History YMMV / TheChroniclesOfAncientDarkness

* FoeYay: Lots and lots in ''Outcast''. All involving Seshru.

* CompleteMonster: [[GeniusBruiser Thiazzi]], from ''Soul Eater'' and ''Oath Breaker'', is an Oak Mage and the most sadistic of the Soul Eaters. Seeking total domination, Thiazzi and three other Soul Eaters attempt to unleash a demonic horde on the human world to subjugate the clans to their will. Reemerging later, [[ManipulativeBastard Thiazzi]] instigates a war between the Deep Forest clans and kills both the Deep Horse and Auroch Mages to impersonate them and [[PlayingBothSides manipulate both sides]]. Using his newfound power, Thiazzi reintroduces dead customs such as cutting off hands as punishment and kidnaps several [[WouldHurtAChild children]] to turn into Tokoroths, a torturous process which renders them [[EmptyShell empty husks]] possessed by demons. Desiring to obtain the final Fire Opal piece, Thiazzi [[HeroKiller murders the young Bale]] to steal it and then tries to manipulate the Deep Forest clans into declaring war on the people of the Open Forest, so he can conquer everything. Thiazzi also takes advantage of a mentally ill woman to use as a servant and orders her to start a huge fire to [[FrameUp frame Torak]] for it and have him executed. He then kidnaps Renn and traps her in a hollow tree to slowly suffocate to death. When Torak submits to his will, Thiazzi immediately [[ILied breaks his promise]] to spare Renn's life and tries to kill them both.

* MoralEventHorizon: In ''Spirit Walker'', [[spoiler:Tenris]] crosses this when [[spoiler:he reveals that he was [[EvilAllAlong all along a Soul Eater]] and [[EvilUncle the brother of Torak's father]], created the demon bear that killed [[CainAndAbel Torak's father]] in ''Wolf Brother'', created the sickness that he used to kill Bale's little brother just to test it and killed a young orca whale just to get its teeth (causing its vengeful kin to cripple Detlan). As she reveals this all, he prepares to eat his nephew's heart to become a spirit walker himself]].

* AdultFear - There are children being frequently put in danger, and sometimes killed. There's the woman in ''Oath Breaker'' who miscarries. There's children being radicalized into cults, there's the inability to provide for one's loved ones, and there's ostracism from the community. The Soul Eaters are essentially a Stone Age terrorist group, with the random civilian attacks that would imply.
* DieForOurShip - Poor [[spoiler:Bale]].
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Dark, introduced in the last book.
* FoeYay - Lots and lots in ''Outcast''. All involving Seshru.
* HarsherInHindsight: In ''Soul Eater'', when Torak and Renn come upon the Walker again, he is distraught over having lost Narik, and Torak replaces Narik for him with a lemming he grabs out of the snow. The entire episode is awful in hindsight, but especially when one skips forward to ''Ghost Hunter'', and Torak is replacing Narik again - [[spoiler: by being the second dead child the Walker retrieves.]]
* HoYay: Fin-Kedinn abandons his clan (only for a little while but nonetheless) to go off and find the Walker in the last book, and then spends most of the rest of his appearances protecting and taking care of him. He even offers to let him stay with the Ravens at the end, and seems quite disappointed to be refused. All in all, it comes across as very reminiscent of Janet rescuing [[Literature/TamLin Tam Lin]] with the power of her love.
* HollywoodPersonalityDisorders: The Walker is a decent match for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizotypal_personality_disorder schizotypal]]. He's more paranoid than even his situation warrants, speaks and acts in very bizarre manners, and the ThirdPersonPerson tendencies might indicate chronic depersonalization. Becomes slightly FridgeHorror-y that any of these symptoms displaying earlier would have made him easier prey for the Soul Eaters.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Despite it mostly marketed as children's literature, there is a great deal of heavily described violence and gruesome images, as well as one or two important deaths in each book (also very gruesome and well-described). There is also some sensuality, especially in the final three books. [[spoiler:And Thiazzi's physical and psychological torture of Renn in ''Oath Breaker'']]
* TheWoobie: Dark, probably the most. His clan was disgusted by him because he was an albino, the only person who loved and protected him was his mother. When he was eight, his mother died. His father took him deep into the mountains and left him there. The next time he had human contact was when he was fifteen, and met Torak and, later, Renn.
** Most of everyone else (Torak, Renn, and Fin-Kedinn) falls into StoicWoobie.
*** Torak loses his father and is tossed into a destiny he was not prepared for, against foes he has no clue how to deal with. Having been raised away from the clans, he's not used to living with so many people, and feels like he doesn't belong with them. [[spoiler:It doesn't help when he is later made outcast.]]
*** Oh, Renn. To start with, [[spoiler:her mother is Seshru. Seshru only planned to use her as a tokoroth, at least before Saeunn intervened. Afterwards, Seshru didn't even bother to see if her daughter survived.]] She loses her father at an early age, and because of her talent for Magecraft, (which she is reluctant to use because [[spoiler:she inherited it from her mother]]) people avoid her. Her first real friends were Torak and Wolf.
*** For Fin-Kedinn, his two best friends joined a [[ReligionOfEvil cult]] and disappeared, and the girl he loved married one of the aforementioned friends and died. His little brother also dies, leaving him the sole caretaker of his niece and nephew. The nephew gets himself killed in an avalanche, and the niece keeps getting herself in danger helping with Torak's quest and so forcing him to run all over the known world to rescue her. The Soul Eaters almost kill him in book 1... and in book 5. Book 1 also sees him find out his best friend has died, which he blames himself for. And in book 6, Renn and Torak leave for the other forest, and Saeunn dies, leaving him with no close relationships left.
*** Torak's father accidentally joins the ReligionOfEvil, thinking he was doing good. He ends up having to fake his own death, chop off bits of himself, and commit murder to get out, after which his wife dies and he spends twelve years as an outlaw in the woods. And then his brother kills him. And ''then'', he gets brainwashed right back into being a Soul Eater again.

* DevelopmentHell - A movie with Ridley Scott as the producer has been talked about since 2004...

* AdultFear - There are children being frequently put in danger, and sometimes killed. There's the woman in ''Oath Breaker'' who miscarries. There's children being radicalized into cults, there's the inability to provide for one's loved ones, and there's ostracism from the community.

* HarsherInHindsight: In ''Soul Eater'', when Torak and Renn come upon the Walker again, he is distraught over having lost Narik, and Torak replaces Narik for him with a vole he grabs out of the snow. Skip forward to ''Ghost Hunter'', and Torak is replacing Narik again - [[spoiler: by being the second dead child the Walker retrieves.]]