History Characters / HeraldsOfValdemarBrightlyBurning

* {{Foil}}: Lavan is an interesting contrast with Herald-Mage Vanyel. Each was a PersonOfMassDestruction who fought against Karse, became FamedInStory, had unusual love lives, and were DoomedByCanon. Vanyel had a well-intentioned but silly mother and an [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] who both came around and became more supportive of a son who wasn't what they'd been expecting; Lavan's parents didn't know quite what to do with him and [[ParentsAsPeople tried to do their best]] for him, but their relationship became strained and worse over time. Van at sixteen had a cruel streak while at the same age Lan was far more gentle and softhearted, but while while Lan soon started SlowlySlippingIntoEvil, Van was largely heroic (although he briefly lapsed). Vanyel lived until he was nearly forty and made decisions about his own life the entire time, though his ChronicHeroSyndrome certainly weighted some choices over others. Lan died only a few months after being Chosen and was basically railroaded to his destiny. On the other hand Lan spent less of his life unhappy and exhausted, didn't endure a long period of grief, and was praised by soldiers and Heralds alike, while Van was shunned and feared.

* {{Foil}}: Lavan is an interesting contrast with Herald-Mage Vanyel. Each was a PersonOfMassDestruction who fought against Karse, became FamedInStory, had unusual love lives, and were DoomedByCanon. Vanyel had a well-intentioned but silly mother and an [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] who both came around and became more supportive of a son who wasn't what they'd been expecting; Lavan's parents didn't know quite what to do with him and [[ParentsAsPeople tried to do their best]] for him, but their relationship became strained and worse over time. Van at sixteen had a cruel streak while at the same age Lan was far more gentle and softhearted, but while while Lan soon started SlowlySlippingIntoEvil, Van was basically heroic although he briefly snapped. Vanyel lived until he was nearly forty and made decisions about his own life the entire time, though his ChronicHeroSyndrome certainly weighted some choices over others. Lan died only a few months after being Chosen without as much agency. On the other hand Lan spent less of his life unhappy and exhausted then Van did, and soldiers and Heralds alike celebrated instead of fearing him.

* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Kalira, after Lan's powers awaken. Before she appears and Chooses him his powers are completely out of his control and he almost either kills or gets killed by Herald Pol and several of the Guard when they ask what happened at his school. Her cheer, concern, and psychic {{Cooldown Hug}}s get him out of his dark moods and keep his powers controlled - when she's hurt, and especially when she dies, he [[AngstNuke completely loses it]].
* TheMagnificent: He becomes informally known as "Lavan Firestarter" while at the Collegium, dubbed so by the King himself. On the Karsite border during the war, he became "Herald Lavan Firestorm", which is what he's remembered as to future generations.

* MindlinkMates: Companions often talk in their Heralds' heads, reading their minds. People with a lifebond have a strong emotional connection that often has them sharing feelings. Put these together and there's a connection that Pol sees as unhealthy but not something that can be changed.

* {{Pyromaniac}}: Lan conceptualizes his Gift as being like a serpent or dragon curled up inside him, waking with his fear or anger and then taking great, intoxicating joy in destruction and especially death, which he feels himself consumed by. Kalira's able to suppress that aspect of him, so most of the time Lan is sickened by the memory of those thoughts, but even before she's killed he's getting to a point where he and the dragon are one and the same. On the [[
SlidingScale/{{Pyromaniac}} sliding scale]] Lan feels "the dragon" is full XXX but after it's awakened he considers himself about a 1, a number which grows and grows.

* PyroManiac: Lan conceptualizes his Gift as being like a serpent or dragon curled up inside him, waking with his fear or anger and then taking great, intoxicating joy in destruction and especially death, which he feels himself consumed by. Kalira's able to suppress that aspect of him, so most of the time Lan is sickened by the memory of those thoughts, but even before she's killed he's getting to a point where he and the dragon are one and the same.

* AngstNuke: Things happening to Kalira.

** Pol also considers Lan's lifebond with Kalira to be this, since ''Brightly Burning'' was written after Lackey became more critical of the concept. They're in each others' heads far more often than most Herald-Companion pairs, Lan will never be independent or be able to figure himself out, and when Kalira's hurt Lan can't think about anything else. While Heralds don't usually live long after their Companions are killed, Lan reacts ''very badly'' to Kalira's death and tries to light the world on fire - and only his own death contains the destruction.

