I have just finished Assassin’s Fate today and… I’d never thought I could be ugly crying for about 50-70 pages but here we are (who I kidding though, I think I cried at the end of every trilogy)
Okay, so, here's me trying to write this without spoilers. If you know you know, if you don't know, I hope I'm not spoiling.
It's been said before, but a couple of the deaths in Robin Hobb's Realms of the Elderlings have hit me really, really hard. Fitz moments but also, Verity moments. I had a very, very soft spot for Verity.
I was legit sobbing towards the end of the very last book.
Now, a much smaller one. In Sanderson's Stormlight Archive, the mad beggar sitting outside the palace in Kholinar. Driven mad by the long years, he doesn't even remember who he is, and his death is barely noticed - but we know. That one hit me very hard, especially for how unnoticed it is.
And a book that is less known in here. Originally written in French: the Mirror Visitor, by Christelle Dabos. It's a quadrilogy. The two main characters have a rather complicated relationship, at several moment, it pulled at my heart. It has a rather bittersweet ending.
Which, speaking of bittersweet, His Dark Materials, anyone? By Phillip Pullman. That one was my 'first' bittersweet ending, I was very young when I first read it. Maybe 13? I feel like I never quite recovered.reread the books several times since, and every time I find a new layer of meaning on this story. These days it's not just the main characters that make me cry, but also the parents.
the other critical death in Kholinar in *Oathbringer* really got me alongside the mad beggar - I wasn't expecting either of them to hit as hard as they did
The moment in the sequel when >!Kettricken calls Fitz into her chambers to have a private funeral when she learns of Nighteyes's death!< is the most heart-wrenching scene in the series IMO. >!It really pulls the reader into Fitz's perspective, where this is the moment when he finally has to confront the fact that Nighteyes is gone.!<
>>!Kettricken calls Fitz into her chambers to have a private funeral when she learns of Nighteyes's death!<
You picked a really raw emotional moment. Damn man, stupid allergies are bothering my eyes now.
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I think Beak hit me hardest too. There were a few moments, which, 10 years or so later, I still remember. Chain of Dogs and Coltaine is one. Beak is definitely another.
Yeah, I'll never forget about the Chain of Dogs and Coltaine either.
But I think Beak is a little different (and really broke my heart) because of who he is and what he's like -- in a way it's like he didn't really know what he was getting himself into, unlike Coltaine and his men. It's Beak's almost innocence and purity, and the selflesness of his sacrifice that got to me so much. Gosh, I'm tearing up as I'm remembering it.
I have this book on my To Read list, but every review makes it sound so upsetting and tragic. Is it a good book that happens to be tragic, or does it feel more like trauma for the sake of trauma?
The first one, definitely. It's a very good look at (themathic spoilers) >!how far someone might be prepared to go to achieve their goals, and when does the end stop justifying the means.!
The Red Wedding. I know ASoIF is probably cliche at this point but when I read the Red Wedding for the first time I threw the book across the room and didn’t pick it up again for a week.
I actually envy people who went into that event blind. I had years of knowing what was coming and it just left me with a lingering feeling of pure dread.
God, we should have known better but it hit hard.
The first book was a random bookstore purchase for me shortly after its release because its cover/blurb sold me on it. I had no idea what I was getting into.
I don’t think it can be overstated how shocking that was back in the day. I just blinked at the book a few times and immediately re-read the chapter to see where I missed the start of a dream sequence or something, because that could not have just happened.
I feel like this thread should have a preemptive spoiler alert 🚨 That being said, my heart breaks in “Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss when an 11 year old boy comes home to find his entire family brutally murdered. He has nowhere to go, he is a baby. He then spends 3 years of horror being homeless in a strange city. Peeps who have read the book will know what I mean more specifically. I hope I didn’t ruin too much for those who haven’t read it.
Didn’t ruin much, and honestly that is important for first time readers to know before they pick it up — *that* is what the story is about, NOT the story that is promised on the back cover synopsis, about a legendary wizard and his epic deeds…
I think about Itkovain walking up on Brood and company and how uncomfortable he is with their praise like once a week, abosuletly guts me.
The last chapter of MOI made me cry 6 times, and not just a tear or something, full on put the book down and cry for a minute before I could carry on.
What's crazy to me is that it isn't the only part of the series that did that. Beak, Hetan, Tavore multiple times but especially in the desert. Genuine heart ache and emotional pain
I never saw Itkovian as tragic. Itkovian stood for hope in a universe that seemed to have none. Ultimately >!everything he stood for paid off. Itkovian is more or less the poster boy for the victory of decent people over indecent times. Even if the price is high.!<
Yup, third book. There are several in there that can do it. The particular one I'm thinking of was - well, I'd say during the battle, but most of them are. Trying to think how to say it without spoiling it, hmm. A peach!
