History TearJerker / TheWitcher3WildHunt

--->'''Ciri''': Yes. You'll not try to stop me? Take me to the Blue Mountains by force?

** Geralt's reaction makes it all the worse. Standing over the corpse of Vesemir and a distraught Ciri, all he can do is quietly utter: "I can't cry, I don't know how" in his usual monotone. Even Ciri, who beforehand was beside herself with grief and shame, snaps out of it and embraces Geralt in response.

** Geralt's reaction makes it all the worse. Standing over the corpse of Vesemir and a distraught Ciri, all he can do is quietly utter: "I can't cry, I never learned how" in his usual monotone. Even Ciri, who beforehand was beside herself with grief and shame, snaps out of it and embraces Geralt in response.

** [[spoiler:Dettlaff murdered people on the belief that his lover had been kidnapped, only to learn that Rhena [[UnwittingPawn had been using him]]. He... [[{{Understatement}} takes it poorly]].]]
** [[spoiler: Regis ultimately has to kill him. He's speechless with horror and grief, having forever destroyed the person who gave him his life back and rendered himself a pariah among his own kind.]]

** The situation, amazingly, becomes worse. [[spoiler: The Baron's daughter, Tamara, has joined the Church of the Eternal Fire as a witch hunter and found comfort there. So far, so good. But Anna? Anna asked the Crones to remove her baby in exchange for a year of service, which results in them assigning her to ''fatten up children for the slaughter'' while they slowly sucked the life from her until her body couldn't support her pregnancy. If Geralt destroys the renegade tree ghost, the children die and she goes mad - just as the Baron and his daughter come to rescue her, both with Geralt's possible help. If Geralt releases the nightmare front the tree, the children will live but Anna will be transformed into a water hag. Once the curse is removed and Anna becomes human again, she dies, and the Baron will hang himself.]]

* After the main campaign end (whichever it is) you start in Kaer Morhen, which is empty save for you. It was probably unintentional, but it kind of serves as a sign that a chapter in the witcher's "family" has closed. After Vessemir's death, Lambert leaves with his new lover, and Eskel says outright that he will winter elsewhere because there's no point in staying with Vessemir gone. So in a way, Geralt ends up as the sole inhabitant of Kaer Morhen. Combined with the bittersweet "Empress" ending it leads to a rather sad note. Things improve in the blood&wine expansion, however.

* The quest, A Final Kindness, which involves retrieving the body of Keira Metz, the sorceress who helped Geralt in Velen. She sought out Radovid to trade her notes on a plague in hopes to exchange them for mercy. Radovid was not open to bargaining, and had her executed, via impalement. The sad part is that Geralt might have been able to prevent this horrible fate. Even fighting her to the death would have been mercy.

* Skjall's fate. An ordinary young man starts his ordinary morning, then suddenly gets to rescue a strange girl from the sea, offers his and his family's hospitality... and then everything promptly goes to hell when [[spoiler:Wild Hunt]] shows up and he ends falsely accused of cowardice, [[spoiler:dying in the attempt to restore his honor.]] And that's ''before'' the necromancy part.

-->'''Geralt''': Is this what you want?
-->'''Ciri''': Yes. You'll not try to stop me? Take me to the Blue Mountains by force?
-->'''Geralt''': Traveled half the world to find you, [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy but I never intended to force anything on you]].

* In ''Hearts of Stone'' [[spoiler: just about all of Olgierd's backstory. Due to unfortunate circumstances he loses his estate and the right to marry the woman he loves. In desperation he calls upon Gaunter O'Dimm to get them back. He does, but sacrifices his beloved brother to do so. It turns out to be all for naught, as the pact causes Olgierd to lose his personality and causes his wife to die in despair. Depending on Geralt's choice his story may end with his soul taken by O'Dimm to be tortured forever.]]

* The Ciri Dies ending, where Geralt has become [[DeathSeeker consumed with grief]]. His final mission is to go to the Crookback Bog and get his daughter's medallion back. When he does, he just collapses on a bench in the Crones' Shack with the wolven pendant grasped tightly in his hands while monsters close in on him. His fate is omitted from the final list, hinting quite clearly on what has transpired.

* [[spoiler:Syanna's last victim? It was her sister. She was going to have Anna's neck broken and then her heart ripped out.]]

** [[spoiler:Dettlaff murdered people on the belief that his lover had been kidnapped, only to learn that Rhena had been using him. He... [[{{Understatement}} takes it poorly]].]]

