History Literature / LastHeraldMageTrilogy

* ContinuityNod: a slightly creepy one. In ''Pawn'', Tylendel throws himself from the bell tower of the chapel in Companion's field, and when he's lying in state in the same chapel later, Vanyel makes his first suicide attempt. In ''Arrows of the Queen'' (which is later chronologically, but earlier in publishing order) Keren tells Talia the story of the Death Bell "there used to be a little chapel in Companion's field - it was torn down ages ago, there's only the bell tower now". Lendel threw himself from the Death Bell Tower, and the chapel was possibly torn down after Vanyel went to the Tyledras, because no one wanted the most powerful Herald-Mage ever to be reminded of his life-bonded's suicide and his own attempt at same.

** Halfway averted: although there are no therapists as we think of them, Mind Healers can supposedly recognize and, to some degree, treat insanity. Unfortunately, no one ever seems to turn to them for this, so their utility remains in doubt.

** Not to mention the whole mess that is Tashir's childhood and early adolescence: his father abuses him out of belief that Tashir isn't his son, and his mother alternatively treats him like a treasured pet and screams and throws things at him (because he's literally the only person in the palace who she can control). This goes on for years, culminating in [[spoiler:[[ParentChildIncest Ylyna attempting to seduce]] Tashir]], and his father deciding to disinherit him and send him to the maternal family that is not only their hereditary enemies, but Tashir is terrified of. Despite there being a ''Heraldic Envoy'' to the Bairean court, and everyone in the palace being related to Tashir's father to some degree, not a single person seems to have suggested to Deveran that he lay off the poor kid, get rid of him by fostering him out to another noble family, or perhaps [[spoiler: take Tashir to the Heartstone in the palace basement that would have confirmed his paternity in ''about three seconds'']]. Or even that Ylyna's increasingly obvious mental instability meant that she shouldn't be around children or tweens without supervision? Not to mention that it's implied that Tashir tried to tell someone about [[spoiler:his mother's molesting him]] several times, and was ignored or dismissed because of his status as TheUnfavorite. It's so bad that his Companion is revealed to be 'something of a Mind-Healer', and Yfandes pretty much states it's the equivalent of Heralds with rare Gifts showing up just before they're needed.

* BloodMagic: Used by Krebain, [[spoiler: Vedric Mavelan]], and Leareth.

* BusmansHoliday: A dark running joke is that whenever Vanyel takes a vacation at Forest Reach, he ends up dragged into a crisis that ends with him half dead. Vanyel wryly mentions that it'll probably be safer for him to parade up and down the Karsite border.

* LoopholeAbuse: Herald-Mage Savil wards her spellbooks so she'll know if another mage has used them. When Tylendel becomes obsessed with {{revenge}}, he gets around it by having Vanyel handle the books and turn the pages for him.

* UnequalRites: About midway through Vanyel's career, the general public begins to see Herald-Mages as better than "plain Heralds." Van tries to counter this by promoting non-mage Heralds as specialists in their own fiels, but it doesn't really take.

** Stefan as well. His painblocking ability is unique not only among Bards but all Gifted. He ends up being worked to the bone by Healers and King Randale.

* TheMagicGoesAway: After this trilogy, true magic is a forgotten art in Valdemar. It takes centuries -- and a bit of direct intervention by Vanyel himself -- before there are Herald-Mages again.

* PromotedToParent: oddly enough, Vanyel becomes a version of this to his own child, Jisa. Between ''Pawn'' and ''Promise'', Vanyel serves as a glorified sperm donor to Shavri (ItMakesSenseInContext), because she desperately wants a child and her MindlinkMate King Randale is sterile. In the early scenes of ''Promise'' he categorically states that Randale is Jisa's father, not him, and he's much happier being her 'Uncle Van' anyway. But by the time of ''Price'', Randale is so sick he really only has two modes, 'patient' and 'king', and Shavri is spending all her time and energy keeping him going. Not only is Vanyel now on permanent assignment to the palace as Acting Monarch's Own, he's the one Jisa goes to for pretty much everything worse than a splinter.