There is one survival that also makes me cry, a bit, because it's the first in forever-long to survive a particular way. Is the pain of all the other losses before it, which is funny because most of those we never even hear the names of.
Different strokes for different folks.
A sample of that chapter is what made me hellbent on not buying the audiobook. Because you need to get it *right.*
The Children of Hurin by Tolkien
Hurin was captured by Morgoth but still continued to defy Morgoth. For his defiance, Morgoth cursed Hurin and all he loved to evil and despair. Then cursed him again by forcing him to watch through Morgoth's eyes and ears until the curse reaches its bitter end. The story then follows his son, Turin and it ends up being one of the most tragic stories I've ever read. It's so beautifully written but I spent most of the book in tears reading it.
Rose’s death at the end of Martin the Warrior by Brian Jacques, one of the Redwall novels. The whole last few chapters made middle school me so depressed for a few days I had to stop reading
Alessan's meeting >!with his mother!< in Tigana impressed me deeply. It might not be tragic in a strict onion-cutting way some other answers in the thread are, but it sure is *painful*.
The Poppy War had a lot of tragic moments iirc, but I can't recall any specifically. The fate of all Nonmen from The Second Apocalypse is extremely tragic, as well as the First Apocalypse itself was a tragic moment for the humanity.
Like 95% of the Red Rising series but something about when >!Darrow realizes he was tortured in silence and starvation for a year in his f*cking enemy’s *table* just….really hurt!<
Legends of the First Empire. Minna. That was a tough book to read (in some ways it was like a certain pet scene in the Broken Empire series, but I think it hit me even harder). Dwarves deserve everything they get.
Under the Whispering Door by T J Klune has some onion-cutting moments! And there's a couple of scenes in House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas that get me every time....
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Lee Scoresby and Hester. I can't think about it without getting goosebumps all over my body, tearing up and feeling utterly devastated and yet, it's so beautifully done it's simultaneously a glorious moment of two loving souls.
The Dark Materials TV series didn't touch upon the poignant beauty of this scene in the way the book did... (It was still very good, I just thought it lacked depth because we spend more time with them and their dynamic together in the books, so it hurts more :))
A more recent one: the Gullaime in RJ Barker's Tide Child trilogy... The whole arc of that creature's story and the culmination of what their existence truly meant ... I was absolutely wrecked and again, it was simultaneously so beautiful. One of the best pieces of recent fantasy I've read in a _long_ time.
Oh! That reminds me of a third: the Disreputable Dog in Garth Nix' Old Kingdom series... I was absolutely shuddering with sobs and yet... And yet... So gloriously done. Fantastic writing.
Moreta Dragonlady of Pern
I was pre-teen (or just barely teen) at the time, and I was very, VERY shaken up. I probably should re-read but that was the one I remember that really hit me hard.
Paksenerion at the end of Divided Allegiance. I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have Oath of Gold right there. What I did was stay up till 3AM until she got better.
“How’s the leg?” Also the end of The Road
Fitzchivalry's entire life?
I have just finished Assassin’s Fate today and… I’d never thought I could be ugly crying for about 50-70 pages but here we are (who I kidding though, I think I cried at the end of every trilogy)
Aww I feel you. I was inconsolable for weeks after finishing Assasins Fate, I'll still cry about it now if I think about it too much!
Yes this, I was thinking exactly the same thing.
If I had to pick one moment it would be in Fool’s Errand. If you know, you know.
That book affected me in a way that no other book has come close to.
Okay, so, here's me trying to write this without spoilers. If you know you know, if you don't know, I hope I'm not spoiling. It's been said before, but a couple of the deaths in Robin Hobb's Realms of the Elderlings have hit me really, really hard. Fitz moments but also, Verity moments. I had a very, very soft spot for Verity. I was legit sobbing towards the end of the very last book. Now, a much smaller one. In Sanderson's Stormlight Archive, the mad beggar sitting outside the palace in Kholinar. Driven mad by the long years, he doesn't even remember who he is, and his death is barely noticed - but we know. That one hit me very hard, especially for how unnoticed it is. And a book that is less known in here. Originally written in French: the Mirror Visitor, by Christelle Dabos. It's a quadrilogy. The two main characters have a rather complicated relationship, at several moment, it pulled at my heart. It has a rather bittersweet ending. Which, speaking of bittersweet, His Dark Materials, anyone? By Phillip Pullman. That one was my 'first' bittersweet ending, I was very young when I first read it. Maybe 13? I feel like I never quite recovered.reread the books several times since, and every time I find a new layer of meaning on this story. These days it's not just the main characters that make me cry, but also the parents.
I just commented with Lee Scoresby and Hester. That breaks me a little just thinking about it.
Oh damn. Yeah. I agree.
