Tear Jerker / House of Anubis

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

• The existence and impact of Sarah Frobisher-Smythe contains a lot of heartwrenching moments.
  • Her childhood was deeply tragic. At just eight years old, her parents both went to Egypt and never came back. She was left in the care of the cruel Victor Rodenmaar Sr. and his son, who was forced to abandon their friendship due to his father's abuse. During this time, she recorded the phonographic cylinders, with standout stories including how she sometimes sees her parent's faces in the mirror, and how nobody will listen as she insists she doesn't know where the treasure is.
  • Sarah's death. It shakes both Nina and Victor horribly, with Nina in particular struggling hard. Sarah was her first real friend made in England, even before she'd bonded with Fabian, and losing her was a pretty shattering moment. Victor, meanwhile, reacts to the news with silent shock and attends the funeral in secret.
  • The destruction of the doll-house, which she'd possessed in order to help Sibuna get through the tasks. For Nina, learning of it's destruction wasn't discovering she'd lost some valuable help — it was a symbolic loss of Sarah all over again, severing them completely.
• The Team Clarke subplot in season 2 has a lot of very sad scenes.
  • Jerome's general attitude about finding his father. He had grown up remembering just enough about his father to feel deeply hurt by his disappearance, not helping by his mother's neglect. Poppy's insistence on finding him brings him a lot of grief, as he's initially unwilling to go through with it. When he finally meets his dad in prison, he's initially unable to handle it, insulting him and almost storming out.
  • Poppy's speech during her father's hearing. Poor girl was on the verge of tears, and she spoke about how she knew her father messed up, but that she believed he needed a chance.
• Fabian is one of the more emotional and unlucky characters in the show, resulting in multiple moments of pain:
  • His discovery that Jasper had betrayed him causes him to feel very hurt and confused. He'd trusted his godfather heavily and tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, only to have it shatter.
  • When he accidentally gets Nina captured during Senet, he instantly becomes a complete emotional wreck. He breaks down in tears, and though he manages to get three days to save her, he's unable to focus and think rationally. Eventually, the stress causes him to have an outburst in class and run out, shocking everyone, including his fellow Sibuna members.
  • His reaction to finding out that Nina wasn't coming back in season 3. His initial reaction was to go on a quest similar to Patricia's in the first season, desperate to solve the mystery. What followed was a lot of anger, paranoia, stress, and fear, culminating in him physically attacking Eddie in the belief that he'd had a fling with Nina over the summer. This gives way to extreme pain when Eddie gives him Nina's letter, which he can't even read without Amber's help. He's left devastated for several days, and never fully gets over losing her.
• The amount of breakups and romantic rejections on this show are numerous, and many of them can leave the audience in tears:
  • The Fabina breakup in season 2 happened over a misunderstanding, that caused Fabian to think he and Nina were destined to fail. Nina was shocked and hurt, but agreed to break things off. Both of them were crushed over this, their friends were left shocked, and they spent the rest of the season trying to rebuild things and confirm that the other still liked them.
  • The Jeroy breakup was infamous for being particularly hard to watch. Joy had been forced to date Jerome as part of an Intentional Heartbreaker scheme, but grew to genuinely care for him; he, meanwhile, was growing deeply attached and was convinced he'd found someone he could truly bond with. When he heard Mara and Joy discussing the plan to dump him on stage during a play that had already been crafted to humiliate him, he decided to turn the tables and dump Joy. There were tears on both ends, with Jerome feeling betrayed and alone, and Joy having lost the boy she'd fallen for. Things only got more painful when Mara found out about Joy's feelings; she turned on her for this, which meant that Joy was being punished from both sides. Then, Fabian (as a Sinner) proceeded to grind the rest of her self-worth into the dust.
  • Earlier in season 3, Joy attempted to ask Fabian out. Instead of letting her down gently, he snapped at her, making it very clear that they would never date. Heartbroken, Joy struggled to even be near him, to the point where she quit Sibuna for the sake of her mental health and cried all day in bed.
  • Alfie, as a sinner, dumped Willow in the cruelest way in the show. After turning into a sinner due to his desperation to protect her, his perspective took a 180. He proceeded to openly insult her hedgehogs, call her a "flea bag", and casually break up with her. While she stood there sobbing in shock, he proceeded to flirt with Mara and Joy. Willow was horribly shattered after this, asking Trudy if why Alfie didn't like her anymore and needing both Mara and Joy to help her recover.
• Patricia may be a tough character on the outside, but this quickly gives way to deeply emotional moments when she's struggling, made worse by her stubborn inability to get help. Some standouts include:
  • Her panicking and crying in her room when she believed Joy had been killed. She'd even called her mother for help, only to be brushed off as looking for attention. This was one of the first instances of her being portrayed as more than just an irrational bully, and reminded the audience of the pain and confusion she was suffering through.
  • She's suffering from trauma after Rufus kidnapped her. While it's not heavily discussed, the poor girl has a panic attack when led to Victor's office and begins suffering from recurring nightmares. After freaking out in class, she hides away, feeling deeply embarrassed and helpless.
  • In season 2, she's initially resistant and hostile to Eddie as a way to hide her growing crush on him. He finally convinces her to dance at the ball, and this begins to have her open up some more, admitting that Eddie's a good guy. It all comes crumbling down when Alfie and Jerome reveal that he'd only danced with her on a bet, resulting in not just outward rage, but a bit of a relationship reset where she returns to hiding her feelings and not trusting him.
  • The worst of it comes in late season 3. Having finally gotten back together with Eddie after their Offscreen Breakup, Patricia's insecurities are exploited by Denby. She's tricked through a series of notes and rumors that Eddie is cheating on her, with the nail in the coffin being fake messages left on a computer. Patricia breaks down into tears, screams that she hates Eddie, and runs away. Offscreen, she had no time to work out her emotions, because she was then violently dragged to the gatehouse and turned into a Sinner, Denby's plan having worked perfectly.
