"But really, jail isn't so bad. I like the sad guitar ambience!"
— Investi-Gator, Investi-Gator: The Case of the Big Crime
A soundtrack can be very useful for setting the scene. The style of music tells you what the mood's going to be, and awesome moments need booming soundtracks with lots of instruments making up the sound to be even more awesome.
But with depressing moments, it's the other way around: you only need a slow and soft melody with very few instruments to know that what's happening or has just happened is supposed to be a Tear Jerker — if not for the audience, then for the characters at least.
Subtropes include Nostalgic Musicbox, Lonely Piano Piece, Playing the Heart Strings, One-Woman Wail. If the soundtrack is the melancholic-sounding version of an otherwise upbeat or triumphant song, it is also a Dark Reprise.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Naruto has lots of these, including the appropriately titled 'Sadness and Sorrow' from the original series, and 'Despair', 'Tragic' and 'Loneliness' from Naruto Shippuden.
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica:
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica has the theme of Sayaka, "Decretum
", which plays during the scenes where her despair overtakes her.
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion has the theme "This Is My Despair" which plays when Homura transforms into a Witch.
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica has the theme of Sayaka, "Decretum
- This unnamed song from YuYu Hakusho.
- Queen's Blade has one at the end of Episode 7 of the 2nd season, where Tomoe kills Shizuka.
- Bleach has Will of the Heart and Never Meant to Belong.
- Those haunting first few minutes of Grace Omega from Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade only has Gabriela Robin's singing accompanied by simple arrangements of keyboard and the occasional strings. This would get reprised in several other songs within the soundtrack.
- "Thankful Moment" in SOUND DUEL 4 of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS is composed of a gentle, yet sad melody, reserved for tearjerking and heartwarming moments, mostly involving Aoi Zaizen.
- A simple piano soundtrack accompanies several scenes of Asteroid in Love where sadness of at least some of the cast is evident, most intensely during the part of the eighth episode from the time Ao tells Mira and Mai she is moving, and the ensuring discussions on how to minimize its impact, so as to underline the sense of sadness that news gives to everyone involved.
Film — Animated
- "Sally's Song" from The Nightmare Before Christmas is noticeably softer and simpler than the rest of the movie's soundtrack. In the song, Sally talks about how she's afraid Jack will never notice how she feels about him.
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The scene where the dwarfs mourn Snow White is underscored with a quiet theme played on an organ.
- In Turning Red, the score that plays during Mei's first night that she has to deal with the red panda transformation is much simpler and quieter than most of the rest of the soundtrack. Similarly, the score that plays after Mei betrays her friends is simple and solemn as is that which plays when Mei finds her mother crying in the forest.
Film — Live-Action
- This was used quite ham-handedly in Girl in Gold Boots, where Critter would break into overly sad ballads every time it was necessary to tug the audience's heartstrings. This is parodied in one of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 host segments, where Mike strums a guitar in the same style.
- Most of the songs in the Heisei Godzilla films are upbeat or sound like they're best suited for action/suspense scenes. And, then you have the far more somber "Requiem" which plays at the end of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah while Godzilla dies.
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) uses this when Voldemort makes one last attack on Harry, trying to kill him.
- Any of the versions of the Rohan theme in the film of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers that are stated on solo hardanger fiddle.
- Used in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, when Darth Vader, formerly Anakin Skywalker, dies in front of his son Luke. The usually grandiose, sinister "Imperial March" is rendered as a somber dirge played on a single harp.
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon: "There Is No Plan", played during the scene of the Autobots getting banished from Earth, is a sad (piano, strings and quiet drums) reprise of the bombastic, epic main theme.
Live-Action TV
- In a show that wasn't afraid to break out the electric guitar for fight scenes, it's worth noting that Buffy and Angel's love theme pretty much always sounds like this. Especially when Buffy has to send Angel to hell in order to save Earth.
- The Incredible Hulk's "The Lonely Man" closing theme — piano solo. Always fitting as every episode, save the last, ends with him hitching out of town... alone again.
