pY The ending credits theme]] of ''Modern Warfare 3''. It really does feel like a farewell song. Farewell to Vasquez, Jackson, Griggs, Gaz, Ghost, Roach, Griffen, Soap, Yuri, Kamarov, Grinch, Truck, Sandman and all those brave heroic soldiers who have died in the entire ''Modern Warfare'' trilogy.

* "Dust to Dust". Pretty much half the reason they storm the damn place is [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge revenge for Soap]], as well as going after Makarov. Then Yuri pulls a Heroic Sacrifice and Makarov KILLS him in two shots. Just as Price (and the player) were beginning to trust him again.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyuILHDD-pY The ending credits theme]] of ''Modern Warfare 3''. It really does feel like a farewell song. Farewell to Vasquez, Jackson, Griggs, Gaz, Soap, Yuri, Sandman, Truck, Grinch, and all those brave heroic soldiers who have died in the entire ''Modern Warfare'' trilogy.

* The moment Shepherd reveals his betrayal rather ''violently'' to Roach and Ghost is utterly heartbreaking. To put it into perspective - after a harrowing siege of a household in the Caucasus mountains while waiting for Makarov's data to copy onto the DSM, you're then forced to GTFO and flee into the woods when it finishes. Just as soon as you start hearing about your evac chopper, Roach is wounded by mortar fire and is dragged by Ghost towards the landing helicopter. He then helps you to your feet as the doors open, revealing Shepherd, who steps out to meet you. As you limp along with Ghost, Shepherd approaches you and looks as though he's gonna put an arm around your shoulder and help your wounded ass inside. And then what happens? The screen flashes red and a bang sounds, indicating you've been shot, of course. Ghost cries [[BigNo "NO!"]] as Roach slowly begins to fall backwards, revealing Shepherd's drawn sidearm to be roughly leveled where Roach's abdomen would have been before he fell. Now as Roach collapses, you're treated to the sight of Ghost getting a bullet through the balaclava. The screen fades out briefly then shows you being picked up and swung like luggage into a small ditch by Shadow Company soldiers - followed by Ghost, who tumbles along just enough so his dead, masked and sunglasses-wearing face is staring right at you. The two of you are then doused in petrol by Shadow Compay while Shepherd remorselessly looks on and when they're done, he tosses his cigar onto your body and walks away. All this is done from first-person perspective, indicating that Roach was ''[[NightmareFuel still alive]]'' throughout all of this, cremation and all.

* The fate of the Czech people as seen in "Eye of the Storm" and "Blood Brothers". Think about it; they overcame decades of Soviet oppression, including the Warsaw Pact invasion in '68, and barely managed to come out okay in the end. Then, long after the fall of the USSR, Makarov comes along and launches his invasion of Europe, which manages to brutalise the Czechs worse in a few days than the whole damn Soviet occupation did the first time around. It's not hard to imagine being an older citizen and breaking down in tears at the sight of [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/callofduty/images/f/ff/Praha.png/revision/latest?cb=20120120220108 a Russian banner]] once again flying over Prague. This, coupled with the more obvious sights of the Ultranationalists brutally murdering civilians left and right in the Prague missions, really makes you feel for the Resistance.

-->'''Baseplate''': ...What do ya need from me, son?

Tearjerkers in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare''.

* In the final mission "Game Over", watching your entire squad [[spoiler: gunned down one by one on the bridge by the BigBad]] hits ''hard.'' Particularly when you realize that most of the people they've just saved will never, ever know the truth about what happened.
** And then there's [[spoiler:Sgt. Jackson's pointless death in the middle of a nuclear wasteland]].

** The Remastered somehow takes a chilling scene and ''makes it even worse''. [[spoiler:You actually try to stop Volkner from flying out of the helicopter before he does so anyway. When you wake up after the crash, your hands are covered in radiation burns, and the game replaces the usual injury grunts with painful gasps of air for the rest of the time. If you fall out of the helicopter, it's even worse since you now get to see the rest of your squad slowly getting cooked by the radiation before dying. The pilot that you risked your life you save moments ago slowly dies in front of you anyway. Vasquez stumbles to the radiation cloud before collapsing and dying. All around, you hear the groans and moans of your team before you finally go yourself. Even almost 10 years later, this scene is still very impactful to new players and old.]]

