Portal:Discworld
Template:/box-header Discworld is a comic fantasy book series by the British author Sir Terry Pratchett (1948 — 2015) set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which are in turn standing on the back of a giant turtle, the Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody or at least borrow ideas from J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft, and William Shakespeare, as well as myth, folklore and fairy tales, often using them for satirical parallels with current cultural, technological and scientific issues.
Since the first novel, The Colour of Magic (1983), the series has expanded, spawning several related books and maps, five short stories, cartoon and theatre adaptations and even music inspired by the series. The first live action screen adaptation for television (Hogfather) was broadcast over Christmas 2006. Another one for the cinema (The Wee Free Men) is currently in development.
Newly released Discworld books regularly top The Sunday Times bestsellers list, making Pratchett the UK's best-selling author in the 1990s. He has since been overtaken by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, but still holds the record for the most shoplifted books. 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.
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Box-header/colours' not found. Esmerelda "Esme" Weatherwax is a witch and member of the Lancre coven. From the triple nature of a coven (maiden, mother and "the other one"), Granny Weatherwax is the other one. In fact, it has been suggested that she embodies all three, but the Crone is the most obvious (she has difficulty matching the classic appearance; despite her best efforts, she still has perfect skin, not a single wart and all her teeth, although she has picked up a penetrating stare and plenty of worry lines). In the books, the triple nature of the coven is always referred to as "the maiden, the mother and... the other one" in her presence.
She is a very powerful witch, and is reckoned to be more powerful than the most well-known witch on the Discworld, Black Aliss (real name: Aliss Demurrage) who is responsible for any number of witcheries in fairy tales, such as putting a castle to sleep and getting pushed into her own oven by naughty kids. It does seem that her teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher was Black Aliss. ("I learned my craft from Nanny Gripes, who learned it from Goody Heggety, who got it from Nanna Plumb, who was taught it by Black Aliss..." – Granny, in Lords and Ladies).
Granny Weatherwax's reputation even extends beyond species barriers – the trolls of the Ramtops call her Aaoograha hoa ("She Who Must Be Avoided") and the dwarf name for her, K'ez'rek d'b'duz, translates to "Go Around the Other Side of the Mountain" (Maskerade).
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| Unseen University coat-of-arms |
The Unseen University (UU) is a school of wizardry in the Discworld city of Ankh-Morpork, staffed by a faculty composed of mostly indolent and inept old wizards. The official motto of UU is "Nunc Id Vides, Nunc Ne Vides", loosely translated as "Now you see it, now you don't". The unofficial motto is "η β π," or "Eta Beta Pi." (Eat A Better Pie). The university's name is a pun on the real-world Invisible College.
The coat of arms is a livre des sortilèges, attaché en cuivre, sur un chapeau pointu, on a field, azure. (That is: a book of magic spells, with copper clasps, over a pointed hat, on a blue background.) As usually rendered, the coat bears a strong resemblance to the coat of arms of the University of Oxford.
The University is centred around the 800-foot Tower of Art, out of which it grew; any further attempt at grasping its geography is close to pointless. Due to the high levels of background magic in the vicinity, a typical map of UU vaguely resembles an exploding chrysanthemum and is usually only valid for a day or so. This is also the cause of the various physical and biological anomalies that plague it. In some rooms the direction of gravity moves around as a day passes, and some rooms contain other rooms which contain the room you started with (especially problematic for a conga line). The University's gargoyles have taken on a life of their own (not that this is anything unusual for Discworld gargoyles in general), and both a colony of ants in the main university buildings and a flock of ravens roosting in the Tower of Art show unnatural intelligence and, for the ravens, an ability to speak. The fabric of the University is said to absorb knowledge, since all students enter university knowing absolutely everything, and leave admitting they know very little.
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| Showing 5 items out of 36 | More Discworld quotes  |
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Box-header/colours' not found. Wyrd Sisters is the sixth Discworld novel and re-introduces Granny Weatherwax of Equal Rites. Essentially a parody or calque of Macbeth, Wyrd Sisters features three witches: Granny Weatherwax; Nanny Ogg, matriarch of a large tribe of Oggs, who owns the most evil cat in the world, (Greebo); and Magrat Garlick, the junior witch, who firmly believes in occult jewellery, even though none of it works.
| Preceded by | 2nd Witches Story Published in 1988 |
Succeeded by Witches Abroad |
| Discworld reading order | Full article |
Petulia: Ephebian Goddess of "negotiable affection" Template:/box-footer
From the Discworld's craziest paragraphs:
- ...that the character of Death (right) shows up in almost every book?
- ...that The Luggage is made of sapient pearwood, an almost extinct tree whose wood is impervious to magic?
- ...that Special Sheep Liniment should on no account ever be given to sheep?
- ...that the significant owl hoots in the night, yet many grey lords go sadly to the masterless men?
- ...that cat singing consists of standing two inches in front of other cats and screaming at them until they give in?
- ...that the Gods lost the rules for Star-Crossed Lovers?
- ...that Fortinbras is the name of one of William Shakespeare's characters and his name translates as Stronginthearm?
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