* NoodleIncident: In ''Magic's Price'', a chirra who loves roses looks for them ''everywhere'' - even in Stefen's hair - ever since to a certain Herald-Mage made some for her out of snow. Replies Vanyel "She'd just carried me through a three-day snowstorm, and she deserved a treat."

* PromotedToParent: oddly enough, Vanyel becomes a version of this to his own child, Jisa. Between ''Pawn'' and ''Promise'', Vanyel serves as a glorified sperm donor to Shavri (ItMakesSenseInContext), because she desperately wants a child and her MinklinkMate King Randale is sterile. In the early scenes of ''Promise'' he categorically states that Randale is Jisa's father, not him, and he's much happier being her 'Uncle Van' anyway. But by the time of ''Price'', Randale is so sick he really only has two modes, 'patient' and 'king', and Shavri is spending all her time and energy keeping him going. Not only is Vanyel now on permanent assignment to the palace as Acting Monarch's Own, he's the one Jisa goes to for pretty much everything worse than a splinter.

** The Collegium does little better. Savil treats Vanyel coldly, writing him off as the shallow peacock he acts like; it takes Tylendel to figure out what's wrong with Vanyel and convince Savil not to abandon him by fostering him out, which would have further exacerbated his abandonment issues. Savil knows that Tylendel isn't rational where his family is concerned, but still doesn't provide him with adequate emotional support and counseling after his [[TwinTelepathy telepathically-linked twin brother]] is murdered by their longtime enemy. And after Tylendel's suicide, there's not a single person around who isn't too wrapped up in their grief and horror over Tylendel's death to spare any concern for Vanyel, who's just witnessed a horrific supernatural slaughter and the suicide of his [[MindlinkMates mind-linked lover]], and whose newly-awakened and completely uncontrolled Mindhearing makes him all too sensitive to the thoughts of blame and resentment directed towards him from those who didn't know the truth about their relationship.

** Not to mention the whole mess that is Tashir's childhood and early adolescence: his father abuses him out of belief that Tashir isn't his son, and his mother alternatively treats him like a treasured pet and screams and throws things at him (because he's literally the only person in the palace who she can control). This goes on for years, culminating in [[spoiler:[[ParentChildIncest Ylyna attempting to seduce]] Tashir]], and his father deciding to disinherit him and send him to the maternal family that is not only their hereditary enemies, but Tashir is terrified of. Despite there being a ''Heraldic Envoy'' to the Bairean court, and everyone in the palace being related to Tashir's father to some degree, not a single person seems to have suggested to Deveran that he lay off the poor kid, get rid of him by fostering him out to another noble family, or perhaps [[spoiler: take Tashir to the Heartstone in the palace basement that would have confirmed his paternity in ''about three seconds'']]. Or even that Ylyna's increasingly obvious mental instability meant that she shouldn't be around children or tweens without supervision? Not to mention that it's implied that Tashir tried to tell someone about [[spoiler:his mother's molesting him]] several times, and was ignored or dismissed because of his status as TheUnfavorite. It's so bad that his Companion is revealed to be 'something of a MindHealer', and Yfandes pretty much states it's the equivalent of Heralds with rare Gifts showing up just before they're needed.

** Not to mention the whole mess that is Tashir's childhood and early adolescence: his father abuses him out of belief that Tashir isn't his son, and his mother alternatively treats him like a treasured pet and screams and throws things at him (because he's literally the only person in the palace who she can control). This goes on for years, culminating in [[spoiler:[[ParentChildIncest Ylyna attempting to seduce]] Tashir]], and his father deciding to disinherit him and send him to the maternal family that is not only their hereditary enemies, but Tashir is terrified of. Despite there being a ''Heraldic Envoy'' to the Bairean court, and everyone in the palace being related to Tashir's father to some degree, not a single person seems to have suggested to Deveran that he lay off the poor kid, get rid of him by fostering him out to another noble family, or perhaps [[spoiler: take Tashir to the Heartstone in the palace basement that would have confirmed his paternity in ''about three seconds'']]. Or even that Ylyna's increasingly obvious mental instability meant that she shouldn't be around children or tweens without supervision? Not to mention that it's implied that Tashir tried to tell someone about [[spoiler:his mother's molesting him]] several times, and was ignored or dismissed because of his status as TheUnfavorite.

