The Night Angel Trilogy



"Assassins have targets. Wetboys have deaders.[...]Once you've accepted the contract, whatever's left of the target's life is just a formality."

- Durzo Blint

The Night Angel Trilogy is a series of fantasy books by Brent Weeks; who is currently writing the Light Bringer Series. It's about a boy (who ends up with the name Kylar, although that's not his only one) from the slums who becomes apprentice to a famed wetboy, and who inherits a magical artifact which gives him all manner of supernatural powers (and makes him effectively immortal). Lots of politics, war, and evil megalomaniacs. Major subjects include Kylar's feelings about his job (is it something that's necessary, or is it an evil that he should walk away from?), his love triangle, and the fact that bad things happen to good people (in these books, quite frequently.)

In many ways the first book reads like "Batman: with fewer scruples and some magic", from there things build to a study of faith, love, the cost of doing the right (and wrong) thing, what to do in an unfair universe, and a look at what immortality can do to a person. Add in a high amount of action, politics, schemes upon schemes upon schemes upon Xanatos Roulettes and Pileups and you have an idea of what the series is like. And add gore. Gore and rape and prostitution and torture and more gore and rape.

The first book in the series is The Way of Shadows, second Shadow's Edge, third Beyond the Shadows. Yeah this series has a thing for shadows. Brent Weeks also released a novella in 2011 in audio or e-book format only called Perfect Shadow, who else is surprised that the title has the word shadow in it?

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These books provides examples of the following:
""You know why assassins have 'targets'? 'Cause assassins sometimes miss.""
 * Abusive Parents: Technically, Hu Gibbet is Vi's master, not her father, but it has the same effect. She was also
 * Also, Godking Garoth sure counts.
 * Accidental Pervert: Kylar and Vi's
 * The Atoner: Count Drake spent his life abolishing slavery in Cenaria,
 * Durzo,
 * Back From the Dead:
 * Badass Arguably, many characters could qualify.
 * Durzo
 * Kylar  But, he lacks a certain je ne sais quoi.
 * Logan Gyre, resident Badass Normal nobleman.
 * Solon And it kills almost every single munchkin bad guy magician in a mile radius. Oh, and he fights the next guy to a standstill,
 * Lantano Garuwashi : Another Badass Normal A exceptional swordsman about on Par with Durzo and without the use of any talent.
 * Dorian: This guy
 * Vi
 * Badass Creed: "Life is Empty. Life is Meaningless. When we take a life, we take nothing of value."
 * Balancing Deaths Books: Sure comes back to bite  in the ass.
 * Berserk Button: At times, Vi can get extremely sensitive about people touching her hair. At one point she  This is in stark contrast to her numbness and apathy to much more intimate forms of contact.
 * Hu Gibbet, at times, when people say that Durzo Blint is the better wetboy.
 * Better As Friends: really do try, but
 * Betty and Veronica: Kylar's love triangle with Elene and Vi has elements of this - Elene is good and pure, but doesn't accept Kylar's rather violent world, while Vi is hostile, troubled, and initially an antagonist, but comes from the same world as Kylar and therefore understands him. Kylar loves Elene, but finds himself thinking about Vi as well. The situation is resolved at the end of the third book, when Elene  It's implied that this is how things do indeed end up.
 * Big Bad: Godking Garoth Ursuul in the first two books; Khali (previously the Bigger Bad) in the third.
 * BFS: It's not mentioned much,, but both Curoch and Retribution are called such. Curoch in particular, being impressive to a Khalidorian Highlander who gets his hands on it without knowing what it is.
 * Black and Grey Morality
 * Brother-Sister Incest:.
 * Brown Eyes: Essentially, part Doll Girl's namesake (a doll-like face) and most endearing feature. This carries on
 * Calling the Old Man Out: Durzo teaches Kylar a philosophy of detachment, cynicism, callousness, and apathy - "love is weakness", and so forth. As time goes on, however, Kylar becomes increasingly willing to reject this doctrine.
 * Can't Have Sex Ever:  have this problem after  . At least
 * Career Killers: Taken to a new level: Wetboys, as Blint illustrates in the page quote, are contemptuous of mere 'assassins'.

