Line #1 Literature/BlackDogs


1	[[quoteright:380:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/black_dogs_1.jpg]]
2	''Black Dogs'' is a story written by Creator/UrsulaVernon and is broken up into two or three parts depending on whether you're reading the novels or have read the Elfwood version. The draft on Elfwood was removed a few years back due to some censorship issues, but the story lives on in novel form.
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4	The first book, "The House of Diamond", starts out with a 17-year-old girl named Lyra Volfrieds stumbling into the massacre of her entire house, which was orchestrated by her illegitimate brother. She barely manages to escape into the woods with her life, and with her lack of survival skills and street smarts would likely not escape the forest either. Fortunately for Lyra, an unlikely encounter with the [[FunnyAnimal anthropormorphic dog soldier]] Sadrao Majid earns her a new friend and a better chance at survival. Unfortunately, however, the assassination of her house turns into small fries in the face of the newer, bigger threat she has to deal with.
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6	Along the way the duo meet up with a half-elf [[LoveInterests love interest]] named Trent, a pair of full-elf lesbian lovers named [[LipstickLesbian Jacyl]] and [[ButchLesbian Sinai]], and they travel together for a while. Sadrao and Sinai teach Lyra fighting skills and the latter imparts a kind of magical combat knowledge, called the Kytha, upon her before they part ways. Sadrao and Lyra are left to deliver Trent to the House of Diamond to get him magically scanned while Sinai and Jacyl set out to the elf capital to deliver a message. They encounter a couple of Sadrao's old acquaintances, the FunnyAnimal Spite, an anthropomorphic ermine/ferret, and Gunnar, an anthropomorphic giant ground sloth. Trent gets captured and the remainder of the novel follows the rescue attempt.
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8	The sequel, "The Mountain of Iron", starts with the party captured by a fairly impotent mage, and breaking free without too much difficulty. Later on Lyra gets lost and finds herself in a den of barbaric anthropomorphic hyenas. She is rescued and accompanied by a small black dog. It turns out that this black dog was actually cursed into that form by a wandering magician, and Lyra, falling into his trap, is transformed as well. Trent performs an act of magic to restore both Lyra and the dog (who is a woman going by the name Kuroinu) to humanity, and earns Sadrao's trust. Trent gets recaptured by his father. There is a great war at the foot of Ironspine between the elves and Vade's forces, and Sinai marches into Vade's fortress carried by her Kytha. Lyra is captured by Vade, and in his fortress she finds out that there is more than one face to evil.
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10	!!'''Provides examples of:'''
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12	* AbusiveParents: Oh boy... Well, while Trent wasn't subject to much physical abuse, he was put through some of the most horrible emotional and psychological abuse imaginable.
13	%% * ABoyAndHisX: A Girl and Her Dog Soldier. Or quite possibly A Dog Soldier and His Girl. %% Add more context to describe their relationship and what effect it has on them. %%
14	* ActionGirl: This series becomes jam-packed with them as it goes on. First it starts with Sinai and Jacyl and as Lyra develops her fighting skills, becomes one herself, then Spite comes along, and then there's the whole race of hyenas...
15	* AerithAndBob: We have names like Lyra, Trent, Sadrao and Jacyl interspersed.
16	* AirVentPassageway: {{Deconstructed}}. It is portrayed as tough, claustrophobic going in the dark, with Lyra suffering several minor injuries, and a high chance of Lyra falling and breaking her neck. Or breaking something else that renders her unable to escape, and dying slowly over several days.
17	%% * AmazonBrigade: The hyena people.
18	* AnimalStereotypes: Sadrao the dog soldier is loyal and trustworthy, Spite the ferret is a [[GladHesOnOurSide cunning, bloodthirsty thief,]] Gunnar the giant sloth is slow and patient, and a brief encounter with a wolverine guard... well, you just don't want to mess with wolverines.
19	* BadassBookworm: Lyra starts out as a bookworm and then [[TakeALevelInBadass becomes one of these]].
20	* BadassNormal: Sadrao, although a seven-foot-tall anthropomorphic dog, does not possess any magic, supernatural powers or demonic blood. He is however, extremely badass.
21	* BadPowersBadPeople: {{Justified}} in the sense that standard magical power is most easily gained by unscrupulous and distasteful means such as human sacrifice and ritual bloodletting. It's not hard to believe that the people who are willing to do this to get power are generally not nice people.
22	* BastardBastard: Lyra's half-brother Jasen, who helps kill Lyra's family at the start of the book out of resentment for not being adopted as a legitimate heir.
23	* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: Trent's]] tragic backstory and demure personality are all real, but are only parts of his TrueSelf. The repression of his darker and crueler nature are engineered by the BigBad in an attempt to lure his enemies into a sense of false security.
24	* BerserkButton: [[BewareTheNiceOnes Sadrao, calm and polite, loyal to a fault]]. Then you decide to harass his charge...
