Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki - User contributions [en]

Letice Earwig

2018-05-27T15:52:44Z

Evis: /* Annotation */

{{Character Data
|title= Mrs. Earwig
|photo=Blank.jpg|
|name= Letice Earwig
|age=
|race= [[Humans|Human]]

|occupation= [[Witches|Witch]]
|appearance= Wears lots of jewelry, very tall pointed hat and silver glasses on a chain.

|residence=[[Near Lancre]]

|death=
|parents=
|relatives=
|children=
|marital status= married, [[Dr Earwig]]

|books= {{HFOS}} {{W}} {{SALF}} {{TSC}}
|cameos=
}}

'''Mrs. Earwig''' (pronounced "Ah-widge") is an arrogant, snobbish witch. She is married to a retired [[wizards|wizard]] [[Dr Earwig]], and is of the kind of witches who read books, and has even written several books on [[magic|"magik"]]. Her last, and only, trainee was [[Annagramma Hawkin]].

Although she does use practical folk wisdom as a witch, she also tends to use crystals, jewelry and other items considered useless by witches of [[Esmeralda Weatherwax]]'s tradition. (Not that Granny doesn't recognise the uses of [[Boffo (Concept)|Boffo]], but you don't have to go believing it yourself.) Needless to say these two are intense rivals, and treat each other with hostile politeness.

She does however help promote the craft among younger girls by selling her various books including ''First Flights in Witchcraft'', ''My Fairy Friends'', and ''To Ride a Golden Broomstick'', in addition to an unnamed book on "Flower Magick". These are widely denounced by other witches as being ridiculous nonsense that only appeals to those who don't know what witchcraft is really about.

Her husband Dr. Earwig is mentioned in {{UA}} as one of the few wizards who have retired (although he technically just left to get married, which, according to [[Mustrum Ridcully]], is the same as dying).

Her complete self-absorption does come in handy. In {{TSC}}, she is shown to be completely immune to Elven Glamour, which leverages human self-doubt. With Letice, there's nowhere for such a lever to gain a purchase.

==Annotation==
Letice Earwig's character is most likely inspired by a number of real-world Wiccans, witches and neopagans. In particular, parallels are drawn between Earwig and Wiccan author {{wp|Silver RavenWolf|Silver RavenWolf}}, author of ''To Ride a Silver Broomstick''. RavenWolf is generally strongly disapproved of as "fluffy" by the vast majority of Wiccans and witches in the real world, much as Mrs Earwig is strongly disapproved of and considered woolly by Discworld witches and wizards. Both Earwig and RavenWolf are seen to be pandering to teenagers who want to play at being dark and mysterious by becoming witches, but without any real content behind them.

Her insistence on having her name pronounced 'are-wij' is possibly a reference to Mrs Bucket from the British sitcom 'Keeping up appearances'. The character insists that her name is actually pronounced 'bouquet', due to middle class pretensions.

[[Category:Witches|Earwig,Letice]]
[[Category:Discworld characters|Earwig,Letice]]
[[Category:Tiffany Series characters|Earwig,Letice]]
[[de:Letizia Ohrwurm]]

Letice Earwig

2018-05-27T15:52:17Z

Evis: added annotation on possible influence of Earwig's name.

{{Character Data
|title= Mrs. Earwig
|photo=Blank.jpg|
|name= Letice Earwig
|age=
|race= [[Humans|Human]]

|occupation= [[Witches|Witch]]
|appearance= Wears lots of jewelry, very tall pointed hat and silver glasses on a chain.

|residence=[[Near Lancre]]

|death=
|parents=
|relatives=
|children=
|marital status= married, [[Dr Earwig]]

|books= {{HFOS}} {{W}} {{SALF}} {{TSC}}
|cameos=
}}

'''Mrs. Earwig''' (pronounced "Ah-widge") is an arrogant, snobbish witch. She is married to a retired [[wizards|wizard]] [[Dr Earwig]], and is of the kind of witches who read books, and has even written several books on [[magic|"magik"]]. Her last, and only, trainee was [[Annagramma Hawkin]].

