Tear Jerker / The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

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Grandma, I'm back! How are yo-...o-oh...

Tearjerking moments in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

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• The point where Tetra is revealed to have really been Princess Zelda all along. Just... that music and her parting words.
• Everything the King says just before and after the final battle. Making the player not want to save Hyrule is quite something, especially when you think it was a potential final game in the series.
  King Daphnes: I have scattered the seeds of the future…
• Ganondorf's speech just before the final battle, proclaiming that he saw the verdant fields of Hyrule in contrast to how he saw the Gerudo Desert as a wasteland of death. It's a massive stretch to say he wanted to conquer Hyrule for the sake of his people, given that the Gerudo lost and gained nothing after he took power over the kingdom in Ocarina of Time, it nevertheless shows a more human and pitiful side to Ganondorf aside from just the power-hungry madman we knew in prior games.
  Ganondorf: My country lay within a vast desert. When the sun rose into the sky a burning wind punished my lands, searing the world. And when the moon climbed into the dark of night, a frigid gale pierced our homes. No matter when it came the wind carried the same thing... Death. But the winds that blew across the green fields of Hyrule brought something other than suffering and ruin. I... coveted that wind, I suppose.
  • An alternate interpretation of his death quote can make him feel kind of sympathetic in light of his goals; almost as though, in his dying moments, much like the King, he's realized Link as a hero of a magnitude similar to the Hero of Time. From there, he realizes that in some way, shape, or form, he will bring Hyrule back to life — and ultimately, he did.
    Ganondorf: The wind... it is... blowing.
  • The above quote can be viewed as a tear-jerker or Fridge Horror, depending on which "wind" you think he's referring to. The tear jerker option is the wind that blew through Hyrule — the one he was referring to in saying "I coveted that wind, I suppose" — and it's kind of nice to think that, regardless of what he did, he got to experience it one last time before his death. On the other hand, he could be referring to the wind that blew through the Gerudo Valley — the destructive wind. Either is an entirely feasible option since Hyrule has been restored for some small amount of time while Link's been fighting through the castle... but it's also true that Hyrule is pretty much screwed at this point. Or for an even more profound option, one can consider Ganondorf's acknowledgment of the wind as him accepting his death— a "black wind", so to speak— again tying into the destructive winds of Gerudo Valley.
  • There's also the fact that if you've played Skyward Sword, you'll realize that Ganondorf is Demise's hatred and malice made flesh. Think about it; chances are, Ganondorf most likely would have just been a Gerudo desperate enough for his people to survive the harsh desert winds to try and make a complaint to the King of Hyrule at the time, probably come to an agreement, and that would have been the end of it. But Because Destiny Says So, Demise's hatred for the goddess and her hero caused him to seek out the Triforce for these ideals, twisting his noble desire into a thirst for power. His willingness to hold back during his battles with Link and Tetra (Zelda) was probably a sign of him getting fed up with his destiny. He's lived a long time at this point, long enough to see the end of Hyrule, and just wants this accursed conflict to be over with; he's tired of this ceaseless struggle. Him happily walking towards the completed Triforce is him finally seeing the goal he'd been searching for all these years, and then it's cruelly taken away from him. In his Laughing Mad berserker state, it is implied that he's perfectly willing to kill the two heroes at this point; but it could also be seen as him wanting at least one good thing from this. Namely, one final fight with the heroes — in this case, the Link and Zelda of the current era — before his final death in this timeline.
  • Making things worse: the look on Link's face after he drives the sword into Ganondorf's head. Logically, a death wound like that would get blood everywhere, including all over Link.
• Also when Prince Komali arrives to find Medli has left (to become a sage, although he doesn't know that). What makes it worse is when you come back, he's still waiting for her to return, to give her a flower. Come back even later, and the flower's wilted… but he's still waiting. Fortunately, Komali and Medli were seen among the search and rescue party for Link and Tetra at the game's end, subtly implying that they have finally reunited at last.
• Link's poor grandmother and her nightmares once you return to her. Accompanied by this music. It's even worse when you talk to residents of Outset Island about her condition.
  Sue-Belle: "Your grandmother has been having a terrible time of it ever since you left. She rarely leaves the house, and as far as I can tell, she just spends her days sleeping. She hardly eats..."
• The first time you enter the sunken Hyrule Castle, but before claiming the Master Sword. Everything is frozen and grey. The castle is in ruins, overrun by monsters. And that creepy, sorrowful reed music faintly echoing as if from nowhere really gives off a sheer sense of desolation and hopelessness.
