History Literature / TheBlackCompany

* {{Interquel}}: ''Port of Shadows'' takes place after the battle of Charm but before the Company deserts the Lady's empire, approximately between ''The Black Company'' and ''Shadows Linger.''

* TheOtherDarren: ''Port of Shadows'' was written and released more than a decade after the rest of the books. This trope strikes as a result, with the audiobook read by a different actor than the other five books told from Croaker's perspective.

* NamedAfterFirstInstallment: DefiniteArticleTitle Group ProtagonistTitle for series and first book.

* ''Literature/TheBlackCompany'':
** The setting's strong aversion to SquishyWizard is a treatise on the notion of individual power and the corruption of morality it engenders. Almost without exception, the powerful wizards of the setting are shown to be self-important monsters who have lost the ability to empathize with normal mortals; (the exceptions being low-powered casters like Goblin, One-Eye, Silent, and perhaps even Bomans) many of them even conducted wholesale slaughter in ages past to prevent the loss of their powers through invocation of their true name. They use their magics to make themselves {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le, and The Limper spends most of book 5 illustrating how just how badly a NotQuiteDead OmnicidalManiac can ruin things when given actual supernatural power. The Lady's redemption is coupled to her loss of her magical powers as a contrast to The Limper's rampage, and it all comes off as a big anvil, etched with the words "WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity."

** The more powerful a wizard is, the more dangerous their quirks are, usually including being power-drunk and ''always'' including a lot of paranoia (the Lady even acknowledges the latter).

** The necromancer from outside Dusk who forms the B-plot of ''Book of Shadows'' only ever identifies himself as "Papa." He also only knows Bathdek as "Kitten," owing to being a bit nuts.

* IKnowYourTrueName: The true name of a wizard can be used to destroy their power. Thus, many wizards go to great lengths to make sure that nobody knows it, such as killing everyone who knew them before, and leaving complex misdirections as to their origins. The series' biggest PlotHoles revolve around why more wizards weren't Named when it would have been expedient. Possible explanations include it being implied that using one is somewhat (strangely) taboo amongst sorcerers, that preparing a ceremony for it is time-consuming, and that there usually isn't time for it when necessary, but they are all quite weak.

* BeigeProse: Descriptions and dialogue are kept to a minimum. [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis The Annalists]] often skip over large swaths of the narrative, and usually ignore parts they are uneasy with unless it's relevant to the cohesion of the Annals. For example, the description of the storming of one fortress during a military campaign is recorded by Croaker in a total of two sentences. He doesn't seem to think the episode is significant:

* DreamSpying: A major plot point in ''The Books of the Glittering Stone'' involves the discovery that [[spoiler:Smoke's comatose mind]] can be "ridden", allowing exploration of the world in a dream-like fashion, but leaving the rider's body unconscious. [[spoiler:Murgen]] also develops a more limited version which functions when he's asleep, and requires his incorporeal body to "move" between each location physically. Both versions are notably used as a plot device to explain why third person accounts are given in a first person narrative, as it is far less restricting than having [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis the Annalist]] be forced to interview everyone.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis:
** The original trilogy is supposed to be Croaker's section of the Annals of the Black Company. Given his central role, his personal appearance in the right place at the right time to observe plot-essential points, and a little conversation in the third book about how his historical writing style is different from the Northern tradition in how much he puts himself into the history (i.e. write in first person), and it seems Glen Cook is trying to raise this idea. Sections in the second and third books are narratively important events not told from Croaker's perspective (being told from the perspectives of Shed and Corbie, respectively), as he wasn't there to observe them and they wouldn't go into the annals. They default to the third person for these segments.
** Later Annalists get their shots in at their predecessors whenever possible.
** How closely this is followed varies by narrator. Croaker includes chapters presented as reconstructions of events he heard of from the participants, while Lady does the same in her book for Croaker's part of it but also includes scenes with the villains alone that she has no way of knowing. ''The Silver Spike'' spends less than half it's time in the first person, and the bulk of the remaining time is spent with a group of criminals who ''explicitly'' never told anyone their story.

