Bloody Black Summary, Characters and Themes
Bloody Black by Rhiannon Hargadon is a dark fantasy novel that transforms the familiar tale of royal duty and rebellion into a brutal odyssey of vengeance, identity, and rebirth. The story follows Princess Anne of Celestia, a fierce warrior who defies her kingdom’s traditions by fighting to win her freedom.
Her defiance, however, leads to betrayal at the hands of the man she loves—William, a charming defector who becomes her husband and eventual destroyer. Left for dead and reborn through demonic power, Anne rises again as the pirate Blackbeard, hunting down her betrayers and reclaiming her shattered destiny with ruthless determination.
Summary
Princess Anne of Celestia trains relentlessly for the “hundred battles,” a legendary tournament that will grant her the right to choose her own husband if she defeats one hundred men in combat. Her father, suspicious of the ease of her victories, decides to intervene by choosing her next opponent himself.
When his chosen champion, Montague, falls ill, her guard Soren presents a group of new recruits for selection. Among them is William, a strikingly beautiful soldier from Rivelle—Celestia’s sworn enemy.
Mistaking his quiet demeanor for inexperience, Anne chooses him, despite Ben, her loyal protector, warning her otherwise.
In the arena, William’s strength and precision reveal his true skill. He defeats Anne twice, allowing her only a final symbolic win when she uses a trick from her own training.
Realizing he would face retribution for outshining her, Anne protects him through an impulsive act: she marks him with her blood, claiming him as her Shield-Bearer under royal law. The gesture grants him safety—and binds their fates together.
As days pass, Anne finds herself drawn to William. They ride together in uneasy companionship, their mutual attraction growing despite the political danger.
A flirtatious encounter during dinner cements their connection, and Anne ignores court gossip to follow her heart. Two months later, she defies the council and marries William, turning him from enemy soldier into Prince Consort.
Her victory, however, is short-lived.
At their wedding celebration, Anne receives a mysterious note warning of danger. When she investigates, a masked man attacks her, and she barely escapes alive.
William comes to her aid, promising to protect her. That night, their marriage is consummated under ceremonial observation.
Yet the encounter is mechanical and cold—William’s passion harsh and indifferent, leaving Anne uneasy. Later, when she hears noises in their chambers, she discovers William killing a maid.
Shocked, she tries to run, but he attacks her. Masked men rush in to help him subdue her, and she loses consciousness.
Anne awakens bound and surrounded by traitors. William reveals his deception—his marriage to her was part of a plan to seize the throne in revenge for the atrocities her father’s army committed against his family.
He never loved her; he only needed her status to destroy her bloodline. His co-conspirators include her trusted guards, Soren, Venka, Roger, and Baldric, all agents of Rivelle.
They drag her through a palace filled with corpses, including her murdered father, before assaulting her on the docks and sealing her in a trunk, intending her death to remain a secret.
Inside the trunk, Anne’s despair draws the attention of a trapped demon named Rokhur. The demon offers her life and vengeance in exchange for her soul.
With her final breath, Anne accepts. The pact unleashes supernatural power—lightning strikes, and Anne is resurrected in the wreckage of a slave ship, surrounded by the mutilated bodies of its crew.
Rokhur explains they were slavers and that Anne’s vengeance will serve a greater purpose. Below deck, Anne finds captives—women and magical creatures, all victims of cruelty.
She frees them, and together they form a new brotherhood under her command. Anne assumes the alias “Blackbeard,” captain of The Flying Rose, and vows to destroy William and his kingdom.
Years pass, and Anne becomes a feared pirate queen. Hardened by pain, she hunts William’s ships and allies.
Beneath the tavern known as Sinner’s Rest, she kills Roger, crossing another name off her list. Her spy Sable brings news that William has tightened his naval defenses and that Venka still serves as his adviser.
Among her prisoners is Lieutenant Robb Maynard, a naval officer from Rivelle. His knowledge makes him valuable, but his calm defiance stirs something familiar in Anne.
