Welcome to the Discworld & Pratchett Wiki. Have fun, contribute and be warned articles may contain nuts and spoilers to the plots of the books.

From Discworld & Pratchett Wiki

The Colour of Magic
Cover	[[Image:|thumb|center|200px|{{{1}}}]]
Published	November 1983
Publisher	Colin Smythe
ISBN	086140324X
Pages	206
Series	Rincewind Series
Main characters	Rincewind, Twoflower, the Luggage
Annotations	Annotations for The Colour of Magic
Notes	Book #01
All data relates to the UK hardback edition.

[edit] Blurb

On a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There's an avaricious but inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course THE EDGE of the planet ...

[edit] Cover

The cover illustration was drawn by Josh Kirby. Like most of his pictures the illustration is very busy and filled with a great number of details. It presumably shows a scene inside the tavern The Broken Drum. In the foreground of the picture the Luggage can be seen running away on several small feet. Notably, is the drawing of Twoflower running down the stairs. It can be seen that the artist decided to take a passage on page 16 literally where it says "(...) Blind Hugh began, and found himself looking up into a face with four eyes in it." However, Terry Pratchett only wanted to state that Twoflower was wearing glasses.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Main characters

• Bel-Shamharoth aka "The Soul Eater", "The Sender of Eight"
• Hrun, the Barbarian, aka Hrun of Chimeria
• Liessa Wyrmbidder aka Lianna (possibly a typo)
• the Luggage
• Rincewind, and his Roundworld alias, Dr Rjinswand
• Twoflower, and his Roundworld alias, Jack Zweiblumen

[edit] Minor characters

• Arch-Astronomer of Krull, who kills Dactylos
• Bravd the Hublander
• Broadman, owner of the Broken Drum
• Death
• Disease, subordinate of Death (another name for Pestilence?)
• Lio!rt Dragonlord and Liartes Dragonlord, brothers
• Druellae, a dryad
• Famine
• Fate
• Garhartra, Guestmaster of Krull
• Goldeneyes Silverhand Dactylos
• Gorphal, student of the Agatean Empire, works for the Patrician
• Greicha
• Blind Hugh, a beggar
• Twoflower's iconograph imp, unnamed imp that nonetheless has a speaking part
• Blind Io
• Kring (the magic sword)
• K!sdra, a dragon rider
• The Lady (Luck)
• Laolith, Liessa's dragon who eats a flying pig
• Loremaster of Wyrmberg, who, among other things, notes that "It is forbidden to fight on the Killing Ground"
• Marchesa, a hydrophobic girl wizard
• Ninereeds, Twoflower's dragon
• Offler
• The Patrician
• Bronze Psepha, a dragon
• Rerpf, representative of the Guild of Merchants and Traders
• Tethis, an alien sea troll
• Cripple Wa, a beggar
• Weasel
• Stren Withel, Ankh-Morpork's second greatest thief
• Ymor, Ankh-Morpork's greatest thief

[edit] Mentioned

• Alohura, Goddess of Lightning on Trob
• Archmandrite of B'Ituni, former owner of Kring
• Archmage of Ymitury, robbed and killed by Bravd and Weasel
• Captain Eightpanther, maker of rock-hard dwarf bread-like biscuits, Captain Eightpanther's Travellers' Digestives
• Boy Emperor, who permitted Twoflower's journey and ordered the Patrician to protect him
• Chance, a god
• Codice of Chimeria, presumably (but not really) killed the last dragon
• Destiny, a god
• Zlorf Flannelfoot, president of the Assassins' Guild
• Fredor, possible owner of the Crimson Leech
• Gorrin the Cat, a thief
• Grinjo, an assassin
• Kerible the Enchanter
• Master Launchcontroller of Krull
• Night, a god
• Nine Turning Mirrors, Grand Vizier of the Agatean Empire
• Ninereeds, to whom Twoflower was apprenticed
• Olden Ones, who bound magic to obey the Law of Conservation of Reality, possibly another name for the Old High Ones, to whom even the gods must answer
• Pasha of Redurant, former owner of Kring (also known as Pasha of Re'durat)
• Pitchiu, person whose tomb is protected by Dactylos' Metal Warriors
• Reforgule of Krull, known for his theory that the disc revolves to distribute weight fairly on the four Giant elephants
• Scrofula, an ineffective demon
• Sorca, group of people who built the Light Dams of Great Nef, as designed by Dactylos
• Erig Stronginthearm
• Terton, who also mans the Circumfence, is attacked by The Luggage, and escapes to the Great Nef
• Urabewe, a nation of dark brown people
• Urmond, an assassin
• The Watch, who carefully refuse to intervene in a bar fight until everyone is either dead or has run away (in stark contrast to their later appearances)
• Heric Whiteblade, barbarian hero
• World Elephants, Berilia, Jerakeen, Tubul, Great T'Phon
• Zchloty, a coin
• Black Zenell
• Zephyrus, god of light breezes, named after the word zephyr

