Heralds of Valdemar/Characters/Vows and Honor
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This subsection of the Heralds of Valdemar Character Sheet covers the Vows and Honor trilogy.
Tarma shena Tale'sedrin
A description of the character goes here.
Tropes exhibited by this character include:
- Action Girl
- Asexuality: Not by birth, but by oath. As a Swordsworn, she has a divine mental block against sexual desire.
- Blood Brothers: With Kethry.
- Bond Creature: With Warrl.
- Deadpan Snarker
- Famed in Story: Has a bard that follows her around.
- Fighting For a Homeland
- Friend to All Children
- Glory Seeker: Somewhat unwillingly; Tarma isn't interested in glory for herself, but has to build up her reputation in order to attract worthwhile new members to her all-but-annihilated clan.
- Heroic BSOD: In her backstory, after being gang-raped by the bandits who slaughtered her clan.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Again, with Kethry.
- Important Haircut: Part of giving the oath to become Swordsworn; the cut hair indicates that the oath has been accepted.[1] She repeats it in The Oathbound as part of her ritual preparations to face Trial by Combat as Lady Myria's champion.
- Older and Wiser: In By The Sword.
- Rape as Backstory/Rape and Revenge
- Retired Badass: In By The Sword.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge
- Spirit Advisor: Swordsworn are taught by the spirits of past Swordsworn; several of Tarma's "teachers" appear throughout her books, and she herself is implied to have joined their number by The Mage Winds, in which a spirit-Swordsworn calls Elspeth "student of my student."[2]
- Sword and Sorcerer: The sword to Kethry's sorcerer.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy to Kethry's girly girl. Subverted in that Tarma is actually the girlier of the two in several respects, such as being better at (and more interested in) baby-sitting children.
Kethryveris
A description of the character goes here.
Tropes exhibited by this character include:
- Blood Brothers: With Tarma.
- Famed in Story: by the same bard as Tarma.
- Green Eyes
- Happily Married: At the end of Oathbreakers
- Heroic BSOD: In her backstory, after being rescued from the "husband" who raped her.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: With Tarma.
- Impoverished Patrician
- Not Afraid of You Anymore: She has this revelation regarding Wethes after realizing that he is afraid of her.
- Older and Wiser: In By The Sword.
- Rape as Backstory/Rape and Revenge
- Runaway Fiance
- Squishy Wizard: Need makes up a lot of the difference, but Kethry's strengths are very much in magic rather than physical combat.
- Sword and Sorcerer: The sorcerer to Tarma's sword.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The girly girl to Tarma's tomboy. Subverted in that while she's entirely adequate at child care and other domestic tasks, Tarma is actually better than her at them.
Warrl the Kyree
A description of the character goes here.
Tropes exhibited by this character include:
- Big Badass Wolf
- Bond Creature: With Tarma.
- Deadpan Snarker: Just as much as Tarma, if not moreso.
- Intellectual Animal
- No Biological Sex: Masculine, but neuter, which is a natural third sex for kyree.
Jadrek
A description of the character goes here.
Tropes exhibited by this character include:
- Bookworm
- Heroic Sacrifice: He tries a very quiet, understated version by drugging himself asleep during the trip through the mountains into Valdemar, intending to let himself die of cold rather than continue to burden Tarma and Kethry if they can't find sufficient shelter. Fortunately, Roald shows up in time to keep it from being an issue.
- Non-Action Guy
Roald
A description of the character goes here.
Tropes exhibited by this character include:
- Modest Royalty: He claims he's just another Herald and "not that important" so long as his parents are still alive and ruling.
- You Didn't Ask: He doesn't really do anything to hide the fact that he's the heir to the throne of Valdemar, but no one actually sees fit to mention it until Kethry challenges his ability to make good on his promises.
- In fairness, pretty much any Rethwellan nobleman would know perfectly well who 'Herald Roald of Valdemar' is -- the two countries border each other and have had friendly interaction for centuries, and Roald is not only a public figure but also one of Valdemar's most senior diplomatic envoys. Roald just hadn't banked on the fact that Tarma & Kethry are from notably further away than Rethwellan.
Captain Idra
A description of the character goes here.
Tropes exhibited by this character include:
- Rebellious Princess: She was one before she left home to join a mercenary company.
Prince Stefansen
A description of the character goes here.
Tropes exhibited by this character include:
- Cain and Abel: Abel to Raschar's Cain.
- Ladykiller in Love: Though it all takes place off-screen; by the time he shows up he and the lady in question are Happily Married.
King Raschar
A description of the character goes here.
Tropes exhibited by this character include:
- Cain and Abel: Cain to Stefansen's Abel.
- Fate Worse Than Death: Has this inflicted on him by Tarma and Kethry when Kethry completes the Outcasting ritual with a spell that "brings all the broken oaths home to roost".
- The Oathbreaker
- Back to Heralds of Valdemar
- Back to Heralds of Valdemar/Characters
- ↑ The person undergoing the ritual is left alone in a tent with nothing they could possibly cut their hair with - if they come out with short hair then its because the magical ritual worked.
- ↑ Out of every instructor Elspeth has had in her life up to that point, only one of them -- Kerowyn -- had ever been trained by a Shin'a'in Swordsworn. And since the only Swordsworn Kerowyn had ever studied under is Tarma, that reaaaally narrows it down.