Albrecht Albrechtson

2013-10-22T23:51:00Z

JosephW:

{{Character Data
|title= Albrecht Albrechtson
|photo= Dwarf2.jpg|Albrecht Albrechtson, as drawn by [[User:Knmatt|Matt Smith]]
|name= Albrecht Albrechtson
|age= old
|race= [[Dwarfs|Dwarf]]

|occupation= Deep-Downer
|appearance=

|residence= Below [[Überwald]]

|books= {{T5E}}
}}

Albrecht Albrechtson is a pretender to the [[Low Throne]] and the [[Scone of Stone]] (two [[Roundworld]] parodies: the ''High Throne'' of many fantasies, notably those at Cair Paravel in the ''Narnia'' series; and the Stone of Scone, the Pictish seat of kings in 12th century Scotland) deep under Überwald.

He is a [[Deep-Downers|Deep-Downer]] and hates the thought of the Overworld for he fears its taint, and the reality that it is dragging Dwarfs away from their traditions. He is a known expert on the Scone of Stone and is privileged to many of the secrets of higher dwarf society, such as the fact that the Scone of Stone is not the real Scone that was baked hundreds of years ago. Despite his views, he abides the law and accepts Rhys as the King.

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[[Category:Discworld characters]]
[[Category:Dwarf characters]]
[[de:Albrecht Albrechtson]]

Aristocrates

2013-10-22T23:48:46Z

JosephW:

Aristocrates was an [[Ephebe|Ephebian]] [[Philosophers|Philosopher]] and secretary to the Tyrant, specifically mentioned in {{SG}} by others who follow him, [[Ibid]], [[Didactylos]] and [[Xeno]] being the most notable. He wrote the ''[[Platitudes]]''.

His name is a clever combination of two the three great fathers of [[Roundworld]] philosophy, {{wp|Aristotle|Aristotle}} and {{wp|Socrates|Socrates}} (the only one missing is Plato), and it also works as a play on 'Aristocratic'. There did exist an '[[Wikipedia:Aristocrates of Athens|Aristocrates of Athens]]', although this may not be where Terry got the name from.

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[[Category:Discworld characters]]
[[de:Aristokrates]]

Medium Dave Lilywhite

2013-10-22T23:45:04Z

JosephW:

[[image:Mediumdave.jpg|200px|left]] One of the very competent, slightly thuggish individuals hired by Mr [[Teatime]] in {{H}} to help him reach, enter and desecrate the [[Tower of Teeth]]. Turned out he was very competent at dying in his own head as he is effectively destroyed by his own imagination. When spare belief from the "death" of the Hogfather is waiting for an opportunity to escape, it does in the form of his mother, who kills him.

By the hardly educated standards of Ankh-Morpork's society of the differently legal, he was considered an intellectual. This largely had to do with have proper spelling for his tattoos. He is concerned for his less intelligent brother, [[Banjo Lilywhite|Banjo]], after the death of their mother, [[Ma Lilywhite]].

Picture by [[User:Knmatt|Matt Smith]]

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[[Category:Discworld characters|Lilywhite, Medium Dave]]
[[Category:Human characters|Lilywhite, Medium Dave]]
[[de:Mittlerer Dave Blütenweiß]]

Death

2013-10-22T23:36:33Z

JosephW:

{{Character Data
|title=Death
|Death Illustrated by [[User:whtmnk|Christopher Stryjewski]] a.k.a. whtmnk
|photo= D1rip.jpg
|name=Death
|age= As old as the death of the first living thing
|race=[[Anthropomorphic personification]]
|occupation=Releasing the spirits of dead beings
|appearance=Tall, not what you'd call fleshy, {{death|Talks like this}}
|residence= [[Death's Domain]]
|death= Nearly, in {{RM}}
|parents=
|relatives= [[Susan Sto Helit]] (Granddaughter)
|children= [[Ysabell]] (Adopted Daughter) [[Mort]] (son-in-law)
|marital status= Never Married... for some reason...
|books= {{M}} {{S}} {{RM}} {{SM}} {{H}} {{TOT}} ''[[Discworld Noir]]''
|cameos= Every [[:category:Discworld Series|Discworld book]] except {{WFM}}
}}
'''Death''' is the [[anthropomorphic personification]] of death on the [[Discworld (world)|Discworld]]. He appears as the traditional Grim Reaper, with a skeletal body, a black robe and a [[Death's Scythe|scythe]] (or sometimes a sword for royalty) and {{death|talks in unquoted small caps}}. Death appears for the first time in the first novel, ''[[Book:The Colour of Magic|The Colour of Magic]]'' (though it is suggested that his first appearance was actually that of his 'stand-in', [[Scrofula]]), and reappears in all of the stories that take place in the Discworld universe, with the exception of ''[[Book:The Wee Free Men|The Wee Free Men]]'', a [[Tiffany Aching]] young adult book and {{SN}}.

Death is fascinated with humans in general, and as a result attempts to emulate their behaviour, if only to better understand them. However, as an immortal skeletal who does not have to pay heed to fatigue or even time, he seems to lack comprehension of some human concepts, such as detective novels. He is also described by [[Susan]] as someone who would solve world hunger, not by changing socioeconomic forces, but by giving everyone a good meal. While his job and anatomy cause a lack of emotions which he displays in his {{death|hollow voice}}, Death can be quite passionate about life in general and in some cases, actively defends it against the depredations of the [[Auditors]].

