History YMMV / RealmOfTheElderlings

* TearJerker: Late in ''Fool's Errand'' and in ''Fool's Fate''.

* CompleteMonster:
** Kennit was meant to be completely irredeemable, and boy does he earn that. He's a very clever and charismatic sociopath and, TragicBackstory notwithstanding, is absolutely horrible to everyone around him even ''before'' he [[spoiler:rapes Althea]].
** Holy shit the Others. Again, we'll learn they, too, have a tragic history, but shit jesus. They imprison She Who Remembers and nearly drive the dragons into extinction in return for wealth and power of their own.

*** Fool complains of Fitz's scars because of how beautiful he was. [[LasciviousBeautyMark Although...]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Fitz’s mother. Who was she? Was Fitz having [[SuperBreedingProgram both the Skill and Wit]] an accident or a planned event? Why did she send Fitz to Buckkeep and why can’t he remember her or anything before that event? Neither this trilogy nor any later one explores any of these questions.

* {{Squick}}: [[spoiler:Verity taking over Fitz's body for the sole purpose of sleeping with Ketrricken to give her an heir, which Verity still considers his child.]] Fitz washes himself intensely afterwards out of disgust.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: The Fool's initial dismissive view of Starling as someone who can't understand when a man looks at her without desire [[spoiler:now seems terrible when Fitz learns that she was raped; first by the Raiders, then by Burl's men.]]

** The Forged Ones are [[TechnicallyLivingZombie superficially human Monsters from the Id]] who have been stripped of all [[LackOfEmpathy empathy]] and compassion and [[TheHedonist maraud their way across the countryside for their own short term gratification]]. Creator/GarthEnnis would take this concept UpToEleven with the titular antagonists of ''ComicBook/{{Crossed}}.''

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: A recurrent theme throughout the quadrilogy is that relationships have to be based on mutual respect and appreciation - be they between a man and a woman, a man and another man, a woman and a dragon, or even a non-sexual friendship - or they'll eventually lead to grief.

* CompleteMonster: The Four take the Pale Lady's monstrosity up to eleven. They practice casual sadism without even the pretense of enjoying it (except Fellowdy) and turn others into monsters of the same kind. They have a small amphitheater akin to a surgical training program, only it's a ''torture'' training program. Some people are brought there to be threatened, others go because they enjoy it. They've practiced a centuries long breeding program to get more whites, forcing people into incest, forcing child after child out of them, brutally culling those that don't show the traits they want and not caring about the suffering of the survivors that do. They've wiled away their lives developing new torments just because they can. They committed genocide against the dragons solely to ensure their own power and have kept themselves alive for who knows how many centuries by eating dragon flesh. By the end of the series, you'll be glad to see their citadel completely destroyed.

** [[spoiler: When the Fool comes back to Buckeep,after being horribly tortured (Again).]] The two sleep in the same bed once again. For Comfort.

** Chivalry's motives are a mystery, but it's not WildMassGuessing to assume he set up a ThanatosGambit in case he didn't survive the DeadlyDecadentCourt. Patience is a GeniusDitz who wouldn't get a second glance from Regal's assassins, but could hold down the fort when the chips were down.

* AlternateAesopInterpretation:

** When your homeland is being invaded, the only real solution is to create weapons of mass destruction to unleash upon your enemy's cities in return.
** Urbanization and prosperity are the real causes of evil. After all, everyone in the nomadic Mountain Kingdom is above reproach, the military stronghold of Buckkeep has a mix of good and bad people, and the prosperous city of Tradeford produces Regal and other nobles who are unsympathetic or outright evil.

* {{Squick}}: [[spoiler:Verity taking over Fitz's body for the sole purpose of sleeping with Kettricken to give her an heir, which Verity still considers his child.]] Fitz washes himself intensely afterwards out of disgust.