History YMMV / Tigana

** Alessan's LoveConfession to Catriana.
---> '''Alessan:''' Bright Star of Eanna, forgive the manner of this, but you are the harbor of my soul's journeying.
** Erlein prevents Catriana from making a HeroicSacrifice without Alessan needing to give him any orders. In response, Alessan releases Erlein's magical bonds, betting that he'll stay with the team anyway. Erlein does.

* {{Applicability}}: Guy Gavriel Kay commented that from South Korea to Poland to Quebec people have been praising him for basing the plot of ''Tigana'' on their national history. For reference, he based it on Renaissance-era Italy. His writing philosophy is that history-inspired fantasy, among other things, lets a story have more of a universal appeal than mundane historical fiction would.

* DesignatedHero: Rare among appearances of this trope, it's intentional. The whole book is dedicated to the question of whether Alessan's revenge plot is worth the work he's putting in. Brandin, his nemesis, is an AffablyEvil AntiVillain whose most atrocious acts were committed out of grief and pride very similar to Alessan's own. Even Alberico, clearly much worse than Brandin, is said to have made the roads safer in his territory.

--> '''Sandre''' ''(to Devin)'': I particularly enjoyed your spluttering indignation.

--> '''Dianora''': You did travel part of the way up a mountain today, after all.

--> "Bright Star of Eanna, forgive the manner of this, but you are the harbor of my soul's journeying."

* CompleteMonster: [[AmbitionIsEvil Alberico of Barbiador]] is a powerful sorcerer and brutal tyrant, unlike the more powerful [[AntiVillain Brandin]]. Seeking to dominate all in his path, Alberico responds to an assassination attempt by crucifying his attackers' families, [[WouldHurtAChild children]] included, to giant "death wheels", cutting off their hands and stuffing them in their mouths while leaving them to perish of exposure. When feeling slighted by poets, Alberico selects 20 poets at random to give the same treatment to, while frequently having his men commit atrocious war crimes during conquest. When war is provoked between him and Brandin, Alberico marches his forces, [[RapePillageAndBurn burning and slaughtering]] as he goes. [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating Despised by all]], Brandin comments that Alberico is wholly devoid of any human passion, simply wanting for the sake of ambition and nothing more.

** Saevar clearly ''adores'' his prince.

* MagnificentBastard: Prince Alessan of Tigana is a RebelLeader dedicated to the death of Prince Brandin and the restoration of Tigana. Working with a small rebellion, Alessan builds a network of information and sabotage against Brandin and his rival Alberico while enslaving mages to assist them as well. Alessan later formulates a plan to assassinate a key ambassador after sowing mistrust between the two tyrants with the intent of sparking a war to annihilate them both.

** Catriana's [[spoiler: assassination of the Barbadian in Senzio, which was very nearly an HeroicSacrifice]] and helped redeem the somewhat difficult character for many people.

** The scene with Baerd and the Night Walkers, which many might argue is where he really comes together as a character.

*** And it's saved from being her last moment of awesome by the intervention of [[spoiler:Erlein di Senzio, [[ChangedMyMindKid who finally puts aside his complaining]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming and griping to save her life and fully join the team as a friend]].]]

** The destruction of Tigana and the erasing of its memory--ironic because the ''more sympathetic'' of the two conquerors committed the single worst atrocity. Brandin spends the whole book trying to drag his way back across it.

* MoralEventHorizon: The destruction of Tigana and the erasing of its memory- ironic because the ''more sympathetic'' of the two conquerors committed the single worst atrocity. Brandin spends the whole book trying to drag his way back across it.
** Alberico is a walking MoralEventHorizon, but his defining moment of depravity comes early on. He gatecrashes a vigil wherein three of the most powerful lords in the realm are conspiring to overthrow him. [[spoiler:He kills them all]], which is understandable enough. What is less reasonable is that he then [[spoiler:sky-wheels their families - namely, crucifying them on vast wooden wheels with their hands chopped off and stuffed into their mouths so that they can't scream, then leaves them to die of exposure and publically rot. It is explicitly noted that he does this to every single member of the families. Even the children.]] This is why people prefer [[AntiVillain Brandin.]]

