I'll start.

I was around those planes south of Solitude. I came across a small lake. It was night, the lake looked beautiful. No enemies were nearby. I walked to the lake and found a dead lady laying on a rock, with no clothing on her. Next to her was a diary. She was some kind of prisoner and someone let her go for a night or something like that. I don't remember, it was a while ago. It was her favorite lake.
I think she was more than just murdered as she didn't have any clothing on
I put her body into the lake and dropped a few flowers. It was very sad, brought a tear into my eye.

How about you guys?

I unknowingly entered a tomb tied to a Bard's college quest, and heard the story of the Bard ghost seeking revenge on the king who imprisoned him.

It brought a tear to my eye when, after killing the king, he brings out a lute, starts playing, and thanks me as he disappears.

I find such things great in the game but I must confess I was nowhere near shedding a tear at any event I've encountered so far.
I find these random events enjoyable, whether happy or sad.

Well not exactly sad, more like disturbed and sick to my stomach.


Went into a bandt hide-out, read a chef's journal, then walked into his kitchen. I nearly threw up and kept on walking.

Meeko.

Finding Sinderion's corpse was sad because I liked him a lot in Oblivion. It especially got to me because when I found his little lab I got psyched thinking I was gonna meet him.

I also found her. She wrote in her diary that her father didn't want her to go swimming in that water pool as it was too dangerous but she liked so much feeling the fresh water on her skin that she returned to it despite the Forsworns around. Her clothes and a nice collar were neatly placed on the rock. But in the water 2 Forsworns arrows explain what really happened. They killed her but didn't approach her as the clothes and the expensive collar were still there. I was sad also and decided to go kill the Forsworns all around the place...

Nothing.

My Imperial feels no sadness, but he is very protective of his friends.

I stumbled across a camp with two dead named NPCs and one sabre cat. That was sad.

It was also sad to find the ghosts of Helgi in the burned down house in Morthal.

And the poor kids at the Riften orphanage...

Listening to sapphires story

The story of Frostflow Lighthouse really got to me because when I first saw the lighthouse I thought it was going to be a nice house with a questgiver and group of NPCs or something like that, but instead it was a tale of horror and rage that really got me into the game for the time I spent doing that story.

Another sad story is that of Meeko, found at Meeko's Shack in the woods south-west-ish of Morthal. That poor fella...

Finding Sinderion, the alchemist from Oblivion, was quite sad, and so were the numerous lost stories you can find in the northern glaciers and ice sheets in the Winterhold and Pale Holds, especially the ship wrecks.

There is definitely quite a sad and depressing part of this game.

This^ is the only thing that has really 'bothered' me so far. Anyone know what quest lets me kill that [censored]?

Forget the name of the dead guy that the skeevers were eating, probably been there for months.

You kill the [censored] right then and there. I prefer killing her painfully with the Staff of Magnus but that's just me. However, be warned that killing her and reporting her to Aventus Arentino in Windhelm triggers the Dark Brotherhood Questline.

Having to kill the Orc bard for the DB questline.

He was just trying to bring music to the world.

Discovering a killed the first dragon so fast that none of the guards died, meaning I didn't get a free Whiterun Guard shield to put in Breezehome. saddest moment in the game right there...

I was exploring exploring what I thought would be another undead dungeon. Outside and inside there were hostile ghosts. "Run away while you still can!" "I don't want to do this" "Please forgive me". Someone or something was forcing these souls to remain on Nirn instead of moving on to the afterlife, forcing them to kill when they'd rather not. When you kill ghosts, do you destroy the spirit?

Frostflow Lighthouse. Like an above posted said, I thought it was going to be a cozy place. The families journals were heartbreaking.

The story wasn't sad for me, sort of expected really, until I found the bloodstained note about why Dad hid the dagger

Yeah that lighthouse was pretty full on. I think that story has grabbed me more than any of the other quests.

I concur with the lighthouse thing, but one thing that really made me sad was stumbling upon http://i.imgur.com/lekdx.jpg. The Giant did not attack me or give me any "back-off" warning. He merely stared down at his fallen friend. I joined him in a brief moment of silence before leaving him in peace.

On the contrary, you either make their spirit "inactive" for a time, until they essentially "respawn," or you send their spirit to the Dreamsleeve, which is where pretty much everyone goes when they die. You're doing them a favor, regardless.

The Dragon Cult temple near Riften was pretty awful, especially the alchemy garden and the journal that goes with it. However, the thing that really got to me was in the Markarth area; there were two dead lovers who wanted to run away together, and I believe some sort of wild animal that had killed them just as they were preparing to do so.

TES can be an incredibly depressing series sometimes.

Having to kill Narfi, the poor, crazy beggar who lives in Iverstead. The worst part was finding out from Skyrim Wikia that you could kill his clone with cheats and still have it count toward the DB kill. Both his parents either died or abandoned him and his sister. Then he lost his sister to unknown foul play a year before the DB got a contract to snuff him. All that emotional trauma of losing all his family members finally drove him barking mad. Can't figure out who would want to kill the poor, harmless bastard to this day. Who ever did it was pretty souless.

*Spoilers*

Saddest thing for me. After doing so much for the companions i started getting really attatched to the lot. And down the road, i starting liking it more and more. But then, the leader asks me to do him a favor. In his old age, he desires to get rid of the wolf blood that has plagued him. And does not wish to die and be trapped in the wilderness as a werewolf to hunt all for eternity. I do the task, and bring the witches heads he required for the ceremony. Usually i would go werewolf on companion quests, but because it was in honor of Kodlak, i did otherwise. I beat the sister witches and returned home to Jorvaskrr. Only to find bodies in the streets.

I first wondered, "Did a dragon attack?", but no, to my horror, it was the silverhand. The cursed warriors of the silverhand lay scattered around. Aela stood triumphant over them, and i thought "wow nice going!". But it soon changed. I came inside and found Kodlak laying bear chested and dead. Companions gathered around him. I felt that i failed. That maybe, if i had responded some other way to being a werewolf myself, this wouldnt of happend. But i pressed on.

Later, after his burial, i was tasked to fetch a personal fragment of the legendary axe, that Kodlak kept. So as i went to retreive it, i found his diary. In it was his records and thoughts of me. How he saw him and myself in his dream, fighting side by side and taking down the werewolves. And we both were free to go to sovengard. I saw how much hope he had to go to the glorious place of his ancestors. And now, he was unable to.

I felt like "this svcks". I finished up that night and went to bed thinking Kodlak deserved better.

The next night, i returned, finding that vengeance would indeed be done in honor of Kodlak. In this quest, like the past one, i rebuked my werewolf blood, in honor of my fallen brother. After such we finally figured out how to free him.

And when i finally slew Kodlaks wolf spirit, and knew he was free to go to Sovengard, that was one of the best feelings ever.

I have a hard time feeling involved with anything the NPCs say, I think its the mediocre and generic voice acting that just makes everything feel so meh.

As for my favorite sad moment, Meeko definitely.