- For the novel of the same name, see: The Silver Spike
| “ | It’s the nature of the thing to maximize the evil around it... It isn’t sentient but it responds to and feeds back the dark emotions and ambitions around it... This thing is pulling in every hedge wizard and tea-leaf reader with a smidge of ambition. | ” |
–Bomanz describes the impact of the spike, The Silver Spike chapter 46 | ||
The silver spike was a thick metal nail specially forged and enchanted to serve as the prison for the "undying black essence" of the Dominator during the events of The White Rose. About one year later, the artifact became the epicenter of the turbulent events in Oar in The Silver Spike.
The White Rose[]
The silver spike was presumably created by the Lady and her new Taken in the Tower at Charm.
After the Dominator was defeated at the Battle of the Barrowland, the silver spike was pounded through his still-living, severed head, and his soul was captured within. Although this rendered the Dominator powerless, the spike could be used by others to enhance their power and commit great evil, so it needed to be isolated. To do this, it was then nailed into the trunk of the Sapling, which was the offspring of the godlike Father Tree. The small supernatural tree atop the Great Barrow was powerful enough to scare off even Toadkiller Dog.
The Silver Spike[]
About a year later, the inexperienced Sapling was burned by the spike thieves, led by Old Man Fish, who then stole the spike. They hid it in the city walls of Oar. The spike infected the hand of one of the thieves, Timmy Locan, with a deadly disease which is transmitted through direct contact. The evil artifact also caused violent riots throughout Oar, which was cordoned off by Imperial authorities. Gossamer and Spidersilk – twin sorceresses from the Tower at Charm – commanded regiments of Imperial soldiers within the city, but had a very strained relationship with Brigadier Wildbrand and her elite Nightstalker Brigade. Meanwhile, numerous rival spike hunters vied for possession of the artifact, with Darling, Case, Raven, Silent, the Torque brothers, and countless small creatures from the Plain of Fear constituting the most beneficent of these groups. Old Man Fish devised schemes – ranging from painting graffiti of white roses to outright murder – to play these factions against one another. At the cost of many lives, it was ultimately retrieved by Darling and her associates, and finally disposed of by Father Tree "in the abyss between universes".