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"Are you ready to learn, lad?"
Spoilers from the books and/or film to follow!

Thomas Jason Ward is an apprentice to a spook then later a spook himself and the main protagonist of the series.


General information[]

Tom was a seventh son of a seventh son and because of this he had special abilities and was able to sense the dark. As a seventh son of a seventh son, Tom was apprenticed to the local spook, John Gregory as his thirtieth and final apprentice. Throughout his apprenticeship, he was often referred to as 'Master Ward' or 'lad' by his master John Gregory. As well as being a seventh son of a seventh son, Tom was the son of the first Lamia witch and as a result inherited various special abilities. Tom had turned out to be John Gregory's greatest apprentice, although it was later evident that there was a 'silver of darkness' inside him, making him susceptible to the dark.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Tom was born in August and raised at Ward farm, a small farm located near Topley. Tom had six brothers, as did his father, making him a seventh son of a seventh son.

Before becoming the Spook's apprentice, Tom Ward helped his father and his oldest brother with work on the farm, while his other brothers had already set out to pursue their own trades. When Tom attended school at the local church, the priests noticed he was left-handed. Because of that he was beaten, after which his mother, Mam, decided to take him out of the school to teach him herself.

Hangman's Hill[]

As a seventh son of a seventh son, Tom often saw and heard what others didn't; this made him especially sensitive to supernatural elements. Close to the farm, just outside the North Pasture was a hill upon which many civil war soldiers were hung, called Hangman's Hill. As a result of this, there were a number of lingering ghasts, which would frighten young Tom. Eventually, when it became too much for him, Mam was forced to silence them, a feat that is considered largely impossible by Spooks.

Becoming an apprentice[]

When Tom turned 12, by Mam's doing, he was taken on by John Gregory, the Chipenden spook. Their first stop was at 13 Watery Lane, Horshaw, where Tom was tested to spend a night in the supposedly haunted house.

Soon afterward Tom met Alice Deane, when collecting his master's provisions. Tom was at first wary of Alice due to his master's warning against women wearing pointy shoes (and women in general).

Ordeal with Mother Malkin[]

Despite his misgivings against Alice, Tom was persuaded to give Mother Malkin, a witch bound in a pit in the Spook's garden, three blood cakes - one at midnight each night. Unbeknownst to Tom, these cakes contained human blood which made her stronger. She only needed to eat two of these cakes to build the strength required to escape her pit. Tom tried to recapture Mother Malkin without the aid of the Spook. He managed to kill her but was then captured by Bony Lizzie and the abhuman Tusk. He was imprisoned in a pit in the ground, adjacent to the bones of the Spook's, last apprentice Billy Bradley. After meeting the ghost of Bradley, he managed to persuade Alice to release him from the pit. Shortly afterward, after a close pursuit, the Spook managed to kill Tusk and bind Bony Lizzie in a pit. Tom returned home to visit his family at Ward farm, where Snout, the local butcher, was busy slaughtering the pigs. Unbeknownst to Tom, Mother Malkin had survived and was now 'wick', meaning that she was no longer in proper human form, and was almost mushy. In this state, she possessed the pig butcher and tried to kill Tom's family. Tom managed to drive her out of the butcher's body, and she was then eaten by the pigs as she tried to escape, ensuring that she could never return. Tom then took Alice to her aunt's house in Staumin near the Fylde Coast, to prevent her from returning to Pendle.

Continued Apprenticeship[]

Soon after Tom's ordeal with Mother Malkin ended, normality returned and Tom was back to being taught to be an apprentice, mainly focusing on the study of Boggarts. Tom was accompanied on many jobs, experiencing the binding of all types of boggarts.

One day, the Spook was found too ill to fill his duty, so Tom was tasked with binding a boggart alone. The boggart in question was a Ripper at a church in Horshaw, who was in the process of killing a priest who was the Spook's brother. Tom proved successful in binding the Boggart, but was unable to prevent the death of the priest.

Priestown and dealings with the Bane[]

The funeral of the priest was held at Priestown Cathedral, in the town of Priestown on the Ribble River. The Spook decided to attend, not only to pay respects to his brother, but to also undertake a task that he had previously failed to carry out, destroying the Bane. During his efforts to prepare to enter the Bane's dwelling place in the Catacombs beneath the cathedral, his cousin (who was a priest that had been corrupted by the Bane) betrayed the Spook, and was locked up for the Quisitor, who denounced him as a Warlock. The Spook was sentenced to burning, alongside other falsely accused witches. Tom was forced to enter the catacombs in order to release the Spook from prison. However, when he arrived in the prison, the Spook had already been taken for questioning, and so he was unable to free him. In the meantime however, he was able to free Alice, who was also a prisoner of the Quisitor. On their second attempt to retrieve the Spook, The Bane visited Tom, Alice and Andrew Gregory in their dreams. Tom was able to resist, but he awoke to find Alice at the 'Silver Gate', the only barrier preventing the Bane from escaping. She had made a deal with the Bane. In return for allowing it to be released, the Bane promised to help her, in return for her blood.

