History YMMV / TheFionavarTapestry

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome:
** So many, let's start with the top one. [[spoiler: In the third book Lancelot battles one of the oldest creatures in the world for a whole night and never wavers during the battle! Surely he couldn't win but when he somehow wields the beast's own hammer he finally kills it!]] God damn it's hard to top that!
** Torc and Dave fighting an urgach in Faelinn Grove.
** [[spoiler:Levon]] performing Revor's Kill.
** Diarmuid comes close near the end.
** Coll commanding his ship in a very violent storm.
** Gereint sending his spirit out to help forge a link between Paul, the earth, and Liranan god of the sea at a critical moment.

* StoicWoobie: Aileron, Matt Soren, Torc, Dave and Paul (''especially'' Paul) all tend to conceal their personal anguish behind emotional facades of varying sorts, and none of them is at all good at reaching out for help. [[spoiler:They do all get better about it, though it takes some of them more time than others.]]
---> '''Loren:''' ''(in exasperation, discovering Matt bleeding)'' How am I supposed to know when you're hurt if you won't tell me?
---> '''Matt:''' You aren't. You aren't supposed to know.

** Diarmuid's seduction of Sharra in Larai Rigal's gardens was actually (according to [[WordOfGod Kay himself]]) meant to evoke this trope; he had wanted to deconstruct the "Dashing Prince" archetype by showing Diarmuid doing something reprehensibly selfish -- something that not only constituted blatant manipulation and deception (if not outright nonconsensual rape), but could easily have caused all sorts of diplomatic and political fallout up to and including war, given that both parties were heirs to their respective thrones. Kay claims that "very few readers have ever held that garden scene against Diarmuid to the extent I thought they would."

* SugarWiki/MomentofAwesome:
** So many, let's start with the top one. [[spoiler: In the third book Lancelot battles one of the oldest creatures in the world for a whole night and never wavers during the battle! Surely he couldn't win but when he somehow wields the beast's own hammer he finally kills it!]] God damn it's hard to top that!

** Rakoth raping and trying to break [[spoiler: Jennifer Lowe]], as well as the fate of her being [[spoiler: Guinevere]], and the LoveTriangle she finds herself trapped in with [[spoiler: Arthur and Lancelot]].

** [[EvilChancellor Metran, First Mage to the High King of Brennin]], at first seems to be a [[ObfuscatingInsanity harmless, senile old man]]. Revealed as a servant of Rakoth Maugrim, assisting his master in returning from imprisonment, Metran arranges the massacre of [[spoiler: Jennifer's guards]] to deliver her to Maugrim to be raped and murdered. In the second book of the trilogy, Metran obtains the Cauldron of Khath Meigol, which allows him to [[CastFromHitPoints power his magic]] by [[BadBoss draining the lives of hundreds of minions]], resurrecting them and killing them again; he uses this horrendously magnified power to create a killing frost over the lands that dooms many people to die via cold and starvation. Another realm, Eridu, is destroyed by a death rain that fatally poisons almost everyone within its borders. When finally slain, Metran is attempting to bring the death rain over the mountains to the High Kingdom to wipe it off the map. (He does briefly claim that at least part of his motivation is revenge for the High King he served before Ailell, Garmisch of House Garantae, who Ailell overthrew and slew, but by the end it seems like he is simply [[DrunkWithPower wreaking destruction for the sheer malicious joy of it]]).