** Even though Lady knows the True Names of [[spoiler:Howler, Shapeshifter and Soulcatcher]], she never uses them, even though doing so would solve literally every single Company's problem. This problem gets acknowledged ''once'', when she is still [[spoiler:de-powered]] and Goblin says that she won't ever tell him or One-Eye True Names of their enemies. After she [[spoiler:gets her powers back]]... Well, she still does nothing. And gets [[spoiler:sealed under the Glittering Plain, along with the majority of the Company]] for her troubles. Made worse when you realize a lot more people than just Lady knew [[spoiler:Soulcatcher]]'s True Name and still did not use it. The Lady not using Soulcatcher's true name is explained much earlier in the series (they're bound by some sort of powerful sorcerous agreement to never use each other's names.) Why nobody else used it even though many major characters (including Croaker) discovered it in the process of researching the Lady's name is still not explained. The issue is that even if the Lady won't use Soulcatcher's true name against her, the Company ''also'' knows her name because of their research in ''The White Rose.'' Even if everyone forgot it, Croaker [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis wrote it in the Annals,]] which Sleepy's narration in ''Water Sleeps'' makes clear that the Company is still in possession of.

* BadassGrandpa: Many, as the Company gets older. Outside the Company, ''The Silver Spike'' gives us the mild-mannered but frighteningly badass Old Man Fish. Uncle Doj, a sort of warrior priest, also counts.

As time goes by, the Company struggles to survive and recover its past as it goes from employer to employer, drifts from conflict to conflict, and sees its fortunes wax and wane. It is favoured one moment, and is betrayed the next; it is one minute a legion, and the next is nearly annihilated -- yet this is not unusual, because while the people may come on and go, there will always be a Black Company.

* SuddenlyVoiced: [[spoiler:Ky Sahra]] doesn't actually have any lines in ''Bleak Seasons,'' owing mostly to her characterization of fragility. She [[TookALevelInBadass takes a few levels in Badass]] by ''Water Sleeps,'' where she has more dialogue than practically anyone else.

!''The Black Company'' provides examples of:

** ''The Black Company''(1984)
** ''Port of Shadows''(2018)

In 2004, Creator/GreenRonin published an RPG book based on the series for the ''TabletopGame/D20System'' as part of the Mythic Vistas series.

** The Lady's Empire in the North, which the Black Company works for for a while. While [[LawOfConservationOfDetail we don't quite see enough detail]] to suss out what life under the Empire was like, it's pretty expansionist and militaristic, the soldiers are willing to rape and plunder, and the leadership is a pretty messed up lot. Although according to Case the small kingdoms it replaced weren't any better.

* FiveBadBand: After the shakeups in the villainous lineup in the ''Books of the North'' and ''Books of the South'', one emerges in the ''Books of Glittering Stone''.

** ''Port of Shadows''

* TryingToCatchMeFightingDirty: Company military doctrine is based around the concept of fighting dirty. Closely connected with CombatPragmatist above.

** Subverted with The Rebel, whose leaders are actually worse than what they're rebelling against. Played straight when [[spoiler:Darling and the Company take over the rebellion.]]

** The presence of [[spoiler:Shapeshifter and The Howler]] in ''Shadow Games'' illustrates that [[spoiler:some of the Ten Who Were Taken survived the Battle of Charm.]]

* SpellMyNameWithAThe: The Limper, The Howler, The Hanged Man, The Tree, The Son of The Tree, The Dominator, The Daughter of Night, and The Khadidas.
* SquishyWizard: Inverted. Low level wizards like Tom-Tom and Goblin live much longer than usual, while high level wizards like the Taken are almost impossible to kill due to their unnatural vitality. Examples include Soulcatcher, The Hanged Man, and the Limper, who all sustain injuries well beyond what should have killed them, especially the Limper. He's described as "a wreck of humanity" ''before'' the worst of his injuries are over. This is explained as sorcerers layering as many spells as they can onto themselves to cover for every contingency -- with enough time and power, a sorcerer can become immortal, although not indestructible.

