Tear-jerking 101

[ZenBear]

I have a lot of ideas for fun NPCs and story arcs intended to pull at the heartstrings of my players. I’m curious to hear about what, if any, event has ever made you or your players tear up or choke back sobs in previous games?

One of my ideas I’m eager to try is the saga of Dougal Drumbelly and Grunbeld the Slayer. Two dwarves, one a Barbarian seeking an honorable death to redeem some great failure in his past, the other a Bard intent to see his friend’s story to its end and spread the tale thereafter, galavanting across the realm slaying ever more dangerous monsters. The players will know of their coming when they hear their rumbling voices singing their favorite song (https://youtu.be/ytWz0qVvBZ0).

These legends will make sporadic appearances, sometimes coming to the aid of the party in dire straights, until one day disaster strikes. In his ever deepening desperation to find that one final blaze of glory, Grunbeld takes on steeper odds. Dougal follows dutifully, and gets in over his head. Dougal dies, and Grunbeld is left to mourn the loss of the only friend he still had. The last time the party sees him, Grunbeld’s cracking voice carries on the wind, “I am a dwarf and I’m digging a hole...” as he digs his friend’s grave.

I can only hope that my players will be invested in these NPCs enough by the time the climax hits. I’ve heard stories from other games about NPCs who were incredibly important to the party and how upset they were when that NPC dies, but it’s always been some random character with no intended relevance at all that the players arbitrarily decide to make a permanent tag-along. Have any of you managed to intentionally cultivate an NPC into a valued member of the team, and/or do you have suggestions for how I should do it?

[mgshamster]

I don't think I've ever done it as a GM, but I had people tell me I've done it as a player (on PBP games).

Here's one such example. I was playing Jysson, a level 5 elven ranger. His allies are Gloriana - a human fighter, and Pindleton - a Halfling Rogue.

We had gotten into a battle with a couple of giants who were leading a small orcish army into a town. We were defending the town, and we were playing a mix of our own PCs as well as several NPCs in town. The fate of the NPCs we controlled during battle determined what quests would be available later. It was a pretty fun campaign.

My own PC had nearly single handedly defeated one of the two giants before being taken out of the fight by the other giant throwing a huge boulder at him.

Anyways, here's the post:

Jysson wakes up to see Gloriana and Pindleton hovering over him, their faces full of concern and worry. His vision is blurry and his head hurts, but he's uncertain if it's from the hangover or from the giant rock.

The rock! The Giants!

He bolts upright, only to have Gloriana push him back down. Pindleton's hand rests on his shoulder; he too, keeping Jysson pinned. Jysson's wounds are too severe for him to be rushing about. They wrap his head in bandages, and help him - slowly - to his feet. They help him walk, Gloriana and Pindleton each have an arm around his shoulder. Gloriana walks; Pindleton flies.

As he looks around, he sees the carnage wrought. But more importantly - to him at least - are the two bodies of those hell-brought giants.

We won.

He smiles.

We really won.

His smile broadens.

WE WON! He yells, one fist rising I'm the air. F%#* YEAH WE WON! Holy hell, how did we do that?!

He looks over to Pindleton and Gloriana, I probably wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you two. I tell ya, everything I thought I knew about humans and halflings was wrong; you two are as worthy as any elf I've ever known.

===================================

Later that day, after he learned about the ultimate sacrifice made by the people of the town, Jysson volunteered for burial duty. He spent the evening hours digging graves in the ground so the dead may be honored.

===================================

There he sat, as the sun set, right by her grave. Both knees on the ground, he sat on his heels. He was covered in dirt and grime and dried blood - some his own, some not. His head still had a blood soaked bandage wrapped around it, despite the wounds having closed hours earlier from healing magic.

There he sat, as the sun set, a half empty bottle of wine clutched in one hand. His lifted his arm, and the bottle was one swallow empty more. His body ached from the exertion, from the battle, from his wounds. Another swallow of wine emptied from the bottle.

There he sat, as the sun set, tears falling to the ground. She was the only one. The only one who's hatred burned in her eyes the way it burned in his. The only one who stood on the ground beside him against the giants. The only one who stood to them face to face and didn't make it. The only one.

There he sat, the sun long set. The bottle long empty. The tears still flowing.

There he sat.

[mephnick]

Literally never. I'm far too dead inside for anyone to make me cry in a table-top game.

