History YMMV / TheDeathMageWhoDoesntWantAFourthTime

* AngstWhatAngst: Vandalieu has all the hallmarks to be a complete wreck after being reborn for a third time and watching his new mother, the only [[GoodParents Good Parent]] that he ever had, [[BurnTheWitch be burned at the stake]], but he's surprisingly resilient and most of his interactions that don't involve combat or preparations against an enemy are pretty level headed. He's not exactly upbeat, in fact, considering the first skill that is maxed out is ''Mental Corruption'' he is borderline insane, but he's not a pool of angst either. Though this is at least justified in-universe, too: [[spoiler:when he does have a HeroicBSOD after seeing Heinz trying to take the moral high ground years after Darcia's death, and that he ''adopted'' a Dhampir in Selen and effectively gave her what he took from Van, Van uncontrollably curses out a BrownNote that drives [[AssholeVictims two villagers aiming to rob him]] to madness and suicide; Vandalieu ''can't'' let himself fall that low, or people ''die''.]]

* AngstWhatAngst: Vandalieu has all the hallmarks to be a complete wreck after being reborn for a third time and watching his new mother, the only [[GoodParents Good Parent]] that he ever had, [[BurnTheWitch be burned at the stake]], but he's surprisingly resilient and most of his interactions that don't involve combat or preparations against an enemy are pretty level headed. He's not exactly upbeat, in fact, considering the first skill that is maxed out is ''Mental Corruption'' he is borderline insane, but he's not a pool of angst either. Though this is at least justified in-universe, too: [[spoiler:when he does have a HeroicBSOD after seeing Heinz trying to take the moral high ground years after Darcia's death, and that he ''adopted'' a Dhampir in Selen and effectively gave her what he took from Van, Van uncontrollably becomes an AngstNuke that instantly murders everyone in the imminent vicinity just outside the village; Vandalieu ''can't'' let himself fall that low, or people ''die''.]]

* AngstWhatAngst: Vandalieu has all the hallmarks to be a complete wreck after being reborn for a third time and watching his new mother, the only [[GoodParents Good Parent]] that he ever had, [[BurnTheWitch be burned at the stake]], but he's surprisingly resilient and most of his interactions that don't involve combat or preparations against an enemy are pretty level headed. He's not exactly upbeat, in fact, considering the first skill that is maxed out is ''Mental Corruption'' he is borderline insane, but he's not a pool of angst either.

* CreepyAwesome: This story gets a hold of this trope and cranks it UpToEleven.

* ParanoiaFuel: Knochen's description is noted by many fans to be absolutely terrifying. Due to initially being based on the skeletons of small to mid-sized animals, it has mastered and transcended the "silent steps" skill, meaning it can sneak up on you completely unheard and unnoticed. Then after being the venue of an idol concert, the description reads that Knochen, if it so desired, is big and strong enough to single-handedly squash the capital of the Mirg-shield nation like a bug, and annihilate the entire country, with even an S-Class band of adventurers being unlikely to win a straight-up fight, due to starving to death before doing enough damage. Yeah, the idea of something the size of a mountain suddenly showing up undetected right atop your head is a scary prospect indeed.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:

* GameBreaker: Death-Atributte Magic in Origin. Wars began because of it.

** Jarodips, the Evil God of Sinful Chains, was also expected to be a major villain and more or less TheHeavy of the Demon King Army Remnants, given they had personally taken out Bellwood. The actual Jarodips however turns out to be an AntiHero much like Van: a fundamentally empathetic god who was only trying to protect their believers, which was made up pretty much exclusively of people who had been trampled on by those in positions of power. Further, all they actually did to Bellwood was show the heroic god the true enormity of the suffering he had inflicted on others, causing a permanent HeroicBSOD.
* StrawmanHasAPoint: A lot of readers find themselves actually agreeing with the Five-Colored Blades, or at least considering them the more reasonable party when compared with Vandalieu.
** Some readers felt despite the various ways Heinz is portrayed as a HateSink within the story, his gradual reforms are a more realistic response given his own position and the millennia of history between the human nations and new races of Vida, and more likely to ensure an end to the continued genocide of Vida’s children even after he himself is gone. Even InUniverse, Van himself notes Heinz’s limited reforms are an improvement over the status quo in Amid and Orbaume... they just mean very little to Van from his own position, as he can offer Vida races full protection and rights in his own kingdom that are far beyond what Heinz is seeking to grant them in Orbaume.[[labelnote:Note]]although it should be mentioned that in the story characters not part of Vans group note that Heinz's reforms are extremely flimsy and is likely to fall apart after he dies,becomes a heroic spirit, or has the stuff he's done brought into light. Not to mention the fact that he admitted to having no problem with Vida's races becoming nothing more than slaves and second class citizens below the human races at best.it also should be pointed out that while heinz's slow reforms might seem more realistic it all relies solely on his position as Alda's hero and any of his engineered heroics where he and his group purposefully put selen in danger in order to guide any Alda fanatics which makes very little difference as what the fanatics do is considered illegal in Orbaume and are usually executed, while out right ignoring those who are in actual need of help and hinting down other members of Vida's races for money without sparing anyone who might be innocent. Also historically reforms don't happen the way Heinz is trying to do them. Instead they typically happen by force. Even peaceful protest rely on causing a rucus and disrupting society in order to get people to listen and those were only possible due to people starting a war so that it would be possible. Much like what Van tries to do.[[/labelnote]]
** Delizah is against Vandalieu not because of any deep philosophical reasons but because she wants to keep her friends safe. This is exactly the same thing Vandalieu is doing 99% of the time.[[labelnote:note]]however it should be noted that the five blades have repeatedly done things to earn them the animosity of Vida's races and that most of the time they were the ones who started the fight. It's like bullying someone with your friends and blaming the victim when they fight back.[[/labelnote]]
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** Some readers felt despite the various ways Heinz is portrayed as a HateSink within the story, his gradual reforms are a more realistic response given his own position and the millennia of history between the human nations and new races of Vida, and more likely to ensure an end to the continued genocide of Vida’s children even after he himself is gone. Even InUniverse, Van himself notes Heinz’s limited reforms are an improvement over the status quo in Amid and Orbaume... they just mean very little to Van from his own position, as he can offer Vida races full protection and rights in his own kingdom that are far beyond what Heinz is seeking to grant them in Orbaume.[[labelnote:Note]]although it should be mentioned that in the story characters not part of Vans group note that Heinz's reforms are extremely flimsy and is likely to fall apart after he dies,becomes a heroic spirit, or has the stuff he's done brought into light. Not to mention the fact that he admitted to having no problemwith Vida's races becoming nothing more than slaves and second class citizens below the human races at best.it also should be pointed out that while heinz's slow reforms might be more realistic it all relies solely on his position as Alda's hero and any of his engineered heroics where he and his group purposefully put selen in danger in order to guide any Alda fanatics which makes very little difference as what the fanatics do is considered illegal in Orbaume and are usually executed, while out right ignoring those who are in actual need of help and hinting down other members of Vida's races for money without sparing anyone who might be innocent.[[/labelnote]]
** Delizah is against Vandalieu not because of any deep philosophical reasons but because she wants to keep her friends safe. This is exactly the same thing Vandalieu is doing 99% of the time.