Death had an apprentice named [[Mort]] and an adopted daughter named [[Ysabell]], who later got married and left him to become the Duke and Duchess of [[Sto Helit]]. Sometimes he visits [[Susan Sto Helit]], his grand-daughter through them. When not out and about, Death lives alone in [[Death's Domain]] with his manservant [[Albert]] and, since the events of ''[[Book:Reaper Man|Reaper Man]]'', the [[Death of Rats]]. Also members of the [[Death's Domain|household]] are the famed pale horse, named [[Binky]], and at times [[Quoth]] the talking raven.

He is fond of kittens, Binky, Susan, Albert, curries and life (without which he would be useless). He ''strongly'' dislikes the [[Auditors]], whose machinations against life he considers to be cheating, and at times has seemed to resent [[Rincewind]]'s unpunctuality, though at other times he has seemed more amiable toward him. He sticks by his duty and very rarely interferes in human affairs, because of The Rules. He ''has'', however, been known to persuade Susan to act in his stead, not always by straightforward means; she occasionally reflects that he may have learnt a bit more about human behaviour than he lets on.

While of course in a ''sense'' he is there for every death, he need only personally attend to relatively few in order to keep things running. Death is however a caring individual and likes to keep an eye on things he does not necessarily need to, sometimes to the extend to be present at the end of a tiny tube worm on the abyssal floor. He gets quite upset when people (mostly those freshly severed from their bodies) accuse him of killing them. He argues that he simply allows them to leave this world and enter the next, and empirical evidence (such as the results of his various voluntary and involuntary sabbaticals) seems to bear this out. His jurisdiction, so to speak, appears to be Discworld itself; he is not Death in the universal sense.

Every living individual has a book in the great [[Death's Domain|Library]] of Death, and an hourglass-shaped [[Life-timer|lifetimer]] in a cathedral-dwarfing room that exists solely for the purpose of housing them. The look of each one seems to be personalised, and they keep on writing themselves or pouring sand through until the associated person dies. The books remain; the lifetimers apparently pop out of existence and new ones appear in their place, as a new life begins.

Death also introduces individuals to [[The Desert]] from time to time. Each soul has to walk the desert - to what end, Death refuses to be drawn. There is no justice, there is only him.

While Death himself cannot be seen by most individuals, (with the exceptions of cats, children, wizards and other anthropomorphic personifications,) unless he wants them to see him, he is unable to see immortal beings, as they are not subject to his "''power''". As they cannot die, he has nothing to with with them and thus cannot see them. This reflects that most humans cannot see him, as they naturally do not think about dying.

He was there when the first proto-life faded, and has been given his general shape by the belief of humans - of all creatures the most afraid of dying and the most likely to have evolved an agrarian culture in which scythes feature. He is also still there at the end of all things, as evidenced by his appearance at the end of time and space when [[Astfgl]] arrives to destroy [[Rincewind]]. Death is just about to metaphorically turn the lights out in the universe when he sees a new one germinating. Eventually, he thinks, there will be life. And therefore death. He will be needed. He can wait.

Death is a servant of [[Azrael]], the 'Death of Universes'; an entity of enormously unthinkable scope and size, "the Ultimate Reality". Azrael is the Being from whom all lesser-Deaths are mere reflections or aspects.

===Appearances===

[[Image:Death.jpg|200px|left|thumb|[[Death]]]]In {{RM}} Death is forced to retire by the Auditors, who fear he has become too human. He assumes the name Bill Door and finds work on [[Renata Flitworth|Miss Flitworth's]] farm as a farmhand. When the [[New Death]] is formed, it comes to claim Bill: he outwits it and destroys it, then resumes his role as Death.

In {{H}} we find that [[Jonathan Teatime|Mr. Teatime]] has devised a plan to kill Death, though no details are given, and he is skewered by Susan with a fireplace poker before he has a chance to execute it. His dialogue in the Tooth Fairy's castle suggests that he intended to strike Death with his own sword, which is reputed to be able to cut anything.

He has one of what Albert calls his 'fancies' during the events of {{SM}}, and tries to join the [[Klatchian Foreign Legion]] where he is called [[Beau Nidle]], fails in his quest for forgetfulness, and repairs to Ankh-Morpork to drink too much, all to forget what he is and has to do. He ends up as a member of the [[Canting Crew]], with the unusual moniker of 'Mr Scrub'. Beggars seem just as invisible as anthropomorphic personifications.

Death has a major role in ''[[Book:Mort|Mort]]'', ''[[Book:Reaper Man|Reaper Man]]'', ''[[Book:Soul Music|Soul Music]], [[Book:Hogfather|Hogfather]]'' and ''[[Book:Thief of Time|Thief of Time]]''. As a member of the [[Four Horsemen]] of the [[Apocralypse]], he plays an obligatory role in ''[[Book:Sourcery|Sourcery]]'' and ''[[Book:Thief of Time|Thief of Time]]''.

== Annotation: the birth of Death ==
[[File:Seventh-seal.jpg|275px|thumb|right|The knight offers Death the choice of playing black or white in the game of chess.]]
In the Richard Dimbleby lecture, broadcast on Monday 1st February 2010 on BBC1, Terry revealed that at the age of four at his grandparents' house, he got to see the classic Ingmar Bergman film ''[[Wikipedia: The Seventh Seal|The Seventh Seal]]'' and therefore one of his earliest childhood memories is the defining game of chess between Bergman's death and the knight whose soul is in limbo: ''"...the Grim Reaper did not seem so terribly grim...the image has remained with me ever since."''

==Also See==
* [[wikipedia:Death (Discworld)|Death's Entry]] on [[wikipedia:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]]

[[Category:Discworld characters]]
[[Category:Leading characters]]
[[Category:Serial characters]]
[[Category:Supernatural entities]]
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Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki - User contributions [en]

Albrecht Albrechtson

Aristocrates

Medium Dave Lilywhite

Death