Discworld characters

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This article contains brief biographies for characters from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. For further Discworld character biographies, see:

and the various individual names listed in the template below.

Characters are listed, in the main, alphabetically by last name. Where the last name is unknown, they are listed by their first name. Occasionally, both a character's first and last names are known, but his or her first name is more widely known than the last (as with Carcer Dun, who was referred to throughout Night Watch simply as "Carcer" and only named "Dun" in the promotional material, and with Roland de Chumsfanleigh, who has appeared in all three Tiffany Aching novels but whose last name was only revealed in Wintersmith). If this happens, the character will be listed by his/her better-known name, with the complete name given in brackets.

[edit] Achmed the Mad

See: Necrotelecomnicon

[edit] Anghammarad

Anghammarad is a minor character in the novel Going Postal. He is a golem, almost nineteen thousand years old, having been baked by the priests of Upsa in the Third Ning of the Shaving of the Goat. He was also given a voice. However, Upsa was destroyed by the explosion of Mount Shiputu. He then spent two centuries under a mountain of pumice, before it eroded away. He then became a messenger for the Fisherman Kings of the holy Ult.

More recently, he delivered the decrees of King Het of Thut. That is, he delivered them until the land of Thut slid under the sea. He then spent nine thousand years in the deep ocean, before being netted by a fisherman. While having returned to civilization, he still carried the message warning Het that the sea goddess is angry, and hoped to deliver it (golems believe time is cyclical, and Anghammarad thought that if he waited long enough, he'd be able to get it right the second time around).

He worked for the Ankh-Morpork Post Office (in the honorary position of Extremely Senior Postman) before his briefly white-hot ceramic body was engulfed with cold water while fighting a catastrophic fire in the post office building. The resulting explosion ended his life. He asked Death to allow him to remain at the entrance to the afterlife, equating an absence of tasks to perform with perfect freedom.

[edit] Drum Billet

The wizard who starts the events of Equal Rites by bequeathing his staff just before his death to, as he thinks, the eighth son of an eighth son, the child of the smith of the village of Bad Ass in Lancre. The midwife, Granny Weatherwax, tries to point out that they are making a mistake but Billet and the new father ignore her. As a result, the staff and its power are transferred to a girl: Eskarina Smith.

Billet is later reincarnated as an apple tree, with fruit that goes "from stomach-turning sourness to wasp-filled rottenness overnight" (see Scumble). He watches over Esk, who is the only person who can climb him.

Later in the book he has left the life of a tree for the life of an ant living under Unseen University.

[edit] B'hrian Bloodaxe

The first Low King of the Dwarfs, and a great cultural hero. His life is told in the opera Bloodaxe and Ironhammer. He was the lover of Ironhammer, who forged the Scone of Stone (a reference to the Stone of Scone). Ironhammer killed himself (all dwarves are called 'he,' even females) when falsely told of Bloodaxe's death. Bloodaxe was subsequently killed at the Battle of Koom Valley. According to legend he killed 57 trolls there, and a loaf of Battle Bread that he supposedly wielded has become a cultural icon and is in the Dwarf Bread Museum in Ankh-Morpork. However, in Thud! it's revealed that he was trying to prevent the battle when a flash flood trapped him in a sinkhole. The Battle Bread found next to Bloodaxe's body casts doubt on the authenticity of the A-MDBM loaf, unless of course he carried more than one.

Bloodaxe was first mentioned in Feet of Clay, and his full history was revealed in The Fifth Elephant and Thud!. His name is possibly based on Brian Bloodaxe, a computer game character from the 1980s. The character is also possibly based on Brian Boru, a 10th century Irish king.

[edit] Lieutenant Blouse

A significant character in Monstrous Regiment, he is Polly Perks' platoon commander. A rather effeminate aristocrat, he previously worked in the Quartermaster-General's Blanket, Bedding and Horse Fodder Department as an administrator, and had no previous experience of field command. He has a remarkable talent for mathematics and technology. Ironically, despite his rather feminine manner and distinct lack of martial prowess, he turns out to be one of the few characters in the novel who is genuinely male (while the fearsome Sergeant Jackrum turns out to be a woman). Despite this, he respects and admires the women when he learns the truth, informing their captors that "[he] would not trade them for any six men [they] offered [him]". Blouse's ambition is to have an item of clothing or a food named after him, in the manner of many famous military men. Eventually a type of fingerless glove is named for him. Blouse seems to be a direct contrast to Jackrum--the small, skinny, naive man is brilliant with numbers, and in one notable scene, thinks faster than Jackrum and uses a signalling device to misdirect enemy forces, where as Jackrum would have simply smashed the device and moved on--a sign of warfare on the Discworld changing, with intelligence and technology beginning to take the place of bravery and fighting skill.

[edit] Brick

Brick is a young Gutter troll in the novel Thud!. He is described as being emaciated by troll standards, and having a texture and pattern to his hide that makes him resemble a brick wall (due to being made of "metamorphorical rock" and having been born in Ankh-Morpork). Samuel Vimes, upon seeing him, classified him as the loser's loser. Brick regularly used troll drugs bummed off of the few gutter trolls who didn't always throw things at him when they saw him, and was generally considered to have sunk somewhat lower than the gutter.

Eventually, Sergeant Detritus of the City Watch takes in Brick and seems to unofficially adopt him. Detritus was convinced of Brick's potential after Brick was found still conscious, and, what's more, still walking after having a few mugs of a potent troll beverage, the name of which translates to Big Hammer.

[edit] Brutha

Originally an Omnian novice in the Citadel of Om, noted only for being a simple boy with an apparently perfect memory. Brutha was the main character in Small Gods, in which he found himself Chosen by the Great God Om because he was the only person who really believed in the god. He went on to become the Eighth Prophet of Om and Cenobiarch of Omnia, and transformed Omnianism into a religion of tolerance and understanding. He died 100 years later and some time ago, an issue that has been proven by a passage in Thief of Time. It has been suggested that Brutha is modeled on Thomas Aquinas, whom Albertus Magnus reports having been called 'the dumb ox' by other students. An example of Brutha's memory is given when he says that his earliest memory is that "there was a bright light. Then somebody hit me." referring to the slap a doctor gives a baby after it is born to make it breathe.

[edit] Mrs Cake

A diminutive spiritualist (or "medium verging on small"), Mrs Evadne Cake is introduced in Reaper Man. A very forceful personality, she doesn't so much dabble in the spirit world as "march in and demand to speak to the manager". She has precognition, and often answers questions before people ask, unless she remembers not to. Her daughter Ludmilla is a werewolf. In Men At Arms we learn that after Ludmilla left home, Mrs Cake opened a boarding house for the undead.

Mrs Cake is very religious, usually picking a religion, bullying her way into complete control of all traditional "lay-woman" work, then getting into a huge row with the priests and abandoning it, resulting in chaos. Priests of lost temples in Klatch are terrified she might find them. She is listed twice on the sign outside the Ankh-Morpork Post Office as one of the things that will impede these messengers about their duties.

