History Tearjerker / TransformersDarkOfTheMoon

** The novel ends on a line afterward: We are here. We... are home".

* Optimus's ending speech, which ends with "But the day will never come, that we forsake this planet and its people". Cue [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Iridescent]] by Linkin Park playing over the end credits.
** The novel ends on a line afterward: We are here. We... [[spoiler:are home"]].

* [[spoiler:[=Que/Wheeljack's=] death. Poor guy, just trying to negotiate...]]

--> [[spoiler:'''Que:''']] ''"Wait-wait-wait! We surrendered! We're your prisoners!"''
--> '''Decepticon:''' ''"Move it!"''
--> [[spoiler:'''Que:''']] ''"Can't we talk this out?! We're all a bunch of good chaps! I mean you no-"''
--> '''Decepticon:''' ''(BLAM!)''
* [[spoiler: The sight of Bumblebee about to be executed]]. Made even more dramatic by the fact that [[spoiler: there didn't seem to be ''any'' hope of him being rescued and another Autobot was just ruthlessly slaughtered right then and there! What's even worse is Bumblebee reaching out to [=Que/Wheeljack's=] corpse, making it clear that he'd just seen his ''friend'' get murdered!]]
** Even worse is when Bumblebee speaks, not via radio, but actually ''speaks'' during the scene. When [[spoiler: Que died, he said "Goodbye, old friend." and when he sees Sam, hiding and unable to do anything to help him, "We had a helluva run."]]
** To add on to the impact, the track [[spoiler:"[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBJ90C4kDCA No Prisoners, Only Trophies]]"]] plays soft and gentle, more suiting to quiet and reminiscing-type scenes. It adds on to the helplessness of the sequence.
* ManlyTears may be shed during the opening sequence with the moon-landing. [[spoiler: And maybe again when Buzz Aldrin shows up.]]
* [[spoiler: When the Autobots were forced to leave, thanks to the world leaders, Optimus and Bumblebee say their goodbyes to Sam.]]
** Also what doubles this scene making it into a tear-jerker [[spoiler: the Decepticons are holding Carly hostage, and will kill her if Sam doesn't do as they say, which is essentially be a spy for them against the Autobots. Prime already had one long time friend betray him, so in hindsight when he calls Sam his one true friend, you know Sam felt like he was punched in the gut! The kid loved and respected the Autobots, he especially respected Optimus, so he was forced to momentarily betray his friends, to keep Carly alive.]]

* When Wheelie and Brains [[spoiler: board the Decepticon cruiser and take it down]], during the crash, one of them says that they're not going to make it. [[spoiler: After the cruiser goes down, they're nowhere to be seen]], meaning that they were ''right''. What hammers the point even harder is that Wheelie was one of the few people who was genuinely nice to Brains.
-->'''Wheelie:''' [[spoiler: We had a good run, Brains! You and me!]]
** Thankfully [[spoiler: the two of them are shown to have [[SparedByTheAdaptation survived in the novel]].]]
* It's subtle, but look at the expression on Optimus' face after he [[spoiler: executes Sentinel Prime]]. It's quite clear that doing that ''deeply'' affected him, as he essentially had to [[spoiler: put a gun to his mentor's head and pull the trigger]]. It's one thing for Optimus to kill [[spoiler: Megatron. Megatron was his avowed enemy and had caused nothing but death and destruction for centuries.]] But [[spoiler: Sentinel was his ''friend'' and Optimus' mentor, the one who taught him the very thing he's now killing him for.]]
** Sentinel's [[spoiler: cry of "No, Optimus!" right before Optimus kills him]] is pretty depressing. It would be different if it was someone like Megatron or Shockwave, but as mentioned above, this is the only father figure Optimus has ever known. And he has no choice but [[spoiler: to make him pay for what he's done.]]
* Hearing Optimus Prime [[spoiler: say "Please..." after Sentinel cuts off his arm and drags him across the ground to finish him. Bay made it clear beforehand that anyone who dies in this movie isn't going to magically come back, and at that moment, it felt like Optimus might die. The fact that he would plead with Sentinel one last time, hoping to revive the goodness in his old mentor, is almost too much to handle.]]
* Seeing [[spoiler: Cybertron dissolve into a black hole. Cybertron, the Autobots' (and Decepticons') ''home'', lost forever.]]

