History Literature / LastHeraldMageTrilogy

* PromotedToParent: oddly enough, Vanyel becomes a version of this to his own child, Jisa. Between ''Pawn'' and ''Promise'', Vanyel serves as a glorified sperm donor to Shavri (ItMakesSenseInContext), because she desperately wants a child and her lifebonded, King Randale, is sterile. In the early scenes of ''Promise'' he categorically states that Randale is Jisa's father, not him, and he's much happier being her 'Uncle Van' anyway. But by the time of ''Price'', Randale is so sick he really only has two modes, 'patient' and 'king', and Shavri is spending all her time and energy keeping him going. Not only is Vanyel now on permanent assignment to the palace as Acting Monarch's Own, he's the one Jisa goes to for pretty much everything worse than a splinter.

* EvilAlbino: The witch Ke'noran, villain of the short story ''In The Forest of Sorrows'', is tall, red-eyed, and white-skinned, and wants to murder a child to make use of his latent Gifts.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Vanyel after helping Tylendel obtain the forbidden book; Savil after realizing she should have had Tylendel examined by a Mind-Healer; Jaysen on "sen[ding] someone out to cut his wrists"; and Vanyel when [[spoiler: his failure to listen to Savil's warning about a magical attack leads to her death]].

* HurtComfortFic: The short story "Chance" by Mark Shepherd expands on the anecdote told in the second book of Vanyel hooking up with Guardsman Jonne and features Vanyel's clothes getting cut to pieces in a mage attack, followed by Jonne taking him to a [[HotSpringsEpisode hot spring in a crystal cave]] and giving him an AfterActionPatchup that then [[TwoPersonPoolParty leads to sex]]. Compared to his characterization in the second two books, Van is more willing than usual to take a break from his duty and enjoy the moment. Maybe he just likes that Jonne's a few years older than he is and StraightGay, so he doesn't feel like he's cradle-robbing and isn't reminded of Tylendel.

* {{Reincarnation}}: At least two Companions in the 'modern-day' era (i.e. Arrows trilogy, By the Sword, Mage Winds, Mage Storms, Owl Trilogy) have suspiciously similar names to Heralds in Vanyel's time. After the revelation in ''Storm Warning'' that Heralds are sometimes reincarnated as Companions, Lackey has since confirmed that Savil was reincarnated as Kerowyn's Companion Sayvil, and Vanyel's friend Tantras came back as Kris' Companion Tantris.

''Winds of Fury'' and ''Storm Breaking'', later-set novels, [[spoiler: have Vanyel and Stefan/Tylendel's ghosts appear as characters, hundreds of years after their deaths]]. In the Valdemar anthologies, Vanyel appears in ''Sword of Ice'' in the short stories "Chance" and "In the Forest of Sorrows", as well as in ''No True Way'' in "Vixen" and ''Seasons'' in "A Midnight Clear".

** The Heraldic Circle [[note]]The Collegium hasn't actually been founded yet, training newly Chosen is done on a master-apprentice system[[/note]] does little better. Savil treats Vanyel coldly, writing him off as the shallow peacock he acts like; it takes Tylendel to figure out what's wrong with Vanyel and convince Savil not to abandon him by fostering him out, which would have further exacerbated his abandonment issues. Savil knows that Tylendel isn't rational where his family is concerned, but still doesn't provide him with adequate emotional support and counseling after his [[TwinTelepathy telepathically-linked twin brother]] is murdered by their longtime enemy. And after Tylendel's suicide, there's not a single person around who isn't too wrapped up in their grief and horror over Tylendel's death to spare any concern for Vanyel, who's just witnessed a horrific supernatural slaughter and the suicide of his [[MindlinkMates mind-linked lover]], and whose newly-awakened and completely uncontrolled Mindhearing makes him all too sensitive to the thoughts of blame and resentment directed towards him from those who didn't know the truth about their relationship.
** There's also the whole mess that is Tashir's childhood and early adolescence: his father abuses him out of belief that Tashir isn't his son, and his mother alternatively treats him like a treasured pet and screams and throws things at him (because he's literally the only person in the palace who she can control). This goes on for years, culminating in [[spoiler:[[ParentChildIncest Ylyna attempting to seduce]] Tashir]], and his father deciding to disinherit him and send him to the maternal family that is not only their hereditary enemies, but Tashir is terrified of. Despite there being a ''Heraldic Envoy'' to the Bairean court, and everyone in the palace being related to Tashir's father to some degree, not a single person seems to have suggested to Deveran that he lay off the poor kid, get rid of him by fostering him out to another noble family, or perhaps [[spoiler: take Tashir to the Heartstone in the palace basement that would have confirmed his paternity in ''about three seconds'']]. Or even that Ylyna's increasingly obvious mental instability meant that she shouldn't be around children or tweens without supervision? Not to mention that it's implied that Tashir tried to tell someone about [[spoiler:his mother's molesting him]] several times, and was ignored or dismissed because of his status as TheUnfavorite. It's so bad that his Companion is revealed to be 'something of a Mind-Healer', and Yfandes pretty much states it's the equivalent of Heralds with rare Gifts showing up just before they're needed.
* AbusiveParents: While Treesa is merely silly and weak-willed, Withen's determination to turn Vanyel into "a toy version of [him]self" (per Savil in ''Magic's Pawn'') leads him to outright cruelty: he allows an armsmaster to break Vanyel's arm, calls him a "perverted little catamite", and generally makes himself despicable until ''Magic's Price'', wherein he becomes merely obnoxious.
** Poor Tashir's father despised him in the belief that he was as Lores says,"[[BastardBastard the worst kind of bastard]]". Not to mention his mother Ylyna: her constant MoodWhiplash towards him meant that Tashir was pretty much the only person in the entire castle who was afraid of her (not even the servants followed her orders); [[spoiler:it was that, combined with his [[PrettyBoy good looks]] and her twisted view of sexuality, that led her to attempt to groom and seduce him.]]

