William de Worde

2020-09-21T16:03:21Z

CassiniKepler: added snuff in cameos

{{Character Data
|title= The Reporter
|photo=wordemine.jpg|William de Worde by [[user:darkplush|Kit Cox]]
|name= William de Worde
|age= born (approx.) 1965
|race= [[Human]]
|occupation= Reporter, Editor & Publisher of the [[Ankh-Morpork Times]]
|appearance=
|residence=
|death=
|parents= Lord & Lady [[de Worde]]
|relatives= Rupert de Worde (brother, deceased), one sister (un-named)
|children=
|marital status= uncertain
|books= {{TT}}
|cameos= {{MR}}, {{GP}}, {{MM}}, {{UA}}, {{SN}}
}}

'''William de Worde''' began his career as a reporter by gathering up news of interesting occurrences and items in [[Ankh-Morpork]], writing them down and sending copies of this writ to several nobles in other countries, ranging from the city-states of the [[Sto Plains]], to [[Lancre]], to [[Al Khali]] and [[Überwald]]. When he encounters the printing press of [[Gunilla Goodmountain]], a dwarf with grand ideas, they decide to go into business together, continuing and expanding on William's enterprise. And so, the [[Ankh-Morpork Times]] newspaper is born. He is currently senior editor and also head reporter of the Times.

William is the Son of Lord [[de Worde]], but is currently estranged, due to irreconcilable differences. Being the second son, he was expected to become a priest, or take up land management, but instead went to Ankh-Morpork to become a writer, and later, a reporter. He is said to have had numerous fallouts with his father as a child as well, due to Lord de Worde's overbearing nature. William's elder brother was named Rupert de Worde.

As of {{TT}}, William is staying in a boarding house run by a lady named [[Eucrasia Arcanum|Mrs. Arcanum]], in the city of Ankh-Morpork. His office, that of the Times, is in Gleam Street in the city.

William and Gunilla Goodmountain, the Times' prınter, met when the cart carrying Goodmountain's press hit William, leaving the latter with an R-shaped bruise on his forehead and breaking the engraving for his newsletter. Goodmountain printed the news sheet afresh, and the two became the founding partners of the Ankh-Morpork Times.

William prides himself on being honest, and dislikes not being able to discover the truth. When he discovers a plot to replace [[Havelock Vetinari]] as the [[Patrician]] of Ankh-Morpork, William digs out details of the plot and reveals them to the public in the Times, eventually leading to the failure of the scheme and the reinstation of Vetinari. William often puts honesty before all else, and confronts his own father, forcing him to leave the city, when he finds that his father has committed a crime.

William has been brought up to dislike species other than humans, and is consequently uncomfortable and exceedingly polite to them. This is noticed by [[Otto Chriek]], the vampire iconographer of the Times, and the dwarfs who run the paper's press. However, Otto also points out that William is doing his best to change his attitude towards other species, and, in fact, shows many acts of kindness towards them.

He is somewhat erm...''entangled'' with [[Sacharissa Cripslock]], a quite capable young lady working together with William at the Times. Sacharissa is the granddaughter of Mr. Cripslock, the engraver who would help print William's newsletter before the Times was established. As of {{GP}}, William and Sacharissa may already be married, since [[Moist von Lipwig|Moist]] notices a wedding ring on Sacharissa's finger the first time she calls on him for an interview. In {{RS}}, a footnote on page 123 explicitly refers to "Mr de Worde ''and wife''". However, the reference does not elaborate as to ''whom''. The author loved these little puzzles.

He also makes an appearance in ''[[Monstrous Regiment]]'' where he is reporting on the war in [[Borogravia]].

==Annotations==
*William de Worde first appeared in ''[[Book:The Discworld Companion|The Discworld Companion]]'', several years before The Truth was released. According to the Annotated Pratchett File, the "name is a composition of the names Wynkyn de Worde and William Caxton. In 1474 Caxton printed the first book in the English language, a translation of The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troy. In his career he printed more than 70 books, 20 of them his own translations from the Latin, French, and Dutch. Wynkyn de Worde was his successor".

*In ''[[Making Money]]'' [[Moist von Lipwig]] is annoyed that William writes editorials like an old man despite being "almost certainly the same age as Moist" and in ''[[Going Postal]]'' Moist tells Sacharissa that he is 26.