* "Wild At Heart", a quest you can pick up, involves a hunter named Niellen, who asks you to find his wife, Hanna, who wandered off into the woods and never came back. You track her down pretty fast... [[spoiler: She's been ripped apart by a werewolf. And since this is The Witcher we're talking about, it's all downhill from here. You track the werewolf to its lair under and old cabin and fight it for about a minute, but before you can finish it off, Hanna's sister, Margaret, runs in and stops you before you can finish it off; it turns out ''Niellen'' is the werewolf and Margaret knew, but she still fell in love with him and planned to lead Hanna out to his lair so she would see him change and she would leave Niellen, and Hanna would have him all to herself. She just never counted on Niellen getting loose and killing his own wife, and Niellen is NOT thrilled about this revelation at all. The quest can one two different ways here, and neither of them are a happy ending. You can finish the job and stop Niellen before he kills Margaret, but she'll be left with no one and possibly hating you forever. Or you can let Niellen slaughter Margaret in revenge and then MercyKill him since he won't put up a fight any more. [[PlayerPunch ...You still feel like a badass, nigh-immortal monster slayer now?]]]]

* "Wild At Heart", a quest you can pick up, involves a hunter named Niellen, who asks you to find his wife, Hanna, who wandered off into the woods and never came back. You track her down pretty fast... [[spoiler: She's been ripped apart by a werewolf. And since this is The Witcher we're talking about, it's all downhill from here. You track the werewolf to its lair under and old cabin and fight it for about a minute, but before you can finish it off, Hanna's sister, Margaret, runs in and stops you before you can finish it off; it turns out ''Niellen'' is the werewolf and Margaret knew, but she still fell in love with him and planned to lead Hanna out to his lair so she would see him change and she would leave Niellen, and Hanna would have him all to herself. She just never counted on Niellen getting loose and killing his own wife, and Niellen is NOT thrilled about this revelation at all. The quest can one two different ways here, and neither of them are a happy ending. You can finish the job and stop Niellen before he kills Margaret, but she'll be left no one and possibly hating you forever. Or you can let Niellen slaughter Margaret in revenge and then MercyKill him since he won't put up a fight any more. [[PlayerPunch ...You still feel like a badass, nigh-immortal monster slayer now?]]]]

** "Wild At Heart", a quest you can pick up, involves a hunter named Niellen, who asks you to find his wife, Hanna, who wandered off into the woods and never came back. You track her down pretty fast... [[spoiler: She's been ripped apart by a werewolf. And since this is The Witcher we're talking about, it's all downhill from here. You track the werewolf to its lair under and old cabin and fight it for about a minute, but before you can finish it off, Hanna's sister, Margaret, runs in and stops you before you can finish it off; it turns out ''Niellen'' is the werewolf and Margaret knew, but she still fell in love with him and planned to lead Hanna out to his lair so she would see him change and she would leave Niellen, and Hanna would have him all to herself. She just never counted on Niellen getting loose and killing his own wife, and Niellen is NOT thrilled about this revelation at all. The quest can one two different ways here, and neither of them are a happy ending. You can finish the job and stop Niellen before he kills Margaret, but she'll be left no one and possibly hating you forever. Or you can let Niellen slaughter Margaret in revenge and then MercyKill him since he won't put up a fight any more. [[PlayerPunch ...You still feel like a badass, nigh-immortal monster slayer now?]]]]

* The plan Triss cooks up to get to [[UsefulNotes/TheSpanishInquisition Caleb Menge]] can become this. [[spoiler:She wants to be put in chains, so Geralt can get inside the Witch Hunters keep [[TrojanPrisoner Trojan Horse style]]. As the most wanted person in Novigrad, she can bet all her coin on being brutally tortured as soon as Menge's men put their hands on her, but volunteers anyway, because it's the safest way for Geralt to get key information.]] And unlike other cases of this particular ploy, this one can, under right circumstances, [[GoneHorriblyRight succeed without a hitch]]. While there's way over a dozen chances for you to step in and stop the plan at any moment, the player can indeed see it through to the end. Geralt's [[TranquilFury quiet anger]] during the dialogue with Menge can be hard enough, but if you keep the act all the way, you find out that despite their entrance being staged, the pained screams and begging coming from the room next door were entirely genuine. One can't help but share Geralt's sheepish guilt afterwards.