* UpToEleven: Pretty much everything about The Limper. He is portrayed as the most vicious, most unstoppable, most driven, and most selfish of the Taken, as well as demonstrating the most raw sorcerous might. In ''Water Sleeps,'' he is referred to as malevolence personified.

** [[spoiler:Soulcatcher]] gets more and more unhinged as the story goes on. Like The Limper, she is at her worst when there are no other sorcerers to oppose her.

* AlienInvasion: The original mission of [[spoiler:the free Companies of Khatovar]] was to infiltrate the Lady's world and set in motion the events that would resurrect Kina. Most of them return to their home worlds in defeat, one lost sight of its mission, and another decided to stay permanently.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Played straight and averted. Lady winds up quite the worse for wear by the end of ''Dreams of Steel,'' and has begun an ungraceful aging process by ''Soldiers Live.'' Soulcatcher and The Daughter of Night, on the other hand, sustain various injuries without any particular marring of their features (even if [[spoiler:Soulcatcher walks with a limp]] by the end of the series.).

** Both The Dominator and in later books Kina play this completely straight, though.

** [[spoiler:Goblin]] is killed trying to injure Kina, only for Blade to hear his voice calling for help four years later. No one trusts the returned wizard--and they're right.

** The Limper is this through most of the ''The Silver Spike.'' After the climax of ''The White Rose'' left him as nothing but a disembodied head, Toadkiller Dog intimidated the shamans of the local forest to build him a new body out of wicker. "The Wicker Man" helps the Shamans tune up the "toy body," but even then he can't speak above a whisper and is aware how vulnerable he is to fire. The body is ultimately destroyed, but replaced with a finer one of enchanted clay, allowing The Limper to go full-on OneWingedAngel.
** A less extreme example is [[spoiler:The Howler]]. Narration early in ''She Is the Darkness'' notes him as so badly arthritic that he prefers to use his magic to float while moving, rather than walk. There is also his uncontrollable shouting, which is dealt with in ''Soldiers Live'' by putting his head in what amounts to a fishbowl.

** In the later books, [[spoiler:Mogaba]] serves as The Dragon to Longshadow and later to [[spoiler:Soulcatcher]].

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Very few characters actually go down in a particularly grand fashion; even important ones tend to die very suddenly. Large swaths of the cast introduced during ''The Books of the South'' and ''The Books of the Glittering Plain'' are unceremoniously killed off in ''Soldiers Live'' without regard for their role in the narrative before then.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The Taken: Soulcatcher reputedly steals souls, Shapeshifter changes shapes, The Howler howls a lot, The Limper limps... you get the idea.

** In contrast Goblin, One-Eye, and The Howler are all noted to be both physically small and more comfortable in subservient roles.

* NoImmortalInertia: Averted. After [[spoiler: the Lady]] loses her powers, she begins to age normally.

** [[spoiler:Half of the original Taken]], although [[spoiler:The Limper]] in particular simply revels in this trope. [[spoiler:Croaker]] also joins the club after ''Dreams of Steel.''

** The first and second in command in the first two books are always referred to by their ranks, The Captain and The Lieutenant.

** In ''The Books of the South'' we get another, the Shadowmasters- less effective overall, both because there are only four of them and because their boss, Longshadow, is too erratic to be any kind of effective leader, so that the end result is that they're ''even more'' backstabby than the Taken. They're still a major headache, though.

The series begins as the Company reluctantly accepts the commission of a northern sorceress tyrant known as "The Lady". A prophecy concerned with her downfall is about to be fulfilled, and the people are rising up in anticipation of the event. The Company has often been betrayed in the past by its employers, and The Lady is one of the least trustworthy ones it's had, but she pays well, and the Black Company goes where it is desired, so it commits to the contract.

The series has had a profound influence on subsequent fantasy authors, with Jim Butcher, Steven Erikson, Joe Abercrombie and many others citing it as direct influence on their own writing.

** While traveling with Croaker [[spoiler:to the White Rose's hideout in order to secretly assist with translating documents that bear the Dominator's true name]], The Lady mentions that she won't be able to cast any spells while under the influence of null. However, some spells that were cast on someone or something ''before'' entering the null, such as the transformation of one living being into another form, would remain in effect. Croaker uses the example of a frog; it may as well be applicable to [[spoiler:a dog or a man]], however.