When Robb proposes a risky plan to avoid capture by a royal warship, Anne reluctantly agrees. The pirates disguise themselves as naval sailors, and Robb convincingly plays the role of their commanding officer.
The ruse works, but Anne notices enslaved women aboard the other vessel, deepening her hatred for William’s empire. Afterward, anger and attraction collide between her and Robb.
Their confrontation becomes charged with desire, though Anne’s trauma prevents her from surrendering to it.
A storm soon tests them all. When Robb nearly dies falling from the mast, Anne instinctively summons the demonic power sealed within her, saving him with a surge of red magic.
The incident exposes her lingering bond with Rokhur and frightens her crew. Below deck, Anne and Robb’s confrontation turns intimate once again, but her memories of betrayal overwhelm her before it can continue.
Their fragile connection remains unresolved as a siren attack forces them to fight side by side against monstrous sea creatures. Amid chaos and fog, Anne regains control, leading her crew through yet another deadly night.
Three years later, Anne returns to Celestia under the guise of a noblewoman on the day of William’s wedding—to her half-sister, Genevieve. Dressed in her old royal garments and wearing her ruby crown, she walks through the castle’s halls where her blood once spilled.
Her pirate crew infiltrates the wedding disguised among the guests. As William and Genevieve stand at the altar, a black box appears before them.
Inside are Anne’s severed fingers and the bloodstained gown she wore on the night of her assault. Horror spreads through the hall as Anne reveals herself, and a pirate banner unfurls above the throne.
Panic erupts while Anne and her allies fight their way toward William’s chambers.
Within the same room where he once betrayed her, Anne confronts her husband. Their standoff turns shocking when Robb appears beside William.
William mocks them both, revealing that Robb was once part of his vengeance plan—a spy who advised him on how to manipulate Anne and conquer her kingdom. The revelation shatters her trust, but she sees conflict in Robb’s eyes.
When William mocks him for sleeping with her, Robb turns against him and secretly slips Anne a dagger. She strikes, beginning a vicious battle.
Anne’s crew storms in, and chaos explodes through the corridors. Robb fights at her side, proving his loyalty as William furiously accuses them both of betrayal.
In the final clash, William mortally wounds Robb, but Anne overpowers her husband at last. She reveals her undead form—skin ashen, eyes glowing with demonic fire—and forces him to face what he created.
Just as she moves to kill him, Genevieve intervenes and shoots William dead, ending his reign.
With William gone, Genevieve restores order to the ravaged court and crowns Anne the rightful queen. Yet Anne’s victory feels hollow.
Rokhur appears, demanding the body she was promised. The demon reveals her imprisonment was her father’s doing and that Anne’s vengeance has always been part of a larger curse.
When Rokhur tries to claim Anne, the djinn Xandretta sacrifices herself, trapping both demon and spirit within the collapsing throne. Anne survives, freed at last from demonic control.
Rejecting the crown, Anne gives the throne to Genevieve. She returns to the sea with her loyal crew, where Robb—now healed—joins her once more.
Together they build a new ship named Xandretta, honoring their lost companion. On its deck, they marry under the open sky, leaving behind the ruins of kingdoms and vengeance.
As they sail into the horizon, Anne smiles when asked if her story will be told. Her answer is simple and final: “Dead men tell no tales.”
Characters
Princess Anne
Princess Anne is the emotional and moral core of Bloody Black, embodying transformation from a sheltered royal to a fierce, vengeful force of nature. Initially introduced as a determined but naïve princess, Anne’s ambition to win the “hundred battles” symbolizes her desire for autonomy in a patriarchal society that treats her as a bargaining chip.
Her relationship with her guards—especially Ben and Soren—hints at her longing for trust and companionship within confinement. However, Anne’s character deepens after her brutal betrayal and assault, marking a death of innocence and birth of vengeance.
Her pact with the demon Rokhur represents not just her thirst for revenge but also her submission to darkness as the only path left open to her. As Captain Blackbeard, she grows cold, calculating, and unrelentingly strong, yet her humanity flickers through moments of compassion for her crew and her complicated love for Robb.
