History YMMV / CodexAlera

* EvilIsSexy:
** Lady Aquitaine Invidia might be a total bitch with [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder an addiction to backstabbing]], but she's well-acknowledged as a RavenHairIvorySkin beauty. [[spoiler: Well, at least until her duel with her husband leaves her heavily burned and scarred, removing most of the beauty.]]
** Kalarus Brencis Minoris. When the person who you've kidnapped and are about to rape, [[spoiler:and is about to straight-up murder you]], notices how handsome you are, you fulfill this trope (though the mind-control collar certainly helped).
** The Vord Queens. Amara straight-up notes that that the Calderon Queen is very pretty, the Canea Queens look like [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe green-skinned]] versions of Kitai, and the Awakened Queen looks almost human (except for her eyes). However, it's subverted in practice because of just how damn ''scary'' they all are.

* UncannyValley: Most of the Vord Queen's attempts at acting human in the final book fall ''squarely'' into this, particularly her little "dinner parties" with Invidia.

%%* ClicheStorm

* CrazyAwesome: Tavi. He stops in the middle of a battle to sit in front of the gates and play chess with the enemy commander.

* EvilIsSexy: Lady Aquitaine Invidia might be a total bitch with [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder an addiction to backstabbing]], but she's well-acknowledged as a RavenHairIvorySkin beauty. [[spoiler: Well, at least until her duel with her husband leaves her heavily burned and scarred, removing most of the beauty.]]

* GrowingTheBeard: While the first book is by no means ''bad'', most fans seem to agree the series gets significantly better starting with ''Academ's Fury''. The first book has some EarlyInstallmentWeirdness and a more straightforward high fantasy feel to it and many institutions and facets of the setting are only alluded to without being fully displayed yet.

** On a Meta level, Jim Butcher for writing a series based on the concepts of both the LostRomanLegion and ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', and managing to make the absurd-sounding combo legitimately ''awesome''. (And he did it all on a bet, no less!)
* [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Crowning Moment Of Funny]] - [[Funny/CodexAlera Has its own page.]]
* [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming]] - [[Heartwarming/CodexAlera Has its own page.]]
* EvilIsSexy: Invidia might be a total bitch with [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder an addiction to backstabbing]], but she's well-acknowledged as a RavenHairIvorySkin beauty. [[spoiler: At least until her duel with her husband leaves her heavily burned and scarred, removing most of the beauty.]]
** Brencis. When the person who you've kidnapped and are about to rape, [[spoiler:and is about to straight-up murder you]], notices how handsome you are, you fulfill this trope (though the mind-control collar helped).

** What was life like in Maratea prior to the Vord obliterating the Marat's ancient advanced civilization? Similarly, what was everyday life like in Canea prior to [[spoiler:the Vord's conquest]]?

** Aquitainus Attis, High Lord Aquitaine, is one of the most powerful nobles in Alera and Sextus's main political rival. Though he presents himself publicly as a [[ObfuscatingStupidity drunken playboy]], he's incredibly charismatic and his hedonistic façade hides a keen political mind. Rather than seeking to usurp Sextus directly, he instead focuses on gathering influence so that when the old man finally dies, Attis will be the only one in a position to succeed him. Furthermore, he also works against the conspiracy of his fellow nobles who assassinated his friend Septimus, the First Lord's son - a group which includes [[LadyMacbeth Attis's own wife]], whose skills he also makes use of to advance his own ambitions. When Alera is invaded by the Vord, Attis puts himself at the forefront of the fight and holds his people together through one of the greatest disasters in their history, and upon his death even his enemies mourn him and must acknowledge that though he may not have been a good man, he was a great leader who [[VisionaryVillain used highly dubious means but always worked for his vision of a better Alera]].

** Brencis Minoris, son of High Lord Kalarus crosses this when it turns out he's using his father's brainwashing technique (already NightmareFuel) to turn his fellow humans into slaves for [[spoiler: the Vord]].
** Kalarus ''pole-vaults'' over it with a titanic massacre in his first appearance and keeps running from there. No [[CrossesTheLineTwice second crossing]].
** Senator Arnos crosses the line from "overly ambitious SmugSnake who is TheNeidermeyer to his men" to "borderline CompleteMonster" when he [[spoiler: sends his troops to massacre innocent Steadholts full of civilians of both genders and their children for the sole purpose of provoking the slave rebellion into open war, all so that he can claim credit for crushing them and bolster his career]]. This act enrages the Canim (a ruthlessly predatory race of {{Blood Knight}}s,) so much that they would prefer to [[spoiler: reject an offered ceasefire]] than let him go unpunished.
* NauseaFuel: Plenty of the effects of Canim ritual sorcery. Of particular note is the fate that befalls a ritualist who tries to challenge Marok, a ritualist of the less-morally-bankrupt old guard: a couple of droplets of blood and a gesture cause the offending Cane to ''vomit up his entire digestive tract.''

