Tear Jerker / The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

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All versions

• Tumnus cries Tears of Remorse when confessing to Lucy that he had orders to bring in any humans to the White Witch on the threat of torture or death. He then reassures her that he can't do it, and escorts her back to the lamppost. Tumnus says that of course Lucy can visit, but asks her to promise to be careful. She promises.
• After Aslan and the White Witch come to their agreement over Edmund's fate, espousing that Edmund will not have to die, all Narnians present explode in cheers of joy and triumph. It is only Lucy who happens to notice that the mighty Lion suddenly slumps his shoulders and comes down with the most sorrowful, despondent look imaginable. At this point, Lucy and we viewers know something dreadful is going to happen.
• As Aslan secretly makes his way to the Stone Table to die, Lucy and Susan steal after him, and Aslan notices that the girls are following him. He talks with them, thanking Lucy for her big heart, and asks that if they mean to stay, they must hide. All the while he seems deeply sad, and even asks the girls to walk with their hands on his mane so he can feel their presence for comfort. He seems not to know that he'll be resurrected – the 1988 BBC adaptation confirms that he was uncertain, because the prophecy of the "deeper magic" had never been put to the test before.
• Jadis gloats to Aslan when he prepares to die in Edmund's place, that even if they made an agreement that she would not execute Edmund for being a traitor, that won't stop her from killing him on the battlefield. She claims that the lion sacrificed his life for nothing.
• Aslan's death. Even if he gets better, it's still horribly traumatic for the two girls to watch—especially the long, Held Gaze Aslan has with them just before the knife comes down.
• The bit with Aslan and the mice who gnaw away at the ropes binding his dead body.

Book

• Edmund feels guilt after lying that Lucy was making up Narnia, leaving her to run in tears. He spends the next few days dealing with her refusing to speak to him and Peter giving him a continuous Death Glare. Part of him knows that he's being awful, but the Witch's promises were too tempting.
• The poor Christmas party the Witch turns to stone on the road. True, they maybe weren't the most sensible to be engaging in such festivities out in the open with the Witch abroad, but to be finally enjoying a festival for the first time in a century, even receiving a visit from Father Christmas, who gave them the things for the party, only to be turned to stone so soon afterwards is awful to think about.
• The ending has the kids tell the professor what happened, and their bigger concern is if they should go back into Narnia to get back his coats from the closet and not about leaving the magical country behind. He tells them not to worry, because if his theory is right, that way to Narnia is long gone. The kids feel sad about it, but he reassures them that Narnia will let them return when they're needed.

Animated Adaptation

• Lucy runs off in tears twice when trying to show her siblings the Wardrobe. The first time, they let her go; the second, they tell off Edmund for teasing her.
• In this version, it's revealed that the cursed statues are still conscious. As punishment for helping Lucy, Tumnus is mounted in Jadis's throne room and Forced to Watch as she reveals to Edmund that he was just a pawn to get rid of the threats to her throne. She's mad at Edmund for not bringing his siblings as they agreed. As the dwarves carry him away, Tumnus's statue sheds tears.
• Lucy laments that the mice think just untying a dead Aslan will fix everything.