By the end, Anne’s decision to reject the throne and embrace the sea signifies her final liberation—choosing freedom and life over power and vengeance. Her arc is both tragic and triumphant, revealing a woman who reclaims agency in a world built to destroy her.
Prince William
Prince William begins as a mysterious and alluring figure, seemingly gentle and noble, yet concealing a venomous heart. His initial charm masks deep-seated hatred, born of trauma and revenge for his family’s slaughter at the hands of Anne’s kingdom.
His deception of Anne is as psychological as it is political—he weaponizes love and intimacy to destroy her, making his betrayal all the more horrific. William is not a one-dimensional villain; his pain and motives are rooted in loss, but his choices are monstrous.
He embodies corrupted masculinity—obsessed with dominance, control, and vengeance even when the war is long over. As king, he grows crueler and more paranoid, driven by the ghosts of his own past.
His final confrontation with Anne reveals both his fear and his arrogance; he cannot comprehend the strength of the woman he once thought he had broken. In death, William’s tragedy lies in his inability to evolve—where Anne finds redemption through her scars, he remains a prisoner of his hate.
Ben
Ben is the silent backbone of Anne’s early life, representing loyalty and conscience in a world of deceit. As her guard and confidant, he grounds her impulsive spirit with quiet wisdom.
His protectiveness borders on paternal, though it is tinged with frustration as Anne defies the boundaries of safety and propriety. Ben’s skepticism of William’s arrival foreshadows his keen perception and moral clarity.
Though sidelined in later parts of the story, his reappearance at the end underscores the enduring power of loyalty. Ben’s unwavering faith in Anne contrasts sharply with the betrayal of others, reminding readers that devotion can exist without possession or manipulation.
Soren
Soren begins as one of Anne’s trusted trainers and guards, an emblem of camaraderie and discipline. His betrayal is one of the story’s most devastating twists, precisely because of his earlier intimacy with Anne and his seeming loyalty.
When revealed as a traitor aligned with Rivelle, Soren personifies treachery cloaked in familiarity. His cold detachment during Anne’s assault and abduction is chilling, illustrating how ideology can erode humanity.
Soren’s duplicity deepens the theme of corrupted loyalty—he doesn’t simply betray Anne as a person, but betrays the very bond of trust that defined her youth. His character serves as a mirror to William’s manipulation, showing how vengeance poisons even those who once served honorably.
Rokhur
Rokhur, the demon imprisoned within the chest, is both liberator and corrupter. She represents the seductive allure of power and the moral ambiguity of vengeance.
When she offers Anne a second life, her deal echoes ancient mythic bargains—power in exchange for humanity. Rokhur’s motives, revealed later as revenge against Anne’s father, reframe her as more than a simple villain; she is a reflection of Anne’s own rage, externalized into supernatural form.
The bond between them is parasitic yet symbiotic—Rokhur needs Anne’s body, but Anne needs Rokhur’s strength. Their final confrontation closes the circle, as Anne must destroy the very darkness that sustained her.
Rokhur’s death through Xandretta’s sacrifice is both an act of exorcism and liberation, symbolizing Anne’s reclamation of her soul.
Robb Maynard
Robb Maynard is the most complex of Anne’s later relationships—a man torn between loyalty, guilt, and love. Introduced as a captive naval officer, he seems pragmatic and defiant, but as the story unfolds, his connection to William and Rivelle exposes layers of deception.
Unlike William, Robb’s revenge does not wholly consume him; he is capable of empathy and remorse, making his arc one of redemption. His relationship with Anne is passionate yet fraught with trauma and mistrust, embodying the tension between desire and fear born from betrayal.
Robb’s eventual decision to side with Anne against William, even at the cost of his life, transforms him from conspirator to savior. His survival and marriage to Anne in the end represent healing—the rare peace found after years of violence and lies.
Genevieve
Genevieve, Anne’s half-sister, initially appears innocent—a pawn in William’s political schemes. Her timid demeanor hides quiet strength, and through her, the novel contrasts two women’s experiences of subjugation.
