These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
YMMV: Heralds Of Valdemar
Complete Monster: The most iconic example is of course Ma'ar, also the series' Big Bad, a man who body-hops his way through the centuries since his original death in the Mage Wars and in each incarnation manages to rack up a spectacular body count, not to mention a record for utter depravity. Interestingly, he actually started out as something of a Well-Intentioned Extremist, but managed to Villain Decay himself into a Complete Monster.
Special mention also has to go out to the minor villain Hadanelith, the serial rapist/Mind Rapist from the Mage Wars trilogy.
In Foundation, the first book of the latest trilogy, we have Master Pieters, a man who puts children as young as four and five to work in a mine, makes them sleep in a basement, feeds them so little that they supplemented their diet by stealing the pig slop whenever they could and beat a child to a bloody pulp with a mallet in front of the rest of the child workers.
Foe Yay: Occurs between Vanyel and his enemies on several occasions, usually as part of a temptation to evil.
Fridge Brilliance: Why does Firesong become obsessed with a lifebond when the Mage Storms and their affect on the land are driving him insane? One of the other books reveal that lifebonds usually/often form when someone extremely powerful is in danger of going insane: the lifebond anchors them. As a Healing-Adept, it's probable that he subconsciously knew what was happening to him and what he needed - it's not made clear whether lifebonds are divine intervention, something the more powerful person does subconsciously, or both.
Ho Yay: Both in-story and among fans, naturally. Certain areas tend to be quite prejudiced against homosexuality and even the suggestion of it must be avoided by those wishing to remain un-lynched.
It's clear that Firesong is deliberately trying to seem like this: one example is that he has a firebird because he bred/created it himself in order to show off. He also takes to the role of a showman very happily, and it's when his loved one starts to ignore him that he starts showing cracks. There are implications that he feels that he has to be special because he's descended from Vanyel and has to live up to that legacy & that his mother was very strict and demanding. It's need to be loved or for the mental stabilizing effect of a lifebond that nearly sends him over the Moral Event Horizon.
The Woobie: A lot of the major characters, especially early on, start out this way. Vanyel and Talia are the most Anvilicious of the lot. (Vanyel never stops being one.)
