r/discworld

I am currently reading Feet of Clay and I came across the following passage :

>Vimes rolled his eyes. ‘Yes, Constable Visit?’ ‘Visit-The-Infidel-With-Explanatory-Pamphlets, sir,’ said Constable Visit, looking hurt. ‘“The-Infidel-With-Explanatory-Pamphlets”. I was just about to say it, Constable,’ said Vimes. ‘Well?’

The reading progressed smoothly until I reached the footnote… :

>Constable Visit was an Omnian, whose country’s traditional approach to evangelism was to put unbelievers to torture and the sword. Things had become a lot more civilized these days but Omnians still had a strenuous and indefatigable approach to spreading the Word, and had merely changed the nature of the weapons. Constable Visit spent his days off in company with his co-religionist Smite-The-Unbeliever-With-Cunning-Arguments, ringing doorbells and causing people to hide behind the furniture everywhere in the city.

…at which point I burst out laughing, realizing that Jehovah's Witnesses were being referenced. In my country (and I'm certain in others as well), Cameroon, they are widely known for going door to door in pairs to evangelize and distribute pamphlets. Many people pretend not to be at home in order to avoid them.

Subtitle: I'm bored and feeling a bit rubbish so I want to spread some cheer around

Do you want a custom flair in this community?

Think "GNU Pterry" or "An actual seamstress" or "Ho, the Megapode!". Text emojis such as 𓆉 or 𓃰 should also work

Stick the request in this thread, starting with "Flair:" and I'll change it for you

Rules: must be vaguely Discworld/Pratchett related and can't be offensive

In my semi-chronological (reading out loud the witches series to my wife at night while I try to keep on the pace of the other books on my own for the rest of the day) first readthrough, I just finished Equal Rites a bit before The Light Fantastic.

After two books that went full on parody we get to a book that explores gender and power dynamics. And as an autistic non-binary person I am I identified with Esk from the very start.

The way her dynamic with his brothers consisted of them saying factually wrong things about how magic works and Esk understanding it from an instinctual level was fascinating to read, specially after coming from two books about a failure wizard.

But the real juice of the book is on her dynamic with Granny Weatherwax, the way she at all costs wants her to be a witch, but Esk’s true instincts being the ones of a wizard. That push and pull between both ways of doing magic really hit hard as a non-binary person, the same way I personally felt broken when trying to perform the male standards, it felt as something I could do while at the same time always felt like betraying my nature.

Loved how Granny had the wisdom to see while against a woman practicing the magic of men, she listens to the flow of things and things told her Esk was to be a wizard. Their travels were so much fun and my favorite part of the book. Esk’s shenaningans were a treat.

But the most powerful scene of the book came when she was traveling the caravan with Simon and Treatle, and she brought out the idea of a female wizard and they just went full on misogyny, treating witches like nurses.

The rage Esk felt at that scene where she thought to herself she was gonna be a wizard AND a witch just to prove them, is the most accurate representation of how it feels to exist as a non-binary person. I was so excited to see where the book moved forward from there.

And to make matters more exciting narration talked about ancient Lovecraftian gods trying to enter the plane of existence through wizards minds, and Esk manifesting in her mind “let them come, I don’t care anymore”, I was expecting her lack of control of both sides of magic opening some portal to a Lovecraftian invasion, and Esk herself learning to close that door through better understanding both types of magic. Maybe it was me reading too much on that scene but keep in mind it wasn’t that crazy when in the previous book we had a full on star to deal with. At the very least I was expexting Esk to go and find a way to joint both kinds of magic.

But the second half of the book didn’t deliver on that, the scene of an admission test was a failure, and from then it was Esk disguising as a maiden to access the wizard’s magic with little to none success because she didn’t know how to read.

It is as if Sir Terry was at this point very unprepared to deal with the themes that he presented here and so went through the funsies side of it, which isn’t bad, I like Terry’s funsies. But it was underwhelming with the expectations set by that super powerful scene.

Simon’s mind invation was interesting, and Granny’s fight with Cutangle plus their little adventure to retrieve the staff was super fun. And honestly I’m fine with Terry shifting the focus to Granny after setting Esk aside.

I adored Esk and can’t wait to read more of her… or so I’d say if I didn’t know she won’t appear again for another like 35 books. Why, Terry? Well at least Granny will appear a lot, I loved her as well and I know she goes on a great developing as a character.

Equal Rites had my favorite first half of the four Terry Books I’ve read, and a clunky second half with a lot to love still. I can tell Terry had at this point much to learn as an author but all the same he was on the way for greatness. Can’t wait to see how he keeps growing.

What in the blue blazes is a 'matlock' in this context?

Help please and thankyou.

Am playing Lady R in Guards! Guards!: the play and cannot find a decent discworld/dragon physiological definition any where...

[couldn't find a theatrical flair so went with art, because, you know, plays are arty]

Just in case anyone missed and was interested to watch this little piece of 2D animation. :)

I've read all the books. Multiple times. I'd like to think that I got all of the obvious puns. At this point, it should only be the really obscure ones that I haven't gotten yet.

And then he hits me with "Wen the Eternally Surprised."

All because my kid (7) asks me, "Is 'when' spelled W-E-N?"

Wen the Eternally Surprised. Is pronounced 'When'. Which is a pun because he's a major figure involving Time. I even pronounce his name as "when" in my head, and not once did I ever make the connection.

Moral of the story: beware, dear reader, because *it could happen to you.*

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to lock myself in a cupboard and read the books again...

With bonus Foul Ol' Ron mention.

You know, it's those scenes that made you put down the book to process and visualise them. Maybe, like me, you immediately imagined them as movie moments. Here are some of mine.

Victor mounting a horse made of moving pictures. It was the first Discworld book I ever read, and this moment made me sad that I couldn't see it on a big screen.

Susan and Death versus the Auditors. I saw the 2006 adaptation, but it looks way cooler in my head.

Sam Vimes rushing through crowds of terrified dwarves in an underground city shouting "WHERE IS MY COW?!"

Johnny Maxwell running through time. The trilogy has a few big moments, but this one is what I'll always remember.

And the big one, Mau walking through a whole fleet of boats full of cannibals, who drop down or jump overboard, because at this moment, there are the wings of the death god behind Mau's back.

I was always under the impression that the Luggage was... a kind of gateway, which is why it could contain completely different inventories of items each time it opens. But what actually happens when it swallows people? are they dead? do they appear somewhere else? are they now permanent part of the Luggages inventory, ready to appear (or not) when the Luggage chooses it?

So I'm a latecomer to Discworld and of course had to start at the beginning with The Colour of Magic. I was fantasy obsessed as a kid but not introduced to anything beyond LOTR so I've been trying to expand my reading. I've hit some big fantasy names in recent years but been wanting to read Pratchett's stuff for a few months.

I'd heard it's not as good as later stuff but if this isn't considered as good then I am hyped for the later stuff! I think it's brilliant, funny, witty, and just so different without being senselessly irreverent.

Would you continue on in chronological order as my stupid brain wants me to? Or would you follow different storylines/arcs and if so where would you go next?