View source for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker/Tear Jerker

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* This troper just outright ''bawls'' at the point in ''The Wind Waker'' where {{spoiler|Tetra is revealed to have really been Princess Zelda}} -- just... that ''music'' and {{spoiler|her parting words}} and fsmnslflfgng
* Speaking of ''Wind Waker'', this troper is moved to tears by {{spoiler|everything the King says just before and after the final battle}}. Making the player {{spoiler|''not'' want to save Hyrule}} is quite something, especially when you think it was a potential final game in the series.
{{quote|"I have scattered the seeds of the future."}}
** {{spoiler|Ganondorf's}} speech just before said {{spoiler|final battle}} nearly did it for this troper. While he was [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|doing it all wrong]], all he really wanted was for his people to stop dying...
*** At least prior to getting a taste for [[A God Am I|godhood]]...
*** Summarized and then parodied [https://web.archive.org/web/20081218200645/http://hiimdaisy.livejournal.com/17710.html#cutid1 here]. Again, spoilers.
*** An alternate interpretation to his death quote can make him feel kind of sympathetic in light of his goals, almost as though, in his dying moments, much like  {{spoiler|The king}}, he's realized link as a hero of a magnitude similair to the hero of time, and realizes that, in some way shape or form, he will bring hyrule back to life (And [[The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks|He did]]).
{{quote|"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,  {{spoiler|he got to experience it one last time before 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  {{spoiler|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.}}
* Also in ''Wind Waker'', when Prince Komali arrives to find {{spoiler|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.
* My god, nobody has mentioned Link's poor Grandmother yet? seriously, that actually made me cry, honestly! When she was having those nightmares (Courtesy of Ganondorf I'm guessing), it just made me cry.
** The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGgnrlfR1os&feature=related music] does it for me every time.
** This troper's reaction was....[[It's Personal|slightly different]], which made giving Ganondorf the beating of a lifetime  {{spoiler|as well as a Master Sword ''lobotomy''}} all the sweeter at the end. Almost as satisfying as destroying the Helmaroc King. Whether they're fictional or not, ''[[Knight Templar Big Brother|you leave]] [[Papa Wolf|this troper's family]]'' ''''' [[A Fate Worse Than Death|alone.]]'''''
* How can no one have mentioned the ending of Wind Waker? That whole final fight is just one giant heart wrenching tear jerker, with the King reminiscing over all his guilt and having spent every single day since the fall of Hyrule beating himself over having not saving it from being flooded, and asking Zelda and Link to forgive their ancestors for leaving them nothing but ocean. It's cemented when Zelda asks him to come with them to rebuild Hyrule, and the King just smiles and says it'd be their land, not Hyrule. The absolute clencher though, is when finally, all the water finally gives way, and Link and Zelda are forced up to the surface, and Link, who has bonded with the King over this entire journey, reaches out to him as he's being dragged away, and the King, for a moment, reaches out too, only to solemnly drop his hand back down. I argue this ending is just as sad as Twilight Princess's ending, because Link tries to hard to get to the king, and the king is equally heartbroken to see Link go.
** This troper felt the same way, but when she saw that  {{spoiler|the eyes of the King of Red Lions were closed during the epilogue, she just let out a torrent of tears that she had held back since the flooding.}}
* 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 plays in the background. After having spent so much time saving Hyrule again and again in the previous games, it made me sad to see it at its end.
** The statue of the Hero of Time really gets to this troper. It's so easy to think of the events of these games 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.
* Ladies and gentlemen, I present [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aO50pX6uLE 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...  {{spoiler|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  {{spoiler|Aryll}} running the length of the dock to wave to him, as they set off. The music alone makes me tear up years after experiencing it for the first time ''and'' multiple play-throughs later.
* For this troper, it was when he first talked to the Deku Tree. That was when it sank in: this really ''was'' the Hyrule that I'd fought so hard to protect through [[Ocarina of Time]]! The [[Lon Lon]] Ranch, Hyrule Castle, the towns and people, they were all buried under an ocean. Cue a [[Heroic BSOD]] that kept me from playing for several days.
* 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,  {{spoiler|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" and is now entombed at the bottom of the sea forever.}}
** Also, when you first find the Master Sword, it's drained of power.  {{spoiler|Fi is ''dying''.}}

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[[Category:Tear Jerker]]
[[Category:The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker]]