Skip To Content
  • adore badge

53 Of The Most Heartbreaking Sentences In Fantasy Books

"Always."

We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about the most heartbreaking sentences from fantasy literature. Here are some of their most heartwrenching responses.

2. "The Potters smiled and waved at Harry and he stared hungrily back at them, his hands pressed flat against the glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach them."

—J.K. Rowing, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Suggested by Minjee Kim, Facebook

3. "Every atom of me and every atom of you...We'll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams...And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won't just be able to take one, they'll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we'll be joined so tight..."

—Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass

Suggested by Annie Hedlund, Facebook

4. "You know nothing, Jon Snow," she sighed, dying.

—George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords

Suggested by Mario Sanz, Facebook

6. "The worst moments, when, sitting alone at breakfast, she had realized that she had forgotten the precise blue of his eyes or the depth of his laugh; that like the sound of Jem's violin, they had faded into the distance where memories are silent."

—Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess

Suggested by Cristina Gonzalez, Facebook

7. "All paid homage but the king of Avaric, who wept, and the bandit queen, who could not console him."

—Meredith Ann Pierce, The Pearl of the Soul of the World

Suggested by Ali Phelps, Facebook

8. "I love you too, but my time with you has passed."

—Garth Nix, Abhorsen

Suggested by Ginger Lee Thomason, Facebook

9. "As much as I might wish for a reason I could understand, in my heart, and not only in the dark intuitive part of me that shuddered away from such comprehension, it would never come."

—Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Dart

Suggested by Sara Benjamin Takacs, Facebook

11. "He howled and he howled, and abandoned himself to his agony, not caring what the future might bring, for Oromis was dead, and he was alone."

—Christopher Paolini, Brinsingr

Suggested by mariekeg2

12. "You have a stone in your heart, and some days it's so heavy there is nothing to be done. "

—Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear

Suggested by Mathew Johnson, Facebook

13. "He had ecstasies innumerable that other children can never know; but he was looking through the window at the one joy from which he must be forever barred."

—J.M Barrie, Peter Pan

Suggested by Sasha Greene, Facebook

14. "My parents emptied their pockets of me and left me to evaporate on a concrete slab."

—Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

Suggested by Kelly Ferguson, Facebook

16. "Everyone and everything has a time to die."

—Garth Nix, Sabriel

Suggested by Lindsey Cepak, Facebook

17. "This was no child's tale, where the sleeping one would wake again at the magic touch of the one who loved him."

—Mercedes Lackey, Magic's Pawn

Suggested by Kim Jamie Granvik, Facebook

18. "All the tears women shed, they leave no mark on the world…"

—Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon

Suggested by angels4d4906ef4

19. "He thought, or said, or sang, I did not know that I was so empty, to be so full."

—Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

Suggested by Megan Elizabeth, Facebook

21. "Don't go where I can't follow!"

—J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

Suggested by Kimberly Stoessel, Facebook

22. "That was what death was like: trapped in a small space with a big weight holding you down for all eternity."

—John Connolly, The Book of Lost Things

Suggested by Jwalsh1105

23. "And Percy was shaking his brother, and Ron was kneeling beside them, and Fred's eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face."

—J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Suggested by Ilana Morgan Spiegel, Facebook

24. "The trouble with miracles is, they don't last long."

—Jerry Spinelli, Star Girl

Suggested by Alexandra Melikian, Facebook

26. "Sometimes, we give the best of our hearts uncritically — to those who hardly think of us in return."

—T.H. White, The Once and Future King

Suggested by Amy Krintz, Facebook

27. "She waited to change, and I waited to change, and we both wanted what we couldn't have."

—Maggie Stiefvater, Shiver

Suggested by Emma Timewell, Facebook

28. "I am tired of denying myself what I want for fear of breaking things I cannot fix."

—Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus

Suggested by Jen Moir, Facebook

29. "My life wasn't worth any more than his, but he's the one who's buried, while I get to enjoy at least a few more hours above the ground."

―Christopher Paolini, Inheritance

Suggested by sebastianthebutler

31. "There was a girl, and her uncle sold her."

—Neil Gaiman, American Gods

Suggested by Richard Philbin, Facebook

32. "'Be well,'" he said, and then an orange flame blossomed in the center of his chest."

—Eoin Colfer, The Opal Deception

Suggested by muggleborntorun

33. "She was tired in her bones, but she rallied her energy one last time and told him of the years in Rifthold, of stealing Asterion horses and racing across the desert, of dancing until dawn with courtesans and thieves and all the beautiful, wicked creatures in the world."

—Sarah J. Maas, Heir of Fire

Suggested by oliviae4f710cd76

34. "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

Stephen King, The Dark Tower VII

Suggested by timothyjc

36. "She had made him leave his old self behind and come into her world, and then before he was really at home in it but too late to go back, she had left him stranded there—like an astronaut wandering about on the moon."

—Katherine Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia

Suggested by ChelleGBelle

37. "Then she was pressing her little proud broke self against his face, as close as she could get, and then they died."

—Phillip Pullman, The Subtle Knife

Suggested by isabellem49a01e24a

38. "With his heart falling into a black abyss, Thomas pulled the trigger."

―James Dashner, The Death Cure

Suggested by Afnan

39. "He can sleep anywhere, Jace had said, and he almost looked as if he were sleeping now, in his father's lap, but Clary knew he wasn't."

—Cassandra Clare, City of Glass

Suggested by alicen6

41. "I can feel his presence here in every stone he has touched, every person he has lifted up, every street and alley and city that he has changed in the few years of his life, because he is the Republic, he is our light, and I love you, I love you, until the day we meet again I will hold you in my heart and protect you there, grieving what we never had, cherishing what we did."

—Marie Lu, Champion

Suggested by abbylllll

42. "Then Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and together, holding hands, he and Annabeth fell into endless darkness."

Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena

Suggested by An'Elise Magnuson, Facebook

43. "It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die."

―Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

Suggested by pennyalenat

44. "I hope no one who reads this book has been quite as miserable as Susan and Lucy were that night; but if you have been - if you've been up all night and cried till you have no more tears left in you - you will know that there comes in the end a sort of quietness."

—C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Suggested by danalil

46. "'I've never felt so… light,' he said softly, and then he smiled, and closed his eyes, and died."

—Cassandra Clare, City of Heavenly Fire

Suggested by annas496f481b5

47. "One never learns how the witch becomes wicked or if it was the right choice for he — is it ever the right choice?"

—Gregory Maguire, Wicked

Suggested by pawise2014

48. "Finally, I said, very quietly, 'I don't know if I'm one of the good guys anymore.'"

—Jim Butcher, Skin Game

Suggested by lauragelderh

49. "Every day, thousands of confessions are kept from their would-be confessors, none of these people knowing that their never-admitted secrets all boil down to the same three words: I am afraid."

—Maggie Stiefvater, The Dream Thieves

Suggested by MagicandMusic

51. "And now, all these years later, it seemed to him that the most horrible fact of human existence was that broken hearts mended."

—Stephen King, Wizard and Glass

Suggested by HanSteffen

52. "He ripped his cold magic from the air and turned it inward, wrapping it around his heart."

—Sarah J Maas, Heir of Fire

Suggested by Rabbipaula

Want to be featured in similar BuzzFeed posts? Follow the BuzzFeed Community on Facebook and Twitter!