History TearJerker / MiddleEarthShadowOfWar

** A prevailing theme in Tolkien's lore is how [[TheMagicGoesAway everything ancient and wonderful in the world is slowly dying, and soon it will all fade into a mundane, ordinary world]]. Upon killing the Bow of Morgoth, you realize that not even the darker things are immune to this inevitable decline; a decline you just precipitated by slaughtering one of the last holdouts from [[GoldenAge the First Age]].

* Mixed with a healthy dose of NightmareFuel is the identity and revealed fate of one of the Kings of Men who became one of the Ringwraiths. [[spoiler: The cutscene at the end of a mission to hunt one of the Nazgûl reveals the creature Talion has been hunting was once Helm Hammerhand, a legendary king of Rohan (namesake of the fortress Helm's Deep). [[HumanPincushion Fatally injured in an ambush]] orchestrated by Siric, the prince of the neighbouring kingdom of Dunland, angered by Helm's refusal to wed his daughter to the prince to form an alliance, Sauron ([[BitchInSheepsClothing in the form of Annatar]]) and Celebrimbor came to Helm on his deathbed and gave him one of the Rings of Power, Sauron promising Helm it would grant him the power to [[PapaWolf ensure his daughter's safe return]]. Healed by the Ring, Helm and his army stormed Dunland; [[UnwantedRescue his daughter and her new husband tried to reason with Helm]] to prevent him starting war between Rohan and Dunland, but Helm, [[BloodKnight his rage, bloodlust and desire for revenge]] [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide presumably exacerbated by the ring's corruption]], refused to listen, and when his daughter tried to put herself between her father and her husband, [[OffingTheOffspring Helm killed her without a second thought]], [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone only realising what had happened afterwards]]. For a moment, he could only stare in horror at the reflection of himself in the spreading pool of his daughter's blood, but then the Ring presumably fueled his blood-lust with grief, to the point where Helm slaughtered everyone else in the room, including Siric and even Rohirrim captains who tried to stop him]].
-->'''Celebrimbor''': Of all the Nazgûl, his fall was most tragic.
** Even worse, [[spoiler: this event was likely ''the'' catalyst for the [[CycleOfRevenge centuries-long blood-feud between Dunland and Rohan,]] which ultimately resulted in Dunland's participation in the Battle of Helm's Deep. If it weren't for Sauron's influence, Dunland and Rohan might have been ''allies'' that whole time - at least in this particular timeline - sparing countless innocents on both sides.]]

-->'''Ioreth''': The past is the past, nothing can be changed...You're too late. I'm already dead.
-->'''Talion''': ''[falling to his knees, sounding close to tears]'' No, no...no!
* Mixed with NightmareFuel; Idril's scream of horror when [[spoiler: the Witch King kills Castamir. Even if he was plotting treason with the Lord of the Nazgûl in a doomed bid to save Idril's life, she's still just seen her father, the only family she had left, brutally murdered in front of her]].
* It's pretty obvious that Talion is torn up when [[spoiler:Celebrimbor ''AND'' Eltariel screw him over. He's basically been betrayed by his brother, and a "servant of the Light" helped.]]
** It's already bad but had you collected Gondorian artifacts [[spoiler: where Talion and Clebrimbor had friendly conversations over most of them it's heartbreaking to see Celebrimbor so cold he betrays the closest thing he had to a friend. Worse, when you collect the artifacts ''after'' the betrayal, the silence is deafening after Idril's narration. There's no longer any commentary on them.]]
** [[spoiler: Imagine this from Talion's viewpoint: You could finally die and join your family, but with the knowledge [[MyGreatestFailure that you allowed a monster worse than Sauron to rise to power and that your actions doomed Middle-earth]]. Your other option is to take one of the rings, allowing you to atone for your mistakes and protect Middle-earth but inevitably become a slave to another monster ''and'' lose your possibly only chance to ''ever'' see your family again.]]
** [[spoiler:To twist the knife ''even'' further, Celebrimbor just watches Talion choke on the ground before vanishing from Talion's view and "life". No apology, no "Thank You", not even a comforting reminder that at least Talion can finally join his family. He just stares at his struggles to stay alive and leaves without a word]].
** [[spoiler:The game after this point has a somber feel to it. Talion, for the first time in a ''long'' time, is truly alone, and you can practically feel him fight the darkness throughout the entire chapter. At that point, his "life" consists of a repeating cycle of violence which he refuses to let go of, since he knows that if (or even ''when'') he lets himself be distracted, he could finally lose it and never see his family ever again. The ''Blade of Galadriel'' implies he has some friends in his army, but considering that most of said army [[BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood likely wasn't given a choice in joining his side]], even those relationships feel artificial.]]
** [[spoiler:Talion [[TheQuietOne doesn't talk much]] after Celebrimbor is gone, but one of the phrases he says when appearing on a Haedir Tower is a comment on how, despite Celebrimbor going mad with power, he still misses him.]]
--->[[spoiler:'''Talion''']]: [[spoiler: Celebrimbor]]'s lust for power clouded his vision, and yet I miss him. No war should be fought alone.