  • The statue of the Hero of Time. It's so easy to think of the events of these games as being restricted only to the space of their specific story, but seeing that statue, the sheer reverence to which his memory is held to, was an incredibly moving moment. For the first time, the Hero's legend was more than just an abstract or reference to a vague history — Ocarina of Time is a story that everyone knows. There's something so hopelessly tragic about rewatching the end of that game, knowing Zelda believes indubiously that she is doing right by Link in sending him back in time so he can start his life over, having no idea of what's to come. It just really sunk in how terribly sad the history behind these games really is.
    • That statue is later found broken apart upon returning. The icon of a beloved hero being defiled like that… It's inexcusable, and tragic, how something so significant of hope can be destroyed so shamelessly.
  • There's also the significance of this due to Ocarina of Time's story. The people were waiting for the Hero of Time to return, but since Zelda had sent Link back to relive his past, this timeline no longer had an incarnation of the Hero of Time. So one point is that even with good intentions, Zelda effectively doomed this timeline's Hyrule to destruction, but also consider how the people must have felt when they realized that the Hero they looked up to and believed in never showed up to save them again... and the only answer was for the gods to essentially drown Hyrule while they fled to the tallest mountains to save themselves...
  • In the room that houses the Master Sword, the windows are decorated with the images of the Sages that were awakened in Ocarina of Time, showing that their sacrifices were not forgotten by the people of Hyrule. It's as if reuniting with old friends...
  • They are remembered until the flood, at least, when everyone seems to think that the power of the Gods lies in the "Triumph Forks", a special golden set of eating utensils.
  • And Link and Tetra are the last two people alive to see those windows. Was the significance of the images ever explained to them? Probably not. But hey, at least these sages' names live on in the Fallen Hero timeline, as the names of towns.
• Going into the Forbidden Woods and realizing that it is all that remains of the forest the Hero of Time grew up in. One of the Koroks even outright states that the houses you find in there were the homes of the Kokiri before monsters moved into the woods and they were forced to leave it.
• Departure, which only plays two times over the course of the game — both equally heart-wrenching. The first is when Link sets out with the pirates, toward the Forsaken Fortress, waving to his Grandma, and the second… is when Link sets out with the pirates at the end of the game, beginning the search for New Hyrule. The positions are roughly reversed, with Aryll running the length of the dock to wave to him, as they set off.
• Speaking to the Deku Tree, where it sinks in that this really is the Hyrule that Link saved in Ocarina of Time.
  • He's so nostalgic upon seeing Link's tunic that he begins speaking in ancient Hylian. It's been so long since OoT that the language spoken by the Hero of Time has completely died out and only the King of Red Lions, the Deku Tree, Valoo, and Jabun can speak it fluently anymore. Of course, they have an excuse, being that they were all alive either in or shortly after that point in time.
• For a more Manly Tears example, when Link pulls the Master Sword from its altar. The music, the sight of that legendary blade, it just brings a tear to the eye.
• Related to Skyward Sword's ending, even though by now she may be nothing but residual energy in the Master Sword, this is the last time Fi will ever meet Link "in another life" (in this timeline, anyway) and is now entombed at the bottom of the sea forever.
  • Also, when you first find the Master Sword, it's drained of power. Fi is dying.
    • You leave her inside Ganondorf's head at the bottom of the ocean possibly never to be retrieved and used ever again.
• And finally, when the king refuses to take Link's hand, instead choosing to drown with his kingdom in the belief that, as part of the past, he too should be left behind. He even reaches up for a moment to do it, but then slowly takes his hand back, and the last you see of him is him bowing his head, obviously trying not to look at Link as he fades away.
  • Not helped by this poignant artwork.
  • And to top it all off, the utterly miserable look on Link's face as the king lowers his hand. Link can only watch as this person he's come to see as his mentor, friend and possibly even his father figure, choose to die with Hyrule over returning to the surface. And the most heartwrenching part is when you remember that this Link is just a child, helpless to save his closest companion.
• The king saying that he and Ganondorf were no different when it came to the fact that they were both bound to the memory of Hyrule. It's a little jarring to think that the companion who has watched over you and helped you during your whole quest could ever be similar to Ganondorf, but he has a point.
  • This entire scene is amplified by the existence of this track, appropriately titled Farewell Hyrule King. It's a somber piano version of the castle theme from "A Link to the Past".
  • "This is the only world that your ancestors were able to leave you. Please... forgive us."
• That look of stunned helplessness right after Link runs off a cliff trying in a blinded effort to save his sister. His mind was completely blank except for having to watch his only sister vanish over the horizon and being unable to do something about it.
• The overall message of the game can possibly count as one of these as well. "Let go of the past and allow yourself to move on, or it will consume and destroy you." We see two very good examples of this in Ganondorf and the King of Red Lions, who were both unable to let go of Hyrule and so died with it.
