Tear Jerker / Codex Alera

WARNING! Unmarked spoilers below!

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Despite being best known for its moments of sheer awesomeness, the Codex Alera series is surprisingly adept in tugging at one's heartstrings.

Academ's Fury

• Gauis Sextus' breakdown. He's exhausted, strained, rambling and has forced himself far beyond what any human should have to endure. Borderline delirious, he shows Tavi a coastal village, with terrified residents running away only to be swallowed by a magically-induced hurricane. Sickened, Tavi asks if Gaius can help them. He starts destroying things, shouting and screaming about how he can't, he's tried, how he's failed, that he has nothing left to sacrifice and it hasn't been enough before he breaks down incoherently sobbing over how much he failed the Realm. It's the only time we see him completely without his composure and the extent of what the vast burden he holds has done to him.
• Kitai breaking down crying when she reveals that Tavi is her chala. Her miserably noting that she wanted a horse since it would grant her the freedom to chose her own destiny, and how she's now completely and utterly alone among her people, are especially gut-wrenching to read.
  • invoked Thankfully, it swiftly shifts into heartwarming territory when Tavi reassures her that since he will always be with her, she definitely isn't alone.
• The deaths of Serai, Nedus, and Maestro Killian. Serai's death deserves special mention, as while Nedus and Killian were at least able to go out in Heroic Sacrifices saving Isana and the First Lord from Kalarus' bloodcrows and the Vord respectively, Serai is simply shot with an arrow from a hidden bloodcrow archer, and only has enough time to mutter out a surprised "Oh" before she falls over dead.

Cursor's Fury

• The Reveal that Max is The Hedonist since his Wicked Stepmother Dorotea has been continuously arranging "accidents" to get him killed so he wouldn't be a potential threat to her son Crassus taking the throne of Antillus, and he fully believes that he will never live to old age. Suddenly, Max's goofy status as a Handsome Lech in Academ's Fury comes across in a far darker light.
• The flashbacks to Isana, Araris and Septimus' time in the Crown Legion, particularly when Isana's baby sister Alia performs a Heroic Sacrifice to help ensure her older sister is able to safely give birth even while she herself is bleeding out from a Marat arrow.
• In a strange and surprising way, the immediate aftermath to the Battle of the Elinarch. As Tavi looks over the bodies of Sarl and his followers as Nasaug leads the rest of the Canim in a retreat in the face of the First Aleran's victory, Tavi attempts to find some smug satisfaction in killing a despicable Asshole Victim and threat to the Realm... but finds himself left wanting, instead just ruminating on how War Is Hell as Kitai comforts him.
  Tavi tried to find some sense of satisfaction that he had taken the life of an enemy of the Realm, of a murderous slive whose plans had nearly killed his friends and his patron at Wintersend, years ago. But he couldn't. Sarl had been a threat. Now he was dead. There was no rancor in that thought for Tavi—nor pride. Nor shame. But perhaps a twinge of regret. Sarl might have been a murdering traitor, but Tavi doubted that every Cane who had followed him was the same kind of monster. And his orders had slain thousands of them. They, too, had been dangerous, but not in the same, malicious way. Or not entirely in that way. But he wished he could have found a way that didn't involve so much blood. So much death.
  (...)
  Kitai stepped up to stand beside him, also regarding the fallen.
  "You had to," she said quietly. "They would have killed you. Killed everyone."
  "I know," Tavi said. "But..."
  Kitai looked up and regarded him for a moment, a faint frown marring her brow. "You are mad, Aleran," she said, her tone gentle. "You can be strong. Hard." She laid her fingertips on Tavi's breastplate. "But beneath that, you bleed for the fallen. Even those who are not your own folk."
  "I doubt there's another Aleran alive who has spent more time talking to Canim than I," Tavi said. "My people usually skip straight to the killing. So do theirs."
  "You think this wrong?"
  "I think..." Tavi said, frowning. "I think that it's been going on for so long, neither of us can consider the possibility of stopping it. There's too much history. Too much blood."
  "In your place, they would not bleed for you."
  "Doesn't matter," Tavi said. "It isn't about being fair and equal. It's about the difference between right and wrong." He stared out at the bloody Elinarch. "And this was wrong." His vision blurred with sudden tears, but his voice stayed steady. "Necessary. And wrong."