* The [[spoiler:moment Shepherd reveals his betrayal rather ''violently'' to Roach and Ghost is utterly heartbreaking. To put it into perspective - after a harrowing siege of a household in the Caucasus mountains while waiting for Makarov's data to copy onto the DSM, you're then forced to GTFO and flee into the woods when it finishes. Just as soon as you start hearing about your evac chopper, Roach is wounded by mortar fire and is dragged by Ghost towards the landing helicopter. He then helps you to your feet as the doors open, revealing Shepherd, who steps out to meet you. As you limp along with Ghost, Shepherd approaches you and looks as though he's gonna put an arm around your shoulder and help your wounded ass inside.]] And then what happens? [[spoiler:The screen flashes red and a bang sounds, indicating you've been shot, of course. Ghost cries [[BigNo "NO!"]] as Roach slowly begins to fall backwards, revealing Shepherd's drawn sidearm to be roughly leveled where Roach's abdomen would have been before he fell. Now as Roach collapses, you're treated to the sight of Ghost getting a bullet through the balaclava. The screen fades out briefly then shows you being picked up and swung like luggage into a small ditch by Shadow Company soldiers - followed by Ghost, who tumbles along just enough so his dead, masked and sunglasses-wearing face is staring right at you. The two of you are then doused in petrol by Shadow Compay while Shepherd remorselessly looks on and when they're done, he tosses his cigar onto your body and walks away.]] All this is done from first-person perspective, indicating that [[spoiler: Roach was ''[[NightmareFuel still alive]]'' throughout all of this, cremation and all.]]
** And to further twist the knife [[spoiler: as you're lying there you can hear Captain Price shouting desperately into the headset not to trust Shepherd, that you had been betrayed, knowing the warning had been only '''a minute too late'''.]]
** The Remastered confirms our fears that [[spoiler:Roach was still conscious after being shot by Shepherd when, as Shepherd takes the [=DSM=] from him, Roach grabs Shepherd's arm, as if asking why he's doing this, only for Shepherd to callously shove him off]].

* "No Russian." At the very least the player can go through the first section and let the [=NPCs=] [[spoiler:murder innocent civilians in an airport.]] But then at the end, Makarov reveals he knew the player character was an American spy, [[spoiler:shooting him as he is about to get in the getaway vehicle]], effectively pinning the whole previous massacre in the US and inciting the events of the game.
** It gets even worse once you learn the true extent of [[spoiler:General Shepherd's involvement in the plot]] in "Endgame". [[spoiler:Shepherd intended all along to trigger a war between America and Russia, and used PFC. Allen and threw him away like a cheap piece of toilet paper. All the poor guy did was what his "country" asked of him, and for it he got a bullet in the head and the blame for starting a world war.]]

* The "Blood Brothers" mission is a WhamEpisode combined with a massive TearJerker. [[spoiler:First, Makarov reveals Kamarov strapped to a chair with C4 on him, and knows you're there. He then tries to kill Soap, Price, and Yuri by detonating said C4, killing Kamarov in the process. They all make it, but Soap's bleeding out. When they finally get Soap to safety, he tells Price that Makarov knows Yuri before dying. Price's anguished screams are heartbreaking enough, but it's when Price sets down the pistol Soap returned to him that the tears really start coming.]]

** In case you had any doubt about the UndyingLoyalty the two had for each other, the very next scene is [[spoiler:Price punching Yuri down a flight of stairs]], following by holding a gun to his head. You can tell he's just barely holding himself back from pulling the trigger.
---> [[spoiler:'''Price:''' Soap]] ''trusted'' you. I thought I could, too. ''[readies his handgun]'' So ''why,'' in bloody hell--''[SuddenlyShouting]''--'''DOES [[spoiler:MAKAROV]] ''KNOW'' YOU?!'''
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlvFwwvn2Tk The background music]] doesn't help. It's slow tempo after you [[spoiler:put Soap on a table]] then becomes really slow after [[spoiler:Soap dies]].
** "[[ControllableHelplessness Objective]][[spoiler:: Stop the Massacre.]]" [[spoiler:The massacre in question? The "No Russian" airport massacre mentioned above.]]

-->'''Price''': ''[in narrative]'' There's a clocktower in Hereford where the names of the dead are inscribed. We try to honor their deeds even as their faces fade from our memory. Those memories are all that's left when the bastards have taken everything else.\\
'''Baseplate''': What happened?\\
'''Price''': He killed [[spoiler:Soap]]. He's ''gone,'' Mac.\\
'''Baseplate''': ...What do ya need from me, son?
** In case anyone was wondering, Baseplate is really [[spoiler:Captain [=MacMillan=]]], and Price sounds like he's tearing up when he says that line. What doesn't help is the song that plays when [[spoiler:Soap dies]] is also playing in the background. Said (former) captain is a major general at that point.

