History YMMV / ArcOfAScythe

* BrokenBase: Scythe Anastasia's gleaning method is as controversial among the fans as it is in universe among her fellow scythes. Some view her choice to give her victims a month to put their affairs in order as considerate and merciful, while others see it as a cruel mental torture she misguidedly inflicts on them.

* FridgeHorror: When Goddard tries to wipe out the Tone Cultists, Mendoza tries to get the Cultists to fight back and kill the Scythes. This is bad enough until you remember that Scythes kill the families of people who resist their own gleaning, meaning if Greyson hadn't stopped him, Mendoza would have caused the deaths of potentially thousands.

* CompleteMonster: [[SinisterMinister Curate Mendoza]] is the [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitious]], {{manipulative|Bastard}} curate of a Tone Cult. Initially a benevolent man who protected Greyson Tolliver from Scythes, Mendoza starts to show his true colors after the Thunderhead marked everybody but Greyson as Unsavory. Using Greyson as a prophet for the Cult, Mendoza attempts to use him as a figurehead so that [[TheManBehindTheMan he has all the power]]. Failing to control Greyson, Mendoza sought to gain Scythe Goddard's favor. Mendoza convinced a violent Tone Cult to attack Goddard's rival Tenkamenin. The attack leaves Tenkamenin, two other Scythes and countless innocents dead. Mendoza then travels with Greyson to the Cultists' home, and quietly watches as Greyson has the Cult's curate killed for the attack. After Goddard orders the genocide of the Cultists, Mendoza tries to start a war between the Scythedom and the Cults, which Greyson banishes him for. Mendoza then goes to Goddard, offering to kill more of his rivals in exchange for Goddard [[PragmaticVillainy sparing some cultists]], with Mendoza as their new leader.

* TheWoobie: The second book can basically be seen as half Scythedom politics, and half an incredibly detailed account of ''Greyson Tolliver's life falling to complete shambles,'' through very little fault of his own, bar some extremely bad foresight on his part. [[spoiler: Averted in the third book, where things get a bit better for him, and eventually skew more towards EarnYourHappyEnding.]]

* TheScrappy: Scythe Fields, of "Never Work With Animals" from ''Gleanings'', for being a [[SmugSnake smug]] and [[EntitledBastard entitled]] {{Jerkass}} who thinks he's [[SmallNameBigEgo way cooler than he actually is]] and treats everyone around him like garbage, gleaning them for the [[EvilIsPetty pettiest of reasons]] and generally just being a lousy excuse for a human being. While this is [[HateSink by design]], having to read through his POV can be grating due to how unlikable he is. Not to mention, his story is seen by many as the worst in the book (by virtue of being too weird and disconnected from the rest of the book/series in its subject matter), and the fact that the story is one of ''Gleanings''' longest means that readers had to put up with him for FAR longer than many of the other original characters.

* TheScrappy: Scythe Fields, of "Never Work With Animals" from ''Gleanings'', for being a [[SmugSnake smug]] and [[EntitledBastard entitled]] {{Jerkass}} who thinks he's [[SmallNameBigEgo way cooler than he actually is]] and treats everyone around him like garbage, gleaning them for the [[EvilIsPetty pettiest of reasons]] and generally just being a lousy excuse for a human being. While this is [[HateSink by design]], having to read through his POV can be grating due to how unlikable he is. Not to mention, his story is seen by many as the worst (and weirdest) in the book.
* {{Squick}}: Part of Scythe Rand's status as a BaseBreakingCharacter comes down to how one interprets her relationship with/feelings for Tyger Salazar. Tyger is 18 as of Thunderhead... but Rand is described ambiguously as being in her early-to-mid 20s. The ambiguity of the age gap between them, as well as it being unclear when exactly Rand met Tyger, means the relationship is seen by some fans as being pedophilic/bordering on sexual grooming, which casts a very dark cloud over the dynamic, even in its most morally sound/generous interpretation.

* SalvagedStory: Although Scythe Constantine already had his fans, him being further fleshed out in Gleanings as [[spoiler:a mole in Goddard's Scythedom training Citra's replacement as a rebellion leader]] definitely makes him a more complicated, competent character compared to the relatively passive goon he was in the series proper.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Although Scythe Constantine already had his fans, him being further fleshed out in Gleanings as [[spoiler:a mole in Goddard's Scythedom training Citra's replacement as a rebellion leader]] definitely makes him a more complicated, competent character compared to the relatively passive goon he was in the series proper.

* {{Squick}}: A lot of Scythe Rand's status as a BaseBreakingCharacter comes down to how one interprets her relationship with/feelings for Tyger Salazar. Tyger is 18 as of Thunderhead... but Rand is described ambiguously as being in her early-to-mid 20s. The ambiguity of the age gap between them, as well as it being unclear when exactly Rand met Tyger, means the relationship is seen by some fans as being pedophilic/bordering on sexual grooming, which casts a very dark cloud over the dynamic, even in its most morally sound/generous interpretation.

* TheScrappy: Scythe Fields, of "Never Work With Animals" from ''Gleanings'', for being a [[SmugSnake smug]] and [[EntitledBastard entitled]] {{Jerkass}} who thinks he's [[SmallNameBigEgo way cooler than he actually is]] and treats everyone around him like garbage, gleaning them for the [[EvilIsPetty pettiest of reasons]] and generally just being a lousy excuse for a human being. While this is partly by design, having to read through his POV can be grating due to how unlikable he is. Not to mention, his story is seen by many as the worst (and weirdest) in the book.

** Though he's shown to be nothing short of [[HateSink despicable]], Scythe Goddard is a [[FauxAffablyEvil charismatic]] and [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]] VisionaryVillain who knows exactly how to get what he wants at the expense of others.

* TheScrappy: Scythe Fields, the main character of "Never Work With Animals" from ''Gleanings'', being a [[SmugSnake smug]] and [[EntitledBastard entitled]] {{Jerkass}} who thinks he's [[SmallNameBigEgo way cooler than he actually is]] and treats everyone around him like garbage, gleaning them for the [[EvilIsPetty pettiest of reasons]] and generally just being a lousy excuse for a human being. While this is partly by design, having to read through his POV can be grating due to how unlikable he is. Not to mention, his story is seen by many as the worst (and weirdest) in the book.
* TheWoobie: The second book can basically be seen as half Scythedom politics, and half as an incredibly detailed account of ''Greyson Tolliver's life falling to complete shambles,'' through very little fault of his own, bar some extremely bad foresight on his part. [[spoiler: Averted in the third book, where things get a bit better for him, and eventually skew more towards EarnYourHappyEnding.]]