The Lady
From Glen Cook Wiki
The Lady (aka Dorotea Senjak) is, at the outset of the series, the most powerful sorceress in the world. She appears as a stunningly beautiful woman, about 5'5" and 110 "perfectly distributed" pounds, with very pale skin, dark black hair, and blue eyes. Her appearance is maintained by sorcery, but her beauty is natural. She is one of the central figures of the Black Company saga, possessing a unique combination of drive, ruthlessness, intelligence, and humanity. She has a long and remarkably plausible romance with Croaker, and eventually marries him.
History
Dorotea was born over five hundred years ago, before the era of the Domination began. She was one of four sisters (the others were Credence, Ardath, and Sylith), all of whom were legendary beauties. Her father was Baron Senjak; her mother was the origin of the Sleeping Beauty legend, except that she never woke up. Baron Senjak sired all his daughters on her anyway. The Senjak family was from a far western kingdom, not the TelleKurre culture which prevailed during the Domination.
Credence and Ardath perished during the Domination, at least one by Lady's hand. Syleth became the Taken Soulcatcher. Dorotea established herself as The Lady, after assuming the identity of her sister Ardath. Soulcatcher is aware that Lady killed one of her sisters, but it is not clear that even Soulcatcher is aware of Lady's true identity.
Lady wed the Dominator in a marriage of political convenience; although the union was never consummated, he chose to make her a partner rather than one of the enslaved Taken. Perhaps this was because her power was second only to his; perhaps it was because her genius for empire-building was remarkable. She was interred in the Barrowland when the Dominator was defeated by the White Rose.
Resurrection
After three hundred years Lady convinced the wizard Bomanz to contact her, then released herself and the Taken (but not the Dominator). She quickly rebuilt her empire and ruled for a century before the Dominator began breaking out of the Barrowland, forcing her to ally with the White Rose to defeat him. After the battle, she was rendered powerless when Silent spoke her true name in the midst of the White Roses' ebbing magical absorption field.
She follows the Black Company south, mainly because of Croaker. After two years, she slowly regains a measure of her powers. She is actually tapping power from the goddess Kina. This power waxes and wanes as Kina's influence and contact with the world fluctuates. She steps in as Captain of the Black Company after Croaker's defeat at Dejagore. Later, after Croaker returns, they sire a child - who is unfortunately marked by Kina as her messiah; Narayan Singh the Deceiver steals the baby (the Daughter of Night, aka Booboo), and Lady and Croaker don't see her for 25 years.
Lady loses her powers again when Kina is finally destroyed. However, when Croaker assumes the role of Shivetya, he grants her full powers back.