Although she does use practical folk wisdom as a witch, she also tends to use crystals, jewelry and other items considered useless by witches of [[Esmeralda Weatherwax]]'s tradition. (Not that Granny doesn't recognise the uses of [[Boffo (Concept)|Boffo]], but you don't have to go believing it yourself.) Needless to say these two are intense rivals, and treat each other with hostile politeness.

She does however help promote the craft among younger girls by selling her various books including ''First Flights in Witchcraft'', ''My Fairy Friends'', and ''To Ride a Golden Broomstick'', in addition to an unnamed book on "Flower Magick". These are widely denounced by other witches as being ridiculous nonsense that only appeals to those who don't know what witchcraft is really about.

Her husband Dr. Earwig is mentioned in {{UA}} as one of the few wizards who have retired (although he technically just left to get married, which, according to [[Mustrum Ridcully]], is the same as dying).

Her complete self-absorption does come in handy. In {{TSC}}, she is shown to be completely immune to Elven Glamour, which leverages human self-doubt. With Letice, there's nowhere for such a lever to gain a purchase.

==Annotation==
Letice Earwig's character is most likely inspired by a number of real-world Wiccans, witches and neopagans. In particular, parallels are drawn between Earwig and Wiccan author {{wp|Silver RavenWolf|Silver RavenWolf}}, author of ''To Ride a Silver Broomstick''. RavenWolf is generally strongly disapproved of as "fluffy" by the vast majority of Wiccans and witches in the real world, much as Mrs Earwig is strongly disapproved of and considered woolly by Discworld witches and wizards. Both Earwig and RavenWolf are seen to be pandering to teenagers who want to play at being dark and mysterious by becoming witches, but without any real content behind them.

Her insistence on having her name pronounced 'ear-wij' is possibly a reference to Mrs Bucket from the British sitcom 'Keeping up appearances'. The character insists that her name is actually pronounced 'bouquet', due to middle class pretensions.

[[Category:Witches|Earwig,Letice]]
[[Category:Discworld characters|Earwig,Letice]]
[[Category:Tiffany Series characters|Earwig,Letice]]
[[de:Letizia Ohrwurm]]

Dark Morris

2018-05-09T17:29:06Z

Evis:

In the spring, on Mayday, [[Lancre Morris Men|Morris]] dancers "dance the sun up" lest it fail to warm the land for the coming summer. This custom is widely observed across the Multiverse (even on worlds where the Carbon Dioxide freezes in Winter) and especially on the Discworld, where the threat of [[Narrative Causality|stories]] and legends is real and such rites are more than just quaint old customs. Mayday is a festive occasion and many will drag themselves out of bed before dawn to watch and cheer on the dancers and the sun. Later in the day, perhaps after a nap, there will be more dancing, Morris as well as the maypole, with feasting and frolic and beer.

On or near the first of [[Discworld calendar|Ember]] there is another dance, the last of the year. There is no crowd of cheering spectators, no merriment, no music, no sound. The dancers trade their bright white beribboned costumes for black shrouds and perform in darkness and silence without bells, sticks or swords (or better, with bells of [[octiron]] that create a lacy counter-tinkle of silences}. This is the '''Dark Morris''', without which winter may not arrive to complete the cycle, water the land with snow and prepare for the renewal of spring. Winter begets summer, death begets life, and a city-sized sun that travels faster than its own light needs all the help it can get.

[[Tiffany Aching]]'s unfortunate decision to join in the Dark Morris precipitated the events of {{W}} when she found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, inspiring contrasting emotions in the [[Wintersmith]] and the [[Summer Lady]].

==Annotation==
The Dark Morris has since become a real performance piece at folk festivals in Roundworld. When performed at festivals it is typically set to music, but at the end of Wintersmith Pratchett relates a story of a side of Morris Men who performed the dance in total silence for him at a book signing.

