Goldeneyes Silverhand Dactylos
| Goldeneyes Silverhand Dactylos | |
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| Name | |
| Race | |
| Age | |
| Occupation | Designer / Engineer / Craftsman |
| Physical appearance | Thickset with Solid Golden eyes and a Silver mechanical hand |
| Residence | |
| Death | Killed by the Arch-Astronomer of Krull after completing the Potent Voyager |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | |
| Children | |
| Marital Status | |
| Appearances | |
| Books | The Colour of Magic |
| Cameos | |
Possibly the disc's greatest craftsman. He made the Metal Warriors that guard the Tomb of Pitchiu, designed the Light Dams of the Great Nef, built the Palace of the Seven Deserts and the Potent Voyager at Krull. He wore nothing but a toolbelt, a wrist abacus and, due to his past mutilations, had solid gold eyes and a silver mechanical hand. This was because after he finished the Metal Warriors he was showered with gold and then had his eyes removed. For building the Palace of the Seven Deserts he was showered with silver before having his right hand cut off. After he completed the Light Dam he was loaded with silk and then hamstrung so he couldn't escape (which didn't work, he flew away in a silk and bamboo flying machine). He landed in Krull, where, after the completion of the Potent Voyager, he was killed by the Arch-Astronomer.
Annotations
There is a similar legend to the silverhand in the marvellous Dragonlance Chronicles of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The Silver Arm of Ergoth, created in history to forge the Dragonlances was passed on to Theros Ironfeld during the War of the Lance. He used the arm to construct the Dragonlances needed to combat the forces of evil which had risen again.
J K Rowling has also used the device: Voldemort gave Wormtail a silver hand at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
The mythological referent appears to be Llew Llaw Ereint (Llew of the Silver Hand) in the Welsh mythological cycle, the Mabinogion.
And of course Michael Moorcock's creation, the aspect of the Eternal Champion who is known as Corum of the Silver Hand: a cultured member of a dying race who, in a battle with human barbarians, loses a hand and an eye which are replaced respectively with a silver hand and a jewelled golden eye (formerly the property of a careless God...)
The idea of destroying the faculty in the maker that has created something wonderful is an ancient one on Roundworld. For example, the Greek inventor Daedalus was kept imprisoned by his patron, the king of Crete, so that nobody else could benefit from his genius; Daedalus escaped by building himself a set of wings and flying away. This is only one example. Another is the legend is that Růže's eyes were put out after he finished the incredible Astrological Clock in Prague so that he could never build a clock that would rival it.