Sid — Diary of a Dead Wizard

Biography

The Bloodthorn heir's hidden pursuit

Sid oversees Saul's apprentice test and immediately recognizes that the servant may possess the Dead Wizard's Diary, a Bloodthorn heirloom he has sought for years. Because the book changes hands only after its holder dies and direct intervention would expose him, Sid tries to fail Saul during the test, then hires Mark and manipulates tower procedures to arrange an indirect death. Saul's survival turns what appears to be senior cruelty into a concealed contest over an artifact whose ownership Sid believes should return to his family. (Chapters 5–16)

Tower restrictions and Saul's growing protection force Sid to work through replaceable people. He substitutes the dangerous Erosion Diagram, pressures Hayden over the morgue position, recruits Brown with promises of advancement, and uses frightened or ambitious apprentices as probes. His methods exploit desires already present in his victims, allowing him to deny responsibility if they fail. Saul's rapid growth and refusal to panic make the indirect campaign increasingly unreliable, while Sid's obsession prevents him from withdrawing even after Gorsa and Saul's senior allies make the risk clear. (Chapters 23–58)

Triple curse, death, and the last answers

Sid's final plan layers Rocky's attack, a sacrificial curse, and a hidden worm so that Saul should die without Sid appearing to strike him. Saul anticipates the trap and brings Kongsha and Byron into the morgue. Cornered, Sid breaks an elf figurine that destabilizes his own mental body, but the resulting threat does not restore his control of the fight. Saul uses Kongsha's weapon to kill him after the curse worm is exposed, ending the pursuit and proving that Sid's dependence on proxies has left him unprepared for a target who controls the ambush. (Chapters 60–66)

Sid's vengeful remnant later attacks Saul through a vision of the electric chair, only to be trapped by the Diary. The black page answers questions about his childhood, the Bloodthorn inheritance, and his grandfather Ralph's murders: Sid was sent to the tower after Ralph offered him a path toward becoming a great wizard, and fear taught him obedience long before he pursued Saul. Once the answers are spent, the writing fades, the page dissolves, and Sid's remaining consciousness disappears. His schemes continue to affect Saul, but no independent Sid survives beyond that interrogation. (Chapters 78–85)

Appearance and personality

Sid is an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old blond youth with golden hair and the badge of a Second Rank apprentice. He habitually crosses his arms, sneers, and watches Saul with an icy or exaggerated smile. His composed senior persona can twist abruptly into anger when events escape his control. As a remnant, his features emerge from a scattered shadow with tiny pupils and a predatory grin, reflecting a consciousness distorted by death and vengeance rather than his ordinary body. (Chapters 5, 9, 16–17, 25, 38, 78)

He is arrogant, obsessive, secretive, and skilled at identifying weakness in others. Sid prefers leverage and deniability to a fair contest, promising servants advancement and turning apprentices' grief or ambition into weapons. His interrogation reveals fear beneath that cruelty: Ralph's murderous authority trained him to agree even when he wanted to refuse. That history explains his fixation and caution without excusing the lives he spends in pursuit of the Diary. (Chapters 16, 38–42, 60–66, 79–80)

Abilities

Curses and sacrificial arrangements: Sid can prepare layered curses that transfer harm through several victims and conceal a final curse worm inside the target. His attack on Saul uses manipulated apprentices and death as components, making the spell difficult to trace. The setup is powerful but brittle: once Saul anticipates the layers and Byron identifies the hidden mechanism, Sid loses the advantage created by secrecy. (Chapters 60–66, 242)
Illusion and proxy manipulation: He projects or disguises his presence, recreates traumatic imagery for Brown, and uses promises, fear, and incomplete information to make others act for him. These methods keep him outside ordinary tower penalties, but they depend on predictable victims. Saul's planning and Kongsha's readiness to intervene turn the same indirect structure into a trap for Sid. (Chapters 38–42, 50–66)
Elf figurine and water training: Sid carries an elf figurine dangerous enough to alarm Byron and Kongsha. Breaking it releases a disruptive effect but throws Sid's own mental body into instability, preventing effective spellcasting at the decisive moment. His black-page memories also establish that he entered the tower as a water-specialized apprentice, though the narrative emphasizes curses and schemes more than ordinary water magic. (Chapters 64–65, 79, 182)

Relationships

Saul: Sid treats Saul as an accidental thief whose death can restore the Bloodthorn inheritance. His escalating attempts force Saul to learn contingency planning, cultivate allies, and turn apparent vulnerability into a counter-ambush. After killing Sid, Saul extracts the history needed to understand the Diary's connection to Ralph and the Bloodthorn family. (Chapters 5–16, 23–66, 78–80)
Rum: Rum is Sid's mentor and values him as a trusted aide, but he declines revenge after examining Saul's unusual soul talent. Sid's death consequently becomes a test of whether Rum values apprenticeship loyalty more than useful research; Rum chooses the latter and offers Saul a place in his own laboratory. (Chapters 69–75)
Byron and Kongsha: Saul recruits both senior apprentices because Sid is stronger and has prepared multiple hidden attacks. Byron interrupts the killing blow, analyzes the curse, and strips dangerous items from the corpse; Kongsha enters through the prepared teleportation route and provides the weapon Saul uses. Their intervention destroys Sid's assumption that Saul can be isolated. (Chapters 60–66)