- Interview with the Vampire (2022):
- "...After the Phantoms of Your Former Self": A slow, melancholic version of Daniel Hart's "The Drum Was My Heart" is heard during the final two scenes, which has a lone violin for the melody and a piano for the bass. In 1916, this musical cue represents the end of the honeymoon phase for Louis de Pointe du Lac and Lestat de Lioncourt's vampire companionship because cracks have begun to appear, while in 2022, the dessert is the same one Daniel Molloy had when he proposed to his first wife Alice, and his tone of voice while he's reminiscing suggests that he misses her (or at least misses how happy they were at the start of their engagement).
- "Is My Very Nature That of a Devil": Hart repeats the convention of a solo violin with a piano bassline to convey sorrow for the track "My Very Nature That of the Devil". Louis is haunted by his mother's belief that he's the Devil as his remaining links to humanity are forcibly severed. His family are scared of his strange comportment and unearthly powers, so they want nothing more to do with him, and his businesses have ceased operations because of the enforcement of City Ordinance 4118.
- "No Pain": Basilic plays on his clarinet "In Nomine Magni" in the first 1795 Flashback sequence; the gloomy tune underscores the decay of the Children of Satan cult.
- "I Could Not Prevent It": "For a Young Violinist Again" is a wistful-sounding hammered dulcimer and single violin piece that is performed live during the section of the trial where Lestat's First Love Nicolas is presented as his Lost Lenore.
- "...After the Phantoms of Your Former Self": A slow, melancholic version
- Thunderbirds: In the episode "Move and You're Dead", sad guitar music is used when Alan and Grandma are alone on the bridge, not used in any other episodes.
Theatre
- The third act of Tristan und Isolde has Tristan waking to the sound of a shepherd's pipe playing a long, unaccompanied and very mournful old melody.
- Some versions of Les Misérables — most notably the 10th Anniversary Concert — have "The Sewers", a simple instrumental version of "Bring Him Home" that plays as the dust settles from the final battle onto the bodies of the revolutionaries, or as Valjean carries Marius's unconscious body through the sewers. The 2012 film uses the same music as Javert inspects the wreckage of the barricade and the bodies of the revolutionaries, and pins one of his medals onto Gavroche's body.
- Then there's "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables", which starts simple and sad as Marius suffers his Heroic BSoD — and in the movie, begins completely a capella to emphasize how truly alone Marius is. Same goes for "Turning", which is about peasant women (in some versions, it's implied to be the Revolutionaries' girlfriends/lovers, as it's the same actresses playing both) singing about the outcome of the revolution, and in the movie cleaning up the bodies and blood from the very men they're singing about.
- In Hamilton, "It's Quiet Uptown" is one of the simplest, saddest songs in the show. It consists of Angelica observing the Hamiltons' tandem Heroic BSoD following the death of their son Philip, and Eliza is so distraught that she only utters one line in the entire song.
Video Games
- "Alone" from ANNO: Mutationem.
- Disco Elysium is full of sadness. Pure examples are "Tiger King" and "Burn, Baby, Burn".
- "Melancholy Endless" from Master Detective Archives: Rain Code.
- RuneScape has a lot of these: "All for the Pest", "Sad Meadow", "Citharede Requiem", "Love Lost", etc.
- "Moon" and "Fortitude" from Umineko: When They Cry.
- CLANNAD tends to use either version of Shionari for this purpose as well as drama.
- Likewise, a simple piano solo from "Rush" in Dreamfall: The Longest Journey when Faith dies.
- "At The Bottom Of Night" from Chrono Trigger is a rather simple piece for the amount of emotion it evokes.
- "Theme of Sadness" from the first Suikoden game. There is also an ensemble version of this song.
- "Requiem" from Alundra is also a good example.
- The exact same song was also used in Legend of Legaia, as Cara's Theme.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask has the theme for the final hours of the Final Day, just before the moon crashes to earth and destroys Termina—a quiet, haunting synth track that overrides all other overworld themes in the game.