** Vanyel's two lifebonds avert this. In the first, Vanyel didn't have powers yet and in the second Stefen, while a strong Bard, is a NonActionGuy.

* BeautyIsBad: Leareth and Krebain are strikingly beautiful ''and'' magically charismatic, but Vanyel can see that unlike ''good'' beautiful people they deliberately used magic to change their appearance, and that's always a bad sign.

* BlessedWithSuck: Being the most gifted person in Valdemar means Vanyel winds up nearly friendless, worked to the bone, and sent on nigh-impossible missions. It really doesn't help that the BigBad [[spoiler: slowly and systematically kills off each and every one of the other Herald-Mages and Mage-Gifted Trainees over Vanyel's whole career, leaving him as the titular Last Herald-Mage.]]

* BroughtDownToNormal: In the short story ''Vixen'', Vanyel breaks his leg and the Healer treating him gives him a medicine with a side effect of suppressing his gifts - meaning that when a monster attacks the village they're staying in, he's effectively given a DramaPreservingHandicap as his physical, magical, and fighting skills are largely off the table. The Healer calls for help which arrives JustInTime in the form of a FriendlyNeighborhoodSpider.

* An in-universe piece of music [[https://valdemar.fandom.com/wiki/The_Shadow-Lover is a love song to the Shadow-Lover]] portraying Death as a gentle, compassionate entity who can bring the singer peace. Vanyel sings it at one point and thinks to himself that he [[DeathSeeker would welcome Death's kiss if it came]]. At the end of ''Magic's Promise,'' he finds himself facing the Shadow Lover and told to decide whether to die and be at peace or go on with a life that will only become harder, lonelier, and more painful. Knowing what will happen to those he loves without him, Van chooses to live. Death is well-pleased and gives him some comfort before sending him back. Tellingly, Van's vision of Death wears Heraldic Whites, making him a figure who also understands the weight of duty.

* DontFearTheReaper: An in-universe song called [[https://valdemar.fandom.com/wiki/The_Shadow-Lover The Shadow-Lover]] portrays Death as a gentle, compassionate entity who can bring the singer peace. Vanyel sings this song and has to assure a worried nephew that it's fine, he's not suicidal, though he thinks to himself that [[DeathSeeker he'd welcome Death's kiss if it came]]. At the end of ''Magic's Promise'' Vanyel gets stabbed. He has a vision of the Shadow Lover coming to him and is relieved, but is instead given a choice - accept death and a release from all his pain and struggle, or living a life that will only become harder, lonelier, and more painful. He asks what will happen to everyone else if he dies and finds that his loved ones will die sooner and Valdemar as he knows it will not last much longer. Naturally, while he's unhappy about it Van chooses to live. Death is well-pleased and gives him some comfort before sending him back.

* StalkerWithACrush: Melenna goes to extremes in her [[IncompatibleOrientation doomed]] efforts to seduce Vanyel. At one point, he actually sleeps in the stables upon finding her naked in his bed.

''Winds of Fury'' and ''Storm Breaking'', later-set novels, [[spoiler: have Vanyel and Stefan/Tylendel's ghosts appear as characters, hundreds of years after their deaths]]. In the Valdemar anthologies, Vanyel appears in ''Sword of Ice'' in the short stories "Chance" and "In the Forest of Sorrows", as well as in ''No True Way'' in "Vixen" and ''Seasons'' in "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear".

* MommasBoy: Treesa loves bragging on Vanyel and showing him off, but she doesn't love him quite enough to stand up to Withen.

* LighterAndSofter: Years after completing the trilogy, Mercedes Lackey featured Vanyel in a pair of short stories in the Valdemar anthology books, stories set at some ambigious point betwen the first two novels. In ''Vixen'' and ''It Came Upon A Midnight Clear'' Vanyel and a sardonic Healer friend help out at a tiny, remote village. While they're not without tension, the expectation that Van sacrifice himself for others is much less pronounced, he's not horribly injured or in despair, and he has various friends taking on a lot of the load, as well as civilians who don't fear and distrust him. Consequently he seems much happier and more stable than he generally gets to be in the trilogy proper.

** When they come BackForTheFinale of ''Storm Breaking'' there's also a suggestion that [[spoiler: being trapped haunting a forest fighting the enemies of Valdemar for seven hundred years with limited contact with anyone else ended up really wearing on Vanyel, Yfandes, and Tylendel/Stefan, for all that they were happy enough at first.]]

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: When they die, Vanyel, Yfandes and Stefen [[spoiler: become the eternal guardians of the Forest of Sorrows]].

* OrcusOnHisThrone

* OddlyCommonRarity: This trilogy is the record holder for the number of [[MindlinkMates lifebonds]] within the series. The main ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' timeframe only gets that number by having two or three of them in the ''Arrows trilogy'' and adding a new one about once a trilogy. Then again, considering the very crappy situation everyone is in, lifebonds are actually ''necessary'' to make sure people last long enough to fulfill their purposes.

* HurtComfortFic: The short story "Chance" by Mark Shepherd expands on the anecdote told in the second book of Vanyel hooking up with Guardsman Jonne and features Vanyel's clothes getting cut to pieces in a mage attack, followed by Jonne taking him to a hot spring in a crystal cave and giving him an AfterActionPatchup that then leads to sex. Compared to his characterization in the second two books, Van is more willing than usual to take a break from his duty and enjoy the moment. Maybe he just likes that Jonne's a few years older than he is and StraightGay, so can't really remind him of Tylendel.