* JustTheFirstCitizen: The Shadowmasters all take pompous titles, to the point that the literal translation of the Shadowlands' Taglian name is "the Land of Many Kings." In contrast, the sorcerous tyrant who rules an entire continent simply calls herself, "The Lady".

* LoveRedeems: [[spoiler:Lady]], thanks to Croaker. Possibly averted; [[spoiler:even in the last book of the series, Croaker admits that Lady did not regret anything she did as The Lady and that she still has plenty of evil left in her.]]

** Oddly enough, [[spoiler:Old Father Tree. He was summoned in an age long forgotten to serve as the can for a now-forgotten SealedEvilInACan. From what The Lady remembers, his summoning required such a price that it killed thousands]].

** After [[spoiler:The Lady loses her powers, all her Taken]] immediately die; however, after [[spoiler:Dominator's soul gets sealed in the Silver Spike and it is acknowledged by characters that he can no longer project his will onto the world, the old Taken (created by Dominator)]] continue functioning perfectly. Lady mentions that she specifically set up the spell controlling her Taken so that if she died or lost her powers, they would too. The Dominator apparently did not include that clause in his.

** The Lady's True Name is...messy, to say the least. There were at least four Senjak sisters, of whom The Lady is one. The Dominator thinks (incorrectly) that she's Ardath. The ritual of naming in ''The White Rose'' demonstrates that she's Dorotea. ''Port of Shadows'' claims that Dorotea was killed by the Dominator and CameBackWrong, living into the present day as mentally unstable reanimated corpse. The same book claims that the woman it calls Creedence Senjak may in fact be the one who becomes The Lady. Lastly, it's mentioned at one point that Ardath and Dorotea switched names at some point, which may have been an AuthorsSavingThrow for why the Dominator thought the woman demonstrated to be Dorotea was named Ardath.

* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:Happens with Darling and Case.]] The narrator mentions their grandkids don't believe a word of their stories, but think they tell the best lies ever.

* {{Interquel}}: ''Port of Shadows'' takes approximately between ''The Black Company'' and ''Shadows Linger.''

* KavorkaMan: Croaker, who, despite being far from handsome, [[spoiler:winds up married to former EvilOverlord Lady, and attracting the attentions of her sister, Soulcatcher.]] Largely stems from [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe Because You Treated Me as an Actual Person]].

** The necromancer from outside Dusk who forms the B plot of ''Book of Shadows'' only ever identifies himself as "Papa." He also only knows Bathdek as "Kitten," owing to being a bit nuts.

* SexlessMarriage: When first becoming intimate with [[spoiler:Croaker]], Lady replies to some awkwardness by saying that she's never done this before. Much later, Soulcatcher corroborates this by angrily referring to her as the Dominator's virgin wife. Clearly, her wedding to the Dominator was one purely of political convenience, uniting the two most powerful wizards in the world under the same banner, not one of love or even attraction.
** ''Port of Shadows'' comments that The Dominator and the Senjak sisters are all aware that he is married to one of them, but none of them are certain which, including the woman who is his actual wife. This is likely an AuthorsSavingThrow for The Dominator infamously calling out the wrong name at the climax of ''The White Rose.''

* TheUnreveal: In ''Shadow Games,'' the Lady asks for Croaker's real name, to be put on his Commission as a General. He mentions that it takes him some time to remember it, but carefully avoids actually writing it in the Annals.

* TheWomenAreSafeWithUs: Averted, with the aversion lampshaded. After ambushing a female rebel unit in the first book the company commits a mass rape and massacre. Croaker outright states that such things are usually omitted from the chronicle (only mentioning this one because they also captured vital intelligence) and is common enough that the older members don't even bother to participate.
** Further averted in ''Port of Shadows'', where the Company's female soldiers form an AmazonBrigade to protect female prisoners from the rest of the Company. It's noted that the Rebel didn't do this...and it shows.