History YMMV / TheWayfarerRedemption

** '''As a Result:''' Qeteb and his demons break into Sanctuary, kill all the remaining Star Gods apart from Axis and Azhure, and are only prevented from killing the rest of the survivors of Tecendor including the Avar because of Urbeth's timely intervention. Isfrael is also brutally raped in both mind and body for his treachery.

*** '''You'd Expect:''' No matter how much Isfrael resents Axis and his family, he would know better than to make a DealWithTheDevil, especially an OmnicidalManiac devil who has repeatedly betrayed his word to others and has a disdain for all life.
*** '''Instead:''' Isfrael invokes Qeteb, and gladly agrees to turn over everyone in Sanctuary in exchange for preserving the Avar race.
*** '''As a Result:''' Qeteb and his demons break into Sanctuary, kill all the remaining Star Gods apart from Axis and Azhure, and are only prevented from killing the rest of the survivors of Tecendor including the Avar because of Urbeth's timely intervention. Isfrael is also brutally raped in both mind and body for his treachery.

* WhatAnIdiot: Isfrael's [[spoiler:dealings with Qeteb in ''Crusader''.]] Any reader can tell it's going to blow up in his face, but he's too much of an arrogant imbecile to recognise the signs.

*** You can tell how sympathetic a character tends to be (in general) by how good their treatment of Drago is - which at the beginning accounts for Zenith (his younger sister), Zared, & Leah. That's it... There's a bit of MoralDissonance involved, in that he's perfectly willing to plot revenge on everyone who mistreated him when given the chance, and he's not immune to self-pity. It takes being shown [[spoiler:what he did to his brother Caellum ''through the latter's eyes'']] for him to understand this, after which he steadily evolves into a MessianicArchetype.

** The aforementioned [[ForTheEvulz Qeteb]], the Midday Demon, is [[BigBad the boss]] of the Timekeeper Demons. In the past he and the other demons ended life on thousands of worlds, including [[spoiler:the Earth]]. When he is reformed in Tencendor after sustaining mortal wounds that destroyed his body, he immediately drives every creature and being not under magical protection insane. He is a BadBoss, frequently beating his own demons and [[EstablishingCharacterMoment grabbing Sheol by the hair and throwing her into a wall minutes after his resurrection]]. He repeatedly rapes a soulless woman and later has one of his demons possess her, and taunts Faraday about raping and dismembering her. His ultimate goal is the cessation of the Star Dance, which [[OmnicidalManiac would end all life in the universe]].

* MagnificentBastard: [=WolfStar=] is an amoral ''asshole'' - who, among other things, tossed many young Icarii into the Star Gate, including his niece and his own heavily-pregnant wife - but you cannot deny he is cunning. More to the point, he iterates that [[MyCountryRightOrWrong he did everything he did for the sake of preserving Tencendor]]. His plans fall apart in the 2nd trilogy, when factors he was completely unaware of (despite having been given many other aspects of the prophecy needed to defeat the Timekeeper Demons) derail them, and in the final book his failures cause him to undergo some measure of MotiveDecay.

* MartyStu: Arguably, Axis comes off as this to some. At the same time, he's a deconstruction of both MartyStu and TheChosenOne, as despite all of his great power in Enchanter and [=StarMan=], he is a very arrogant JerkWithAHeartOfGold who tends to show the jerk more then the heart of gold and causes a lot of unnecessary hardship and grief for himself and some of the people around him because of his selfishness and ego.

** Azhure: brave heroine from humble beginnings (or so she thinks) with a sympathetic backstory; or CanonSue who, after a token DarkAndTroubledPast, gets everything handed to her on a silver platter via [[CreatorsFavorite authorial favoritism]] whether she actually wants it or not?

