History YMMV / Shannara

* TheWoobie: Tay Trefenwyd DidNotGetTheGirl, he has to watch her with his best friend, and finally he [[spoiler:dies retrieving the stone]]. Yeah, he qualifies.

* JerkassWoobie: The Ilse Witch's been through hell. She's also an utter bitch to everyone around her.
** She drops the {{Jerkass}} part in the next series, then she goes through hell ''again'', this time sort of literally.

** A rare {{aversion}} is Brin and Rone from ''Wishsong'', probably because they are ''already'' in love before the story takes place (though they have yet to admit it to each other).
* TheWoobie:
** Nothing good happens to poor Ahren.
** Tay Trefenwyd DidNotGetTheGirl, he has to watch her with his best friend, and finally he [[spoiler:dies retrieving the stone]]. Yeah, he qualifies.

** Aphenglow Elessidel becomes this through the course of "Dark Legacy," which seems determined to take from her everyone she cares about, from [[spoiler:surrogate mother figure Khyber Elessidel, to her lover Bombax, most of her fellow Druids, basically all of her blood relatives, and her ReplacementGoldfish for Bombax, Cymrian. Yeah, she loses a lover, and loses the lover who helped support her through the loss of the first! Along with everything else tumbling apart in her life]].

* ExecutiveMeddling: Positive example; in the author's note for Elfstones, he freely admits that his original story was much inferior to what it ended up being after he got some feedback from his editor.

* CrazyAwesome: Cogline in ''Wishsong''. By ''Heritage'' he's recovered his sanity. Mostly.

* GrowingTheBeard: While ''Sword'' has a few twists along the way, and plenty of hints that the underlying mythology of the world is very distinct, it distinctly resembles ''TheLordOfTheRings'' in many respects, to its detriment. ''Elfstones'' established that the series could stand on its own as page-turning HighFantasy adventure, and remains perhaps the single most beloved volume for fans.

* NeverLiveItDown: Terry Brooks wrote exactly one book that bore some resemblance to ''TheLordOfTheRings'' followed by a series of highly original fantasy adventures, but most people who know of him but haven't read his books think he's made a lifelong career out of plagiarism.

* CompleteMonster: [[Literature/TheHeritageOfShannara Rimmer Dall]]; [[Literature/TheVoyageOfTheJerleShannara The Morgawr and Cree Bega]]; [[Literature/TheDefendersOfShannara Mischa]].

* HideYourLesbians: On the part of the author, in ''Wishsong.'' There is some serious subtext throughout the book making it seem like there is something going on between Brin and Kimber Boh. Not only that, but it seemed plausible that Brin could have used her Wishsong to bear Kimber's children. This is Jossed, not only in the ''Heritage of Shannara'' series, but in numerous sequels to the work. Nevermind that those two have actual chemistry, whereas she doesn't seem to care about Rone after his sword breaks (maybe this is a RelationshipWritingFumble, though). Nevermind that it is also extremely unlikely for Brin's distant successors to suddenly decide to go visit Kimber's, or for that matter name Walker Boh after an incident nearly 300 years in the past if it ''didn't'' result in them getting together. Nope, no lesbians here!

* NeverLiveItDown: Terry Brooks wrote exactly one book that was a shameless ripoff of ''TheLordOfTheRings'' followed by a series of highly original fantasy adventures, but most people who know of him but haven't read his books think he's made a lifelong career out of plagiarism.

*** Double subverted in ''Wishsong'', as there seems to be something with Brin and Kimber, but... well, see HideYourLesbians above.

* CrazyAwesome: Cogline in ''Wishsong''. By ''Heritage'' he's recovered his sanity. Mostly
* ExecutiveMeddling: Positive example, in the author's note for Elfstones, he freely admits that his original story was much inferior to what it ended up being after he got some feedback from his editor.

