Tear Jerker / Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Like Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is packed with moments that are sure to tug at one's heartstrings.

By nature of moments pages, all spoilers are unmarked. You have been warned.

• When Ori and Ku are found by Shriek, the latter does grave harm to Ku. Ku is then seen unconscious and apparently dead, and what follows is a scene that resembles a funeral - a desaturated hue of a previously colorful location with Ori and the Moki gathered around Ku, accompanied by solemn music.
  • It gets worse when one remembers how much Ku (as an egg) survived in the previous game. Her mother Kuro sacrificed her life to protect her unhatched child. And here, in one brutal act of cruelty, Shriek renders Kuro's sacrifice all for naught.
  • It would've been much more tear-jerking if the devs had gone with their original idea of having Ku permanently die after her encounter with Shriek. Thankfully, after getting feedback from their playtesters who liked Ku, the developers changed Ku's fate to that of a coma, which avoided undermining Kuro's sacrifice.
• The Family Reunion sidequest. After Ori helps build a new home for a Moki father, the Moki requests Ori to let his family in Silent Woods know of the news. Ori finds the home where the father Moki used to live, but discovers that his family have been turned to stone by the Decay, with only a likewise petrified doll left. When Ori returns and delivers the sad news, the Moki father immediately rushes back to his home in Silent Woods. If Ori returns to the Silent Woods Moki house, they'll find that the Moki father has joined his wife and child in turning to stone. What makes it even worse is the final description saying that he returned to his family, and a troubling reality then sets in: you completed the sidequest correctly and got exactly what it promised, as the family did reunite in the end... just not in the way you'd normally expect.
• Shriek's backstory. Born alone without the love of her parents who died before she hatched, she came out deformed because of the Decay. She tried to reach out to others only to be rejected and feared because of her appearance, leaving her without any love and guidance from others. And so, she grew up bitter and cruel, knowing only darkness and rejection.
  • What's even more heartbreaking is the three owlets she first encountered. When they first met her, they were actually curious and welcoming to Shriek, regardless of her appearance. Just when she was about to reach out to them, the parents arrived, showing nothing but hostility toward the young Shriek while keeping their children away from her, as if she was diseased.
    • This gets worse when one of the Niwen residents explains the reason why she attacked Ku. Shriek seeing a young owlet for a first time since her youth brought back painful memories of her past encounter with the three owlets. And the part when Ku, despite being cornered and afraid, still has enough courage to stand up to a bigger threat like her that Shriek grew more resentful and betrayed which lead to her mercilessly wounding Ku out of spite.
  • Baur, who's telling Ori the tale of how Shriek came to be, is visibly devastated at the end of the story. His anguish can be felt; he doesn't see her as a monster, but a victim of the Decay that may be (and ultimately is) too far gone to be saved from the darkness.
    She... is lost. A pitiful creature. Her heart is stone.
• When Ori stops Seir from killing Shriek, they try to reach out to her. Unfortunately, Shriek has lived with hatred and pain for so long that her only response is to angrily refuse what is clearly a gesture of kindness. Worse still, the way she screams in Ori's face is the very same scenario where the other owls rejected her when she was younger.
• Following her defeat, Shriek returns to Silent Woods whence she came. Even though she had previously rejected Ori's attempted love and kindness towards her, she still sought comfort of some sort... and so, she returns to the very place where she was born and puts herself in her petrified parents' embrace. Word of God confirms she she allowed herself to be taken by the Decay and perished soon afterwards.
  • And remember what one of the Niwen residents said: If Shriek keeps straying from the light and remains in darkness too long, she too will succumb to the Decay. Thus, shows her choice near the end of this ultimate fate of slowly perishing in the Silent Woods rather than continue on living a meaningless lonely life again. This scene hits really hard when the soundtrack, Remaining in Darkness, plays.
• After fighting a Brainwashed and Crazy Kwolok in the Luma Pools, Kwolok vanquishes the Stink Spirit that took control of him, but lacks the strength to stay alive afterwards. With his dying breath, he asks Ori to look after the Moki and Niwen, before he passes on and his body disappears. Considering that he's a very kind and lovable giant toad guardian, seeing him die is quite tragic and heartbreaking - Hit home by a beautifully somber reprise of Kwolok's theme, heard nowhere else including the official soundtrack of the game, and never again in the same playthrough.
• At the end of the game, in order to save Niwen, Ori has to leave their current existence behind and become a new tree that can hold the deceased Spirit Willow's light. It is nothing short of heartbreaking, having to see a beloved character basically give up their former life and then seeing their old family being visibly and greatly saddened by it.
  • And even when Naru has made peace with Ori's ascension, it still brings on bittersweet tears to watch her pass away (albeit peacefully) at the foot of the tree that used to be her adopted child.
• Naru arriving in Niwen to find Ku's comatose form. She's so heartbroken to lose her surrogate daughter.
  • And even after Ku revives, Naru learns that, in a way, she's also lost Ori.
  • The simple fact that Naru watched both of her children joyfully set out for a flight, and only one ever came back.
• The Spirit Willow's brief, but very strong interaction with Ori. Seir revives her, and it seems as though the Spirit Willow will live once again and help the land return to its former glory... But then, she reveals that she can no longer hold the light and instead entrusts Seir to Ori, fading and returning to her state of death for good. For such a short-lasting display of character, she already shows deep care for the land and the fact she doesn't get to live longer and help protect Niwen is heart-rending.
• As a weakened Ori makes their way to Seir after their battle with Shriek, we see tear-inducing visions of the past as Ori remembers the events that lead up to them choosing to become Niwen's new Spirit Tree: Ori being introduced to a baby Ku surrounded by their adoptive family, the wise and gentle Kwolok who went out his way to help Ori but lost his life, and the now-defenseless Moki appearing to Ori when they discover Ku's criticial state.
  • Ori, right before embracing Seir, pulling out Kuro's feather and letting it float away on the wind. They were a mobile, active spirit that soared everywhere using that feather, and now they'll never need it again.