Cover of an early edition of The Colour of Magic; art by Josh Kirby |
|
| Author | Terry Pratchett |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Comic fantasy |
Discworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett,[1] set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle,[2] Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft and William Shakespeare, as well as mythology, folklore and fairy tales, often using them for satirical parallels with current cultural, political and scientific issues.
Since the first novel, The Colour of Magic (1983), 39 Discworld novels have been published as of September 2011[update], five of which are marketed as children's or "young-adult" (YA) books. The original British editions of the first 26 novels, up to Thief of Time (2001), had distinctive cover art by Josh Kirby; the American editions, published by Harper Collins, used their own cover art. Since Kirby's death in October 2001, the covers have been designed by Paul Kidby. Recent British editions of Pratchett's older novels no longer reuse Kirby's art. There have also been six short stories (some only loosely related to the Discworld), three popular science books, and a number of supplementary books and reference guides. In addition, the series has been adapted for the theatre, as computer games, and as music inspired by the series. The first live-action screen adaptation for television (Terry Pratchett's Hogfather) was broadcast over Christmas 2006 for Sky1. A second, two-part TV adaptation of The Colour of Magic was broadcast on 23 March 2008 in the UK. A third two-part TV adaptation, of Going Postal, was broadcast on 30 and 31 May 2010.
Newly released Discworld books regularly top The Sunday Times best-sellers list, making Pratchett the UK's best-selling author in the 1990s, although he has since been overtaken by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. Discworld novels have also won awards such as the Prometheus Award and the Carnegie Medal. In the BBC's Big Read, four Discworld books were in the top 100, and a total of fourteen in the top 200.
Contents |
Very few of the Discworld novels have chapter divisions, instead featuring interweaving storylines. Pratchett is quoted as saying that he "just never got into the habit of chapters",[3] later adding that "I have to shove them in the putative YA books because my editor screams until I do".[4] However, the first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was divided into "books", as is Pyramids. Additionally, Going Postal and Making Money do indeed have chapters, prologue, epilogue, and brief teasers of what is to come in each chapter, in the style of A. A. Milne, Jules Verne and Jerome K. Jerome.
The Discworld novels contain common themes and motifs that run through the series. Fantasy clichés are parodied in many of the novels, as are various sub-genres of fantasy, such as fairy tales (notably Witches Abroad), witch and vampire stories (Carpe Jugulum) and so on. Analogies of real-world issues, such as religion (Small Gods), business and politics (Making Money), are recurring themes, as are music genres such as opera (Maskerade) or rock music (Soul Music). Parodies of non-Discworld fiction also occur frequently, including Shakespeare, Beatrix Potter and several movies. Major historical events, especially battles, are sometimes used as the basis for both trivial and key events in Discworld stories (Jingo, Pyramids), as are trends in science, technology, and pop culture (Moving Pictures, Men at Arms). There are also humanist themes in many of the Discworld novels, and a focus on critical thinking skills in the Witches and Tiffany Aching series.
To a greater or lesser degree, Discworld stories stand alone as independent works set in the same fantasy universe. However, a number of novels and stories can be grouped together into grand story arcs dealing with a set number of characters and events, and some books refer to earlier (or in one case, later) events. The main threads within the Discworld series are:
Rincewind was the first protagonist of Discworld; a wizard with no skill, no wizardly qualifications and no interest in heroics. He is the archetypal coward, but is constantly thrust into extremely dangerous adventures. In The Last Hero, he flatly states that he does not wish to join an expedition to explore over the edge of the Disc—but, being fully geared for the expedition at the time, clarifies by saying that any amount of protesting on his part is futile, as something will eventually occur that will bring him into the expedition anyway. As such, he not only constantly succeeds in staying alive, but also saves Discworld on several occasions, and has an instrumental role in the emergence of life on Roundworld (Science of Discworld).
Other characters in the Rincewind story arc include: Cohen the Barbarian, an ageing hero of the old fantasy tradition, out of touch with the modern world and still fighting despite his advanced age; Twoflower, a naive tourist from the Agatean Empire (inspired by cultures of the Far East, particularly Japan and China); and The Luggage, a magical, semi-sentient and exceptionally vicious multi-legged travelling accessory, made from sapient pearwood. Rincewind has appeared in six Discworld novels as well as the three Science of Discworld supplementary books.