* BrotherSisterIncest: Rumored between Ylyna and Vedric Mavelan.

* NoodleIncident: In ''Maci

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler: Leareth is hinted to have engineered or encouraged the events of the first book. Which created Valdemar's most powerful mage and the man who would eventually kill him.]]

* CastFromHitPoints: Mages are capable of a kind of suicide attack that obliterates everything nearby. It's called "Final Strike". Also, Shavri drains her own life force into Randale, [[spoiler: meaning that she won't long outlive his terminal illness]].

* DefiledForever: Averted twice. First, Stefen thinks Vanyel doesn't want him because he knows of Stefen's [[ReallyGetsAround extensive]] sexual history, but he's wrong-- Vanyel just hadn't realized Stefen was more than a star-struck, hero-worshiping virgin trying to explore his sexuality [[note]] Which was [[FridgeBrilliance almost exactly the case with Tashir]] in Magic's Promise[[/note]]. Later, Stefen sees Vanyel's rapists escaping a burning building and muses that "they didn't matter. What mattered was Van."

* AMindIsATerribleThingToRead: If you're teenage Vanyel and most of the people around you would rather you were dead.
* MindlinkMates: Vanyel and Tylendel; Vanyel and Stefen; Donni and Mardic; Starwind and Moondance; Randale and Shavri; Treven and Jisa. The trilogy's term for this phenomenon is "lifebonding".

* MisplacedRetribution: After Evan Leshara has Tylendel's brother Staven assassinated, Tylendel responds by [[spoiler: summoning [[EldritchAbomination demonic dogs known as wyrsa]] to butcher the entire Leshara ''family'' and their guests]]. This is why Gala repudiates him before she goes to [[HeroicSacrifice her death]].

* BadassGay: Vanyel, after he learns fencing and gets his powers.

** Vanyel's two lifebonds avert this. In the first, Vanyel didn't have powers yet and in the second Stefen is a NonActionGuy.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Averted, as Vanyel discovers when he meets Krebain. Evil can be just as beautiful as good.

* CassandraTruth: Right before her death, Savil figured out that someone was deliberately targeting Herald Mages. Vanyel distracted by all of the other crisis going on blows her off.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Halfway averted: although there are no therapists as we think of them, Mind Healers can supposedly recognize and, to some degree, treat insanity. Unfortunately, no one ever seems to turn to them for this, so their utility remains in doubt.

* ForegoneConclusion: Between the title of the trilogy and the story told in previous books, the ultimate fate of Vanyel and the other Herald-Mages should come as no surprise to anyone.

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: Leareth is hinted to have engineered the events of the first two books, as well as taking advantage of the Karsite War to kill off Herald-Mages. Vanyel doesn't even realize what's going on until the third book.]]

** In ''Promise'', Tylendel conjures magical assassins and sets them on the Leshara family in revenge for his brother's death. It results in a chain of tragedy that ends with his own suicide.

* PowerIncontinence: Vanyel suffers from this when he first gets his powers. He hasn't learned how to shield or control his powers yet, but because they didn't develop naturally, every use is still incredibly painful. Added to that is the fact that he is suicidally depressed due to the death of his [[MindlinkMates lifebonded]], and the physical trauma due to his attempted suicide. They end up needing to keep him heavily drugged until he is just well enough to send away for healing, to stop him from succeeding at levelling the Palace in a nightmare,

** Vanyel's mother encourages his artistic and effeminate qualities in order to indulge her own yen for courtly love, treating him like a plaything; his father, meanwhile, is a narrow-minded homophobe who neither understands him nor makes any effort to, instead pushing his armsmaster to "make a man" of him by any means necessary. Armsmaster Jervis, who later admits to having known better, lets his loyalty and sense of indebtedness to Withen and his own frustration with Vanyel's bratty behavior drive him to bully the boy until he actually breaks Van's arm in a fit of rage - and even after this, Withen still takes Jervis's side rather than his son's.

