| “ | Once I thought he was an atheist who hated the whole idea of gods and religion, but after further exposure I decided it was only the retailers of religion he detested. | ” |
Blade was a lean, dark-skinned, priest-hating man originating somewhere north of Taglios. He and his two close friends Willow Swan and Cordy Mather never officially joined the Black Company, but they would play major roles for years as a key allies. He constantly works to turn the Taglian people against their priests, and possibly played a role in the assassination of Ghojarindi Ghoj, the Shadar religious head who proceeded Jahamaraj Jah.
Before the Annals
Blade's history is fragmented and it is never revealed during the series. What is known, is he was thrown to the crocodiles by priests whom he had insulted. He was saved however by Cordy Mather and Willow Swan during their southward trek toward Taglios. They later became life-long friends.
Shadow Games
In Taglios, he aids Swan and Cordy in repelling the initial invasion of Shadowlanders during the opening conflicts of the Shadowmaster wars, before the arrival of the Black Company.
Dreams of Steel and Bleak Seasons
Blade becomes a military leader under Lady, and is instrumental to the success of several battles against the Shadowmasters' forces. He develops intense, borderline irrational devotion and loyalty to Lady. Blade accompanied her and her new Strangler allies (Narayan Singh, Sindhu, and Ram) during their covert assassination of Shadowspinner. While she struggled with her rumel in strangling Spinner, Blade appeared and stabbed the supernaturally-resilient Shadowmaster through the heart. This helped change the course of the Siege of Dejagore.
She Is the Darkness
When Croaker, Lady's husband, returns from his odyssey with Soulcatcher, he makes his hatred of Blade known due to his jealousy over Blade's feelings for his wife. Blade defects to Longshadow's army after an outburst from Croaker, and becomes a key general for the final surviving Shadowmaster. The religious leaders of Taglios in particular send several armies against him, with Croaker's encouragement, because of his hatred and persecution of them. Blade cleverly, and successfully, destroys each of their armies.
Blade rises up to become general over nearly a third of Longshadow's forces by the time of the Battle of Charandaprash. To everyone's surprise, Blade maneuvers his Shadowlander army into an indefensible position, and then orders them to surrender to their enemy, Croaker the Liberator. Blade and Croaker then reunite, revealing that Blade's defection was a deception from the beginning. Having tricked Longshadow and Mogaba into giving him a critical role in their army, he betrayed them in turn, dealing them a crippling blow.
Blade accompanies the Black Company across the Plain of Glittering Stone. He becomes one of the Captured, frozen in Cave of the Ancients beneath the Fortress With No Name, when the Company is ambushed by Soulcatcher.
Soldiers Live
He is restored to consciousness by Sleepy and the Black Company, and brought to Hsien, during the 4-year gap between Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live. During the Company's time in Hsien, he is in charge of the men gathering treasure in the fortress at the center of the Plain. Blade is the first to realize that Goblin is still alive.
Blade leads the cavalry forces that retake Dejagore from the Protectorate, and is then in charge of the garrison left there. He is later called to battle Mogaba's middle army, the veteran Second Territorial, during the bloody Battle for the Grove of Doom. He is killed there along with many ranking members of the Black Company. After his body was recovered, he was buried alongside his longtime friend Willow Swan.