The Spider is a relatively minor figure in the story – and yet a terrifying one. He guards a mechanical gate deep in the Forest, lounging beside his trap with that smug confidence typical of a creature that knows no one can challenge him. Huge, intelligent, and armed with a knife, he speaks with fake politeness – violence disguised as service.
His job is simple: to collect a toll – or punish. But the stakes are higher than a few coins. The Spider is an enforcer – a symbol of the voiceless brutality behind Heino’s rule. Even in this brief scene, the depth of his regime is revealed: greed presented as order; violence masked as routine. He doesn’t attack. He waits. He collects.
His death comes suddenly and almost comically – outsmarted by a fly, dragged into the swamp, and gone. But the fear he leaves behind does not vanish. Because the Forest is full of spiders. And this one? This one was only the beginning.
