History Monks
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| Universe | Discworld |
|---|---|
| Type | Religious order |
| Founded | by Wen the Eternally Surprised, although exactly when is probably impossible to say |
| Location | Valley of Oi Dong, in the high Ramtops |
| Key people | Wen The Abbot Lu Tze Lobsang Ludd |
| Purpose | Maintaining Discworld history |
| Technologies | Time-shaping "procrastinators". Qu's devices that explode unexpectedly. |
| Powers*** | Control over time and limited time travel Monks trained by Lu-Tze can pass unnoticed anywhere |
The Order of Wen the Eternally Surprised, better known as the History Monks, and also sometimes referred to as the Men In Saffron (see Men in Black) and No Such Monastery (see NSA), is a highly secretive religious organisation in the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett, based in the Monastery of Oi-Dong. They are one of a large number of monastic orders that occupy the high Ramtops
Contents |
[edit] The role of The Order
The Order first appears in Small Gods where they are described as having the responsibility of observing significant events so that they become history, instead of just things happening. They are a Discworld equivalent of the Time Lords from Doctor Who. They also have responsibility to see history follows the right track, as set out in the huge lead-bound History Books - 20,000 of them, ten feet high, with printing small enough to need a magnifying glass to read. "When people say "it is written" - it is written here." According to Small Gods, three people go at a time to access the books because once one person did and won a large sum in bets before he was found out.
In Thief of Time we learn this is a simplification, and the main role of the monastery is to ensure anything happens at all. To do this, they have a number of methods for moving and storing time, namely one by means of spinning cylinders called "procrastinators", which look like Tibetan prayer wheels, and are evocative of the Tipler Cylinder theory. (It having been established as early as Wyrd Sisters that people's perception of time affects its flow on the Disc, the Monks must ensure this does not become a problem, by, as an example, taking some time from the middle of the ocean ('how much time does a codfish need?') and putting it in Ankh Morpork.)
They also frequently need to enter the world, to take a more direct hand in events. It is for this reason that a number of monks have been trained as ninjas. Many of them have since been retrained by Lu-Tze, who believes most problems can be sorted out without resorting to martial arts.
Because of the Order's control of Time, the valley is permanently reliving a perfect day, with the cherry blossom beginning to fall. Which is too bad if you actually want cherries.
[edit] Members
[edit] Lu-Tze
Main article: Lu-Tze
Lu-Tze appeared in Small Gods and had a substantial role in Thief of Time, in which we learn that he is not a monk at all, but "merely" a sweeper at the Monastery of Oi-Dong. In fact, he uses the same trick (that no-one notices a sweeper) in the monastery as he does when out in the world, and has learnt as much about the nature of time as some of the higher monks simply by tidying up the classrooms. Everyone knows that Lu-Tze is one of the best, but few realise who he actually is. He is described as being somewhat short, bald, wrinkly, and with a scrubby beard. He smokes little cigarettes, in much the same way that Nobby Nobbs does. He also looks 'generically ethnic' so that he could have come from anywhere. Lu-Tze enjoys making and keeping gardens, and is highly skilled with a broom or rake or similar tool (when he raked a gravel path at the Citadel in Omnia (Small Gods) he left curves and scallop patterns which looked so nice that Brutha felt guilty about walking on them.) Lu-Tze, while he almost never uses martial arts, is renowned as a terror in the enlightenment country. At dojos across the mountains, students have Rule One drilled into their heads ("Never act incautiously when confronting a little bald wrinkly smiling man"). When he does use martial arts, Lu-Tze is unmatched. He is the only person who knows 'deja fu', a fighting style in which the hands move in time as well as space. He later appears in Night Watch, in order to assist Samuel Vimes' attempt to return to his own time. He is known to tend to bonsai mountains, which are like bonsai trees, only, well, mountains, and when not in the world, generally resides in the garden of 5 surprises (some of the surpises are quite lethal).
[edit] Lobsang Ludd
Lobsang was raised by the Ankh-Morpork Thieves' Guild, but was discovered by Soto of the History Monks when Lobsang performed the Stance of the Coyote (personalized time shift, possibly a reference to cartoon character Wile E. Coyote's ability to pause in mid-air, often for comic effect) in order to save his own life after falling from a rooftop. Afterwards he was raised in the Temple, where he confounded his teachers by knowing too much. Eventually he was apprenticed to Lu-Tze and went out into the world to stop the second Glass Clock, which was being constructed by his temporal double, Jeremy Clockson.
It is revealed that he is the son of Wen the Eternally Surprised and the personification of Time. After fusing with Jeremy, Lobsang inherited all of Time's powers and eventually took over her role.