Death appears in every novel except The Wee Free Men and Snuff, although sometimes with only a few lines, if any. As dictated by tradition, he is a seven-foot-tall skeleton in a black robe who sits astride a pale horse (called Binky). His dialogue is always depicted in small caps, and without quotation marks, as several characters state that Death's voice seems to arrive in their heads without actually passing through their ears as sound.
As the anthropomorphic personification of death, Death has the job of guiding souls onward from this world into the next. Over millennia in the role, he has developed a fascination with humanity, even going so far as to create a house for himself in his personal dimension.
Characters that often appear with Death include his butler Albert; his granddaughter Susan Sto Helit; the Death of Rats, the part of Death in charge of gathering the souls of rodents; Quoth, a talking raven (a parody of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven); and the Auditors of Reality, personifications of the orderly laws of nature and closest Death has to a nemesis. Death or Susan appear as the main characters in five Discworld novels. He also appears in the short stories Death and What Comes Next, Theatre of Cruelty and Turntables of the Night.
Witches in Pratchett's universe are largely stripped of their modern occultist, Wiccan associations (though Pratchett does frequently use his stories to lampoon such conceptions of witchcraft), and act as herbalists, adjudicators and wise women. That is not to say that witches on the Disc cannot use magic; they simply prefer not to, finding simple but cunningly applied psychology (often referred to as "headology", or sometimes "boffo") far more effective.
The principal witch in the series is Granny Weatherwax, who at first glance seems to be a taciturn, bitter old crone, from the small mountain country of Lancre. She largely despises people but takes on the role of their healer and protector because no one else can do the job as well as she can. Her closest friend is Nanny Ogg, a jolly, personable witch with the "common touch" who enjoys a smoke and a pint of beer, often leading to her singing several folk songs including Hedgehog song. The two take on apprentice witches, initially Magrat Garlick, then Agnes Nitt, and then Tiffany Aching, who in turn grow on to become accomplished witches in their own right, and, in Magrat's case, Queen of Lancre.
Other characters in the Witches series include: King Verence II of Lancre, a onetime Fool; Jason Ogg, Nanny Ogg's eldest son and local blacksmith; Shawn Ogg, Nanny's youngest son who serves as his country's entire army and civil service; and Nanny's murderous cat Greebo. The witches have appeared in numerous Discworld books, but have featured as main protagonists in seven. They have also appeared in the short story The Sea and Little Fishes. Their stories frequently draw on ancient European folklore and fairy tales, and also parody famous works of literature, particularly by Shakespeare.
The stories featuring the Ankh-Morpork City Watch are urban-set, and frequently show the clashes that result when a traditional, magically run fantasy world such as the Disc comes into contact with modern technology and civilization. They center around the growth of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch from a hopeless gang of three to a fully equipped and efficient police force. The stories are largely police procedurals, featuring crimes that have heavy political or societal overtones.
The main character is Sam Vimes, a haggard, cynical, working-class street copper who, when we first meet him in Guards! Guards!, is the drunken/alcoholic Captain of the 2-person Night Watch: lazy, cowardly, and none-too-bright Sergeant Fred Colon and Corporal Nobby Nobbs, a petty thief in his own right. Then Carrot Ironfoundersson, a 6-foot-tall dwarf-by-adoption, comes down from the mountains to join the Watch and do real policing. The Night Watch manages to save the city from a dragon, we learn that Carrot is possibly the rightful heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork, and the Patrician decides to allow Vimes to create a real police force.
Other main characters include Angua, a werewolf; Detritus, a troll; Reg Shoe, a zombie and Dead Rights campaigner; Cuddy, a Dwarf who appears in Men at Arms; Golem Constable Dorfl; Cheery Littlebottom, the Watch's forensics expert, who is one of the first dwarfs to be openly female (and who tried to rename herself "Cheri", but without success); Sam's wife, Lady Sybil Vimes (née Ramkin); and Havelock Vetinari, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork. The City Watch have starred in eight Discworld stories, and have cameoed in a number of others, including the children's book, Where's My Cow? and the short story Theatre of Cruelty.
Pratchett has stated on numerous occasions that the presence of the City Watch makes Ankh-Morpork stories 'problematic', as stories set in the city that do not directly involve Vimes and the Watch often require a Watch presence to maintain the story—at which point, it becomes a Watch story by default.