** When Geralt confronts the Baron over this, [[spoiler: he finds the horse stable on fire and the Baron himself three sheets to the wind. After beating him back to his senses, he gets the full story - the Baron's daughter, Tamara, was the only one who could calm him down when he went into a rage. The Baron and his wife had gotten into a fight the night they left, as he'd been drunk for three days running - when he came to, Anna and Tamara were gone, and his miscarried daughter was laying in his bed.]] The voice-acting here shines, as the raging Baron shows genuine remorse for what he'd done, [[spoiler: burying their child in an isolated spot... which unfortunately made it turn into a "botchling". When told of this, however, the Baron absolutely forbids Geralt from killing her, instead wanting to put her to rest as she'd suffered enough]].

* The plan Triss cooks up to get to [[TheSpanishInquisition Caleb Menge]] can become this. [[spoiler:She wants to be put in chains, so Geralt can get inside the Witch Hunters keep [[TrojanPrisoner Trojan Horse style]]. As the most wanted person in Novigrad, she can bet all her coin on being brutally tortured as soon as Menge's men put their hands on her, but volunteers anyway, because it's the safest way for Geralt to get key information.]] And unlike other cases of this particular ploy, this one can, under right circumstances, [[GoneHorriblyRight succeed without a hitch]]. While there's way over a dozen chances for you to step in and stop the plan at any moment, the player can indeed see it through to the end. Geralt's [[TranquilFury quiet anger]] during the dialogue with Menge can be hard enough, but if you keep the act all the way, you find out that despite their entrance being staged, the pained screams and begging coming from the room next door were entirely genuine. One can't help but share Geralt's sheepish guilt afterwards.

** Geralt himself, in spite of having his ability to emote all-but removed by the Trial of the Grasses, [[StunnedSilence briefly looks pole-axed]] when he sees the Nilfgaardian escort when they get back to the town. As one reviewer put it, he looked exactly like a father who ''knows'' he has to let go, but isn't quite prepared to yet.

* One of the early missions in the game brings you to an abandoned farm where you find a young woman had been murdered, hung from a well, and the place put to the torch. The woman had attempted to find a life free from the local lord with her husband. [[spoiler: It gets doubly-painful when you realize the Baron hadn't intended to hurt her or her husband, just take them back to their village. It's just she insulted his son (who was secretly homosexual and killed himself when his father found out and condemned him for it) out of spite and he reacted... poorly.]]

* Tomira the Herbalist has a pretty depressing story. Which is a shame since she's one of the few genuinely decent people in the story. She was originally a nun in Vizema before she fell in love with a local worker and they had a short affair. Tomira was declared defiled forever and banished from not only the Temple but her family. She, eventually, found a home in White Orchard but her best friend Claer (see above) was horribly killed thereafter. The worst part? Geralt can say the village has seen a lot of tragedy. Her answer, "No, it's pretty normal. You just have to look [for the sorrows]."
* The reaction Geralt gets when he attempts to intervene to save the White Orchard Innkeeper from being beaten. [[spoiler: Which results in him killing a number of locals. The innkeeper and the surviving drunk are horrified by him. Worse, the innkeeper bans him from ever coming back. It's doubly painful since the innkeeper was the one person who potentially welcomed Geralt to the village]]

* While seeking out the witches of Crookback Bog, Geralt stumbles across a makeshift orphanage filled with children who'd lost parents in the war. One of them can be asked what happened to his, only to find out that he'd watched from the bushes as soldiers cut off his father's head and [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil then went after his mother]]. Geralt cuts him off apologetically.
** [[EldritchAbomination It]] [[IAmAHumanitarian is]] [[AdultFear not]] an [[HopeSpot orphanage]]...

** When Geralt confronts the Baron over this, [[spoiler: he finds the horse stable on fire and the Baron himself three sheets to the wind. After beating him back to his senses, he gets the full story - the Baron's daughter, Tamara, was the only one who could calm him down when he went into a rage. The Baron and his wife had gotten into a fight the night they left, as he'd been drunk for three days running - when he came to, Anna and Tamara were gone, and his miscarried daughter was laying in his bed.]] The voice-acting here shines through, as the raging Baron shows genuine remorse for what he'd done, [[spoiler: burying their child in an isolated spot... which unfortunately made it turn into a "botchling". When told of this, however, the Baron absolutely forbids Geralt from killing her, instead wanting to put her to rest as she'd suffered enough]].
** The situation, amazingly, becomes worse. [[spoiler: The Baron's daughter, Tamara, has joined the Church of the Eternal Flame as a witch hunter. So far, so good. But Anna? Anna asked the Crones to remove her baby in exchange for a year of service, which results in them assigning her to ''fatten up children for the slaughter.'' If Geralt destroys the renegade tree ghost, her children die and she goes mad. Ironically, just as the Baron and his daughter come to rescue her both with Geralt's possible help. If Geralt releases the nightmare front the tree, the children will live but Anna will be transformed into a water hag. Once the curse is removed and Anna becomes human again, Anna dies shortly after, and the Baron will hang himself.]]

