The Ten Who Were Taken were ten mighty sorcerers who were taken by the Dominator during the course of his empire. They were his most powerful servants and generals, each of them strong enough to defeat hundreds of soldiers on their own.
When the Dominator was interred in the Barrowland by the White Rose the Taken were interred along with him and The Lady, for though the White Rose had destroyed the Domination, The Lady lacked the power to actually destroy any of the great evils that she conquered.
When Resurrectionists attempted to free the Dominator and inadvertently freed The Lady, who brought the Taken out with her, while keeping the Dominator imprisoned. The Taken then served as The Lady's generals, helping her to establish a new empire over a huge span of the north.
During the final Battle of Charm, all of the original Taken were thought slain except for the Limper, although Soulcatcher, Shapeshifter, the Howler, and Stormbringer all managed to escape amidst the confusion and begin to cause trouble anew south of The Lady's Empire.
The Taken were nearly impossible to kill, requiring total destruction of their bodies to accomplish the task. Beheading them or otherwise maiming them would not stop them for long, likely due to spells that they placed upon themselves.
Their names were:
- Soulcatcher
- Shapeshifter
- The Howler
- The Faceless (or Nameless) Man
- Bonegnasher
- Stormbringer
- The Hanged Man
- The Limper
- Moonbiter
- Nightcrawler
Although the the Black Company works extensively with the Lady and her armies, several of the Taken are never seen by Croaker, the Company Annalist , and thus nothing about them is recorded in his books.