The Ancients


The first humans to learn magic, the Ancients were alive when the Faceless Ones ruled the Earth, thousands of years ago. They forged the Sceptre of the Ancients and used it to overthrow and banish the Faceless Ones, "a race of sadistic gods who loathe humanity", but they subsequently turned against each other and began fighting over the Sceptre. They all killed each other and the last one standing, disgusted at their actions, cast the Sceptre into the Earth. As a result of the Ancients murdering each other over it, the Sceptre was filled with hatred and as such it derived its power from the hate of whoever wielded it. When Skulduggery used it to destroy Serpine from a desire for revenge against Serpine for killing him, his wife and his child (and to save Stephanie, who was being attacked by Serpine with his dark magic at the time) it devoured its own hatred and was thus rendered impotent. The Sceptre of the Ancients makes no appearance in the second book, Playing with Fire, but in the third book Skulduggery Pleasant: the Faceless Ones it is fitted with another "black crystal", the source of its power. It kills a Faceless One but is destroyed by another, who smashes the black crystal, causing its "black lightning" to spill out and turn that Faceless One to dust.



It is generally implied that the Ancients have long-since died off, but Stephanie Edgley is confirmed to have Ancient blood in her veins