This is the first of my NEW (very exciting!) family trees for The Black Dagger Brotherhood book series by J.R. Ward. This one includes the bloodlines and known relatives/descendants of:
Wrath, Beth, Darius, John Matthew, Xhex, Tohr, Wellsie, and Autumn
If you click the image below it you will go to the attachment page, which has a HUGE hi-res version that you can enlarge:
2025 Update:
The Black Dagger Brotherhood TV series is finally here, and it’s giving us more information about character lineage! Big thanks to Danielle_SouthernNovelScents on Instagram for decoding some of the lineage tattooed on Wrath’s arm in Season 1, Episode 1. She discerned at least two new maternal names – Solhange, Mated of Wrath and Alexandhra, Mated of Wrath. I may have their order mixed up in the tree, but regardless these are two new names we didn’t have before!
I also highly suggest visiting her page for excellent reaction videos to the episodes. She’s definitely a superfan and I followed her ASAP upon spotting her in my feed!
2022 Update:
I’m working on new versions of these family trees, but the only real notable change this one needs is the inclusion of (SPOILERS AHEAD)…
Xhex’s Brother
In the recent book Claimed (The Lair of the Wolven), we discover that Xhex has a half-brother. He is, like herself, a half-breed sympath/vampire. He shares a sympath father with Xhex and we don’t have any information yet on his mother. Xhex’s brother is named Horace (according to the colony) but he goes by Blade – AKA, the famed vampire killer. So, depending on who you ask:
Xhex’s brother is named Horace
or
Xhex’s brother is named Blade
Either way, it’s very exciting to discover a new branch in her family tree!
This is slightly confused by how some people may be asking which BDB Brother belongs to Xhex (is mated to Xhex), and the answer there is, of course, John Matthew.
General Notes:
- Wrath and Beth’s colors are said to be red and black. I decided to use red for Wrath, since it is their most precious color and represents blood, plus the Saturnine Ruby, etc. I used black for Beth and Darius’s line. At first I thought that both colors could have come from Wrath’s family, but that is unlikely. The King’s line would have one color, and all of the Queens were Chosen – and all Chosen come from a gold color bloodline.
- If we assume that black is Darius’s bloodline color, we then have to figure out if that’s from his biological or adoptive father. Black seems like it would be a pretty important color, and is probably reserved for someone very high up in the Glymera. The Brother Tehrror (biological) was undeniably well-bred, but it seems like the Princeps Marklon was extra high class. So I used black for his bloodline, and continued to use it through Darius’s line.
- Wrath is basically related to everyone, and everyone is a cousin to everyone else. This is particularly true of the Brotherhood, Chosen, and Glymera. Lots of inbreeding among all of them, so if you ever wonder about the relationship of any two random characters, they’re probably cousins somehow.
- I included Silas (from the e-book/novella Ivie Dearest) because he is said to have long black hair and pale green eyes. Wrath and his family are the only others I’ve seen in the books with that hair and eye combo.
- Also Wrath is related to everyone anyway, so it works either way.
More general notes can be found in the main article with links to all family trees: “BDB Black Dagger Brotherhood Family Trees – Updated!”
I’m making individual trees for different groups of characters, because there’s so damn many and they’re so big. Here’s a master list of all the family trees, to be filled in with links as I get them published:
- Wrath, Beth, Darius, John Matthew, Xhex, Tohr, Wellsie, Autumn
- Phury, Zsadist, Bella, Rehvenge, Ehlena, Cormia
- Vishous, Jane, Payne, The Scribe Virgin, Lassiter, The Omega, Devina
- Butch, Marissa, Manny, Jo Early
- Rhage, Mary, Ruhn, Saxton
- Qhuinn, Blaylock, Laila, Xcor
- Murhder, Sarah, Nate
- Assail, Sola
- The Chosen
- The Trainee Class
- The Shadows and Selena
- Official BDB Brothers
- The Glymera
- The e-book characters (Dearest Ivie, Prisoner of Night, and The Story of Son)
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