** Some readers felt despite the various ways Heinz is portrayed as a HateSink within the story, his gradual reforms are a more realistic response given his own position and the millennia of history between the human nations and new races of Vida, and more likely to ensure an end to the continued genocide of Vida’s children even after he himself is gone. Even InUniverse, Van himself notes Heinz’s limited reforms are an improvement over the status quo in Amid and Orbaume... they just mean very little to Van from his own position, as he can offer Vida races full protection and rights in his own kingdom that are far beyond what Heinz is seeking to grant them in Orbaume.[[labelnote:Note]]although it should be mentioned that in the story characters not part of Vans group note that Heinz's reforms are extremely flimsy and is likely to fall apart after he dies,becomes a heroic spirit, or has the stuff he's done brought into light. Not to mention the fact that he admitted to having no problemwith Vida's races becoming nothing more than slaves and second class citizens below the human races at best.it also should be pointed out that while heinz's slow reforms might be more realistic heinz himself has yet to do anything that would actually help Vida's races instead just saying a bunch of pretty words while attacking them for money.[[/labelnote]]

** Some readers felt despite the various ways Heinz is portrayed as a HateSink within the story, his gradual reforms are a more realistic response given his own position and the millennia of history between the human nations and new races of Vida, and more likely to ensure an end to the continued genocide of Vida’s children even after he himself is gone. Even InUniverse, Van himself notes Heinz’s limited reforms are an improvement over the status quo in Amid and Orbaume... they just mean very little to Van from his own position, as he can offer Vida races full protection and rights in his own kingdom that are far beyond what Heinz is seeking to grant them in Orbaume.[[labelnote:Note]]In the story characters not part of Vans group note that Heinz's reforms are extremely flimsy and is likely to fall apart after he dies,becomes a heroic spirit, or has the stuff he's done brought into light. Not to mention the fact that he admitted to having no problemwith Vida's races becoming nothing more than slaves and second class citizens below the human races at best[[/labelnote]]

** Jennifer considers Van's criticism of not attempting diplomacy with majin to be a moot point given that all the majin she has encountered have acted like bandits and mass murderers anyway. Even human bandits are killed on sight, so why would majin get a pass on that?

** Some readers felt despite the various ways Heinz is portrayed as a HateSink within the story, his gradual reforms are a more realistic response given his own position and the millennia of history between the human nations and new races of Vida, and more likely to ensure an end to the continued genocide of Vida’s children even after he himself is gone. Even InUniverse, Van himself notes Heinz’s limited reforms are an improvement over the status quo in Amid and Orbaume... they just mean very little to Van from his own position, as he can offer Vida races full protection and rights in his own kingdom that are far beyond what Heinz is seeking to grant them in Orbaume.

* AngstWhatAngst: Vandalieu has all the hallmarks to be a complete wreck after being reborn for a third time and watching his new mother, the only [[GoodParents Good Parent]] that he ever had, [[BurnTheWitch be burned at the stake]], but he's surprinsingly resilient and most of his interactions that don't involve combat or preparations against an enemy are pretty level headed. He's not exactly upbeat, but he's not a pool of angst either.

* HilariousInHindsight: [[BlobMonster B.O.B.]] from ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'' said during his introduction that you don't need a brain, [[TooDumbToLive then he forgot how to breathe]]. Well, Vandalieu during chapter 236 showed he's capable to think ''without using his brain'', using only his soul and Spirit Self. Turns out brains really are overrated, although he still needs to [[BrickJoke remind his body to breathe]].

* HilariousInHindsight: [[BlobMonster B.O.B.]] from ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'' said during his introduction that you don't need a brain. Well, Vandalieu during chapter 236 showed he's capable to think ''without using his brain'', using only his soul and Spirit Self. Turns out brains really are overrated, although he still needs to remind his body to breathe.

** Vandalieu himself is also one, because aside from having Death Attribute Magic, he also has a mana pool in the hundred millions as soon as he was born. It is saying something that the Bravers who have unique GameBreaker skills themselves who knew about Van find him more broken than themselves.