[[Category:Discworld characters|Worde, William de]]
[[Category:Leading characters|Worde, William de]]
[[Category:Supporting characters|Worde, William de]]
[[Category:Serial characters|Worde, William de]]
[[Category:Human characters|Worde, William de]]
[[de:William de Worde]]

Cheery Littlebottom

2020-09-21T11:41:23Z

CassiniKepler: added snuff in cameos

{{Character Data
|title= Cheery
|photo= Dwarf3.jpg|Cheery, as drawn by [[User:Knmatt|Matt Smith]]
|name= Cheery Littlebottom
|age=
|race= [[Dwarfs|Dwarf]]

|occupation= [[City Watch|Watchman]]
|appearance= unusually feminine
|residence= [[Ankh-Morpork]]

|death=
|parents= Jolly Littlebottom
|relatives= Grandfather Beaky Littlebottom, Brother Snorey (d.)
|children=
|marital status=

|books= {{FOC}}<BR>{{J}}<BR>{{T5E}}<BR>{{T!}}
|cameos= {{TT}}<BR>{{SN}}
}}

The first, and for quite some time the only, member of the forensics department in the [[Ankh-Morpork City Watch]]. Originally trained as an alchemist, Cheery left the [[Alchemists' Guild]] to join the watch after an incident which forced her to leave the guild (she blew up the entire leadership of the guild - people tend not to forget such trivia...). Cheery came from [[Überwald]], found her first city friend in [[Angua von Überwald|Angua]], and as a result became the first openly female dwarf member of the Watch and, for that matter, of the whole dwarfish race. This caused a cultural revolution and a notable degree of unrest among the [[dwarfs]]. Another non-dwarfish trait is her relative indifference to [[gold]], seeing it as just another, not especially reactive or intrinsically interesting, chemical element.

She begins her career in the [[City Watch]] working in an old privy, but rapidly earns Vimes' trust and respect (and there's not many that do that!) and is given what she needs when she needs it. {{J}} credits her with the idea of using trained pigeons for in-city communication between Watch officers. By {{T!}} she is promoted to sergeant. Commander of the [[City Watch]] [[Sam Vimes]] thinks an awful lot of Cheery - which is more praise than you could believe. She started inauspiciously, but then with a name like Cheery... (this is a p***-take of the [[Roundworld]] tradition [started by [[wikipedia:Walt Disney|Walt Disney]]] that dwarfs needed silly names such as Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy et cetera).

She causes all kinds of grief when she goes back to [[Überwald]] as an open female. Imagine shouting obscenities whilst naked in a church during the Victorian times and you have some idea of what wearing a skirt in traditional dwarf areas is like. However, she begins a cultural revolution and introduces two new pronouns - "she" and "her" - to the dwarfish language. Many detest her, calling her "Ha'ak", which is an extremely derogatory word in Dwarfish. She goes pale the first time she hears it, and both [[Detritus]] and Vimes (technically her superiors) are ready to begin war with those who utter the word in their presence: Detritus with an army of dwarfs on the way to [[Uberwald]] and Vimes with the whole of Dwarfdom when it's uttered by [[Albrecht Albrechtson]] deep in the mines of the [[Low King]]. On the other mailed fist, many dwarfs are finding that their 'sons' are dabbling in make-up and heeled boots; indeed, are beginning the journey to "coming out" (this is really not too far-fetched a comparison) as female thanks to her.

She pronounces her name "Cheri". Her true name, the one Dwarfs traditionally use only among themselves, is ''[[Dwarfish phrases|Sh'rt'azs]]''.

==Annotation==
It is ''just'' possible that her name derives from the British nonsense phrase "Cheery Bum," a common misunderstanding of the refrain of the kitsch Italian song "Ciribiribin" (made famous by a 1934 Grace Moore recording).

[[Category:Discworld characters|Littlebottom, Cheery]]
[[Category:Serial characters|Littlebottom, Cheery]]
[[Category:Supporting characters|Littlebottom, Cheery]]
[[Category:Dwarf characters|Littlebottom, Cheery]]
[[Category:Watchmen|Littlebottom, Cheery]]
[[de:Grinsi Kleinpo]]

Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki - User contributions [en]

William de Worde

Cheery Littlebottom