[Waterdeep Merch]

I had a player that made a very awful mistake regarding a regular person who, while a jerk, was definitely not a devil, and his corpse following his murder proved this. In a severely wrong-headed decision, in and out of game, he decided that the appropriate measure was to have his character kill himself.

This was essentially an emotional assault he was directing at me for anger that, ultimately, wasn't even about me (we had words about this later), but this isn't what everyone really remembers about the incident. There was an NPC by the name of Alyce- 8 years old, precocious, recently made an orphan by the war that the players and their caravan had been escaping before finding themselves in an undead kingdom where the sun never shines. She had attached herself to this player, looking up to him as a surrogate father. She had a tendency to sneak off after the party a lot, and everyone had specific experiences with protecting and raising her. The wood elf land druid tried to teach her history and nature, earning himself the moniker 'Uncle Boring'. The otherwise evil stout halfling GOO warlock taught her magic and how to stand up for herself around bullies. The high elf archer showed her how to use a bow and sneak past guards around the caravan. The human moon druid used to play with her, using his wild forms to amuse her. Literally the entire party went out of their way to roleplay with Alyce. They even made a custom miniature for her- the players did, something I've never seen before. Just so that I'd use her more.

The players had to tell Alyce that she had lost a second father in less than a year. They debated who had to be the one to tell her. Alyce became a withdrawn, sullen wreck, completely devastated. She was shattered, and so was the party.

This got repaired after a very long argument with the player that thought murder and suicide were appropriate things to do in a campaign, especially given that he did this specifically to hurt me. We brought him back as a weird revenant under the control of an interested trio of hags, which did some cool things for the campaign at least. It brightened Alyce back up, too, enough that she became the adored adopted daughter of the party again.

However, that game never entirely recovered from making Alyce lose it like that. They became increasingly worried about her mental state in-game, and loathe to put her in danger like before.

Eventually, the awkwardness that resulted from this incident was partly to blame for killing this game early, a few months later. That and putting it on hiatus for nearly a year to play a different game. But Alyce, and what happened to her here, are what everyone remembers best.

[Arelai]

You’re more likely to get a reaction from something bad happening to a player.

[ZenBear]

@Waterdeep Merch: **** dude, way to bury the lead, I thought you were talking about an irl suicide from that first paragraph! That’s an interesting story. Obviously the cute little girl aspect got everyone’s attention, but I doubt it would have mattered as much if they hadn’t personally invested time roleplaying with her. That’s applicable. Thanks!

[Waterdeep Merch]

@Waterdeep Merch: **** dude, way to bury the lead, I thought you were talking about an irl suicide from that first paragraph! That’s an interesting story. Obviously the cute little girl aspect got everyone’s attention, but I doubt it would have mattered as much if they hadn’t personally invested time roleplaying with her. That’s applicable. Thanks!
Haha, jeez, I hadn't even realized I'd done that. Sorry, I edited it for a bit more clarity.

But yeah, I discovered from Alyce that simply making an NPC that the players like is an easy way to get them emotionally invested. A little girl that looks up to the party and wants to be with them more than anything proved to be incredibly effective, and hurting her feelings managed to get to the players more than any random NPC deaths I could possibly concoct.

[Laserlight]

Making an NPC the party will get attached too...I'll use an example from a couple of years back, a barmaid / prostitute in the inn that the PCs used as their base. Juliette had an easy to remember name. She was helpful, and consequently the party interacted with her a lot--getting her to run errands, introduce them to people, guide them to locations in town, and pass along information to them. She wasn't a combat build, so she never outshone the party members, but she still fought alongside them on a couple of occasions -- and got stabbed, so they had the opportunity to bandage her and carry her back to the inn and wonder if she was going to survive. She had some suffering but dealt with it fairly bravely : "No sir, well, I was betrothed, sir, but he hung himself the day before the wedding, and I don't reckon I ever will get married, sir, for who'd have a used harlot to wife? But I get by, sir, and if I don't have a husband and a garden and a riding horse, still at least I've a roof and a bed and food enough, usually. May I get you another round of ale, sir?"

Before the party headed up to the highlands, the rogue gave her all his gold so she could go back to the homeland and have a substantial dowry.

[Mercurias]

It depends on how you play it out.