The Wizards of the Unseen University (UU) have represented a strong thread through many of the Discworld novels, although the only books that they star in exclusively are the Science of the Discworld series and the novels Unseen Academicals and The Last Continent. In the early books, the faculty of UU changed frequently, as rising to the top usually involved assassination. However, with the ascension of the bombastic Mustrum Ridcully to the position of Archchancellor, the hierarchy has settled and characters have been given the chance to develop. The earlier books featuring the wizards also frequently dealt with the possible invasion of the Discworld by the creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions, Lovecraftian monsters that hunger for the magic and potential of the Discworld.
The wizards of UU employ the traditional "whizz-bang" type of magic seen in Dungeons & Dragons games, but also investigate the rules and structure of magic in terms highly reminiscent of particle physics. Prominent members include Ponder Stibbons, a geeky young wizard; Hex, the Disc's first computer/semi-sentient thinking engine; the Librarian, who was turned into an orangutan by magical accident; the Dean; the Bursar; the Chair of Indefinite Studies; the Lecturer in Recent Runes; and the Senior Wrangler. In later novels, Rincewind also joins their group, while the Dean leaves to become the Archchancellor of Brazeneck College.
The Wizards have featured prominently in nine Discworld books and have also starred in the Science of Discworld series and the short story A Collegiate Casting-Out of Devilish Devices.
Tiffany Aching is a young apprentice witch and star of a series of Discworld books aimed at young adults. Her stories often parallel mythic heroes' quests, but also deal with Tiffany's difficulties as a young girl maturing into a responsible woman. She is aided in her task by the Nac Mac Feegle, a gang of blue, 6-inch tall, hard-drinking, loudmouthed pictsie creatures also called "The Wee Free Men" who serve as her guardians. Both Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg have also appeared in her stories. She has, to date, appeared in four novels (The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith and I Shall Wear Midnight). Major characters in this series include Miss Tick, who discovered Tiffany; Annagramma Hawkin, Petulia Gristle and Rob Anybody.
Moist von Lipwig is a professional criminal and con man to whom Havelock Vetinari gives a "second chance" after staging his execution, recognising the advantages his jack-of-all-trades abilities would have to the development of the city. After setting him in charge of the Ankh-Morpork Post Office in Going Postal, to good result, Vetinari ordered him to clear up the city's corrupt financial sector in Making Money. A third book, in which Lipwig is ordered to organise the city's taxation system, is planned. Other characters in this series include Adora Belle Dearheart, Lipwig's acerbic, chain-smoking fiancée; Gladys, a golem who develops a strange crush on Lipwig; and Stanley Howler, a mildly autistic young man who was raised by peas (Note not "on" peas, "by"), and becomes the Disc's first stamp collector.
Several other books can be grouped together as "Other cultures of Discworld" books. They may contain characters or locations from other arcs, typically not as a main protagonist or antagonist but as a supporting character or even a throwaway reference. These include Pyramids (Djelibeybi), Small Gods (Omnia), and Monstrous Regiment (Zlobenia and Borogravia).
Short descriptions of many of the notable characters that Pratchett has populated Discworld with can be found on the following pages:
| No. | Name | Published | Groups | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Colour of Magic | 1983 | Rincewind | Came 93rd in the Big Read. | |
| 2 | The Light Fantastic | 1986 | Rincewind | ||
| 3 | Equal Rites | 1987 | The Witches, The Wizards | ||
| 4 | Mort | 1987 | Death | Came 65th in the Big Read | |
| 5 | Sourcery | 1988 | Rincewind, The Wizards | ||
| 6 | Wyrd Sisters | 1988 | The Witches | Came 135th in the Big Read | |
| 7 | Pyramids | 1989 | Discworld Cultures (Djelibeybi) | British Science Fiction Award winner, 1989[5] | |
| 8 | Guards! Guards! | 1989 | The City Watch | Came 69th in the Big Read | |
| 9 | 1990 | Rincewind | |||
| 10 | Moving Pictures | 1990 | Miscellaneous (Holy Wood), The Wizards | ||
| 11 | Reaper Man | 1991 | Death, The Wizards | Came 126th in the Big Read | |