Captain's Fury

• Surprisingly enough, the death of Phrygiar Navaris. Yes, she was a terrifying Ax-Crazy Dark Action Girl... but Tavi's juris macto with her highlights how, just like Tavi, she's been acutely wounded by the pain of never knowing who her father was, and her entire drive to prove herself the greatest swordswoman in Aleran history is in fact motivated by her twisted desire to finally be acknowledged and loved by her father instead of just being ignored by him and derided as a Citizen's bastard. Needless to say, as monstrous as Navaris is, Tavi isn't particularly satisfied with the brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech he uses to bait her into making a foolish mistake that lets him kill her, and he even takes the time after she passes to gently close her eyes.
• invoked In a strange mix of this, CMoA, and Nightmare Fuel, there's the Cruel Twist Ending to Amara, Bernard, and Gaius Sextus' storyline: After spending the entire book slowly trudging through dangerous wilderness and fighting against/hiding away from Kalarus' forces so that Sextus can untether Kalarus' life force from the Great Fury Kalus (which would otherwise allow Kalarus to wipe out the entire province and the sieging Aleran Legions), it instead turns out that Sextus isn't there to untether the Great Fury: He's there to set it off early. Cue the Kalaran Rebellion being put to a swift and decisive end when Mount Kalus erupts and destroys the city of Kalare, saving the lives of several Aleran Legions and numerous refugees... at the cost of several hundred thousand innocent people who were unable to escape Kalare before the volcano's eruption and both Amara and Bernard being made complicit by Sextus in his act of mass murder. Suffice to say, Amara immediately resigning from the Cursors on the spot (which visibly saddens Gaius but he understands as a necessary sacrifice) and later breaking down crying in Bernard's arms over how she's not only helped killed countless innocent people but was betrayed yet again by a Parental Substitute (previously Fidelias, and now Sextus) is especially depressing.
• The subtext of Tavi and Gaius's strategy session at the end of the novel. Neither says the words "I love you, I'm glad to have you for my Grandfather/Grandson." And yet the message comes through clearly.

Princeps' Fury

• Gaius Sextus' speech to Aria and Isana in his study. Isana has just clued into how Sextus plans on using her to inadvertently drum up support for Tavi, even though she really can't stand all the politicking he does. It is very effective in driving home the immensity of the burden Sextus carries, how the decisions he has made—especially the one in Kalare—deeply affect him, but also how he is willing to shoulder those burdens so long as they mean the Realm stands.
  Isana stared at Gaius for a moment. Then she said, "How can you live with yourself?"
  The First Lord stared at her for a moment, his eyes cold. Then he spoke in a very quiet, precise, measured voice. "I look out my window each day. I look out my window at people who live and breathe. At people who have not been devoured by civil war. At people who have not been ravaged by disease. At people who have not starved to death, who have not been hacked apart by enemies of humanity, at people who are free to lie and steal and plot and complain and accuse and behave in all manner of repugnant ways because the Realm stands. Because law and order stands. Because something other than simple violence shapes the course of their lives. And I look, wife of my son, mother of my heir, at the very few who have had the luxury of living their lives without being called upon to make hideous decisions I would not wish upon my worst enemies, and who consequently find such matters morally appalling when they consider them—because they have not had to be the ones that dealt with them." He took a short, hard swallow of wine. "Feh. Aquitaine thinks me his enemy. The fool. If I truly hated him, I'd give him the Crown."
• In a case that overlaps with Nightmare Fuel, there's Amara and Bernard performing recon on the Vord's movements as they approach Ceres, and they see a Ceresian cohort desperately giving a fighting retreat to protect several steadholders from the Vord... but for all of the cohort's valor, they're only able to buy the refugees less than two minutes (which is more than enough time for the Vord to reach the refugees and massacre them all), making the legionaries' deaths all for naught.
• After the Icemen have been built up for the entire series as an Always Chaotic Evil horde of rampaging, ruthless barbarians, this book sees Isana, Araris, Doroga and High Lady Placidus Aria finally making contact with them... and it's revealed that the Icemen are, in fact, "painfully human," being just as sickened and weary of the Forever War they've been waging with the Alerans as their southern enemies are.
  • Speaking of the Icemen, there's The Reveal behind why exactly the Icemen and Alerans have been waging a Forever War for over three centuries: Standard Aleran firecrafting used by legionaries to stay warm in the Grim Up North of Antillus and Phrygia interferes with the natural watercrafting-based Telepathy used by the Icemen for communication, causing a Hate Plague of bitterness, grouchiness and resentfulness within both parties. Couple that with the Alerans already being initially scared of the Icemen since they're basically Yetis, a tense first meeting quickly spiraled into an ugly, bloody conflict that's been raging on ever since. In short, the Aleran-Icemen War is, more so than any other conflict waged in Aleran history, All for Nothing. Suffice to say, everyone — particularly Isana — is appropriately depressed over how profoundly stupid and pointless this entire conflict has been shown to be.
  • There's also the final part of Isana and Antillus Raucus' juris macto, where even after she's been stabbed through the gut by the man she still acts as a Warrior Therapist and begs his help in creating a lasting peace with the Icemen so he can fight the Vord. That fact that she still manages to sympathize with him (as the prior chapters have firmly emphasized that he's a Shell-Shocked Veteran) while bleeding out is both impressive and heart-wrenching.
    Isana: (desperately looks straight into Raucus' eyes, startling the man) I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that happened to you. That the Realm made your life this way. That you lost the woman you loved and were forced to keep one you hated. It's unjust, Raucus. Septimus would never have allowed it to go on.
    But he's gone. And if there's going to be a future, for your friend's son, for your sons, for the Realm, you have to set that a-anger aside.
    Please, Raucus. I'm asking you to take a horrible chance. But without it, there won't be anything for any of us. Please. Help us.
• The Reveal that the population of Canea has been almost completely obliterated by the Vord. Tavi, Varg, Nasaug and their forces are only able to save about sixty thousand Shuaran and Narashan refugees (in addition to the people Sarl already brought to Alera) while the other 'ranges' or nation-states were utterly destroyed; the Canim have now become an Endangered Species. Varg's Heroic BSoD as he realizes that his entire nation is functionally dead is particularly hard to read.
  • Relatedly, despite being largely depicted as a Jerkass General Failure, one can't help but sympathize to a degree with Warmaster Lararl when it becomes clear during his talk with Varg & Tavi that he has long since crossed the Despair Event Horizon regarding the Hopeless War Shuar has been facing with the Vord.
    "You need our help," Tavi said quietly.
    "Help?" Lararl said. An almost-hysterical edge of frustration entered his voice. "Help? What could you do?" He drew his sword and jabbed it at the horde spreading over the plains below. "What could anyone do against that? We will fight. But there can be no victory. This is the end."
• The death of Rook. After everything in the third book, when it finally looks like she'll have a happy ending with her daughter, the fifth book comes along, enslaves her, and callously disposes of her with almost no warning.
• invoked Mixed with CMoH, Tavi attempting to comfort Sha — the last of the Canim Hunters — following the successful attack against the second Canean Vord Queen ended with his two comrades, Nef and Koh, dying. One moment that is particularly affecting is when Tavi offers to help Sha sing Nef and Koh's Blood Songs and Sha explains to Tavi that Canim Hunters have their blood songs already sung for them after they're elevated to becoming Hunters, so it's unnecessary... but as Sha is saying all of this while staring into a river with an empty expression, it's made clear that the Canim Hunter isn't nearly as unaffected by his friends' deaths as he'd like to say he is.
  • invoked A subtle detail earlier in the novel arguably makes it worse: When the Hunters arrange a meeting with Fidelias under his identity as "Valiar Marcus," Fidelias internally muses that he's now able to recognize that the three Hunters share enough in terms of facial structure and body language that they're all probably brothers. So, Sha isn't just mourning his friends here... he's mourning his siblings.