* DefiledForever: Averted twice. First, Stefen thinks Vanyel doesn't want him because he knows of Stefen's [[ReallyGetsAround extensive]] sexual history, but he's wrong-- Vanyel just hadn't realized how serious Stefen was about him and is relieved to find that he is not a star-struck, hero-worshiping virgin trying to explore his sexuality [[note]] Which was [[FridgeBrilliance almost exactly the case with Tashir]] in Magic's Promise[[/note]]. Later, Stefen sees Vanyel's rapists escaping a burning building and muses that "they didn't matter. What mattered was Van."

* ProfessionalSexEd: Withen hires a female prostitute for Vanyel in an attempt to [[CureYourGays turn him straight]]. It doesn't work.

* RapeDiscretionShot: In ''Magic's Price''.

* {{Reincarnation}}: At least two Companions in the 'modern-day' era (i.e. Arrows trilogy, By the Sword, Mage Winds, Mage Storms, Owl Trilogy) have suspiciously similar names to Heralds in Vanyel's time. After the revelation in ''Storm Warning'' [[spoiler: that Heralds are reincarnated as Companions, which is where their legendary wisdom comes from - several lifetimes of experience that is only remembered as a Companions]], it was confirmed by WordOfGod off-screen, that [[spoiler: Savil was reincarnated as Kerowyn's Companion Sayvil, and Vanyel's friend Herald Tantras came back as Kris' Companion Tantris.]]
* ReincarnationRomance: Tylendel is reincarnated as [[spoiler: Stefen, allowing him and Vanyel to renew their lifebond]].

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: There are a lot of these: from Tylendel against the Leshara; from Vanyel against the magically-altered bird that killed [[spoiler: Savil]]; and from Vanyel again after an outlaw gang tortures and rapes him.

* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: One of the songs details Vanyel's confrontation with an enemy lord abusing his farmers, who offers Vanyel anything he could possibly want if he'll just go away. Vanyel's response--given in implausibly flowery language, presumably due to [[ArtisticLicense bardic license]]--amounts to "I don't need your damned money and I'm not letting you hurt these people."

** Vanyel ends up being a victim of this. In the first book, Tylendel and Vanyel both could have used trained therapists. Unfortunately, Mind Healers are only ever used in emergency situations involving important people (Mind Healers are really rare) and so both are ignored until it goes too far. In the second and third book, Vanyel is clearly suffering from PTSD due to the Karsite War and lingering emotional problems from Tylendel's death. People recognize he has a problem but no one knows what to do about it.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: In one of the first conscious uses of his [[SuperpowerLottery newly found powers]] Vanyel kills a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent colddrake queen]] and overdoes it with a spectacular explosion of power. His aunt and mentor, Savil, comments that with that kind of monsters is "better overkill".

* TheDogBitesBack: Near the end of ''Magic's Price'', a healer forced into working with the bad guys who have captured and tortured Vanyel takes revenge on them by removing the block that's keeping Vanyel from using his magic. Unfortunately, Vanyel isn't remotely sane by that point, and kills ''everybody'', including the healer.
* DoomedByCanon: The broad strokes of Vanyel's story were described in ''Arrows of the Queen,'' the first book set in Valdemar.

* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Two of the book-finale villains (both male) whom he encounters try to seduce him.

* GenkiGirl: Gala comes off this way [[spoiler:in the little that we see of her.]] It makes her OOCIsSeriousBusiness moment all the more shocking.

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each novel of the trilogy is called "Magic's P-X", where X is something:

* {{Reincarnation}}: At least two Companions in the 'modern-day' era (i.e. Arrows trilogy, By the Sword, Mage Winds, Mage Storms, Owl Trilogy) have suspiciously similar names to Heralds in Vanyel's time. After the revelation in ''Storm Warning'' [[spoiler: that Heralds are reincarnated as Companions, which is where their legendary wisdom comes from - several lifetimes of experience that is only remembered as a Companions]], it was confirmed by WordOfGod off-screen, that [[spoiler: Savil was reincarnated as Kerowyn's Companion, and Kris' Companion in ''Arrows'' was the reincarnation of Vanyel's friend Trantas.]]

* LastOfHisKind: Vanyel becomes this, [[CaptainObvious as advertised]] in the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin trilogy's title]].