| 12 | Witches Abroad | 1991 | The Witches | Came 197th in the Big Read | |
| 13 | Small Gods | 1992 | Discworld Cultures (Omnia), The History Monks | Came 102nd in the Big Read | |
| 14 | Lords and Ladies | 1992 | The Witches, The Wizards | ||
| 15 | Men at Arms | 1993 | The City Watch | Came 148th in the Big Read | |
| 16 | Soul Music | 1994 | Death, Susan Sto Helit, The Wizards | Came 151st in the Big Read | |
| 17 | Interesting Times | 1994 | Rincewind, The Wizards | ||
| 18 | Maskerade | 1995 | The Witches | ||
| 19 | Feet of Clay | 1996 | The City Watch | ||
| 20 | Hogfather | 1996 | Death, Susan Sto Helit, The Wizards | Came 137th in the Big Read; British Fantasy Award nominee, 1997[6] | |
| 21 | Jingo | 1997 | The City Watch | ||
| 22 | The Last Continent | 1998 | Rincewind, The Wizards | ||
| 23 | Carpe Jugulum | 1998 | The Witches | ||
| 24 | The Fifth Elephant | 1999 | The City Watch | Came 153rd in the Big Read; Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 2000[7] | |
| 25 | The Truth | 2000 | Ankh-Morpork, The City Watch | Came 193rd in the Big Read | |
| 26 | Thief of Time | 2001 | Death, Susan Sto Helit, The History Monks | Came 152nd in the Big Read; Locus Award nominee, 2002[8] | |
| 27 | The Last Hero | 2001 | Rincewind, The Wizards, The City Watch | Published in a larger format and fully illustrated by Paul Kidby | |
| 28 | The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents | 2001 | Miscellaneous (Überwald) | A YA (young adult or children's) Discworld book; winner of the 2001 Carnegie Medal | |
| 29 | Night Watch | 2002 | The City Watch, The History Monks | Received the Prometheus Award in 2003; came 73rd in the Big Read; Locus Award nominee, 2003[9] | |
| 30 | The Wee Free Men | 2003 | Tiffany Aching | The second YA Discworld book | |
| 31 | Monstrous Regiment | 2003 | Discworld Cultures (Borogravia), The City Watch, The Ankh-Morpork Times | The title is a reference to The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regimen of Women;[10] 2004 nominee for Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.[11] | |
| 32 | A Hat Full of Sky | 2004 | Tiffany Aching, The Witches | The third YA Discworld book | |
| 33 | Going Postal | 2004 | Moist von Lipwig, Ankh-Morpork | Locus and Nebula Awards nominee, 2005[12] | |
| 34 | Thud! | 2005 | The City Watch | Locus Award nominee, 2006[13] | |
| 35 | Wintersmith | 2006 | Tiffany Aching, The Witches | The fourth YA book. | |
| 36 | Making Money | 2007 | Moist von Lipwig, Ankh-Morpork | Locus Award winner, Nebula nominee, 2008[14] | |
| 37 | Unseen Academicals | 2009[15] | The Wizards, Rincewind, Miscellaneous (Nutt) | Locus Award Nominee, 2010 | |
| 38 | I Shall Wear Midnight[16] | 2010 | Tiffany Aching, The Witches | Fifth YA book, Andre Norton winner, 2010[17] | |
| 39 | Snuff | 2011 | The City Watch (Sam Vimes) | Third fastest selling book in first week of publication |
Pratchett has occasionally hinted at other possible future Discworld novels. These include:
"Turntables of the Night" (1989) is set in England but features Death as a character; it is available online. There are also five short stories by Pratchett based in the Discworld:
Four of the short stories along with Discworld miscellany (e.g. the history of Thud and the Ankh-Morpork national anthem) have been collected in a compilation of the majority of Pratchett's known short work named Once More* With Footnotes.
Furthermore, there are four "Mapps": The Streets of Ankh-Morpork (1993), The Discworld Mapp (1995), A Tourist Guide to Lancre (1998), and Death's Domain (1999). The first two were drawn by Stephen Player, based on plans by Pratchett and Stephen Briggs, the third is a collaboration between Briggs and Kidby, and the last is by Paul Kidby. All also contain booklets written by Pratchett and Briggs.
Terry Pratchett has said that: "There are no maps. You can't map a sense of humour."
Several Discworld locations have been twinned with real world towns and cities. Wincanton, in Somerset, UK, for example is twinned with Ankh-Morpork, and the town is the first to even name streets after their fictional equivalents.[23][24]
Pratchett has also collaborated with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen on three books using the Discworld to illuminate popular science topics. Each book alternates chapters of a Discworld story and notes on real science related to it. The books are:
Two Discworld Quiz books have been compiled by David Langford:
Most years see the release of a Discworld Diary and Calendar, both usually following a particular theme.