** Rakoth raping and trying to break Jennifer Lowe as well as the fate of her being Gwen and Arthur and Lancelot being her great loves

** [[BigBad Rakoth Maugrim]], the Unraveler, is a deity from outside of Fionavar who loathes the world he had no part in making. Long ago, Maugrim arrived in Fionavar and [[TheCorrupter began corrupting]] what he could with the intention of [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt annihilating the world entirely]]. After freeing himself, Maugrim captures the heroine Jennifer and, vowing to take everything from her, rapes her, while taking the forms of her father and lovers to destroy all happiness she may have. Aware his rape has gotten her pregnant with his son, thus binding him to Fionavar, Maugrim gives Jennifer to a servant of his to rape and torture for a night as long as he kills her at the end of it. When Jennifer is saved, Maugrim later inflicts a brutal winter on Fionavar, killing many by freezing and starvation, while using his forces to ravage the land. When he meets his son Darien, Maugrim is gleeful about [[OffingTheOffspring a chance to murder him]], vowing to not only to kill him but to ''unmake'' him utterly as to regain his invulnerability.
** [[EvilChancellor Metran, First Mage to the High King of Brennin]], at first seems to be a [[ObfuscatingInsanity harmless, senile old man]]. Revealed as a servant of Rakoth Maugrim, assisting his master in returning from imprisonment, Metran arranges the massacre of heroine Jennifer's soldiers to deliver her to Maugrim to be raped and murdered. In the second book of the trilogy, Metran obtains the Cauldron of Kath Meigol, powering it by [[BadBoss draining the lives of hundreds of minions]], resurrecting them and killing them again to create a killing frost over the lands that dooms many people to die via cold and starvation. Another land suffers a killing rain from Metran's powers, poisoning and killing almost everyone within its borders. When finally killed, Metran is attempting to shift the death rain over to the High Kingdom to wipe it off the map, driven only by his {{greed}}, hunger for power and hatred towards Fionavar.

* MoralEventHorizon: Raping and torturing Jennifer for Rakoth Maugrim.
* OneTrueThreesome: [[spoiler: Jennifer/Guinever]] with Arthur and Lancelot--she's in love with both of them and they have some pretty intense HoYay.

** The death of Kevin Laine
** The scene that reveals what happened to Paul Schafer's fiancee, Rachel: they were driving home when she told him she was in love with someone else. Then their car crashed. She died, and he blames himself, feeling that he subconsciously rolled the car as an act of revenge.

** [[spoiler:Dave Martinjuk learns that he has to leave Fionavar despite feeling like he belongs there. However he's learned a lot about himself and finds the courage to ask Kim out in the end.]]
** Diarmuid's death.

** Little is made of the age difference between Sharra and Diarmuid (17-24/25) however in such times that was quite common age for women to marry. For the most part the two do love each other dearly.
** Somewhat more troubling is having the captain of the guard garroted as part of a temper tantrum.

** [[EvilChancellor Metran, First Mage to the High King of Brennin]], at first seems to be a [[ObfuscatingInsanity harmless, senile old man]]. Revealed as a servant of the aforementioned Rakoth Maugrim, assisting his master in returning from imprisonment, Metran arranges the massacre of heroine Jennifer's soldiers to deliver her to Maugrim to be raped and murdered. In the second book of the trilogy, Metran obtains the Cauldron of Kath Meigol, powering it by [[BadBoss draining the lives of hundreds of minions]], resurrecting them and killing them again to create a killing frost over the lands that dooms many people to die via cold and starvation. Another land suffers a killing rain from Metran's powers, poisoning and killing almost everyone within its borders. When finally killed, Metran is attempting to shift the death rain over to the High Kingdom to wipe it off the map, driven only by his {{greed}}, hunger for power and hatred towards Fionavar.

* CrazyAwesome: Diarmuid.

* HoYay: Sure feels like Loren Silvercloak and Matt had a Meet Cute some point.

* OneTrueThreesome: Jennifer Lowe with Arthur and Lancelot

** Diarmund comes close near the end.

* XMeetsY: Has the basic premise of TheChroniclesOfNarnia (a small group of humans from earth are pulled into a HighFantasyWorld where they act out a prophesied role) while the world itself is largely derivative of [[TheLordOfTheRings Middle Earth]] at various points in it's history. The whole thing is then made HotterAndSexier (though not to a ridiculous degree, the main difference is that in Fionavar sex is a thing that happens as opposed to the other settings where it's either politely ignored 99.9% of the time in Tolkiens works and in CS Lewis' books sex [[ContractualPurity actually seems to prevent a person from accessing Narnia]]). Finally the overall mythology is given a Celtic flavor rather than the Germanic tone of Middle Earth or the thinly-veiled christian allegory of Narnia.