25	%% * BewareTheNiceOnes: Sadrao.
26	%% * TheBigGuy: Sinai.
27	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: [[spoiler: Trent is this, one way or another, through the whole story. Before the story begins he was made into a good version of himself by his father to put others off their guard. Then, once his father recaptures him, he turns him into a pure evil version as a fit successor. In the end Lyra restores his true personality, but in the process realized that she never actually knew him.]]
28	* BondOneLiner: {{Averted}}. After their first fight, Sadrao says "Well, that was invigorating!". Lyra, instead of some witty remark, just throws up.
29	%% * BrokenBird: Sinai.
30	* ButchLesbian: Sinai always has short hair, wears entirely leather masculine clothing and carries a sword strapped onto her back which she's quite good with, while having a female lover.
31	* CantArgueWithElves: Elves see things this way, to the point of other races considering them snooty and xenophobic. We don't get to see much of them, though.
32	* ChekhovsSkill: Learning [[spoiler: Kuroinu's]] true name and the revelation that the Kytha is actually SummonMagic saves Lyra's life in her battle against [[spoiler:Trent]], when Lyra summons her to defeat his demon. Lock-picking in ''House of Diamonds'' is this too, but then the entire reason that Sadrao makes Lyra practice it is because it will be of use later. When she is kidnapped by slavers, she escapes via lock-picking.
33	* CrystalDragonJesus: The religion usually just referred to as "the church", which has cathedrals, cardinals and traditional Christian sexual mores (e.g. they oppose contraception and same-sex relationships).
34	* CombatPragmatist. Vernon comes up with something most people forget about furry combatants, specifically, [[spoiler:their teeth]].
35	* ComingOfAgeStory: TheHero's [[CharacterDevelopment personal growth]] from the start of the series to the finish is one of the main focuses. She starts off naive and helpless and gradually grows into a competent adult that can more than take care of herself in the real world.
36	%% * ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: [[spoiler:Trent's backstory]].
37	%% * CoolBigSis: Jacyl to Lyra.
38	%% * CoolSword: Sadrao's Mohenja and the sword Kuroinu started a huge marketplace disturbance to steal.
39	%% * CorruptChurch: There's a theocratic town with at least ''three'' of these.
40	* CultureClash: The girl they rescue unwittingly flaunts all FunnyAnimal forms of politeness, by cringing away from their touch, showing her teeth when she smiles and laughs, and trying to intervene in a battle for dominance.
41	%% * DeathSeeker: Sinai.
42	* DidntSeeThatComing: Lyra summons [[spoiler: Kuroinu in her demon form while chained and at Vade's mercy]], and her captor is throttled.
43	%% * DragonAscendant: [[spoiler: Trent]].
44	* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:Sinai uses the last of her strength to charge Vade while riding a water demon horse. Spite takes out a truly terrifying GiantFlyer]]
45	* EldritchAbomination: The true forms of demons are ''deeply'' alien.
46	%% * FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Trent, towards the end.]]
47	* FantasticRacism: Many people distrust non-humans, and at some locales, they're outright persecuted. The first real inn that Lyra and Sadrao stay at is a crappy one where the bartender gives them a room for a much higher price than what might have been asked of a human.
48	* FantasyContraception: Jacyl gets Lyra some contraceptive pills she can use after having "{{the talk}}", for if she's attracted to any young men along their journey.
49	** Spite, like most ferret women, is also on the equivalent to avoid going into heat, which [[MateOrDie is not only inconvenient but actually dangerous.]] As a side effect they keep their winter colors all year, giving her white fur.
50	* FreakinessShame: [[spoiler: Kuroino]] is well aware of just how [[EldritchAbomination eldritch]] demons are. [[spoiler: Lyra]] acknowledges that, but still finds her true form beautiful in an alien way.
51	* FunnyAnimal: Anthropomorphic animals are commonplace, and even humans are implied to be anthropomorphic monkeys.
52	* GambitPileup: The BigBad's EvilPlan to manipulate [[spoiler: Trent's]] personality into becoming crueler and more evil (by repressing all his good and gentle qualities) backfires on him when the newer, eviller [[spoiler: Trent]] creates a {{plan}} of his own to usurp the BigBad and cause him to be killed by his own demon.
53	* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Averted thoroughly. After Trent [[spoiler:rapes Lyra, she uses her Kytha to not only abort the baby, but sterilize herself to keep it from ''ever'' happening again]].
54	%% * TheHero: Lyra.
55	* HalfHumanHybrid: While most of the characters are more FunnyAnimal than HalfHumanHybrid, Trent is a half-elf and [[spoiler: Kuroinu]] is explicitly stated to be a demon hybrid. The half part is debatable, from both directions. On the one hand the ancestry is distant, on the other it appears that any offspring of a demon may well be a demon, regardless of the mortal half.
56	%% * HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Vade]].
57	%% * HugeGuyTinyGirl: Gunnar and Spite.