[edit] Carcer (Carcer Dun)

The villain of Night Watch, described by Vimes as "a stone-cold killer. With brains."

Carcer is a textbook psychopathic killer, completely lacking in conscience or empathy. His impulse control is highly selective ("That was one thing about Carcer, at least - he wouldn't shoot you in the back if he thought there was a reasonable chance, pretty soon, of cutting your throat."). Judging by his enthusiasm for his job in the past as a Cable Street Particular and his glee at the discovery of the younger Sam Vimes (whether he wanted to kill the younger Vimes or corrupt his future nemesis to become like him is unknown; he seemed tempted to do both at different times), Carcer seems to have sadistic personality disorder: "Carcer was in two minds, but instead of them being in conflict, they were in competition. He had a demon on both shoulders, urging one another on."

Carcer and Vimes could fairly be said to be two sides of the same coin. Where Vimes instinctively cleaves to the role of protector, Carcer uses the talents the two men share (motivation and manipulation of others, a talent for dirty fighting, a gift for strategy, knowledge of police procedure and knowledge of and skill with illegal concealed weapons, to name a few) as a predator, killing people for no other reason than to apparently steal a five-dollar watch.

Carcer is also said to have a talent for unnerving people. He smiles all the time and laughs in a way, that "Haha didn't come close to doing it the injustice it deserved (...), suggesting this was all somehow funny and you hadn't got the joke." Still, he would always be utterly convinced that he never did anything wrong. He'd stand with stolen goods and blood on his hands and ask: "Me? What did I do?"

Carcer claims his original crime was stealing a loaf of bread, though Vimes says that Carcer's style would be to murder the baker and steal the whole bakery.

Carcer's last name was shown in a preview of Night Watch, but never revealed in the completed book.

Carcer is captured by Vimes at the end of Night Watch and presumedly hanged thereafter, though neither a hanging or trial are explicitly depicted in the book.

[edit] Count Giamo Casanunda

A dwarf (though more noticeable than most because of his colossal powdered wig). The moral equivalent of Nanny Ogg. His visiting card says "World's second greatest lover. Finest swordsman. Outrageous liar. Stepladders repaired." He also claims he performed a small service - although not that small - for Queen Agantia of Skund, for which he received his noble title. Since Skund is a virtually uninhabited forest with no known rulers, his story lacks a certain credibility. Known for also being the fastest thing on the Disc, when in a nunnery (the second fastest thing on the Disc is the ambiguous puzuma, a creature that moves "at relatavistic speeds"). First mentioned in a footnote to Reaper Man, he subsequently appeared in Witches Abroad and Lords and Ladies. He is referenced in Soul Music and had a brief cameo in Carpe Jugulum where he reflects upon a fellow highwayman being killed by the Magpyrs. Notable line: "Kneel and deliver!" His name, and aspects of his personality, are a play on Giacomo Casanova, although, as a dwarf, he obviously stands more "unda" than "ova" his conquests.

[edit] Imp y Celyn

A bard from the decidedly Cymric country of Llamedos. In Soul Music he was possessed by "Music with Rocks in" and became the Disc's greatest musician under the name Buddy in the Band with Rocks In along with Cliff and Glod, before dying in a cart crash (an admitted reference to Buddy Holly— Imp's name translates as "bud of the holly"). The timeline in which this happened has, however, been eradicated following Death's intervention, and he was last seen working in a fried fish stall in Quirm, a clear reference to Kirsty MacColl's biggest hit. He looks a bit elvish.

[edit] Otto von Chriek

Otto is one of the "Black Ribboners", vampire "teetotallers" who have forsworn drinking human "b-vord". Due to the supernatural nature of their "addiction", Black Ribboners must replace their craving for blood with something else; in Otto's case, he has become obsessed with light and photography. Since very bright light reduces vampires to dust until someone administers a drop of blood, the flash salamander he uses constantly causes Otto problems. He now carries a small vial of animal blood on a chain around his neck, which smashes and reconstitutes him if his salamander goes off too brightly. Otto experiments with "dark light", the light you find when you go out the other side of darkness, but this has its own unique problems, such as not necessarily illuminating the present to the imp inside his camera (which paints the pictures he takes). Most other people also object to being photographed with it, out of beliefs of it being "Unholy" or simply being uncomfortable with feeling "like your head has been opened up and icicles have been pounded into your brain", as William de Worde puts it.

Otto's first appearance in the Discworld novels is in The Truth, he then makes further, though much less substantial appearances, in Monstrous Regiment, Going Postal and Thud!.

Otto is from Überwald, and it is implied that he is from the village of Schüschein. He maintains a ridiculous and overly stereotypical vampire appearance (with a few concessions to his art) as opposed to the downplaying of these aspects that most Black Ribboners go for. By ensuring people find him funny, he is able to ensure they do not find him threatening.

Chriek's character would seem to be inspired by the news photographer "Weegee", who was also known for his distinctive accent, self-taught skills, knack for appearing at the scene of a crime and flair for self-promotion, although not so much for any tendency to dissolve into dust.

[edit] Christine

A chorus singer at the Ankh-Morpork Opera House, Christine is a pretty, thin blonde with a tendency to wear white and use exclamation points at the end of every sentence!!!!!!! She is actually an extraordinarily untalented singer, but the management favors her for her beautiful appearance (and the fact her father has donated a good deal of money) and has her lip-synch onstage to the voice of Agnes Nitt. She is friendly and kind but not particularly bright and can be unintentionally slighting. She is a beneficiary of the sad fact that star quality is a far rarer commodity than talent. Christine is named after Christine Daaé from The Phantom of the Opera but does not bear much of a resemblance if one compares the two.

Christine's father told her that a "dear little pixie" would help her career, and she thinks Agnes might be that pixie. This may be comparable to Christine Daaé's belief that the Phantom is the "Angel of Music".

[edit] Chrysoprase

Chrysoprase is the local godfather of the Breccia troll organised crime family and owns the troll hotel known as the Gritz and the Cavern nightclub. He is more obviously at home in Ankh-Morpork than most trolls; his features are deliberately polished smooth, and he wears a suit, rather than the usual loincloth and lichen. His understanding of civilised behaviour is that violence is barbaric, but paying other people to do it is business. He also wears diamond jewelery, apparently made from the teeth of trolls who moved against him (an allusion to Meyer Wolfsheim in The Great Gatsby, who wears "ivory" cufflinks made from human molars). He considers himself a fine example of a troll achieving great success in a foreign culture and is the head of the Silicon Anti-Defamation League, which seeks to raise the issue of discrimination against trolls by humans and dwarfs in Ankh-Morpork. He is first mentioned in Wyrd Sisters (as "Chrystoprase"), and appears in Soul Music and Thud!. The Light Fantastic briefly features a troll called Krysoprase, who was confirmed to be the same character in The Discworld Companion (it was attributed to the fact that trolls are terrible spellers).

