Avatar: The Last Airbender/Tear Jerker

"Sokka(softly): She's gone. (He hugs her body tightly) She's gone."
 * 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.
 * Iroh's story in the episode "Tales of Ba Sing Se", period. It starts off as lighthearted (he plays with some children and gets a mugger to turn his life around), then hits you with Mood Whiplash when he visits his son's grave and bursts into tears while singing, ending with a Dedication to Iroh's voice actor Mako, who died shortly before the episode aired.
 * 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."
 * It's even more saddening since most of the other Tales of Ba Sing Se shorts (bar Momo's, mentioned below) are rather funny and/or cute, and then they hit us with Iroh's...
 * YMMV, but there was a rather sad scene in "The Blind Bandit" in which a firebender is singing the Fire Nation National Anthem... only to be booed out of the arena. "Go back to the Fire Nation!" yells Sokka. That singer could have been a nice dude who was only proud of his culture and heritage, not an ambassador for war. This troper was always saddened by that scene.
 * 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.
 * Heroic Sacrifice in the first season finale.

"Zuko: You've always thrown everything you could at me! Well I can take it! And now I can give it back!"
 * 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.
 * Especially the dream sequence, when we get to see how Aang and Appa met. "I guess we'll always be together. Always..."
 * Or the fact that when he sees Suki again, he is so scared of her that he won't let her approach him for some time.
 * The part where Appa, tired, hungry, still searching for Aang, battered and worn out from all the traveling, lands outside the little cave...and then a raging porcupine-boar comes running out of nowhere and attacks him. The look on Appa's face and the way he's snarling and roaring as he fights this enemy makes it quite clear that he is enraged and exhausted beyond belief. So much so that he spends several days just laying in the den, as though he had finally lost his will to find Aang and was just waiting for the next bad thing to come.
 * The whole scene of Appa in the circus. It actually won an Annie award for its disturbingly accurate portrayal of animal abuse in the circus. Enough said.
 * 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",
 * The look on Katara's face, behind Aang. She was so resigned, that she just instinctively reached out and hugged him. She kept the Gaang together through the desert, wild creatures, Aang's depression, Appa's disappearance, Toph's unhelpfulness, Sokka's hallucinations, and they made it out alive, thanks to Katara. And now. . . this. She's so tired.
 * 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.
 * "Zuko Alone". Pretty much all of it. Especially the flashback, when you see a young Zuko, worried and panicked, asking where his mother is--to which his father doesn't make any on-screen reply. Just the look on Zuko's heartbroken face. And going back to the present day and seeing Zuko being driven out of town thanklessly after taking care of the thug problem, even by the kid he saved, is a true tearjerker.
 * 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.

"Hakoda: I would lie awake missing you so much it would ache."
 * Aang being in the second season finale. Remains the single most shocking and sadistically cruel moment in the entire series.
 * during that same episode. I almost gave up hope for the guy.
 * The last few scenes of that episode are heartbreaking Katara holding Aang's limp body. The look of utter hoplessness and sense of failure on Sokka, Toph, and the Earth King's faces.
 * Katara's encounter with  yet even then she couldn't help being angry... and they embrace.

"Don't worry. I'll be OK.
 * 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.
 * 's death was sad enough, but the way Toph says "he's lying" pushes it straight into tearjerker territory.

Toph: (whispers) He's lying."

"Sozin: As I feel my own life dimming, I can't help but think of a time when everything was so much brighter."
 * Just before the death itself, the line that snaps him out of it:  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.
 * Roku's death. The guy was left to die by his former best friend, and then to top it all off, his dragon curls up around him just before the ash covers them so that they can die together... and then it cuts to baby Aang, and Roku fading away. And then Aang turns around and starts looking for Roku in the void.
 * 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:

"Katara: But I didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him. ...But I am ready to forgive you. (runs to Zuko and hugs him hard)"
 * 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.
 * To say nothing of the look of betrayal, pain, and absolute despair on Iroh's face as he turns away to avoid seeing his brother do such a horrible thing.
 * And next to him Azula is grinning like a maniac. If it's your first run through the series, you don't even know who that girl is, and probably didn't notice her at all, but when you go back and see it again, the fact that Azula is enjoying this shit just makes it all worse.
 * Zuko and Iroh's
 * That scene is so awesomely emotional, it really needs to be spelled out. It starts with Zuko outside the tent, paralyzed with shame at his betrayal of his Uncle. He only goes in once Katara gives him assurance (a tearjerker in itself, given that Katara used to hate him). When he goes in, he finds Uncle asleep, so Zuko kneels and waits the entire night for Iroh to wake up, all the while stewing in his own shame. When Iroh wakes, he turns away from Zuko as Zuko makes his apology, giving the impression that he's actually ashamed of Zuko and angry at the betrayal. It's only when he turns around and fiercely embraces Zuko that you realize that Iroh was just trying to keep it together because he was filled with such joy and pride in his adopted son for finding his way back to the light.
 * Just think of all Iroh has done for Zuko, and it's all so much worse. He left his comfortable palace to sail around the world with a moody, biting, selfish, ungrateful teenager, who pretty much tells him off and then betrays him, sending Iroh to prison. And Iroh was so kind and so patient and so loving the whole time.
 * Sokka's line: ? If not a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Sokka, than at least it was heartbreakingly badass.
 * 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 expression. He looks like he'd duel Ozai himself for her.
 * Princess Azula's
 * And then someone drew this.
 * Azula becomes an even more tragic character when one 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.
 * When she starts crying because she realizes they're both at the end- they're both about to die. Just watch the .gif.
 * Her utter vulnerability is what makes the scene.
 * When  These two characters have gotten to such a point in their relationship where not even death can make them doubt the other.
 * Oddly enough, Sokka's  He threw both away KNOWING they were gone forever, without hesitating for a second, all to catch Toph.
 * It hits even harder with
 * This troper broke down almost completely watching Sozin's Comet during
 * Katara's dark night of the soul in "The Southern Raiders," especially the end:

"Katara: Aang, I know you're upset... and I know how hard it is to lose the people you love. I went through the same thing when I lost my mom. Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family! Sokka and I, we're your family now!"
 * In the same episode, Kya (Katara and Sokka's mother)
 * 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 Western Air Temple. Zuko has followed the Gaang in order to
 * Sokka's flashback in "Bato of the Water Tribe" of him begging Hakoda to let him fight with the men, then crying when they embraced. "I'm really going to miss you". *SNIFF*
 * When Sokka and Katara left Aang? No matter how stupid it was for Aang to hide the map to their father, his expression when Katara says she's leaving is heartbreaking.
 * And don't forget when Sokka yells at Aang for hiding the map. Like from above, this troper agrees that Aang did mess up and did something stupid like that. But for Sokka to overreact and resort to yelling? Now THAT'S harsh.
 * 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, 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 . 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 Avatar State, prompting this line from Katara:

"Azula: I’m sorry it has to end this way, brother.
 * 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:

Zuko: (in his stance) No, you’re not."

"Katara: [while penguin sledding] I haven't done this since I was a kid!
 * 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 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.
 * The background music. Oh, the background music. It's just so incredibly mournful. You barely even hear the blasts of the fire-bending over it, and the way the scenes keep shifting between that and the energetic fight between Aang and Ozai... whenever the scene switches back to Zuko vs. Azula, it's a little jarring. In a very sad way.
 * The Guru episode when Aang
 * In the same episode, when he reaches the seventh, final, chakra: . In the next episode, he.
 * Gyatso: "Aang, I'm not going to let them take you away from me." But
 * "I'm sorry, Appa". Toph is forced to let Appa be kidnapped in order to hold up the Library. She was genuinely trying to save Appa while keeping the library up, but not even Toph, the self-proclaimed Greatest Earthbender in the World, could do both, and that about crushes her. It doesn't help that she's inexperienced as a sandbender and can barely see.
 * 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!"

"Iroh: "I'm sorry, I just nag you because, well, ever since I lost my son..."
 * 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  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.
 * Sokka's failed attempt at attacking Zuko in the second episode suddenly seems a lot less funny in the wider context. Like Katara, he had to take on a lot at a young age. By the start of the series, he's wound up in the raid that killed his mother, seen all the adult males leave to fight in the war (which must have been done as a last-ditch effort), and he's trying to live up to the expectations of a 'man' of the tribe and be the warrior his father is.
 * He's not just trying to live up to the expectations of 'a man' in the tribe - as of the start of the series, he's the only "man" left in the village. It's his responsibility to protect the ones who can't protect themselves (which is everyone). The last time a Fire Nation ship came to the village, people - his mother - died. Sokka's not desperate because he's trying to prove his manliness, he's desperate because he's the village's only line of defense.
 * The whole series manages to put a war into perspective, but what's really tearjerking is any moment involving Hadoka and his children. As much of a warrior he is, he is still a father. He left his children to defend a village, knowing that if anything serious did come their way, his own son and daughter, the last things he has in this world, would be at the forefront of the fighting. Anytime with them together, like in the Awakening and Day of Black Sun, you can visibly tell that while he's proud of Sokka becoming a capable warrior and commander, a part of him is slowly dying seeing his son on the front lines, and he's not able to be there to help Sokka.
 * And 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.

