Line #35 Literature/BlackguardsTalesOfAssassinsMercenariesAndRogues


1	[[quoteright:314:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4b243e35ce4853534531b8f9d0f7e1cc.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:314: Garret would be proud.]]
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4	''Whether by coin or by blood... YOU WILL PAY.''
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6	''Blackguards'' is an anthology of anti-hero and rogue-themed stories published Creator/RagnarokPublications and given an intro by Creator/GlenCook. It is notable for being funded by one of the most successful literary Kickstarters of all time.
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8	Featuring tales set in the worlds of Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria, David Dalglish's Dezrel, Mark Lawrence's The Broken Empire, Lian Hearn's Literature/TalesOfTheOtori, Mark Smylie's Sword and Barrow, Anthony Ryan's Raven's Shadow, Shawn Speakman's Chronicles of Annwn, Creator/CarolBerg's Sanctuary, James A. Moore's [[Literature/TheBlastedLandsSeries Seven Forges]], Django Wexler's Shadow Campaigns, Creator/LauraResnick's ''Literature/TheSilerianTrilogy'', Peter Orullian's Vault of Heaven, Kenny Soward's ''Literature/GnomeSaga'', Paul S. Kemp's Egil and Nix, and more.
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10	----
11	!This book contains the following tropes:
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13	* ActionGirl: Mainon, Jancy, Ceda, and Swech Tothis Durwrae.
14	* {{Antihero}}: Almost all of the heroes fall into one of the categories with most of them fitting into the upper side of the equation.
15	* AssholeVictim: Most of the villains in the story. Played exceptionally straight in ''The Long Kiss'' where the victim is horrifically butchered but, honestly, had it coming.
16	* TheAtoner: Rosenwyn doesn't want to be a thief anymore, which makes her unique in the book's cast.
17	* BlackAndGrayMorality: A feature in many of the stories.
18	* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Najdan is a figure who believes in following his religious order's commands no matter what.
19	* ClassyCatBurglar: Rosenwyn used to be one of these but has changed her mind. Surprisingly, most of the women tend to be much more action orientated and swashbuckling than this trope tends to apply to.
20	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Infamously, Creator/GlenCook did this for the Foreword. He opened the book by praising EvilVersusEvil VillainProtagonist types, even citing ''Literature/TheIronDream.'' This, despite the book being mostly LighterAndSofter fair about heroes on the wrong side of the law. It becomes MoodWhiplash when the second Foreword by the editor, J.M. Martin, following immediately after Glenn Cook's, talks about how his favorite rogue was ''Bilbo Baggins''
21	* DeadpanSnarker: Prevalent. Royce and Hadrian, probably, are the two biggest ones in the book.
22	* DepravedHomosexual:
23	** Rümayesh is an example of this, being a lesbian drug dealer in fantasy Arabia who keeps enraptured slaves.
24	** Averted in ''Friendship'' which is built around a nobleman who is trying to call off the murder on his lover.
25	* {{Doorstopper}}: The Kindle version is over seven hundred pages long.
26	* {{Expy}}: Royce and Hadrian have quite a few similarities to Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, though they're more inspired by them than direct take offs.
27	* FantasticDrug: Rümayesh sells literal dreams to her customers. It's what gives her the godlike control over her followers she has.
28	* GuileHero: A good half of the protagonists. Perhaps best displayed by Selden who comes up with a bizarre XanatosGambit to trick an incubus out of a Troll chieftain in ''Troll Trouble.''
29	* GentlemanThief: Quite a few of the rogues.
30	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Royce and Hadrian are these.
31	* HitmanWithAHeart:
32	** Mainon is one of these, being a woman who only kills those who have it coming.
33	** Subverted in ''Friends'' and ''The Secret'' where the assassins are considerably less sympathetic.
34	* LovableRogue: The majority of protagonists tend to be one of these.
35	* MoodWhiplash: Quite a few of the stories suffer from this but the stand-out is ''A Length of Cherrywood'' which is a horrific story of a slaver in a book of DeadpanSnarker LighterAndSofter GuileHero types.
36	* MuggingTheMonster: ''The Betyar and the Magus'' is a story about how a nobleman turned bandit screws up by robbing a powerful wizard on the road.
37	* PayEvilUntoEvil: The assassin in ''The Long Kiss.'' [[spoiler: She cuts the face off the bandit of the story after his confession and turns it into a mask--apparently what her order does.]]
38	* TheReveal: Done brilliantly with a BaitAndSwitch in ''Professional Integrity.'' [[spoiler: The obvious twist the daughter is a werewolf being locked up on the full moon turns out to have been a double-blind to distract her nobleman father from the fact they're smuggling goods through his basement. The girl actually doesn't suffer from lycanthropy at all but is being drugged and substituted with a wolf through stage magic.]]
39	* VillainProtagonist:
40	** Averted, surprisingly, for the majority of stories. Most of the heroes fall into the LovableRogue category.
41	** Played straight in ''A Length of Cherrywood'' where the protagonist is complete scum.
42	** Also played straight in ''The Secret.''
43	* XanatosGambit: Quite a few of these are in the story. For example, ''Mainon'' is about a complicated plan to assassinate a Duke [[spoiler: by hiring a famed assassin to protect him]] while ''Professional Integrity'' is about a poor woman [[spoiler: who has been framed for]] suffering a werewolf curse.
44	* ZanyScheme: Impersonating a diplomat, a priest, and a marriage counselor for a Troll chieftain in ''Troll Trouble.''
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Context Literature / BlackguardsTalesOfAssassinsMercenariesAndRogues