Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2/Tear Jerker

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Tear Jerkers in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 include:

  • The trailer shows Lupin and Tonks reaching out for each other as spells flash around them.
    • Several forums have agreed that there is at least a 50/50 chance that they'll die before they actually touch.
  • The scene in the Great Hall during the pause in the final battle. As if seeing the reaction to Fred's death wasn't soul-crushing enough, the additional deaths of Tonks and Lupin and even less beloved characters like Colin/Nigel and possibly Lavender Brown (if she didn't survive Greyback's attack) are hard to swallow. The whole scene is akin to the aftermath of a major school shooting.
    • Even worse, before the battle, Fred and George are shown together for the last time, still maintaining their jovial, light-hearted natures. Of course, anyone who's read the books knows what's about to happen, which makes it incredibly sad.
    • Guess what, it still gets worse. During the scene where Harry reveals he's still alive, watch George during the reaction shot where everyone begins smiling and cheering. He turns to look over one shoulder, and you can see him say "Fred," as if he was looking for his brother's reaction.
  • The Prince's Tale part. Snape collapsing to the floor upon seeing Lily, crying, howling hysterically in grief in the added scene of him cradling Lily's dead body while a baby Harry looks on. Damn you and your leather pants Alan Rickman.
    • Baby Harry isn't just sitting there. He's crying too.
    • Oh God, Snape's memories had me in shreds. Especially when he goes to Lily's house and holds her dead body while howling in grief. What makes it even sadder is the moment when Snape summons his patronus in front of Dumbledore, showing that even after 17 years, he still loves her. "Lily? After all these years?" "Always." Just that silent, broken whisper... *sniff* excuse me...
    • Also, there's the Fridge Horror that at some point, Snape would have to force himself to break away from the body that once held his only past genuine human connection to conceal any dark involvement (and ultimately join to Dumbledore's side for her sake) he had. Imagine that pain that could only be understated by inference.
    • And the soundtrack for the whole of that part? Does not help. It starts out so sweet and optimistic, and by the end it's absolutely heartbreaking.
    • Snape was a prime cause of tears in pretty much the entire movie. His death was even more horrifically violent than in the book, and the way he just sits there against the glass, bleeding to death, until Harry goes up to him...(and, it should be pointed out, vainly tries to save him by stopping the bleeding, even though he doesn't yet know the truth about his allegiance)
    • This line they added to his death scene:

You have your mother's eyes.

