From Discworld & Pratchett Wiki
Blurb
As it moves towards a seemingly inevitable collision with a malevolent red star, the Discworld has only one possible saviour. Unfortunately, this happens to be the singularly inept and cowardly wizard called Rincewind, who was last seen falling off the edge of the world ....
Characters
Major Characters
Minor Characters
- Galder Weatherwax, 304th Archchancellor of Unseen University
- Buggy Swires (first appearance)
- Bethan
- Horse People, collective name for the Horse Tribes in the Hubland steppes
- Herrena the Henna-Haired Harridan (first appearance)
- Kwartz, a homophone of Quartz
- Krysoprase (first appearance), a homophone of Chrysoprase
- Breccia (troll), not to be confused with Breccia, a troll crime syndicate, though the latter is possibly named after the former; named after Breccia
- Jasper, named after Jasper
- Beryl, named after Beryl
- Old Grandad, nickname for a troll whose real name we do not learn
- Weems, Morpork mercenary
- Lackjaw, dwarf jeweler
Cameos
Things/People mentioned
- Ly Tin Wheedle -- famous philosopher
- Seal of Eightfold Stasis -- magical seal with considerable stopping power
- Book of Going Forth Around Elevenish -- book written by rather lazy Llamaic sect
- Bumper Fun Grimoire -- book possibly containing last original joke in the universe
- Sky God and Celestial Cow -- possible creators of the universe according to some theories
- Azimrothe, T'chikel, Yrriph, Kcharla, Cheliliki, and Orizone -- supernatural entities by which Death can presumably be commanded (though Galder Weatherwax may just be posturing, especially since Death is answering questions freely anyway)
- Iyt Gryet Teymple hyte Tsort, Y Hiystory Myistical -- a book (perhaps the only one) about the Pyramids of Tsort.
- Just A Mountain -- a mountain with a silly name
- I Don't Know, What? -- a geographical feature of unknown type with a silly name
- The Little Folks' Book of Flower Fairies -- a book about pixies that Twoflower read as a child
- Skrelt Changebasket
- Granny Whitlow -- witch who built a candy cottage (even though it sounds more like something Black Aliss would do)
- Topaxci, the God of the Red Mushroom -- sometimes seen by hallucinogen-enhanced shaman
- Skelde, Spirit of the Smoke -- sometimes seen by hallucinogen-enhanced shaman
- Umcherrel, the Soul of the Forest -- sometimes seen by hallucinogen-enhanced shaman
- A box with many little legs that looks malevolently upon you without eyes -- sometimes seen by hallucinogen-enhanced shaman. However, this one is for real...
- charm, persuasion, uncertainty, bloody-mindedness -- according to druids, the universe's operation depends on these four forces
- bronze torc -- apparently a small unit of druid currency
- Dean of Liberal Studies -- swallowed by the Luggage
- Chant of the Trodden Spiral -- software-like chant designed for "concentric circle computing"
- Moon goddess -- who virgin druids meet when they are sacrificed (later in the book, we learn there are several moon goddesses)
- Rhunlet Vard -- apparent successor to Greyhald Spold (but opposed by Trymon)
- Mirror of Oversight -- magical device
- Runes of M'haw
- manicreach -- creature whose entrails can be used for scrying purposes
- Young Men's Pagan Association -- parody of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA)
- Woo Hun Ling's Oriental Exotica and Martial Aids -- a shop on Heroes Street. Interestingly, the shop name does appear to be "martial" (relating to war), not "marital" (relating to marriage), possibly a typo, but perhaps an intentional joke. It's also interesting that the shop's name contains the word "Oriental": on the Disc, shouldn't this be Agatean?
- Nosehinger on the Laws of Contract, a book Twoflower gives the Four Horseman to learn bridge
- Cimbar -- an Assassin
- Creosote -- Seriph of Al Khali in the expression "as rich as Creosote"
- Captain Eightpanther's Traveller's Digestives -- a type of biscuit (full name given in The Colour of Magic, though possibly the human equivalent of dwarf bread
- Wandering Shop -- theoretical galactic empire controlled by shopkeepers (reminiscent of Robert Asprin's Deva?)
