“This hunger is consuming my very mind. It is taking every ounce of my energy to just… just… Can you hear me, my friend? I… I can not see you anymore. I think… perhaps it is time to say goodbye, then. Thank you, my friend, for letting my last few hours mean something.” 😢

"I do something bad? I sorry.." Fuck, I cried.

The first quest that comes to mind that missed this list is the TBC quest: "All That Remains". In this quest you find a grieving father who had his whole family massacred by crazed Owlbeasts. The quest wants you to kill Owlbeasts and open their stomachs to find what remains of his wife and daughter, so they can get a proper burial. His dialogue is short and he seems really depressed. Sadest quest in the classic era by far in my opinion.

In Mulgore, Bloodhoof village, there is a quest where you go and find a dog, Kyle the frenzied. It was made by a boy who had a wish to make a quest, he later died of cancer. Saddest one in my opinion.

I cried so hard with Runas' quest...Him slowly slipping away, but whispering how he can't see you anymore, asking if you are there with him, and then thanking you for believing in him and giving him a chance before dying 😭 I cried SO much, I never did that quest again because it's just so sad. Runas wanted so much to get better but succumbed to his mana addiction and...it's not fair, life it's not fair, but for a moment there I wish it was :(

Oh Runas... I still hope we get to see him again one day. Until then, my friend.

Fun fact: You could probably hear it in his voice and yes, Runas is voiced by Jim Cummings, probably most famous for his portrayal as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger but he's got a resume as long as you could possibly imagine so it's very likely he was also the voice of your favorite characters growing up.

As someone who lost a very good friend in my lower 20s to alcohol addiction and poisoning, the runas questline still chokes me up a bit just when I think about it.

The quest with the Gorlocs made me cry. They are so pure, so innocent 😢

"The Light does not abandon its Champions" Tirion, being burned alive on the Broken Shore: So that was a lie

Rhea was heartbreaking. The welp should have been a pet rather than a trinket. It feels way more meaningful for it to be able to accompany you.

8:42 I still love Runas for how he primes us for sympathizing with the other nightfallen in Suramar's quest chain. Especially since you basically become him as you're rep grinding. OOH, MANA CRYSTAL!

The bfa prepatch event was the first time in wow where a quest made me feel so helpless. There were no mass teleport to save all the citizen, there were no deus ex machina. A large amount of innocent citizens just got burned alived or sufficated without a way to save them. I remember just sitting there, looking at the screen speechless.

Cerellean's story actually continued in the Cataclysm version of Darkshore. He's one of the 4 Night Elves you rescue after Auberdine is destroyed by the Cataclysm with every other resident dying, as is seemingly on brand with Cerellean of the 4 Night Elves you actually manage to rescue he is the only one to survive his injuries, the other 3 all die after being rescued. In a bitter-sweet conclusion to his story at least one of the Night Elves you rescued who died from his injuries, that guy's pet bear actually bonds with Cerellean and becomes his new friend. Thankfully it seems like their story ended in Cataclysm or else our sad boi Cerellean might have gotten even more tragedy in the War of Thorns event which both he and the bear have been absent ever since Catacylsm.

The end of the Runas quest straight up made me cry.

"I do something bad? I sorry..." is the one that got to me out of everything

Glad you included Pamela's Doll. That one still haunts me to this day seeing the girl gleefully playing as if to not realise that she's a spirit.

The fate of Runas is even sadder when you realize he didn't go hostile even after withering. His loyalty was that strong.

I remember one quest in WotLK's Dragonblight, where you had to kill a high ranking member of the Blue Dragonflight army. Only after the deed was done, you would find a letter on them, saying that they've been forced to join Malygos' army to protect their loved ones. Kind of a gut punch when you realize that *you* were the one who killed them, when the only thing they were guilty of was being forced to serve someone against their will to protect their loved ones.

One that always stuck with me was in Wrath in the Coldarra. You help this red dragon to figure out what's going on and you really develop a bond with her as the quest chain goes on. It climaxes with her taking you and fleeing from Malygos. She sacrifices herself to help you run away when he catches up. So that's sad by itself but then you go into the Nexus and she's the last boss of the dungeon. So we have to kill our friend who was corrupted by Malygos and she even tells us to finish it before she kills us because she has no control over herself anymore.

One that always upset me for some reason was the one "what's happening at Cenarian Thicket" or something like that in Terrokar Forest. All the dead druids and the one poor insane druid who keeps shape shifting to all his forms, wandering around in shock trying to figure out what happened. I felt bad for him

As a 12 year+ (still my main today) night elf main at the time, the Darnassus mission was just demoralizing. I remember seeing that objective and thinking, okay it's slow at first but I'll eventually get help or an item to save everyone. Nope. Not even remotely. Just gone.

