Avatar: The Last Airbender/Tear Jerker: Difference between revisions

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* In the episode where Katara steals the Waterbending Scroll, she is trying to learn some moves. Aang performs the waterbending moves with ease, and politely tries to show a frustrated Katara how it's done. Katara totally blows up at the poor kid about bragging and being "so incredibly gifted." Aang's lower lip trembles, and he looks like he's going to cry. Katara immediately apologizes for the outburst, but it was sad to see young Aang so hurt, like a real kid his age.

* When the other airbender children wouldn't let Aang play with them, because he's the avatar, seeing him as an unfair advantage to either team.

** It's even ''more'' tearjerking because Iroh, the one who's usually able to stay cheerful no matter what, starts singing "Little Soldier Boy", the same song that he used to comfort the boy earlier in the episode, and starts ''sobbing'' about halfway through, and you realize that the song was for Iroh's son, who died in the very war Iroh's trying to stop (and in the same place, no less). And then the dedication to Mako... *sniff* It's overwhelming.

** The writing on the top of Lu-ten's picture can be roughly translated as: "To General Iroh, see you after we win the war. Your loyal son Lu-ten."

* Also The Tale of Momo in Tales of Ba Sing Se, his absolute forlorn expression as he tries to search for Appa is just heartbreaking. Momo, the cute little comic relief pet is shown having dreams, flashbacks, and compassion for other creatures, all within a few heartbreaking minutes.

* {{spoiler|Yue's}} [[Heroic Sacrifice]] in the first season finale.

** And then what happens after she gives herself up. She appears as a ghost, an angelic, beautiful ghost that whispers "Goodbye, Sokka...I'll always be with you..." before kissing him one last time, and disappearing.

* "Appa's Lost Days" and seeing what poor Appa had to go through.

*** And while he's there, Appa sees a boy who reminds him of Aang who helps inspire him to escape. It's either cute, extra heartbreaking, or both.

* The last scene in "The Desert", {{spoiler|when, after all the suffering he felt after Appa is kidnapped, Aang finds the kidnapper, freaks out and goes into the Avatar State. He seems ready to unleash hell on earth, until Katara calms him down by pulling him out of the air and putting him in a [[Cooldown Hug|tight embrace]]. They both start crying.}}

*** What makes this especially powerful is that this is the first time in the series Aang has any control over the Avatar State. "TELL ME WHERE APPA IS!" is him keeping control, and the only time he speaks in the Avatar State with his own voice before totally losing it.

*** And in combination of "Appa's Lost Days" and "The Desert," Appa is being captured by the Sandbenders, and over his shoulder he sees a giant mushroom cloud of sand. He knows that that's Aang flipping his shit trying to find him, but Appa can't get to him.

** The scene with the death of Zuko's cousin, Lu Ten. When Zuko has a flashback to when his mother got the news and we see the look on Ursa's face...that quiet sorrow for a soldier lost in battle is heart breaking.

* Zuko's [[Rage Against the Heavens]] at the end of "Bitter Work", flying right by what would be [[Narm]] and into something genuinely heartbreaking. Even the heavens deny him.

** {{spoiler|Zuko betraying Iroh}} during that same episode. I almost gave up hope for the guy.

** The last few scenes of that episode are heartbreaking [http://media.photobucket.com/image/avatar%20the%20last%20airbender%20%2522season%202%20finale%2522/callmebakes/Avatar/698.jpg Katara holding Aang's limp body]. [http://media.photobucket.com/image/crossroads%20of%20destiny%20avatar/callmebakes/Avatar/765.jpg The look of utter hoplessness and sense of failure on Sokka, Toph, and the Earth King's faces].

* Katara's encounter with {{spoiler|Hakoda, where she tells her father that she knew and understood why he left the village,}} yet even ''then'' she couldn't help being angry... and they embrace.

** Also "The Boiling Rock". We see how alike Sokka and Hakoda are, how Sokka really wants - and gets, already had - his father's approval and pride. Plus Hakoda has tears in his eyes when he realises the guard was Sokka.

* {{spoiler|Jet}}'s death was sad enough, but the way Toph says "he's lying" pushes it straight into tearjerker territory.

'''Toph:''' (whispers) He's lying. }}

** Just before the death itself, the line that snaps him out of it: {{spoiler|"You're a FREEDOM-fighter, Jet!"}} It's not the trauma of losing his village that pulls out of his brainwashing, but the memories of his friends and what they all believed in together.

** Fang choosing to die beside Roku is especially heartbreaking. Imagine in the same scene, instead of Roku and Fang, its Aang and Appa instead. Fang wasn't just a mount, he was a friend and animal companion for life, just like Appa is for Aang. The pain of those two being separated is almost too much to bear.