The Spook and the other prisoners were taken up to the nearby Beacon Fell to be burned at the stake. Tom and Alice journeyed to the Fell and used the Bane to secure the Spook's freedom. Tom and Alice took the Spook to the Ward farm, and Tom's Mam healed the Spook. Tom, the Spook, and Alice journeyed to Heysham, the burial site of many of the Segantii, or the Little People, to track down the person who managed to bind the Bane in Priestown. This person was Naze, who, like Tom and the Spook, was the seventh son of a seventh son. He told them that he too had to sign a pact with the Bane. If it was ever to be freed, and then returned to Priestown, it would forever be bound in the catacombs, where it could be killed.

The three returned to Priestown, with the knowledge that, if the Bane was to be killed, the energy released would be so great that those present would almost certainly be killed, forcing the Spook to insist that Tom remain outside. Tom did not feel comfortable with this, so he entered the catacombs anyway to assist. Once in the catacombs, Alice once again summoned The Bane, who was then killed by Tom whilst it was drinking Alice's Blood. Tom was killed by the energy released by the death of the creature. Alice was distraught, so she used her magic to resurrect him. The Spook was disgusted by this, so upon their return to Chipenden resolved to bind Alice in a pit. Tom used knowledge of the Spook's love, a Lamia witch called Meg Skelton, to force him to let Alice go. The Spook allowed Alice to stay, in return for copying books and teaching them more about witches.

Physical Appearance[]

Although the book doesn't describe Tom directly, it is shown that he has short dark brown hair and green eyes. It has also been hinted that he is of average height for his age.

Throughout the books, Tom receives a couple of scars from battles he has fought, such as when the water witch Morwena took hold of his ear, nearly tearing it. When battling Bony Lizzie, Tom also received a vertical slash directly under his hairline.

The most prominent of his scars though are the finger-nail indentions left by Alice from the first book, marking him as hers. The scars left by Alice protect Tom from being taken over by other witches such as Mab Mouldheel. When Alice returns from the dark after being seized by the fiend, she recognizes the mark allowing her to understand that she's in the real world. However, this scar vanishes after Alice turns into a malevolent witch after falling in love with Lukastra. It could have vanished due to the fact that Alice no longer sees Tom as hers.

In the Spooks Revenge, Tom receives a scar after a fight with Lukastra running from his eye across his cheek. The scarring is helped by Grimalkin but she could not get rid of all the scarring leaving a faint white line.

Powers and Abilities[]

Tom possesses all the standard powers of a seventh son of a seventh son, as well as the skills taught to him by John Gregory. In addition, he has inherited several unique abilities from his mother, the first Lamia witch.

List of Powers[]