* XMeetsY: Has the basic premise of TheChroniclesOfNarnia (a small group of humans from earth are pulled into a HighFantasyWorld where they act out a prophesied role) while the world itself is largely derivative of [[TheLordOfTheRings Middle Earth]] at various points in it's history. The whole thing is then made HotterAndSexier (though not to a ridiculous degree, the main difference is that in Fionavar sex is a thing that happens as opposed to the other settings where it's either politely ignored 99.9% of the time in Tolkiens works and in CS Lewis' books sex [[ContractualPurity actually seems to prevent a person from accessing Narnia]]).

* JustForFun/XMeetsY: Literature/TheLordOfTheRings meets Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia meets HotterAndSexier (in that unlike the other two, there actually is sex).

* XMeetsY: Literature/TheLordOfTheRings meets Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia meets HotterAndSexier (in that unlike the other two, there actually is sex).

* XMeetsY: TheLordOfTheRings meets TheChroniclesOfNarnia meets HotterAndSexier (in that unlike the other two, there actually is sex).

* XMeetsY: TheLordOfTheRings meets TheChroniclesOfNarnia meets HotterAndSexier (in that unlike the other two, there actually is sex).

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Rakoth Maugrim]], the Unraveler, is a deity from outside of Fionavar who loathes the world he had no part in making. Long ago, Maugrim arrived in Fionavar and began corrupting what he could with the intention of annihilating the world entirely. After freeing himself, Maugrim captures the heroine Jennifer and, vowing to take everything from her, rapes her, while taking the forms of her father and lovers to destroy all happiness she may have. Aware his rape has gotten her pregnant with his son, thus binding him to Fionavar, Maugrim gives Jennifer to a servant of his to rape and torture for a night as long as he kills her at the end of it. When Jennifer is saved, Maugrim later inflicts a brutal winter on Fionavar, killing many by freezing and starvation, while using his forces to ravage the land. When he meets his son Darien, Maugrim is gleeful about [[OffingTheOffspring a chance to murder him]], vowing to not only to kill him but to ''unmake'' him utterly as to regain his invulnerability.

* MoralEventHorizon: Raping and torturing Jennifer for RakothMaugrim.

** Somewhat more troubling is having the captain of the guard garroted as part of a temper tantrum.

* CompleteMonster: Maugrim, [[spoiler: Metran]], Uathach, and more.

** Somewhat more troubling is having the captain of the guard garroted as part of a temper tantrum.
* VillainBall: When you're an EldritchAbomination with CompleteImmortality because your "name isn't written into the tapestry", and [[spoiler: siring a child]] will serve to write your name ''into'' the tapestry, the one crime you shouldn't commit is [[spoiler: rape]].

** Somewhat more troubling is having the captain of the guard garroted as part of a temper tantrum.

* SugarWiki/MomentofAwesome: So many, let's start with the top one. [[spoiler: In the third book Lancelot battles one of the oldest creatures in the world for a whole night and never wavers during the battle! Surely he couldn't win but when he somehow wields the beast's own hammer he finally kills it!]] God damn it's hard to top that!

* TearJerker: Many, both for readers and in TheVerse. (Characters will often weep when it would be the normal human response, unlike many works of the genre.) [[spoiler:The GoMadFromTheRevelation aversion is one notable example; learning the reason Paul wants to die is another.]]

* TearJerker: Many, both for readers and in TheVerse. (Characters will often weep when it would be the normal human response, unlike many works of the genre.) [[spoiler:The GoMadFromTheRevelation aversion above is one notable example; learning the reason Paul wants to die is another.]]