First Lord's Fury

• Tavi's Heroic BSoD after the Great Fury Alera grimly informs him of the impending Inferred Holocaust that will inflict the continent following her Death of Personality. What really sells this whole scene is how the narration notes this would typically be when Tavi would be able to come up with an insanely brilliant plan that'd save everyone... but he can't, as this problem is just too big for him, and all he can do is simply weep for those who are going to pointlessly, needlessly, and fruitlessly die despite his best efforts.
• "Fidelias! Behind you!" — and everything that comes after.
  • "I thought I would be proving your innocence."
• Crassus: "My mother. Is alive. And you didn't tell me."
  • For context, his mother was a traitor who was working with the Canim, was betrayed by their leader, and had a discipline collar placed on her by Sarl, who Tavi later killed, making it impossible to remove. As a result, she ended up working as a healer for the Legion of freed slaves allied with the Canim, who at least know what she's going through. When Tavi finds out, she begs him not to tell Crassus, and he keeps her secret...until most of the First Aleran's healers are killed in a confrontation with the Awakened Vord Queen, with Crassus, Max, and Tavi lethally injured, and she is the only healer skilled enough to keep them alive.
• Princeps Gaius Attis facing his impending death with as much dignity that he can muster while showing that, for all of his manipulativeness and arrogance, he does sincerely love Alera and want to keep it safe. Even Amara can't help but shed some tears when he passes due to how much Attis has grown as a person since she first knew him.
• During the Final Battle in the Calderon Valley at the Awakened Vord Queen's lair, Valiar Marcus slowly comes to the realization that no matter what he and the rest of the First & Free Alerans do, they're almost certainly not going to survive this battle even if they do manage to win the Vord War by killing the Queen... and his quiet acceptance of that cold reality.
• The Awakened Vord Queen's sincere bewilderment and pain that her Junior Queens consistently try to remove her for being "defective". Even Isana finds it hard not to pity the Vord Queen when she sees how miserable she is from these continual betrayals.
  Awakened Vord Queen: (while in a Troubled Fetal Position) I wish to live. I wish for my children to live.
  • "I know how a Vord Queen dies. I am ready."
  • Damn, you, Jim Butcher, how do you do that? How do you make us feel sympathetic towards an unnatural Humanoid Abomination leading an omnicidal Hive Mind? Who murders the aforementioned Rook with no qualms whatsoever? How do you write like that?!
• The eventual "death" of the Great Fury Alera, with her reassuring Tavi that no matter her Death of Personality, some part of her will always stay with the House of Gaius.