Where Anne rebels, Genevieve endures, surviving through compliance until she reaches her breaking point. Her act of killing William is cathartic, not just for Anne but for all women silenced by his tyranny.
By accepting the throne and restoring order, Genevieve becomes a symbol of restoration and hope. She balances Anne’s chaos with grace, ensuring the kingdom’s survival while her sister chooses freedom.
Xandretta
Xandretta, the djinn among the freed captives, is a formidable presence throughout the second half of Bloody Black. Her power is vast, yet she carries an air of melancholy—a creature bound by magic and fate.
Her loyalty to Anne is rooted in respect rather than obligation, marking her as one of the few allies who sees Anne as an equal. Xandretta’s ultimate sacrifice, trapping herself with Rokhur to save Anne and the others, cements her as one of the novel’s most tragic heroes.
She embodies the theme of selflessness and redemption, proving that even those shaped by magic and violence can choose compassion.
Prudence
Prudence is one of Anne’s most volatile and passionate crewmates aboard The Flying Rose. A witch with fiery temper and fierce independence, she challenges Anne’s leadership, exposing the fragility beneath Anne’s hardened exterior.
Prudence’s magic, sharp tongue, and occasional recklessness inject chaos into the pirate crew, yet her loyalty never truly wavers. Her protective instincts toward Anne, despite constant arguments, reveal a sisterly bond forged in shared trauma.
Through Prudence, the narrative explores the complicated dynamics of female solidarity—how love and conflict can coexist in survival.
Domino
Domino, the Fae prisoner Anne rescues, brings mystique and empathy to the crew. They represent both otherworldly grace and deep emotional understanding.
Domino’s bond with Anne is quiet but vital—they provide emotional balance and wisdom when Anne’s rage threatens to consume her. Their presence reminds Anne, and the reader, that vengeance without empathy leads only to emptiness.
Domino’s inclusion also expands the world beyond human cruelty, blending myth and realism to enrich the story’s moral landscape.
Themes
Power and Corruption
In Bloody Black, power emerges not as a gift of birthright but as a corrosive force that distorts morality and dismantles human connection. From the very beginning, Anne’s struggle is tied to autonomy within a patriarchal structure that equates her worth with marriage alliances.
The “hundred battles” tournament serves as both a literal and symbolic contest for control—over her own destiny, her body, and her future. Her father’s manipulation and the nobles’ scrutiny reveal a kingdom where hierarchy and gender combine to enforce submission under the guise of honor.
Yet when Anne finally gains power—first through her blood claim over William, later through her pirate reign—she learns that authority exacts its own toll. The transformation from a controlled princess to a feared pirate queen blurs the line between empowerment and tyranny.
Her vengeance-fueled leadership mirrors the same cruelty she once suffered under, as she commands violence and controls others’ fates with the same coldness once used against her. William, too, is consumed by ambition.
His initial façade of gentility hides a ruthless hunger for domination, and his betrayal illustrates how power, unmoored from empathy, inevitably devours itself. The narrative’s climax—where Anne reclaims her crown only to renounce it—completes the thematic arc.
True freedom, the novel suggests, lies not in ruling but in liberation from the very structures that corrupt. By rejecting both the throne and vengeance as ends in themselves, Anne transcends the poisoned legacy of power that destroyed everyone before her.
Revenge and Justice
Revenge in Bloody Black is both a lifeline and a curse for Anne, sustaining her through trauma yet threatening to erase the person she once was. After her brutal betrayal and assault, vengeance becomes her identity’s core; it is the only framework that gives her suffering purpose.
Her resurrection through Rokhur’s demonic pact literalizes this transformation—she must die to become vengeance incarnate. Every act thereafter, from hunting her betrayers to capturing William’s ships, is fueled by a need to reclaim agency stolen from her.
Yet as the years pass, the quest for revenge corrodes her humanity. Her interactions with Robb, Prudence, and her crew reveal the deep moral conflict within her—she despises cruelty but often replicates it.
The novel portrays revenge not as a clean act of justice but as an unending cycle of retribution that traps both victim and perpetrator. William’s motives mirror Anne’s own; his cruelty is born from the same pain of loss inflicted by her father’s army.
