Although a comedy, Slightly Damned has its share of intensely sad moments. Most of them have to do with Buwaro's status as The Pollyanna.
Tear Jerker and all Moments subpages are Spoilers Off pages. You Have Been Warned.
- Sakido's death. As she is entering the Light of Ascension with Rhea and Buwaro in tow, an unknown Angel shoots her with a Holy Arrow. When Rhea wakes up alive on Medius, she finds Buwaro crying over his sister's dead body
. Made even more heart-wrenching because Sakido told Rhea 15 pages earlier that Demons get no afterlife, meaning she's gone forever. - Buwaro waiting for someone. It's a good bit of foreshadowing.
- Rhea reflecting on the drowning death of one of her brood sisters when she was young.
- The part of Darius Elexion's diary where he described his early days in Hell, and looking for Sakido's mother. And finding her. And burying her.
- And then finding Buwaro's damaged egg. Along with his dead mother and mortally-wounded father. And burying them, too.
- And then finding Buwaro's damaged egg. Along with his dead mother and mortally-wounded father. And burying them, too.
- Buwaro's attempted Heroic Sacrifice, protecting Kieri from the Seraph Denevol, and Kieri desparately using healing magic to try to resuscitate him afterward. While he survives, one page ends with her giving up.
- The final part of Darius's diary, an entry written by Sakido before the escape from Hell, is Tear Jerker-rific. It mostly exposed her jealousy of Buwaro when they were young, even how she blamed his existence originally for Darius's apparent death. It ends with her and Iratu abandoning Buwaro, a decision she clearly regretted.Sakido: Darius trusted us to take care of our little brother, but we just threw Buwaro away. If you are reading this and I'm no longer around, then I've gotten what I deserved.
- Also, Darius's last goodbye to his children is heartwrenching.
- Also, Darius's last goodbye to his children is heartwrenching
- A more light-hearted Tear Jerker: "The Puppy Who Looked for a Family" Rhea reads the story to get Kieri to cry so Miranda can harvest some Angel's Tears, and leaves the entire Sinclair wagon sobbing.
- Kieri has a flashback about her abusive mother... which drives her to apparently beat the shit out of a Jerkass Earth Angel who was threatening Buwaro.
- Followed by a page of her having suicidal thoughts. Damn.
- It just gets even worse a bit later on. And worst of all, this is completely accurate for some forms of depression.
- Followed by
- "My brother... ...is gone..."
- Kazai's fate may be ambiguous, but Sanjulo is certainly dead, having had his throat slashed by Azurai. And Kazai saw it happen. Just imagine watching your own significant other die in a split second, right in front of you.
- There were few things Darius wanted more than to make sure his kids would be safe, happy, and free of the hellish lives that demons are expected to lead. Now look what's happened: Sakido is Deader than Dead, and not coming back in any way in spite of her own desire to live a better life, Iratu is a murderer who's currently orchestrating the burning of a major city and doesn't have any remorse for it whatsoever, and while Buwaro is among people who care about him, he's currently being endangered because of what Iratu is doing. Remember the goofy-but-happy family that Darius and his demon children used to be? Things will NEVER be like that again.
- Iratu learning about Sakido's death, even after the horrible things he's done its difficult not to feel for him, and it seems Tsavo knew her too, judging by his reaction to the news.
- Iratu's treatment of Buwaro when they meet back up is downright cruel. At first you could argue that he's only trying to keep up appearances but once he finds out that Sakido died to get him to Medius he gets much colder, expressing disappointment she died for him and not even batting an eye when Tsavo blasts him with lightning and is left unconscious on the floor.Iratu: It's disappointing that a warrior as badass as Sakido would get herself killed for such a STUPID reason.
- And it gets even worse after that, when it comes time to gather the angels up for them to be sacrificed, Buwaro weakly pleads for him to stop, only for Iratu to swat him away.
- After Rhea and a semi-berserk Buwaro are able to save Kieri she is extremely distraught that her brother is still trapped and is going to be sacrificed. Rhea begins to cry because of it.
- Even after everything cools down, Kieri still won’t talk to Buwaro, and her brother is actively antagonistic.
- Buwaro and Kieri manage to make up, but Kazai is utterly dejected. Not only was Buwaro (a demon, a race the angels have been fighting for years) able to cheer up Kieri when he wasn't, but hearing them giggle likely reminded him that his lover had been murdered just a few days prior.
- We learn that Kieri is extremely broken up about having to kill Lazuli.
- When we see the aftermath of the attack there are many who were left homeless and have nothing left after the fire.
- When Rhea meets Darius and learned his identity she tells him what became of Sakido, at first he's barely able to choke out a few words then falls to his knees and starts weeping.
- Later on when he gets back to purgatory, he quietly goes to his chair and starts sobbing.
- Later on when he gets back to purgatory
- When Jake and Rhea pass by the guardian statues in front of the great tree, they see that the statues of Meeros and Moku have been vandalized for Meeros's retreat and for Moonshade's destructive actions. It's just sad to know that not only was Moku murdered by his own son but that his memory was tarnished by said son's evil deeds.
- Miranda Sinclair: I always cry a little whenever I hear this story. How about you?
Cliff Sinclair: I just have something in both my eyes, okay?