*** Hell, all of 'The Avatar and the Firelord.' The fact that Sozin and Roku were such ''good'' friends, the fact that the viewer knows it will all end horribly...the ''first thing'' Sozin narrates:

* All of Hama's flashbacks in "The Puppetmaster" about how the Fire Nation systematically captured all the Waterbenders in the Southern Water Tribe though hit and run raids are tearjerkers. At the start of the flashback, we see Kanna (Katara and Sokka's grandmother) and Hama having a cute friendship moment and then the black smoke appears along with the Fire Navy ships. Hama is the last Waterbender to be taken away in chains while Kanna is looking on and crying. Hama later reveals that she spent decades in a small cage in a Fire Nation prison and that the reason why she went [[Ax Crazy]] was because of the horrible way she was treated. The Fire Nation basically committed genocide against the Southern Water Tribe. When Hama was a young woman, the Southern Water Tribe was much bigger with fancy ice buildings everywhere. Now it's basically a bunch of tents and a couple of igloos.

* When we see a 13 year old Zuko get his scar. When he proclaims he won't fight his father, he bows before the Fire Lord and looks up, shaking and crying in fear as Ozai stands in front of him. The look in his eyes and the scream that follows is haunting.

** When Azula began talking about Suki - the guy looked like his heart had been torn out. And then, he goes up to ''AZULA'', slams her against the wall, and his [http://mattierial.deviantart.com/art/Avatar-quot-Where-is-Suki-quot-194802031 expression]. He looks like he'd duel Ozai himself for her.

* Princess Azula's {{spoiler|gradual [[Villainous Breakdown|mental breakdown]] throughout the [[Grand Finale]], starting with a bit of minor paranoia during the second half-hour, then going to a full sobbing breakdown in front of the mirror in the third half-hour following a hallucination in which Azula sees her mother Ursa telling her that she loves her, but she refuses to believe it. The last we see of Azula in the series is a scene of her lying chained on the ground in hysterical rage, tears streaming down her face. As hideously evil as she had been throughout the series, those final moments made a lot of viewers realize that beneath all the psychotic evil, Azula was still a sad, scared little girl who just wanted her mommy to love her, and attached herself to a bastard of a daddy who used this to raise her into a villain.}}

** Azula becomes an even more tragic character when one [[Fridge Brilliance|spends a moment considering]] her family. She's Zuko's sister. That means that, like Zuko, she is a direct descendant of both Sozin and Roku. Azula had the same potential to turn around her family and the Fire Nation that Zuko had, and instead became this twisted, evil, mentally unstable, manipulative monster. The fact that she ''could have been'' the one to redeem her nation and family like her brother just makes the person she developed into even more sad; the most tragic monsters are the ones who had the potential to be heroes.

* {{spoiler|The part where Toph is dangling from an airship with Sokka just barely holding onto her.}} When she starts crying because she realizes they're both at the end- they're both about to die. [http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/Kanthia-chan/Toph.gif Just watch the .gif].

* This troper broke down almost completely watching Sozin's Comet during {{spoiler|the Agni-Kai when Azula fakes out Zuko with the lightning and sends it towards Katara, watching Zuko jump in front of it for her just really does it.}}

* Katara's dark night of the soul in "The Southern Raiders," especially the end:

** In the same episode, Kya (Katara and Sokka's mother) {{spoiler|performs a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] by claiming to the Southern Raiders' commanding officer Yon Rha that she is the last of the waterbenders, in order to save her daughter Katara. Yon Rha immediately executes her.}}

** Katara's rage when she confronts the man who she suspects killed her mother and then confronting the real man. She's usually a calm character who while she can get angry, is generally reasonable. Seeing her pushed to the point where she'll use even the blood-bending technique that she despises is very unsettling.

* The Mechanist: When Aang gets angry at him for disrespecting the temple, he very somberly explains that he is there as a refugee trying to help his people, especially his son. When the Gaang finds out that {{spoiler|he is making weapons for the Fire Nation}}, he looks so broken. He did all of this to protect the people at the temple, and to ensure a good future for Teo, whom he clearly loves very dearly.

* One of the single greatest tearjerking moments in the first season was in "The Southern Air Temple," the series' first [[Wham! Episode]]. When Aang chases after Momo, he follows the lemur into a tent and discovers {{spoiler|Monk Gyatso's skeleton, surrounded by a dozen dead firebenders}}. Considering that the episode had been very lighthearted up to this point, with Sokka and Katara doing their best to indulge Aang and hide the awful truth from him, the moment where he finally understood what happened was enough to bring on tears. Then he went into the [[Unstoppable Rage|Avatar State]], prompting this line from Katara:

** The end of the episode as well. Appa flying away from the temple with Aang and Momo in the saddle looking back as it slowly shrinks into the distance and is obscured by clouds. He's literally leaving what was once his entire world behind again, but this time with the knowledge that it's pretty much gone and that he, Appa, and Momo are the only things left of it. The music doesn't help.

