Pirates of the Caribbean/Tear Jerker

• Main
• Characters
• Laconic
• Trivia
• YMMV
• Fridge
• Fanfic Recs
• Headscratchers
• WMG
• Crowners
  • Awesome
  • Funny
  • Heartwarming
  • Nightmare Fuel
  • Tear Jerker
• Wikipedia
• All Subpages
• Create New

Curse of the Black Pearl

• Barbossa's poignant death at the end of the first movie with his last words of "I feel.... cold..."
  • Not only that, but his absolute joy at being able to feel anything...then he remembers what it is and what it means.
• Weirdly enough, for me it was the scene after Jack has made his bag of treasure and says to drop him off at the Black Pearl. Cut to Jack staring pathetically at the place the Pearl used to be. His beloved ship, the one that was stolen from him in a massive betrayal of his trust (which kinda screwed him up inside), the ship he spent ten years scheming to win back, has just been stolen from him again by people like Annamaria and Gibbs. And you feel deep sympathy for him, followed quickly by horror at the realization that without the Pearl, Jack -- this guy we've dug from frame one and come to root for and love, who just masterminded the fight against Barbossa and fought an epic battle to save the day -- can't escape and is about to be hanged. And he knows it. Then he says of his crew, his friends who've just betrayed him, "They've done what's right by them; can't expect more than that." That was so sad, even Will got upset.

Dead Man's Chest

• Okay, seriously? Nobody else tears up at the end of Dead Man's Chest during Jack's death? "Hello, beastie."
  • No, you're not.
  • That was the most painful shock this troper have ever gotten in cinema. From the moment it was clear he would die, she sat there unable to speak, not wanting to believe it, tears running. Her friends still reference it to this day when there's something sad happening in a movie.
• The end of Dead Man's Chest - specifically, Jack's death, and the subsequent mourning in Tia Dalma's shack. The first was awesome to watch, but truly bittersweet, and the second was plain heartwrenching.
• "Do not ask me to endure the sight of my daughter walking to the gallows, do not." Swann then gets a minor Heroic BSOD when he sees his plans to get Elizabeth to safety have been dashed.
• Davey Jones's whole backstory is heartbreaking. He's ruthless and undeniably evil, but he's still mourning the loss of his true love. He still cries about it.

At World's End

• Weep for the Heroic Sacrifice of James Norrington. Also watch the beach scene near the end of At World's End.
  • He didn't fear death.
  • Not to mention it was Bootstrap, Will's father who killed him.
• This troper and many others he knows felt just as bad about the death of Davy Jones. "Calypso..."
• "Part of the ship, part of the crew..."
• The beginning of the movie, at the gallows makes this troper lose it. Every. Damn. Time. Especially when that little boy looks up at the sky...
  • Made worse because who, on first watching, really thought they were going to go there?
  • It was about there that I decided this is not a Disney movie, no matter what people tell you.
• The scene with Elizabeth and Bootstrap on the Dutchman, where Bootstrap basically reveals he's resigned himself to misery forever, as saving him would mean giving up on his true love, and he doesn't think Will would or should make that decision. So he asks Elizabeth to convince Will to give up on him so he won't have to choose, and that it's too late: he's already part of the ship. Then, to drive the point home, we discover the ship has warped his mind so much that five seconds later he doesn't remember ever having the conversation. The whole scene is incredibly painful, in just how much Bootstrap has given up to despair.

"He won't pick me. (Bitter chuckle) I wouldn't pick me."

