Twoflower
| Twoflower | |
 | |
| Name | Twoflower |
| Race | Human |
| Age | |
| Occupation | Tourist, inciter of revolutions, prisoner, possible Grand Vizier of the Agatean Empire, Inn-Sewer-Ants clerk |
| Physical appearance | Short, bald, wears glasses |
| Residence | Bes Pelargic, Agatean Empire |
| Death | |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Unnamed sister mentioned in The Colour of Magic. He has an alter-ego on Roundworld called Jack Zweiblumen. |
| Children | Pretty Butterfly, Lotus Blossom |
| Marital Status | Widower |
| Appearances | |
| Books | The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Interesting Times |
| Cameos | |
When Twoflower first appears in The Colour of Magic he is the Discworld's first tourist. He strolls around the city of Ankh-Morpork looking for adventure and genuine native food, and taking pictures of everything with his iconograph (including a statue of the god Sek after donating two rhinu to his temple), and several pictures at the Whore Pits.
He is probably the most naive person on the Disc, because he sincerely believes that no harm will happen to him since he is only a spectator. The Luggage who accompanies him and eats everyone coming too close helps protect him too, reinforcing this belief.
As an actuary, he also introduces the concept of economics (reflected-sound-of-underground-spirits, "echo-gnomics") to Ankh-Morpork and sells an inn-sewer-ants polly-sea to The Broken Drum owner Broadman, who promptly sets fire to the inn to collect on the grossly overvalued Broken Drum. In the process Broadman kills himself and turns half the city into ashes.
The high rate of exchange between the Agatean Empire's currency and the Ankh-Morpork dollar results in Twoflower's unknowingly overpaying for everything.
Twoflower's love of dragons (he was captivated by pictures of them in The Octarine Fairy Book) allows him to conjure up a dragon (which he names Ninereeds after the man he was apprenticed to) when he visits Wyrmberg.
The Agatean Empire normally opposes tourism (or people leaving the Empire for any reason whatsoever), but the Boy Emperor sanctions Twoflower's visit, and even instructs Ankh-Morpork's Patrician (via Pointless albatross) to protect Twoflower. The Empire's considerably more seasoned Grand Vizier asks the Patrician to kill Twoflower, so that Twoflower won't bring back the "disease of dissatisfaction".
When Twoflower arrives in Ankh-Morpork, the failed wizard Rincewind is given the task of protecting him, and subsequently follows Twoflower on his journeys around the Disc in The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, the first two Discworld novels. On these journeys, Twoflower retains his optimism and naive öutlook, despite the fact he and Rincewind are almost constantly finding themselves in life-threatening situations. This could be at least partly due to the fact that most of the really dangerous stuff always happens to Rincewind. Eventually, after many adventures and saving the world, Twoflower decides to return home to the Counterweight continent.
Twoflower appears again in the book Interesting Times. It seems that when he returned to the Agatean Empire, he wrote a book titled What I Did On My Holidays. This book presented an image of life very different from that known to the oppressed and isolated people of the Agatean Empire, and it sparked a revolutionary movement, especially since the Boy Emperor who sanctioned Twoflower's visit had long since died. Twoflower himself was thrown in prison, and then apparently forgotten. Rincewind meets up with Twoflower in the dungeons and frees him. Twoflower's two daughters, Pretty Butterfly and Lotus Blossom, are among the leaders of the revolutionary group known as the Red Army.
Twoflower's wife had been killed some time before in a fight between Lord Hong's and Tang's armies. As a result of this he ends up challenging Lord Hong (who is holding Rincewind hostage) to a duel. Twoflower is saved from certain death when the Barking Dog that was the exchange for Rincewind's journey across the land crushes and explodes Lord Hong, also killing Ronald Saveloy in the process. Cohen then names Twoflower his Grand Vizier, giving him instructions to pass on the word that "the Emperor is a literal-minded man" and fond of the phrase "heads will roll". After Cohen's departure from the throne at the start of the Last Hero this would have left the new Grand Vizier presumably in charge of the whole empire...for perhaps just long enough for it to mutate into the People's Beneficent Republic of Agatea, which did away with the whole Emperor business and is now guided by the Chairperson of the Central Committee, named as a Madame Butterfly.