*** He's not just a power-hungry tyrant: he's a ''living being'' like us, who wants to see his first home made whole again. He actually showed that he cared for something other than himself. He just might have redeemed himself a bit for all he did leading up to that moment. And then... [[spoiler:he and his home are gone. That which he worked for, the cause he championed, such a pure end for such horrific means, he lost it in his final moments.]] Even for Megatron... it just doesn't seem right.
*** The final fight scene between [[spoiler:Optimus and Megatron]] has been criticized for being too short... but maybe [[spoiler:Megatron didn't want to fight anymore. His body wrecked, his home destroyed, everything he ever aimed to accomplish rendered moot, and everyone he ever cared about dead... except for Optimus. In one final, desperate attempt to save himself, well aware of the atrocities he's committed, he turns to Optimus and asks for forgiveness... and finds that Optimus has none left in his Spark for the likes of him... Is it possible that the leader of the Decepticons reached the DespairEventHorizon and just... gave up?]]

* The scene of [[spoiler:Optimus and Sentinel, with Optimus offering his old mentor the Matrix.]] Should be a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} but becomes TearJerker in light of what happens later.
* Within seconds, not only did [[spoiler:Sentinel betray the Autobots, but he ''killed'' Ironhide in a brutal and horrifying manner, which comes completely out of nowhere. Even more shocking is that Ironhide wasn't a new character introduced in this film, but one of the Autobots from the first film whose been in all three, a character we actually got to know...]]
** What's worse is [[spoiler:Ironhide's reaction as he's dying. It's clear he's just as shocked as the audience probably is. He didn't die in battle with an enemy - a ''friend'' that he looked up to and respected suddenly shoots him in the back and murders him.]]
* For a Decepticon lover, [[spoiler: the deaths of Starscream, Soundwave, and Megatron]].
* The deaths of [[spoiler:Skids and Mudflap]] in the comic adaptation. Despite their controversial characterization, it's hard not to feel sad as [[spoiler:Mudflap flies into a grief-striken rage over his brother's death and is himself killed moments later.]]
** The novel arguably makes it worse with [[spoiler:Mudflap's reaction to Skids' death]]:
--> "There had never been a moment when the motor-mouthed Autobot named Mudflap had been at a loss for words. Under ordinary circumstances, Sam would expected him to say something like "''Oh, no you did-unt! Oh NO you DID-UNT! Uh uh! You in it now!''" He said nothing like that. Perhaps it was because of the psychic link that he shared with his twin so that he had actually [[spoiler:felt Skids die]]. Perhaps it was because of [[spoiler:the betrayal of a warrior they revered above all others, like finding out the Archangel Michael was on Satan's payroll]]. Whatever the reason, Mudflap didn't react the way Sam would have expected. Instead he howled. It was a primal agony, torn from the individual bit of Spark that powered all the Autobots. It was the most horrible thing Sam Witwicky had ever heard, and he recognized it for what it was: the sound of a soul dying. And then it escalated into a war cry of undiluted fury."
** To top it off, [[spoiler:Mudflap's]] last words are [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments "Run, you guys! Leave him to me! This bastard's mine!"]]

* It makes it a TearJerker is that [[spoiler:those aren't {{Red Shirts}} dying, those are 100% innocent human beings.]]
** "When you were standing in the wake of devastation... when you were waiting on the edge of the unknown... and with the Cataclysm raining down, insides crying "Save me now", you were there, impossibly alone..."

