Warning: Spoilers Off applies to Tearjerker pages.
Trails from Zero
Elie and Lloyd's talk on the roof in chapter 2. While Elie's backstory is more down to earth than that of the other members, it also helped to make it much more relatable and grounded. Her father, once an aspiring politician with a strong sense of justice, simply cannot survive Crossbell's political environment, and after his reform bills were rejected again and again, people left him and he became the laughing stock of the political world, one day he just... broke, and quits being a politican, a husband, and a father, returning to Calvard. After the divorce, Elie's mother couldn't live in the state that robbed her of her love, and left Elie in Crossbell to live with her relatives in Erebonia. Elie cannot accept her family, once so happy and loving, was torn apart so quickly and suddenly, and vowed to become a politician and make a difference, but as she studied and studied she started to realize just how tall the barrier in front of her really is. The player can just understand why Elie felt so lost, defeated and tired after the events of the day too, with Revache and Heiyue basically laughing while the SSS cannot do anything, while the First Division looked down on the team's efforts. It's a realistic sense of despair, the feeling of the problem being simply too big to be fixed, that makes it a tearjerker.
The end of the Fourth Day of Chapter 3 of Zero, all of it as Renne learns the truth about her family and Estelle and Joshua come this close to reuniting with her, only to miss her by minutes. To elaborate:
Renne wasn't going to involve herself with her old family, but the moment her younger brother went missing she offers her assistance to the SSS, and when she saw him in danger she immediately breaks her cover and saved the boy. Renne would then cry, confused why she did all that for someone she saw as stupid and definitely has some resentment for, showing that despite everything she still has some love for her family. And keep in mind, this is before she actually learns the truth.
The Hayworths then told their side of the story while Renne was hiding in Lloyd's closet. Turns out that they didn't deliberately hand Renne over to Paradise; Harold thought the owner was a trustworthy friend, and entrusted Renne while he and Sophia took care of their debt. When they came back to get Renne a year later only to find ruins of the house, they were devastated, and nearly committed suicide; the only thing preventing them from doing so was the fact that Sophia was pregnant with their son. From that point onward, they resolved to be happy and become an honest trader. It's heartbreakingly tragic to know that Renne ending up in Paradise was not out of malice from her parents, that she wasn't an unwanted child at all, and how much her parents still love her even now.
Estelle crying and Joshua tearing up when they heard that Renne had heard the truth; it's clear that Estelle has now learned of Renne's circumstances in Paradise, and knowing that the girl now knows that she was never unwanted by her old family and faced the truth so she can start moving forward just brings out the waterworks.
Tio spends most of Chapter 4's second day bottling up what is clearly a PTSD episode caused by the Moon Temple expedition and the Gnosis investigation, eventually resulting in the poor girl collapsing outside St Ursula. After this, no longer able to deny anything's wrong, she reveals that she was kidnapped and experimented on by the D∴G Cult for three years, since she was five years old. Tio only escaped this nightmare when the cult was finally suppressed.
Playing with voice reveals that Tio's voice, usually so calm and composed, is practically trembling the entire time she's telling the party this, and numerous times you can actually hear her on the verge of crying. Also need to be mentioned is Randy; whenever he doesn't say anything, playing with voice reveals him taking a deep breath, which somehow just conveys how frustrated and sad he is from hearing Tio's story.
Estelle and Joshua finally reuniting with Renne is this in spades, though special mention needed to be said about Renne's reaction when hearing that Estelle never gives up on finding her: She weakly whispered that she thought Estelle would abandon her after she learned on what happened in Paradise. It's truly heartbreaking to see what effect the place has on Renne to the point that she thought just learning about it will drive people away from her.
This chest message added after the Geofront Fan Translation's lead editor passed away:
In loving memory of Daniel Scott Tijerina, our fallen hero who exemplified the indomitable spirit of Crossbell.
Trails to Azure
On a visit to the Downtown District in Chapter 1, Wald confronts Wazy over his decision to join the SSS. Wazy explains that their rivalry was fun while it lasted, but he has a new path in life now because he knew that both the Testaments and Saber Vipers are merely temporary places that they both created to have a place to belong; one day, not only him, but the other members of the Testaments will outgrow the gang and find their own paths in life, and he hopes Wald and the Vipers will find theirs too. It's a rather somber talk that practically has Wazy saying that they've got to grow up, with Wald not being able to accept it.
When Wald attacks him in a rage, Wazy stops Lloyd from interfering, saying that this fight is between him and Wald alone. You might remember Lloyd's fight with Wald in Zero and think that Wazy would be having a similarly difficult battle... before he completely wipes the floor with Wald, revealing that he was holding back in all of their previous fights and confirming in no uncertain terms that their rivalry is over. It's a somber Cruel to Be Kind moment, a Hopeless Boss Fight where the player controls the boss, and the rain only makes it more tragic.
Crossed with Heartwarming, if you take Sully to the fortune-teller at MWL and let her ask the question, she'll wonder if a girl from the slums really belongs in Arc en Ciel. She'll be told that yes, she does. As an aside, the fortune-teller will talk about another girl from the slums who grew up to be a beautiful lady and a top-class Bracer, providing a not-so-subtle hint as to the identity of the fortune-teller.
