Tear Jerker / Nowhere Stars

• Pretty much everything about Liadain's situation at the start of the story. A twelve-year-old girl, dying of a terminal illness, abandoned by her father in a hospice ward, just waiting to die? Unlike other Keepers, her reaction to meeting her Messenger isn't gleeful acceptance, it's reluctant hope, because she's terrified of the thought of allowing herself to hope only to have it ripped away from her.
• A surprising number of Harbingers can have Alas, Poor Villain moments; for all their insanity, they really, truly thought they were helping people, and watching them cross the Despair Event Horizon as the Keepers finish them off can be truly heart tugging. Especially Aulunla . . .
  • Yurflan only wanted to help people. It’s just that his idea of “help” was to spread disease and misery. Upon encountering Liadain, he thought that she was just like him: a disease goblin that enlightens the world by sucking it dry. Liadain wasn’t. In the end, when Liadain defeated him, he offered his heart to her because believed that she would continue his legacy. In some ways, she did- she took health from others, causing pain and distress, and used the “self sacrifice for power” that she got from him. Later, Liadain realized that Yurflan had a bit of a point, or at least a use: He could have eased the suffering of the sick and dying.
  • Aulunla only wanted to allow their beloved treasure to use magic. Despite trying to explain this to Liadain, she still aimed to kill them- and Aulunla believed that she would hurt their treasure as well. So, Aulunla expended everything, all their power, in a desperate attempt to kill her. It failed.
  • Seryana only wanted love, seeking the person that died before she was born. She failed, and could ultimately delude herself into believing that the random passerbys she encountered were him. But, as revealed in her death, she always knew that they weren’t him.
• Shona’s “death”. Or, more accurately, her Fate Worse than Death. Specifically, she is taken by Nanaash, who seeks to find a sense of self. However, since Nanaash is made from the people they consume, they are the greatest victim of their own actions. They have only succeeded in hurting themself, and dislike themselves- being terrified of what they’ve done and wishing that things were different. In Shona’s last moments before dispersing, Nanaash asked about what it was like being her, asking if there was a way to be themselves again. Shona could only recall Mide, the girl she made her Promise for, and how she shaped and supported her.