Have the Bard convince the Barbarian the quest is one that can be won, and have it tie in with the quests the PCs are on so that their contacts are not only frequent, but positive.

Avoid annoying songs. Be spare with it, or maybe have the Bard love singing lots of different songs while the Barbarian only loves the one.

For bonus points, have the Barbarian be a bit stoic and refuse to sing, no matter how much his Bard friend tries to get him to sing along. Finding one's death is serious business, after all.

By the end, have the Bard be so into these adventures that he's spurring the Barbarian on, always confident that his best friend's honorable death would be staved off for another day, and so their adventures and stories will continue for a long time.

Then as the Bard slowly realizes they finally came to the last one, the one that will kill his best friend, have the Bard take the hit for the Barbarian. No story is worth his partner's life, not when he has so much to live for.

At the funeral, have the broken Barbarian sing his favorite song as a sad, cracking, mournful lullaby as he lays his friend to rest, in a mountain far from home. Have him use his axe as a grave marker and leave his quest for an honorable death behind. Too many regrets. Too many memories.

[ZenBear]

It depends on how you play it out.

Have the Bard convince the Barbarian the quest is one that can be won, and have it tie in with the quests the PCs are on so that their contacts are not only frequent, but positive.

Avoid annoying songs. Be spare with it, or maybe have the Bard love singing lots of different songs while the Barbarian only loves the one.

For bonus points, have the Barbarian be a bit stoic and refuse to sing, no matter how much his Bard friend tries to get him to sing along. Finding one's death is serious business, after all.

By the end, have the Bard be so into these adventures that he's spurring the Barbarian on, always confident that his best friend's honorable death would be staved off for another day, and so their adventures and stories will continue for a long time.

Then as the Bard slowly realizes they finally came to the last one, the one that will kill his best friend, have the Bard take the hit for the Barbarian. No story is worth his partner's life, not when he has so much to live for.

At the funeral, have the broken Barbarian sing his favorite song as a sad, cracking, mournful lullaby as he lays his friend to rest, in a mountain far from home. Have him use his axe as a grave marker and leave his quest for an honorable death behind. Too many regrets. Too many memories.

I'll be saving these suggestions. Thanks for the input!

Your comment about the Bard goading on the Barbarian got my mind going in new directions, and I suddenly remembered one of my other main inspirations for DMing. Dark Souls!

One of the greatest tragedies of Dark Souls is, in my opinion, the tale of Siegmeyer and Sieglinde of Catarina (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdliu3JOSYQ). The players, with the best of intentions, repeatedly save Siegmeyer along their journey, helping him overcome obstacles he couldn't handle on his own. With each obstacle circumvented through your interference, Siegmeyer loses a bit more of his reason to live. Toward the end of his journey, he offers to sacrifice his own life to aid you. If you accept and flee, he dies a glorious death and seemingly is at peace. If you stay and fight, you can save his life. In so doing, you condemn him to insanity and his daughter to patricide. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as the saying goes. So it might go for the party and their dealings with the dwarven duo. Perhaps at first Dougal and Grunbeld aid the party, but as they gain in power the party turns the tables and aids the dwarves. Dougal, so enraptured by the growing legend of his friend and desiring to save him from his self-destructive path, urges the party to help in Grunbeld's battles. Over and over again, the party saves him and over and over he hurls himself into more and more dire straights. In the final battle, Grunbeld offers to sacrifice himself, and Dougal screams bloody murder refusing to let that happen. If the players accept Grunbeld's sacrifice, he dies a hero and is redeemed. If they stand and fight with him, Dougal dies instead, and Grunbeld's heart is shattered...

[Estrillian]

It actually happens quite often in the games I run, but not always intentionally.

A recent example from only a few sessions ago. My players have been in town (Yartar as it happens) for some weeks now, trying to root out a cult that has agents everywhere. Two agents in particular have been a real thorn in their side, they referred to them as "The Fox Faces" from the fox masks that they wear. They have encountered in them in combat a couple of times, but have never been able to pin them down enough to defeat them (in the first encounter they managed to trick the jumpy ranger into shooting the rogue in the back by mistake), despite trying — so there is a well established animosity going on. i.e. the party's view of these people is nothing more than "We need to get them"

Three sessions ago they followed a lead that led them to where the two assassins were hiding. Now these assassins were actually were-fox twins by the names of Volla and Vollun. Creepy Kitsune-style people who held each other's hands and finished each other's sentences. The twins had been experimented on by the cult; they had spirit creatures implanted in their bodies that partially controlled them. Worse, they were only following the cult's increasingly brutal orders in the hope of saving their kin from the same fate (or so they thought). They also had linked hit points, Hellboy 2 style.