[edit] Jeremy Clockson

Jeremy Clockson is the temporal double of Lobsang Ludd, and son of Time and Wen the Eternally Surprised. He appears in Thief of Time. Separated from his double at birth, he was left outside the Clockmakers Guild in Ankh-Morpork and raised there, showing an amazing aptitude for his adoptive craft.

Jeremy is a dedicated craftsman to the point of being very little else; his workshop is utterly spartan, he has no friends and few acquaintances, and a conversation of a few minutes is described as exceptionally long. His obsession with accurate timekeeping leads him to overreact violently to a fellow clockmaker who intentionally sets clocks fast, with implications that he has committed violent assault or murder and is therefore now watched over carefully by the authorities of the Guild, who insist on keeping him medicated and supervised. He appears, unlike his "twin", to have no natural ability for manipulating and subverting the ordinary flow of time, and instead to have the opposite ability of being incredibly aware of and obsessed with time's ordinary flow, with an intuitive understanding of "what time it is" at any given moment. His desire to count the ticks of time are what lead to time's freezing into stasis, just as Lobsang's manipulations of time to attempt to prevent this are what lead to time's being thrown into shattered chaos.

He is hired by Lady Myria LeJean to build the Discworld's first truly accurate clock, although he is not aware that such a clock will stop time. The clock he builds is constructed entirely from glass, and is designed to tick with the "tick of the universe". This relates to the idea of Planck time, and the philosophical problems this causes when applied to Zeno's paradoxes. In Thief of Time, these ideas are attributed to the Discworld philosopher Xeno of Ephebe.

Injured in the events accompanying the clock's completion, Jeremy's heritage keeps him mobile in a timeless world but he's not properly conscious. Lobsang finds and touches him, and the two merge to form the current personification of Time, named Lobsang as he/they feel(s) that Lobsang had the happiest memories. It was also mentioned that he/they "never liked the name Jeremy even when (he) was Jeremy."

Clockson's name appears to be a pun upon the name of the British broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson, although his character bears more of a resemblance to the 18th century clock-maker John Harrison.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Conina

The daughter of Cohen the Barbarian and a temple dancer. From her mother she inherited gold-tinged skin, white-blond hair, a voice that can make "Good morning" sound like an invitation to bed, and a very good figure. From her father, she inherited sinews you could moor a ship to, muscles as solid as a plank, and reflexes like a snake on a hot tin roof (from relevant pieces of description in Sourcery). She also acquired from Cohen suitable heroic instincts (that is, strong urges to fight, kill, and steal) and an ability to use anything as a deadly weapon. These traits rather get in the way of the profession she really wants to have: hairdressing.

[edit] Mrs Cosmopolite

Mrs Marietta Cosmopolite is a dressmaker, who appears in Moving Pictures as Vice President of Costuming and Theda Withel's landlady. Earlier in the book she is mentioned as being capable of believing the Disc is under threat from inhuman monsters, since she already believes that the world is round, it does you good to have a laugh, and that three dwarfs look in on her undressing. She is right about the inhuman monsters and the dwarfs (although she is never told about the first one and the second is "only by coincidence").

She is briefly mentioned in Witches Abroad as being venerated by some younger Ramtops monks who, on the basis that wisdom seems wiser if it comes from further away, trek down to Ankh-Morpork to hear her wisdom. This is usually "bugger off" or something similar, but since the monks don't speak Morporkian, it doesn't matter much. In Thief of Time it turns out that this was started by Lu-Tze, who spent some time lodging with her, and has a much better understanding of the Way of Mrs Cosmopolite than the monks who followed.

[edit] Sacharissa Cripslock

The daughter of an engraver (who possibly appeared in Maskerade, working for Goatberger) she became a reporter for the Ankh-Morpork Times, having originally arrived at the print works to complain about the invention of moveable type. Somewhat eclectically attractive, she possesses a selection of features that would have made various artists from various times in history bite their easels in two - although, it must be said, that having a nose that would appeal to Rembrandt and a neck that would inspire Pablo Picasso does not, in and of itself, guarantee that the whole succeeds as a work of art. She possesses the ability to think in headlines, and has gained valuable experience as an editor, allowing her to, e.g., reduce an article's length in half merely by crossing out all the adjectives. Appears in The Truth and Going Postal. In the latter work she wears a wedding ring and is assumed to be married, presumably to William de Worde, although she still addresses herself as Miss Cripslock.

It is never said out loud, though it is heavily implied that she is very busty.

[edit] Adora Belle Dearheart

The daughter of Robert Dearheart, founder of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company, and sister of the murdered John Dearheart, Adora Belle Dearheart (featured in Going Postal) is cynical, angry, and a heavy smoker (so memorably heavy that the most effective way of finding her in an emergency turns out to be to inquire at tobacconists'). She operates an employment service for golems in Ankh-Morpork. There are hints in the novel that she is beginning a relationship with Moist von Lipwig, who is madly in love with her, mainly because she is the only person who does not easily fall for his tricks and is therefore a challenge. Pratchett confirmed at a reading in Bern that by Making Money she has become Lipwig's girlfriend. Why she would love Lipwig in return is somewhat uncertain, but it could be due to the fact that since "golems are not like a hammer", then in her logic, Lipwig is a rather dishonest conman but not a despotic manipulator like Reacher Gilt, the man who swindled Adora Belle's family. Since Miss Dearheart's affection is aimed only at golems, she may think along the same lines about Lipwig. The fact that Lipwig actually helped return the clacks to the Dearhearts in a unique moment of selflessness probably counts. Miss Dearheart can see through most of Lipwig's tricks but he sometimes succeeds in amazing her.

We are first introduced to Adora Belle at her place of work, the Golem Trust.

[edit] Dios

High priest of Djelibeybi; largely responsible for its creation, its culture and its religion, not to mention its hundreds of pyramids. Rendered immortal by the pyramid in which he sleeps, Dios remained for hundreds of generations the self-appointed guardian of the traditions and values of his country, most of which he invented. He performed the rituals and rites to the gods so many times that, come their allotted hour, his mind would automatically go through them even if physically doing so was impossible. He believed he may be 7000 years old, though by the end of Pyramids his unhappy fate reveals he is actually far older than that, if indeed he could be said to have an age at all. It also raises the question of whether it was indeed Dios who created the pyramids, or the other way around. "Dios" means "God" in Spanish and his staff is described with two snakes entwined around it, like the Caduceus, though by the end of the novel, when his ultimate destiny is revealed, the snakes form into an ouroboros.

[edit] Evil Harry Dread

Evil Harry Dread is the villainous counterpart to Cohen the Barbarian; an old fashioned heroic-fantasy type annoyed with how the Discworld has changed. He's proud of being a Dark Lord (albeit a minor-league one; he had a Shed of Doom) and the heroes don't bear him any grudges; after all, he always lets them win and, in return, they always let him escape (see the Evil Overlord List).

He appears in The Last Hero, where he joins the Silver Horde on their quest. And betrays them, because that's his job.