* When [[spoiler:the Autobots ship is blown up.]]
* Optimus flying into the battle scene after [[spoiler:the other Autobots escape from Soundwave]], with the track [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=4__qLubgb0s#t=77s It's Our Fight]] playing in full blast, and watching Optimus destroying Decepticons left and right before tearing Shockwave apart.
* Optimus's last words to Sentinel Prime before he executes his mentor. The tragedy behind those words is how true they are; Sentinel was the one who taught Optimus that freedom is the right of all sentient beings, and Sentinel turned against and betrayed those words in "Dark of the Moon".

* [[spoiler: While Dylan is revealed to be a despicable and pathetic human being, his attempts to justify his survival at the hands of the Decepticons do mark him some sympathy. All he wanted was to stay alive, and he never asked or wanted to be a human traitor. He does lose sympathy as the film goes on, though. ]]

** Even worse is when Bumblebee speaks, not via radio, but actually ''speaks'' during the scene. When [[spoiler: Que died, he said "Goodbye, old friend." and when he sees Sam, hiding and unable to do anything to help him, "We had a good run."]]

--> '''Decepticon:''' ''(BLAM)''

** Worse is, we barely even knew him, since he'd been in a total of two scenes doing anything, but his line before it happens.
--> ''"Bu-but-but, we surrender!"''

[[caption-width-right:350:''[["DespairEventHorizon It's over, I'm sorry but it's over.."]]'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[DespairEventHorizon It's over, I'm sorry but it's over.."]]'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"It's over, I'm sorry but it's over.."'']]

* Although being a awesome music, the first part of "Iridescent" can be played during Sam's arrival at Chicago, now in sadly ruins from the Decepticons' Invasion.
---> "When you were standing in the wake of devastation,
---> When you were waiting on the edge of the unknown,
---> And with the cataclysm raining down
---> Insides crying, "Save me now!"
---> You were there, impossibly alone.."
* Carly lost her brother in the line of duty at some point before the film, and it’s clear she still misses him and doesn’t want to lose Sam the same way.
* The death of Ironhide. He is betrayed and shot by Sentinel and slowly and painfully rusts away.
* As Sentinel is setting up the pillars, Optimus pleads with him to stop and begs Sentinel to tell him why. Optimus is clearly heartbroken (sparkbroken?) at his former mentor’s betrayal.
** At the end of the movie, Optimus is mournful that his hero chose to go against his teachings and that he has no choice but to kill Sentinel to save Earth. In turn Sentinel is mournful that his lifelong dream to save Cybertron has failed and pleads with Optimus to understand.
-->'''Sentinel Prime''': Optimus, all I ever wanted was the survival of our race. You must see why I had to betray you.
-->'''Optimus Prime''': You didn’t betray me. You betrayed yourself.
* The destruction of the ''Xantium''. First Sam has to watch the Autobots, especially Bumblebee, leave Earth forever which causes him to visibly but silently cry as Optimus and Bumblebee say their goodbyes. Then he watches the spaceship’s destruction, causing him to believe they are dead. Worst of all, Sam knowingly but unwillingly played a part in their demise. Fortunately, the Autobots faked their exile and death.
* R.I.P. Que.
* If watching the Autobots seemingly die the first time wasn’t enough, Sam watches Bumblebee nearly die again. This time there is no trickery. Sam desperately tries to save Bumblebee but realizes he can’t do anything but watch as Bumblebee says his final goodbye.

* Although being a awesome music, the first part of "Iridescent" can be played during Sam's arrival at the destroyed Chicago.

When you were waiting on the edge of the unknown,
And with the cataclysm raining down
Insides crying, "Save me now!"
You were there, impossibly alone.."

[[caption-width-right:350:"It's over, I'm sorry but it's over.."]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"It's Over, I'm sorry but it's over.."]]

—->'''Sentinel Prime''': Optimus, all I ever wanted was the survival of our race. You must see why I had to betray you.
—->'''Optimus Prime''': You didn’t betray me. You betrayed yourself.

—>'''Sentinel Prime''': Optimus, all I ever wanted was the survival of our race. You must see why I had to betray you.
—>'''Optimus Prime''': You didn’t betray me. You betrayed yourself.