** [=WolfStar=] [=SunSoar=], Ninth Talon of the Icarii, may present himself as well-intentioned, but is actually [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist one of the most monstrous characters]] in the entire series. After getting his wife to murder the previous Talon so he could take the throne of the Icarii, he [[MadScientist began experimenting on the Star Gate]] and [[WouldHurtAChild started throwing children]] with magical potential through the gate, including his niece, pregnant wife and unborn child, before he is killed. However, he returns BackFromTheDead through the Star Gate, writes a prophecy that will result in the deaths of thousands of people, and sets out to ensure this prophecy can come true. To that end he tricks the last remaining of the Charonite race into dying in a horrific way, trains the AntiChrist in dark magic, and {{mind rape}}s a teenager into making a DealWithTheDevil, among other crimes. In the second series he rapes an impregnates his granddaughter and assists in having her grandmother's soul possess her body, and when she regains control of her body he [[StockholmSyndrome manipulates her into a relationship with him]].

** StarDrifter: lovable HandsomeLech or genuine sexual predator?

** [=WolfStar=] [=SunSoar=], Ninth Talon of the Icarii, may present himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist, but is actually one of the most monstrous characters in the ''Wayfarer Redemption'' series. After getting his wife to murder the previous Talon so he could take the throne of the Icarii, he [[MadScientist began experimenting on the Star Gate]] and [[WouldHurtAChild started throwing children]] with magical potential through the gate, including his niece, pregnant wife and unborn child, before he is killed. However, he returns BackFromTheDead through the Star Gate, writes a prophecy that will result in the deaths of thousands of people, and sets out to ensure this prophecy can come true. To that end he tricks the last remaining of the Charonite race into dying in a horrific way, trains the AntiChrist in dark magic, and {{mind rape}}s a teenager into making a DealWithTheDevil, among other crimes. In the second series he rapes an impregnates his granddaughter and assists in having her grandmother's soul possess her body, and when she regains control of her body he [[StockholmSyndrome manipulates her into a relationship with him]].

* [[InvincibleVillain Boring Invincible Villain]]: Gorgrael, though somewhat justified due to the nature of the Prophecy that ties his life to Axis' and they can only be killed by one another. His true strength lies in his magical abilities brought about by combining the Dark Dance with his Avar blood, as well as the massive army of Skraelings and then later Gryphon and the few times he steps into action, he is brutal and ruthless.

* WhatAnIdiot: Isfrael's [[spoiler:dealings with Qeteb in ''Crusader''.]] Any reader with a trace of GenreSavvy can tell it's going to blow up in his face, but he's too much of an arrogant imbecile to recognise the signs.

*** To be fair, Timozel steadily TookALevelInJerkass (starting in ''[=BattleAxe=]'') and never let it go. Apparently he always felt some measure of hatred for Axis (who was [[FreudWasRight his mother Embeth's lover after his father died]]), but it only slowly starts coming into play once Gorgrael gets his claws into him.

** Timozel. He starts as a kind-hearted boy who just wants recognition. He pledges himself to Faraday out of the goodness of his own heart. Then... He's brutally [[MindRape mind raped]] by [[BigBad Gorgrael]] and to a lesser extent [[ManBehindTheMan WolfStar]], then decides the easiest way to both protect Faraday and gain the respect he wants is to help Faraday's husband, Borneheld, because Faraday won't tell him about her own plans. Then Faraday rejects him and because of the mind rape, he's forced to become Gorgrael's general. And by the time he's found by Axis, he's been twisted and destroyed and Axis doesn't even hesitate once to kill him (though he's sad for the boy that Timozel once was, before all this). Wow.

** [=StarDrifter=], one of few major characters to generally remain on the fandom's positive side. While not immune to self-pity, he nonetheless better recognises his own flaws than most of the "heroes", which makes him a lot less tolerable even when Axis and Azhure (for instance) became self-righteous assholes in the second trilogy.

* Belial and Magariz (in the 1st trilogy) are both quite likeable. Belial because he's good natured and one of the few people with the courage to call out Axis on his bullshit and Magariz because he is a good man who is well written and interesting.

