FromSoftware is well known for its luscious worlds full of incredible narratives that must be discovered rather than straightforwardly told. However, they’re also well known for making many stories tragic, miserable, and most prominently, sad.
Whether it’s the tragic demise of once noble kings or reluctant boss fights that need not have happened, there are plenty of brutally sad moments in FromSoftware games. This list is ranked purely by how emotional each moment is.
8 Vendrick Revealed — Dark Souls 2
The Tired Old King
The world of Drangleic in Dark Souls 2 is rotting on the vine, with every place falling apart and crumbling. This is despite the best efforts of many to try and find a way to circumvent the linking of the flame to break the eternal cosmological curse that the Dark Souls franchise is ostensibly all about.
The most tragic figure of all is Vendrick. A once noble King who, realizing Nashandra had manipulated him, locked himself away to try and delay the inevitable. By the time the player finds him, the old, wise King has become the hollow he dreaded becoming. It’s a poignant, sad moment, and shows that no one in the world of Dark Souls is immune to the wretches of time, making for one of Dark Souls‘ greatest characters.
7 Shaman Village — Elden Ring
The Final Truth
Of the many mysterious characters in Elden Ring, few are as important but beguiling as Marika, the God-Queen of The Lands Between, whose motives are shrouded in questions. Yet, in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, FromSoftware finally gave some answers about Marika’s backstory.
It turns out that Marika is part of a people called Shamans who were horrifically slaughtered and mutilated by the Hornsent peoples, which Marika avenged with an even more horrific genocide of all Hornsent later. In a hidden area near the end of the game, players can find the Shaman Village, yet untouched by fire and death, where Marika was presumably born. It’s beautiful, but deeply sad, as it reflects on what Marika could have been without violence.
6 The Death Of Artorias — Dark Souls
Putting Down The Abyss
FromSoftware loves a tragic hero who goes down with the ship rather than fleeing the field. Artorias is the prototypical example of this kind of character, one of the most noble knights in all of Anor Londo, who, through hubris and guts, fell to that which he sought to destroy: The Abyss.
By the time the players find him in Oolacile, Artorias has become a shell of his former self. Fighting Artorias isn’t about beating him, but granting him the mercy of death after an eternity of slavery to the dark. It’s a tragically sad moment and shows how nobility in the world of Dark Souls rarely works out, but it does make for a hell of a boss fight.
5 Killing Kuro — Sekiro
The Only Way Out
The world of Ashina in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is plagued by resurrection and undeath through the Dragon Heritage, a special property of Kuro, the boy-prince of the land. It not only corrupts the land spiritually, but also corrupts the morals of the many adults who seek to exploit Kuro for their own game.
In most of the game’s endings, Kuro makes the logical decision that the only way to end the strife is for him to die, slaying the Dragon Heritage too. Wolf, Kuro’s surrogate father and loyal shinobi, does as he’s asked, in a tear-jerking moment where a boy is killed through no fault of his own. Luckily, one more ending might just give Kuro a chance at life.
4 Melina's Sacrifice — Elden Ring
The Final Finger Maiden
- Appeared in Elden Ring.
One of FromSoftware’s favorite character tropes is the «level-up lady», a maiden whom the player returns to to improve their stats. In Elden Ring, that’s Melina, a finger maiden who chooses the player for unknown reasons, yet becomes crucial to their quest of becoming the Elden Lord.
To become Elden Lord, the player needs to burn the Erdtree, but that fire can only be lit by the sacrifice of a finger maiden. Melina, nobly, sacrifices herself without a second thought so the player can remake the stagnant world into something better and new.
3 The Gascoigne Clan — Bloodborne
The Doomed Family
When players arrive in Yarnham, the city where most of Bloodborne takes place, it has fallen from a citadel of science and learning to a Gothic horrorscape filled with blood, guts, and suffering. There are plenty of small stories to be told there, but none more tragic than the Gascoigne family.
Players encounter a girl in a window who has been abandoned by her mother and father. Her father, Father Gascoigne, has already fallen to the curse. When players tell the girl this, she heads out on her own to try and reunite with her mother, but is murdered by a giant pig on the way there. The entire Gascoigne family lies dead for no good reason, purely due to the cruelty of the curse.
2 Fighting Sif — Dark Souls
Good Dog
- First appeared in Dark Souls.
No one wants to fight a dog in a video game. Man’s best friend is usually a sign of loyalty and respect, yet Sif stands in the way of a player seeking to traverse the Abyss in Dark Souls. Killing a dog is sad enough, and when Sif’s health is low, he starts limping, a unique animation that makes it even harder to do what needs to be done, but it gets worse.
It turns out that the entire reason Sif is here is that she saw how the Abyss corrupted Artorias, and fights the player to avoid the same fate befalling another. Eons after Artorias’s fall, his loyal hound remains steadfast to his mission, his sword in her maw. It’s easily one of the saddest moments in all FromSoftware games.
1 Solaire Consumed — Dark Souls
The Herald Won Over
- First appeared in Dark Souls.
Solaire embodies everything good in the corrupted, decaying world of Dark Souls. He openly worships the sun and prays for jolly cooperation between all. He’s a wanderer, a dreamer, and a seeker, upholding all the best parts of chivalry, and easily one of the most beloved characters in the fan community.
Yet, in his quest to find a sun, he becomes corrupted by a Sun Maggot, a parasite that takes advantage of Solaire’s good intentions, killing him in the process. It’s a tragic end for a character only seeking optimism and light. However, a cunning player can circumnavigate this moment by killing the maggots before Solaire arrives. It’s a shame that most players don’t realize this is possible on their first playthroughs.
