Silent

From Glen Cook Wiki

Silent is one of the Company's original four wizards, besides One-Eye, Tom-Tom and Goblin. He is described as a tall, dark, brooding man. He apparently has taken a vow of silence, which he breaks only once in the books. He is the most consistent of the original Company wizards; Goblin describes Silent's magic as "different". Unlike Goblin and One-Eye, who use a lot of illusions, Silent's spells seem to be more dangerous, such as toxic mists. In Juniper, the Taken Whisper and Feather teach Silent a major offensive spell to hurl against the walls of the Black Castle, leaving Goblin and One-Eye to perform their usual fieldwork magic. Croaker describes Silent as the only wizard in the Company who could be called "evil".

Silent communicates mostly with improvised signs until the Company acquires Darling, a deaf-mute child found in a village destroyed by the Limper's troops. Her sign language proves to be so useful that the entire Company adopts it in place of its traditional, but less useful hand-signal system. Some people in the Company become reasonably fluent in sign language, enabling them to communicate not only with Darling but with Silent.

The only time Silent breaks his vow of silence is at The Barrowland following the defeat of the Dominator. The Lady names Darling's true name, breaking her powers of spell absorption; Silent names the Lady. After that, he leaves the Company with Darling and sacrifices his life to bring down The Limper one last time in Oar.