Zuko: "Uncle, you don't have to say it."

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

"Azula: I could complain about how Mom always liked Zuko more than me, but I don't really care. (She then looks into the dying fire, looking like she would cry if there weren't people around) ... My own mother thought I was a monster... She was right of course But it still hurt!"
 * 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."
 * The scene where Iroh finds the ship bombed by pirates. His face when he believes that Zuko was murdered was one of the strongest examples of his love for Zuko in the first season.
 * It's the way he frantically yells Zuko's name, sees the wreckage, and the repeats his name in a grief-stricken voice that really drives it home.
 * Here's one: How about when it freaking ended? All the characters we've bonded with found their destinies, finally, and now their stories are pretty much over. They've went through it all, and, is an emotional minefield.
 * When Aang was finally reunited with Appa. All the pain that Aang had shown throughout Appa's absence made it so much more meaningful.
 * Even though The Beach was a mostly funny episode, the scene with Zuko walking to their old vacation house and remembering all the happy times he and his family had there when he was younger was really heartbreaking to me. Maybe it's the music.
 * Maybe it's just the flashbacks. Especially one with Uncle Iroh holding a happy baby, probably Zuko, as his son Lu Ten builds a sandcastle laughing (or, considering this is Zuko's flashback, the laughing boy building the sandcastle is actually Zuko and the happy baby in Iroh's hands is Azula).
 * And look at the family portrait of Zuko's family. Zuko sits below his father and Azula sits below her mother in stark contrast to the parental favoritism we usually see. They all had some sort of emotional connection at some point.
 * When Aang 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.
 * After watching the finale, rewatching "The Beach".

"Katara:You didn't really say that did you?
 * 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.
 * Not to mention in the same conversation with Sokka's confession about forgetting his mother's face, Toph admits that Katara cares about her - the real her - more than even Toph's own mother did. Similarly to the above tear jerker with Sokka, this is both heartwarming and sad.
 * The very end, where  is just beautiful- they don't even need words.
 * Seeing Aang dressed in the monk clothes. Just, remembering, that he really is the avatar. The war is over. The nomads are gone, but in a few generations, there will be more. Just seeing Aang, looking like Gyatso, with all his wisdom, and his pain and suffering behind him cranked up the water works to 11.
 * Zuko's defiance of his father when tells him how monstrous he is, how horrible of a father he's been and he announces that he's going to free his uncle who's been his true father and that he's going to join Aang to help him defeat his father. It's this, a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming and a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
 * The end. Just the characters, and the black words "The End." It's all over. The End.
 * They're having tea in Iroh's little shop, and suddenly everyone is friends. Mai and Suki playing Pai Sho. Sokka doing his silly paintings, Zuko serving the tea, Toph being snarky as usual, Katara kissing Aang. And it's perfect. The sky is perfect. And then it's the end.
 * Zuko yelling at the Gaang to leave after Iroh is shot in the chest by Azula. It should be narm, it should be over the top, but it isn't.
 * The song Tsunga horn.
 * And this one: 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."

"Sokka: Suki!
 * The whole play was just so heartbreakingly beautiful. This troper shed many tears.
 * At the end of The Ember Island Players, as the Gaang were leaving the area and were visibly disturbed by the play. How they're all unable to bring up the fact that the play's ending has a high probability of actually occurring, because they've just faced the fact that they're just kids all alone on a quest that could very easily get them killed.
 * 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.

Suki: I'm ok! Just finish the mission!!

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.
 * A small one. Bumi, for all of about 5 seconds, was actually sane when Aang finally figured out who he was. At this point it's a pretty good tearjerker, since he's the only person left from Aang's childhood.
 * In "The Deserter," when Aang accidentally burns Katara. Sokka shouting, "You burned my sister!" brings the tears out of this troper every time.
 * Iroh's flashback to him and his son, Lu Ten laying on a hill.
 * Specifying, in "Bitter Work", there's a short flashback with a younger Iroh playing with his son, only for a quick Mood Whiplash to Iroh mourning before his son's grave, in the rain. "My beloved Lu Ten. I'll see you soon."