- Ancient Ones -- omniscient multi-verse beings who know everything about all the universes
- Cupumuguk snow runes -- a language that the Eight Spells appear in briefly
Locations
- Ankh-Morpork
- Krull
- Dungeon Dimensions
- Your Finger You Fool, a forest in Skund, rimwards of the Ramtop Mountains, including:
- Mount Oolskunrahod, a mountain whose name translates to "Who is this Fool who does Not Know what a Mountain Is"
- Vortex Plains
- The Octavo (in certain metaphysical respects)
- Trollbone Mountains
- Death's Domain
- River Smarl, a river connecting to the Circle Sea
- Skillet, Wang, Yrxle!yt, Bunglestiff, Cwmlad and Patel, a wandering shop appearing inside brick wall
Series notes
- First mention of animate Gargoyles
- Rincewind says that talking to trees is mad (a possible reference to King George III), but he spoke extensively with dryads in The Colour of Magic
- "Normally informative demons summoned abruptly from the Dungeon Dimensions" implies demons come from the Dungeon Dimensions, but Eric states that demons and their Hell are quire different from the Dungeon Dimensions.
- Rincewind seems shocked at the concept of a Tooth Fairy, even though they seem to be well known in Hogfather
- The description of gnomes and their lives as "nasty, brutish, short" parodies the famous quote from Thomas Hobbes's The Leviathan
- The bursar in this book "was not a wizard" (somewhat surprisingly?), and is thus not the Bursar
- Broomsticks have handlebars, a sophistication of design that witches encountered from Equal Rites onwards seem to do perfectly well without. Although Granny Weatherwax would no doubt look upon them as the equivalent of training wheels on a bicycle.
- The Spells' recollection of how the Universe started is more accurately recounted in Eric
- Twoflower states the priests "at home" go around with begging bowls and are holy men who dedicate themselves to the study of the nature of God, but, in The Colour of Magic, he claims that, where he comes from, there are no Gods.
- "Rincewind remembered that it was said that druids used strange and terrible potions. Of course, it was often said, usually by the same people, ... if the gods had wanted men to fly they'd have given them an airline ticket". An "airline ticket"? On Discworld?
- The game Twoflower teaches the Four Horsemen is, of course, contract bridge, which is ironically the name of a bridge in Ankh-Morpork
- The iconograph imp, a creature of Hell, doesn't recognize Death's Domain (perhaps because imps (demons) can't die?) nor the Octavo.
- The only fact Rincewind knows about trolls (that they turn to stone when exposed to sunlight) is incorrect: we later learn that trolls turn to stone due to heat, not light - which evolves over the series so that they get more and more stupid with heat.
- "It is possible to stab a troll..." -- Rincewind did exactly this (with a little help from The Lady) in The Colour of Magic
- When the Spell kills a man (through Rincewind), not even the man's smoking boots are left, violating narrativium (perhaps implying the loss of magic also resulted in a loss of this substance?)
- Cohen runs from a mob here, but refuses to run from an army of 700,000 men in Interesting Times.
- The Luggage's ability to follow Twoflower extends to Death's Domain and the Octavo, but not to wandering shops.
- "Rincewind knew what orgasms were ... had a few in his time, sometimes even in company". Since wizards are supposed to be celibate, one wonders in what company Rincewind had orgasms (perhaps the heroes' belief that wizards have homosexual tendencies isn't completely false?)
- The Octavo is described as giving off "the light fantastic" (a rather disappointing purple colour), the title of the book. Wouldn't it give off the the colour of magic? Or are these the same thing?
- Rincewind unlocks the wizards trapped by Trymon, who then see him save the world. However, in Interesting Times, Rincewind tells Mustrum Ridcully that no one from the university had ever seen him save the universe (many of the wizards Rincewind rescues are turned into statues, and maybe all of the others die before Interesting Times?)
- The line "nothing [Twoflower] looks at is ever the same again. Including me [Rincewind], I suspect" somewhat foreshadows Interesting Times