[edit] Rufus Drumknott

Secretary to Patrician Vetinari of Ankh-Morpork, following the death of Lupine Wonse. First appears in Men at Arms. Commonly seen entering and leaving the presence of the Patrician bearing either paperwork or verbal information on the activities of other denizens of the city, or the Discworld in general, Drumknott seems not to think much about the political implications of the information he works with, believing in filing for its own sake. During The Truth he was seemingly attacked by the Patrician, and by the time of Going Postal was responsible for relaying the orders of the Patrician in assigning tasks to other clerks.

[edit] Eric (Eric Thursley)

A thirteen-year-old demonologist and title character in Eric. He lives at 13 Midden Lane, Pseudopolis. Eric inherited most of his demonology books and paraphernalia (as well as a talking parrot) from his grandfather; his parents, apparently convinced that their son was destined become a gifted wizard, allowed him free rein over his grandfather's workshop. Eric was relatively unsuccessful as a demonologist until, with some unknown assistance, he managed to summon Rincewind from the Dungeon Dimensions. After a journey across Time and various other dimensions (during which he became somewhat more likeable), Eric was last seen escaping from Hell with Rincewind, and it is unknown what happened to him afterwards.

[edit] Esk (Eskarina Smith)

The main character in Equal Rites, where she became the Unseen University's first (and only) female graduate. Esk was last seen inventing a new kind of magic based on not using it at all, in the company of wunderkind wizard Simon. Although she was the pivotal character in Equal Rites, she has never been seen or mentioned again.

[edit] Princess Esmerelda Margaret Note Spelling of Lancre

Daughter of King Verence II and Magrat Garlick, Princess Esme made her appearance in Carpe Jugulum. Her unusual middle names are the result of a Lancre tradition that whatever the priest says at the naming ceremony is your name (Thus, Lancre once had a King Ye-Gods-He's-Heavy the First, and James What the Hell's That Cow Doing in Here Poorchick, usually called 'Moocow' Poorchick). Magrat owed her own name to a combination of this tradition and her mother's inability to spell "Margaret", and was determined it wouldn't happen again.

[edit] J.H.C. Goatberger

Publisher in Ankh-Morpork. Books published by his company include The Joye of Snacks by A Lancre Witch and the Ankh-Morpork Almanack. He appears in Maskerade, where he makes a great deal of money out of Nanny's book, and is surprised she wants some of it. He also has a sort of appearance in Nanny Ogg's Cookbook, in the form of a series of memos drawn to appear pinned to some of the pages. These form a discussion between him and the head printer, Thomas Cropper, about the book. After previous experience with Nanny Ogg's writing he is anxious to avoid innuendo, but is not entirely successful. His nephew has a similar exchange with Cropper in the pages of The Discworld Almanak.

His name is a play on Johann Gutenberg.

[edit] Willie Hobson

An Ankh-Morpork businessman who runs Hobson's Livery Stable, a multi-storey construction which sells and hires horses, as well as stabling other people's horses. For some reason it is a popular location for circumspect meetings. According to rumour, Hobson employs an Igor with a talent for taking body parts of different horses, and stitching them together into a "new" animal (see chop shop). These rumours are rarely uttered in the presence of Hobson, who is a large man with a direct sense of humour when it comes to putting people with smart mouths on unbroken horses. He appears in Going Postal, although the stable had previously appeared in The Truth. His name is a reference to the real stable-owner Thomas Hobson, best known as the name behind the expression Hobson's choice.

[edit] Hodgesaargh

Castle falconer at Lancre, Hodgesaargh is not his actual name, but some misunderstanding has been caused due to his birds' habit of attacking him when people speak to him. i.e. "Hello, my name is Hodges...ARRRRRGH." His ceremonial outfit of red and gold with a big floppy hat is usually supplemented with about three sticking plasters. One of the birds he breeds is the wowhawk, or Lappet-faced Worrier, which is like a goshawk only more so - it prefers to walk everywhere and faints at the sight of blood.

Hodgesaargh is based on a real-life keeper of birds of prey named Dave Hodges, who lives in Northamptonshire. He is also the author of The Arts of Falconrie and Hawking.

[edit] Mr Hong

Mr Hong never appears in any of the books, having (apparently) died before the start of any of the stories, but appears to form an important part of Ankh-Morpork's collective memory. In several Discworld books, a character is admonished to remember what happened to Mr Hong when he tried to open the Three Jolly Luck Takeaway Fish Bar on the site of the old fish god temple in Dagon Street on the night of the full moon [sometimes lunar eclipse]. This incident appears to act as a deterrent for Morporkians against meddling with the occult or supernatural -- or, far more likely, against doing something that is patently stupid. Though it is never satisfactorily explained exactly what happened, in Jingo it is revealed that only his kidney and a few bones were found; in the game Discworld Noir his shop was used as a location for one of the murders. Found boarded up, deep investigation reveals that a local thespian from the Dysk theatre was eaten there.

[edit] Sergeant Jackrum

A character in Monstrous Regiment, Jackrum is an immensely fat, hard-bitten Borogravian sergeant with decades of military experience. Jackrum trains Polly Perks (see above) and gradually earns the respect of all the recruits. Ironically, Jackrum turns out to actually be a woman (as it transpires, this is quite common in the Borogravian army), while the effeminate Lieutenant Blouse (see above) is the only actual man in the platoon.

[edit] Doughnut Jimmy

A highly proficient horse doctor who treated Vetinari in Feet of Clay. Due to his lack of experience with human patients, much of his advice was flawed ("walk him round a bit on loose rein...and no oats"). A former jockey, he won a lot of money by not winning races. Highly skilled at achieving results, when he treated 'Dire Fortune', it didn't fall over until the last furlong. A miracle perhaps, considering the fact that the horse had, in fact, died coming up into the starting line.

[edit] Keli (Princess/Queen Kelirehenna)

Daughter of King Olerve the Bastard of the Sto Plains kingdom of Sto Lat, and the last person between the Duke of Sto Helit and the throne, she was saved from assassination by Mort. Became Queen Kelirehenna I, Lord of Sto Lat, Protector of the Eight Protectorates and Empress of the Long Thin Debated Piece Hubwards of Sto Kerrig.

Queen Keli still ruled at the time of Soul Music, when she ejected the Band with Rocks In from the city by royal proclamation. Sto Lat still had a queen by the time of Going Postal, though she isn't mentioned by name. If it is her, she would be the first person on the Disc other than the Patrician to have her face on a stamp.

[edit] Harry King

One of Ankh-Morpork's most successful businessmen, Harry King appears in The Truth. He started out as a mudlark, and developed his career from there. His core business is that of "night soil" removal, but he is also involved in general rubbish collection and recycling. His basic philosophy is that there is nothing that someone will pay to have removed that someone else won't pay to acquire. The sign outside his yard reads "King of the Golden River, Recycling Nature's Bounty". This replaces, at his wife's insistence, the original: "H. King, taking the piss since 1961". Of note is the fact he employs most of the gnolls in the city (a race that spends all their time picking up trash), never forgets a debtor and needs to take two baths just to elevate himself to the rank of dirty.