Anyway battle ensued (after some generally creepy rp). The sister, Volla, was out to kill the PCs, but the brother had had enough. He wanted it over, and the only way out for him was to get themselves killed by the PCs. Only that way would their kin escape punishment. So we had an extended one on one battle between Volun and one PC, while Volla was locking the rest into a room full of poison gas that she set on fire. The encounter ended with everyone in the same room. Vollun was attacking recklessly, begging for a good death that might cleanse them. Volla was desperately trying to stop him, shooting arrows at anyone who came close. The main PC refused to strike Vollun down with his own sword, claiming there was a way to redeem him. The ranger (still smarting from before perhaps?) tried to do it himself, but his non-magical blade couldn't do the job). At the last moment Vollun (with Volla pleading for him not too) ran himself through with his own sword, killing them both. There were emotions.

To make it worse, their deaths only unleashed the creatures inside them, who proceeded to tear themselves out of the bodies and destroy the whole mansion they were in.

[Lunali]

In my experience, characters that are created with the intent of the players getting attached to them usually completely fail. Instead pay attention to characters that the players found memorable and find ways to give them cameos. Also, be aware that depending on how things go down, players may become irritated/angry at the DM for killing their favorite side characters instead of sad over their deaths.

[PhantomSoul]

Also, be aware that depending on how things go down, players may become irritated/angry at the DM for killing their favorite side characters instead of sad over their deaths.

Excellent: we should be treated like the gods we are. [evil laugh]

[KorvinStarmast]

Neat thread. Some good ideas here. Thanks all.

[PhantomSoul]

And some good old banter and maybe some wit or sass can go a long way. (It's a bonus if the players can end up feeling responsible for and/or indebted to the NPC. Kids are great for the former.)

[krugaan]

Kids.

Pregnant women too, if you can stomach that. I read about an epic end fight here where the party had to escort a pregnant queen to safety, but they were trapped on a tower top by the usurper forces and she went into labor on the ruined tower top.

Pretty epic stuff, not a dry eye in the house I imagine.

[Segev]

Be careful with this. Making it something the players will see as a loss is going to risk teaching them never to care about NPCs. It will only be a vulnerability.

Consider the other side of tear-jerking: sappy happy moments where some hardship is overcome and some NPC in whom they’ve invested is given a hard-earned heartwarming moment.

The noble boy who inherited too young that has been relying on them to hold his lands together, all the while doubting himself, is torn between heartbreak and relief when a grown up noble seems to have better claim. And the party discovers the new one is evil, and goes to the important underlings to stage a coup. The boy-noble wants to help, but doesn’t see how they could do [complete plan to take back over involving knowing all the people of his holding well], only for this people to come to him and tell him that he’s already earned their loyalty and that his parents would be proud.

The bitter old warrior woman that has been their beloved but crotchety innkeeper of choice the whole campaign, who is hunted the dragon that murdered her husband years ago discovers the dragon, who has been hiding and retreating for years. The party figures out that the dragon is her husband, having lost the ability to shape shift, and helps them reconcile.

The immortal centurion who has guarded the chamber holding his wife in stasis for a thousand years finally receives the last of the keys to unlock it from the party.

(Seriously, watch the Matt Smith seasons of doctor who if you want some ideas here.)

[Goober4473]

Not exactly NPCs, but..

In my last campaign, which was a short adventure set in a dystopian future (still D&D 5e), the players were acolytes (secret police) of the "gods," which were of course actually evil. The dystopia was the result of time travel, and in the end, the players had to make a decision: use a time machine to change it back, and make it so they and everyone they ever knew never existed, or just shut the thing down and let this messed up society continue.

