YMMV / Hope of the Shield Hero

• Catharsis Factor:
  • Naofumi defeating Motoyasu in their duel and making him admit defeat.
  • Raphtalia hitting Motoyasu and Malty and giving them a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
  • Albert calling out Motoyasu for failing as a hero.
  • The King calling Motoyasu out for his incompetence as a hero.
  • Idol Rabier's death.
  • Malty being burnt by the Wrath Shield.
  • Naofumi's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Jaralis.
  • Ren using the Spirit Tortoise's gravity magic against it.
  • Kyo losing an arm to Ren.
  • Raphtalia One Hit Killing Trash with the Vassal Katana.
  • For those sick and tired of Naofumi being the only useful member of the Cardinal Heroes before Ln 10, seeing the others contribute is nice.
• Memetic Mutation: The "Hero Clips" at the ends of the Chapters have gained a lot of notoriety in the Shield Hero community, and are oft-quoted by fans of the Fic.
• Moral Event Horizon: Malty tries to kill her sister while (unknowingly) helping the Church with their coup. The Church then uses the Judgement Spell (basically a Kill Sat that kills everything in a relatively large radius around the impact point)... in Melromarc itself. Then the Pope takes over by having his knights and the Commander of the Royal Guard arrest the King and deposing him.
• Nightmare Fuel: The curse series, as always.
• Shocking Moments:
  • The Reveal in Chapter 20 of Motoyasu and Itsuki unlocking their Cursed Series.
  • Naofumi getting captured by Motoyasu and the Church of the Three Heroes, drawing Naofumi and the Three Heroes confrontation with the Pope much earlier than Canon's confrontation with the Pope.
  • Naofumi unlocking the first two Shields of Rage out of his sheer hatred of Malty, and nearly using Iron Maiden on her.
  • Naofumi unlocking the second Shield of Hope and single-handedly healing the curses afflicting Raphtalia and Rishia.
  • Malty revealing her true personality after having her buttons pushed by Naofumi... Right in front of Motoyasu, giving him a reality check so hard that it causes him to pull a Heel–Face Turn.
  • The Third Wave opening right on top of Melromarc and Siltvelt's armies just as they were about to battle each other.
  • Naofumi and his party's expedition to the temple in the depth of the seas near Cal Mira discover that the next Wave is going to hit the archipelago... in twelve hours.
  • L'Arc and Thérese reveal their origins as heroes of another world... who have come to kill the Cardinal Heroes because it may be the only way to save their world.
  • The awakening of the Spirit Tortoise, heralded by the attack on the Heroes' village. The shock of this punts Naofumi through the Despair Event Horizon so hard that he turns into a thorough Jerkass that takes several chapters to undo.
    • Itsuki, Naofumi and Ren fly to attempt to stop the Spirit Tortoise before it destroys a city, only to find themselves completely unable to stop the mountain-sized monster for even a few seconds.
  • Ren bringing the Spirit Tortoise to its knees (even partially burying it) by turning its gravity magic against itself.
  • Naofumi accepting that his Wrath is a part of himself, and Wrath implying that Naofumi will soon be able to unlock a new Blessed Series shield, the Diligent Shield - before tanking the Tortoise's most powerful attack using only the Shield of Hope II.
  • Ren unlocking the Cursed Sword after seeing Bakta and Welt die, killing the Spirit Tortoise with Guillotine - and then starting to fight his allies as the Curse of Gluttony causes him to go after them for the sake of gaining experience.
  • The ghost of the previous Katana Hero handing the Vassal Katana to Raphtalia - right in front of Trash, who had been about to steal it.
  • Kyo attacking the conference while the Otherworld heroes (save for Kizuna and Glass) prove their incompetence.
  • Naofumi busting out the Shield of Diligence during the fight with Kyo.
• The Woobie:
  • Eclair. Because of her upbringing, and because of circumstance, she decided to make the choice to join Naofumi's party when he was first summoned. However, the night before she was supposed to meet Naofumi alongside the other adventurers, a Church Assassin broke into her castle room and tried to kill her. She killed the assassin in self-defense and tried to go directly to the Shield Hero to warn him of the plot against him, only to be arrested by the Church's inside informant, Malty (Bitch), for murder. She was knocked out and thrown into a cell in the Castle Dungeons, where no one except Malty and a few knights knew she was being kept up until Naofumi was thrown into the same cell as her. It then continues - she is disillusioned about the Shield Hero, whom she had a celebrity crush on since she was a little girl. She is released, but not because the Queen saw that her loyal servant was in danger - no one knew she was there and she was only released because she happened to be in the same cell as Naofumi. Then, once she is released, she's just in time to witness Malty try to kill her sister, try to kill Naofumi, and watch as the Church stages a coup just as the nation comes under attack by other nations. And, just to pile up more, she finds out that Seaetto was attacked by the first Wave - and that her father was not killed by the Wave's monsters, but by a member of the Church. Specifically, the Royal Knight Commander.
  • Rino. Like in canon, she was sold by Malty and Lesty into slavery on a whim. She was also turned into Malty's attack dog after Motoyasu ran off into self-imposed exile.