* The first time you use Shaming is [[spoiler: against Brûz for double-crossing you.]] When the deed is done you get to see him curled up on the ground, reduced to a broken, sobbing, and mumbling shell of himself. [[TheBrute Ranger]] will even [[EvenTheDogIsAshamed call you on what you did to him.]] And the worst part is [[spoiler: Brûz will never recover from it.]]
** Even worse is what lead to it. [[spoiler: Brûz gets into an argument with Ratbag when you seize the first fort, and Celebrimbor and Talion get so exasperated he denies them both the Overlord spot afterwards. This causes Brûz to become TheResenter, and his arguments with Talion escalate to the point he literally stabs him in the back. One petty moment led Brûz down a path of destruction of himself, and locked the player out of a lasting partnership with the most charismatic and bombastic EnsembleDarkhorse of the game.]]
** And for an added level of PlayerPunch. [[spoiler: You can encounter Brûz again as a generic Captain. You can fight him to either kill him or break him again, but he has the "Death Defying" trait. When you're about to execute him, he'll go into the execution stance and shout "it's your fort!" Between his anguish, his accent, and the likely guilt you'll be feeling at the moment, it can sound more like he's saying [[YouBastard "it's your fault!"]] ]]
** After you have Shamed him, his blood brothers will come after you to avenge him. If you decide to [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential shame]] them too to the point they become deranged, [[spoiler:Baz will have a similar MadnessMantra about "Brûz is fine", while Gaz will suffer LossOfIdentity and think himself as Brûz]].
** And as one final indignity, depending on what order you do the various quests, [[spoiler:its entirely possibly for Bruz to be one of the Captains raised as a mindless undead soldier during the final confrontation with Zog.]]
* Shelob's BackStory. [[spoiler: She was in a loving relationship with Sauron (in his Annatar guise), until [[PromotedToScapegoat he betrayed her to save his own skin]]. It's strongly implied that she [[IJustWantToBeNormal just wanted to be normal]], but when surrounded by soldiers, she decided IAmAMonster and killed all those around her. When she meets Talion, it's obvious she ''wants'' to be a woman again, but will NeverBeHurtAgain.]]

* Similarily, losing an orc you were genuinely fond of. Especially if they bled to death and you were unable to save them because an enemy kept interrupting you, or when the game rarely skips the "bleeding" phase altogether; The game treats you with a cutscene of, for example, your follower being impaled from behind. Then you just have to hope they come back from the dead without betraying you. (Unless they lost their head, of course) [[spoiler:While Act IV allows you to resurrect them, Undead captains lose their personality and it's implied to be AFateWorseThanDeath so rising them doesn't really bring ''[[EmptyShell them]]'' back and feels disrespectful]].

** Even worse, if an Orc gets shamed repeatedly without going insane he might start to complain how everyone is mocking him now, shame him again and he will yell at you how it's gotten even worse with the mocking and insulting, and went from hating for shaming him to just begging you to just end him because he can't take it anymore. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDEqREyb820 See for yourself.]]

