If you read my post about things I thought I’d outgrow, you already know that crying over fictional characters is very much still a thing I do. Regularly, without apology.
But I had so much to say about specific characters that I decided they deserved their own post. These are the ones that didn’t just make me a little misty. These are the ones that got into my chest and stayed there. Some of them I still think about out of nowhere, years later. Some of them I will never fully recover from.
If you’ve loved any of these characters, you already know. And if you haven’t met them yet, consider this your warning.
Glenn Rhee – The Walking Dead (Tv show & graphic novel)
Glenn was my favorite from the graphic novels. He was genuinely, stubbornly, inconveniently good in a world that kept punishing people for exactly that. He was resourceful and brave and he loved fiercely and he deserved so much better than what he got.
I cried when I read it. That should have been enough grief for one person.
Then the show came along and I had to live through it all over again, knowing exactly what was coming and completely powerless to stop it.
You sit there hoping it somehow it goes differently this time. It never does. That’s a specific kind of loss that only fellow fans really understand, and I don’t think I’ve ever fully forgiven it.
Arthur Morgan – Red Dead Redemption 2 (video game)
Arthur Morgan spent most of his life being exactly who the world told him to be. Loyal to a fault, dangerous when he needed to be. And then, in his last chapter, he quietly decided to be better anyway. No audience, no reward, no guarantee it meant anything at all. Just choosing good because it was right.
My oldest finished the game the night before I reached the ending. They didn’t say a word about what was coming because I hate spoilers. But when they saw I was coming close to the end stretch, they quietly walked over and set a box of tissues down next to me without a word.
They knew.
The ending wrecked me. The whole final stretch of that game wrecked me. I will never fully recover and I don’t want to.
Jackie Wells – Cyberpunk 2077 (video game)
Jackie was supposed to be your ride or die all the way through. That was the whole setup. Big personality, giant heart, the kind of loyalty that makes you feel like everything is going okay even in a world that is very much not okay.
The fact that he didn’t get to see the dream come true is something I am still not over. I think about him than makes sense for a character I only got to spend the first act with. That’s how good he was.
Verso – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (video game)
I’m not going to spoil Verso‘s story for anyone who hasn’t finished Expedition 33 yet, because you deserve to experience it yourself. What I will say is that his story involves a love very specific and very deep.
As a mom, I was completely unprepared. I think about him more than I should and I have zero regrets about it. He’s even on my desktop.
Spiritfarer – The Whole Game (video game)
I’m listing the whole game here because I can’t pick just one character.
Spiritfarer is a cozy game about ferrying spirits to the afterlife, and it sounds and looks gentle and it is an absolute emotional ambush from start to finish.
At it’s core, Spiritfarer is about grief. It’s about loving people, losing them, and learning how to let them go. Each spirit you carry has their own story, unfinished feelings, their own way of saying goodbye. The game doesn’t rush any of it. It sits with you in the hard parts and asks you to sit with them too.
I started playing it not long after my grandfather passed away. I didn’t fully realize what I was walking into. It met me exactly where I was, in the middle of real loss, and it held that grief in a way that felt honest and gentle at the same time. By the time the ending credits rolled and that song played, I was completely undone. I just sat there and sobbed.
If you are processing any kind of loss, this game will find it. I say that as both a warning and a recommendation. I was not prepared for what it did to me and I am still grateful I played it.
Naruto Uzumaki – Naruto (anime)
Naruto has always felt like a son to me and I am not being even slightly dramatic about it. I went through every arc with him, every heartbreak, every setback, every moment the world underestimated him and he got back up anyway.
When he finally met his parents, I was already emotional. And then his mother showed up and I was completely done. The ugly cry was immediate and fully earned. That scene gets me every single time without fail.
There is something about watching a kid who grew up without love finally be surrounded by it, even briefly, even too late, that just breaks me open. Every time.
Armin Arlert – Attack on Titan (anime)
Armin hit me differently than the others, but in that same fierce, protective, maternal way. He’s not the strongest or the most powerful, but he is so genuinely good and so relentlessly hopeful in a world that gives him every reason not to be.
I just wanted good things for him. That feeling never went away no matter how many times the show tried to make me give up hope entirely.
Without getting into spoilers, there is a moment in the series where something happens to Armin in the most brutal way. I bawled my eyes out. And then we had to wait for the series to continue, and that stretch of not knowing the outcome was it’s own specific kind of misery.
My oldest, who got me into the show in the first place, had already read the manga so had an idea of what was coming. They kept it from me the whole time because they knew I hate spoilers. They watched me go through every single emotion. They said it was so hard for them. Honestly, that kind of dedication deserves it’s own reward.
Doctor Who (TV show)
I already talked about Doctor Who a few times in other posts as that show never gets old. The truth is it belongs here too because specific moments have wrecked me on a level that deserves it’s own entry.
The Van Gogh episode. If you know, you know. The idea of talking to someone that suffered so deeply and letting them see, just for a moment, how much the world would come to love them… I can’t get through that episode without completely falling apart. Every single time. It is one of the most quietly devastating and beautiful pieces of TV I have ever seen.
Then there’s the 10th Doctor, played by David Tennant, saying goodbye to Rose Tyler. Standing on that beach, burning up a sun just to say a proper goodbye to someone he couldn’t reach. I am still not okay about it.
And regenerations in general are their own specific kind of grief that non-Whovians don’t quite understand. You fall in love with a version of this doctor and then you have to watch them go and somehow accept that the person who shows up next is the same person. It never gets easier.
The 11th Doctor was MY doctor. Matt Smith had this beautiful mix of ancient sadness and childlike wonder that I have never seen anyone else pull off quite the same way. His farewell hit me harder than I was prepared for.
Max and Chloe – Life is Strange (video game)
I have my then-teen kid to thank for this one since they got me into Life is Strange. I finished the game and then informed them, half jokingly, that they were grounded.
Max and Chloe’s friendship is the whole heart of the game. The loyalty, their history, the way they find each other again after years apart and it’s like no time has passed at all. You spend the entire time fighting so hard for both of them, using every tool you have to try to make things work out.
And then the ending makes you choose.
I’m not going to say anything else about that. If you’ve played it, you know. If you haven’t, make sure you’re in a safe emotional space before you get to the finale. You’ve been warned.
Taash – Dragon Age: The Veilguard (video game)
This one is a little more personal to include, but it belongs here.
Taash is one of the companions in the game and their story centers around identity, figuring out who you are in a world that doesn’t quite have the language for it yet. It’s handled with so much care and heart, and I cried watching it play out because someone close to me is walking a similar path in real life.
There is something really powerful about seeing an experience reflected back at you through a character, especially when that experience belongs to someone you love. It makes you feel less alone. It makes them feel less alone. And it made me want to be the kind of person who shows up for the people I love the way the characters in that game did for Taash.
That’s what the best storytelling does. It doesn’t just make you feel things. It makes you want to be better.
I’ve talked about the Dragon Age series before. Check out that hilarious story here.
What They All Have in Common
Looking at this list, I notice a pattern.
Almost every single one of them are deeply good in a world that makes it it hard. Or they’re someone who just needed to be loved, protected, and seen. Some of them hit me hardest from a mom place, that fierce instinct to shield someone from everything painful even when you know you can’t.
I don’t think I’ll ever stop getting emotionally wrecked by characters like these. And honestly, I think that capacity to feel things that deeply, even for people who aren’t real, is something worth holding onto.
Who are the characters that got to you? Drop them in the comments. I want to know that I’m not alone here and also who I should be emotionally preparing myself for next.
Daily Deals from a Nerd Mom 
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