** Depending on your choices, this particular quest can end either [[spoiler:on a sadly bittersweet note as Graham sacrifices his life to break the curse, or on tragically disasterous one, when Anabelle kills him out of revenge and goes to spread disease across the land as a pesta.]]
** How Anabelle died is horrifying itself. [[spoiler: The Mage living in the tower gave her a sleeping draught to protect her from being possibly raped and killed. She was to drink it when she saw no way out during the attack. She did drink it and the people thought she'd drunken poison, including her beloved. She wasn't dead, just knocked out, and when she came to she couldn't move and had to live through possibly hours of being eaten alive by rats before she died.]] Ho mama.

* The plan Triss cooks up to get to [[TheSpanishInquisition Caleb Menge]] can become this. [[spoiler:She wants to be put in chains, so Geralt can get inside the Witch Hunters keep [[TrojanPrisoner Trojan Horse style]]. As the most wanted person in Novigrad, she can bet all her coin on being brutally tortured as soon as Menge's men put their hands on her, but volunteers anyway, because it's the safest way for Geralt to get key information.]] And unlike other cases of this particular ploy, this one can, under right circumstances, [[GoneHorriblyRight succeed without a hitch]]. While there's way over a dozen chances for you to step in and stop the plan at any moment, the player can indeed see it through to the end. Geralt's [[TranquilFury quiet anger]] during the dialogue with Menge can be hard enough, but if you keep the act all the way, you find out that despite their entrance being staged through and through, the pained screams and begging coming from the room next door were more than genuine. One can't help but share Geralt's sheepish guilt afterwards.
* When Geralt and Yennefer break Margarita out of prison, they find her cell mate, Sile de Tancarville if Geralt saved her from being torn apart by the megascope in Witcher 2. Sile is badly bruised and dying, being one of the first sorceresses to be captured after the massacre at Loc Muinne. The once proud sorceress begs to be put out of her misery, proving that Letho was correct in that by sparing Sile from being torn apart, she suffered a fate worse than death.
* The quest, A Final Kindness, which involves retrieving the body of Keira Metz, the sorceress who helped Geralt in Velen. She sought out Radovid to trade her notes on a plague in hopes to exchange them for mercy. Radovid was not open to bargaining, and had her executed, via impalement. The sad part is that Geralt might have been able to prevent this horrible fate. Even fighting her to the death would have been a mercy compared to this.

** It can get particularly gut-punching if Ciri expresses attraction to him and he gets disgraced ''literally minutes'' [[AManIsNotAVirgin before losing his virginity to her.]]

* [[spoiler: Dettlaff had made friends with De La Croix, yet he was forced to kill him while being blackmailed. Overcome with grief and rage, he ended up cutting off his own hand for it.]]
** [[spoiler:Dettlaff murdered people on the belief that his lover had been kidnapped, only to learn that Rhena had been using him all of this time and had faked her kidnapping. He... [[{{Understatement}} takes it poorly]].]]
*** [[spoiler: Regis ultimately had to kill him. He just stands there for a moment in sorrow afterwards.]]
* [[spoiler:Syanna's last victim? It was her sister. She was literally going to have Anna's neck broken and then her heart ripped out.]]

--->'''Geralt''': Is this what you want?
--->'''Ciri''': Yes. You'll not try to stop me? Take me to the Blue Mountains by force?
--->'''Geralt''': Traveled half the world to find you, [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy but I never intended to force anything on you]].
** Geralt himself, in spite of having his ability to emote all-but removed by the Trial of the Grasses, [[StunnedSilence briefly looks poleaxed]] when he sees the Nilfgaardian escort when they get back to the town. As one reviewer put it, he looked exactly like a father who ''knows'' he has to let go, but isn't quite prepared to yet.

[[AC: Unrelated]]
* [[spoiler: The game confirms that Jacques de Aldesberg, the BigBad of first game is indeed Alvin. The reason of his insane plan? He ''tried'' to destroy the White Frost, but ''failed'', which made him desperately seek some other means to save humanity. It lead to his crossing of MoralEventHorizon and death.]]
* [[spoiler: In ''Blood & Wine'', Dettlaff had made friends with De La Croix, yet he was forced to kill him while being blackmailed. Overcome with grief and rage, he ended up cutting off his own hand for it.]]