History YMMV / LastHeraldMageTrilogy

** In-universe, hearing about the abuse Tashir suffered from his mother Ylsa, Vanyel is inclined to think of her as a CompleteMonster. The lady's maid telling him about it, who knew her, sees her as a TroubledAbuser despised by her family for being a MuggleBornOfMages and by her husband and ''his'' family for suspicion of BrotherSisterIncest when she was ''fourteen'', kept in a "childlike" state of mind and believing the only thing she was good at was sex.

* RonTheDeathEater: A short story in one of the Valdemar anthology novels features Paxia, a girl manifesting the Mage Gift, who's nearly driven mad by the country-wide spells Vanyel set up to ward Valdemar against mages. Valdemarans struggle to [[BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood think or talk about magic]], and using magic within the borders leads to increasing numbers of air elementals [[BeingWatched staring]] until the mage leaves the country. Paxia, exiled from her homeland and horrified by the realization that there must have been others like her tormented and not helped, swears revenge on Heralds believing that they knew and did nothing. The story calls attention to how Vanyel considered how terrible it would be for a mage venturing into Valdemar but had NoSympathy and made no arrangements to take care of Valdemarans born with the Mage-Gift, and his ''other'' spell ensured that no arrangements could ''be'' made.

* ParanoiaFuel: The BigBad's modus operandi is to slowly corrupt or kill every mage in Valdemar, especially the Herald-Mages. Since one, possibly even both of him are the immortal sorcerer Ma'ar, he plays an extremely long game, until finally he has an army of mage thralls at his back and only one Herald-Mage left to oppose him when he is finally ready to enter the country. And while the corruptions and slayings are subtle at first, they get more and more blatant as he cleans up his list, ending with an assassination that practically has his name on it. This, unsurprisingly, leaves Van in a roaring rage, and without Stefen and Yfandes to intervene, Vanyel would have been killed or corrupted too. As it is, he wins only at the cost of his own life.

** In the same book, Herald-Healer Shavri deliberately opens an unblocked link to her dying Life-bonded, meaning her life will go when his does. Her own death, while not 'on-screen' or described in detail, is implied to be horrible.

* ParanoiaFuel: The BigBad's modus operandi is to slowly corrupt or kill every mage in Valdemar, especially the Herald-Mages. Since one, possibly even both of him are the immortal sorcerer Ma'ar, he plays an extremely long game, until finally he has an army of mage thralls at his back and only one Herald-Mage left to oppose him when he is finally ready to enter the country. And while the corruptions and slaying look subtle at first, they get more and more blatant as he cleans up his list, ending with an assassination that practically has his name on it. This, unsurprisingly, leaves Van in a roaring rage, and without Stefen and Yfandes to intervene, Vanyel would have been killed or corrupted too. As it is, he wins only at the cost of his own life.

* EscapistCharacter: Vanyel struggles a ''lot'' in his life and is often lonely and unhappy, but over the course of the trilogy he becomes incredibly valuable to everyone he cares about, important and powerful and able to affect change like no one else. Everyone who dislikes him either comes around to loving him, comes to see him as a paragon they respect highly, or just dies. His {{Gayngst}} can be pretty relatable, particularly to queer readers, and resolves with his father mending his ways and a positive spin on TogetherInDeath with Stefan. Centuries after he's died Vanyel is still adored and respected. Also, he's very beautiful.

** In ''Magic's Pride'', it's mentioned offhand that "Lord Dark" took an underling who displeased him and chained him out in the woods so the carrion birds could eat his flesh -- bad enough, but he also added a Healing spell so the flesh would keep ''growing back''... now the crows are always fat and glossy, and none of the other underlings will eat them.

** In ''Magic's Pride'', it's mentioned offhand that "Lord Dark" took an underling who displeased him and chained him out in the woods so the carrion birds could eat his flesh -- bad enough, but he also added a Healing spell so the flesh would keep ''growing back''...

** In ''Magic's Pawn'', a maddened Tylendel calls up ''wyrsa'', creatures that look half-greyhound and half-snake, and sets them on his enemies. His Companion tries to stand against them, but she is pulled down and destroyed... as she must have known would happen.

* EscapistCharacter: Vanyel struggles a ''lot'' in his life and is often lonely and unhappy, but over the course of the trilogy he becomes incredibly valuable to everyone he cares about, important and powerful and able to affect change like no one else. Everyone who dislikes him either comes around to loving him, comes to see him as a paragon they respect highly, or just dies. His {{Gayngst}} can be pretty relatable, particularly to queer readers, and resolves with his father mending his ways and a positive spin on TogetherInDeath with Stefan. Centuries after he's died Vanyel is still adored and respected.

** In-universe, hearing about the abuse Tashir suffered from his mother Ylsa, Vanyel is inclined to think of her as a CompleteMonster. The lady's maid telling him about it, who knew her, sees her as a TragicAbuser despised by her family for being a MuggleBornToMages and by her husband and ''his'' family for suspicion of BrotherSisterIncest when she was ''fourteen'', kept in a "childlike" state of mind and believing the only thing she was good at was sex.