History YMMV / DoctrineOfLabyrinths

* HoYay: Felix and Mildmay. [[spoiler: Especially since Felix is explicitly stated to have the hots for his brother and they have shared one kiss. With tongue.]] Despite the potential {{Squick}}, a quick jaunt to a fanfiction site will prove that some readers found the pairing ''very'' appealing.
** They spend almost the whole of ''Corambis'' sharing a bed, occasionally cuddling and are comfortable with seeing each other naked. And there's the infamous bathhouse scene.....

** Mildmay's dreams about Kolkhis and Ginevra in ''The Virtu''. *shudder*

** Gee, guess who? Mildmay.

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* NightmareFuel: Mikkary. Oh, god, mikkary.
** And a lot of Felix and Mildmay's dreams. {"I spent all night looking for someone who wasn't dead."} Many of the sex scenes. And anything involving Malkar. For example, when Felix was young, Malkar cast spells on him to make him deaf, mute, and blind for hours on end.
* NoYay: Felix and Malkar. Mildmay and Kolkhis. Mildmay's dreams about Kolkhis and Ginevra in ''The Virtu''. *shudder*

* StoicWoobie: Gee, guess who? [[spoiler: Mildmay.]]
** What about Mehitabel? She's been molested by her uncle, her lover is chained by magic spells with his thumbs cut off in a part of the Bastion she can't reach, Louis Goliath and Lieutenant Vulpes force her to [[spoiler: spy for them by sleeping with the Lord Protector]], the company she works for nearly goes out of business, and her apparent best friend is ''Felix''... and she never whines to anyone. No wonder Felix says that she "would stand like iron" when lesser people "mewled and ran."
* TooDumbToLive: Stephen and the Curia, for not wondering why a prostitute-made-good in Marathat would even want to destroy the Virtu, or why a typically sober, if eccentric, Cabaline was "too far gone on Phoenix to cause you any trouble" when they caught up with him and Malkar. Everyone who Thaddeus browbeat into recognizing the compulsion on Felix-- a compulsion that was supposed to be utterly impossible-- and does absolutely zero investigation. Pretty much everyone in Hermione, for ignoring the possibility of the fantome. Stephen again, for not asking himself why [[spoiler: Mehitabel, a shamelessly promiscuous, proudly independent woman, would agree to his demands for unilateral fidelity in their relationship]]. But the dunce's cap has to go to Gerrard Hume: he wanted to tackle a superior military head-on, refused to negotiate a treaty with a critical ally, and is {{genre blind|ness}} enough to get himself and most of his top officers killed or maimed while awakening a legendary, mysterious engine of destruction... with human blood. Could anyone even imagine that scenario ending well for them?

* TheWoobie: Mildmay. Oh, Dear God, Mildmay...

** Gideon, who [[spoiler: falls in love with a madman (Felix) who is more often than not terrified of him, gets separated from said Felix by the people who he is absolutely terrified of being captured by, is captured, ''gets his tongue cut out'', is rescued, meets up with now sane Felix, lives with Felix for upwards of two years-- but it's Felix, so those two years are fraught with constant fighting and bickering-- can only sleep with Felix in a way he personally finds demeaning and squicky, leaves Felix over a lover's quarrel, and is killed by the man ''who was the source of said lover's quarrel''. Slowly killed. Oh, and through all this, Felix is only able to admit to himself that he loves Gideon back ''after'' Gideon is dead. Oh, ''and'' it's implied that Gideon was ripped away from his family at a young age, sexually abused by older wizards and tried to kill himself, all before the books ever start]]. All of this is hugely understated and matter-of-factly revealed to the audience, and never dwelled on very long. Poor, ''poor'' Gideon.

* JustForFun/XMeetsY: Described [[WordOfGod by the author]]: "It's ''Literature/JaneEyre'' meets ''Literature/HuckleberryFinn''... with magic!"

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Felix: horribly-damaged Woobie who hurts people only as a defense mechanism and who only needs unconditional love, or Felix, the mildly-deranged, extremely-manipulative sadistic asshole who doesn't know how good he has it? Yes.
** Also, Mildmay as a responsible character? He's great with Felix, but he also has a habit of having sex with strange women, including possibly-indentured prostitutes, which means that, in all likelihood, he's perpetuating the cycle of unknown, unwanted children who will in turn wind up indentured to thief-keepers, pimps, and crime lords.