No matter how many times I've done the Runas quest it always gets me. For me it's the most emotional questline and I genuinely cared for Runas unlike most NPCs

Mankrik’s Wife enters the room: “Am I a joke to you?”

The Runas quest line made me cry the first time I played through it as during the time my friends and I were taking care of another friend who was addicted to heroin and was bed-ridden with withdrawals. He became a totally different person and seeing Runas turn at the end messed me up.

For me, the saddest quest will always be Kyle's Gone Missing! in Mulgore. The quest itself has a happy ending as Kyle is found and returned - but the origin of the quest is what gets me. It was created as the Make a Wish request of a young boy dying of cancer. They used his character and the boy voiced it himself. Knowing that background makes it unbearably tragic to me - in spite of which I play it every time to honor his memory.

I'm sorry but trying to save people during the burning of Teldrassil was just brutal. In my opinion, that should have been number 1 on the list.

Nothing comes close to Runas' ultimate end. If anything because of Jim Cummings' heart wrenching delivery of Runas' struggle and inevitable withering. His last words are by far the saddest I've ever read and heard in WoW's entire history.

The Runas quests where definitely a major highlight of legion. And legion had a TON of great lore and quests. I remember actually getting emotional when I first did that quest. And it still hurts to see to this day!

Ysera's death (prior to her rebirth in Shadowlands/probably Dragonflight) is probably the saddest quest I remember. Also the original Death Knight start zone, where you have to kill one of your living friends.

Lakeshire's Last Stand hit me in the feels when I went through it. It reminded me of the end of Halo Reach and the last stand of Nobel 6.

For me personally, one of the saddest quests ever that should have been on this list was from the Townlong Steppes. You're working with the Shado-Pan to fight the yaungol and one of them asks you to find her husband. By the time you do he's been beaten to death. The voice actress did a phenomenal job because her grief brings a lump to my throat every time. And to make it all the worse, we eventually have to kill her as she becomes possessed by the sha of hatred. EDIT: wrong sha >.

God, I still tear up at the Runas quest. I remember playing that in Legion on launch and just being gutted. Such a small part of the game but so well done.

I absolutely adored the voiceover for Margaux in Suramar. Hilarious NPC, I got way too attached to her. I think that's my saddest one.

I think "To be Forsaken" during the Horde war campaign for BFA is a solid contender. Seeing the guy agree to being turned with the hope that it will allow him to keep caring for his family yet when they see his new form they call him a monster and he is forced to leave

I remember playing the Runas quest- I shed a few tears. I loved him as an NPC and quest line.

Note that Wrathion can be Deathwings son at the same time as being the nephew of Onyxia. But that would require Blizzard to go Alabama on Deathwing and Wrathion's mom...

The Ysera chain in Legion is at the top for me (bfa prepatch is just a hair below it). I cry every single time I level an alt through it.

When I was levelling through Azsuna, at first I was like the dragons; distrustful of Runas. Then the end of his questline happened and I was just left feeling empty, expecting a betrayal but finding that I was the one who betrayed him in thinking this way. Playing through again on alts and knowing where it was going made it even more painful. I can never bare to leave him before he's finished his final dialogue. The burning of Teldrasil was such an impact. The small amount of time ticking down as it quickly dawns on you that there is no hope of saving anywhere close to anyone... Lakeshire's last stand just made me even angrier at Bastion. I hate how callous they are. I wish that Blizz wrote in an option to join the Forsworn and fight the Ascended cult rather than ending the Bastion story by slaughtering any who don't accept the "apology".

I always figured Ruines would sell me out for a bag of arcane dust, but instead he died a noble death and that broke my heart 💔

I always assumed that in Until Death Do Us Part, she was losing her mind and memories as an undead. She was rotting away and forgot she had sent many adventures to trash his grave and may have done so herself. I've always checked back to see if they've given us more lore on it, but since there are rarely characters with no further mention, this was the best explanation I had.

The Little Pamela quest line still chokes me up. I have two daughters and one was going through some rough times the first time I did this quest chain and it really really hit me. I have done it a few times since and every time it brings up the memories on my little girl in the hospital so I simply do not do it anymore.

When I did the quest to Evacuate darnasus my mind did not register that I could not save them all, I kept thinking some NPC would come in or the quest would change somehow and result in us saving everyone. When my character blacked out and I realized what had just happened, I suddenly understood the gravity of the situation.