If you take Randy to the House of Mirrors, he first plays off his wish as being for a harem of sexy babes, which Lloyd snarks is something not even the goddess could grant. As Lloyd leaves, Randy drops this while he's out of earcshot.
Randy: A wish not even the goddess could grant, huh...? Yeah... maybe wishing for them to keep company with someone like me forever would be too much to ask.
Seeing Wald in his demon form rampaging in Downtown district, destroying buildings and mercilessly hurting his former Saber Vipers subordinates as "sacrifices"; Seeing just how far he had fallen, to the point of doing things that the old him would have never condone, seemingly just so he could get the power to fight Wazy on a more equal ground is quite upsetting.
Noel leaving the SSS to return to the CGF, and then Wazy quietly disappearing some time later for a "minor business", just as the situation in Crossbell is reaching its critical point, definitely counts. Seeing the SSS left with only its original four members is somewhat melancholic, and as KeA chased them outside the building to give Lloyd a tearful hug, you get a feeling that it felt like a farewell.
In many ways, the last half of chapter 4 sees the SSS somewhat regressing to its initial state back in the beginning of Zero. As mentioned above, Noel and Wazy left the team, leaving you back with only the original members; some of the SSS' closest allies that they had gained over the course of Zero - like Dieter, Mariabell and Arios - are now their enemy; other friends that they've made, like the Brights or Ries, had left Crossbell; and as the four members of the SSS struggled and lost against a lone Arios - knowing that there are still monsters like the Red Constellation and Ouroboros standing with the Crois family - and seeing KeA annihilating the invading forces of both Erebonia and Calvard on her own, suddenly you realize that unlike the main party from the other games, the SSS seems so small and insignificant in comparison to everything around them, a bitter reminder of that feeling of powerlessness and hopelessness that you experienced during the beginning hours of Zero.
Making this even more tragic is the fact that the SSS core group felt like a close-knit family. Like in Zero, everyone once again pleads KeA to not listen to their enemy and come back to their side, but unlike in Zero where it worked, this time it didn't; Lloyd's voice as he heard KeA refuses and went along with Mariabell sounded positively heartbroken, and to see that even their greatest strength - the bond that they have with each other - fails them at such a crucial moment felt like a gut-punch.
And of course as the final nail in the coffin, the one who lead the arrest of the SSS is none other than Noel, as if the SSS needs to be kicked down even more than they already did.
As part of the Liberation of Crossbell, Estelle, Joshua, Renne, and Pater-Mater make an appearance to take on one of the Aions. The fight goes badly, with Pater-Mater grossly outclassed and the Aion pulverizing it while simultaneously mauling the three humans. Eventually, after wrecking Pater-Mater, it turns its weapons on Renne, with Joshua and Estelle too far away to save her. Cue Pater-Mater making a Diving Save, smashing the Aion's weapons away, before grabbing it and flying up into the sky, then triggering its self-destruct mechanism (with Renne - connected to it by mental link - fully aware of what was going on) to finally lay the Aion low. Pater-Mater - or, more precisely, half of its torso - manages to survive the blast. Joshua can clearly see that the damage is fatal, but Renne promises to take the machine to Georg so it can be fixed. It reaches out a claw towards her and she takes hold of it... which allows Pater-Mater to mentally transmit a final "Goodbye" to her before finally shutting down for good, leaving Renne screaming in grief.
Afterwards, if you head to Mainz, you can meet the Brights, who are sheltering at the inn. Renne is passed out on a bed upstairs, having cried herself to sleep. If you try to talk to her, the SSS overhears her talking in her sleep, first calling out for Pater-Mater, then - seemingly in a flashback to her time at Paradise - for her mother and father. The poor girl just cannot catch a break in this series.
Returning to Ian Grimwood's law office when the final dungeon appears, you'll find his ward/assistant Pete and a CPD officer going through his desk papers. You find a letter addressed to Pete, detailing how much he cared for the boy and that he almost made him reconsider his plans, before apologizing for leaving and making arrangements for his guardianship.
The stills that show the aftermath of Joachim's successful Taking You with Me in the original timeline that managed to wipe out the SSS.
Lloyd laying down in a pool of blood, his tonfas broken beside him.
Elie and Tio's corpses huddled together as if trying to comfort each other before death.
Finally, Randy the Sole Survivor leaning on his halberd. Although he's shown from the back and a distance, Randy's heartbreak can be clearly seen in his pose.
Mariabell's revelation that KeA's subconsciously making everyone like her due to her nigh-godlike powers horrifies the poor girl so badly that it directly results in her merging into the Azure Demiourgos, one of the most brutal Final Boss battles in the entire series. After all the centuries of manipulation, duplicity and grooming, it simply took one final push of a Trauma Button for the Crois family to nearly make the Azure Tree plan a reality.
The ending, particularly Lloyd's encounter with Guy in the World of Zero, and his subsequent conversation with KeA where he finally understands just how much she's had to put up with through no fault of her own.
There's the bigger one: Crossbell is now under Erebonian rule. Every Crossbellan had pretty much resigned themselves to seeing a major power take over given that the Aions they just lost were the only adequate means of repelling the Imperial and Republican militaries, but it's implied that it still happened sooner than expected. Regardless, 70 years of autonomy being destroyed in a few months by one Well-Intentioned Extremist trying to free Crossbell from having to kowtow to the major powers in the most needlessly provocative way he could have come up with is heartbreaking.