"Niner, "You're...you're shit! You shitting, shitting shit!"
 * Chekhov's Gun: One of the first things Logan says as Kylar's friend is about how a story about Ka'Karis interested him. Guess what one of the main plot devices is?
 * Cluster F-Bomb: Aleine Gunder IX. Played for laughs. Poor Aleine or Niner as he is not so lovingly called by just about everyone, swears all the time. He can actually be quite creative there's only one problem, the only swear he knows is the word shit. Due to this fact, and his childish nature he is prone to rant for several minutes. This is so much the case that when he starts cursing everyone in earshot just tunes him out. It doesn't help much that he's the king and therefore no one will swear in front of him. Then along comes resident badass Durzo. It wasn't until after Niner saw the looks on his guards faces that he realized he'd been insulted.

Durzo, "Your Majesty, a man of your stature's cursing vocabulary ought to extend beyond a tedious repetition of the excreta that fills the void between his ears.""

"Agon: "You draw that sword and I'm going to feed it to you"
 * Crystal Dragon Jesus: The One God. The way Elene and Count Drake act suggest that he preaches ideas very, very similar to what we would consider good Christian virtues.
 * There are at least two outright quotations from The Bible. Elene says the God's blessings are 'new every morning' (Lamentations 3:23, best known from the hymn 'The Steadfast Love of the Lord Never Ceases') and when Dorian wrestles with his conscience over, the voice of God quotes Jeremiah 29:11 to him ("I know the plans I have for you").
 * Demonic Possession: At the end, accepts this deliberately, and is then able prevent the entity from leaving again for long enough to make a Heroic Sacrifice which kills them both.
 * Depraved Bisexual: Rat.
 * Don't You Dare Pity Me
 * Earn Your Happy Ending:
 * Either or Prophecy: A lot of Dorian's prophecies seem to be like this - he sees possibilities rather than facts, and people have to decide how they react.
 * Faking the Dead: At the start of the second book, Kylar takes a job where he does this to aid his client's political ambitions.
 * Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Ceura seems to draw on (but not be identical to) medieval Japan, though with the standard medieval European setting as a base. Likewise with Ymmur and the Mongols, and Khalidor and parts of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Middle East.
 * A Fate Worse Than Death: If Logan or Kylar, ever find . They are going to things that would make Hu Gibbet squeamish.
 * Father, I Want to Marry My Brother: Ulyssandra in the second book. D'awwwww.
 * Fiery Redhead: Viridiana.
 * Foe Yay: Rat  and Kylar. It's canon that Rat wanted to engage in hatesex with Kylar to show his dominance. Rat also kept hassling Kylar and attempting to get Kylar to become part of his harem. Kylar's first kiss was also with him (albeit all part of a plot to "seduce" Rat and kill him). It's interesting to note that many, many years later,.
 * A God Am I: Many gods are worshiped, but the only one we actually see tangible proof of is . And then there's the Godking, who is really seen as a god by some of his subjects.
 * has a few scattered moments of this after receiving the  Subverted though in that
 * In relation to the
 * Good Shepherd: Count Drake, in spite of . This is later brought up when Kylar informs him that while he can   This makes him quite happy.
 * Handicapped Badass: Brant Agon has to walk with two canes by the end of the series, which leads well to his Badass Boast
 * Handicapped Badass: Brant Agon has to walk with two canes by the end of the series, which leads well to his Badass Boast

Inspector: "But you're an old cripple!"

Agon: "Which will make it all the more embarrassing when I do""

