Spelter

A former bursar of Unseen University, appeared in Sourcery. He was a Fifth level wizard, and a member of the order the Venerable Council of Seers.

In appearance, long, thin, venal, amoral and somewhat pompous, he was sucked into the excitement during the time of the Sourcerer, and in marked contrast to most wizards at this time, unsuccessfully attempted to do something about it. He tried to talk to the Librarian, but the ape would not open the doors. Unfortunately, the soul of Ipslore the Red that animated the staff had other ideas, the staff hunted Spelter through the empty corridors of the university and reduced Spelter to ash and memory. But the main thing is: he tried...which is more than most of the wizards did.

Spelter's demise also paved the way for the accession of a new Bursar, who may well have been the Dr Dinwiddie we have come to love as the butt of Ridcully's attentions, and as a man who single-handedly keeps the Disc's pharmaceutical industry in business (or at least that part of it which is on constant overtime producing dried frog pills).

Annotation

Spelter, and his fellow wizard Carding, may be based on two characters from Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake. Spelter (tall and thin) and Carding (short and fat) have a distinct similarity to Swelter (short and fat) and Flay (tall and thin). Although the names are swapped, the similarity between Swelter and Spelter is obvious, less obvious is that Carding is an other word meaning to flay (Wikipedia) .