Cycle black Company

General topic

Synopsis

The Black Company has been a troop of mercenaries created, when Toubib holds Annals, for approximately four hundred years. It is occupied of share the world since its creation, while being sold with highest offerer, remaining sometimes in a region lasting thirty years, or very little time. It recruits only when one person proposes to return in the brotherhood, in the only condition of having broken with her past, her dramas personal, etc the Company often acts as a refuge (as Toubib in his annals acknowledges it). In the cycle of the Books of North (see below), they are committed inadvertently with the service of the Lady , woman of the Dominator, powerful magician wishing to control the whole of the grounds of north and to maintain its empire in only one piece. The Company, recruited by Volesprit, must fight against the rebels, a force of free men which resists " Dame". The reader thus follows them, in the Livres of North , in an insane adventure on thousands of kilometers during which they will endure serious disorders and great periods of difficulty.

Originality of the treatment

Initially, the novels are presented in the form of daily newspapers held by one of the members of the Company, called the annalist, who writes with the first anybody, and overall with last made up. They reproduce the " défauts" of a log book: certain events of less importance are reported in details, whereas some " grosses" battles proceed out-field, as if the annalist of the Company had not had time to report them. Annals are used for to remember the Company through the ages, and are their most invaluable good.

The fact is that the history told by the annalist of the Company often places us side of the " méchants" , which perpetrates massacres, their enemies (they crush are the cream of the soldiers, the favorites of " Dame". They however are not deprived of Moralité; one can rather frequently attend awakenings of the annalist inter alia, or with discussions with his/her closer friends, who often wonder why they do all that and with what that is useful to them. The flirte author in extreme cases of the good and the evil, but dissociates clearly Fantasy " classique".

In this universe, one does not find the fantastic creatures " classiques" (Elf S, dwarf, etc), as it is often the case in more traditional works. The magic occupies on the other hand a very great place, not only which had with the presence of wizard in the rows of the Company, but also due to a big number of large wizard which often hold an enormous capacity, at their allies as at their enemies (Ten Controlled, unfavourable generals etc). Environment remains however, with share of great passages of sorcery, warlike and quarrelsome, but not deprived of smoothness and messages to be seized.

In this dark environment, the life of the Héros does not have a great value, although bonds are narrowly woven - the members are " all frères". The main characters are not saved much than the others, however, one of the obsessions of the annalist is to forget deceased, which would apply to this last a total lapse of memory, and the Company is in constant evolution: following their engagement in the rows of the Lady, they will know a great decrease, and almost the extinction at certain times, one thus attends a true combat for survival. The various cycles being held over many years, the annalist changes from time to time but the style of the author remains appreciably the same one.

These elements make this series an original work in a very marked out field usually.

Titles VO and VF

The Cycle of the Black Company includes/understands in fact several cycles.

Characters

Principal members of the company

Annalists

Doctor: The doctor of the company and annalist during the Cycle of the books of north then in the last book of the company Soldiers of Pierre .
Rack: Annalist of the Money Point, Doctor and the remainder of the company having slipped by to the South
Madam: Rêves of Steel is the book of Madam, captain and annalist occasional.
Murgen: The carry-standard and the successor of Doctor in the role of the annalist.
Roupille: Succeed Murgen as an annalist and becomes captain of the company. Young woman disguised as a man of the time when Murgen is the annalist, it becomes captain of the Company following the captivity of the " anciens" company.
Suvrin: Last captain of the company, succeeds Roupille.

Wizard

Tam-Tam
That a-Eye
Silence
Goblin
Tobo
occuspoccus

Other important characters

the Lady: (Doroté Senjak) a powerful magician, former partner of the " Dominateur" , which tries to impose its law on the whole of the grounds of North (its Empire). It becomes Madam thereafter.
Corbel: noble deposed, with the service of the Lady, which will enlist at the sides of the Black Company, then to separate some to protect Chérie . Like the Lame one it makes accept its death several times. It is a cold and distant character, who seems to feel feelings only for Chérie. In the Black Castle it sells corpses with the assistance of Chestnut Saw-tooth. In the White Rose, under the identity of Jackdaw, it tries to speak in Bomanz. In the Money Point it tries with the assistance of Darling, Silence, Bomanz and Casier to recover the Point. Corbels catches the Point with naked hands. It is then had by the spirit of the Dominator. His/her friends do not have other choices only to kill it.
Cherished: " the Pink Blanche" (Tonie Fisk), young girl saved by the Black Company, it is deaf and dumb and represents the Rebellion vis-a-vis the Dame .
Mogaba: it is Nars (direct descendants of the original company) which formed part a time of the Black Company. (" Plays of Ombres")
Bomanz: it is the wizard who released the Lady and Asservis. He was imprisoned in Tumulus. He is released by the Lady to help to prevent the Dominator from returning. He helps Chérie to seek the Point, he is killed by the Lame one.

Ten the Controlled original ones

Principal vector of magic in a rather realistic universe, Asservis is of the wizards extremely powerful taxable people with the control of the Dominateur (Erin SansPère) and of the Lady (Doroté Senjak).

Volesprit (which is the sister of the Lady): It is Volesprit (Sylith Senjak) which in the first volume will engage the Black Company with the service of the Lady. She speaks with the voices about those of which she to steal the heart. It is a character scouring in the series since one finds it in the south
Transformeur: Transformer (Barthelme de Calèche) is the first king wizard whom the Dominator and the Lady allured then controlled. As its name indicates it, Trans' can be metamorphosed in any human or animal. It, is transformed to him besides into forvalaka (kind of werewolf) which kills Tam-Tam. Large enemies of Storm, one believes it dead in the battle of Charm. It had simulated its death, it returns in Jeux of Shades, or it continues Tempete in the south. He faces Tempete, which manages to beat, weakened he is then killed by That an Eye, which avenges his/her brother.
the Lame one: Pet peeve of the Black Company, especially of Toubib.La company believes to kill it out of many times but it returns to the life each time. At the time of the battle of Tumulus, it tries to assassinate the Lady, Toubib decapitates it. They burn its body but do not find the head. It returns in the money point. One manufactures a body of wicker to him on which one deposits his head détéré by Bleed-Clamping plate-The-Dog. To finish some with him they send its body in another dimension at the end of the money point.
Grind-the-Night (also called the Prowler)
Hung (also called Neck-Twisted) the
Storm (also called Sow-Storm). It can start natural disasters. It dissimulates its death. One finds it in the South, or it became one Master-in Ombres. It is killed by Transmormeur.
the Anonymity (also called Without-face)
Hurleur: It cannot be prevented from shouting, it is the expert out of flying carpets of the lady. He also dissimulates its death with Charme. It is established in the south where it forms a band of pirates. This one is destroyed by the Company and Transformer. Then it is combined with Ombrelongue, then it is captured by the company.
Crack-the-Os (also called Crush-the-Os)
Croquelune (also called the Dog-of-Moon)

Tonk

The Tonk is the original card deck creates for the saga and to which the troops of the Black Company are devoted during their free moments. It is there often refers during annals. Tonk is a Anglo-Saxon card deck traditional of the family of Rami whose alternative is described by Glen Cook in its Cycle of the Black Company. Indeed, the soldiers of the black company devote themselves constantly to this card deck at the time of their free moments.

French editions

First edition in stitched format: editions Atalante;
First edition in format pocket: editions I read SF, starting from 2005;

See too

Wiki on Glen COOK/the black company

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