Otto of Vuelph has been raised from infancy in the monastery at St. Michaelsburg. When he is eleven, his father, Baron Conrad, takes him to live with him in Castle Drachenhausen. Otto is unwillingly dragged into the conflict between Baron Conrad and his nemesis, Baron Henry of Roderburg of Trutz-Drachen.
Otto of the Silver Hand contains examples of:
- Childhood Brain Damage: Brother John, the monk Otto is closest to, fell from his nurse's arms when he was a small child. His parents didn't know what to do with a mentally disabled son, so they sent him to live at the monastery.
- Childhood Marriage Promise: Baron Henry's eight-year-old daughter Pauline visits him in his cell in Castle Trutz-Drachen to listen to his stories. She doesn't want him to leave, but he promises to marry her someday so she can listen to all the stories she wants. He makes good on his promise eight years later.
- Chimney Entry: Once One-eyed Hans gets into the antechamber in Trutz-Drachen, he climbs up the chimney. Then he comes to a place where another chimney joins the one he's in, so he goes down that chimney. He comes down into the kitchen, black with soot. A startled scullion boy yells "It is the evil one!" and runs out of the kitchen.
- Crashing Dreams: As Otto sleeps at Drachenhausen, he dreams he's back at the monastery. He hears the convent bell ringing and loud voices and thinks there are visitors. He wakes up to hear the alarm bell ringing and everyone shouting as a party of Roderburgs raids the castle.
- Death by Despair: Conrad is badly wounded in battle, and when he's carried into the castle, his wife Baroness Matilda thinks he's dead. The shock sends her into premature labor. She gives birth to Otto before dying of grief.
- Expecting Someone Taller: Pauline tells Otto, "I thought that thou wert a great tall fellow at least, and here thou art a little boy no older than Carl Max, the gooseherd."
- Feuding Families: The Vuelphs and the Roderburgs have been fighting on and off since the Roderburgs founded Trutz-Drachen, whose name roughly translates to Anti-Dragon.Conrad: Their great-grandsire built that castle in scorn of Baron Casper in the old days; their grandsire slew my father’s grandsire; Baron Nicholas slew two of our kindred; and now this Baron Frederick gives me that foul wound and kills my dear wife through my body. I swear by all the saints in heaven, either the red cock shall crow over the roof of Trutz-Drachen or else it shall crow over my house! The black dog shall sit on Baron Frederick’s shoulders or else he shall sit on mine!
- Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: Hans disguises himself as a traveling peddler to rescue Otto. He knocks at the postern door of Trutz-Drachen and tells the girl who answers it that he'll give her a free necklace if she lets him in. She takes him up on his offer, then goes further into the castle to find other potential customers, leaving Hans alone.
- Last Request: At the beginning of the book, Conrad is a robber baron who orders his knights to attack merchant caravans that pass by Drachenhausen. Matilda begs him to stop, but he doesn't listen to her until after her death. Her last words to him were "For my sake, do not go this time." He never robs another caravan. However, he refuses to give up his life of violence and vows to get revenge on the Roderburgs.
- Manly Tears: Conrad cries when he sees that Otto's hand has been cut off.And therewith he broke down, and his whole body shook with fierce, dry sobs; for men in those days did not seek to hide their grief as they do now, but were fierce and strong in the expression of that as of all else.
- Maternally Challenged: Pauline tells Otto that the last time she was sick, her mother told the servants to take her to a far corner of the house because her crying was annoying her.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Hans captures a guard in Trutz-Drachen and demands to know where Otto is being held. Once he gets the information he wants, he considers killing the guard, but leaves him Bound and Gagged instead. Eventually the guard gets loose from his bonds and raises the alarm. Hans says, "See now what comes of being merciful."
- Papa Wolf: For all his many flaws, Conrad is highly protective of Otto, to the point of making a Heroic Sacrifice to protect him from Baron Henry.
- Pinball Protagonist: Otto is sent to live with Conrad against his wishes, then is kidnapped, then is rescued. The most active thing he does is right at the end, when he tells Emperor Frederick that he doesn't want revenge against the Roderburgs.
- Surrender Backfire: Henry's uncle, Baron Frederick, was wounded in battle with Conrad. As Frederick's soldiers fled, Frederick knelt before Conrad and asked for mercy. Conrad said, "Aye, thou shalt have such mercy as thou deservest," and killed him.
- Would Hurt a Child: When Conrad struck the blow that killed Frederick, Henry swore an oath that no Vuelph that left his hands would ever be able to strike such a blow again. It makes no difference if a Vuelph is eleven years old, so Henry cuts off Otto's right hand.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Conrad and a group of his followers are fleeing Trutz-Drachen with the injured Otto, pursued by Baron Henry and his knights. Henry catches up with them near a bridge. Conrad sends his followers ahead with Otto but stays behind to hold the bridge. In the ensuing battle, Conrad kills several knights before Henry attacks him one-on-one. The two struggle, then both fall into the stream and are drowned by their heavy armor. The other knights see no reason to keep pursuing Otto when Henry was the one with a grudge against the Vuelphs, so they go back to Trutz-Drachen, allowing Otto and his followers to travel to St. Michaelsburg in peace.