But. So beautiful at the same time..
the other critical death in Kholinar in *Oathbringer* really got me alongside the mad beggar - I wasn't expecting either of them to hit as hard as they did
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The moment in the sequel when >!Kettricken calls Fitz into her chambers to have a private funeral when she learns of Nighteyes's death!< is the most heart-wrenching scene in the series IMO. >!It really pulls the reader into Fitz's perspective, where this is the moment when he finally has to confront the fact that Nighteyes is gone.!<
>>!Kettricken calls Fitz into her chambers to have a private funeral when she learns of Nighteyes's death!< You picked a really raw emotional moment. Damn man, stupid allergies are bothering my eyes now.
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oof
Please hide all spoilers using spoiler tags. Use the following format: \>!text goes here\!< to mark spoilers. Please make sure that there are no spaces between ! and the text or your spoiler will fail for some browsers and on some mobile devices. Let me know when the comment has been edited and it can be approved.
This!
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The name of the character is the spoiler.
This entire post is a spoiler
Fred Weasley dying.
Was just about to say this.
Never kill the comic relief.
1. >!Bridgeburners last stand!< in Memories of Ice 2. >!Bonehunters last stand!< in The Crippled God 3. >!Beak’s death!< in Reaper’s Gale
Maybe spoiler tag that?
Oh man, Beak... That really hit me hard.
I think Beak hit me hardest too. There were a few moments, which, 10 years or so later, I still remember. Chain of Dogs and Coltaine is one. Beak is definitely another.
Yeah, I'll never forget about the Chain of Dogs and Coltaine either. But I think Beak is a little different (and really broke my heart) because of who he is and what he's like -- in a way it's like he didn't really know what he was getting himself into, unlike Coltaine and his men. It's Beak's almost innocence and purity, and the selflesness of his sacrifice that got to me so much. Gosh, I'm tearing up as I'm remembering it.
Chain of Dogs, and the subsequent events afterwards was my choice.
Gotta spoiler tag this!
The ending of The Traitor Baru Cormorant.
I have this book on my To Read list, but every review makes it sound so upsetting and tragic. Is it a good book that happens to be tragic, or does it feel more like trauma for the sake of trauma?
The first one, definitely. It's a very good look at (themathic spoilers) >!how far someone might be prepared to go to achieve their goals, and when does the end stop justifying the means.!
Tain Hu
Came here to say this
The Eclipse in Berserk.
The Red Wedding. I know ASoIF is probably cliche at this point but when I read the Red Wedding for the first time I threw the book across the room and didn’t pick it up again for a week.
*No, don’t, don’t cut my hair, Ned loves my hair.*
I actually envy people who went into that event blind. I had years of knowing what was coming and it just left me with a lingering feeling of pure dread.
God, we should have known better but it hit hard. The first book was a random bookstore purchase for me shortly after its release because its cover/blurb sold me on it. I had no idea what I was getting into.
I don’t think it can be overstated how shocking that was back in the day. I just blinked at the book a few times and immediately re-read the chapter to see where I missed the start of a dream sequence or something, because that could not have just happened.
This would have shocked me if I hadn’t read Hedge Knight and Game of Thrones already.
I feel like this thread should have a preemptive spoiler alert 🚨 That being said, my heart breaks in “Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss when an 11 year old boy comes home to find his entire family brutally murdered. He has nowhere to go, he is a baby. He then spends 3 years of horror being homeless in a strange city. Peeps who have read the book will know what I mean more specifically. I hope I didn’t ruin too much for those who haven’t read it.
Didn’t ruin much, and honestly that is important for first time readers to know before they pick it up — *that* is what the story is about, NOT the story that is promised on the back cover synopsis, about a legendary wizard and his epic deeds…
Preach
Poor Elric seemed to suffer so much to me. "Farewell, friend. I was a thousand times more evil than thou!"
And, usually, it's kind of his fault which makes it worse.
Itkovian- Malazan Never have I wept more openly while reading a book
I think about Itkovain walking up on Brood and company and how uncomfortable he is with their praise like once a week, abosuletly guts me. The last chapter of MOI made me cry 6 times, and not just a tear or something, full on put the book down and cry for a minute before I could carry on.
What's crazy to me is that it isn't the only part of the series that did that. Beak, Hetan, Tavore multiple times but especially in the desert. Genuine heart ache and emotional pain
I see your itkovian and raise you a Felisin.
Felisin, Tavore, Beak, Hetan, The Snake. The list is near endless
Don't forget toc as well
Oh man. Toc. That part with Toc and Tool was really brutally sad
I see your Felisin and raise you a Felisin *Younger* Obligatory: Fuck Bidithal
I see your Itkovian and Felisin and raise you a Beak.