""You're writing it in Jaeran? Defining Jaeran words? So you'll have to already know Jaeran to read it?""
 * Heel Face Turn: Vi is initially the apprentice of Hu Gibbet, a villain, and does a number of bad things in the first and second books. By the third book, though, she's turned good, although there's still tension for various reasons.
 * Heir Club for Men: The Godking has lots of sons, but they keep killing each other or dying during the tests of worthiness they are given. And those who do survive are potential threats that need to be eliminated.
 * Heroes Want Redheads: Beyond the Shadows has Kylar very focused on fiery hair on several occasions.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Done by at the end.
 * Hooker With a Heart of Gold: Momma K, and Master of Pleasure, along with her bevy of whores, are actually shown as good-hearted people, and are even lauded as heroes by Logan for
 * I Did What I Had to Do: Logan does this twice. First by . Later by
 * I Have Many Names: Durzo Blint's got a lot of them.
 * I Will Fight No More Forever: Kylar tries to retire with Elene at the start of the second book, but neither the goodies nor the baddies are prepared to leave him alone. Naturally, he ends up getting dragged back into everything.
 * I'm a Humanitarian:
 * Immortality:
 * Resurrective Immortality: Kylar can be killed, but doesn't stay dead for very long. He's told that there's a price, but it only emerges in the third book what it is:  Moreover, he is told which ones, and even more distressingly, which one will be chosen for his most recent revival:.
 * Immortality Inducer: The Black Ka'kari grants immortality so long as you're bonded to it.
 * Also, . Although he implies that he has a limited lifespan, it's also implied that he can increase it by.
 * In Vino Veritas: Hu Gibbet supposedly with a drunken "bitches ain't shit" combined with something of a Full Name Ultimatum. The actual verity of this is left ambiguous.
 * Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Elene. It goes at odd's with Kylar's job as necessary evil incarnate.
 * Insistent Terminology: Although most people would call them assassins, the people who work for the Sa'Kagé in that capacity insist that the local term, "wetboy", be used instead. Unlike regular assassins, wetboys use magic.
 * Interrupted Intimacy: Though not as comical as the trope can be,
 * Invisibility Flicker: A voluntary example; this is Kylar's modus operandi for scaring people as Judgment.
 * It Will Never Catch On: Logan's Dictionary.

"So first you kill a King and now you're going after a Goddess? If you don't figure out a way to kill continents next, you're going to have to retire."
 * Julius Beethoven Da Vinci: . It helps that he's Really Seven Hundred Years Old.
 * Karmic Death: You'll be satisfied to know that  get whats coming to them.
 * Knight Templar: The Lae'Knaught order are anti-magic fanatics - possibly not without a certain justification, given what the Godkings did with magic.
 * La Résistance: Women and girls who were secretly plot to . Though once.
 * Lost Technology: Ezra the Mad created a lot of magical versions of this (including most of the ka'kari).
 * Luke, I Am Your Father: The Godking does this to Kylar and Vi. The first is just to screw with his mind, while the second might be true - but  at the end of the second book.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Godking Ursuul.
 * A Man Is Not a Virgin: Subverted with poor Kylar, who despises his virginity on.
 * Master Poisoner: Durzo Blint
 * Master Swordsman: Lantano Garuwashi, who has 'Eighty two kills. At least half of those are in single duels.
 * Durzo Blint and Kylar are also considered masters in their own rights. Kylar still has room to improve.
 * Mercy Kill: And boy, was it mercy.
 * Mind Rape: Pretty much job.
 * Morality Pet: Ulyssandra has an 'effect' on psychotic Vi.
 * My Girl Is Not a Slut: Logan's reaction to hearing that
 * My Master Right or Wrong: General Brant Agon, in working for bad king Gunder. . Long Live the King indeed.
 * Named Weapons: Curoch, the Sword of Power, and Iures, the Staff of Law. The former has (or looks like a sword which has) a prominent place in one particular culture as Ceur'caelestos, the Blade of Heaven, while Iures spends most of the plot It's implied that they may both have had other names and guises through the ages, too.
 * Near Death Experience: When Kylar dies, he gets presented with two doorways - one goes to whatever comes after death, while another goes back to the world. If he selects the latter (and he does), he can never change his mind.
 * Never Gets Drunk: Uses 3a types in Durzo Blint and Kylar Stern. When weilding the Black Ka'Kari, they are given an inhuman immunity to all forms of poison and toxin, to include alcohol. Even after four full sacs of wine Kylar wasn't the least bit buzzed, and Durzo would spend ungodly hours at the bar to feel the least bit plastared.
 * When Kylar, as Azoth, "meets" Durzo for the first time, he's scrounging for coins beneath the floor of a bar. An assassin approaches to kill Durzo, saying to just let it happen since he says that Durzo has drunk several pints while he watched from the shadows. Durzo replies that he's had even more before the assassin even showed up! Leads to a Curb Stomp Battle from Blint upon the assassins once the leader decides to bring in his friends.
 * Older Is Better
 * Our Nudity Is Different: Sethi consider showing ankles to be obscene but have no problem showing breasts. In fact, Sethi wedding dresses are almost more like wedding skirts from the description. Sethi who spend too long living away from home often have trouble readjusting their standards of modesty.
 * Power At a Price: Kylar tells himself that there must be a cost for his . The price?.
 * The Power of Love: Used at the end of the third book by as part of a Heroic Sacrifice.
 * Psychic Link: Kylar gets an involuntary psychic link with Vi thanks to some magic designed to permanently join husband and wife. It was originally intended for Kylar and Elene, but Vi applied it to him while he was unconscious - generally considered despicable, although there were life-or-death reasons at the time.
 * Psycho for Hire: Hu Gibbet is considered to be quite psychotic in his violence even by the standards of his fellow hired killers.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: He doesn't exactly look young, but it turns out that  until the events of the books, and many of the famous heroes of history and legend were actually him. Bonus Points for being actually 700.
 * Religion of Evil / Path of Inspiration: Khali gains her power from suffering. (It could be any strong emotion, but she simply finds that one easiest to generate on a large scale.) The extent to which this is understood and/or cared about is difficult to judge, given that her worshipers have little freedom to do anything else.
 * Retired Badass: Agon.
 * Rich Bitch: Terah Graesin.
 * Rousing Speech: First,  then Logan's
 * Royal Blood: Respect for royal blood is why the Duke Gyre (who'd have made a good king) didn't claim the throne. The lack of royal blood is also why Lantano Garuwashi feels such a need to prove himself despite already being a brilliant warlord and duelist - according to his culture, commoners can never achieve true greatness.
 * Rule of Three: Lessons at The Chantry are taught in threes, supposedly for ease of recall.
 * Self Made Orphan: One of the first tasks that the Godking gives to his sons is to murder their mother.
 * Sequel Escalation: Lampshaded by Durzo.
 * Sequel Escalation: Lampshaded by Durzo.


