Follow TV Tropes

This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.

Following

Tear Jerker / The Sexy Brutale

Go To

The story of this game revolves largely around a mystery, and not only is half the fun of the game unraveling that mystery, but the ensuing climax involves a lot of...emotions. As such, BE WARY OF SPOILERS!

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


  • Tequila Belle is a kind and humble person who enjoys singing more than the celebrity lifestyle.
    • Because of her incredible talent, she gets badly lacerated by shards of glass, and then she's thrown down a garbage chute to be eaten by a giant spider. She dies a slow death as she bleeds out on the carpet. Worse still, her good friend Willow dies at the same time Tequila cries out for someone to help her, and her step-sister Trinity finds her body before she in turn dies by a giant spider.
    • She is killed by the most smug staff member, who callously throws her down the garbage chute and jokes about how history will remember her based on the song that she sung that got her killed, even though she didn't want to sing that song in the first place.
    • In the days leading up to her death, Tequila is plagued by terrible nightmares brought on by Grinmaw.
  • When Lafcadio saves Tequila, she compliments his piano playing and tells him that Eleanor will love hearing it in the actual performance. You might miss it but Lafcadio begins crying soon as she says that, and keeps doing so as Tequila walks off the stage. He knows that since the day is looping that moment will never come. And after in-game revelations, the real reason he is crying is because he's grieving to the fact that it was his gift to Eleanor and she'll never be able to hear it.
  • Redd Rockridge is an Ambiguously Gay man who's also a Gentle Giant. It's implied in the secret ending and during the theatre portion of the game that Redd has feelings toward Greyson Grayson, though it isn't clear if the feeling's mutual. When Greyson triggers the trap that eventually kills him, Redd does everything he can to save him, including trying to tear the gate off its hinges. His desperation pulls at the heartstrings especially after you save him, because he really is capable of ripping the door off; it's just that the electricity coursing through him is too much for his body to take.
  • Greyson Grayson is confident, clever and silver tongued, providing quite a few chuckles should the player focus on figuring out his and Redd's actions and listening to their conversations before they stumble across the cage in the theatre. When he's trapped in the cage, his reactions to Redd's attempts to free him are played somewhat for (dark) laughs, with him repeatedly reminding Redd that while he could pick his way through any lock in his sleep and escape, his hands are trapped, and getting louder and more panicked as he waits for Redd to help him. When Redd is killed trying to do exactly that, Greyson goes from retaining his loud and dramatic attitude to quietly pleading for help and brokenly apologising to Redd for what happened to him, just before getting crushed and impaled.
  • Trinity Carrington is a plucky blind sculptor who sneaks into the butterfly garden because she was conspicuously barred from entering it. She stays in there for a few hours not because she's unable to find the door but because she doesn't want to ruin the surprise. Then she finds Tequila's body and freaks out after realizing just whose face she's touching, walking straight into the spider's web. You find out later that Tequila is Trinity's step-sister, which makes her visceral reaction not only more understandable but also more tragic. What's also sad is that she repeatedly cries out to her husband as she's stuck in the web, but he can't hear her, and she dies alone, terrified, and paralyzed.
  • Willow Blue confronts Grinmaw in his tank in order to protect Tequila Belle, who's been hearing Grinmaw in her sleep, only to get Mind Raped by him. She then walks to the belfry, saying things like "I cannot resist. Why would anyone resist?" She then, calmly and deliberately, hangs herself in the belfry at the same time Tequila gets lacerated and calls out for help.
  • In the end, you don't get to know these people for real. Everything that happens in the mansion is seen through Lucas' distorted memories of an event that happened forty years ago, warped by his feelings of shame and guilt. He even admits at some points, through Golden Skull, that he doesn't know how some of his friends would have reacted.
  • Golden Skull is a murderer, a sadist, and a horrible person in general, and freely admits as such. He's just as fond of the guests as Lucas is, but his hatred of The Red King runs so deep that he's willing to ruthlessly murder them over and over again just to torture the King. But much as he hates The Red King, at the end of the day he does what he does out of love for Eleanor and for his friends. Even though forcing the Red King to watch Eleanor die would undoubtedly be the cruelest and most effective means of torturing him, even he can't bring himself to do it. Instead, he places her in an idyllic cottage behind the mansion where even he can't reach her anymore. After all his villainous gloating and monologuing, it's heartbreaking to watch him beg you not to forgive yourself, not because he wants to keep torturing Lucas, but because he's afraid that the pain of knowing that he killed Eleanor and all of his friends is the only thing keeping them alive in his mind. If he moves on, they all be gone forever.
    Golden Skull: No, he did not "intend". But he ACTED. And they died. They ALL DIED. He killed them, Boone. He killed everyone he ever cared about. His friends. His own wife. His unborn ch—... [buries his face in his hands] We don't DESERVE to be forgiven! They don't DESERVE to be forgotten. Don't you see, Boone? This is how I keep them alive. This party. This day. This party. This day. I keep that agony fresh. I see their faces. I REMEMBER them. She would have us forgive ourself. She would let us go. She would have you live. But I am not ready. I will never be ready! Please, Boone...
    • Even so, Golden Skull implies that he perhaps considered to include Eleanor in the loop.
    Golden Skull: I have never seen inside that place, you know. I'm not sure whether to rage impotently, or just be quietly glad.
  • Everything that Lucas Bondes does while on screen. He's visibly anxious while preparing to destroy his mansion. This turns to outright horrified panic as he realizes he's set the timers wrong. He repeatedly shouts "Ellie!" and then crosses himself before jumping out the window of the highest room in the mansion. This is compounded by the Gold Skull and the Blood Woman's reactions. While he originally mocks her for being unable to watch, both of them end up looking away as the scene unfolds.
    • Even worse is the knowledge that Lucas survives that fall. He alone survives the destruction of the mansion and he's the one who has to live with the knowledge of what happened. Of what he made happen.
  • Then after the very emotional ending, they have to go and twist the knife with Eleanor's closing Hope Spot:
    "Goodbye my love. Whatever I am, I'm always here. Visit if you want. But don't stay too long. It's time to make new memories. Time to live the life you still have. Time to move on, old man."
  • The Old Habits ending can really hit home, especially if you've ever personally struggled with addiction problems.
    Old Habits: AH, LUCAS. I'VE BEEN SO LONELY. YOU BROUGHT ME ALL MY CARDS! YOU KNOW, THERE WAS ALWAYS ANOTHER OPTION. YOU DIDN'T NEED TO CHOOSE! YOU COULD HAVE CHOSEN NOT TO CHOOSE! GOLD SKULL? BLOODY GIRL? RED KING? STAFF? GUESTS? HA! FORGET THEM. FORGET THE PAIN AND SUFFERING. COME BACK TO ME. FORGET THEM ALL. JUST PLAY, BOONE. LOSE YOURSELF IN THE GAME. I WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU. I GAVE YOU THIS MANSION. I WILL HELP YOU. I LOVED YOU LONG BEFORE ANY OF THEM, AND YOU LOVED ME. LET ME HELP YOU. JUST TAKE A CARD.
    • He then sends Lucas into yet another illusion in his mind, probably as Lucas gives in to his gambling addiction. And this illusion shows an eternal party where everybody is alive and happy after "Boone" saved them. Even a "Lucas" is there, dancing with Eleanor. The real Lucas only gets to exist as "Lafcadio", still wearing his mask. If you don't break the ballroom's window, the party will go on forever- But once you do, everything and everybody slows down to a stop, including the music, and the screen fades out to the credits. It never was, and never could be, real because all of his loved ones are still dead.

Top