#discworld meta

[asha-mage]

Because it's fall and I've been Going Through It for the last year or so I decided to go back and reread Mort (probably to be followed shortly by Reaper Man and Soul Music) and two things have occurred to me.

One- Sir Terry Pratchett was an incredibly gifted writer and we where extremely lucky to have him.

Two- Reading the Discworld books at a young age was probably the most effective inoculation against Sanderson's specific style of self-serious/self important high fantasy nonsense that I could have asked for.

All of the Discworld books are so incredibly sincere and funny and beautiful and profound in what they have to say about life and humanity- and it never once feels compelled to justify it's magic or it's world or it's ideas with sweatily explained rules to it's magic and world building performative expressed to the audience in a bid to be taken seriously. It is fantasy and unabashed and unashamed about that- Pratchett has no need of intricately explained magic systems to justify why Death works the way he does. Death works the way he does because it fits the tone and ideas of his story- the exact hows of things like how he can manipulate time or create a cottage out of nothingness or travel the world are unimportant. It works that way because it makes sense for the story's themes and motifs for it to work that way. It needs nothing more then that and Pratchett has the confidence to make it work.

[pendragyn]

I would have loved to see Terry Pratchett use this in Discworld, Uberwald specifically.

New regulations for the elections of the doge introduced in 1268 remained in force until the end of the republic in 1797. Their intention was to minimize the influence of individual great families, and this was effected by a complex electoral machinery. Thirty members of the Great Council, chosen by lots, were reduced by lot to nine; the nine chose forty and the forty were reduced by lot to twelve, who chose twenty-five. The twenty-five were reduced by lot to nine, and the nine elected forty-five. These forty-five were once more reduced by lot to eleven, and the eleven finally chose the forty-one who elected the doge.

Doge of Venice - Wikipedia

I think once the orcs were settled, Mr. Nutt and Glenda Sugarbean and Mightily Oats would have gone to the Werewolves and the Vampires and the Igors and the Dwarfs and the Goblins and the humans and told them this was the only fair way to bring Uberwald into the century of the fruitbat.

[anonomouslyabanana]

vetvimes parallels infodump plsss?!

WOW it's been a minute since this ask but I am FINALLY here to answer. so.

The city is a woman. The woman was a city. 

To talk about Vetvimes you do have to talk about Sybil Ramkin in some way. For all that I think a lot of the Guards books don’t do justice to her character, it’s still undeniable that she’s a vital part of Sam Vimes’ life. 

Havelock Vetinari is powerful because he commands the city. Sam Vimes is powerful because he watches the city. 

They both are the city for each other. Vetinari commands Vimes. Vimes watches Vetinari. Part of what I think makes their relationship so compelling is that neither of them could possibly share that with someone else because their ultimate life partner is the city. That’s not to say that Vimes doesn’t love Sybil or care about Young Sam more than anything, but y’know that whole phrase “how you spend your days is how you spend your life”? Sam Vimes spends his days watching the city. 

I love Sybil and I think the quote from Guards! Guards! that goes “the woman was a city” is entirely accurate in the best way possible. Sybil Ramkin is the only kind of woman Sam Vimes could ever fall in love with. A city. Vetinari is the only kind of man Vimes could commit to. His city.

Please do keep sending me discworld asks (esp for the Watch series + Monstrous Regiment). I love this series so goddamn much

[thinkanamelater]

I think Vetinari is more challenged by Moist than he is by Vimes, (not like Vimes can't stand his ground, he absolutely can), but because Moist is not loyal to him, unlike Vimes

also i think it'd be fun for Vetinari to try to replicate his relationship with Vimes, and get constantly baffled by Moist's lack of eagerness to please (though, just like Vimes, he has a strong need to be approved and liked, except Moist's is directed to Adora instead)

(i also think Vetinari should be a bit turned on by that)

[twasjane]

See, Angua has a mean streak a mile wide.

She's often judgemental and quick to jump to conclusions- but not against other women or people who genuinely want her help/advice. She's the only one who remembers Lettuce Knibbs in Men at Arms, she's the first person to recognise and encourage Cheri coming out as a woman in Feet of Clay, she tries to help Nobby in Jingo and whilst she's a little hesitant about him experimenting with gender in Fifth Elephant she accepts him regardless. She's protective of the Ins and Outs in Monstrous Regiment, she's a friend to the city witche in I Shall Wear Midnight and in Raising Steam it's obvious she and Spike get on well.

