Tear Jerker / Men at Arms

• The scene where Cuddy rescues Detritus from dying in a fridge — which makes Detritus lose his low-temperature genius, the solution to his calculation melting away and thus lost forever.
• Detritus' reaction to Cuddy's death, and how Carrot calms him down from a rampage.
• Cuddy's death in general was a Tear Jerker.
• What Vimes has been spending all his money on; half his pay, in fact, in the days when he was still on the edge of alcoholism. Stupid onion-chopping ninjas!
  • The fact he's basically on the edge of it again is as concerning for many long time readers as it is for the entire Night Watch.
  • That he was spending half his wage providing for the widows and children of dead Watchmen is bad enough, but the fact that Angua initially mistakes it for something rather more questionable makes it worse. Mainly because it's the first time Carrot seems even slightly cross with her.
• The moment when Carrot brings Angua's body back to the Yard. He's heard that only silver really kills werewolves, but he doesn't know for sure, and he's very scared. And then he does the chores around the Yard. Because it's his turn to do them.
  • Which is simultaneously both a very "Carrot" thing to do, and (thanks to the narrative pointing out how unpredictably humans react to grief) one of the most humanizing things that almost-too-good-to-be-believed Carrot has ever done.
• Any thoughts for poor Edward d'Eath? Intelligent and innovative but utterly trapped by his social class and pitiful finances... only to end up in a cycle of mad delusion that takes him even further downward. Right to his ignoble death at the hands of someone he thought he could trust.
• Even though he later figures out the easy life is not for him, Gaspode's constant insistence to Angua that he has a family somewhere, complete with a bed by the fire and happy children, he just values his Independence, so he's almost never there and who wants all that fuss anyway? is deeply sad, especially for animal lovers.
• On the subject of animal lovers: Big Fido's last words upon breaking the collar he wore and falling to his death? "Free!"
• There's something sad about Vetinari coming to the realisation that his usual Reverse Psychology tactic (which has always worked when he used it on Vimes in the past) might, in this particular set of circumstances, have pushed him too far.
  • The whole following breakdown, really: Vimes getting drunk senseless, his returned conviction that nothing him and his men could ever do makes any difference, his manic joy in the face of Quirke coming in to take over... is painful to watch, and frighteningly realistic.
    I'll see you all tomorrow. If there is one.
  • The reveal that while getting drunk he's been clutching his Watchman badge so hard it cut into his palm, driving home the simple truth (already told before in his audience with the Patrician, but now shown fully) - that Sam Vimes is nothing without his job. Even though Sibyl's insistence he acquire higher standing from being a guard seems insensitive, you can really see why she wants more for him than what he has.
• The story of Sergeant Kepple, who had been the head of the Watch when Vimes joined. After Kepple had officially retired, he still kept coming to the Watch every day. At first he said it was to make sure things ran smoothly for the transition. But he kept coming in every day for six years, until one morning he was found dead of natural causes at the Watch house. And when Kepple's funeral was being arranged, it was discovered he had no family, no friends outside of the Watch, and seemingly he didn’t even have a home. Sergeant Kepple was literally a man who had nothing but his work.
• For fans of DEATH, it's a little saddening to see the characters that he greets after they die pretty much ignore his attempts at socialization and making things smoother for them. This is pretty much the closest he ever gets to socialization with anyone outside of Albert, so having him try so desperately to be more of a "people person" and have his attempts fail pulls on the heartstrings.