Another sad one is "In Dreams" from classic where you find Taelen Fordring and he dies in front of Tirion

For love eternal really stuck with me when I was questing in darkshore as a 19 year old noob back in 2005 - I'm probably more attached to it because of the music in the area along with being a night elf as well. It's one of the few quests that really stuck with me over the years.

I think that a few quest chains from MoP that could've made this easy, like a comment earlier said, "Life" was pretty heartbreaking. The thing that makes "Hunger Ends" is the VA who delivered the final lines. Whenever I do legion, I ALWAYS stay behind to listen to his final words. He deserved at least that much.

There's one quest chain that I don't remember the name, but it takes place in Highmountain. You have to help the leader of an Owlbear tribe so save them from a dragon. In the end, you do a dance to try appease the dragon. The dragon ends up killing all of them, and almost you in the process. It was really sad at the end. He was just trying to save his tribe.

“Thank you my friend for letting my last few hours mean something” That one hit different

yea, that Runas quest was really sad. the ghost of Pamela still runs around me anytime I go to Light's Hope. the quests for the little draenei girl Uuna is similar.

I was doing the dungeon dailies and we had the one for Heroic Nexus and recovering Keristrasza's frozen heart. It was pretty heart-wrenching to know I had to go into a dungeon and free them from a frozen prison just to kill them and take their heart. And she wants you to. Fighting off Malygos' influence the whole time.

Runas' story broke me, so glad you have it in here.

I remember most of these and while heart-breaking, nothing tore me up as much as losing Willowblossom in Ardenweald.

"Fun" fact. Ben Howell (the Kyrian covenant questline guy) was actually planned to become a mission table follower obtainable from Torgahst, not immediately but in a later patch when they put in more followers, to expand on it, where we then are able to save him. They scrapped that because... No idea. So uh. Yeah.

#10 You kept saying "Clarence" it's "Clarice" as in the film Silence of the Lambs. Clarice Foster is an homage to Jodie Foster who played Clarice in the movie.

great video altough i have to say the one with Death by Childbrith in Pandaria And the one with the ghost pandaren child are also top for sad ones

the teldrassil quest really hit hard for me. despite being horde for most my wow time my very first character was a night elf and it was rough seeing the place where my wow journey began being burned down. it may be just a game but it's been an important part of so many of our lives. I teared up so hard doing that quest

I will never forget the quest where you have to kill Ysera, I cried A LOT and I mean. A LOT lol... as in... I was embarassed even. It was so overwhelmingly bittwersweet to see how her tragic death was transformed into new hope when Elune gave us the cleansed tear that corrupted Ysera. And also another one I will never forget is a quest you get in Darkshore where a guy asks you to please go find his bear, and the guy is dying. And you do in fact find the wounded bear, patch him up and send him on his way to his owner. By the time you go turn in the quest, you find out the owner passed away but that he was able to see his dear bear for a last moment before he died and was happy for it. Man... that hit me RIGHT IN THE FEELS.

there is a quest in Nazmir near Bwonsamdi's npc about a girl who is looking for her mother. Doing that quest was very depressing

The quest in Ardenweald where you enter Ysera's dreams and see her family mourning her was heart-rending.

There is a quest in Talador from a NPC named Nadur where he asks the players to gather different materials to save his sister from death. For those who know the quest, Nadur's sister dies and refers to her as his 'best friend' as he says his final goodbye.

The questline in dustwallow that ends with Peace at last where you talk to the dead wife and kid came out of nowhere when I was doing lore master and really hit me in the feels

Runas’ voice actor, Jim Cummings, provides the voice of Lorewalker Cho in MoP, and also several Brokers in Shadowlands, including one of the two auctioneers in the Menagerie fight in Tazavesh. He also voices Hondo Ohnaka, a fan favorite character from Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Good list, I remember most of these very well. That Runas ending reminded me of a Deep Space Nine story involving a Cardassian who became a sort of father figure to Kira who later dies of illness with her at his side. There's a couple more which would make the list. Morgan Ladimore "Mor'Ladim" in Duskwood is a sad story. Another sad one is the classic chain from Tirion Fordring in Eastern Plaguelands where he eventually tasks you with reuniting him with his son Taelan, who in an unfortunate twist of events became the leader of Hearthglen believing Tirion was dead, upon showing him the truth he rebels and asks you to take him to Tirion and you both fight your way out of Hearthglen together, however Taelen is killed literally moments before Tirion arrives to help you both.