 * Show Some Leg: One of Vi's methods.
 * Smug Snake: Terah Graesin. Speaker Istariel has some of this too.
 * Sociopathic Hero: Durzo, Kylar, and Vi are all deconstructions and/or subversions. Word of God says that one of his goals in writing this story was to deconstruct this trope.
 * The Strategist: Brant Agon becomes one for Logan.
 * Succession Crisis: The question of who gets to be king of Cenaria is important to the plot, and infighting between possible claimants hampers the fight against the invaders.
 * Talking Weapon: The black ka'kiri, although more than just a weapon, fits this. (The two important actual swords don't seem very chatty.)
 * Thieves Guild: The Sa'Kagé, who supposedly control all crime in their area. In Cenaria, the main setting, the Sa'Kagé is extremely powerful, often more so that the king - they could be considered the city's real rulers. In other places, the local Sa'Kagé may be little more than a few street thugs.
 * To Be Lawful or Good: Logan has to decide the fate of Kylar after he kills a really bad person, really bad Noble person, and is caught. He decides to . Kylar actually understood this trope in advance, and knew what the consequences would be.
 * Utopia Justifies the Means: The Wolf puts Kylar more at ease with by showing him what Cenaria will become because of it,
 * Wham Line: The Way of Shadows has one massive one for Kylar when he confronts Durzo at the end: " " The trope was actually Invoked by Durzo:.
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Dorian is fairly normal until his vir comes into play. Then you may want to find the bunker.
 * Women in Refrigerators: An awful lot of female characters are raped or killed (often grusomely), and then there's the prostitute fixation mentioned above.
 * In one instance
 * X Marks the Hero: Possibly the bane of existence is her set of
 * You Can't Fight Fate: Possibly. When Kylar learns that is going to die (see under Immortality), he tries to say Screw Destiny, but it doesn't work. This might be fate, but some people might argue Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, too.