* [[InvincibleVillain Boring Invincible Villain]]: Gorgrael. [[spoiler: He hardly does anything at all and we never, ever see him until the very last chapters, where he promptly gets his ass handed to him by Axis.]]
** Somewhat justified as [=WolfStar=] virtually raised him to be very one dimensional.
** [[InvincibleHero Boring Invincible Hero]]: Azhure, and to a degree Axis as well, outside of his HeroicSacrifice.

** Belial and Magariz (in the 1st trilogy) are both quite likeable.

* JerkassWoobie: Borneheld, believe it or not. The sole reason he is such a loathsome asshole is because the world was repeatedly telling him "screw you Borneheld." He was a ButtMonkey on multiple occasions, almost enough to qualify him for the ChewToy trope, and rarely did anything ever go good for him without the help of the Seneschal's team of professional Smug Snakes. He winds up slowly falling out of favor, driven a bit crazy enough to murder his dad, and then he instantly regrets it. He is stuck in a marriage with a woman who would rather be banging, guess who, Axis. His own mother hits him when she sees him again and disowns him in favor of...guess who, ''Axis.'' He then loses all his battles against Axis, winds up dueling him, loses to DeusExMachina, and gets his heart ripped out. The author is telling us something very strongly about this character.

*** To be fair, Timozel steadily TookALevelInJerkass (starting in ''Battleaxe'') and never let it go. Apparently he always felt some measure of hatred for Axis (who was [[FreudWasRight his mother Embeth's lover]]), but it only slowly starts coming into play once Gorgrael gets his claws into him.

** Rivkah. At the young age of 15 she's betrothed to Searleas the Duke of Ichtar by her father and is trapped in a loveless marriage and gives birth to Borneheld and is completely miserable the entire time while her husband just plain didn't care. She then meets and is seduced by [=StarDrifter=] and she conceives Axis who she's led to believe died in childbirth. Rivkah is then carted away to die at the foot of the Icecarp Alps [[spoiler: by Jayme and Moryson who end up raising Axis]]. Thankfully she's found not long afterwards by an Icarii and is healed back to full health and gets to marry [=StarDrifter=], but the loss of their son hit both of them hard. They have a daughter together named [=EvenSong=] but due to the vast lifespan differences between humans and Icarii, Rivkah is aware that she will die well before her husband does and they slowly drift apart over time and by the time they learn their son lives and he comes into their lives, Rivkah and [=StarDrifter=]'s marriage has disintegrated so far that they can't fix things.

*** And life only gets worse for her 40 years later in the second trilogy. She ends up becoming a human again and ends up having to play peacekeeper between Drago and pretty much everyone else and is understandably bitter about everything that happened to her. Despite her not wanting anything more then a platonic friendship with Drago due to her trauma from Borneheld's abuse, Axis' betrayal of her and Gorgrael raping and murdering her, she ends up falling in love with him and he with her and eventually she lets herself love him. While she is happy for a time, she's also pushing him away and afraid that Drago will let her die to save Tencendor like Axis did and ends up giving herself up to Qeteb due to her fears and believing she can't fight destiny. Qeteb also rapes her and she's left broken and begging for death. Meanwhile, she's also the surrogate mother for a girl named Katie who is more or less the heart of Tencendor and if she dies, Tencendor dies. Faraday ends up having to watch Katie die when Qeteb gives Drago[=/=][=DragonStar=] the SadisticChoice to decide who dies. Thankfully after this, Faraday finally gets a happy ending where she and [=DragonStar=] get to be together happily and spend eternity together, but she went through six books of hell to get there.
** Zenith definitely qualifies. She's spent her entire life having nightmares and memory blanks that end somewhere inbetween mildly bad like waking up on Sigholt's roof or really bad like waking up in the Iskruel Ocean the floating ice. Then it turns out that she's meant to be the reincarnation of her grandmother Niah who is the source of her nightmares and memory blanks to be the lover of her grandfather [=WolfStar=], then her brother Drago is strung up in a KangarooCourt by her other brother Caelum and while on the run with Drago, she's raped by [=WolfStar=] and Niah wins the fight and Zenith's soul is forced out of her body and no one gives a shit except for [=StarDrifter=] (Her other grandfather who she adores) and Faraday. Thanks to Faraday, Zenith is able to reclaim control of her body from Niah, but then the Timekeepers attack Tencendor shortly afterwards.