She's pretty quick to judge most men she meets, and hasn't as much patience with them either. De Worde is probably the only man in the books (apart from Carrot) she doesn't immediately treat with hostility. Carrot himself often feels her wrath when he does/says something reflective of his conservative dwarf upbringing. She loves him, but will be damned if she has to put up with his initial sexist attitudes towards out female dwarfs.

The only woman she is immediately hostile towards (apart from her mother with good reason) is Sally and yeah, even she acknowledges it's down to her own insecurities and jealousy... And a gut instinct that turned out to be correct.

By the Science of Discworld: Judgement Day (their last appearance sadly) we find out they're working together without apparent conflict. I like to think we would've got to see them properly bury the hatchet at some point and become snarky frienemies if Sir Terry hadn't been taken from us so soon.

I just... I wrote an essay in English when I was a teenager in the 90s about Angua being a feminist and I think then I meant at the time was what we now call a "strong female character ®". Now I call her a feminist because she cares about her fellow women and wanting them to live their own authentic selves. She's often afraid to be herself, fearful of her werewolf nature, so she throws herself into helping other women be who they need to be.

Also, Cheri herself is called a feminist in Snuff. Like. Canonically. In the text. Just... That's cool. I appreciate that.

[twoflowersdeadwife]

...or maybe the Lady is actually Rincewind's Mother/Creator

Clues:

Rincewind's self-proclaimed middle name is Luck (first name Bad)

He is described as a "luck sink" in Unseen Academicals (and what do you do in a sink? rinse! not a clue, just a pun)

He gets into dangerous situations (bad luck) but then always survives them (good luck)

Rincewind's mother ran away before he was born-- if taken literally, then this could only occur with magic, so his mother was either a time travelling witch or a goddess

He kept encountering the Number 8, which is considered unlucky to wizards due to the Octavo; 8 looks like an infinity symbol and also sort of like a woman's body -- who is an immortal 'woman'? The Lady (this one is kind of a stretch, I admit)

The Lady has green eyes, some of the official art portrays Rincewind with green eyes

But then who is Rincewind's father if the Lady is his mother? (if a father is even required in this situation) Possible candidates include:

Fate - an enemies-to-rivals-who-fuck romance that produced a child, Rincewind, whose fate is adventure and danger but who also has the good luck to survive it all. (yeah, Fate tried to get Rincewind and Twoflower killed, but maybe he didn't know or even didn't care Rincewind was his son)

Lavaeolus, the Rinser of Winds - who had to go on an oddessey (misspelling intentional) to get home. Maybe the Lady played the role of Circe in his journey, and Rincewind was born as a result (many years in the future, because the Lady decided she needed him at that time for her games with the other gods)

Bill Rincewind - who then, upon finding out he--who as a wizard is meant to be celibate--got a woman pregnant, went out for milk/cigarettes/beer and took the 'wrong' boat, ending up in Fourecks (this is a crack theory)

[pencildragons]

ok but the jedi as parallels of the witches of discworld. slightly mystical figures that everyone’s scared of, giving people what they need, not necessarily what they want, particularly if it’s a kick up the ass. jedi and witches as forces of good, but not some wishy-washy stuff that’s preached about and only thought of as an abstract, i’m talking solid, hard goodness that breaks your teeth when you bite into it and sits in your stomach like a rockcake. they live on the edge, helping those that aren’t seen, those that society doesn’t want to see, simply because no one else will. and darkness is a choice, but not just one big one, instead a series of justifications for slowly worsening things that you keep on choosing until you think that just because you have power, you are better than other people. you have a gift, but there is a time and a place to use it, and just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

(also jedi on broomsticks/granny weatherwax with a laser sword is just absolutely *chef’s kiss*)

[lancrewizzard]

comment on dwarf gender

O.K. from a queer pov where all roles are performative regardless of body, dwarf culture only acknowledges one to be portrayed in public, there are dwarfs that give birth and dwarfs that don't, but they all perform the same way, and THEY DON'T MENTION SEX IN PUBLIC. The gender "dwarf" is effectively Neuter. The clan that acknowledges two genders [Soul Music] was not discussed in detail so we don't know if there are trans dwarfs in that clan, but otoh there is Casanunda who is practically human, he is so Out of the closet as a Male dwarf. [And Nanny Ogg in Maskerade was said to have some dwarf ancestry, so there may have been another one like Casanunda long ago.] So we have dwarfs, generic neutral, and then we have OUT dwarfs like Cheery and Casanunda, who are openly Beings With A Gender.

ANON YOU GET IT!

Cheery is transfem and Cassanunda is transmasc, because they both are Gendered.