* We finally find out Eltariel's motive. Galadriel will not allow her to return to her home until the Nazgul are dead. Think about it, she cannot return home until she finds a way to kill every Nazgul, and no-one has ever been able to kill even ''one''. [[labelnote:Note (spoilers)]]We don't know how Helm's and Isildur's predecessors died, for all we know, Sauron could have killed them[[/labelnote]] And that's before [[spoiler:she finds out that Talion is now one of the nine; so not only is her friend now her enemy, the one Nazgul that did die was immediately replaced.]]
* Eltariel bears witness to [[spoiler:Talion finally succumbing to TheCorruption of Isildur's ring, ForcedToWatch as her on-and-off ally is DrivenToVillainy... and as they both know, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero it's her fault he even had to take Isildur's ring in the first place]], so he blames her]].

** After you have Shamed him, his blood brothers will come after you to avenge him. If you decide to [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential shame]] them too to the point they become deranged, [[spoiler:Baz will have a similar MadnessMantra about "Brûz will be fine", while Gaz will suffer LossOfIdentity and think himself as Brûz]].

* After finally striking down the Ringwraith Talion has become, Eltariel sees a vision of Talion's past; she sees Ioreth and Dirhael's murder, Celebrimbor's betrayal, aided by her, and Talion taking up Isildur's ring, vowing to fight back the armies of Sauron for as long as he could until its corruption consumed him. When the vision finally ends and Talion's twisted spirit departs back to Barad-dûr to regenerate, Eltariel's expression is one of [[ItsAllMyFault guilt and regret]] that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone her actions]] drove a good man seeking only to [[CrusadingWidower avenge the murders of his family]] before being [[TogetherInDeath reunited with them in death]] into [[HeWhoFightsMonsters becoming a monster in thrall to the same evil that took everything he loved from him]]. Is it any wonder she refuses Galadriel's invitation to go West and instead [[TheAtoner remains in Mordor to continue fighting]]?

** Orcs that return from death with a Legendary Scar (the kind that changes their title and dialogue) can still be shamed into maddened wrecks. So an orc that recovers from being severely burned and ambushes you as "the Flame of War" can be shamed into "the Ruined," losing all the honour from their greatest triumph.

--> ''[[FamousLastWords Should have known better than to betray you...boss.]]''

** [[spoiler: Imagine this from Talion's viewpoint: You could finally die and join your family, but with the knowledge [[MyGreatestFailure that you allowed a monster worse than Sauron to rise to power and that your actions doomed Middle-earth]]. Your other option is to take one of the rings, allowing you to atone for your mistakes and protect Middle-earth but inevitably become a slave to an another monster ''and'' lose your possibly only chance to ''ever'' see your family again.]]

** Even worse, if an Orc gets shamed repeatedly without going insane he might start to complain how everyone is mocking him now, shame him again and he will yell at you how it's gotten even worse with the mocking and insulting and went from hating for for shaming him to just begging you to just end him because he can't take it anymore. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDEqREyb820 See for yourself.]]

--> [[LastOfTheirKind I have stood alone for too long]]. I go now to stand with my brothers in the unending night. Finish it.

** Even worse, [[spoiler: this event was likely ''the'' catalyst for the [[CycleOfRevenge centuries-long blood-feud between Dunland and Rohan,]] which ultimately resulted in Dunland's participation in the Battle of Helm's Deep. If it weren't for Sauron's influence, Dunland and Rohan might have been ''allies'' that whole time, sparing countless innocents on both sides.]]

Though the events of Shadow Of War are entirely none-canon, so while this might work in game lore, it does not in LOTR proper. The more likely scenario is that Dunland were wild barbarians.

