History Literature / TheBlackMagicianTrilogy

* MutantDraftBoard: Naturals ''must'' be trained by the Guild. This isn't a matter of social control, and more a recognition of the fact that an untrained natural will usually go off like a nuke when she loses control of her ability.
** In a variation, the Guild has pretty much forgotten this at the start of the trilogy - there hadn't been a known case of anyone manifesting magic on their own for centuries, enough that it wasn't really remembered that it was possible. This is a significant part of the drama in the first book, since not only does the Guild have to rediscover forgotten protocols, but it has also picked up a lot of noble prejudice since that last case (for historic and social reasons, magical ability is concentrated in the nobility), which goes about as well as one can expect when there suddenly turns up a very powerful natural from the poor underclasses.

The original trilogy follows Sonea as she evades and then is recruited by the Magician's Guild, learns to control her powers, tries to avoid being bullied, gets caught up in a power struggle, falls in love, goes on an epic journey and saves her country from destruction. It was followed by a prequel, ''The Magician's Apprentice'' and the sequel trilogy, ''Traitor Spy'', was finished in 2012.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted. While psychiatry as a profession doesn't exist, the Guild is surprisingly GenreSavvy about taking a distrustful, traumatized StreetUrchin and throwing her right into the middle of a student body full of arrogant nobles, many of whom [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer look down on her because of her common blood]]. Several ranking mages take it upon themselves to help shepherd her through her problems and help her deal with the other students' bullying.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: [[spoiler: Akkarin]] narrowly manages to subvert this and comes close to crossing the lines at some points.

* OutsideGenreFoe: [[spoiler:So there's an army of Black Magic users coming to attack us? Too bad most of us have no idea what Black Magic even is, much less how to fight it.]]

* RejectionRitual: Akkarin and Sonea are exiled as punishment for practicing black magic. This involves all of the present magicians in the Guild taking it in turns to tell them "I cast you out. Do not enter my lands again." and tear a small rip in their uniform robes. Rothen and Dannyl refuse to complete the ritual for Sonea, instead wishing her luck.

* {{Bishonen}}: Tayend. Despite Dannyl mentally commenting on this when he first sees him, there are a lot of people who remark on how pretty he is, including a group of pirates who ask Dannyl how much he'll sell him for.

** ProudScholarRaceGuy: The Duna, who have important secret keepers of magic lore and history.

* UnskilledButStrong: Sonea is a ridiculously powerful mage, but starts out untrained. Even by the end of the second book, [[TheRival Regin]] is still somewhat more skilled than her, but by then, she's learned that [[BiggerStick it doesn't matter when she can just blast through any shield he can make]].

* SquishyWizard: Sonea wins a critically important duel, that would determine whether she could continue as a commoner to learn magic, simply by the fact that her opponent had never done any exercise, and in a later scene couldn't even punch hard enough to leave a bruise on her shoulder. Sonea on the other hand was more than capable of breaking his nose and bruising his eyes badly enough to leave him blind until treated.
** Although a lot of magicians (read: most) fall into this category, this trope is played with a bit: magicians are made physically stronger and more healthy than normal people by the constant flow of magical energy through their bodies. Magicians also have a stronger "inner shield" and can survive drowning and being buried underground by using a shield to protect their bodies and supply them with a limited amount of oxygen. They're just completely unused to fighting or dealing without their magic.

* OutsideContextVillain: [[spoiler:So there's an army of Black Magic users coming to attack us? Too bad most of us have no idea what Black Magic even is, much less how to fight it.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: In the third book, named characters start dropping like flies.