  • Standard Powers of a Seventh Son of a Seventh Son: These include a high sensitivity to beings of dark, allowing for communication with ghosts and spirits. Only very powerful entities can cloak their affiliation with the dark from a seventh son of a seventh son. Seventh sons of seventh sons also possess some immunity to dark magic, including avoiding the long sniffing of a witch and lessened effect of dread and boska.
  • Linguistic Ability: Tom can read and write Greek, and although he has trouble with Latin, he is a fast learner.
  • Marksmanship: By the fourth book Tom can whip his chain around a post 9 times in a row, eventually being able to get 10 times in a row in later books. By the time he is a fully realized Spook, he almost never misses with his chain, even against moving and very powerful targets.
  • Will Power: Tom displays great will power by withstanding the temptations of both The Fiend, The Bane, Golgoth, and the other old gods.
  • Tainted Blood: Tom's blood can't reveal any secrets about himself to other creatures of the dark. For example, The Ordeen didn't know who Tom was even though he offered it his own blood. It seems the potent nature of his blood increased with time. By the time of the novel, Spook's Blood, when Siscoi drank his blood, the blood poisoned and killed the god, considered by many to be only second in power to the Fiend himself.
  • Premonitions/Imitations of Death: Tom can smell death on a person; the stronger the smell the closer the person is to death and the fainter the scent the farther away they are away from death. Death takes on the smell of flowers. Tom inherited this ability from his mother.
  • Time Manipulation: Tom can stop or slow the flow of time in such a way that he can catch a knife in midflight. For example, Tom caught a knife thrown at him by Grimalkin while he was running away from her in The Spook's Battle. His ability to slow time peaks in The Spook's destiny, when he wrestles control of time from the Fiend himself, in order to bind him. This ability seems to decline after this book, and sharply declines to almost non-existent after the death of the Fiend. By the Starblade Chronicles, Tom notes this power is extremely inconsistent, and rarely uses it successfully in this trilogy.
  • The Hunter: This gives him the ability to be able to know where his enemies are. Mam made sure that Tom discovered this power early so that he could track down the beings who stole the Fiends head. However, this is not always reliable as it was shown in the Spooks Revenge when he couldn't find where Alice and Lukastra was hiding. He believed this was due to their whereabouts being cloaked by magic. Mam described Tom as the hunter of the dark.
  • Lamia Form: In the last book of the Starblade Chronicles, Tom is revealed to possess the ability to turn into a hybrid lamia form in which he stands upright but has scales on his hands. He inherited it from his mother. Unlike regular lamias, he can transition and de-transition from this state in a matter of minutes or hours. In this state, he possesses incredible strength, durability, and high immunity to magic. He craves the blood of his enemies and possesses heightened senses. He proved strong enough to defeat four Kobalos with his barehands, including Balkai, the most powerful of Kobalos mages. In this form, he regarded seven burning stakes plunged through his body as "irritating thorns" and found Balkai's attempts to cast spells on him as "funny jabbering." By the time of the novel Brother Wulf, he still does not have a firm handle on the ability, since he is only able to trigger the state in times when his death seems certain otherwise. However, he did show some control in his ability to restrain himself from attacking Wulf. Spook Johnson and Tom had both offered Wulf an apprenticeship with them. He had made up his mind about choosing Tom but at witnessing this he judges Tom to be too flawed(flawed in terms of having dark blood in his veins) and too close to the dark.

Physical Abilities[]

Tom, being trained by the Spooks, is fairly skilled in using, and fighting with, his staff, silver chain and his recently found, Destiny Blade. Bill Arkwright also taught Tom to swim, which many people of that day could not do. As he comes into his own as a hunter of the dark, Tom becomes an increasingly formidable opponent. In pure martial combat with a sword, he has beaten Lukrasta, several Shaiska assassins, and several Kobalos high mages, including Lenkleweth, the second most powerful of all Kobalos mages. On several occasions, he has taken on and defeated dozens of opponents with the help of Kratch the boggart.

Relationships[]

Alice Deane[]

Alice and Tom Seventh Son

In Seventh Son

There are many hints that Tom has feelings for Alice Deane, and that they are in fact in love, but just don't know it yet - admitted when Alice almost dies and Tom was more upset than even when his father died. There is also parts were he compares the two of them to John Gregory and Meg Skelton, who used to be in love and still have feelings for one and other.

Tom first meets Alice in The Spook's Apprentice when she saves him from a group of boys about to beat him up. She then asks for a favor to be completed at some point, and Tom agrees. When the Spook is away, she asks him to feed Mother Malkin three cakes, two of which Tom feeds her before he catches on, which helps her get free. Tom is later captured by Bony Lizzie, but Alice then helps him escape. When the Spook sends her to her aunt's, they stop at Jack's farm, where Tom and Alice defeat Mother Malkin. Their first hint of romance is when Alice told tom about her terrible home life, then reaches across and grabs his hand, staying like that for a while.

The two become close throughout the series, Alice seeming rather attached to him and is always fighting by his side. He seemes to take a liking to her as well, noticing when she looks pretty There are also times when Alice has been known to get jealous if she thinks a girl is interested in Tom (Mab Mouldheel).

Tom often shows great concern for her and has mentioned that he can't live without her. The two are also linked closely by a blood jar until The Spook's Destiny (Rage of the Fallen), where it is cracked and Alice is taken to the dark by the Fiend.

At the end of the fifth book the two share their first kiss, before Alice is banished by the Spook for Pendle.

In the eighth book as Alice is being taken to the dark by the Fiend, Tom is filled with agony and admits the loss is even worse than that of his mam. In this moment he realizes his true feelings for Alice, and admits to himself that he is in love with her.

In the Spooks Revenge, after Alice turns into a malevolent witch, she starts a relationship with Lukastra, a powerful mage who has used the Doomdryte to gain power, after the revelation of their relationship Tom decides against thinking of Alice Deane in such a way again, this especially heartbreaking to Tom as it is mentioned that both Alice and Lukrasta shared a bed.

