Tear Jerker / Jack The Grey Reef Shark

• The first 4 chapters end on rather bleak notes:
  • Chapter 1: Jack is exiled from his own school. And right before he leaves, Mainda begs him to stay and professes her love for him. Jack reciprocates, and the two of them share one final moment together before Jack leaves on his journey. Needless to say, neither of them are happy about this outcome
  • Chapter 2: Karen dies along with her unborn pups right in front of her husband and son. Jack blames himself for it because she followed him to the boat. On the bright side, it was the moment Karen finally let go of her resentment for the greater good
  • Chapter 3: When Jack refuses to let Greg eat a seal that’s trapped in some ghost netting, Greg turns on Jack to get him to back off. Which works, but a bit too well… Jack swims away, scared for his life, and Greg is left alone, remorseful about betraying probably the only friend he’s had in a long time.
  • Chapter 4: Ken is speared by a fisherman and hauled aboard their boat. Jack and Jay try desperately to save him, but the wound was so deep that he probably wouldn’t have survived anyway. And just the night before, the three of them were having the time of their lives. It is also here that we learn about Jack’s siblings and how they were killed after being caught in a net.
• After Jack learns that humans are present in the Great Barrier Reef as well, it seems like he is ready to give up on his journey because he can never find a habitat that doesn’t have humans coming around.
• A Legend from the Start doesn’t shy away from these either:
  • After Jack and his parents are exiled from their school, Jack blames himself and is convinced that his parents would hate him for it. No child should have to bear that kind of burden. If anything, the only one to blame is the shark that confronted Bermino about taking care of Jack. If it weren't for him, Jack wouldn't have wandered off while Bermino was distracted.
  • When Jack is nearly an adult, Bermino and Tia make the decision to send him off to find a school so that he doesn’t have to be left alone after they’ve passed on. And of course, anybody who was raised well by their parents would find it difficult to say goodbye. Did you know that the salt from the ocean comes from the tears of sharks and the readers who get attached to them?
  • Alright, so we’ve heard about how Jack watched his siblings die, but that is nowhere near enough to make readers bawl their eyes out. So what do we do? How about we actually show the moment when his siblings die? The four of them are caught in a net, but Jack is the only one who makes it out. And even as Jack is desperately trying to save his siblings, they eventually give up and accept their fate, insisting that Jack leave them. And to add salt on the wound, his siblings never knew him as their brother. And even when he told them, they didn’t believe him.
    “We may have never believed you were our brother… but we always accepted you as one. Goodbye, Jack…” - Connor’s last words