    • God, not just the line, but the way he says it: no malice, no anger, not even any bitterness, just calm and accepting and a little sad.
      • This troper was stunned by how almost loving it sounded, almost as if he was talking to Lily herself. (Not...not like that...shut up, you know what I mean.) Both Jim Dale and Stephen Fry read the lines as sort of a strangled whisper, but Rickman's version is possibly even better.
      • Not to mention, this is the moment when Snape finally comes to respect Harry. In the very last moments of his life he gets over his shallow prejudices against James Potter's son and comes to terms with the fact that, although he resembles his father, Harry sees the world through the eyes of his mother. He accepts that Harry really is a good person.
    • Anyone notice that, books and movies combined, it's chronologically the last time any character notes that fact? Not to mention that, after years of comparing Harry to his father, it's the first and last time Snape compares him to Lily.
    • For this troper, it was how utterly gutted Snape sounded when he realised that Dumbledore had been grooming the child of the woman he loved, the child he had protected to honour her memory and put himself through hell for, to death, like a lamb for slaughter, in order to orchestrate Voldemort's final destruction. And that this was the only way to finally avenge her death. Scrapes you out hollow.
    • This troper's proverbial dams broke when he saw Snape's tears coursing down his face. They seemed to me like tears of a sort of melancholy joy, that he was finally going to join the woman he loved at last. And his final act was to give perhaps his most treasured possessions, his own memories of Lily, to her son.
  • Harry actually saying his goodbyes to Ron and Hermione in person, unlike the novel. Part 2 is a clinic in how to take heartwrenching material from a novel and make it more staggering in terms of emotion.
    • From that same scene: "I'll go with you." Hermione has to know that going into the Forest with Harry is suicide... but she offers to go with him anyway, so her best friend doesn't have to die alone.
    • Emma's acting was flawless. You can just tell her heart is shattered. Her face is crumpling, and she's desperate to comfort Harry, and she can hardly speak because her throat's closed up. She starts crying, and then she's hugging Harry, and it's just horrible, watching Harry walk alone to his death, his two best friends watching him go.
    • To me, this scene resembles what happens when someone who is going to die of cancer or another terminal illness reveals the news. "I think I've known for a while and I think you have too."
  • The resurrection stone scene. Brilliantly done.
    • This troper remained absolutely dry-eyed until that scene. "Does it hurt?" Excuse me, there's something in my eye...
    • Harry reaches his hand to Lily for the first time of all the times he's seen her ghost... and he goes right through her.
      • Made worse, because, in that moment, you realize Harry needs a hug from his mother more than anyone in the series ever as. He's walking to his death. Voldemort will probably torture him, or worse, set Nagini on him. Just some sort of reassurance, some sort of touch, you can see on his face as he starts forward, stumbling, towards his mom. And, of course, he's denied that little comfort as he walks to his death, sacrificing all.
    • In the same scene, after Harry quietly asks the ghosts of his parents, Sirius, and Remus to stay with him, Lily replies with "Always". Never mind the fact that the mere idea of our loved ones never leaving us is already heartwarming and tear-jerking at once; it's the same reply Snape gave when he talked about his love for her. Damn it...
    • "We never left." And then seeing Sirius straight after that just made it worse.
    • When Harry says "I never wanted any of you to die for me," and then reminds us that Remus's death left his son Teddy an orphan.
  • To make everything full-circle, it closes with John Williams' "Leaving Hogwarts" and then his closing credits medley from the first two films. Yep, the movie is a Tear Jerker to the literal end.
    • Any other song, and I would not have cried like I did. But hearing that? I just sobbed unashamedly. It says.... "everything's okay now, all is right. Things came full circle, and they always will. Hogwarts is here, and it always will be, it will never have truly left us, so long as there are loyal to it."
  • Hagrid wasn't shown at all until the end of the film. The part that got this troper was her realizing that the adventure began and seemingly ended with Hagrid carrying Harry in. The look on Hagrid's face made it worse. Then the part where Hagrid and Harry hug at the end was extremely poignant as well as warm...
    • And, y'know... Harry still looked pretty much as small in Hagrid's arms as he did the first time they were shown hugging.
  • The last we see of Remus and Tonks before they are killed is them reaching out to each other as the battle begins, without quite touching. Later, their bodies are lying next to each other with their hands almost, but still not quite touching.
  • And what of the last moments of Lily Potter? Harry . . . Harry, you are loved. You are so loved. Harry, Daddy loves you. Mummy loves you. Harry, be safe. Be strong.
    • That was so beautiful and so sweet. It's especially poignant when you consider all of the crap that Harry goes through.
  • The final fade to black after the epilogue. The final few seconds of music and then that brief second of silence when you, and everyone around you realises that it's over, after 10 years.
  • The scene where Harry, Ron and Hermione make their way through the devastating battle that's raging all across Hogwarts, accompanied by this music.
  • The dragon scene. They really played it up in the movie. First the dragon's expression as it looks up longingly at the far-off light in the ceiling, then when it finally gets there, it just sits and breathes that fresh air that it probably hadn't had in a long time.
  • When it appears to everyone that Harry is dead, Ginny lets out a Big No, tries to rush forward, and has to be physically held back by her father and brothers. Heartbreaking enough in itself, especially with Bonnie Wright's voice sounding absolutely tortured in that scene, but there's the implication that Ginny was so wracked with rage and grief at losing Harry that she was willing to charge straight at Voldemort, even though this would have almost certainly resulted in her death.
  • Speaking of Lavender, her death in the film. Yes, she's annoying and silly in HBP- but she's still fighting right along with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. And it's Hermione who kills Greyback, who is happily eating Lavender. It really drives home the common theme of Anyone Can Die. This troper loved to hate Lavender throughout the series, but bawled when she died.
    • This Troper managed to stay straight-faced when it actually happened. The worst part is probably in the aftermath. It's almost blink-and-you-miss-it, but there's a two- or three-second scene of Parvati and Professor Trelawney sitting in shocked grief over Lavender's dead body. Trelawney covers Lavender's body and simply says, "She's gone." Of course, not only were Parvati and Lavender hardly ever seen apart in the books, but the two were possibly the only students portrayed as holding Trelawney in high esteem. Many were indifferent to her, and most (even among the professors) regarded her as something of a joke.
  • Fred and George were together for everything, and after the battle is over, and everyone is cheering, George glances over at where Fred would be, seeking to share in the joy with him. It had become automatic. It doesn't immediately dawn on George that Fred is not with him and never will be again. It kind of makes you feel bad for everyone who's lost a twin.
  • Voldemort's death. Yes, he is an irredeemably evil, mass murdering, Muggle hating monster, but, just to see him falling to disintegrating, and that his greatest fear has been realized, just seems sad.
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