ID these fantasy novels

As a kid (possibly teen) I read two fantasy novels about which I have only the sketchiest recall now, but I remember loving them and would like to find them and reread them.

The first is about a girl/woman. There is something wrong with her mind, she has amnesia, and this is somehow linked to a long nail or needle that’s stuck in her head (behind her ear, if memory serves). She can’t touch it; if she does she feels horrible pain. I believe there is a golem involved at some point. That’s all I remember about that one, but I think it was part of a series.

The second is about a revolutionary attempt against a cruel ruler. Two characters are called Boromir (gee, I wonder where that name came from…) and Leopold. Leopold is a dwarf and gets his ears cut off as a punishment for something-or-other. The book ends with Leopold living with a woman (platonically, I believe) who was also involved in the revolution, on an island and the protagonist happy that they’re happy, even though they somehow never find out whether the revolution succeeded or not (it did).

That’s basically it. I just remember liking these books back then.

Bump. No-one with a clue on this?

Sounds like Piers Anthony, with the mutilation and failed victory…

I was actually going to say the first one sounded like Anthony a bit, one of the Xanth novels (with Grundy Golem).

Any idea of the book title?

I read a little about Xanth and it seems a bit too light-hearted to be the book I remember, which was serious and fairly dark.

Golem in the Gears. It involves Grundy Golem finding his pen pal Rapunzel, who’s being hidden in the Sea Hag’s tower. The Sea Hag would cultivate young women in order to take over their bodies once hers aged too much.