** Also, you have to remember that, while Gyatso died a hundred years ago, to Aang, that was a few days ago. He was playing pai sho with Gyatso very recently. He must have already known that everyone he knew was likely dead, but this is the moment that he was really forced to grips with it.

* How the Last Agni Kai starts:

** They're siblings, who more or less actually ''do'' care for one another, but with this one sentence, Zuko accepts that his sister is a total psychopath who wants him dead and that the only way to stop her is to fight her, possibly to the death.

** [[Word of God]] even says on the DVD commentary was that [[Alas, Poor Villain|this was the exact intention]]: to show that this was ''not'' a happy victory, particularly not for Zuko, and that he was very unhappy about having to duel his own sister. It had to be done, but it's obvious Zuko wishes it hadn't.

** It's even worse when the others escape from the library, which they were only able to do because of her efforts. Aang absolutely rips into her for not saving Appa, even accusing her of ''wanting'' Appa to be kidnapped.

* After rewatching the series and finding out the rest of Katara's backstory, her exchange in the first episode is like a punch in the heart.

'''Aang''': You still are a kid! }}

** Her people are the victims of systematic genocide and she grew up in a decimated village just scraping by. She's fourteen, but Katara has been an adult with adult responsibilities since her mother's death when she was eight {{spoiler|made even worse by the fact that Kya sacrificed herself to prevent the Fire Nation from discovering her Waterbender daughter and killing her.}} No chance to learn waterbending, fall in love (the only person within five years of her age in their tribe is her brother), or do anything but survive and hope that the war would end someday.

** And [http://capt-ba.deviantart.com/art/Providers-186341897?q=gallery%3Aavatarla%2F23996393&qo=583 this fanart], really drives it home. Be glad you've never had to hunt your dinner.

* The scene between Iroh and Zuko in "The Siege of the North, part 1" before Zuko leaves to infiltrate the city and capture Aang really brings home how Iroh's love for Zuko is really no less genuine than, say, Katara and Sokka's mom's love for them.

Iroh: "...I think of you as my own." }}

** In Part 2 when Zuko has Spirit World!Aang in that cave and is talking to him about how much his life sucks and all the issues he has. He's really vulnerable at that moment, even though he insists that he's strong and that he doesn't care that he's "unlucky."

* When Aang [[Take a Third Option|takes a third option]] to defeat Ozai in the finale, the Lionturtle's encouraging speech about the strength of the heart and Aang's determination {{spoiler|not to kill Ozai, risking his life and his own soul to do the right thing}}.

* After watching the finale, rewatching "The Beach".

* A two-fer in "The Runaway", one sad and one super-sweet. Sokka confesses that after all these years, he can't even remember what his mother's face looks like (sad). In the next breath he explains that, now, every time he thinks of his mother, he sees Katara's face (sweet).

** And a third one. When Toph started crying and confessed that she actually did miss her parents and was sad that they were hurt. Until then, we mostly got the impression that she felt imprisoned by her parents and possibly didn't even like them a lot for those reasons.

** And this one: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzrFHwUHMic&feature=related Ocean Spirit].

* While not a really huge tearjerker that can hit you hard as some of the other examples on this page, Zuko in "Ember Island Players" when he sees the scene in the play of actor-Zuko betraying Iroh. The scene on stage is humorous but it's the these lines that him and Katara exchange after they see it that really hit hard.

'''Zuko''': I might as well have. }}

** The whole play was just so heartbreakingly beautiful. This troper shed many tears.

** Also from the episode, Sokka silently weeping as he watches the scene of Yue descending to the heavens. It shows that he's still hurting about what happened to her. Also sad that Suki doesn't appear very sympathetic.

* Something about this little exchange makes me kinda choke up each time I see it. Just remember what happened with Yue, and this scene just gets a bit sadder.

'''Sokka:''' ''(whispers)'' No... }}

* The ending to the Day of Black Sun. The adults give up the children and willingly surrender when it becomes apparent that there is no escape. Haru and Teo's moments are especially tearjerking, since Haru's father just got out of prison, while the Mechanist is giving up his disabled son to live alone, with the very possible result that he will never see his son again. Sokka's reaction to him having botched the invasion plan, and the sad flight out made it especially unbearable. It's only Katara's reassuring smile that saved it from being a total downer ending.

 

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[[Category:Avatar: The Last Airbender]]