* The game just seems to churn out these kinds of moments one right after another post-"Blood Brothers". The next one comes at the end of "Down the Rabbit Hole"; after undertaking great pains to infiltrate the Siberian diamond mine and rescue President Vorshevsky and his daughter, the joint [=TF141=]-Delta Force unit finds itself pinned down by a huge contingent of enemy forces just as their rescue chopper arrives. The mine has become unstable, and it becomes clear that if they don't get the hell out of there ''now'', no one will make it...so, [[spoiler:Sandman, Truck, and Grinch decide to stay behind and hold off the enemy while Price, Yuri, and the others escape.]] Yuri, injured, can only watch helplessly as he's dragged back to the helo, while they gradually run out of ammo, taking glancing hits and striking back with their sidearms and knives as Makarov's men slowly overtake them. Finally, the helicopter takes off, and an anguished Price screams [[spoiler:Sandman's]] name into his radio as they fly away, having just watched one of his last living friends die mere hours after they reunited.
--> '''[[spoiler:Sandman]]''': Price! You gotta go! Make sure the president gets out!\\
'''Price''': ''Don't even think about it'', mate! [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind We're in this together!]]

--->'''Price:''' ''[[BigNo NOOO!]] '''Get us back down there!'''''\\
'''Hammer 1-6:''' It's too hot! We go back, we ''all'' die.
** This is especially brutal if you've seen the live-action short film "Operation Kingfish", as they're practically inversions of each other. [[spoiler:In that one, Soap is dragged into the evac chopper as Price stays behind, and Sandman screams for the chopper to wait for Price.]]
* "Dust to Dust". Pretty much half the reason they storm the damn place is [[spoiler:[[RoaringRampageOfRevenge revenge for Soap]]]], as well as going after Makarov. Then [[spoiler:Yuri pulls a Heroic Sacrifice and Makarov KILLS him in two shots. Just as Price (and the player) were beginning to trust him again.]]
** Still, it DOES save Price's life and lets you [[spoiler:[[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beat the absolute shit out of Makarov]]]].
** The intro to "Dust to Dust" has a TearJerker even in its SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome and SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming|Moments}}. [[spoiler:The "DISAVOWED" ribbon on the Task Force 141 emblem is removed, leaving the unblemished seal of badass. Too bad Soap and other dead [=TF141=] members couldn't have lived to see it.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyuILHDD-pY The ending credits theme]] of ''Modern Warfare 3''. It really does feel like a farewell song. Farewell to [[spoiler: Vasquez, Jackson, Griggs, Gaz, Soap, Yuri, Sandman, Truck, Grinch, and all those brave heroic soldiers who have died in the entire ''Modern Warfare'' trilogy]].

** The Remastered confirms our fears that [[spoiler:Roach was still conscious after being shot by Shepherd when, as Shepherd takes the [=DSM=] from him, Roach grabs Shepherd's armm, as if asking why he'es doing this, only for Shepherd to callously shove him off]].

** The Remastered confirms our fears that [[spoiler:Roach was still conscious after being shot by Shepherd when, as Shepherd takes the [=DSM=] from him, Roach grabs Shepherd's arm as if asking why he do this, only for Shepherd to callously shove him off]].

** The Remastered confirms our fears that [[spoiler:Roach was still conscious after being shot by Shepherd when, as Shepherd takes the [=DSM=] from him, Roach grabs Shepherd's arm, only for Shepherd to callously shove him off]].

--> [[spoiler:'''Price:''' Soap]] ''trusted'' you. I thought I could, too. ''[readies his handgun]'' So ''why,'' in bloody hell--''[SuddenlyShouting]''--'''DOES [[spoiler:MAKAROV]] ''KNOW'' YOU?!'''

--> '''Price''': ''[in narrative]'' There's a clocktower in Hereford where the names of the dead are inscribed. We try to honor their deeds even as their faces fade from our memory. Those memories are all that's left when the bastards have taken everything else.
--> '''Baseplate''': What happened?\\

-->'''Price:''' ''[[BigNo NOOO!]] '''Get us back down there!'''''\\