As Murtagh continues downward through the tunnels beneath the Well of Dreams, a giant spider attacks him from behind. Murtagh blocks its spear-like legs with Zar’roc and his wards, but the creature trips him and resists his killing spell, suggesting that Bachel may have warded or enchanted it. Murtagh kills the spider by brute force, splitting its head with Zar’roc.

Murtagh pushes deeper into the caves while fingerrats and shadow spiders repeatedly ambush him from walls, chasms, and crevices. The constant fighting exhausts Murtagh, and when Murtagh reaches for Thorn’s mind, Murtagh realizes too much stone now separates them. Murtagh can still sense Bachel, but Bachel’s position behind and below him reveals that Murtagh has been turned around during the battles.

The caves continue to inflict visions on Murtagh, and one overwhelms him: a childhood memory in which Murtagh plays with a toy horse near a fire while Morzan drinks and argues with Murtagh’s mother. When young Murtagh cries over the toy’s burned tail, Morzan angrily strikes Murtagh with Zar’roc, leaving the wound that became the scar on Murtagh’s back. Murtagh remembers his mother tending him with fear and love, making the scar a reminder of both Morzan’s cruelty and his mother’s care.

Shaken by the vision, Murtagh reflects on how much he hates Zar’roc and the misery tied to Morzan’s legacy. Because Murtagh knows the Name of Names, Murtagh realizes he can rename the sword and change what it represents. After considering what value should stand at the center of his life, Murtagh chooses freedom rather than misery.

Murtagh uses the compendium and the Name of Names to rename Zar’roc as Ithring, meaning Freedom. The glyph on the sword and sheath changes, and Murtagh feels his anger settle into calm purpose. Renewed by the act, Murtagh continues through the undercroft, now fighting the cave creatures not as an heir to misery but as someone seeking freedom for himself, Thorn, and others such as Alín.