• Laruto is the only Zora we get to see in this game. She's also dead and only manifests as a ghost. It's been confirmed that the Rito are the descendants of the Zora — which may mean that Laruto truly was the last of the Zora, and that they are functionally extinct in this timeline. Her theme music is also undeniably very sad.
• Fado's goodbye after you meet him in the entrance to the Wind Temple;
  "That Wind Waker you hold was used long ago to conduct us sages when we played our song to call upon the gods. In those days, it was always the king who conducted for us. Please... tell the king that I will continue to play, even in the next life!"
  • And much like Laruto, Fado is the Last of His Kind as his race has changed, becoming the very different Koroks, and you're receiving his final message before he leaves this world forever. And while there are later games (place in timeline relation to this one unknown) where Zoras and Ritos coexist, there's no sign of any Kokiri after this game though Koroks will return. Apparently, there's no timeline in which this isn't the permanent end of the Kokiri.
• While the Zora and Kokiri got to live on as the Rito and Koroks, respectively, the Gerudo were not so lucky. Given the lack of Gerudo in the Great Sea, it's likely that they went extinct once Ganondorf died.
• Just think about what Aryll had to endure while at the Forsaken Fortress. She is a very young girl, probably no older than 8 and was forcibly abducted from her home, from the place she's lived her entire life and brought to a fortress, cursed into perpetual night and locked in a cold, dark cell with two complete strangers. Who knows what she and the others went through in there? Did she spend her entire time here? Did she talk with the others? Were they forced to do hard labor?
  • And to think all this was because the Helmaroc King's only instructions were to find girls with Pointy Ears in hopes that one of them was Zelda. Aryll was just a victim of circumstance. On the bright side, it led to another KidHero taking up the mantle as the new world's savior.
  • And the kicker? As mentioned above, Aryll was only captured cause it was thought she could be Princess Zelda, and yet she wound up being nobody of importance outside of just being Link's sister. There's something kinda gut-wrenching about the fact that she was captured and held cause of who she could have been, but didn't ultimately mean much of anything and so was locked in a cell to be forgotten about cause she was nobody special.
• The scene where Medli discovers she's the Earth sage. It isn't sad in the obvious sense, but it's a very somber moment. Complete with a Single Tear.
  • Speaking of which, many players didn't see her and Makar safely on the pirate ship at the end due to how brief the shot was. They were left wondering what happened to them, and whether they were even alive due to their temples having just been flooded.
• For the HD version, the disappearance of Tingle bottles after Miiverse's 2017 shutdown. In fairness, it's now the same as when you played it on the Gamecube, but for players who enjoyed the function, starting up the game and finding a sea empty of bottles from other players was quite a lonely moment.
• What happens to Mila and Maggie after they return back to Windfall Island. While the former is certainly a source of frustration and pain, with Mila and her father having lost everything and are now destitute, they at least still have each other and are taking steps to moving towards the future. The same can't be said for Maggie and her father.
  • While at first glance Maggie and her father are wealthier than ever, having gotten out of poverty due to Maggie collecting Skull Necklaces, what has happened to Maggie's Dad has troubling implications. Her father has become a greedy self-absorbed jerk, flaunting his wealth in a gaudy fashion, treating you as merely a peasant, and being utterly rude and horrid to public servants like the Rito postal workers. But what's especially horrible is how a few of his lines show that he has become cripplingly overprotective of Maggie, to the point of refusing her to read any letters or to take any sort of outside contact. It's implied from this that his flamboyant greed is a coping mechanism for the trauma of losing his daughter in the first place, and he's now expressing it in the worst way possible. To make things worse, it's clear that his daughter is not coping well at all, having sunken into delusions of being in love with one of her captors, a Moblin named Moe. It's abundantly clear that the experience has utterly damaged both of them, and for all that Maggie has finally gotten out of the Forsaken Fortress, she's only really traded one prison for another.
• Sacred Shrine, which plays only in the entrances to the Earth and Wind Temples, and the Outset Island cave where Jabun lives. It's a haunting, ambient piece that notably re-uses the same instruments and tone as Inside the Deku Tree. Besides the bittersweet pangs of nostalgia and familiarity that you'll likely get from it, hearing this song in-game for the first time in the aforementioned places is also where it sinks in that you really are sailing on what's left of the beautiful, vibrant kingdom of Hyrule from Ocarina of Time, reduced to only a small cluster of islands after the apocalyptic flood that wiped it from the map long ago.
  • The regular cave theme is also surprisingly sad and atmospheric for such a seemingly light-hearted game. The echoing woodwind sounds give off such a feeling of desolation and loneliness, especially when you hear it in long-abandoned places like the Ghost Ship and the shipwreck maze in Diamond Steppe Island.