History TearJerker / Nier

* And in the final ending, where Nier [[spoiler:gives up his own life]] in order to save Kaine and bring her back. This means that neither Kaine, nor Yonah, nor anyone can [[spoiler:remember he ever existed]]. After all he went through trying to rescue her, Yonah believes that Kaine must have saved her. And Kaine starts crying after finding the flower Nier gave her, because [[spoiler:she knows it's special but can't remember why]].

** And then there's his HeroicSacrifice to save the party. As if the final goodbyes weren't bad enough, when the others are gone Emil drops his brave face and breaks down, thinking about how much he wants to see them again and how much he doesn't want to die. That was truly heartbreaking to watch, partially because of how realistic his reaction seems.

* After the first playthrough we realize that before he became a Shade, Roc had an owner who grew old and died, yet told the wolf to keep living and remember him. Only a very short scene, yet completely heart-wrenching when combined with the sad music and the fact that Roc wanted the killing to end and was only trying to help his pack survive to keep his promise with his master.
* Fyra being attacked by wolves on her wedding day provides a shocking MoodWhiplash. One minute they're walking hand in hand, the next she's lying covered in blood in her husband's arms while he ''begs'' her to hold on. The King's tearful speech at her grave afterwards about how hard her life had been and how close she had come to knowing happiness it made worse by the fact that he has to ask Nier and co. to leave him alone, since a ruler can't show weakness.

* Fyra being attacked by wolves on her wedding day and dying in her husband's arms. The King's tearful speech afterwards about how hard her life had been and how close she had come to knowing happiness makes it much worse.

* The Shadowlord and his Yonah have two scenes that are both heartwarming and tear-worthy. In the first ending, the final shot is of them together, with Yonah pulling playfully on his arm. The second has the Shadowlord sitting alone remembering his former life and regretting his failure to protect Yonah, before she suddenly appears at his side and gives him his half of the cookie, thanking him for always being there for her.
* The ending credits, by which time you are probably already inconsolable, is set to "Ashes of Dreams", a tragically beautiful song that pretty much sums up the plot and will provide you no comfort whatsoever.

* Emil's backstory. He and his sister were first used for horrific experiments, and he was forced to watch her turn into a monster. He then had to live apart from people for well over 1000 years due to his powers. When Halua was defeated and he got rid of his petrification powers, he was turned into a skeleton. However, the way that Nier and Kaine accept him despite this is also [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming tear-worthy]].

**** At least the former case of the above, [[spoiler: when he finally gets back he'll never have realized Nier existed in the first place! That's... not much of an improvement...]]

** She was happy to die as soon as she avenged her grandmother, but Nier accepted her and convinced her to live, while she in turn gave hope to Emil. She sacrifices herself and is petrified to save her new friends, but thankfully wakes up again and finds them all there, if a little different to how she remembered. Then her hometown of the Aerie is wiped out, she loses Emil whom she had protected and loved like a brother, and to top it all off her inner-Shade is seriously threatening to take over her mind and force her to kill the man she loves. Depending on which ending you get, she either [[spoiler:dies at Nier's hand and is allowed to finally rest]], or [[spoiler:is cured and able to live on in peace with a rebuilt Emil, at the cost of completely forgetting about Nier]]. In other words, anything about Kaine has a good chance of making you cry your eyes out.

** She was happy to die as soon as she avenged her grandmother, but Nier accepted her and convinced her to live, while she in turn gave hope to Emil. She sacrifices herself and is petrified to save her new friends, but thankfully wakes up again and finds them all there, if a little different to how she remembered. Then her hometown of the Aerie is wiped out, she loses Emil whom she had protected and loved like a brother, and to top it all off her inner-Shade is seriously threatening to take over her mind and force her to kill the man she loves. Depending on which ending you get, she either [[spoiler:dies at Nier's hand and is allowed to finally rest]], or [[spoiler:is cured and able to live on in peace with a rebuilt Emil, at the cost of completely forgetting about Nier]]. In other words, anyything about Kaine has a good chance of making you cry your eyes out.

** She was happy to die as soon as she avenged her grandmother, but Nier convinced her to live, while she in turn gave hope to Emil. She sacrifices herself and is petrified to save her new friends, but thankfully wakes up again and finds them all there, if a little different to how she remembered. Then her hometown of the Aerie is wiped out, she loses Emil whom she had protected and loved like a brother, and to top it all off her inner-Shade is seriously threatening to take over her mind and force her to kill the man she loves. Depending on which ending you choose, she either [[spoiler:dies at Nier's hand and is allowed to finally rest]], or [[spoiler:is cured and able to live on in peace with a rebuilt Emil, at the cost of completely forgetting about Nier]].

** And then there's his HeroicSacrifice to save the party. As if the final goodbyes weren't bad enough, when the others are gone Emil drops his brave face and breaks down, thinking about how much he wants to see them again and how much he doesn't want to die. That part was truly heartbreaking, in part because of how realistic his reaction seems.

** [[spoiler:The King finally DyingAlone, whispering Fyra's name and promising they will be TogetherInDeath.]]

* After the first playthrough we realize that before he became a Shade, Roc had an owner who grew old and died, yet told the wolf to keep living and remember him. Only a very short scene, yet completely heart-wrenching when combined with the music and the fact that Roc wanted the killing to end and was only trying to help his pack survive to keep his promise with his master.