[[Category:Discworld concepts]]
[[Category:Discworld culture]]

Dark Morris

2018-05-08T15:50:02Z

Evis: formatting

In the spring, on Mayday, [[Lancre Morris Men|Morris]] dancers "dance the sun up" lest it fail to warm the land for the coming summer. This custom is widely observed across the Multiverse (even on worlds where the Carbon Dioxide freezes in Winter) and especially on the Discworld, where the threat of [[Narrative Causality|stories]] and legends is real and such rites are more than just quaint old customs. Mayday is a festive occasion and many will drag themselves out of bed before dawn to watch and cheer on the dancers and the sun. Later in the day, perhaps after a nap, there will be more dancing, Morris as well as the maypole, with feasting and frolic and beer.

On or near the first of [[Discworld calendar|Ember]] there is another dance, the last of the year. There is no crowd of cheering spectators, no merriment, no music, no sound. The dancers trade their bright white beribboned costumes for black shrouds and perform in darkness and silence without bells, sticks or swords (or better, with bells of [[octiron]] that create a lacy counter-tinkle of silences}. This is the '''Dark Morris''', without which winter may not arrive to complete the cycle, water the land with snow and prepare for the renewal of spring. Winter begets summer, death begets life, and a city-sized sun that travels faster than its own light needs all the help it can get.

[[Tiffany Aching]]'s unfortunate decision to join in the Dark Morris precipitated the events of {{W}} when she found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, inspiring contrasting emotions in the [[Wintersmith]] and the [[Summer Lady]].

==Annotation==
The Dark Morris has since become a real performance piece at folk festivals in Roundworld. When performed at festivals it is typically set to music, but at the end of Wintersmith Pratchett relates a story of a team of Morris Men who performed the dance in total silence for him at a book signing.

[[Category:Discworld concepts]]
[[Category:Discworld culture]]

Dark Morris

2018-05-08T15:46:22Z

Evis: added some details about Dark Morris appearing in reality.

In the spring, on Mayday, [[Lancre Morris Men|Morris]] dancers "dance the sun up" lest it fail to warm the land for the coming summer. This custom is widely observed across the Multiverse (even on worlds where the Carbon Dioxide freezes in Winter) and especially on the Discworld, where the threat of [[Narrative Causality|stories]] and legends is real and such rites are more than just quaint old customs. Mayday is a festive occasion and many will drag themselves out of bed before dawn to watch and cheer on the dancers and the sun. Later in the day, perhaps after a nap, there will be more dancing, Morris as well as the maypole, with feasting and frolic and beer.

On or near the first of [[Discworld calendar|Ember]] there is another dance, the last of the year. There is no crowd of cheering spectators, no merriment, no music, no sound. The dancers trade their bright white beribboned costumes for black shrouds and perform in darkness and silence without bells, sticks or swords (or better, with bells of [[octiron]] that create a lacy counter-tinkle of silences}. This is the '''Dark Morris''', without which winter may not arrive to complete the cycle, water the land with snow and prepare for the renewal of spring. Winter begets summer, death begets life, and a city-sized sun that travels faster than its own light needs all the help it can get.

[[Tiffany Aching]]'s unfortunate decision to join in the Dark Morris precipitated the events of {{W}} when she found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, inspiring contrasting emotions in the [[Wintersmith]] and the [[Summer Lady]].

The Dark Morris has since become a real performance piece at folk festivals in Roundworld. When performed at festivals it is typically set to music, but at the end of Wintersmith Pratchett relates a story of a team of Morris Men who performed the dance in total silence for him at a book signing.

[[Category:Discworld concepts]]
[[Category:Discworld culture]]

Thomas Silverfish

2018-04-06T01:58:52Z

Evis: /* Annotation */

{{Character Data
|title= Thomas Silverfish
|photo= silverfish.jpg|Silverfish, as drawn by [[User:Knmatt|Matt Smith]]
|name= Thomas Silverfish
|age= middle-aged
|race= Human

|occupation= President of the [[Alchemists' Guild]]
|appearance= Chemical-stained hands, little weaselly eyes

|residence= [[Ankh-Morpork]]

|books= {{MP}}
|cameos= {{G!G!}}, {{MAA}}
}}

Thomas Silverfish, the President of the [[Alchemists' Guild]] appears in {{MP}} as a rather more important character than he appeared in {{G!G!}}. He is one of the co-creators of [[Octo-cellulose|octo-cellulose]] (the [[Discworld]] equivalent of cinefilm) and, coincidentally, of [[Moving Pictures]] which descends upon [[Holy Wood]] like a fever and briefly makes stars of many, including [[Victor Tugelbend]] and [[Theda Withel]].