He keeps ferocious mongrel guard dogs on his property. He wouldn't 'buy posh foreign dogs when he can buy crossbreeds'. Moist Von Lipwig mistakes the dogs for Lipwigzers (probably Discworld Rottweilers), a particularly savage breed of dog, but one which, as a Lipwig, he is familiar with, and is quite worried to find out that they are not after facing them in the 'ultimate test' to join the Ankh-Morpork Order of Postal Workers Benevolent and Friendly Society. Harry prefers it when burglars break in so he doesn't have to feed the dogs.

[edit] Lavaeolous

The Discworld equivalent of Odysseus. He was the finest military mind on the continent of Klatch. His genius consisted of realising that, if there has to be a war, the aim should be to defeat the enemy as quickly and with as little bloodshed as possible - a concept so breathtaking in its originality that few other military minds have been able to grasp it, and it shows what happens when you take the conduct of a war away from skilled soldiers. He was a hero of the Tsortean Wars, which he ended by bribing a cleaner to show him a secret passage into the citadel of Tsort. It is possible that he is the ancestor of Rincewind as his name means "rinser of winds".

He appeared in Eric.

[edit] Doctor John "Mossy" Lawn

A doctor in Ankh-Morpork. He first appeared in Night Watch, as a backstreet "pox doctor", offering medical assistance to "seamstresses". He had trained in Klatch, where he had learnt techniques other Morporkian surgeons distrusted, but which kept patients alive for longer than it took to pay the bill. He also gave free treatment to those who needed it, including those who had been tortured by the Cable Street Particulars. He is a quiet but sarcastic man, and almost unshockable. Following his successful delivery of Young Sam, Samuel Vimes gave him a large area of land in the Goosegate area of the city. In Going Postal this is the Lady Sybil Free Hospital (possibly a parallel to the real-life St Bartholomew's Hospital). Dr Lawn's preferred method of dealing with the nursing staff is to throw a handful of chocolates in one direction and run in the other as fast as possible. He claims that, when he dies, he wants a bell left on his gravestone so he can have the pleasure of not getting up when people ring.

[edit] Myria LeJean

Appears in Thief of Time. She makes her entrance as a stunningly attractive woman with long black hair, eccentric mannerisms and seemingly unlimited wealth. Myria, in fact, turned out to be the first of The Auditors to inhabit a human body for the purposes of manipulating Jeremy Clockson to stop Time, and to gain an understanding of humans.

She initially gave a distinct impression of being inhuman despite her looks, but as time passed she not only learned to be a better mimic, but began to be lured into humanity. Both terrified and fascinated by such things as individuality (something that had been completely foreign), the subconscious, flavor, culture and emotions, Myria gradually gave up her Auditorial traits.

As Jeremy's project neared completion, Myria had proceeded from discarding her vessel when not required to experimenting with eating. She found herself increasingly dismayed with, and eventually in open rebellion against, the 'collective' of The Auditors. Forming an unlikely alliance with Susan Sto Helit and Lu-Tze, she contributed her knowledge of her former 'race' to the trio. Susan immediately recognized Myria's name as a crude pun on "Myrios" - "innumerable" and "Legion" and partially overcame her hatred of the Auditors to rename her Unity.

While the Auditors were foiled, Unity was left a traitor, unable despite all her attempts to understand a species she had joined as an adult without any kind of childhood, and with Jeremy, the object of her affections, permanently out of the picture. Her soon-following death was a suicide in a giant vat of chocolate (with some assistance of the personification of Kaos).

She explains that she was always an individual, even as an Auditor, her evidence is that she survived her dreams, when all other Auditors would perish; being creatures of order and perfection, the chaos of the human mind when it is left to wander will kill them. After she died, she was met by Death, indicating that she had become a genuine person and faced reincarnation.

[edit] Lady Margolotta

A vampire from Uberwald and a major player in that region's brutal politics. So far only seen in The Fifth Elephant, she resides in a castle that looks "as though it could be taken by a small squad of not very efficient soldiers". The inside is decorated with chinz. Margolotta herself wears a pink jumper with embroidered bats, and carries a little ratlike dog with her. A "black ribboner", she has forsworn blood in favour of the far more satisfying hunt that politics can offer. Long ago, she had a liaison of sorts with the young Lord Vetinari. Apparently, he taught her all she knows.

[edit] Modo

A dwarf, he is the gardener at Unseen University. He is a conscientious gardener, but its location on the campus of a major magical faculty means that his handiwork has a tendency to be disrupted by supernatural events. Modo believes in compost in much the same way that humans believe in gods (dwarves aren't religious, exactly). It is unknown what he puts in his compost but it certainly brings up the roses (his rhubarb grew to thirty foot tall and caught fire when said compost was administered to it). His personal theory is that they want to get as far away from the compost as possible. His compost also, for one brief moment in Reaper Man, came alive, and it took a whole bottle of Wow-Wow sauce to stop it.

He is a cousin of Glod Glodsson (Soul Music).

[edit] Mort

Main article: Mort and Ysabell

[edit] Nijel the Destroyer

Nijel the Destroyer, son of Harebut the Provision Merchant, is a would-be barbarian hero, appearing in Sourcery. Nijel met Rincewind in a snake pit and they escaped together. He fell in love with Conina at first sight, and she with him. He is a clerk who wants to be a Barbarian Hero and is currently half-way through a book on the subject, which includes a table of wandering monsters and tends to resemble a Dungeons & Dragons manual, while she is a Barbarian Heroine who wants to be a Hairdresser but can't due to her genes. In addition to the standard loincloth, Nijel wears woolen long underwear- his mother insisted.

[edit] Mightily Oats

Appears in Carpe Jugulum. More properly called The Quite Reverend Mightily-Praiseworthy-Are-Ye-Who-Exalteth-Om Oats (it is shorter in Omnian), he is a priest of the Omnian faith who performs the naming of Esmeralda Margaret Note Spelling, Princess of Lancre. It's his nerves that cause him to mistakenly speak the final two words of her name out loud, although this is not (apparently) the first time this has happened at a royal naming (Nanny Ogg cites a past ruler of Lancre, King Ye-Gods-He's-Heavy the 1st). He is also, quite literally, in two minds about everything, much like Agnes Nitt, since he combines a strict religious upbringing with a logical mind that tends to think too hard about such things.

In the beginning he appears to be very much the stereotypical Anglican priest, constantly ensuring both sides of the argument are heard, and being painfully tolerant of others' views. After spending a long journey with Granny Weatherwax however, he changes quite a lot, and regains his religious fire. His current location is unknown, but presumably somewhere in Überwald. While he is considered a minor character, it is almost certain that Granny would have died without his assistance, even if no one will admit it. Due to him hearing her talking with Death and with herself while fighting off the Vampyre bite, and also through his direct conversations with her, he may well understand Granny better than anyone else.

Mightily Oats's name may be a reference to Titus Oates, a 17th century British clergyman and fraud, and possibly to If-Jesus-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barbon. His black hat would also fit the image of the official logo for Quaker Oats.