* The Shadowlord and his Yonah have two scenes that are both heartwarming and tear-worthy. In the first ending, the final shot is of them together, with Yonah pulling playfully on his arm. The second has the Shadowlord sitting alone in the shopping mall from the beginning of the game, before Yonah finds him and gives him his half of the cookie, thanking him for always being there for her.

* When the King and his warriors stay behind to buy time for Nier's group in the Shadowlord's Castle. After they're gone it shows the King shaking with fear and trying to stay calm in front of his subjects, then asking the advisor how many rules there are about what battle cry to use before dying.

* ''"Now I know why the two of us were born together... for beings without souls... living alone... that would just be too sad.."''
* The Shadowlord and his Yonah have two scenes that are both heartwarming and tear-worthy. In the first ending, the final shot is of them together, with Yonah pulling playfully on his arm. The second has the Shadowlord sitting alone in the Shinjuku shopping mall, before Yonah finds him and gives him his half of the cookie, thanking him for always being there for her.

** And that's when you realize without a doubt that '''every single boss''' you face in the second half are all [[TragicMonster Tragic Monsters.

** And that's when you realize without a doubt that '''every single boss''' you face in the second half are all TragicMonsters.

* While getting ready to "avenge" Jakob. You slowly find out that the abandoned child Shade Cleo befriends a robot that after learning what "crying" is and finding out that both their parents (creator in p-33's case) died, which gives the robot emotions to the point where it's sole mission now is to protect Cleo. Later you find out that they were teaching each other about what they knew. Interested in the outside, both the Shade and p-33 decided to leave the junk yard to explore the wonders of the world as friends. Once you face them to fight with Nier being oblivious as always, the robot grows wings and flies to the ceiling of the building in an attempt to escape the fight and protect Cleo and itself from death.

* After the first playthrough we realise that before he became a Shade, Roc had an owner who grew old and died, yet told the wolf to keep living and remember him. Only a very short scene, yet completely heart-wrenching when combined with the music and the fact that Roc wanted the killing to end and was only trying to help his pack survive to keep his promise with his master.

--> '''P-33''': Beepy alone...Beepy...cry?

-->'''Nier''': * falls to his knees* "[[spoiler:Kaine]]... let's go home together."

* "Now I know why the two of us were born together... for beings without souls... living alone... that would just be too sad.."

* In the third ending, where Nier is forced to [[spoiler:kill Kaine]] before she turns completely into a Shade. With [[spoiler:the woman he loves]] impaled on his sword, gazing up at him, Nier [[spoiler:gives her one LastKiss]] before she fades away. Afterwards, [[spoiler:Tyrann]] relays her last thoughts: "thank you".
-->'''Nier''': * falls to his knees* "Kaine... let's go home together."

While it has it's funny and/or heartwarming moments, ''{{NieR}}'' is ultimately a [[{{Understatement}} rather depressing game]].

* In the third ending, where Nier is forced to [[spoiler:kill Kaine]] before she turns completely into a Shade. With the woman he loves impaled on his sword, gazing up at him, Nier gives her one LastKiss before she fades away. Afterwards, [[spoiler:Tyrann]] relays her last thoughts: "thank you".

* ''{{Nier}}'' is essentially 50% genre/medium savvy humour and 50% undiluted tearjerker. Not even the sidequests pass up the opportunity to tug hard at one's heartstrings...

* In the third ending, where Nier is forced to [[spoiler:kill Kaine]] before she turns completely into a Shade. Afterwards, [[spoiler:Tyrann]] relays her last thoughts: "thank you".

*** Which only serves to twist the knife even further since he'll only be able to see either [[spoiler:Nier or Kaine]], depending on which ending you choose to go with.

* In ''15 Nightmares'' we realise that before he became a Shade, Roc had an owner who grew old and died, yet told the wolf to keep living and remember him. Only a very short scene, yet completely heart-wrenching when combined with the music and the fact that Roc wanted the killing to end and was only trying to help his pack survive to keep his promise with his master.

* When the King and his warriors stay behind to buy time for Nier's group in the Shadowlord's Castle. The way it shows the King shaking with fear and trying to stay calm in front of his subjects, then asking the advisor how many rules there are about what battle cry to use before dying really does it.

* The Shadowlord and his Yonah have two scenes that are both heartwarming and tear-worthy. In the first ending, the final shot is of them together, with Yonah pulling playfully on his arm. The second has the Shadowlord sitting alone in the Shinjuku shopping mall, before Yonah finds him and gives him his half of the cookie.

* And in the final ending, where Nier [[spoiler:himself dies]] in order to save Kaine and bring her back. This means that neither Kaine, nor Yonah, nor anyone can [[spoiler:remember he ever existed]]. After all he went through trying to rescue her, Yonah believes that Kaine must have saved her. And Kaine starts crying after finding the flower Nier gave her, because [[spoiler:she can't remember why it's so special]].

* Emil's backstory. He and his sister were first used for horrific experiments, and he was forced to watch her turn into a monster. He then had to live apart from people for well over 1000 years due to his powers. When Halua was defeated and he got rid of his petrification powers, he was turned into a skeleton. However, the way that Nier and Kaine accept him despite this is also tear-worthy.

* When the King and his warriors stay behind to buy time for Nier's group in the final stage. The way it shows the King shaking with fear and trying to stay calm in front of his subjects, then him asking the advisor how many rules there are about what battle cry to use before dying really does it.
** [[spoiler:The King whispering Fyra's name, promising they will be TogetherInDeath.]]