58	* IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer: Sadrao to Trent, about Lyra. This is more serious than most versions, since Trent is the son of Vade, and Sadrao doesn't trust him and is justifiably worried that the whole thing might be some dark scheme. [[spoiler: It is, but Trent doesn't know that.]]
59	* InstantExpert: Learning the [[FullContactMagic Kytha]] allows this with regards to martial arts and certain kinds of magic. Justified in that it's actually revealed to be a type of SummonMagic, empowering the user with spirits who have those skills and abilities.
60	* KickTheDog: While a lot of metaphorical dog-kicking goes on, kicking the dog without a reason is seen as something that only the weak and incompetent do. The really bad people will only kick the dog if it serves a purpose.
61	%% * TheLancer: Sadrao.
62	* LaughablyEvil: Many "evil" mages are stated to be so ostentatious and overly concerned with appearance that the main threat they pose is inflicting their poor taste upon their victim's fashion sense.
63	* LipstickLesbian: Improbably, [[LampshadeHanging as is pointed out by some of the characters - including herself]], Jacyl. As an elven scout she's often weeks or months on end in the wilderness with no hot baths and limited pack space, yet she needs to carry several different outfits and makeup along with her. Her former guardian remarked that he first came across her while her house was burning down and that despite this, she was attempting to save her dresses. Her partner is the ButchLesbian Sinai.
64	* MagicalAbortion: [[spoiler:Lyra]] isn't putting up with MandatoryMotherhood, no sir. After she's impregnated by rape, she uses the Kytha to induce abortion.
65	* MandatoryMotherhood: Averted by [[spoiler: Lyra Volfrieds]] when she is impregnated by [[spoiler: Trent]]. [[spoiler: Vade's plan was to have a great legacy and a powerful bloodline, and impregnating Lyra was just part of his plan.]] Her response to this when she found out was to [[spoiler: use the Kytha to]] abort the unborn child and then to sterilize herself to prevent him from just trying it again.
66	* MasculineFeminineGayCouple: Short-haired, leather-clad elven swordswoman Sinai is in a relationship with Jacyl, also an elf, who has her hair long, wears dresses and likes to buy clothes, among other pursuits more traditionally feminine.
67	* MookChivalry: Averted; even a skilled soldier like Sadrao has trouble taking on three bandits, especially when they attack at once.
68	* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted. Jacyl specifically asks Lyra if she's gotten anything for feminine hygiene. Lyra is embarrassed, but admits she hasn't, and Jacyl buys her some sponges.
69	* OfficialCouple: The narrative makes no secret that Lyra and Trent are going to get together. [[spoiler: Except that this gets subverted in the second book. It turns out that the Trent they knew had actually had his personality altered by his father to put them off his guard, and then he has Trent ReforgedIntoAMinion. By the end of the novel Trent has raped Lyra and, though she restores his true personality, she never actually knew him. She actually winds up with Kuroinu.]]
70	%% * OrphansOrdeal
71	* OurDemonsAreDifferent: They are Lovecraftian horrors, stretching into dimensions unknown, possessing bizarre body parts, with no two being exactly the same. And somehow they can breed with humans.
72	* OurDragonsAreDifferent: For one, they're extinct. Their closest living relatives are a race of HalfHumanHybrid types that have a friendly relationship with the standard Asian people.
73	* [[PapaWolf Papa Dog-Soldier]]: While Sadrao isn't Lyra's father, he certainly cares about her like he was.
74	* ThePhoenix: The heroes encounter the last one (but with phoenixes, how can one ''really'' be sure?) in a swamp.
75	%% * ReligionOfEvil: There are quite a few of these.
76	* {{Reconstruction}}: The story parodies traditional heroic antics with a heavy dose of Reality Ensues. But then the characters do the same things, noting the complications and succeeding with planning and preparation.
77	%% * TheSmartGuy: Trent.
78	* SpeculativeFictionLGBT: The series, set in a medieval fantasy world, features elven lesbian couple Sinai and Jacyl, who have a committed relationship which gets significant attention.
79	* TapOnTheHead: Lyra whacks a bandit over the head, and succeeds in... pissing him off.
80	* TakeALevelInBadass: After learning how to harness the Kytha, Lyra becomes much more dangerous.
81	* TheTalk: Jacyl talks Lyra aside to discuss sexual matters (she's aware of the basics), deeply embarrassing her. It's mentioned Jacyl previously got the talk herself from Sadrao-it was even ''more'' embarrassing.
82	%% * UnfazedEveryman: Lyra.
83	* UnicornsPreferVirgins: Only virgins are susceptible to the illusions of unicorns, which here are mangy, carnivorous horse-like things that prey on those that fall for their illusions.
84	* YouAllMeetInAnInn: Lyra and Sadrao meet up with future party members in inns on two occasions. The first time, Sadrao was actually looking for them.

Context Literature / BlackDogs