The diaries feature background information about their themes. Some topics are later used in the series; the concept of female assassins and the character of Miss Alice Band were two notable ideas that first appeared in the Assassins' Guild Yearbook.
The Discworld Almanak – The Year of The Prawn has a similar format and general contents to the diaries.
Other Discworld publications include:
Rather than reading the books in publication order, another approach would be to read each storyline chronologically.[25]
The books take place roughly in real time and the characters' ages change to reflect the passing of years. The meeting of various characters from different narrative threads (e.g. Ridcully and Granny Weatherwax in Lords and Ladies, Rincewind and Carrot in The Last Hero) indicates that all the main storylines take place around the same period of time (end of the Century of the Fruitbat, beginning of the Century of the Anchovy); the only exception is Small Gods, which is set roughly one hundred years before any of the other stories.
Many stories (such as The Truth and Monstrous Regiment) nominally stand alone but, nonetheless, tie in heavily with main storylines. Many of these "standalone" stories deal with the development of the city of Ankh-Morpork into a technologically and magically advanced metropolis that readers will find analogous to real-world cities: for example, The Truth catalogues the rise of a newspaper service for the city, the Ankh-Morpork Times.
Some main characters may make cameo appearances in other books where they are not the primary focus; for example, City Watch members Carrot Ironfoundersson and Angua appear briefly in Going Postal and Making Money. A number of characters, such as members of staff of Unseen University and Lord Vetinari, appear prominently in many different storylines without having specific storylines of their own.
The Discworld specialty site The L-Space Web has assembled a graphical suggested reading order broken down according to the various story threads and cross-thread appearances by characters.[25]
Stage adaptations of 15 Discworld novels have been published. The adaptations are by Stephen Briggs (apart from Lords and Ladies by Irana Brown), and were first produced by the Studio Theatre Club in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. They include adaptations of The Truth, Maskerade, Mort, Wyrd Sisters and Guards! Guards! Stage adaptations of Discworld novels have been performed on every continent in the world, including Antarctica.
A Stage version of "Eric", adapted for the stage by Scott Harrison and Lee Harris, was produced and performed by The Dreaming Theatre Company in June/July 2003 inside Clifford's Tower, the 700 year old castle keep in York. It was revived in 2004 in a tour of England along with Robert Rankin's The Antipope. Small Gods was adapted for the stage by Ben Saunders and was performed in February 2011 at The Assembly Rooms theatre, Durham by Ooook! Productions and members of Durham Student Theatre
Due in part to the complexity of the novels, Discworld has been difficult to adapt to film – Pratchett is fond of an anecdote of a producer attempting to pitch an adaptation of Mort in the early 1990s but was told to "lose the Death angle" by US backers.[26]
A list of adaptations include:
A list of adaptations in pre-production include:
There have been several BBC radio adaptations of Discworld stories, including Wyrd Sisters, Guards! Guards! (narrated by Martin Jarvis), The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, Mort and Small Gods. On 27 February 2008, BBC Radio 4 aired the first of a five-part, weekly adaptation of Night Watch. These were also repeated in January 2010.
Most of Pratchett's novels have been released as audio books. For the unabridged recordings, books 1–23 in the above list, except for books 3, 6 and 9, are read by Nigel Planer. Books 3 and 6 are read by Celia Imrie. Book 9 and most of the books from 24 onward are read by Stephen Briggs. Abridged versions are read by Tony Robinson. Fantastic Audio also recorded two Discworld novels: Thief of Time & Night Watch.
The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Mort and Guards! Guards! have been adapted into graphic novels.
Various other types of related merchandise have been produced by cottage industries with an interest in the books, including Stephen Briggs, Bernard Pearson, Bonsai Trading, Paul Kidby and Clarecraft.
Musical releases include:
Pratchett co-authored with Phil Masters two role-playing game supplements for Discworld, utilising the GURPS system:
Video games:
The board game, Thud was created by puzzle compiler Trevor Truran. The card game Cripple Mr Onion is adapted from the novels.
Ankh-Morpork Discworld Boardgame was released by Treefrog Games in 2011, it comes in 3 different editions, with different content and different game boards, the collectible editions also have different numbering system (the number 8 is replaced by 7a).[36]