- "Midna's Lament" from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
- Ebon Keep town theme from Secret of Evermore. It truly evokes the image of a lonely, abandoned town.
- The music for "Abandoned Ebon Keep" in Secret of Evermore.
- Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: An entire game full of peppy, upbeat songs... and then there's "Sorrowful Angel".
- "Painful Memories" from Heavy Rain.
- "Heartbeats" by Broove in the Newgrounds game "Colour your World" and other works by Silverstitch.
- Ace Combat:
- "15 years ago" that plays during the nuclear explosion flashback and the quiet drama scene in the last mission of Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.
- From the unnamed tracks of Ace Combat: Joint Assault, we have the final music against Sulejmani when he reveals his past, a stark difference from the music right beforehand. Whether it actually evoked sadness on the other hand...
- "15 years ago"
- "Homesickness" from Tsukihime.
- Fond Memories from Secret of Mana.
- Ezio's Family from Assassin's Creed II probably counts.
- Metal Gear:
- The Eight Melodies, Smile and Tears and ESPECIALLY the Theme of Love from the Mother series.
- Emotion and N's farewell from Pokémon Black and White.
- Mass Effect 3 brings us I Was Lost Without You (at least for the first part of the song, which is also the game's love theme, it builds up towards the climax).
- As well as Leaving Earth, which has a sad piano tune backed by a bass section doing a convincing imitation of the Reaper Horn. The song is played in the beginning of the game when our heroes are forced to flee Earth in the face of the Reaper invasion.
- And of course, An End Once And For All, which is a reprise of both Leaving Earth and the Normandy theme.
- As well as Leaving Earth
- The Final Fantasy series count several:
- Aerith's Theme from Final Fantasy VII. A crushing theme for Aerith's death, which even plays during the boss battle, and which doesn't stop until the following morning, after Cloud let Aerith's body rest in peace in the lake.
- To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X. Also a Lonely Piano Piece and the game's main theme.
- Via Purifico/Path of Repentance from the same game. As haunting as it is sad, it plays over Yuna's section of the eponymous dungeon, just after she learns her religion's leaders are all hypocritical bastards, and reunites with her guardians.
- Via Purifico/Path of Repentance
- Meeting You from Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, which plays during Hope's final goodbye to Lightning. Especially the part where the Lonely Piano Piece stops and, after a brief pause, the Playing the Heart Strings starts.
- Aerith's Theme
- A Return, Indeed (Piano Version) from Lost Odyssey is another excellent example by Nobuo Uematsu.
- The sequence in Silent Hill 2 where Maria is killed by Pyramid Head (the first time, anyway) ends with James grieving alone while the sparse, mournful track "Magdalene" plays.
- The Walking Dead (Telltale) has a score of simple yet sombre songs, setting up the mood for the apocalypse and human drama quite well.
- "Prayer" from Breath of Fire IV.
- "Too Late" from I Miss the Sunrise.
- "Lost, Broken Shards" from Xenogears.
- Investi-Gator: The Case of the Big Crime: Lampshaded in Episode 3. Sad guitar music plays in the jail. When Red Herring expresses sorrow about being in jail, Investi-Gator, who is Herring's cellmate, comments on the music. (see page quote)
Web Animation
- Wolf Song: The Movie: A simple piano/violin song is used for the tragic moments, known as “The Angels Have Fallen” in the official soundtrack. It plays thrice during the whole thing, and two of them occur during some tragic death scene.
Web Video
- Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog has Penny's theme and song, a Lonely Piano Piece with her singing about how she hopes to make the world a better place.
Western Animation
- Avatar Legends:
- Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- The song that plays when Yue sacrifices herself to revive the Moon Spirit in "The Siege of the North, Part 2".
- Iroh's song as he burns incense for his son in "The Tales of Ba Sing Se".
- Also, the music playing during the final Agni Kai between Zuko and Azula in "Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang". There is just something so final about the score, probably because it's only slowly beating drums and string instruments playing a series of chords. It's oddly fitting.
- In the Sequel Series, The Legend of Korra, this is used in "Turning the Tides" when Amon takes away Lin's bending.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: