History Tearjerker / TheWitcher3WildHunt

* Seeing the fate of Iris and Olgierd's relationship is sad as hell, mostly because despite the fantasy bits and so on, it's a fairly realistic look at how a loving marriage breaks down over time. Talking to Iris von Everec after the scene in the mansion. Iris believes there's NothingAfterDeath and that when she gives the rose away, she will fade as will all memory of her. This is a woman who had an artistic sensibility, talent, and a capacity to love and saw all of it wasted by Olgierd. When Geralt moves out of The Painted World back into the real one, he sees the painted world fade, and when returned sees the painting gone too, symbolizing that Iris' art and her legacy is also gone.
** Downplayed however if you do a bit of snooping during the Open Sesame! quest. You will find a note in the upper floor of the auction house revealing that Iris' maiden name was von Roth, and that she is the mysterious painter whose work you can buy and sell to the book dealer, who was huge fan of hers. Someone will remember her art and legacy after all.

* The Empress Ciri ending, where Ciri leaves Geralt behind to go to Nilfgaard, taking her place as her father's successor, in the hopes that she can change things. You can hear the heartbreak in both their voices, after having spent so much time looking for one another, they now have to separate again possibly for good.

* "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 an 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; 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. This would prompt Hanna to leave him, and Margaret would have Niellen 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 an 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; 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. This would prompt Hanna to leave him, and Margaret would have Niellen 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?]]]]

* 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 injured 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 saying that by sparing Sile from being torn apart, Geralt condemned her to a fate worse than death.

* The ending. If you see Olgierd damned for all eternity, you see a guy who did horrible things but is capable of goodness forever doomed to suffering under O'Dimm's care. If you choose to save Olgierd's (and Geralt's) soul, you get to see Olgierd having an epic HeelRealization as he realizes that while he's free from O'Dimm's bargain, he has lost everyone and everything he loves and has to live for the rest of his life in regret and repentance for his evil deeds.

* Despite how monstrous he is, it is difficult not to feel [[SympathyForTheDevil sympathy for]] the Unseen Elder's plight. The [[VampireMonarch King of the Vampires]] reduced to a monster wearing rags and squatting in a cave, pained merely by communicating with others, [[AllPowerfulBystander not caring about]] the rest of the world, remaining in said cavern for many hundreds of years, waiting by the gate back to his world because he is homesick. [[YouCantGoHomeAgain A gate that may never even open again]].

* At some point you can save a merchant from bandits. Since they're bandits, it looks heroic, but then you can find a letter among the dead: the bandits were just desperate men and one of them was a loving husband who wanted the loot to help feed his children. Still feel like a hero?.

* Geralt's reaction when he finds Ciri on the Isle of the Mists. He tepidly approaches the house, clearly afraid of what he's going to find within. When he sees what appears to be Ciri's corpse, his reaction is one of pure anguish, gently rocking his daughter's body as if she were still a child. Despite what bigots say, we know very well that witchers have emotions, and now we get to see a Witcher grieve as he believes his adopted daughter to have died after searching for her the whole game. Watching Geralt, the tough-as-nails badass with the voice to match be consumed with guilt and frustration [[https://youtu.be/aior8jfINtI when he finds Ciri's seemingly lifeless body]], is one of the most difficult things to watch in the entire series.

* 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: Although, the ''Blood And Wine'' expansion does make things better.]]

* When talking to Dudu, who'd helped Ciri while she was in Novigrad, Zoltan urges him to shift to look like her. If Geralt agrees, the Doppler does so, letting Geralt see Ciri for the first time in many years – only for Geralt to immediately regret that decision when he realizes [[WhenYouComingHomeDad just how much time had passed since he last saw his daughter]], who was a child then and now has effectively spent her entire adulthood without him.

* When talking to Dudu, who'd helped Ciri while she was in Novigrad, Zoltan urges him to shift to look like her. If Geralt agrees, the Doppler does so – only for Geralt to immediately regret that decision when he realizes [[WhenYouComingHomeDad just how much time had passed since he last saw his daughter]].

* Geralt's reaction when he finds Ciri on the Isle of the Mists. He tepidly approaches the house, clearly afraid of what he's going to find within. When he sees what appears to be Ciri's corpse, his reaction is one of pure anguish, gently rocking his daughter's body as if she were still a child. Despite what bigots say, we know very well that witchers have emotions, and now we get to see a Witcher grieve as he believes his adopted daughter to have died after searching for her the whole game.

* Watching Geralt, the tough-as-nails badass with a gravel pit for a throat be consumed with guilt and frustration [[https://youtu.be/aior8jfINtI when he finds Ciri's lifeless body]], is one of the most difficult things to see in the entire series.

* Geralt's reaction when he finds Ciri on the Isle of the Mists. He tepidly approaches the house, clearly afraid of what he's going to find within. When he sees what appears to be Ciri's corpse, his reaction is one of pure anguish. Despite what people say, witchers do indeed have emotions.

* At some point you can save a merchant from bandits, look good but then you can find a letter : the bandits were just deseperate and one of them wanted the loot to help his children and was a loving husband. Still feel like a hero?.

* Despite how monstrous he is, it is difficult not to feel [[CryForTheDevil sympathy for]] the Unseen Elder's plight. The [[VampireMonarch King of the Vampires]] reduced to a monster wearing rags and squatting in a cave, pained merely by communicating with others, [[AllPowerfulBystander not caring about]] the rest of the world, remaining in said cavern for many hundreds of years, waiting by the gate back to his world because he is homesick. [[YouCantGoHomeAgain A gate that may never even open again]].

* 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 terrified of 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]]

** This massive castle, which would be large enough for an emperor in real life, is crumbling and empty, save for four transient inhabitants. Vessemir should hold the title of grandmaster of the witchers, but such a title is pointless because there are so few. In the battle, all witcherdom should have descended on Kaer Morhen to defend their ancestral home and the fate of the world, but there were only four. [[GondorCallsForAid Kaer Morhen called for allies]], but no one came aside from close, personal friends.
** 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.

* When talking to Dudu, who'd helped Ciri while she was in Novigrad, Zoltan urges him to shift to look like her. If Geralt agrees, the Doppler does so – only for Geralt to immediately regret that decision when he realizes [[WhenYouComingHomeDad just how much time had passed since he last saw his daughter]].

* When talking to Dudu, who'd helped Ciri while she was in Novigrad, Zoltan urges him to shift to look like her. If Geralt agrees, the Doppler does so – only for Geralt to immediately regret that decision when he realizes [[WhenYouComingHomeDad just how much time had passed since he last saw his daughter]].

** This massive castle, which would be large enough for an emperor in real life, is crumbling and empty, save for four transient inhabitants. Vessemir should hold the title of grandmaster of the witchers, but such a title is pointless because there are so few. In the battle, all witcherdom should have descended on Kaer Morhen to defend their ancestral home and the fate of the world, but there were only four. [[GondorCallsForAid]], but no one came aside from close, personal friends.

* 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.

* The ending. If you see Olgierd damned for all eternity, you see a guy who did horrible things but is capable of goodness forever doomed to suffering under O'Dimm's care. If you choose to save Olgierd's (and Geralt's) soul, you get to see Olgierd having an epic HeelRealization has he realizes that while he's free from O'Dimm's bargain, he has lost everyone and everything he loves and has to live for the rest of his life in regret and repentance for his evil deeds.