In confronting him, Anne confronts herself—the realization that vengeance perpetuates the violence it seeks to end. The conclusion, where she kills not out of hatred but necessity, and later chooses to abandon the throne, marks a profound shift.
Justice, for Anne, ceases to be about blood and becomes about restoration—freeing herself and others from endless retaliation. The book reframes revenge as a seductive illusion of control that must ultimately be relinquished for healing to begin.
Identity and Transformation
Anne’s journey in Bloody Black is fundamentally about transformation—of name, body, and soul. Her evolution from princess to pirate, from victim to legend, traces a continual negotiation of identity in response to violation and loss.
Initially defined by her royal lineage and the expectations surrounding it, she is stripped of every label—wife, daughter, heir—when William and his conspirators destroy her world. Her rebirth through Rokhur’s dark magic is more than physical resurrection; it symbolizes a reclamation of identity on her own terms.
As Blackbeard, she crafts a persona built on fear and myth, shielding herself from vulnerability. Yet this disguise, while empowering, isolates her.
The boundaries between Anne the woman and Blackbeard the avenger blur, leaving her trapped between self-preservation and self-erasure. Her relationships, especially with Robb, test this fragile balance, forcing her to reconcile the person she once was with what she has become.
Even the demon’s eventual demand for her body serves as a metaphor for how trauma consumes one’s sense of self. The novel’s resolution, where she sheds both her undead form and her title, signifies renewal.
By choosing freedom and love over identity dictated by revenge or royalty, Anne redefines herself through choice rather than circumstance. Her transformation is not just survival—it is rebirth into authenticity after the annihilation of imposed roles.
Gender and Power Dynamics
The narrative of Bloody Black lays bare the systemic subjugation of women within patriarchal structures and the violent mechanisms used to enforce it. Anne’s early life is shaped by the commodification of her body and her destiny, with marriage as the transactional endpoint of her existence.
Her participation in the “hundred battles” is an act of rebellion masked as compliance—she must literally fight men to earn the right to decide her own life. Yet even this defiance occurs within male-designed boundaries, emphasizing how deeply entrenched gender hierarchies remain.
Her later violation and resurrection confront this dynamic in its most extreme form: men weaponize her body as a site of power and humiliation, and she reclaims it through supernatural means that invert those same systems. The creation of her all-female pirate crew becomes a radical act of solidarity and defiance, transforming survivors into agents of their own fate.
Still, the novel resists simplifying empowerment into triumphalism. Anne’s authority over her crew replicates some of the dominance she once suffered, suggesting that liberation without empathy risks perpetuating the same oppression.
Through these contrasts, the book examines how gender and power intersect—how control over women’s bodies is central to both monarchy and rebellion, and how true equality requires dismantling, not merely reversing, the hierarchy itself.
Love, Betrayal, and Redemption
Love in Bloody Black is both salvation and danger, a force that rebuilds and destroys in equal measure. Anne’s early affection for William begins as an act of courage against societal constraint but ends as her greatest undoing.
His deception and violence shatter her trust not only in others but in her own judgment. Her later relationship with Robb reopens those wounds, forcing her to confront the lingering scars of betrayal.
Their connection is fraught with ambiguity—part passion, part suspicion—mirroring Anne’s struggle to believe in intimacy after trauma. Through their evolving bond, love is reframed not as naive devotion but as an act of reclamation, a way to assert vulnerability in defiance of fear.
Robb’s betrayal and eventual redemption parallel Anne’s own journey from vengeance to forgiveness, demonstrating that healing requires confronting pain rather than erasing it. The final scenes, where they marry at sea surrounded by friends, serve as quiet counterpoint to the violence that defined their pasts.
Love here becomes an assertion of hope amid ruin, proof that tenderness can exist without submission. By allowing Anne to love again—not as a princess needing rescue but as a survivor choosing her own path—the novel closes the cycle of betrayal with redemption rooted in mutual recognition and freedom rather than possession.