• Lets not forget the death of Governor Swann even though we don't see him die. We just see him floating about in the afterlife. Made all the sadder by Elizabeth's reaction. "Take the line! Father, take the line!" "I'm so proud of you [...] I'll give your love to your mother, shall I?"
  • That's the only scene in any movie that I'm not embarrassed to cry at.
  • "Elizabeth. Are you dead?" "...no..." "I think I am." "No, no you can't be!" This troper's heart broke at the anguished cry of disbelief.
    • Agreed. So. Damn. Much. Elizabeth screaming for her father to come aboard the ship and nearly jumping overboard to get to him completely destroyed this troper. And for anyone out there who claims that Keira Knightley's acting tends to be wooden and hollow, just watch that scene and tell me it didn't stir some kind of emotion in you.
• Or indeed, the big death of the film: Will. Okay, so he pops back up again pretty soon after, but it's a pretty emotional scene, and on top of that, it also secures Davy Jones' chances of redemption as exactly nil. Of course, all this may be because this troper has a crush on the music cue underscoring the "parasail" sequence.
  • I have come to the conclusion that without the absolutely hearstring-pulling music, most of the scenes wouldn't have been half as affecting. The soundtrack managed to make me cry before I'd even seen the film.
  • During her first viewing of the movie in theaters, this troper reacted to it with quiet shock. Afterwards, whenever I (going to first person now) watch the movie and it gets to that part, I usually shout out "NO! YOU BASTARD! at Davy Jones. This is partially because I am a bit of a romantic, and also because I am a big Orlando Bloom fangirl. The worst part is how I knew that someone was going to have to become the new captain of the Flying Dutchman by stabbing Davy Jones' heart, and hoped it wasn't going to be Will...
  • Linked with a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming when Will's death motivates Jack to act to save him by giving up what he had been battling for the entire film. If it makes Jack stop thinking of himself only it must be serious.
  • This troper was oddly affected by the reaction shot with Jack's Oh Crap look. He's the trickster, the devious schemer, putting on so many acts that even he gets lost in what is and isn't an act... and then you just have this genuine, naked, bare-to-the-bone look of shock and disbelief...
  • Double points for how Will Turner ends up getting stabbed by Norrington's sword, i.e. the very sword he forged at the beginning of the first film. The movie really takes the "betrayal" theme to all sorts of interesting places.
• What gets this troper is the moment right before the parasail sequence, with Jack having to wrench Elizabeth from Will as the crew of the Dutchman gather to cut out his heart. Not only does this have one of the most heartbreaking declarations of love -- "Don't leave me! I won't leave you!" -- but the accompanying music turns into the chanting of an all boys' choir, which is almost always sure to elicit tears.
• Elizabeth's "What shall we die for?" speech near the end of At World's End absolutely ruins me. I'm always sobbing like a little girl by the time she gets to "Hoist the colors."
• I cried through the credits from watching Will and Elizabeth part ways on the beach and then after the stinger where Will returns to his love and his son who he hasn't even met yet, all 20-or-so people left in the theater turned to stare at me because I was sobbing so damn hard. My mother asked if I was ok and all I could muster was, "It's so sad!" For a week after watching that movie, I cried everytime I even thought about it.
• As much of a twisted Complete Monster as he was, Beckett's death really hit this troper hard for some reason. His final, slow and deliberate march across the deck as his ship burns up behind him was incredibly poignant.
  • Me too. Even though he wasn't what you would consider one of the good guys, look at it from his perspective even for a second. It makes it ten times more emotional.
  • The handrail exploding behind his hand, for some odd reason, makes this troper choke up. Couldn't say why.
  • Possibly because it missed him By That Much?
  • Same. He was a bastard, but still...and then the panicked, muted cries of the people behind him as they dove overboard and he just completely lost it. Granted, it might have been scarier if he went batshit insane, but this was a lot sadder. And then when you realized how much the others were flipping out and he was just quietly, slowly strolling along while the whole ship blew up...

Officer, disbelieving voice: Orders, sir?! [sees Beckett not responding] Officer: ABANDON SHIP!

• The quiet moment between Jack and Barbossa as they stand over the dead kraken and realize just how much their world is changing.
  • The death of the Kraken itself. It's frequently cited as a Missed Moment of Awesome, but this troper's recently realized that was probably intentional. No heart-pounding, epic battle; no moment of brilliance or gallantry by the heroes. Instead, Beckett gives an order, and some of the magic and mystery of the world is quietly put to death. Jack's line on the subject, after Barbossa says the world's getting smaller, is icing on the cake:

Jack: "World's still the same, mate. There's just...less in it."

• • Every part related to the ending of the pirate's world. Which makes their victory at the end all the more Awesome.

On Stranger Tides

• Groves' death near the end of On Stranger Tides for this troper.
  • Agreed. What did he ever do wrong?
  • "Someone make note of that man's bravery."
    • Oh, definitely! He was my personal Ensemble Darkhorse from the films, and I had a bit of a crush on him. I was so happy to hear that he'd be in the new film... and then they KILLED him. And worst of all, it was played for laughs.
  • Also Gillette; he'd been missing for two movies and they brought him back just to kill him!
  • Did he have any lines in either?
    • Yes.
• Also from On Stranger Tides, the whole of Philip and Syrena's subplot, which literally brought me to tears by their last scene.
  • I agree. I was a little wary of a new young couple at first, but... -sniff-
• On Stranger Tides again, in the end when Jack leaves Angelica on an island. Take into consideration that Gibbs had Jack admit that he has feelings for Angelica (and note, "feelings" is what Jack could barely manage to say, when "love" was the word he intended to say). Throughout the film ever since he met her again, Jack's been doing his darndest to keep Angelica safe. Then comes when he saves her life, and now he has no choice but to put as much distance between them because she'll be wanting to get revenge for his hand in her father's death. Being Good Sucks indeed for ol' Cap'n Jack.
• One legged Barbossa resulted in a bit of Fridge Grief for me. Old Hector's getting older, which means so is everyone else. The End of an Age threatened in AWE seems to be creeping ever closer.
• Barbossa's voice and expressions of horror while telling Jack about how The Black Pearl had turned against them was surprisingly painful to watch. And it might've been This Troper's imagination, but when he said "So I did what needed done." his voice had an edge to it like he was near shedding tears.