With its final few episodes of season 4 on everyone's minds, Stranger Things has a chokehold on the pop culture zeitgeist, with fans so emotionally invested in the stories of these Hawkins residents. The show loves playing with these emotions, dealing heartbreaking blows to fans often through quotes from the characters and some of the tragic things they endure and reveal.

It helps that the show's writing has been terrific and that the performers are of such a high level, and, through them, some quotes have and will continue to reduce fans to tears.

Terry Ives' Tragic Attempt To Save Her Daughter

"No! No! She's My Child! No!"

Terry Ives tries to find Jane and take her back from Dr Brenner in Stranger Things

One of the most heartbreaking aspects of Stranger Things is the ordeal with Terry Ives, having her daughter stolen from her by Brenner, and the subsequent atrocities Brenner would do in using Jane and other children.

This quote gets shown to fans through memories of Terry attempting to take Jane back before being dragged away and having her mental state decimated by Brenner and his workers. Everything to do with Brenner and his experiments is pretty harrowing, but how it ruined Terry's life, and likely other parents too, is upsetting.

Mike Lashes Out After Being Reunited With El

"You're A Stupid, Disgusting, Lying Piece Of S***. Liar! Liar! Liar!"

Mike fights with Hopper after El returns in Stranger Things

Throughout season 2, Mike is seriously distressed and angry, missing El, who was being kept safe in secret by Hopper. When the two reunite, it is a beautiful, heartwarming moment. It is also followed up by a big blowout between Hopper and Mike.

This line comes from a teary-eyed Mike who takes 353 days of sadness out on Hopper, who then proves how great of a father figure he is and why he is a fan-favorite character by understanding and embracing Mike. The sadness of the moment comes purely from Mike basically breaking down in a state that fans had yet to see him in before, it was hard to watch and made fans immediately switch from happy tears to sad.

The Destruction Of Castle Byers

"So Stupid. Stupid!"

Will destroys Castle Byers in Stranger Things

Will has never had an easy time of things in the show, struggling with something or another in every season, and in season 3, when he feels as though he is losing his friends and his childhood, it comes to a head by his destroying Castle Byers.

The scene is intense and emotional, and it is heartbreaking watching Will break like that. This is the only thing he says in the scene while looking at pictures of his friends. Will basically lost the last two years of his childhood due to Upside Down, and he just wanted to hold onto that a bit by playing D&D with his friends who were not sensitive to his feelings at all.

El Saves Everyone

"Goodbye, Mike."

Eleven fighting the Demogorgon in a classroom in Stranger Things

Season 1 is such a brilliant season of television, and its finale has so much to love. Not least of all, there's El saving everyone from the Demogorgon and saying a heartbreaking goodbye to her new friends.

In a predictable plot twist, El lived but the sacrifice still works and gets fans feeling emotional, particularly when she says this line. It is especially sad since she would go nearly a year without these friends she grew to love, and vice-versa, they would go without her. The moment is a powerful end to a phenomenal season.

Hopper & Joyce Save Will

"Please, Please Come Back To Me. Just..."/"Come On, Kid!" "Please, Please Wake Up."

Jim Hopper Joyce Byers and Will Byers in Stranger Things

When Hopper and Joyce perform CPR and desperately try to save Will in season 1, it is one of the most visceral and affecting scenes in the show, thanks in large part to the trauma of both parental figures.

Joyce is begging and pleading for her son to come back to her, the son that she was so determined to fight for all season. Then there is Hopper, whose attempts to save Will are cut with flashbacks to when he lost his daughter, making the entire moment and all of his pleas with Will to be okay all the more powerful.

Hopper Opens Up

"I Am The Curse."

are-you-following-stranger-things-cast-instagram

Given that his vol. 1 storyline has been purely his imprisonment in Russia, Hopper has not had the easiest time in season 4. Outside of his reunion with Joyce, arguably the highlight of his time there (for audiences) so far is his powerful monologue to Dmitri about needing Joyce and El and being a curse.

This entire gut-wrenching speech, performed wonderfully by David Harbour, definitely came as unexpected. In a season full of pretty poignant, upsetting moments, Hopper talking about his daughter and his Vietnam past manages to stand out, and this whole monologue will surely make his inevitable reunion with El all the more powerful.

Will Just Wants It To Be Over

"I Felt It, Everywhere."

Will tells Joyce that he wants it to be over in Stranger Things

Just because he was out of the Upside Down does not mean life got extensively better for Will Byers in season 2. He is still connected to the Mind Flayer, haunted and terrified, which is best shown in this agonizing exchange with his mom.

Describing one of his episodes where he sees the Mind Flayer, Will breaks down in tears, clearly traumatized and horrified by whatever is going on with him. He goes on to say, "I just want this to be over," and it is impossible not to sympathize with him, especially given that even after escaping the Mind Flayer, he has to struggle with other issues in subsequent seasons.

El Brings Billy Back

"She Was Really Pretty, And You Were Happy."

El helps save Billy from the Mind Flayer in Stranger Things

Billy was not a good person throughout most of his run in Stranger Things, but while not completely justifying some of his actions, they were made understandable in season 3 through El, who let audiences in on the secrets of his past involving his mother and made Billy sympathetic.

It is these memories that allow El to bring Billy back from the control of the Mind Flayer and ultimately save her life in what ends up being a tragic sequence. The conversation El has with Billy is outstanding and gut-wrenching. Billy's subtle nod and tears when El tells him how pretty his mother was, followed by El putting her hand on his face, is enough to tear anyone's walls down.

Max's Letter To Billy

"Dear, Billy..."

Max sat at Billy's grave in Stranger Things

Max has shone in Stranger Things season 4 thus far, particularly in those first four episodes, which culminate in what is already one of the show's most iconic sequences, the "Running Up That Hill" scene.

Just before that '80s hit gets played, though, Max sits down and reads her letter to Billy. Max is intensely truthful and vulnerable in the scene, and Sadie Sink's performance is exceptional. Speaking on the potential relationship the two could have had, Max, someone who always portrays the picture of strength, tries hard not to break down completely. Whether Billy made up for some of the things he did before death or not, after Starcourt, the two could very well have had a blossoming bond as siblings. Couple that with the fact that it looked as though Max was about to die, and the entire "Dear, Billy..." monologue is season 4's saddest quote thus far.

Hopper's Letter

"But Please, If You Don't Mind, For The Sake Of Your Poor Old Dad, Keep The Door Open Three Inches."

Eleven and Hopper's letter in Stranger Things

If there is one thing that most Stranger Things can agree on, it is that there are few, if any, moments that reduce them to sniveling messes of tears, like when El reads Hop's letter after what first appeared to be his death.

Especially cut with Hopper reading the letter to himself, that last line is crushing. The two have one of the best dynamics in the series, and their reunion will be a moment for the ages. Yet a reunion will unlikely make this moment any easier to handle on rewatch. Arguably the only moments sadder than this come without dialogue, those being the 'death' of Hopper, El realizing Hop had 'died,' and the Byers moving homes. There are, of course, many more deeply sad moments in the show, too, but who can argue against Hop's poignant letter.

NEXT: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Stranger Things