* NightmareRetardant - Intentional. At the end of ''First Lord's Fury'', Ehren reads Tavi a series of reports saying that unrest has arisen between [[spoiler: steadholders who surrendered to the Vord and the army. The farmers keep complaining that the soldiers are killing "their" Vord-- spiders and other creatures that they are using to tend their crops and livestock. [[{{ColorCodedForYourConvenience}} Painted]] [[{{SugarWiki/FunnyMoments}} in different colors so that no one confuses whose is whose]].]]
* {{Squick}}: [[spoiler: Kalarus Brencis Minoris forcing his collared slave girls [[RapeByProxy to have sex with both each other and himself]] during ''Princeps' Fury'']].

* TheWoobie: Rook gains a ''lot'' of sympathy points once we find out her motivation and past.

** Invidia Aquitaine is a Machiavellian plotter that desires to obtain as much power as she possibly can. When she found out that [[spoiler:Princeps Septimus]] was marrying a commoner instead of her, she arranged for his assassination, triggering [[spoiler:the entire conflict of the series. As in, she destroyed the stability of the Realm just because the most powerful man in it wouldn't marry her]]. Devoid of empathy, Invidia has a habit of [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder betraying anyone if it suits her needs]]. In order to oust a beloved military officer from his command, she orders her pawn, Senator Arnos, to have a town filled with innocent people executed for the crime of peacefully complying with a more powerful, nonhostile enemy force. She ordered this believing that the commander would refuse, allowing her to label him a traitor and have him removed, thus eliminating him as a potential political threat. Afterwards, the civilians were going to be executed anyway to "set an example." Invidia later joined the Vord in order to save her own life, and [[TheQuisling voluntarily aided them]] in their mission to [[AbsoluteXenophobe exterminate all non-Vord life on the planet]]. Hundreds of millions died due to her efforts and, when offerred the chance at redemption by teaming up with the remaining High Lords, Invidia threw it away by attempting to kill her allies the literal second it looked like the Vord Queen had been killed. She did this in order to seize complete control over the wasteland she had helped create.

** Isana is not exactly a fighter. Which makes her [[spoiler:slaughtering 6 vord warriors at once]] when cornered in the sixth book that much more awesome.

** On a Meta level, Jim Butcher for writing a series based on the concept of Franchise/{{Pokemon}} and making it ''awesome''. (And on a bet no less.)

** The Vord Queens. Amara straight-up notes that that the Calderon Queen is very pretty, the Canea Queens look like [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe green-skinned]] versions of Kitai, and the Awakened Queen looks almost human (except for her eyes).

** Brencis, son of High Lord Kalarus crosses this when it turns out he's using his father's brainwashing technique (already NightmareFuel) to turn his fellow humans into slaves for [[spoiler: the Vord]].

* NightmareFuel
** The Vord, especially in the second book before we know much about them. Also the [[MindRape discipline collars]] and Lord Kalarus's Immortals.
** The Canim are pretty creepy when they're introduced in ''Academ's Fury'', though they become significantly less so as Tavi (and by extension the reader) becomes more familiar with them. The Ritualists are still fairly disturbing, though, even the decent ones — BloodMagic and all.
** In ''First Lord's Fury'', Amara serves us up this gem, noting that she seems to be in shock:
--->"I saw an earth fury that looked like a gargant bull knock down a building being used to shelter orphaned children. I saw a pregnant woman burned to black bones by a fire fury. I saw an old woman dragged down into a well by a water fury, her husband holding her wrists the whole way. He went with her." She paused, musing over the placid, inflectionless calm of her own voice, and added, "The second minute was worse."

* StoicWoobie: Araris seems to get injured a lot, and that's not even counting the [[FailureKnight motivations]] behind his alternate, ObfuscatingStupidity persona. But he really doesn't show his emotions to anyone but Isana, and that's after some serious empathic prodding. [[spoiler:Even as Fade, he couldn't catch a break; he tends to get picked on a lot, despite the fact that he seems to be pretty helpful around the house. Even Bernard was pretty curt with him.]]

* TooCoolToLive: [[spoiler:Pirellus of the Black Blade]] in book 1, and [[spoiler: Gaius Sextus himself]] in book 5.

