The Legacy of Dhakaan

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Raat shi anaa.
"The story continues."

—Traditional opening to hobgoblin legends.

A trilogy of Eberron books written by Don Bassingthwaite as a sequel to his previous trilogy, The Dragon Below. Many of the same characters are seen—Geth, Ashi, and Ekhaas are all main characters, but Singe, Dandra, Natrac and the others are mentioned.

The trilogy focuses on Darguun, the goblin nation, and llesh Haruuc's efforts to secure a symbol of power that he may pass to his successor.

The three books in the series are:

  • The Doom of Kings (2008)
  • The Word of Traitors (2009)
  • The Tyranny of Ghosts (2010)

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The following tropes are common to many or all entries in the The Legacy of Dhakaan franchise.
For tropes specific to individual installments, visit their respective work pages.
  • Exclusively Evil: Subverted (it is an Eberron novel, after all) and played slightly straight. Goblinoids are shown to have a taste for pain and bloodshed that makes other races uncomfortable...even the ones who realize that giving into those desires would be bad for the fledgling nation.
  • Artifact of Doom: The Rod of Kings.
  • Badass Bookworm: Midian.
  • Blood Knight: All three of the Goblin races show traits of being a Blood Knight to some degree. Geth and Ashi too, but much less so than the Goblins.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The Shield of Nobles.
  • Expressive Ears: The three goblin races have these, but especially the Hobgoblins.
  • Grey and Grey Morality: One of the characters is llesh Haruuc, leader of Darguun. He is a warlord who led a rebellion against the House that was employing him and cut a bloody chunk out of Cyre as his new nation... and he's unquestionably one of the kindest and fairest characters in the book.
  • Magic Music: Ekhaas, being a duur'kala[1] has all sorts of neat magic that she can create with music.
  • Ninja: Chetiin
  • Title Drop: One per book.
    • "That's the doom of kings, Geth. We're men and women when we take the throne, but we lose ourselves to our people. We stop being individuals and become nations."
    • "The word of traitors is written on the wind."
    • "We don't just live with ghosts--we live under the tyranny of ghosts." A reference to the way the Dhakaani Empire seeps into Darguul culture.
  • True Companions: Geth, Ashi, and Ekhaas.
  • Worthy Opponent: How the Goblins see the Valenar Elves.

Raat shan gath'kal dor.

"The story stops but never ends."
—Traditional closing of hobgoblin legends.