In {{MAA}}, Silverfish is still experimenting with [[octo-cellulose]], this time as a material for billiard balls. Very ''volatile'' billiard balls.

==Annotation==

Thomas Silverfish as a movie director is entirely modelled on movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn, whose real name was Samuel Gelbfisch, and who spent a short time as Samuel Goldfish before changing his name a second time to Goldwyn. As he'd already appeared a year earlier in {{G!G!}}, however, was Terry hugely foreshadowing, or was it fortuitous? Will we ever know?

Goldwyn was responsible for a whole sequence of malapropisms known collectively as ''Goldwynisms'', some of which are so well known now as to have passed into the vernacular. A number of Goldwyn quips are repeated (in one form or another) by Silverfish throughout the book, such as "you'll never work in this town again", "include me out", and "a verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on".

Following the events of Moving Pictures, Silverfish goes on to produce another, peculiar element. Far heavier than lead, is produced from lots of ore, and most certainly does not go bang- despite the thoughts of his assistant. Most likely Uranium.

[[Category:Discworld characters|Silverfish,Thomas]]
[[Category:Human characters|Silverfish,Thomas]]
[[de:Thomas Silberfisch]]

Altogether Andrews

2018-04-01T08:22:28Z

Evis:

{{Character Data
|title= Altogether Andrews
|photo= Andrews.jpg|Altogether Andrews, as drawn by [[User:Knmatt|Matt Smith]]
|name= Altogether Andrews
|age=
|race= Human
|occupation= Beggar
|appearance=
|residence= Ankh Morpok
|death=
|parents=
|relatives=
|children=
|marital status=
|books= {{TT}}
|cameos=
}}

A beggar and member of the [[Canting Crew]], not formally a member of the [[Beggars' Guild]]. Altogether Andrews made his first appearance as a beggar who newly joined the already-infamous [[Foul Ole Ron]] and company (in {{TT}}'). Andrews has eight personalities and none of them answers to the name "Andrews"; [[the Duck Man]], the intellectual among the Crew, is of the opinion that Andrews had been just an average psychic man with too many spirits possessing his body and overrunning his own personality. Andrews' facial expression changes as his body passes between the controls of the various personalities, and his speaking voice also changes. In times to make business decisions or to think up a scheme to protect [[Wuffles|a special dog]], the personality "Lady Hermione" is the most capable.

His personalities are variously called: Jossi, Lady Hermione, Little Sidney, Mr Viddle, Curly, The Judge, Tinker and Burke.

Burke has apparently only emerged once, the results of his appearance were unpleasant enough to cause the other seven personalities to keep him buried.

This statement, and the vote carried out to see if the Crew should become Paper-of-News sellers, shows that all eight personalities are active all the time, instead of seven dormant and one awake. It must be like having eight children trying to drive one remote-controlled car on Christmas morning. Despite this, Andrews is generally seen as the sanest member of the Canting Crew as at least five of his personalities are capable of holding a coherent conversation with others.

He is not alone in his affliction: in {{CJ}}, [[Nanny Ogg]] refers to an otherwise unnamed bell ringer in [[Ohulan Cutash]] whose psyche is occupied by seven personalities, three female and four male (including his). His indwelling spirits have all paired off together, leaving him the gooseberry whose function is to do the boring but necessary things, like breathe and move around. Apparently all seven fight for control of his tastebuds whenever he has a drink...

All Together Andrews may be a pastiche on the Abominations of the Dune series- bodies inhabited by the minds of all their ancestors.

[[Category:Discworld characters|Andrews, Altogether]]
[[Category:Human characters|Andrews, Altogether]]
[[de:Insgesamt Ingobert]]