*** Azhure is a StoicWoobie too, [[spoiler: She watched her mother die and was physically abused by her foster father until she killed him and escaped to the Avar who rejected her because she dared to use violence to survive. It only gets worse for her until StarMan, then it's worse after that, but she handles it as well as she can.]]

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: [[spoiler:Caellum]] goes from borderline loathsome in ''Sinner'' to admirable in ''Pilgrim'', and it's handled quite organically.

* TheWoobie: Zenith definitely qualifies.
** StoicWoobie: Despite everything [[spoiler:[[WhatTheHellHero Axis]]]] has put her through, [[spoiler:[[BrokenBird Faraday]]]] remains strong to the end.

*** To be fair, Timozel steadily TookALevelInJerkass in Battleaxe and never let it go. Apparently he always felt some measure of hatred for Axis (who was [[FreudWasRight his mother Embeth's lover]]), but it only slowly starts coming into play once Gorgrael gets his claws into him.

*** To be fair, Timozel steadily TookALevelInJerkAss in Battleaxe and never let it go. Apparently he always felt some measure of hatred for Axis (who was [[FreudWasRight his mother Embeth's lover]]), but it only slowly starts coming into play once Gorgrael gets his claws into him.
** Dragonstar qualifies at the beginning of ''Sinner''. Sure, he'd been a jerk in the past, but he's stuck as a mortal, watching as the whole rest of his family gets to live forever, and most people hate him for a reason he doesn't even ''remember'' because of the way magic affected him.

*** She wasn't the nicest person before she died though, given that she committed regicide.

* CompleteMonster: Earl Burdel. Artor as well.
** Of the Timekeepers, [[BigBad Qeteb]] is easily the worst, and not merely because of his power to ''eat souls''. Sheol is probably second-worse - when Faraday tells her she can choose to give up evil, she ''laughs in her face'' and [[spoiler:proceeds thereafter to take actions which make her KarmicDeath very satisfying, even as she begs for mercy.]] The one exception ''might'' be [[spoiler:Raspu]], and that depends on whether you think that [[spoiler:he performed a HeelFaceTurn after his defeat or only acted in Dragonstar's favour because he had no choice.]]

*** You can tell how sympathetic a character tends to be (in general) by how good their treatment of Drago is - which at the beginning accounts for Zenith (his younger sister), Zared, & Leah. That's it... There's a bit of MoralDissonance involved, in that he's perfectly willing to plot revenge on everyone who mistreated him when given the chance, and he's not immune to self-pity. It takes being shown [[spoiler:what he did to his brother Caellum ''through the latter's eyes'']] for him to understand this, after which he steadily evolves into TheMessiah.

** Timozel. He starts as a kind-hearted boy who just wants recognition. He pledges himself to Faraday out of the goodness of his own heart. Then... He's brutally [[MindRape mind raped]] by [[BigBad Gorgrael]] and to a lesser extent [[ManBehindTheMan WolfStar]], then decides the easiest way to both protect Faraday and gain the respect he wants is to help Faraday's husband, Borneheld, because Faraday won't tell him about her own plans. Then Faraday rejects him and because of the mind rape, he's forced to become Gorgrael's general. And by the time he's found by Axis, he's been twisted and destroyed and Axis doesn't even hesitate once to kill him. Wow.
** To be fair, Timozel TookALevelInJerkAss in Battleaxe and never let it go.

* MagnificentBastard: [=WolfStar=] is an amoral ''asshole'' - who, among other things, tossed many young Icarii into the Star Gate, including his niece and his own heavily-pregnant wife - but you cannot deny he is cunning. His plans fall apart