Thanks for this extra comment! I haven't read #2, but agree it's complicated in a way that may or may not help mitigate the tear-jerkiness; I just couldn't figure out how to hint at how it's complicated without the help of a spoiler cut.

(I may also just be personally susceptable to this specific genre of character annihilation. . .I didn't even especially love the character in question before the thing happened, but when it did I cried buckets).