History Literature / BlackDaggerBrotherhood

* BiTheWay: Qhuinn. Other male characters may {{angst}} about their {{UST}} (''cough cough'' Vishous ''cough''), but Qhuinn is cool with the door swinging both ways.
** Subverted in ''Lover At Last''--turns out he's only cool with it because he's mentally repressed to the point that he's convinced himself that that sleeping with men doesn't mean he's not straight. When the truth is pointed out to him, he enters a HeroicBSOD.
** Potentially invoked by ''Assail'' of all people, when he tries to seduce Throe, who may have been willing to swing that way, during a scene in ''The Beast.'' It may or may not have been a legitimate pass, considering the fact that Assail was trying to engineer a break-in at the time and it succeeded in getting Throe to run away in anger/confusion.

* EvilAlbino: While not technically having albinism, the ''lessers'' gradually lose all pigmentation in their bodies.
** Again, not technically albinism, but the Shadows get tattoos by using poison that will kill the melanin in their skin. The more you have, the scarier you are.

* RapeIsTheNewDeadParents: And four of the major characters get both!

* TellMeAboutMyMother: Beth does this for Darius with Wrath and Fritz. Fritz' is specifically about how invested Darius was in Beth's life, and it leads to a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.

** Havers towards Marissa. [[spoiler: Perceiving Wrath to be abusing Marissa, Havers calls a hit out on the king.]] However, he's younger than Marissa by five years.

** Phury and Zsadist; ironically, Phury is the younger twin.
** All of the Brothers have this with John Matthew.

* ChosenConceptionPartner: Layla asks Qhuinn to service her during her needing with a plan to get pregnant. They had been sexually, but not romantically, involved prior to this.

* CoolShades: Wrath, though out of necessity, not by choice
* CowboyCop: Butch, while he's on the force

** Butch grew up emotionally and physically abused by his father [[spoiler: who wasn't his biological father, and knew it]], and was blamed by his entire family for the rape and murder of his older sister, Janie. It's pretty obvious throughout the books that this has messed him up a bit psychologically.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Xhex for John.

* TraumaticCSection: Layla is forced to undergo one when it looks like she's suffering a miscarriage during ''The Beast.'' [[spoiler: One is alive and the other is a stillbirth- until being revived by Payne and Manny. The daughter is named Lyric after Blay's mother, and the son is named Rhampage by Wrath, according to Brotherhood tradition.]]

* VampireMonarch: Wrath. [[spoiler: Until they become a democracy in ''The King''.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Havers.

** Now it's looking like it's going to be [[spoiler: Layla and Xcor.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: By [[spoiler: Vishous]] of all people in ''The Thief''! The scene is unclear about whether or not they went through with it but their partner discovers them after the nameless partner has left. The scene also doubles as PlotIncitingInfidelity as [[spoiler: Jane and V take a hiatus to come to terms with what happened and decide what it means for their relationship, and Jane ultimately investigates The Sanctuary to discover Throe's theft of The Book and the status of the ex-goddess Scribe Virgin.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: By [[spoiler: Vishous]] of all people in ''The Thief''! The scene is unclear about whether or not they went through with it but their partner discovers them after the nameless partner has left. The scene also doubles as PlotIncitingInfidelity as [[spoiler: Jane and V take a hiatus, and Jane ultimately investigates The Sanctuary to discover Throe's theft of The Book and the status of the ex-goddess Scribe Virgin.]]

* [[HasTwoMommies Has Two Daddies]]: Lyric and Rhampage, Quinn and Layla's twins, end up with ''three'' fathers and one mother by the time eeverything is said and done--Qhuinn, Blay, and Xcor.

* EveryoneIsRelated: Both played straight and averted; the Brotherhood call themselves "brothers," but are not related (most of them) by blood. However, if a new (usually male) character is introduced, there's a high chance they're related to the Brotherhood in the traditional sense. Butch turns out to be a cousin of Wrath's, Manny is discovered to be Butch's half-brother, and Xcor is initially introduced as Vishous' half-brother through the Bloodletter but ends up being Tohr's half-brother. John Matthew is an interesting case; he is thought to be Darius' son due to a close DNA match, and therefore Beth's half-brother, but WordOfGod implies that he ''is'' Darius, reincarnated.

* EveryonesRelated: Both played straight and averted; the Brotherhood call themselves "brothers," but are not related (most of them) by blood. However, if a new (usually male) character is introduced, there's a high chance they're related to the Brotherhood in the traditional sense. Butch turns out to be a cousin of Wrath's, Manny is discovered to be Butch's half-brother, and Xcor is initially introduced as Vishous' half-brother through the Bloodletter but ends up being Tohr's half-brother. John Matthew is an interesting case; he is thought to be Darius' son due to a close DNA match, and therefore Beth's half-brother, but WordOfGod implies that he ''is'' Darius, reincarnated.

* AlliterativeName: Manuel "Manny" Manello. And [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal arguably]], '''''R'''''ehvenge, son of '''''R'''''empoon, also qualifies.

* HappilyMarried: Most of the mated main couples, though Beth and Wrath hit a rocky spot in ''Lover Avenged'' and ''The King''. So do V and Jane in ''Lover Unleashed''.

* LongRunningBookSeries: Fifteen so far in the main series, plus two more books in the spinoff series.

* ParalyzingFearOfSexuality: Zsadist has this as a result of his time being used a sex slave.

** Particularly {{egregious}} offenders are Butch and Vishous (who wear Gucci and Louis Vuitton), and John Matthew and Qhuinn (who are strictly into Affliction t-shirts and Abercrombie and Fitch jeans).

* {{Patronymic}}: How vampires are addressed.

* ''Blood Vow'' (Between ''The Beast'' and ''The Chosen''; Elise and Axe; Rhage, Mary, and [[spoiler: their daughter Bitty]])

While The Black Dagger Brotherhood line of books is continuing, J.R. Ward has been writing a spinoff series about the newly recruited soldiers of the Vampire Race called ''The Black Dagger Legacy'' books. These books revisit old couples in a WhereAreTheyNow fashion while introducing a whole new cast.

* ''Blood Kiss'' (Paradise and Craeg; Butch and Marissa)
* ''Blood Vow'' (Elise and Axe; Rhage, Mary, and [[spoiler: their daughter Bitty]])

While The Black Dagger Brotherhood line of books is continuing, J.R. Ward has been writing a spinoff series about the newly recruited soldiers of the Vampire Race called The Black Dagger Legacy books. While introducing new characters, the books also revisit old couples in a WhereAreTheyNow fashion.

* ''Blood Fury'' (Novo and Peyton)