History HeraldsOfValdemar / TropesFToO

** Adept-class mages are said to be exceptionally rare. In the ''Oath'' books, the king of Rethwellan employs only one; in ''Arrows'' through ''Mage Winds'' Ancar only commands (or 'commands') one or two. You wouldn't know Adepts are rare from looking at the heroes and their allies, though! There are more prominent Adepts than there are Masters, the next rank down, and there are very few Journeymen. Somewhat justified when the characters are Tayledras. As an isolated population empowered by their Goddess and living in absurdly high-magic environments for thousands of years, and when they do take in outsiders those are usually quite magically Gifted, it makes sense they'd produce a higher than usual number of strong mages.

** Skif, a former thief, is amazed that trainees recieve a modest stipend. The idea that anyone would just ''give them money'' is utterly foreign to him.

** The Shin'a'in have been tasked with guarding ancient magic superweapons from anyone who might be able to use them and consequently have a BanOnMagic. Whenever a Shin'a'in is born with magic, they have a choice: have that gift deactivated, become a shaman, or leave the Plains (most being sent to the Tayledras). In ''The Oathbreakers'', Tarma brings her out-clan mage [[BloodBrothers oathsister]] [[HeterosexualLifePartners Kethry]] home to visit. Many Shin'a'in are ''horrified'' that Tarma's [[MalignedMixedMarriage paired off with a mage outsider]] and accuse Kethry of tricking her and coming to the Plains for nefarious reasons. It takes divine intervention to make them accept her, but that does mean that when she has children [[ExtraParentConception they are considered also Tarma's]] and fully accepted despite clearly being of a different ethnicity. This is not the case for half-Outlander kids like young An'desha, who despite being raised on the Plains never had a place there.

** The expectation that non-'natural' BeautyIsBad is strong enough that in ''Winds of Fate'', when [[GuineaPigFamily Nyara]] is injured saving some of Darkwind's charges, he realizes that she's [[SexyCatPerson heavily altered]] to inspire instinctive lust in the people around her, and is torn between unease and pity as he reflects that people who modify themselves to be this sexually attractive usually do so with the intent to [[TheVamp weaponize their attractiveness]], whereas if it was something done ''to'' her it was probably with the intent of victimizing her.

** The expectation that non-'natural' BeautyIsBad is strong enough that in ''Winds of Fate'', when [[GuineaPigFamily Nyara]] is injured saving some of Darkwind's charges, he realizes that she's [[SexyCatPerson heavily altered]] and very attractive. Despite the aforementioned becoming injured to save people he'd been unable to protect, Darkwind thinks in sudden rage that if she's altered ''herself'' [[VanHelsingHateCrimes he'll kill her]].

** Among [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenary companies]] like the Skybolts, dalliances within the company are apparently allowed only for non-officers. Kerowyn spends her years as Captain largely chaste, because she doesn't have access to many men who aren't 1. under her command or 2. completely intimidated by her.

* HealingShiv: Need, though close contact or even physical proximity is just as effective.

** Hilariously, Hyllarr the bondbird hawkeagle, who with only a little prompting from Darkwind proves more than willing to shamelessly ham up his injuries to get Starblade's sympathy.

* IdiosyncraticCulturalGesture: Subverted by a GenreSavvy Tremaine. Early in Storm Rising, the town council of Shonar asks Tremaine if some of his troops could possibly help with the harvest. Tremaine agrees, then realizes he'll need to have his volunteers briefed on local courting customs since they'll be working side by side with farm women ? he doesn't want any issues with one person thinking they're in a casual relationship and the other thinking they're engaged.

** [[MindlinkMates Lifebonds]], supposedly very rare, are all over the earlier novels. WordOfGod says that Lackey realized this and backed off on them.
** Companions bespeaking humans who are not their Chosen is said to be exceedingly rare and is almost always remarked upon. At first it only happens in times of dire need, but much of the ''Mage Winds'' trilogy takes place away from Valdemar and involves numerous characters who readily believe Companions are people and talk to them - after a bit of hesitation Cymery and Gwena engage quite willingly in conversation. In books written after that, it seems Companions in general are entirely content to engage in Mindspeech with anyone who is ''not'' a Herald, whether or not that character displays any skill at Mindspeech. On a similar note, Talia is the only Herald POV character in the series who ''can't'' communicate with her Companion with Mindspeech.

* OfferedTheCrown: Grand Duke Tremaine, for Hardorn ([[FisherKing with conditions]]); a couple of Valdemaran monarchs wound up King or Queen after accidents befell their predecessors, King Randale, for one. Strongly implied to have happened to King Valdemar, the original monarch and namesake of the kingdom.

* HurtingHero: Vanyel especially.

* MagicOrPsychic: The Healing Gift, Mind Gifts, and the Mage Gift are all distinct though, confusingly, magic can sometimes manage healing or psychic things. After Vanyel, Valdemar got very big on the Healing and Mind gifts and forgets that magic is real. Countries with advanced use of magic often dismiss PsychicPowers. The Tayledras are shown to make considerable use of both.