Some emotional quests, absolutely, but the evacuation of Teldrassil hits home far too much. My first ever WoW character was a night elf priest. I played the game from Cataclysm pre-patch to Shadowlands pre-patch. I spent a lot of time & had loads of memories in Teldrassil, and when it came to be when it was time to evacuate the world tree as much as possible, and seeing it all burn down, I felt so helpless. It, and I, was so sad.

Runas made me cry A LOT I really like him, in the end he redeemed himself and then teldrassil... that one made me feel helpless, you know there is no way to save all those people in 3 minutes and the fact that only the people "IN" darnassus can be save is more depressing, for all those who started with an elf, all those npcs from the start, dolannar... they are all gone... you cant even go outside the city to see it. quest like these CANT be forgotten 😢💔

its really no surprise that the number 1 has to do with the scourge. honestly, most of their lore dealing with innocents is super depressing.

for me saving the dying nightelves in teldrassil was definitely number 1

I've only just realised that the voice actor for Runas the Shamed is Jim Cummings, he's voiced so many characters but Minsc in Baldurs Gate 1&2 will always be my favourite.

Number 2 was the one that stuck out to me while leveling back in Cata seeing that little girl now knowing if her dad would ever come back.... And then of course burning of Teldrassil was scarring knowing that the betrayer of the wrath gate still lives. And number 1 i have honestly never seen or heard of, but seems really well done, have to check that quest out sometime.

Most of these quests made me cry.... most of all the death of poor Ysera. I still tear up every time

Another quest that I remember being pretty rough - though not necessarily a tear-jerker - is "Eye for an Eye" in the Alliance prison fort thing in the Barrens after Cataclysm, where you help one of the Orc prisoners, named Oltarg, get revenge on the warden, and he makes notes about how abusive the warden was: _"Who goes there? Your footsteps are not the lazy stride of a guard. A [class], you say? Still brave and free? There's no hope for me, friend. I have lost my eyesight and am no longer fit for battle. I dared to speak up while Captain Peake savagely beat one of the prisoners. In return he kicked me in the head. And kept kicking. He kicked me blind..."_

Theres a subtle thing you did at the end of the video and I appreciate it. Not going to your normal outro for this one, really hit it home. Now then... The Darrowshire stuff is legit one of the best to really be sad.

When i was doing "A flicker of hope" afterwards i was just sitting down crying... What good does it bring being the Champion of the azerothian forces, besting Demon lords and old gods, but then being confronted with the futility of not being able to save all people on Teldrassil... And i knew my Wife would exactly react the same way a few hours later when she was doing the quest chain...

I had no idea that happens to Runas. I never stuck around long enough to see the dialog. Thats heartbreaking indeed.

Ayyy a new top 10!! Love your videos

There are one more sad story in the kyrian campaing, when we go to Ardenweald one takes us to all the zone doing different stuff, and in the end that was her las hours, she sacrified to the greater good of helping the kyrians ascend, that made me cry when in 9.1 Uther has something, and I saw Pelagos with that pet willowlower left, a really beautiful moment

"The Day The Light Died" quest chain from Legion. Absolutely number one best saddest quest in my heart. Top tier tearjerker and the lore implications and character motives were on point.

This video is gold. I will watch it again for sure

I love that dragon trinket quest, it has a sad/happy ending.

Garrosh execution had me near tears for the first time on wow

everysingle one of those quests deserved a single vid telling the story

Mor'Ladim aka Morgan Ladimore-questline in Duskwood was pretty sad, although it was a short and simple one. It wouldn't be nearly as heartbreaking if you didn't read a book titled "The Story of Morgan Ladimore" that was left in your inventory. I still have the book in my bank, it has such sentimental value. The quest starts at Morgan Ladimore's grave, located just outside the Raven Hill cemetery. You really have to wander far from the road to find it. You then inquire locals in Darkshire about his seemingly disturbed grave. They tell you that he's risen as an undead that calls himself Mor'Ladim. He's known to attack and kill anyone on his way. The storybook given to you tells that he was a young soldier with a wife and three kids, who went to war against the scourge in the north. After the war he returned home, which had become Duskwood like we know it; infested with undead. In disbelief, he searched the entire woods for his family to no avail, until he decided to ride towards another village, Lakeshire. On his way he suddenly decided to search the nearby cemetery, like a priest in Darkshire had earlier suggested, but he had refused. After hours of searching he finally found a grave of his wife Lys next to two other graves, and fell to the ground sobbing, thinking that his entire family was gone. After hours of wailing he went mad and started striking gravestones with his sword, also killing innocents that attended the cemetery and tried to stop him. Once his rage passed, he saw what he had done and plunged a knife into his heart. The last words of the book says: "He was quickly buried, without ceremony, in a hastily dug grave on the outskirts of the cemetary. Because Morgan committed murder against innocents, something that went completely against his beliefs and his nature, and because of the grief that he held in being unable to save his family, Morgan could not die a peaceful death, and lived on as one of the restless dead." In real world history, sinners were usually buried without a blessing outside the holy land, so their souls could never find peace in paradise. Once you kill Mor'Ladim, the questgiver in town tells you that he in fact has a living daughter, to who you have to break the news of her father's passing. Saddened by his fate and that she couldn't help him in time, the daughter asks you to bring her ring to his grave, to maybe let her father know she's okay and that she doesn't hold any resentment. At his grave, his voice warns you to let him be, but then says "This is...? Sarah? Could it be she's still alive? The weight is removed from my shoulders...", he then thanks and hands you his sword Archeus, before fading away saying "Lys, my love..."