* {{Foil}}: Lavan is an interesting contrast with Herald-Mage Vanyel. Each was a PersonOfMassDestruction who fought against Karse, became FamedInStory, had unusual love lives, and were DoomedByCanon. Vanyel had a well-intentioned but silly mother and an [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] who both came around and became more supportive of a son who wasn't what they'd been expecting; Lavan's parents didn't know quite what to do with him and [[ParentsAsPeople tried to do their best]] for him, but their relationship became strained and worse over time. Van at sixteen had a cruel streak while at the same age Lan was far more gentle and softhearted, but while while Lan soon started SlowlySlippingIntoEvil, Van struggled off and on with that problem. Vanyel lived until he was nearly forty and made decisions about his own life the entire time, though his ChronicHeroSyndrome certainly weighted some choices over others. Lan died only a few months after being Chosen without as much agency. On the other hand Lan spent less of his life unhappy and exhausted then Van did, and soldiers and Heralds alike celebrated instead of fearing him.
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Lan's family regards him as a lazy slacker initially. By the time the book starts, all his siblings have found places in the family business that they enjoy and have been apprenticed to work on their skills for years, but Lan has reached the age of sixteen with zero job skills by slipping out of the house first thing in the morning to spend all day with his friends. They send him to trade school, much to his dismay, in the hopes that he'll learn something more to his liking. When he's bullied terribly and tries to tell them about it, they [[AdultsAreUseless think he's just exaggerating and trying to get out of having to work]].

* ItGetsEasier: Lan is plagued by nightmares and guilt over killing his bullies, and hates the idea of killing anyone else - but after he's slow to act when Pol is attacked he decides he'll never hesitate again and starts to embrace the joy he feels in hunting and burning people.

* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Kalira, after Lan's powers awaken. Before she appears and Chooses him his powers are completely out of his control and he almost either kills or gets killed by Herald Pol and several of the Guard when they ask what happened at his school. Her cheer, concern, and psychic {{Cooldown Hug}}s get him out of his dark moods and keep his powers controlled - when she's hurt, and especially when she dies, he completely loses it.

* MindlinkMates: Companions often talk in their Heralds' heads, reading their minds; people with a lifebond have a strong emotional connection that often has them sharing feelings. Put these together and there's a connection that Pol sees as unhealthy but not something that can be changed.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Vanyel before him was such a [[TheDreaded formidable figure]] during an initial war between Karse and Valdemar that Karse became increasingly rigid and hostile to Valdemar and to citizens with Gifts, its leadership whipping up the population with existential fear of the demonic Heralds and their strange powers. Vanyel was "just" a very powerful MagicKnight who could make the demons the Karsites summoned EatTheSummoner; he could replace five other Herald-Mages, but his abilities weren't too different from them. Lavan's Gift is more limited in applications but also much more apocalyptically dramatic and terrifying. Well before he's sent to the front lines, Pol reflects ruefully that Lan will reinforce the Karsite terror of Valdemar and keep that enmity going, but doesn't see another choice.

* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Excellent at embroidery, knows how to spin, weave, and sew, and can do fancy braiding for bracelets. She makes a bracelet for Lan out of Kalira's hair, and upon seeing it, other Trainees commission her to make bracelets for them out of their Companions' hair.

* SingleTargetSexuality: Lavan and Kalira are Lifebonded and interested only in each other. Since a physical relationship is out of the question (or at least never explored), this makes them both effectively asexual, as Herald Pol has to explain to a young woman who is interested in Lan.

* SuperPowerMeltdown: Lan's power is tied to negative emotions. Kalira acts as a limiter for him, modulating him and drawing him back from the brink, though at the end of the book he's gone beyond listening to her. When she's sniped, the brakes come off and only the sense of sudden dread Pol and other future-attuned Heralds have, which leads them to frantically calling a retreat, keeps the whole Valdemaran army from being incinerated with the Karsite one.

* VitriolicBestBuds: Pol and Satiran poke at each other a lot. When a tree lands on Pol, Satiran loses a lot of weight from stress and then starts taunting him as soon as he's solidly on the path to recovery. As Herald and Companion though they do clearly care deeply about each other and get on well.

* MundaneUtility: The Karsite war occurs in the winter, and Lan can casually make timber, even when it's green and wet, burn well, so several times he's tasked with collecting logs and setting up warming fires.

* ItsAllAboutMe: At the start of the book, Lan's family has just moved from the countryside to Haven and he's no longer able to avoid them, so his parents are actually able to try to address his future. With his complete lack of interest in textiles and his near inability to even be polite about it, he has no job skills at sixteen. Knowing he'd hate to be given to the temple they enroll him in trade school where he can hopefully find something more to his liking. Lan hates this idea and sees them as not caring about what he wants, as all ''he'' wants is to go back to the countryside and presumably live on a stipend. It's very teenager of him. Being Chosen changes his outlook.

* {{Foil}}: Lan is an interesting contrast with Vanyel. Each was a PersonOfMassDestruction who fought against Karse, became FamedInStory, had unusual love lives, and were DoomedByCanon. Vanyel had a well-intentioned but silly mother and an [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] who both came around and became more supportive of a son who wasn't what they'd been expecting; Lavan's parents didn't know quite what to do with him and [[ParentsAsPeople tried to do their best]] for him, but their relationship became strained and worse over time. Van at sixteen had a cruel streak while at the same age Lan was far more gentle and softhearted, but while while Lan soon started SlippingIntoEvil Van struggled off and on with that problem. Vanyel lived until he was nearly forty and made decisions about his own life the entire time, though his ChronicHeroSyndrome certainly weighted some choices over others. Lan died only a few months after being Chosen without as much agency. On the other hand Lan spent less of his life unhappy and exhausted then Van did, and soldiers and Heralds alike celebrated instead of fearing him.