History TearJerker / TheAncientMagusBride

* Cartaphilus' backstory reveals that he and Joseph were two different people. One was the man cursed by God to not die, which can be seen as a blessing and curse, while the other was a young necromancer. The young necromancer was taking care of him since he was a good person, but the man who couldn't die was suffering so much that the only thing he could do was offer to fuse with him to become one.

** As Chise's relatives were discussing what to do with her following her mother's death, its clear they didn't really care about her, as they considered her little more than an annoyance, and only took her in to protect their reputation.

* Chapter 3: Chise had been seriously considering [[DrivenToSuicide killing herself]] by jumping from a roof. Its even worse when you realize her mother died that way.

* Chapter 11: Ulysse's past. Following Isebel's death, [[IWillWaitForYou Ulysse spends the rest of his live]] in front of her grave, waiting for her to wake up.

* Joel fell in love with a ''leannán sí'', who also loves him but can't bring herself to say so since . And since he can't see her under normal circumstances, they can never be together.
** Worse, by chapter 21 we learn that she's still sapping the life out of him just by being attached to him. He's only got about a week left and dies the next chapter, leaving her heartbroken to the extent that she decides never to take another lover, condemning herself to death by starvation.

* Chapter 1: The first we see of Chise is her being sold off to the highest bidder. Her thoughts show that she doesn't really cares what happens to her, she is just desperate to have a place to call home.

* Chapter 6: Chise's life was so miserable up until recently, that all it took Elias to earn her UndyingLoyalty was for him to take her in and call her family.
** Upon hearing she will die young, Chise ''laughs''. Much later, she explains that at the time she was actually [[DeathSeeker glad to hear her death was near.]]

* Chapter 10: Ruth has recently awakened as a black dog, and mistakenly thinks he is a human. He is convinced his deceased owner, Isabel, was his sister and hasn't come to terms with the fact that she is gone.

** The leannán sídhe fell in love with Joel, but is unwilling to accept it, because by her nature she kills the men she loves.
** Chise telling Elias how much she hates the way he keeps her in the dark about things regarding himself, and how she is tired of just accepting it.

* Chapter 3: Chise had been seriously considering [[DrivenToSuicide killing herself]] by jumping from a roof. [[spoiler:Its even worse when you realize her mother died that way]].

* Chapter 4: Chise's saddened expression when [[TalkingAnimal Molly]] hypothetically asks what sort of mother wouldn't protect her child. [[spoiler:Unknown to Molly, Chise's own mother had almost strangled her to death before killing herself]].

** Upon hearing she will die young, Chise ''laughs''. [[spoiler: Much later, she explains that at the time she was actually [[DeathSeeker glad to hear her death was near]]]].

* Chapter 13: The chapter begins with a younger Chise kneeling in front of the balcony [[spoiler: her mother threw herself from]]. There are strangulation marks around her neck. Those are the memories of Chise, who thinks to herself that a curse was placed on her that day.

** [[spoiler:A look into her past shows a moment where her parents and family weren't miserable. It's heavily hinted that after her father abandoned them with her little brother, her mother couldn't take the stress anymore and then decided to kill herself.]]
*** [[spoiler:Chapter 42 then reveals that her mother, Chika, did her best to take care of her until something else drove her to trying to kill her. She only killed herself after she snapped out of it, realizing what she'd nearly done and begging for forgiveness.]]
** Episode 22 of the Anime really hits close to home with Chise's past, as (excluding the nightmarish creatures stalking them), it is all too reminiscent of real life; [[spoiler:the father up and leaves one night with his son, never to return, abandoning his wife and daughter. The mother then does everything she can to make ends meet by working several jobs at once, with the stress and exhaustion building, to where she even attempts to strangle Chise to death, tempted by the thought that it'd get easier without her.]]

** Worse, [[spoiler:by chapter 21 we learn that she's still sapping the life out of him just by being attached to him. He's only got about a week left and dies the next chapter, leaving her heartbroken to the extent that she decides never to take another lover, condemning herself to death by starvation]]

* Chapter 37 is filled with them. [[spoiler:Not only has Chise forgotten her own birthday was today, but she won't make it to next Spring as things stand.]]

-->[[spoiler:The only thing that can take the place of a life is another life.]]
** Which leads to a WhamEpisode when [[spoiler: Elias is willing to sacrifice Stella to save Chise. WhatTheHellHero doesn't begin to describe Chise's reaction when she finds out, on top of attempting to do it with her having no consent in the matter and hiding it from her ''right'' after they tried to settle that they'd solve her problem together.]] It only gets worse when Elias' response amounts to [[spoiler: stating that he never made that promise in a case of ExactWords, and that he chose Stella especially out of a case of MurderTheHypotenuse; as in, ''he was jealous of the friendship the two had.'']]
* Cartaphilus' backstory reveals [[spoiler:that he and Joseph were two different people. One was the man cursed by God to not die, which can be seen as a blessing and curse, while the other was a young necromancer. The young necromancer was taking care of him since he was a good person, but the man who couldn't die was suffering so much that the only thing he could do was offer to fuse with him to become one.]]
* Simon's backstory in Chapter 51. [[spoiler:He learned to make sweets with his grandmother only for it to turn out that anyone who ate them would be jinxed to die a very short time later. His grandmother was the first victim, killed by a drunk driver, and a few days later his mother fell down steps while eating his cookies in prison. His cousin was next, drowning in the ocean, and his aunt and uncle were murdered by a burglar two years later. The last was his fiancee, who convinced him it wasn't his fault, only for her to die a week later and drove him to nearly committing suicide until Alonza stopped him.]]

** The '''Defender and Ash''' short story follows Alex (later Ashley), a self-taught mage who was abandoned by her family for practicing magic, had her body mutilated from experimenting, and guilt-ridden by a moment of jealousy that drove her to engineer her sister's death. She fully intends to die spending the rest of her life trying to make up for it.