Throughout the game, I used flashbacks to fill out some of their character background. I would either ask a question, or set the scene then ask something about what happened next. I highly recommend doing this, as it allows you to tie backstory into what's happening right now in a way that feels natural and lets everyone at the table know what's going on. When the group first met up, I had them answer some basic questions, then a bit later had them tell me when they first truly believed in their god, after a "heretic" told them their gods were a lie. For the main part of the adventure, each player had a series of 3 flashbacks as part of a single narrative. And then I had a final flashback, just narrated by me, to finish off each of the stories that had been unfolding in their pasts, right as they had to make this huge time travel decision. Ultimately they had to fall back on the lessons their churches pretended to stand for, rather than the corruption they actually had, to make their decision.

Here are the different stories.

One of the characters was a cleric of the Deceiver, a god who it is illegal to worship, but acolytes are immune from the law, so he still has open acolytes. The church is all about lying to people for their own good, like pretending to help out terrorist organizations while actually keeping them from doing real harm. For the character's first flashback, I asked her how she first hurt someone with a lie, and she described an awful rumor she had started. Then her mother, who she later learned to be a cleric from, sat her down and explained that lies are a useful tool, but in harming others with lies, really we're just lying to ourselves, and that's never what you should do. For her second flashback, I asked her how she sought unnecessary praise, and she described a charity that she wanted everyone to know she had done the most for. Her mother then sat her down and told her, "the purest form of giving is that which no one notices, because giving is owed no accolade." For her third, I told her that she had learned her mother had made a personal sacrifice to help her, but had never said anything, and asked what it was. She said her mother had risked a lot and called in a lot of favors to make sure the player never didn't get in huge trouble for a crime. For the finale, while they considered what to do with the time machine, I described an early lesson from her mother, who told her that if people knew the whole truth, they would be terrified and unsafe, so those of us that are stronger need to help them, without letting them know what it is we do.
Another character was a fighter in service of the Dreamer, a sort of zen god, and he believed he had found enlightenment, but mostly spouted nonsense from Inspirobot (http://inspirobot.me/). His first flashback was "how did you go too far during training?" He explained how he had injured his training partner because he just gets too into fighting. In his second, I had his training partner ask him why they have to be the ones to go into danger and fight, while others get to live peaceful lives. The player replied that we can't really ever truly know, but everything happens for a reason. In his third, I asked him what extremely dangerous mission he had volunteered for, and he explained a mission where expendable trainees were going to be used to draw fire in order to storm a building taken over by heretics. For his final flashback, I explained to him that he showed up to volunteer, but his sparing partner had already taken his spot. He asked why he had done it, and his partner replied that everything happens for a reason, whether it's the gods' will or just a choice he made to protect his friend.
The halfling vengeance paladin was a worshiper of the Warrior and a former police officer in a precinct made up of nothing but cops on the edge. We had established that he always felt inadequate next to his younger brother, who was a professional "Buffball" player. The player always tries to be a hero, but doesn't feel like he is one. His flashbacks took place over a single scene, at a family barbecue thrown in honor of his brother, on the day the character was chosen to be an acolyte (which is a big deal). I asked him what accomplishment his brother had made to warrant the party, and he explained that his brother had just made it into the major leagues. His next question was, "how did your parents make your accomplishment feel lesser?" and he described how when he talked to his parents at the barbecue, they made a big deal over his brother, and mostly were just concerned for the player's safety, and didn't really congratulate him or anything. In the third, I asked him to describe how he let his brother know he didn't feel like a hero, and he had a pretty sad self-deprecating monologue. For his final flashback, I explained that his brother then responded, "you've always been [I]my[I] hero."
We had established that the dwarven sorceress had converted to her current god, the Lightbringer, later on in life, and that she had a best friend that she often confided in. For her first flashback, I asked her how her friend convinced her to go to a Lightbringer service with her, which was a pretty simple conversation. For her second I asked her what in the service convinced her to convert. She described how the sermon spoke of dedicated yourself to helping others, and that resonated with her. I then explained that the church had a call/response, where the priest would say "the sun gives without question," and the people would reply "it expects nothing in return." For her third flashback, I asked what her best friend later gave her that was unreasonably generous, and she explained that she had lost her job before becoming an acolyte, and her friend basically supported her and let her live at her place for a while. For her final flashback, I told her that, after she had gotten back on her feet, she had asked her friend why she had been so generous. Her friend responded, "the sun gives without question," and then I said to the player, "and you replied..." and let her finish, pretty choked up, with "it expects nothing in return."


The players then used the time machine, stopped the minor change that would balloon into this future, and ceased to exist. Or have ever existed.