3:50 I loved this questline for so long but never noticed this, that's awesome.

The music you played for Cerellean’s story is a masterpiece!

Runas makes me cry everytime - I never neglect to do his questline when leveling there.

As soon as I saw this video, I knew what had to be the #1 spot, having just played through it again it WOTLK. Always brings tears to my eyes - even before I knew it was based on a real person. But the cherry on top was that you gave space for the very simple early quest in the #10 space. There isn't much to it, considering how much more storytelling room there was in later expansions for these things, but I was always impressed how Blizzard was able to imbed so much feeling into what was just a basic "Go to this new area" 2 part quest. I always cite it when I try to explain how deep some of these quests can be. Glad you appreciated it too.

#1 will always be "The Fate of Val'sharah" with Ysera's death; #2 is "Lost in Battle" (Mankrik's wife); and #3 is "Kyle's Gone Missing!", hands-down.

The Night Elf version of "A Special Surprise" in the Death Knight Starting zone. It's hard to put into words, so I'll just quote the NPC: "You don't remember me? When you were a child your mother would leave you in my care while she served at the Temple of the Moon. I held you in my arms and fed you with honey and sheep's milk to calm you until she would return. You were my little angel." Sooo....yeah.

The saddest quests that i think i've ever done was Ysera in ValSharah, Saving Darnassus and as alliance we had to kill the Marshal guy who was cursed by the drust in Drustvar and the Legion opening where we lost Varian...

This remains my favorite quest line in history. His voice is part of my love of it.

the runas quest always gets me. When he says "Are you still there, I can't see you anymore" it always reminds me of meruem and komugi from hxh. It always makes me tear up.

A new adition from Dragonflight to this list would be Veritistrasz' questline in the Waking Shores. I've done it on every alt I have and it makes me tear up every time when he talks about not recognising the landscape anymore, his black dragon friend he lost and he comments on the things and the letter in the time capsule.

Good video! I also giggled when you called Clarice Foster (a reference to Silence of the Lambs) "Clarence," lol

On a lore basis, the Bfa prepatch hurt me. Losing something as good as Teldrassil and almost the entire night elf race was just devastating. Learning in shadowlands that for a long time all souls had been going to the maw, including those poor citizens hurt even more. It’s definitely one of the saddest stories in wow history next to Runas the shamed

I love these vids you do

Man I love this game so much, the ability to make such heart wrenching quests is amazing

I've been listening to a few videos while doing World Quests this morning and even while I had the video just playing the the background, Runas last words still made me tear up a little bit. Man that quest was harsh

The Tirion Fordring questline from vanilla was the one that got me right in the feels. This was back before Fordring was a prominent figure in the game. He is in a state of despair because his son has become part of the Scarlet Crusade in Hearthglen and asks you to help open Taelan's eyes to what they are. After a very long chain you do just this. And when you escape Hearthglen with Taelan who is trying to return to his father, he is attacked and killed by a powerful NPC. Tirion himself runs in after in an attempt to save his son, vanquishes the NPC, but was too late and Taelan dies. This is a turning point for Tirion who was once a highlord with the Argent Crusade, fighting for life against the undead. He had essentially abandoned his post in grief after the loss of his family, but this event pulls him out of his self-exile. The final twist of the knife for Tirion's story is his death in the Legion opening scenarios, ending in the Retribution paladin weapon quests.

Great video. I remember some of these. But I also blow through quest text and missed others.

The mosswalker quest made me cry... That dialogue and story is absolutely heartwrenching...