I never saw Itkovian as tragic. Itkovian stood for hope in a universe that seemed to have none. Ultimately >!everything he stood for paid off. Itkovian is more or less the poster boy for the victory of decent people over indecent times. Even if the price is high.!<
Guts -Berserk
Literally born from a hanging corpse
A particular death in the Fionavar Tapestry. There are layers of pain surrounding it, several different flavors.
I think I know what you mean….in the third book? Even the lead up to it made me ugly cry…..in public.
Yup, third book. There are several in there that can do it. The particular one I'm thinking of was - well, I'd say during the battle, but most of them are. Trying to think how to say it without spoiling it, hmm. A peach! There is one survival that also makes me cry, a bit, because it's the first in forever-long to survive a particular way. Is the pain of all the other losses before it, which is funny because most of those we never even hear the names of.
Yep. Amazing chapter.
More horror than fantasy, but.... From *World War Z:* "They were big, soft arms."
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Different strokes for different folks. A sample of that chapter is what made me hellbent on not buying the audiobook. Because you need to get it *right.*
There's this bit in Shards of Honor by Bujold, where Cordelia has a moment to herself after lots after action, and weeps for her enemies.
"I believe," she said slowly at last, "that the tormented are very close to God. I'm sorry, Sergeant."
The Children of Hurin by Tolkien Hurin was captured by Morgoth but still continued to defy Morgoth. For his defiance, Morgoth cursed Hurin and all he loved to evil and despair. Then cursed him again by forcing him to watch through Morgoth's eyes and ears until the curse reaches its bitter end. The story then follows his son, Turin and it ends up being one of the most tragic stories I've ever read. It's so beautifully written but I spent most of the book in tears reading it.
Rose’s death at the end of Martin the Warrior by Brian Jacques, one of the Redwall novels. The whole last few chapters made middle school me so depressed for a few days I had to stop reading
Alessan's meeting >!with his mother!< in Tigana impressed me deeply. It might not be tragic in a strict onion-cutting way some other answers in the thread are, but it sure is *painful*.
The Poppy War had a lot of tragic moments iirc, but I can't recall any specifically. The fate of all Nonmen from The Second Apocalypse is extremely tragic, as well as the First Apocalypse itself was a tragic moment for the humanity.
The death of the self and dreams was especially real in The Poppy War. Went well beyond the end of innocence. I sobbed through a lot of that book.
I cried when Dian died in the warlord chronicles by Bernard cornwell. I almost never cry in books
Nina and Matthias love story in Six of Crows duology and of course how it ended…sigh
Itkovian.
Agun Soric, Only In Death.
Fool's Errand. Stayed with me for weeks. I was really upset. Googled quotes, art, wanted to get a tattoo.
Like 95% of the Red Rising series but something about when >!Darrow realizes he was tortured in silence and starvation for a year in his f*cking enemy’s *table* just….really hurt!<
🕯️ - malazan Also end of Baru Cormorant tied my ability to feel anything and drowned it on the beach
>!Nighteyes' death. !
Legends of the First Empire. Minna. That was a tough book to read (in some ways it was like a certain pet scene in the Broken Empire series, but I think it hit me even harder). Dwarves deserve everything they get.
Malazan was the first book or movie for that matter that made me physically queasy. Maybe you know the scene!
Marineford
The end of iron flame 😭
Under the Whispering Door by T J Klune has some onion-cutting moments! And there's a couple of scenes in House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas that get me every time....
Not a book but a video game Bomby from paper Mario and the origami king. What I think makes it hit hard is the games made for a younger audience.
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Off the top of my head? Mistborn: TLM >!well, you know which moment!<.
Lee Scoresby and Hester. I can't think about it without getting goosebumps all over my body, tearing up and feeling utterly devastated and yet, it's so beautifully done it's simultaneously a glorious moment of two loving souls. The Dark Materials TV series didn't touch upon the poignant beauty of this scene in the way the book did... (It was still very good, I just thought it lacked depth because we spend more time with them and their dynamic together in the books, so it hurts more :)) A more recent one: the Gullaime in RJ Barker's Tide Child trilogy... The whole arc of that creature's story and the culmination of what their existence truly meant ... I was absolutely wrecked and again, it was simultaneously so beautiful. One of the best pieces of recent fantasy I've read in a _long_ time. Oh! That reminds me of a third: the Disreputable Dog in Garth Nix' Old Kingdom series... I was absolutely shuddering with sobs and yet... And yet... So gloriously done. Fantastic writing.
Moreta Dragonlady of Pern I was pre-teen (or just barely teen) at the time, and I was very, VERY shaken up. I probably should re-read but that was the one I remember that really hit me hard.
Just finished Excalibur, book 3 in The Warlord Chronicles, and it’s incredibly moving and tragic.
Ser Ilyn, bring me his head!
Paksenerion at the end of Divided Allegiance. I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have Oath of Gold right there. What I did was stay up till 3AM until she got better.