There's a kind of magic-user in the Witcher novels. Sorceresses.
All sorceresses are beautiful. Fact. It goes with the territory. But, no attractive young girl is ever trained as a sorceress. It's a discipline reserved for those daughters who cannot be used for allegiances, the ones no one will want to marry. This apparent contradiction is easily resolved - the girls become beautiful as they become better sorceresses, and use magic to improve their appearance.
There's one character in the Witcher who is utterly beautiful, when Geralt, the titular character knows her. But he realises what she once was - a hunchback.
That entirely changed my view of her, and it's interesting to think of why. It doesn't change who she is. It doesn't make her any less beautiful now. But still, it changed the character for me.
Now, within the world of the True Game series by Sheri Tepper, there are a variety of Talents. These talents take various forms, such as mind-reading, healing, necromancy, and beguilement, among others. These Talents are genetic, among Gamesmen caste.
Anyway, those with beguilement - also known as 'follow-me', since that's what it convinces others to do - tend to come into the Talent early. The Talent can also convince others that the user is utterly stunning - it's essentially a mix of leadership, seduction and charisma. Since they get it early, they tend to rely on it, and nothing else. So those with beguilement are selfish, and, if not actually stupid, at least somewhat unresourceful.
Anyway, there are two characters in particular that I'm thinking of. Prince Mandor ('prince/princess/queen/king/ruler' is an honorific given to those who only have the talent of beguilement) and Witch/Priestess Dazzle (Witches/Priestess have the talents of beguilement, power-storage and firestarting, all in slightly lesser amounts than those who have just one of those).
Both Mandor and Dazzle were generally seen as utterly stunning. But both were hideous.
Oh, they were naturally beautiful, once. But Dazzle, well she, her mother, and her half-brother and half-sister were caught in the middle of something when she was young. Her half-sister was a healer, and begged for power to save Dazzle's mother. But Dazzle refused, hiding in the corner and weaving beguilement around herself, convincing herself that she was safe. Even when part of the roof fell and sliced off half her face, she still convinced herself she was safe and unhurt. Her half-sister (Silkhands) begged her for some of the power she'd stored (remember, priestess/witches can store power - normally it can be drawn from heat, but all the nearby heat had been taken for the fight which had caused the damage). Dazzle refused, convinced that Silkhands wanted the power for her mother, rather than to heal Dazzle's own face. She didn't even realise how repulsive she was, because she never stopped beguiling. And nor did anyone else (except for Silkhands, and a few other main characters).
Mandor knew immediately what had happened to him, although, again, he was able to hide it from others. He suffered a similar accident, with similar effects. In his case, there was no healer nearby, and knowing that he'd lost his beauty - whether the world could see it or not - just about killed him. Especially when one who'd once admired him was able to see through the beguilement, and know what he really looked like.
Later in the True Game books, some Shapeshifting characters (shapeshifting is a talent too) discuss how the shape one is in affects the personality. It's true. How people look, and how this is accepted by society does change them. Even if you can't see it. Even if it's in the past.
Or perhaps I am rather shallow. In fairness, both Mandor and Dazzle were very unpleasant people.
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