* JerkassWoobie: Felix again. The utter trauma and horror he's been through in his life, as well as the genuine need for love and companionship he has that is masked by his defense mechanisms, makes him a [[TheWoobie Woobie]]. His ''personality'' makes him a Jerkass.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Felix: horribly-damaged Woobie who hurts people only as a defense mechanism and who only needs unconditional love, or Felix, the mildly-deranged, extremely-manipulative sadistic asshole who doesn't know how good he has it? Yes.

* CanonSue: Word of God says she realized Felix has all the qualities of a Mart-Sue (beautiful, unusual hair and eye colours, scars, a tragic past, loads of people in love with him, magic) but his entire character can be seen as a deconstruction of a Sue.

** Then there's Murtagh in Kay's bedroom, the implications of which are [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Kay when he observes that Murtagh's wife "will have stronger words than unwise an she catches you creeping" to Kay's bedroom.
* JerkassWoobie: Felix again. The utter trauma and horror he's been through in his life, as well as the genuine need for love and companionship he has that is masked by his defense mechanisms, makes him a {{Woobie}}. His ''personality'' makes him a Jerkass.

* TooDumbToLive: Stephen and the Curia, for not wondering why a prostitute-made-good in Marathat would even want to destroy the Virtu, or why a typically sober, if eccentric, Cabaline was "too far gone on Phoenix to cause you any trouble" when they caught up with him and Malkar. Everyone who Thaddeus browbeat into recognizing the compulsion on Felix-- a compulsion that was supposed to be utterly impossible-- and does absolutely zero investigation. Pretty much everyone in Hermione, for ignoring the possibility of the fantome. Stephen again, for not asking himself why [[spoiler: Mehitabel, a shamelessly promiscuous, proudly independent woman, would agree to his demands for unilateral fidelity in their relationship]]. But the dunce's cap has to go to Gerrard Hume: he wanted to tackle a superior military head-on, refused to negotiate a treaty with a critical ally, and is [[GenreBlindness genre blind]] enough to get himself and most of his top officers killed or maimed while awakening a legendary, mysterious engine of destruction... with human blood. Could anyone even imagine that scenario ending well for them?

* GratuitousRape: Felix's assault by Malkar in ''Mélusine'' naturally made for a [[RapeAsDrama dark setup]], but it made sense in context of the characters' relationship and motives. But throwaway character Edwin Beckett's gang subjecting Felix to another combination of magical and physical rape [[''DeusSexMachina to restart a clock'']] in ''Corambis''? Even for a CrapsackWorld, that's piling on.

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Whenever Felix comes out from behind his [[JerkassFacade defense mechanisms]] and actually admits that he cares about Mildmay. The best example is the [[spoiler: ending of ''Corambis'']].
** ''Corambis'' is one big HeartwarmingMoment for the boys, since they're relatively happier than they were in previous books, their relationship is on the mend, and Felix has stopped treating Mildmay like crap. Every instance of them joking and laughing or having meaningful heart-to-hearts is one big squee moment.
** Felix teaching Mildmay how to read. *sniff*
** Mildmay telling Felix he loves him and that he refuses to leave even though [[spoiler: the obligation d'ame has been removed]] and Felix's stunned reaction because no one has said the L word to him outside the context of sex.
** "This is the best story I know about hocuses, and it's true."
** The scene where Mildmay convinces Felix to perform the obligation d'ame, despite how wrong and awful it is and ends up becoming, has traces of this when Mildmay tells Felix that if he leaves him, then he has no reason to keep on living. Felix's reaction is to instantly offer to go to St Millefluer with Mildmay and forget his goals of going to Melusine and fixing the Virtu.
** When Felix tells Mildmay about his deathly fear of drowning in the Sim and Mildmay replies simply that if Felix falls in, he'll jump in after him. I love you too, Felix thinks, but can't bring himself to say.
** When Felix talks about Joline and how "we used to tell each other stories about how we were brother and sister". And that Mildmay reminds him of her. Mildmay's response? "I do my best."