** A prevailing theme in Tolkien's lore is how [[TheMagicGoesAway everything ancient and wonderful in the world is slowly dying, and soon it will all fade into a mundane, ordinary world]]. Upon killing the Bow of Morgoth, you realize that even not even the darker things are immune to this inevitable decline; a decline you just precipitated by slaughtering one of the last holdouts from [[GoldenAge the First Age]].

* After finally striking down the Ringwraith Talion has become, Eltariel sees a vision of Talion's past; she sees Ioreth and Dirhael's murder, Celebrimbor's betrayal, aided by her, and Talion taking up Isildur's ring, vowing to fight back the armies of Sauron for as long as he could until its corruption consumed him. When the vision finally ends and Talion's twisted spirit departs back to Barad-dûr to regenerate, Eltariel's expression is one of [[ItsAllMyFault guilt and regret]] that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone her actions]] drove a good man seeking only to [[CrusadingWidower avenge the murders of his family]] before being [[TogetherInDeath reunited with them in death]] into [[HeWhoFightsMonsters becoming a monster in thrall to the same evil that took everything he loved from him]]. Is it any wonder she refuses Galadriel's invitation to go West and instead remains in Mordor to continue fighting?

** [[spoiler:The game after this point has a somber feel to it. Talion, for the first time in a ''long'' time, is truly alone, and you can practically feel him fight the darkness throughout the entire chapter. At that point, his "life" consists of a repeating cycle of violence which he refuses to let go of, since he knows that if (or even ''when'') he lets himself be distracted, he could finally lose it and never see his family ever again. The ''Blade of Galadriel'' implies he has some friends in his army, but considering that most of said army [[BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood likely wasn't given a choice in joining his side]], even those relationships feel artificial.]].

-->'''Talion''': My time has come. Take me home to Gondor.
-->'''Galadriel''': Take the Ring, now. You will not get another chance.
-->'''Talion''': ''Please''! [[LastRequest Don't let me die in this cursed land]].
-->'''Eltariel''': Of course.
** And as the full ending told us, [[DramaticIrony Talion's FinalDeath will happen in Mordor]].

** The results of shaming are largely randomized and there are several variations of what can happen to any orc. Firstly, there is the Deranged or Maniac branch, then the game permanently changes the orc's lines to, for example, screaming, moaning, gibberish, laughing etc, or changes them to actual lines they repeat [[MadnessMantra over and over again]]. The latter is arguably worse. Depending on which kind of "dialogue" the game gives the orc, their posture may also change to either them looking nervously everywhere around them, or pathetically hanging their head down and occasionally shrugging. A former ally who taunted your enemies on the battlefield can become a depressed wreck who yells "[[YouBastard I tried! Don't you think I tried?!]]" while practically crying.

--->[[spoiler:'''Talion''']]: [[spoiler Celebrimbor]]'s lust for power clouded his vision, and yet I miss him. No war should be fought alone.

--->[[spoiler:'''Talion''']]: No war should be fought alone.

* After finally striking down the Ringwraith Talion has become, Eltariel sees a vision of Talion's past; she sees Ioreth and Dirhael's murder, Celebrimbor's betrayal, aided by her, and Talion taking up Isildur's ring, vowing to fight back the armies of Sauron for as long as he could before its corruption consumed it. When the vision finally ends and Talion's twisted spirit departs back to Barad-dûr to regenerate, Eltariel's expression is one of [[ItsAllMyFault guilt and regret]] that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone her actions]] drove a good man seeking only to [[CrusadingWidower avenge the murders of his family]] before being [[TogetherInDeath reunited with them in death]] into [[HeWhoFightsMonsters becoming a monster in thrall to the same evil that took everything he loved from him]]. Is it any wonder she refuses Galadriel's invitation to go West and instead remains in Mordor to continue fighting?

* Forgey wasn't the only InMemoriam in the game. After the GoldenEnding, the game gives an "In Memory Of Beth Ann Allen". She was the wife of Monolith's game data analyst Kris Havlak, who passed away at the tender age of 33. Her obituary can be found [[https://paloaltoonline.com/obituaries/memorials/elizabeth-ann-allen?o=4962 here]].