[edit] Jason Ogg

Eldest son of Nanny Ogg, first mentioned in Wyrd Sisters. Like his father before him he holds the office of Lancre blacksmith, which brings with it the obligation to shoe anything, and the concomitant ability to shoe anything: he has shod an ant, a unicorn, and (at regular intervals and with specially reserved metal) Death's horse Binky. He also knows the Horseman's Word, a secret to pacifying belligerent stallions he has to shoe (though, as Granny Weatherwax discovered, the "Horseman's Word" involves threats to apply a large hammer with great force to certain parts of the stallion's anatomy). He is also the leader of the Lancre Morris Men, who treat Morris dancing as something between a contact sport and a martial art.

[edit] Shawn Ogg

Youngest son of Nanny Ogg. First appears in Wyrd Sisters as a guard at Lancre Castle. Since then he has become Lancre's entire standing army (except when he's lying down), as well as the civil service and most of the palace staff. According to Nanny Ogg's Cookbook he has been granted the Order of the Lancrastian Empire. He is also notable for inventing small and almost pointless devices including the Lancrastian Army Knife (an obvious pun on the famous Swiss Army Knife).

[edit] Polly Perks

The main character in Monstrous Regiment. A Borogravian girl of 19 who joined the army under the name Oliver Perks to rescue her brother Paul and save her family's inn. She chose her false name, Oliver, because it corresponded with the folksong Sweet Polly Oliver, which is about a girl running off to join the army. As a member of the Cheesemongers, Private 'Ozzer' Perks serves with the colorful Sgt Jackrum, a reformed vampire of ambiguous gender named Maladict, a troll called Carborundum, an Igor, and a few even stranger people, who are, in fact, just humans.

[edit] Walter Plinge

The odd-job man at the Ankh-Morpork Opera House. Plinge was an awkward, nervy figure in a beret, extremely similar to Frank Spencer from the BBC sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em. However he had a secret identity as the suave and sophisticated "Opera Ghost" (i.e. the Phantom of the Opera). (This is a play on the fact that Spencer was played by Michael Crawford, who went on to play the Phantom in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.) Convinced by Agnes Nitt that he was wearing his mask on the inside, he became the director of music, following the death of Salzella. He writes popular operas "with tunes you can hum", a Discworld parallel to Lloyd Webber's modern operas.

See also: Walter Plinge

[edit] Windle Poons

Windle Poons was a wizard at the Unseen University until the age of 130, whereupon he died and unwillingly became one of the undead, due to Death's absence. After his 'death', his senses are quite enhanced from their 130-year-old state although his appearance is somewhat unsettling, mostly from a failed attempt at preventing rotting via an advanced form of biofeedback (basically, controlling the reactions of your organs voluntarily). After numerous attempts to take his own life...or after-life...he joined a band of undead misfits and eventually helped to defend the city of Ankh-Morpork against the additional lifeforce on the Discworld. Before Reaper Man, Windle Poons appeared in one other Discworld novel, Moving Pictures. His physical and mental state then could be described as "invalid, deaf, wandering of mind and hot on the ladies' behinds in his wheelchair".

Like most of the University staff, he has also made an appearance in the Discworld computer games. In Discworld, he mainly voices a paranoid fear of having his staff taken away and, when engaged in conversation, constantly returns to the subject of pickles. He also appeared throughout Discworld II: Missing Presumed...!?; as in Reaper Man, his funeral is spoiled by the non-arrival of Death.

[edit] Pteppic

King Pteppicymon XXVIII of Djelibeybi (lit. "Child of the Djel", the Disc's version of Egypt) is the main character in Pyramids. The first king to leave the kingdom, he was trained at the Ankh-Morpork Assassins' Guild. He passed his final exam by a fluke, having already decided he wasn't going to kill anyone. His cosmopolitan nature clashed with the hidebound traditions of the kingdom and the even more hidebound high priest Dios, and after saving Djelibeybi from destruction and shaking up its traditions, he abdicated.

[edit] Ptraci

Queen Ptraci I of Djelibeybi. Pteppic's half-sister and successor. A former handmaiden, the Djelibeybian priests thought she would be easy to control. They turned out to be very wrong. Like her half-brother she is keen to get in some decent plumbing. Appears in Pyramids; by the end of the novel she is enthusiastically embracing many of the stranger regimens, such as bathing in ass's milk, favoured by Cleopatra.

[edit] Pump 19

A golem who appeared in Going Postal. More commonly referred to as Mr. Pump, he received his name from his previous position, where he spent over two hundred years operating one of a series of underwater pumps. He has since entered the employ of the Patrician, who uses him as a parole officer. He has been extremely successful in this, as he can follow his target anywhere by tracking their Karmic signature, and though he cannot run, golems never need to stop, or rest, or eat: as the Patrician put it: "Four miles an hour is 672 miles in a week. It all adds up" - although as a Discworld week has eight days rather than seven, golems are apparently obliged to stop on the eighth day as their holy day to ensure that their words still work. Like All Golems, When He Speaks, The First Letter Of Each Word Is Capitalized.

[edit] Quoth

A talking raven. He hangs around with the Death of Rats. His name derives from the famous line in the poem by the poet Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven ("Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore'.") except this raven "doesn't do the N word". He got his name because his previous owner, a wizard, had no sense of humour. At times he acts as steed and interpreter for the Death of Rats and he has a constant craving for eyeballs – a species characteristic (which, he recalls, resulted in an unfortunate end to ravens working under Blind Io, the king of the Discworld Gods, who has innumerable eyeballs floating around his head.). He was originally one of the ravens from the Tower of Art, the magical properties of which gave him his ability to speak.

He was first seen in the Discworld novel Soul Music, and since then has made appearances in all novels involving Susan Sto Helit. In the Sky One adaptation of Hogfather he is to be voiced by Neil Pearson.

[edit] Olaf Quimby II

A past Patrician of Ankh-Morpork referred to in The Light Fantastic, Olaf Quimby was noted for his interest in honest and accurate descriptions as well as proper standards for everything, particularly metaphor. As Patrician, he used his power to enforce laws against creative exaggeration in writing. For example, no bard was allowed to say of a hero that "all men spoke of his prowess" on pain of death; he should instead add that some people spoke ill of the hero and that still others did not know of him at all. Similarly, the phrase "her face launched a thousand ships" could only be used to describe a beautiful woman if relevant shipyard records were produced or, failing that, evidence that the woman's face resembled a champagne bottle.

As far as standardization was concerned, Quimby instituted the Ankh-Morpork Bureau of Measurements, in which is kept the standardized Blunt Stick (originally a Sharp one was on display as well, but very few things were found worse than a poke in the eye with it), the recipe for the Pie that It May be As Nice As, Two Short Planks and the stone used in the original Moss-Gathering Trials. This Bureau is maintained by the current Patrician, Lord Havelock Vetinari, on the grounds that the sort of people whose minds work like this ought to be kept busy, or they might do anything.