** Gaius Sextus is the aging but still formidable First Lord of Alera. Dedicated to maintaining peace and stability in the Realm at any cost, Sextus uses his powerful abilities of [[FunctionalMagic furycrafting]] and equally sharp political mind to stay several steps ahead of his enemies. Generally considered the only thing standing between Alera and all-out civil war, he uses his expansive intelligence network to keep abreast of events across the Realm and even on the rare occasions when he's blindsided, he still keeps his cool and never loses control of the situation. Even in death he succeeds in sacrificing himself to deal a heavy blow against the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Vord]] and arranges for his grandson [[TheHero Tavi's]] most dangerous enemies to be killed so he can survive to take the throne. Ultimately, even Sextus's enemies have a great deal of respect for his power and cunning, and know they underestimate him at their peril.

** Or how about this scene in the climax of book five. Tavi needs boats. He doesn't have any boats. So instead, he [[spoiler: carves ''entire glaciers'' into boats, and sails them into the Shuaran harbor]].

*** And then High Lord Cereus tops Bernard by doing the same thing. [[spoiler: Except instead of using an arrow, he uses ''himself'' - literally hurling himself down the maw of the vordbulk and triggering a furycrafting that destroyed its entire head, taking himself along with it, to protect his daughter and grandchildren.]] ManlyTears.

** Gaius Sextus is the aging but still formidable First Lord of Alera. Dedicated to maintaining peace and stability in the Realm by any cost, Sextus uses his powerful abilities of [[FunctionalMagic furycrafting]] and equally sharp political mind to stay several steps ahead of his enemies. Generally considered the only thing standing between Alera and all-out civil war, he uses his expansive intelligence network to keep abreast of events across the Realm and even on the rare occasions when he's blindsided, he still keeps his cool and never loses control of the situation. Even in death he succeeds in sacrificing himself to deal a heavy blow against the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Vord]] and arranges for his grandson [[TheHero Tavi's]] most dangerous enemies to be killed so he can survive to take the throne. Ultimately, even Sextus's enemies have a great deal of respect for his power and cunning, and know they underestimate him at their peril.

* NauseaFuel: Plenty of the effects of Canim ritual sorcery. Of particular note is the fate that befalls a ritualist who tries to challenge Marok, a ritualist of the less-morally-bankrupt old guard: a couple of droplets of blood and a gesture cause the offending canim to ''vomit up his entire digestive tract.''

** The Vord, especially in the second book, before we know much about them. Also the [[MindRape discipline collars]] and Lord Kalarus's Immortals.
** The Canim are pretty creepy when they're introduced in ''Academ's Fury'', though they become significantly less so as Tavi (and by extension the reader) becomes more familiar with them. The Ritualists are still fairly disturbing, though, even the decent ones- BloodMagic and all.

* StoicWoobie: Araris seems to get injured a lot, and that's not even counting his [[FailureKnight motivations]] behind his alternate, ObfuscatingStupidity persona. But he really doesn't show his emotions to anyone but Isana, and that's after some serious empathic prodding. [[spoiler:Even as Fade, he couldn't catch a break; he tends to get picked on a lot, despite the fact that he seems to be pretty helpful around the house. Even Bernard was pretty curt with him.]]

** Brencis. When the person who you've kidnapped and are about to rape, [[spoiler:and is about to straight-up murder you]], notices how handsome you are, I believe you fufill this trope (though the mind-control collar helped).

** Catapults.

** The fleet of sledding ships.

* CrazyAwesome: Tavi. I mean, good lord. He stops in the middle of a battle to sit in front of the gates and play chess with the enemy commander.

** Brencis. When the person who you've kidnapped and are about to rape, [[spoiler:and is about to straight-up murder you]] notices how handsome you are, I believe you fufill this trope (though the mind-control collar helped).

** Brencis. When the person who you've kidnapped and are about to rape notices how handsome you are, I believe you fufill this trope (though the mind-control collar helped).

* TearJerker: [[spoiler:"I know how a Vord Queen dies. I am ready."]] Damn you, Creator/JimButcher, for making us go all sniffly over [[spoiler:the omnicidal leader of a HordeOfAlienLocusts.]]

* MagnificentBastard: Gaius (who's basically Dumbledore without the [[ObfuscatingStupidity facade of eccentric senility]]) and Lord Aquitaine are both solid examples.

** The Vord Queens. Amara straight-up notes that that the Calderon Queen is very pretty, the Canea Queens look like [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe green-skinned]] versions of Kitai, and the Awakened Queen looks almost human (except for [[WindowsToTheSoul her eyes]]).

* JustForFun/XMeetsY: WordOfGod is this series actually started because someone dared Butcher to write a LostRomanLegion story based on Franchise/{{Pokemon}}.