2005 Film

• During the scene where the Pevensies are bound to leave the train station, Peter suddenly catches sight of a pale-faced soldier who looks close to his age. It isn't stated outright, but it's pretty obvious that Peter's quite rattled at the thought of seeing someone so young go off to war.
• In the 2005 film, Susan is still trying to comfort Lucy by tearfully saying "he must have known what he was doing".
  • The morning after Aslan's death, the two girls wake and sadly walk back to their shared tent. While walking, Lucy whispers "I'm so cold." Susan, knowing fully well just how much the Lion meant to her sister, wraps her cloak around them both, and rubs her shoulders comfortingly.
• The opening scene, totally absent from the books, but very powerful and telling. In the midst of his family's desperate flight from the hellish bombing of their town by the Nazi Luftwaffe, young Edmund inexplicably runs back into their home, and his big brother Peter, of course, runs right after him. Peter retrieves his sibling but is forced to toss him to the ground to avoid an explosion, inadvertently causing Edmund to break the glass framed picture of their father, the object he wanted to save so desperately. The look on the poor boy's face while his older brother browbeats him for being selfish and nearly getting them both killed is heartbreaking, especially when you consider he only did it because he missed his absent father so badly. It's a not-so-subtle reminder that, if one takes away the fantasy elements of the film, the entire thing is still set in World War II, and this was a reality for most children back then as Nazi Germany was bombing the British in an effort to break their morale and force a surrender.
  • And we get another example of Edmund missing his dad again later in the film with this bit of dialogue after he had teased Lucy. It's possible that the reason Edmund had been acting so bitter and resentful at the beginning was because their dad had left to fight in the war and is unsure if he'll ever see him again.
    Peter: Now will you just stop? You just have to make everything worse, don't you?!
    Edmund: It was just a joke!
    Peter: When you gonna learn to grow up?
    Edmund: SHUT UP! You think you're Dad, but you're NOT!
    (Edmund runs out of the room and Susan glares at Peter.)
    Susan: Well that was nicely handled.
    (Susan then leaves the room too.)
• This comes back later on when the Pevensies are deciding whether or not to look for Aslan and fight the White Witch.
  Susan: Mum sent us away so we wouldn't get caught up in a war.
• Lucy finding Mr Tumnus's stone form in Jadis's castle. It's even worse in the 2005 film where she bursts into tears at the sight of her friend.
• Jadis has to Yank the Dog's Chain in the 2005 film, when Edmund ends up in a cell with Mr. Tumnus. Before she takes the faun away, she cruelly tells him that Edmund was the one who ratted him out ... and for sweets at that. Tumnus gives Edmund a Death Glare that brings up a heartbreaking look of guilt on his face.
  • Before this, the two were beginning to bond - and over Lucy, at that. Despite his own sorry state, Lucy is clearly still a very high priority for Tumnus, and the desperate way he asks Edmund if she's alright - if she's safe - just hammers in his concern for her even more.
  Mr. Tumnus: You're Lucy Pevensie's brother.
  Edmund: I'm Edmund.
  Mr. Tumnus: You have the same nose.
  • After the dialogue mentioned above, Edmund proceeds to rub his nose absentmindedly, as if missing his siblings all of a sudden. We may have hated him in the beginning, but seeing him so small and cold just reminds us that, like Tumnus, he was simply tricked by the White Witch into coming into her service, and now, he can't even answer something as simple as "Is your sister safe?"
• It's a small thing, but when they come out from their escape tunnel, the Beavers and the Pevensies find a group of Narnians who attempted to help Tumnus, all turned to stones. The worst are badger, whom Mr Beaver describes as his 'best mate' and is obviously very shaken to find dead, and a small group of rabbits - a mother and several kittens. If you look closely at the background, the mother is in front of the kittens, having put herself between them and the Witch, though it didn't save any of them. It can, perhaps, be hoped that Aslan found and restored them to life, as there must have been many such statues around Narnia to be restored, but we are never given any indication either way as to what happened.
  • Mostly likely Aslan did indeed restore them. He was probably very much aware that there were statues all around Narnia that needed to be restored and he intended to make sure that all the victims were unpetrified. The Fox was also turned into stone by the White Witch and is never seen again until the coronation, where it is shown at least he was restored. Also, at least a few badgers are present at the coronation. Maybe one of them was Mr. Beaver's friend.
  • As these animals are probably meant to be the same animals that in the book threw a party celebrating the return of Father Christmas, this is most likely the case. While not clear in the novel, C.S. Lewis confirmed in a letter that the animals were restored by Aslan.
• When Maugrim and his pack catch up to the Fox, they bring him before the White Witch. Edmund tries to protect him, and yet, the Fox still gets turned into stone, prompting a Big "NO!" and a heartbreaking look from Edmund. He even gets slapped by the White Witch for all his troubles.
• Tumnus and Lucy commiserating over their fathers both being soldiers. It's obvious they're both missing their fathers. It's a bit sadder when Tumnus says he's nothing like his father, and when the audience knows that he's being forced to work for the White Witch while his father likely fought her.
• One line in the final scene says so much, whether you've read the books or are getting this reveal for the first time:
  Professor Kirke: I don't think you'll get back in that way. You see... I've already tried.

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