Quimby's reign ended when he was killed by a disgruntled poet during an experiment to test the truth of the saying "The pen is mightier than the sword". In his memory, it was amended to read: "The pen is mightier than the sword only if the sword is very small and the pen is very sharp".

It has been noted that many Ankh-Morporkians tend to have a certain literal mindedness. It is not known if this is the result of Quimby's rule, or simply a natural trait that reached its peak in him.

[edit] Roland (Roland de Chumsfanleigh)

Pronounced "de Chuffley" (as Pratchett says, it's not his fault). Son of the Baron of the Chalkland. Initially a rather dull-witted individual, he gained something of a conscience upon being rescued from the Queen of the Elves by Tiffany Aching. He personally apologised to Tiffany when his father made out that he had in fact rescued her, as would be expected in such a story. Tiffany was nonplussed, and claimed she needed no recompense so long as he ruled justly when he became Baron. When Tiffany went to Lancre to study witchcraft, Roland gave her a silver image of a white horse that Tiffany used to draw on the power of her homeland in times of crisis. Roland's father eventually fell very ill, and his two scheming aunts used their new position as his guardians to rob his family blind. Roland fought back as far as he could, in the process learning a great deal about surviving sieges and the art of insurgency. He was reluctantly recruited by the Nac Mac Feegle to perform the role of the mythic Hero in the Dance of the Seasons, to put right the damage Tiffany had caused. Against all expectations, he acquitted himself admirably. There are signs his feelings for Tiffany extend somewhat beyond gratitude. He also gave Tiffany a box of watercolors, one of which was turquoise, allegedly very expensive on the Discworld.

[edit] Lord Rust

An Ankh-Morpork nobleman, whose full name is Ronald (or Ronnie) Rust. He first appears in Men At Arms, in which he is one of the nobles who doesn't take D'Eath seriously. In this novel he seems to have keen political instincts; it is stated that the Rusts have survived by not being romantic.

Lord Rust makes more sizeable appearances in Jingo and Night Watch, wherein he appears overly-bred and arrogant; a brief subsequent appearance in Monstrous Regiment suggests he still has some of the intelligence of his earlier portrayal. Lord Rust's most defining characteristic, along with his arrogance, is his unsurpassed military and strategic incompetence (or, at least, his ability to achieve goals only by simultaneously sustaining devastating losses), coupled with the inexplicable ability to be repeatedly chosen to command large armies and similar organisations, hence his description as "The god's gift to the enemy, any enemy, and a walking advertisement for desertion". Also notable is his method of dealing with unpleasant occurrences. He simply mentally edits them out. The logic is, 'That sort of thing cannot happen, therefore, it did not just happen. It couldn't have.'

[edit] Mr. Salzella

The Director of Music at the Ankh-Morpork Opera House in Maskerade, most notable for an absolute hatred of opera (although he was really as "infected" with operatic romanticism as everyone else in the place). He was embezzling money and murdering people who found out, blaming the murders on the Opera Ghost. He was finally killed in an extremely operatic battle with the Ghost.

While the character is seemingly based loosely on Ambrose D'Arcy from the 1962 Hammer Horror version of The Phantom of the Opera, his name is based on Mozart's rival Antonio Salieri ("Salieri" means "seller of salt"): it is presumably intended to be pronounced "salt-seller" in the Italian fashion.

[edit] Ella Saturday

The daughter of Baron Saturday of Genua and Mrs Erzulie Gogol. She appears in Witches Abroad as an attractive young woman with brown skin and blonde hair. Her entire life has been controlled by her fairy godmother, Lady Lilith de Tempscire, to ensure that she marries Lady Lilith's pawn, the Duc (actually a frog). She spends much of her time in the palace kitchens, apparently because she enjoys being helpful, rather than because she is mistreated. Because she helps lay the fires, the palace cook nicknamed her "Embers" (she is, of course, the Discworld version of Cinderella, although the full nickname "Emberella", while never explicitly written, is referred to as sounding "like something you'd put up in the rain"). At the end of Witches Abroad, she became the Baroness of Genua.

[edit] Lord Snapcase

The Patrician who came to power after Lord Winder. Also known as Mad Lord Snapcase During his reign, he was considered "eccentric" rather than mad by the upper classes, but he is now known by most Morporkians, including the nobles, as the Mad Lord. He was sadistic, and extremely fond of torture, much like his predecessor. Mad (sometimes Psychoneurotic) Lord Snapcase was succeeded by Lord Vetinari. There are very few historical records of Lord Snapcase's tyranny. This may be because of Snapcase's mental disorder, which caused him to be very secretive while trying to spy on everyone else. Also, his obsession with his own security left him no time to govern or affect history. His overthrow, and the election of Lord Vetinari are still undocumented and even the date is in doubt.

[edit] Wallace Sonky

An Ankh-Morpork tradesman, owner of Sonky's Rubber Goods, and maker of Sonky's Preventatives. His "sonkies", as they are generally known, sell for a penny a packet. Without them, the housing problem in Ankh-Morpork would be even more pressing.

He is killed in The Fifth Elephant. He is known to have had a brother in Überwald. Also mentioned briefly in "Night Watch"

[edit] Findthee Swing

Captain Swing is the head of the Unmentionables in the Ankh-Morpork of the past in Night Watch. He is described as a thin, balding man dressed in a long, old-fashioned black coat with large pockets, and supports himself on an opera cane (which is in reality a swordstick). He always carries with him a large set of calipers and a steel ruler, with which he measures the facial characteristics of people he meets in order to determine their personal traits (phrenology), although its reliability is questionable; according to it, Vimes has the eye of a mass murderer (Vimes says he indeed does, in his back pocket) while Carcer's only problem was his environment (most likely all the dead bodies). He moves and speaks in an erratic, jumpy fashion, in bursts... and sputters ratherthan a... continuous flowof movement... or sound. He is killed by Vimes during the fire at the Unmentionables' headquarters.

The name Captain Swing has long been associated with civil unrest, being the pseudonym of the (possibly mythical) leader of the Swing Riots.

[edit] Tawneee

Tawneee (pronounced with each "e" as a separate syllable) is an exotic dancer, introduced in Thud! Tawneee is, in fact, merely her stage name; her real name is Betty. She is Nobby Nobbs's girlfriend for most of the book; they met when Nobby caught her eye while slipping an IOU into her garter belt. The fact that she is Nobby's girlfriend is somewhat shocking considering his barely human appearance and her incredibly stunning good looks. However, her looks make her unapproachable, as all men have considered her out of their league. Despite her profession, she is as humble as a caterpillar, and has about as much brains. She was completely innocent about sex, and was completely unaware that her job could be considered "acting like a floozy"; in the end, Angua and Sally explain the facts of, well, everything. Meanwhile, Nobby considers letting her down gently because she didn't know her way around a kitchen.

