I was re-reading the Herald Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey, and I knew what was coming, and I still cried at the choosing of Vanyel.
I was curious, if any of y’all have a scene in a book that gets to you every time you read it, no matter how many times you read it?
Mine is the aforementioned choosing of Vanyel with the deaths of Old Dan and Little Ann being a close second.
I think the third would be the at the end of Divided Allegiance (Book 2 - Deed of Paksenarrion), when Paksenarrion, stripped of her powers, finds the ability to care about others more than herself and we learn about it from the Marshals’ letters.
I figure since I’m asking for scenes from literature that move you, I better label the thread as open spoilers.
Oh! And from Code Name Verity, “kiss me quick!” Actually, I cried a lot during that one. It’s a wonderful book but I don’t know when I’ll be ready to read it again.
Robert Heinlein’s short story “The Man Who Traveled in Elephants” has a scene that always makes me cry a little. The storie’s protagonist is watching a huge parade, an assembly of all the best local traditions from around the US. At one point there is a group of elderly military veterans passing. Some must ride because “merciful Heaven forgive us, they could not walk.”
I suppose you have to read the whole story to get the mood, but I always cry a little there. At the end of the story, when the protagonist sees what awaits him in the parade, I always have a happy tear or two.
This paragraph sets me up… “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there–on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”
… and the next paragraph has me teary. Part of it is in celebration of Sagan’s introspective look at mankind. But more meaningful is the sadness in it all. I weep for the tragedy that envelops humanity.
The Man in the Iron Mask, by Alexandre Dumas, when D’Artagnan has to choose between the real king and the imposter. It is not as easy a choice as the movies make it.
In This House of Brede, by Rumer Godden–when Dame Philippa tells how her son died.
The Warrior’s Apprentice, by Lois McMaster Bujold–when Miles tells his father why he became a mercenary.
Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon, by Spider Robinson–when Jake says he used to have a wife and daughter. Then he fixed his own brakes. “I saved thirty dollars, easy.”
When Harry Potter learns the truth about his scar and the fact that he must die to fully defeat Voldemort. His decision to go to Volemort anyway is powerful. Combine that with the fact he sees and talks to his parents on the way and…