[edit] Locations

• Agatean Empire aka Golden Empire
  • Bes Pelargic, Twoflower's home (mentioned)
  • Red Triangle district, where the odds against a house catching fire are 538-to-1
• Ankh-Morpork
  • Wizards' Quarter (mentioned) (also called Magicians' Quarter and Magical Quarter later in the book)
  • Unseen University (mentioned)
  • Merchants Street (mentioned)
  • Crimson Leech (mentioned)
  • Deosil Gate (mentioned)
  • Pearl Dock
  • The Broken Drum
  • Temple of Small Gods (mentioned)
  • Hub Gate (mentioned)
  • Arena (mentioned)
  • Whore Pits
  • Beggars' Guild (mentioned)
  • Brass Bridge (mentioned)
  • Temple of Seven-Handed Sek
  • Plaza of Broken Moons
  • River Gate
  • Leaning Tower
  • Rime Street
  • Frost Alley
  • Groaning Platter tavern (mentioned)
  • Short Street
  • Filigree Street
  • Widdershin Gate

• Mount Awayawa (mentioned)
• Bathys, Tethis' home world
• Brown Islands (mentioned)
• Caderack Mountains (mentioned)
• Circle Sea (mentioned)
• Counterweight Continent (mentioned
• Dunmanifestin
• Chirm (mentioned)
• Ecalpon (mentioned), "no place" backwards
• Gonim (mentioned)
• Gorunna Trench (mentioned)
• Great Nef (mentioned)
  • Dehydrated Ocean (mentioned)
• Hades, another name for Hell
• Howondaland (mentioned)
• The Hub (mentioned), spire of green ice 10 miles high
• Ice System of Zeret, a non-Discworld world affected by Rincewind's transfer to/from Roundworld
• Klatch (mentioned)
• Krull
• Mithos (mentioned), incredibly rare blue milk diamonds come from the clay basins there
• Morpork Mountains
• Orohai Peninsular (mentioned)
• Palace of the Seven Deserts, built by Dactylos
• Pseudopolis (mentioned), Death stalks the streets there, "rescuing" citizens from the White Plague
• Rammerorck Mountains (mentioned)
• Mount Raruaruaha (mentioned)
• Rehigreed Province, where vul nuts are grown
• Temple of Bel-Shamharoth
• Trob (mentioned)
• Turnwise Ocean (mentioned), separates Agatean Empire from Ankh-Morpork
• Wyrmberg

[edit] Miscellaneous

Things and concepts mentioned:

• 7a
• Ajandurah's Wand of Utter Negativity, a powerful wand wielded by Marchesa
• Atavarr's Personal Gravitational Upset, a spell that makes people think they're sideways
• Big Bang Hypothesis, theory of creation parodying Roundworld theory with the same name
• Black Oroogu, a language with no nouns and only one adjective (which is obscene)
• High Borogravian, a language
• Chelonaut, Krullian equivalent of astronaut
• Chimeran, a language (interestingly, the language is "Chimeran", even though the country is "Chimeria" (with an 'i'), unless the two are unrelated?; Rincewind mentions "Chimera" (no 'i') later in the book)
• Circumfence, a strong fence around the edge of a large part of the Disc
• Fresnel's Wonderful Concentrator, a spell used to create a lens that skims across water, powered by the hate of hydrophobes. On Roundworld, a Fresnel lens concentrates light.
• Gamblers' Guild
• Ghlen Livid, a drink made from the vul nut, which allows the drinker to see into the future
• gnomes and pixies, as having died out when Man came to the Disc (though this clearly wrong as we meet gnome Buggy Swires in The Light Fantastic and the Nac Mac Feegle in the Tiffany books)
• Grey Miasma of H'rull, proverbially sticky substance, parody of quicksand
• Infernal Combustion Enigma, a powerful spell, whose name parodies the phrase "internal combustion engine"
• Mage Wars
• octarine, the colour of magic, after which the book is titled
• octiron, metal that radiates magic, parodies uranium, but sounds like iron
• octogen, gas that radiates magic, parodies radon, but sounds like oxygen
• Octarine Fairy Book, a book with pictures of dragons
• Potent Voyager, the Disc's first? spaceship
• Rimbow, 8-colored rainbow seen at the edge of the Disc
• sea grape, a kind of jellyfish
• Steady Gait, theory of creation parodying "steady state"
• Sumtri, an island and its language
• Vanglemesht, a language
• Vestcake's Floating Curse, a spell

[edit] Roundworld References

• Magnox, a type of nuclear reactor
• TWA, an airline

[edit] Movie

[edit] External links

The Colour of Magic Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File