When I read that scene for the first time in the book when I was 12 years old - bawled my eyes out and stopped reading the book for at least several weeks. I had grown up watching the old'Raskin Animated "The Hobbit" since like I was 6 (watched it who knows how many times) and had read that book at least 3-4 times by the time I started LOTR. For me, they couldn't have picked a more favorite character to 'kill off' and whew... it hit like a train.
And for alllllll the numerous movies, tv shows, and songs that hit me (every time) - most of the lists in this thread I totally /agreed /metoo - there's one line, from one scene, from one musical (and the movie) that gets me EVERY TIME.
No matter that I'm 43 and have listened to Les Miserables who knows how many times since I was 12 and first discovered it - at the end, in Valjohn's last words/letter to his daughter:
"To love another person is to see the face of God."
Gets me - every GD time. I can hold it together up until that line. Tears flow. oyvey - just HITS ME! /lol/