In Spook's The Dark Army, however, Alice comes back to Tom and tells him that Lukrasta has been killed by the Kobalos and that she never loved Lukrasta and only left Tom for Lukrasta at the order of the old god Pan (whom she promised to help if he let her get out of the Dark) to combine their magic. Alice had no love for Lukrasta. She only kissed and slept with him to gain control over him so he doesn't harm Tom, whom he would have otherwise killed. They rekindle what they once had and even take it a step further.

In Spook's Dark Assassin the two are still together but Alice leaves for Pendle to unite the clans against the Kobalos, but Alice finds out Lukrasta is alive and Pan orders they work together again. She tells Tom about it, and takes him with her to Lukrasta's Tower in Cymru. After Talkus is killed, Lukrasta orders Alice to take the Starblade from Tom and then kill him with it, thinking that Alice will obey him because she owes a debt to Pan. He knows Alice never loved him (which he was told by Grimalkin when he assumes Alice would want to start their relationship again) but he doesn't realize how much Alice loves Tom and what lengths she would go to protect him (including kissing and and sleeping with him just to ensure Tom's safety), and now that Talkus is dead Pan doesn't care whether Lukrasta lives or not. She convinces Tom that she'll kill Lukrasta but when he appears she pretends to kill Tom but at the very last second she slices Lukrasta's head off instead and tells Tom that it was the only way to be sure of killing him. Tom admits that he thought Alice was going to kill him because of the look in her eyes. She tells Tom to go to Chipenden alone because he didn't believe in the love they share. However at the end of the book she's waiting for him at Chipenden meaning she was only punishing him by saying she wouldn't come with him.

In the book 'Brother Wulf' they have a baby daughter named Tilda. When Tom is captured by the old goddess Circe, during his attempt to rescue spook Johnson, she comes after him to rescue him. In the first attempt she asks Wulf to got and rescue him from Circe's lair him but he fails. Circe demands the blood of Tilda in return for both spooks. Alice deceives Circe, giving her a changeling instead of Tilda who is now safe with Grimalkin (who also supplied the changeling).

John Gregory[]

John Gregory is Tom's master, as Tom is in an apprenticeship with Gregory to become a Spook. The relationship is a difficult one as Tom is often left annoyed by the Spook disliking Alice and not letting them be together, but he also really looks up to him and the Spook is like a father figure in his life, so he is left extremely upset when he is left without him.

The Fiend[]

WIP

Mab Mouldheel[]

Tom and Mab have a complicated relationship. Tom first meets Mab at the beginning of The Spook's Battle, where she claims to know where Alice is, when in fact she kidnapped Alice. She takes Tom to meet her sisters, Beth and Jennet. She tries to kiss Tom and make him her's forever, but Alice's brand keeps him safe.

Later, he helps Mab get into Malkin Tower to steal his trunks, but Mab turns on him, so he then wakes up his mother's sisters with the "Kiss of the Moon". He then makes fun of Mab for not even ruling Pendle for a day, and then she says that she would help summon The Fiend.

Tom has threatened that he would one day throw Mab into a pit as well, marking her as a partial enemy until the 6th book, when her help is needed by his mother. Their relationship is further complicated when Mab predicts and tells Tom about Alice's death at the hands of lamia witches, which he angrily rejects (later this comes true when a lamia witch seizes Alice and drags her down into the earth. Tom uses a dark wish to save Alice). When seeing Alice alive, Mab appears to be furious.

Grimalkin[]

Tom and the witch assassin of the malkin clan have a very peculiar relationship. Tom, being the seventh son of a seventh son, is a natural enemy of the dark, and vice versa. However, Tom and Grimalkin are considered friends as well as allies in the fight against the Fiend. Even though she once attempted to kill Tom, Grimalkin has saved his life on numerous occasions. She has now allied herself with Tom, the Spook and Alice in order to destroy the Fiend. She had him bound and was in control of his head, whilst the other three were finding a way to destroy the fiend forever. Grimalkin feared that, in the ordeal the four are in, not all of them will survive. However, it was lost and reunited with the body and a great battle was fought near the Wardstone, resulting in the death of John Gregory. The skelts of Tulkas destroyed the fiend, although really Tulkas just absorbed his power.


Appearances[]

Trivia[]

  • The names of Tom's brothers are Jack, James, Jonathon, Michael, Brian and William, confirmed by Joseph Delaney's Q&A on https://www.spooksworld.co.uk/

His birthday is August 3rd, making his zodiac sign a Leo.

  • Although Tom fights against the dark and what it contains, he has used dark magic (with good intentions) on more than one occasion.
  • On more than one occasion, it has been hinted that Tom will become one of the strongest Spooks to ever roam the County, and possibly the world. This was his mother's "gift" to the County.
  • Since his Mam is Lamia (the original Lamia witch) he was technically affiliated with the dark since birth.

Gallery[]

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