At the end of Thief of Time he shares an unspecified "perfect moment" with Susan Sto Helit (a.k.a. Susan Death), who is also a human who inherited qualities from an anthropomorphic personification. Lobsang inherited powers directly from his parent; she, indirectly from a foster grandparent. His incarnation of Jeremy had romantic inclinations to Myria LeJean, the first embodied Auditor, who shared the feeling but wasn't able to express it, due firstly to Jeremy's nullification and secondly due to her committing suicide via 10,000-gallon vat of chocolate at the end of Thief of Time.
The name may be a reference to Lobby Ludd, one of the fictitious names used by British newspapers in their You are X and I claim my five pounds promotions in the 1930s and to Lobsang Rampa, an English supposed reincarnated monk.
[edit] Other members
- Wen the Eternally Surprised. The founder of the order, and the writer of the History Books. Wen was the first person to fully grasp the nature of time, and is involved in a relationship with the personification of Time. Considering the name of the castle Oi Dong, he is an obvious reference to King Wen, the mythical author of I Ching, (The Book of Changes).
- Clodpool the Apprentice. Wen's extremely stupid apprentice. Wen stated that if Clodpool could learn his teachings, anyone could.
- The Abbot. One of the wisest minds on the Disc, capable of thinking in sixteen dimensions. He has not acquired the "circular-aging" ability of the other monks, however, and must therefore reincarnate. (He could be compared to the Dalai Lama in this sense.) His body is about a year old during Thief of Time, though his mind is certainly many centuries old.
- Qu. A mechanically-minded, white-haired monk with a fascination for things that go bang. Qu invents most of the weaponry that the order's martial artists take on their missions into the world. He is based on the James Bond character Q. Technically though, in Pinyin his name would be pronounced chu.
- Marco Soto. A monk with a huge ponytail, he claims he does have a shaved head and the hair is a separate entity. Currently the head of the History Monks based in Ankh-Morpork. A student of Lu-Tze, he knows there are many ways for a monk to become invisible, but the best is to be holding a begging-bowl. Devoted to peace and cosmic harmony, as long as no-one touches his hair. He is named after a Discworld fan who won a charity auction to appear as a cameo character.
- Soon Shine Sun. Another monk based in Ankh-Morpork. Soon Shine Sun runs the second-hand clothes shop ("shonky" shop) next to the Order's Ankh-Morpork temple. He avoids awkward questions by feigning a near total inability to speak the Morporkian language.
[edit] Other Ramtop monasteries
The valleys of the Ramtops nearest The Hub are home to a large number of similar vaguely Buddhist monastic orders, probably due to the strength of the magical field there. The area is described in the books as "Enlightenment country".
The monasteries mentioned in the books include:
[edit] The Balancing Monks
First mentioned in Pyramids as running a free hospital in Ankh-Morpork. The Discworld Companion explains that the Balancing Monks believe the Disc's position on the back of the elephants is precarious, and small weights must be placed in significant positions to stop it tipping over. It is considered they must be correct, since the Disc hasn't tipped over yet. According to Thief of Time they are based in a vertiginous temple criss-crossed with tightropes.
[edit] The Monks of Cool
The monastery of the Monks of Cool is found in a laid back valley in the lower Ramtop mountains. They are a reserved and secretive sect and believe that only through ultimate coolness can the universe be comprehended, that black goes with everything, and that chrome will never truly go out of style. To become a fully accepted Monk, a novice is given the following test. Several outfits are laid out in front of him and the tester asks, "Yo, my son, which of these outfits is the most stylish thing to wear?" The correct answer is "Hey, whatever I select." The Monks of Cool have been mentioned in Lords and Ladies and Thief of Time.
[edit] The Listening Monks
The Listening Monks are first mentioned in Mort. They believe that, as nothing the Creator made can be destroyed, the echos of the Word that created the universe must still exist. Their monastery is shaped like an ammonite and built into the exact opposite of an echo valley, funelling all sound into the main chamber where three monks listen, trying to filter the sound of creation from all the noise of the world. (This could be compared to the real-world study of cosmic background radiation).
A novice is not accepted unless he can tell, through sound alone, if a coin has come up heads or tails. When he has completed his training, he is expected to know what colour it is.
By the time of Soul Music, they have discovered that the sound that brought the universe into being was not a Word, but a musical chord ("the ultimate power chord"). They continue to listen, as they can just make out sound that preceded the creation of the universe, and may put the chord into context. It says in Soul Music that the greatest listeners have determined that the sound before the creation of the universe is "One, two, three, four." and that the greatest listening monk heard a sound before that, going " One, two."
As with the History Monks, the abbot of the Listeners is continually reincarnated. Unlike the Abbot of the History Monks, however, he does not remember his previous lives.
[edit] Yen Buddhists
The Yen Buddhists believe that money is a temptation and tarnish to the soul. Thus they believe it is their duty to gather as much of it as they can, to minimize the risk to naive innocents.