** Many of Dianora's scenes with Brandin, but most notably [[spoiler: The Ring Dive,]] and [[spoiler: his death and her subsequent suicide; this should be shot through with joy because the spell is broken and Tigana is restored, but Brandin is so likeable - and the heroes so [[DesignatedHero designated]] - that the reader might be left wondering whether it was really worth it.]]

* HoYay: A great deal, as it seems to be a very homosocial culture. In particular, Alberico seems to dwell on Tomasso a little too long and too lovingly; he ''is'' thinking of torturing him, but fantasising about another man being "curved invitingly back" on one's mechanisms is [[DepravedHomosexual a little loaded]].

** The scene where Sandre and Tomasso meet [[spoiler: in Alberico's dungeons, where Sandre murders him to stop him from talking. Also doubles as a SoProudOfYou moment.]]

* HoYay: A great deal, actually; to be fair, it seems to be a very homosocial culture. In particular, Alberico seems to dwell on Tomasso a little too long and too lovingly; he ''is'' thinking of torturing him, but fantasising about another man being "curved invitingly back" on one's mechanisms is [[DepravedHomosexual a little loaded]].

*** And it's saved from being her last moment of awesome by the intervention of [[spoiler:Erlein di Senzio, [[ChangedMyMindKid who finally puts aside his complaining]] [[HeelFaceTurn and griping to save her life and fully join the team as a friend]].]]

* CompleteMonster: Alberico, perhaps the only character in the novel who is in no way sympathetic.

* MoralEventHorizon: The destruction of Tigana and the erasing of its memory- ironic because the ''more sympathetic'' of the two conquerors committed the single worst atrocity. Brandin spends pretty much the whole book trying to drag his way back across it.
** Alberico is basically a walking MoralEventHorizon, but his defining moment of depravity comes early on. He gatecrashes a vigil wherein three of the most powerful lords in the realm are conspiring to overthrow him. [[spoiler:He kills them all]], which is understandable enough. What is less reasonable is that he then [[spoiler:sky-wheels their families - namely, crucifying them on vast wooden wheels with their hands chopped off and stuffed into their mouths so that they can't scream, then leaves them to die of exposure and publically rot. It is explicitly noted that he does this to every single member of the families. Even the children.]] This is why people prefer [[AntiVillain Brandin.]]

* AlasPoorVillain: One death is [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome very satisfying]], but the other... [[TearJerker not so much.]]

** The scene with Baerd and the Night Walkers, which many might argue is where he really comes together as a character.** Many of Dianora's scenes with Brandin, but most notably [[spoiler: The Ring Dive,]] and [[spoiler: his death and her subsequent suicide; this should be shot through with joy because the spell is broken and Tigana is restored, but Brandin is so likeable - and the heroes so [[DesignatedHero designated]] - that the reader might be left wondering whether it was really worth it.]]

* AlasPoorVillain: One death is [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome very satisfying]], but the other... [[{{Tearjerker}} not so much.]]

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome:

** Dianora's Ring Dive, although this overlaps with {{Tearjerker}}.

* {{Tearjerker}}:

** The scene with Baerd and the Night Walkers, which many might argue is where he really comes together as a character.
** Many of Dianora's scenes with Brandin, but most notably [[spoiler: The Ring Dive,]] and [[spoiler: his death and her subsequent suicide; this should be shot through with joy because the spell is broken and Tigana is restored, but Brandin is so likeable - and the heroes so [[DesignatedHero designated]] - that the reader might be left wondering whether it was really worth it.]]

* FetishFuel: Surely at least one person (besides [[AuthorAppeal Kay]]) found Alienor rather... intriguing.