Moments pages are Spoilers Off. Read at your own risk!
General
- The fate of Hyrule. The awakening of Calamity Ganon lead to the destruction of the entire kingdom and the deaths of many people. No matter what happens afterwards that indicates Hope Springs Eternal, it will never change the fact that so many innocents lost their lives along the way. The physical wounds will eventually heal, but the Generational Trauma of what happened has still lingered for 100 years, and will be unlikely to fade any time soon.
- The collective trauma that reawakens in Link as he regains his memories. The more he remembers, the more the pain of loss and strife comes back, weighing him down bit by bit. It's rather sad to see this hero gradually be weighed down by the pressure of his past failures.
- Speaking of Link, his entire relationship with Mipha was this. While they truly loved each other and never really stopped, to the point where they had a daughter in Lochlia, they were truly Star-Crossed Lovers. The Calamity killed Mipha and Link (for a bit), leaving their daughter without parents. Even if this didn't happen, or if they won, the lifespan difference between Link as a Hylian and Lochlia and Mipha as Zora meant that they'd have outlived him by a colossal amount of time. In fact, they both acknowledge how this meant he'd never get to see his daughter grow up.
- Zelda's entire story is incredibly sad throughout her whole life. She's a genuinely kind girl, but her life didn't come easy. She lost her mother at a young age, had to deal with a father that was well-meaning but ended up emotionally abusive of her, she was nearly murdered by Yiga Clan members, and she had to deal with the constant mounting pressure of her inability to awaken her powers.
- Zelda who had to try to awaken her powers without her mother to mentor her for her entire childhood. And even worse is that she's unable to do so before the Calamity begins...which is on her seventeenth birthday.
- The deaths of the Champions. They left behind so much in the world that their races had to pick up.
- The deaths of monsters become this once it's revealed that they're victims of the curse of Demise. Yes, they're resurrected by the Blood Moon, but these are innocent creatures enslaved by a curse forced to suffer death over and over again.
- Each race gifting Link their respective Champion's gear and diary is a bit sad from their perspective. Yes, they're giving these to Link, one of the Champions, but still, these people are willingly giving up some of the most important artifacts in their respective cultures to pay respect to the final surviving Champion.
- Paya's entire life consists of a constant Break the Cutie. At age 7, she found a decapitated body from a Yiga's murder victim. Years later, in the span of less than a month, she loses her family's heirloom, finds out that a girl she grew up with betrayed her and the Sheikah to the Yiga, and goes through a traumatic combat training ordeal (which is by her own choice). Someone give this girl a hug, please.
