History Headscratchers / HeraldsofValdemar

** In general Valdemar handles people with unusual gifts and unusually powerful gifts very poorly, implicitly because those gifts are so rare that no one knows how to deal with them. Tylendel, Vanyel, Lavan, Talia all undergo spectacular meltdowns because the Heralds bungled and mismanaged their training and emotional health. There's also a bit of fear mixed in as much as the Heralds try to deny it, many don't want to think or deal with gifts so powerful people can kill you with a thought. So they often leave it to the brave soul shanghai'd with the job often to disastrous results.

** Being with Tale'sedrin would have been a decent life, but it wouldn't be what she trained for. And there's implied to be a certain amount of BecauseDestinySaysSo involved: Kero rebuilt the Skybolts in time to have them ready to assist Valdemar, just 'happened' to be in Rethwellan at the right time to give them a nudge, and even brought Prince Daren up at the right time to meet Selenay. None of that would have happened if she'd just gone to the Plains.

*** I can't speak to your definition of "good." But I think any nation where the monarch, the monarch's chief advisor, ''and'' the person next in line for the throne all have be ''certified'' good people; confirmed by higher spirits who can see their very souls, that alone would make a country better than any which exists in RealLife. And if the police and circuit judges -- and the head of the police academy, and very likely the top military leaders -- are ''also'' verified as persons who are selfless, dutiful, and incorruptible, you'd have an ideal country, just shy of MarySuetopia. And yes, there would be good and bad citizens. Yes, there would be noblemen who abuse their power. Yes, there would be catty infighting in the higher ranks. But if you were wronged you could always go to a Herald, any Herald, and expect to have your case heard and judged fairly, with no fear that the Herald would fall for a lie or a bribe. And if you were ''really'' favored, you might get to be a Herald yourself. Again, I don't know what you'd consider a good country, but Valdemar is it by my definition. If I could live there and not here, I would.

** It's also a matter of in-universe SocietyMarchesOn: ''Closer to Home'' (which is when Violetta's story takes place) and ''Closer to the Chest'' (which explores similar themes of misogyny) happen less than a hundred years after The Last Herald-Mage trilogy [[note]] One of Mags and Amily's children is HeterosexualLifePartners with Vanyel's great-great-grandson, which makes it roughly ninety years or so [[/note]]. The 'current day' of Valdemar, which is mostly how we all got to know the country and it's society, takes place roughly two hundred years after these books. Think about how our own society has evolved it's attitudes to women over a two century timespan.

** Or they just didn't understand 'how' to deactivate them, or couldn't deactivate them without setting them off. Remember, all the weapons are thousands of years old. There's almost no documentation on them, what documentation does exist is in a very archaic form of language that no one is sure how to translate properly, and that's assuming it was even 'possible' to deactivate them -- one of the labels from Urtho himself even states that deactivation is impossible. Yes, there's a pair of scholars there to do the translating, but even in our world, such things involve educated guesswork: consider that one of our real-world problems with storing radioactive waste is creating warnings that will still be understood hundreds (or thousands) of years from now, and you've got the Tower group's stumbling block in a nutshell.

*** I just re-read those chapters, too - at no point does Talia actually say 'I have no idea what's happening to me, can you please tell me what in the Havens is going on?' or variant. Her own shyness and severe training in 'don't question authority' means that she never really says more than a line or two to anyone on her journey, so everyone who talks to her simply thinks she's a little confused, not that she has no idea what's happening. Not to mention that given what's revealed about the Companion's abilities later - and especially Talia's - it's very probable that Rolan was 'encouraging' her mentally not to ask questions and stay calm, so she never came off as frightened enough for anyone to ask her directly about her confusion. (after all, the two-way mental/spiritual/magical connection from the moment of Choosing means that Rolan '''knows''' that Talia wants to be a Herald. Consent to whatever happens in order to get her to the Palace to do just that is included; if Talia knew the whole situation she'd simply say it was fine.)

** It's strongly implied in the same novel that children in the Kingdom are supposed to be taught about Heralds and Companions -- the fact that the Holderkin don't is a sign that they are a backward, isolationist, prejudiced bunch. As for the rest, it's like the difference between knowing what police officers are and knowing how to ''become'' a police officer. If all police were people who had been selected by sentient police cars in their early teens, it would make sense for others to say "we'll help you, but you need to wait until you get to the station to explain everything -- the car knows what to do, and if we try to explain now it would only make you feel more overwhelmed."

*** This seems like the right answer. Valdemar is more an association of fiefdoms than a united nation with a strong central government. The Crown and Heraldic Circle are more concerned with getting everyone to accept some bare minimums, especially since their resources are strained from several wars back-to-back (Karse, the Tedrels, and then Hardorn)

*** I will walk away and concede this argument now if you can show me ''one'' example where any official Valdemaran force -- from the army or the Heralds -- killed a civilian from another country who wasn't posing a direct threat to them. There are none. Valdemar even did their best to avoid killing the mind-controlled troops from Hardorn once they realized these were magically coerced soldiers -- they dispatched Elspeth and company to kill Ancar, making Heralds into assassins to reduce the loss of ''Hardonian'' life.

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[[folder:Elspeth]]
My God is her characterization all over the place. More than that, she's short tempered, self absorbed, and has a disturbing LackOfEmpathy for a Herald. She [[ConflictBall scuttles the plan]] to bring new mages to Valdemar in ''Winds of Fate'' just to regain a sense of control (never mind that she liked the idea when she thought she ''was'' in control) and the narrative tells us that she was right and the others were wrong. What is her characterization ''supposed'' to be? Lackey seemed to be aiming for GoodIsNotNice and landed closer to JerkassSue -- someone we're told is amazing but doesn't show much to make us like them.