* {{Magocracy}}: In Sachaka, magicians are the ones in charge. Unlike the Allied Lands, this includes the King.
* ManipulativeBitch: [[spoiler: Naki.]] Oh so much. To whit: [[spoiler: she befriends the resident NaiveEverygirl, plays SchoolgirlLesbians with her despite never once returning the feelings, gets her hooked on a FantasticDrug and manipulates her into learning [[TheDarkArts Black Magic]] (the mere knowledge of which is forbidden; and which, incidentally, she herself learned, quite deliberately years before). Why? So that she can frame said everygirl when she murders her step-father and runs away to go spend her life working with criminals. And why did she want to do that? Because she couldn't live with the rules imposed on her by her father and the Guild. Oh, and when her unwitting lover desperately breaks out of imprisonment to find her, thinking her to be in mortal danger, she casually and without remorse tries to kill her. Yeah.]]

* ObstructiveCodeOfConduct: There's a lot of rules set up regarding the Black Magicians' conduct after the Trilogy ends, since ''one'' rogue Black Magician and a loyal follower could wipe the floor with the entire Guild if unchecked.

* AntiHero: Sonea, but the biggest culprit is [[spoiler: Akkarin, who took up BlackMagic [[IdidWhatIHadToDo in order to defend himself and Kyralia against the Ichani]], and, despite Sonea, Rothen and Lorlen convinced that he's the BigBad for the first two-thirds of the original trilogy, is in fact the only thing stopping the annihilation of their country at the hands of some ridiculously powerful black magicians]].

* BlackMagic: Well, duh. In this series, BlackMagic comes from taking a person's LifeEnergy. While many users of BlackMagic are portrayed as evil, as some LifeEnergy can be taken without harming the person, the morality of using it is based on whether the LifeEnergy was given willingly or not. Originally, it was called "higher magic," and practiced by all magicians, but during the Trilogy it's only practiced by [[spoiler: Akkarin, the Sachakans and Sonea]]. After that, the Guild appoints two and only two magicians to know the secrets of BlackMagic, and hedges them about with heavy restrictions; while they aren't at all comfortable with the practice, they know that the Sachakans use it, and they recognize the need to fight fire with fire.

* MundaneUtility: Healing magic can be used to save someone's life after their throat is slit. But you can also use it to keep that pesky seasickness at bay.

* NeckSnap: A mugger stabs Tayend and Dannyl reacts by slamming him magically into a wall and breaking his neck. That said, Dannyl doesn't ever react well when Tayend is threatened or hurt.

** In a wider sense, [[spoiler: so-called 'Black Magic'. Really, it's not inherently evil, it's just capable of running way out of control, as the Guild learned the hard way from Tagin's example.]]
* NoWomansLand: Sachaka and Lonmar. Both societies are incredibly strict about letting their women out in public, don't teach them magic and generally treat them much worse than their male counterparts. In Lonmar, a woman is publically punished for having an affair.

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: To some degree, many magicians (except Healers). Alchemists are often considered to waste their time on silly hobbies instead of useful innovations, though they can do the latter. Warriors are only useful in times of war. If they aren't into teaching (like Fergun), there's little for them to do in the meantime. And as of ''High Lord'', we learn that [[spoiler: Warriors aren't even that useful against a magician invasion because they don't know black magic.]] So they literally are paid and housed to do nothing.

** Although a lot of magicians (read: most) fall into this category, this trope is played with a bit: magicians are made physically stronger and more healthy than normal people by the constant flow of magical energy through their bodies. Magicians also have a stronger "inner shield" and can survive drowning and being buried underground by using a shield to protect their bodies and supply them with a limited amount of oxygen.

* Big Bad: [[spoiler: Kariko could be considered this, as the leader of the Sachakian invading party.]]

''The Black Magician Trilogy'' is the debut series of TrudiCanavan, and is centred around the country Kyralia where only the rich and powerful are allowed to learn and use magic, and the poor are more or less ignored, unless they're being trodden under foot. This age old system has something of a spanner jammed in its works when Sonea, a girl born and raised in the slums of the capital city Imardin, discovers that she has natural magical abilities. Since she learns this by throwing a stone through a magical barrier and knocking out a magician, it doesn't exactly stay a secret for long.

** In a variation, the Guild has pretty much forgotten this at the start of the trilogy - there hadn't been a known example of anyone manifesting magic on their own for centuries, enough that it wasn't really remembered that it was possible.