The Blade Itself

Content Warning: This section of the guide features references to enslavement.

Although war looms constantly and many of the story’s central characters are hardened warriors, Abercrombie is careful not to romanticize the nature of war itself. Instead, he depicts war as a callous game of the powerful elite who will never see battle but who are more than willing to sacrifice others on the altar of their aspirations. Union troops are sent to the North to fight Bethod’s incursion without so much as a dialogue. For Bethod’s part, he demands what he knows the Union will never give up (Angland), giving him the opportunity to play the aggrieved petitioner, the one who can claim to have sought parley first before going to war. The Gurkish Emperor seems to only want to expand his reach, to conquer lands for the sake of territory and to enslave people. Meanwhile, his troops die in the desert at the hands of Ferro or the Union. Experienced veterans like West and Logen understand that battle is not something to be glorified but is instead something to be either avoided or decisively won. Most of the Union—its political leaders and its inexperienced soldiers—dream of conquest and glory, of defeating the barbarian