Otto of the Silver Hand

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes descriptions of child abuse and graphic violence.

Otto is the protagonist and hero of Otto of the Silver Hand. He is a character who is defined by his ability to look beyond his legacy and move to change the values of his society through compassion and love. Otto is born into a brutal family of robber barons, and his mother dies on the night of his birth. He is taken by his father, Baron Conrad, to a monastery to live, because the Baron hopes to honor the Baroness’s wish for her son to have a peaceful life. Otto’s values are shaped by his time at the monastery, where he learns Latin and gains the perspective to understand concepts beyond himself. Otto has a “strange, quiet, serious manner” (40) that reflects an innate wisdom born of his simplistic way of thinking. Otto simply does not see any logic or sense in acting with violence, and his own actions are never violent. By Choosing Love over Violence, Otto proves that honoring his family legacy does not necessarily require him to behave as they have; rather, Otto upholds a new obligation to enact improvement and change.