• Eddie's life is full of angst and torment. Combined with the kicked-puppy expression he uses when hurt, and the audience has no choice but to feel the same pain he does.
  • When we learn about Mr. Sweet being his father, it comes with the discussion of his abandonment issues and his childhood attempts to reach out. He spends ages trying to rebuild their relationship, with much of the work being thrown onto him, despite being the victim.
  • Patricia finding out about this throws a wrench into things. He's desperate for her to keep the secret, meekly claiming that they're friends and trying hard to apologize. Just after he finally gets her to forgive him, she accidentally reveals things to the entire school, which he takes as an intentional and malicious act. The entire school proceeds to mock and ostracize him, which he doesn't take too well.
  • The discovery that his father is one of the villains, and has always been lumped in with Victor's schemes, constantly haunts him throughout season 3. He repeatedly tries to give his father a chance, only to be betrayed at every turn. Everything the two of them had worked for in the second season crumbles as his father repeatedly chooses his pride over him.
  • When the sinners arrive on the scene, they make things hell for poor Eddie. He gets kidnapped twice, with the second time involving multiple sinners intentionally trying to provoke him — including his father and Patricia, both of whom are gleefully bullying him. He later tries in vain to convince Patricia to remember her feelings for him, practically breaking down and admitting that if she doesn't love him anymore, the world may as well just end.
  • In the Touchstone of Ra, his new friend turns out to be the Big Bad. To make things worse, she's plotting to use the touchstone to make it rain gold... which would mean he and his friends get turned to stone. To stop this, he's forced to sacrifice himself, throwing himself on the touchstone to save everyone else. While he luckily survives due to a loophole in the prophecy, everyone is in shock and tears, and he's stuck with Power Loss Depression while the others are having fun at the party.
• Amber breaking down during House of Trickery/House of Recap. To elaborate, the had spent the entire night locked in the tank room in the gatehouse all alone, only to be found by Victor and Miss Denby. Victor then forced her to lie to her father about what happened, and after her father reprimanded her, she was forced to apologize to Victor. Then she was blackmailed into betraying her friends. All this, in one episode.
• KT getting ostracized when Patricia, the real sinner, turned the rest of Sibuna against her. It was rather intense, with her friends giving her the cold shoulder, locking her in her bedroom for several hours, insulting her during her play audition, and stealing her grandfather's key. The poor girl was about ready to run away from the school, heading to the bus station just as Fabian finally uncovered the truth and called her.
• Joy can't catch a break, which results in her having something of an Ironic Name:
  • In season 1, the girl is put in an isolating and traumatic situation for an entire school term. Each time we see her, things are worse. In order:
    • Taken out of school spontaneously, she has no ability to contact her friends or even let them know she's okay. Meanwhile, Victor, the teachers, and her own father proceed to keep her under their thumb as much as possible, keeping her from even just watching TV. The only entertainment she apparently has is online chess. Victor also goes out of his way to destroy her things instead of giving them to her, even burning some of her personal possessions for no apparent reason.
    • Even when she has the chance to talk to her friends, it's almost always cut short somehow. Escaping to watch the play leads her into almost immediately getting caught again, coerced into silence for Patricia's safety. Following that, she gets to do a video call with Sibuna, but is only allowed to talk with her father and Victor standing by. As a result, she can't speak freely, is forced to lie to her friends, and is made to leave after just a few minutes — only getting to pause for a moment to briefly give Patricia a genuine goodbye.
    • She's not seen again until Patricia, desperate for info, breaks into Victor's office and gets on the computer. Joy's demeanor in this scene is at odds with how we saw her before; she's tired, sad, scared, and unconvinced of Patricia's plan. Notably, she doesn't seem happy to be speaking to Patricia. Instead, she's confused and suspicious, and is then made to explain the truth about being the "chosen one". While the two manage to get back into contact after this, this is the only real glimpse we get into Joy's emotional state in season 1, and it's heartbreaking.
    • Finally, she attempts to join Sibuna for the ceremony and picks up the pieces. Unfortunately, the adults intercept her and force her to go to the cellar with them, giving her no choice in the matter. She's distressed when she can't get the cup together, not helped by Victor urging her along. While she's free for the rest of the night, she then has to attend the prom while underdressed and witness Fabian kissing Nina.
  • In season 2, she gets to be back at the school with her friends, but her trauma hasn't gone away. Due to being gone while Nina showed up, everyone is out of sync with her, and seem to care more about her new rival. Fabian is dating her, Patricia now has a second best friend, and she even had to watch Nina get much more eager and warmer greetings than she did on the first day. While she acted out of line, it's no wonder that she focuses her anger on Nina, despite clearly recognizing deep down that Nina never did anything wrong to her. Season 2 also features her nearly dying from a lightning bolt that Nina, possessed by Senkhara, shot.
  • In season 3, though she is in a better position to start with, things slowly worsen. She is harshly rejected by Fabian after caring for him for days, causing her to be in emotional turmoil and quit Sibuna. She is coerced into doing the eclipse ceremony, which happens to includes wearing an eerily familiar robe — something she outright says gives her bad memories. She joins the Anubis Sisterhood with her friends, but it ultimately becomes all about getting revenge on Jerome — with her having to play Intentional Heartbreaker. In the process, she starts to genuinely fall in love with him, and is absolutely crushed when he discovers the plot and dumps her. Then, Mara turns on her as well, and Fabian bullies her as a Sinner. Jerome and Mara are both cold to her for the next several episodes.