Tear Jerker / Dragon Quest IX

• Dragon Quest IX is practically overflowing with Tear Jerkers and Bittersweet Endings. First mention has to go to your hero's entire situation, though. Knocked from your home in the Observatory after the opening incident, you awaken without your wings or halo and only a few scraps of your Celestrian powers left, retaining your ability to see ghosts, faeries and other Celestrials. And in the end, you have to give all of that up and become fully mortal in order to stand a chance against the villain. This is really driven home at the start of the post-credits gameplay, the first time you open up the Battle Records and can't see Stella.
  • The ending when you realize the Hero has gone from being the person to complete the entire race of Angels' quest (to grow the tree and bear fruit) to a crippled angel without a halo or wings, to finding out that you must give up your immortality to kill the Big Bad, to losing your home. How are you rewarded? All the other Angels get the Heaven they were promised while you are told the last part of your immortality will drain out of you within hours. Your home is vaporized because no one will live there and you are abandoned in the town you watched over. Even worse is the fact that your town no longer recognizes you as the Guardian who watched over them. Indeed, even your name was wiped off your statue.
    • Really has a Nice Job Breaking It, Hero moment when in the Bonus Game you get the Fruit of the Gods and can wish for anything. Even to go to Heaven with all the rest of the Angels. Or to get people to remember that you were their Guardian. Or that you just SAVED THE WORLD. But NO! All the Hero wishes for is that they can see everything they saw before when they were an Angel. They don't even get their wings or halo back!
    • Of course, this is all a matter of point of view. Considering that the Fruit of the Gods grants your desires, who's to say you weren't happy in the end? It's very well possible that you wanted to remain a human while having your powers back, hence why the ending happened. Plus, it's not like you are alone, since you now get to be with the Starlight Express crew, your other friends from the journey, and even your mentor Aquila in DLC quest. Earn Your Happy Ending indeed
    • The final task for the Hero is for them to spend the rest of his/her life doing the job of an Angel FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD (watch over a group of people, usually a town, and keep them safe from monsters, lost keepsakes, and their own laziness) and still being burdened with Mortality where they will still die alone.
• The secret history of the Wight Knight, and his last dance with Princess Mona. Or Simona, really, but...
• In Coffinwell, you meet Doctor Phlegming and his lovely wife, Catarrhina. Phlegming doesn't get along with his father-in-law — or anyone else, for that matter — and Catarrhina is the only one who can draw him out of his shell. He agrees to help you save the town from a plague mostly so he can impress Mayor Laria and have an excuse to explore the local ruins; with your help, he succeeds, and sends you back to announce his triumph... Only for you to discover Catarrhina died literally seconds before you stopped the plague. Phlegming lapses into a Heroic BSoD so severe he doesn't even attend her funeral, which his father-in-law reams him out over.
• The Heights of Loneliness. At least that gives you an idea what you're in for when you go looking for Mason. He left his hometown Zere to hone his skills as a stonecutter for five years or so, only to return and discover his beloved Petra had married someone else. He then goes into self-exile and spends the last years of his life meticulously carving out a perfect replica of his hometown. Of course, Stella doesn't understand it herself, and says as much.
• Marionette. Just........ Marionette. Marionette is a life sized doll based off a real girl by the name of Marion, with the only difference being that Marion wears blue and Marionette wears red. Marion was slowly dying of a fatal disease, and was fed a Fygg in hopes it would heal her. Marion wished for a friend....... which gave Marionette life. Marion died shortly after, leaving Marionette all alone. Then, after an entire year of loneliness, the hero appears, rescues her, and then watches as Marionette turns back into a doll. The kicker in all of this? Only Marion's parents known she's dead. Everyone else was told she just went on a trip. What really makes it sad is that not soon after, a servant in the mansion picks up Marionette and puts her on the bed, because he knew Marion enjoyed playing with the girl. Only the ending of the story holds some hope for her....
• Pretty much all of Corvus' backstory. Fell from the Observatory and was badly wounded, but made a close friend in the girl Serena, only for The Empire to come and try to take over the village he was charged with protecting. He manages to scare them off with his power, but his ferocity scares all of the villagers except Serena away from him. Later, he gives Serena an enchanted necklace as a symbol of her love...only for The Empire to come back with reinforcements, intent on capturing him for their own use. Corvus wants to go and fight them despite his wounds, so Serena tricks him into drinking a sleeping potion to protect him. Unfortunately, this turns out to have been a very bad idea, as the village turns out to have sold out Corvus' location in order to save themselves, capturing him and murdering Serena. He then proceeds to spend the next 300 years being horrifically tortured and experimented on. In summary, he was betrayed by his own flock, his lover was murdered in cold blood, and he was made into a guinea pig for The Empire for centuries. Is it any wonder he snapped?
• Greygnarl's Heroic Sacrifice.

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