Setting up and framing the narrative correctly is a huge part of making the emotions real.

[Specter]

I am a bit of an actor, so I can condition myself to cry depending on the scene. But some of the saddest moments I can remember are:

- When we won a battle against a fiend invasion, but a demon lord surfaced afterwards. All my EK's resources were drained, so I could do almost nothing but watch as he dragged my love to hell;
- My ranger was taking care of some orphaned kids he found hiding in a ravaged city. When we fought the sorceress behind it, she decided to kill those kids out of spite as she was dying.

Bottom line, it's about emotional attachment to loss: if these were cookie-cutter mute NPCs, I wouldn't care.

[GTNE90]

I have always found that no plan survives contact with the Players/PCs.

For various groups or Players/PCs, I have had NPCs with extensive descriptions, backgrounds, contacts, and plot points set up as potential love interests, "younger teen sister" types, "spunky young kid" types, single mother in need of help, and other similar heart warming hooks. And rather than interact with the fully fleshed out NPC, they start talking to "Grumpy Dwarf at the Bar #3" (one of only 3 NPCs in a tavern with 20 that doesn't have a name/background/etc.) and before I know it, they have crossed half a continent to seek out the person who killed "Grumpy Dwarf at the Bar #3"'s brother, forcing me to abandon the 6 adventure hooks I planned, create a new hook, conflict, dozens of NPCs with names, and story on the fly. The only saving grace is when I have a plot hook and plan for the PCs to meet the limping gnome in worn traveler clothes with a bandaged foot/ankle carrying a water damaged journal who has just entered the tavern they are in, and the PCs decide to focus on "half-elven service girl #2" who just dropped off their meal, I'll recycle the story and hooks I had from before and before too long, the quest to restore the lost princess Gloriana de Mithrian Half-Elven to her throne will be well underway. They will meet the gnome (who might be morphed into a Goliath) later.

[willdaBEAST]

In my experience, characters that are created with the intent of the players getting attached to them usually completely fail. Instead pay attention to characters that the players found memorable and find ways to give them cameos. Also, be aware that depending on how things go down, players may become irritated/angry at the DM for killing their favorite side characters instead of sad over their deaths.

I think this is some great advice. Let it happen organically, don't force some sob story upon your players. Let their direction and interests create that opportunity.

I recently had a player start crying in character, which in turn bought another player to tears. It was pretty moving and unexpected. As the DM I teased a traumatic moment in the character's backstory through a nightmare and he did the rest. It's not something I planned or encouraged, it naturally occurred in the moment.

Another key thing to consider in this respect, is your table a supportive and safe space? There's no point in having a tear jerker and getting a player to cry if the other players immediately make fun of them. You also have to read your audience and be on the same page in terms of tone and expectations. It's just as bad to force a group of players who only want interesting combat through a series of exposition heavy role-playing scenes as it is to only focus on endless combat for players who mainly want to role-play.

In my CoS campaign the party rescued an 8 year old boy from the Night Hags and he became a pivotal NPC, with emotional ties to nearly every player, despite not initially having a name in my notes. Be careful how you wield that emotional bond though, my players split the party in a desperate rescue attempt, nearly died and inadvertently killed the boy they were trying to protect from Strahd. I was trying to use him as a plot hook to get the party to Ravenloft (the boy's birthday party, Strahd also saw him as a potential heir), but 3 out of 5 members of the party cared so much about the boy that they'd do anything to prevent him from being in Strahd's clutches.

[ZenBear]

Thanks for all the input, everyone! I’m loving these stories!


Consider the other side of tear-jerking: sappy happy moments where some hardship is overcome and some NPC in whom they’ve invested is given a hard-earned heartwarming moment.

I do have some ideas for this as well. For example, another long term story arc will be The Liar and The Fool. The Liar is an infamous thief and con artist who roams the land playing lords and peasants alike, never getting caught but always making a scene. The Fool, as he even calls himself, is a great, hulking knight that pursues The Liar wherever he goes. The party will eventually learn that The Liar is a sort of demi-god of trickery, having stolen his power from some great evil in an altruistic pursuit. Eventually The Liar gets in over his head, sticking his own neck out to save the party and the world, only for The Fool to finally catch up and save him. He calls himself The Fool because only a Fool could ever love a Liar.