[edit] Victor Tugelbend

Student wizard turned actor, and protagonist of Moving Pictures. Victor's uncle left a legacy to pay for Victor's tuition at Unseen University, provided that Victor never scored below an 80 on an exam. Victor, however, decided that being a student wizard was greatly preferable to being a wizard, because as a student he could live a relatively safe and comfortable lifestyle. Therefore, Victor studied extremely hard and, when finals came around each year, carefully and competently scored an 84 -- four points above the minimum to continue receiving the legacy, but four points below the passing grade of 88. Eventually this caught the attention of the Bursar, who arranged for Victor to receive a special test consisting of only one question: "What is your name?" By this time, however, Victor had left Unseen University to become an actor in Holy Wood, under the stage name Victor Maraschino, and the test paper in question was, instead, received by accident by Ponder Stibbons. He films several movies with Ginger Withel (aka Delores De Syn), and eventually uses the magic of Holy Wood to defeat the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions with Ginger's help. Victor has not reappeared in any subsequent Discworld books. Victor is a clear reference to actor Fred Astaire, who also frequently starred with an actress named Ginger. His response at interview, "Can't sing, can't dance, can handle a sword a little" is a parody of Astaire's famous, if apocryphal, screen test result - "Can't sing. Can't act. Can dance a little."

Victor is also notable for being actively lazy; he kept himself fit because it was less effort to do things with decent muscles, and put a lot of work into avoiding work (as his University career illustrates). He was looking for a job that was romantic, but did not involve hard work, which Holy Wood provided. His stage name seems to be inspired by the 1920 Hollywood actor Rudolph Valentino

[edit] Wolfgang von Überwald

Wolfgang is the psychopathic brother of Angua, the only werewolf on Ankh-Morpork's city watch. He appears in The Fifth Elephant, where he tries to interfere in the crowning of the Dwarf's new Low King. He murdered his sister Elsa for being a yennork (a werewolf who cannot shapeshift), and presumably would have done the same to his brother Andrei, also a yennork, had he not escaped. He is his mother's favourite over Angua, whom she views with disgust for trying to be human, though it is hinted that his mother is also afraid of him. That said, he is afraid somewhat of Angua, partly because she is a better fighter than him.

Wolfgang, unlike the rest of his family, often remains naked when in his human form, seeing it as natural beauty. He continues the family's bloodsport of chasing humans through the woods, known as "The Game" though unlike the rest he does not abide by its rules (e.g. the humans should not have to 'volunteer'). Though Angua tells Carrot that he's not stupid, she later accuses him of not being smart enough to mastermind the Dwarf plot by himself (i.e. their mother helped him). He is killed ("put down") fighting Vimes, who fired a signal rocket over his head, triggering his canine impulse to catch it, whereupon it exploded.

[edit] Vorbis

In Small Gods, deacon Vorbis is the head of the Quisition, and later (for a very brief time) the Cenobiarch of Omnia. He's a frightening character, bald by design, with completely dark eyes.

Vorbis' character combines a strange mix of apparently religious mania with a fervent desire to spread the Word/Empire across all the Disc. The character of Vorbis is one that may interest any reader interested in questions regarding institutional religion, heresy, and the direct communication between God and Man. Vorbis has a reputation for being a man touched by destiny (and perhaps something else) and as being one of the most devout Omnians in the Empire ('Vorbis could humble himself in prayer in a way that made the posturings of power-mad emperors look subservient') yet in the end the reader finds that the only voice Vorbis has been listening to is his own.

The Vorbis audio codec is named after this character.

[edit] Ly Tin Wheedle

Ly is arguably the greatest philosopher on the Disc, although he is usually the one arguing for this. He comes from the Counterweight Continent, home of Rincewind's friend Twoflower. In his home country he is regarded as a great sage because of his peculiar smell, and his many sayings advocating respect for the old and the virtues of poverty are frequently quoted by the rich and elderly. He is first mentioned in The Colour of Magic.

In addition to social philosophy, Ly is also a proponent of natural philosophy. When the philosophical community came to the conclusion that distance was an illusion and all places were in fact the same place, Ly was the philosopher to make the famed conclusion that although all places were in fact the same place, that place was very big. He has also theorised on the physical underpinnings of monarchy, explaining royal succession by use of a particle known as a Kingon (or possibly Queon).

[edit] Lord Winder

Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, and predecessor to Mad Lord Snapcase. Also known as Homicidal Lord Winder. During the last years of his reign, he was, arguably, extremely paranoid, although this is disputable, due to the fact that it may not be paranoia if everybody really is trying to kill you. He took pride in being pathologically careful about everything, running Ankh-Morpork as a police state, with his dreaded Cable Street Particulars, under the command of Captain Swing, causing dissidents to disappear. He was deposed during the Glorious Revolution, during which he was very nearly assassinated by the future Lord Vetinari, managing to escape only by the possibly unique and uncharacteristically clever route of dying of fright moments before the fatal blow.

[edit] Willikins

Butler to Commander Vimes and Lady Sibyl, Willikins was in his youth a member of the Shamlegger Street Rude Boys street gang where his weapon of choice was a cap brim sewn with sharpened pennies. We discover in Night Watch that he has been in the service of the Ramkin family for most of his life. His only absence from this employment was during the events in Jingo when he joined the army during the war against Klatch. He has proven himself more than once to be a competent fighter as well as a dutiful butler.

Perhaps related to the old song "Willikins and his Dinah" - the tune for which may also be known as "Sweet Betsy from Pike"

[edit] Theda 'Ginger' Withel

A Holy Wood actress in Moving Pictures. Using the name Delores De Syn, she starred in several movies with Victor Tugelbend, usually as the maiden to be rescued. She is likely descended from the High Priestess of Holy Wood, and while sleeping, she was repeatedly possessed by an unknown force, possibly the priestess. This force used Ginger to attempt to awaken the Holy Wood guardian, which would have put a stop to the Holy Wood magic and prevented the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions from breaking through to the Discworld. Her name is likely a reference to Theda Bara and Ginger Rogers. It is also conceivable that Withel's character has a connection with Marilyn Monroe, as evidenced by Withel's daydream of the famous blowing skirt picture of Monroe.

[edit] Lupine Wonse

Former childhood friend to Samuel Vimes and later secretary to Lord Vetinari. As the Grand Master of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night, he summoned a dragon intending it to be killed by a king, whom he would then control. This failed and he found himself personal assistant to the Dragon King. Following a confrontation with the City Watch, he was killed by a metaphor, or possibly the ground, after then-Constable Carrot Ironfoundersson literally "threw the book at him" and sent him stumbling over a ledge.

[edit] William de Worde

A professional scribe who in The Truth became the editor of the Disc's first newspaper, The Ankh-Morpork Times. He has an obsessive dislike of lying, which he has learned to work around in the name of journalism. In self-imposed exile from his background of wealthy noblehood, William works hard (and with varying degrees of success) to cast off the influence of his father, Lord de Worde, an arrogant speciesist^[1] and bully.

William also appears in Monstrous Regiment, reporting on the war in Borogravia, and is mentioned in Thud!. His name is probably a play on the first two printers in England; William Caxton and Wynkyn de Worde. He also bears certain similarities to Washington Irving.

William de Worde's c-mail is WDW@Times. AM

[edit] Ysabell