* HideYourLesbians: On the part of the author, in ''Wishsong.'' There is some serious subtext throughout the book making it seem like there is something going on between Brin and Kimber Boh. Not only that, but it seemed plausible that Brin could have used her wishsong to bear Kimber's children. This is Jossed, not only in the ''Heritage of Shannara'' series, but in numerous sequels to the work. Nevermind that those two have actual chemistry, whereas she doesn't seem to care about Rone after his sword breaks (maybe this is a RelationshipWritingFumble, though). Nevermind that it is also extremely unlikely for Brin's distant successors to suddenly decide to go visit Kimber's, or for that matter name Walker Boh after an incident nearly 300 years in the past if it ''didn't'' result in them getting together. Nope, no lesbians here!

* ProtectionFromEditors: Averted, while Brooks meets all the criteria to qualify for it, he has made quite clear that he actually considers his editors a vital part of making his books great

* HideYourLesbians: On the part of the author, in ''WishsongOfShannara.'' There is some serious subtext throughout the book making it seem like there is something going on between Brin and Kimber Boh. Not only that, but it seemed plausible that Brin could have used her wishsong to bear Kimber's children. This is Jossed, not only in the ''Heritage of Shannara'' series, but in numerous sequels to the work. Nevermind that those two have actual chemistry, whereas she doesn't seem to care about Rone after his sword breaks (maybe this is a RelationshipWritingFumble, though). Nevermind that it is also extremely unlikely for Brin's distant successors to suddenly decide to go visit Kimber's, or for that matter name Walker Boh after an incident nearly 300 years in the past if it ''didn't'' result in them getting together. Nope, no lesbians here!

*** Double subverted in ''Wishsong'', as there seems to be something with Brin and Kimber, but... well, see HideYouLesbians above.

** Aphenglow Elessidel becomes this through the course of "Dark Legacy," which seems determined to take from her everyone she cares about, from [[spoiler:surrogate mother figure Khyber Elessidel, to her lover Bombax, most of her fellow Druids, basically all of her blood relatives, and her ReplacementGoldfish for Bombax, Cymrian. Yeah, she loses a lover, and loses the lover who helped support her through the loss of the first! Along with everything else tumbling apart in her life]].

* CompleteMonster: [[Literature/TheVoyageOfTheJerleShannara The Morgawr and Cree Bega]]; [[Literature/TheDefendersOfShannara Mischa]].

* CompleteMonster:
** The Morgawr is disgustingly evil, has truly vile abilities, and doesn't have the excuse of being a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Demon]], having a sympathetic backstory, or suffering from corruption by [[TomeOfEldritchLore The Ildatch]]. He eats peoples' brains for crying out loud, and just look at the rest of this trope list. Undoubtedly the most evil thing to come out of Brooks' writing.
** The Morgawr's Dragon, Cree Bega is a sadistic, torture-loving monster who's only slightly less monstrous than his boss. And that's got more to do with a lack of opportunity than greater morality. Even the Ilse Witch treads carefully with him.

* TearJerker: [[spoiler:Allanon]]'s death in ''Wishsong''.

* NightmareFuel:
** The Reaper
** Truls Rohk is a half-man, half-ShapeShifter and his body reflects this, with parts of it constantly mutating, even as others stay exactly the same.
** The Morgawr

* TitleConfusion: Shannara is '''not''' the name of the world the books are set in; it is the name of an Elven royal family.

* AlasPoorVillain: Antrax was never really evil, being essentially a victim of its programming, and its panicked attempt to understand what is happening to it is rather sad.

* Cree Bega is a sadistic, torture-loving monster who's only slightly less monstrous than his boss. And that's got more to do with a lack of opportunity than greater morality. Even the Ilse Witch treads carefully with him.

* JerkassWoobie: The Ilse Witch's been through hell. She's also an utter bitch to everyone around her. YourMileageMayVary on how much of a {{Woobie}} (or how much of a JerkAss) you find her.

* TitleConfusion: Shannara is '''not''' the name of the world the books are set in; it is the name of an Elven royal family.

* NeverLiveItDown: Terry Brooks wrote exactly one book that was a shameless ripoff of ''TheLordOfTheRings'' followed by a series of highly original fantasy adventures, but most people who know of him but haven't read his books think he's made a lifelong career out of plagiarism.

* LoveItOrHateIt: ''First King''. Lots of fans can't stand it and Brooks himself claims it as his weakest work, but it still has its followers.