YMMV / Emberverse

• Creator's Pet: Rudi frakking Mackenzie. Almost universally disliked by fans but apart from card carrying villains, and one solitary romantic rival who conveniently self-sacrifices no one in universe has anything less than gushing praise for him. He is the best fighter, best general, most handsome, most kind and generally all round best person on the entire Continent. He has no flaws and is uniformly above average at everything and excellent at most. Every decision he makes is correct, or at least works out that way no matter how stupid it might have appeared at first. Every friendly character we meet is happy to sacrifice their interests for his up to and including subordinating whole countries to his High Kingship without visible dissent. No wonder he turned a lot of people off the series. When he dies in The Given Sacrifice, there was joy And There Was Much Rejoicing from said people.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Astrid Larsson hates touching or being touched by people, is intensely fixated with The Lord of the Rings and archery to the exclusion of all else and is described as not being able to connect with anyone before the Change except for one or two very close friends. All this in mind, it is very easy to read Astrid as being autistic.
• Fridge Brilliance: With Rudi and Mathilda getting together it could be said that three of biggest "kingdoms" in Oregon are being united.
  • All three major dynasties will have blood ties via Rudi and Mathilda's children, with additional kinship ties to a fourth (the Dúnedain Rangers). And a fifth (Mt. Angel) is brought into the fold (in about the only way it could be) by their choosing Father Ignatius as Chancellor.
• Genius Bonus: the Church Universal and Triumphant is an actual fringe religious group based in Montana, and the leader of the Church Universal and Triumphant shortly after the Change (the one who turns them from just random nutjobs into an Eldritch Abomination) is heavily implied to be none other than the Unabomber himself.
• Jerkass Woobie: Arguably, Sandra Arminger. She is, by her own admission, not a nice person, with murder and blackmail being just a few of her morally dubious choices. And yet, in the later books she comes across as rather lonely. Though she lived for at least 20 years after Norman's death, she never remarried, and, as image-conscious and politically savvy as she is, it seems unlikely she ever risked her reputation by taking a lover. She is one of the last atheists in her society (though she comes to recognize the validity of religion in her universe, she has a difficult time accepting it in her heart); she cannot admit it publicly, and it separates her, not only from most of her world, but also from her beloved and devout daughter. Among her peers, she is respected (deservedly), but not liked or trusted (also deservedly). She seems all-too-aware that her descendants will have no very clear understanding of how people like her think; indeed, as she's very clever and somewhat alienating, most of the people she knows have no very clear idea of how people like her think. It seems as if she has no real companion after losing Norman.
• Narm: The Devil Dogs might be an intimidating gang, but their name is about as silly as it gets — a Devil Dog is a kind of chocolate snack cake.
  • Also, a nickname for the US Marines. Which people in the Post-Change world would be much more familiar with.
  • Although that being the case, it is odd that Mike, a former Marine himself, mentions nothing about it.

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