The Colour of Magic

I’ve spent the last two weekends (and many weekday evenings) with an old, dear friend in a magical place. I can no longer remember how I found the place or how I was introduced to my friend. I do know that this year marks the 30-year anniversary of its founding. I think I’ve been here since the beginning. If not, it wasn’t long after.

So I’ve known and loved this place, and my friend, for long time. Remarkably, the charm has never left it. For three decades (or so) it has delighted me, impressed me, moved me and made me laugh out loud. It is for me the finest of the finest, my favorite favorite. There is none better and very few that come close.

I’m speaking of Terry Pratchett‘s wonderful Discworld books.

Imagine a flat world, oceans forever spilling past its round rim. This world rests on the backs of four continent-sized elephants (Berilia, Tubul, T’Phon and Jerakeen).

They, in turn, stand upon the back of the great space turtle, Great A’Tuin (Chelys galactica), who has eyes the size of oceans and who swims through space to a Destination only he knows.

Such a place can only be magical and mythical. It is the Discworld, with its teeming population going about their lives. Here that population includes trolls and dwarves and vampires and werewolves and zombies (and gargoyles and banshees and golems and Igors and wee people and the occasional dragon).

And of course wizards and witches, although you want to be very, very careful when it comes to practicing magic. You can never be quite sure what will happen. (You also need to be enrolled in the Unseen University. Wizards take an especially dim view of unauthorized use of magic!)

There is the great city of Ankh-Morpork, ruled by the benevolent tyrant Lord Vetinari.

Under his velvet-shod iron fist, the greatest city of Discworld ticks over as smoothly as possible for a city that is a true melting pot of people (for an extremely inclusive definition of “people”).

One example of how the city runs so smoothly is the Thieves’ Guild, which insures that all thieving is done by authorized thieves according to a strictly laid-out schedule. Smart folks pay a small fee to the Guild to avoid the bother of actual (albeit authorized and scheduled) theft. Unauthorized thieves don’t last long (and it can be so difficult for the family when they can’t find the body).

There are many other Guilds in Ankh-Morpork; just about every profession has one.

The Assassins’ Guild has an excellent school for young men from the genteel classes, although few go on to become trained assassins. The Fools’ Guild trains future clowns (mimes are prohibited under pain of torture and death). And there is the Seamstress’s Guild for young women (over 99% of the young women interviewed in Ankh-Morpork’s dock area were found to belong to the Seamstress’s Guild).

The city runs so well because it is run with a keen awareness of the true nature of people and their needs, desires and behaviors.

That is the hallmark of the books’ author, Terry Pratchett. The stories show a deep, usually satirical, insight into humanity. Pratchett, through the vehicle of silly, reveals True Things about people and society.

They’re also very funny and wonderful adventures with some great characters. They’d be fun reads even without all the wossname… looking in… no, like looking in… oh, yeah: insight.

If you enjoyed Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or the Robert Asprin MythAdventure books, you’d love Discworld. (And I’d say Discworld is much better. It’s Star Trek compared to Star Wars, or better yet, Doctor Who compared to all other TV SF.)

[Weird fact: Asprin died of a heart attack in 2008. A Terry Pratchett novel and his reading glasses were found next to him.]

There are 39 Discworld novels (and a number of related works). The novels roughly follow a chronological timeline, so one way to read them is in the order published. However, winding through those 39 novels are a number of distinct threads involving specific characters. Another way to read the novels is to follow those threads. You can click on the image to the left for a reading guide, but here is a quick look at a few of the main threads:

Sam Vimes and the City Watch. These stories mostly take place in the city of Ankh-Morpork and center on the police of the city: the City Watch.

The first novel finds the Watch largely a non-player in the city. In particular, the Night Watch is down to three men of less than sterling character. Their leader is Samuel Vimes, a natural-born cop if there ever was one.

Over the course of the novels, the City Watch becomes a real police force whose makeup reflects the city’s population. There are dwarf cops (one of which is a CSI!), troll cops (you do not mess with trolls!), at least one zombie, a female werewolf, and a human raised by dwarves (who therefore considers himself an extremely tall dwarf).

That last one is widely believed to be the true lost king, but he’d rather be a cop, and no one really wants kings anymore.

For many readers, Sam Vimes is their favorite character. He’s definitely one of mine.

The Witches. These stories follow a coven of three witches: Granny Weatherwax (the stern), Nanny Ogg (the bawdy) and Magrat Garlick (the innocent).

It’s the standard maiden, mother, crone configuration necessary for any coven. Witches tend to use “headology” more than outright magic, but make no mistake, you do not mess with witches!

Granny Weatherwax is my other favorite character. She’s got an edge you could chop wood with — a no nonsense woman if there ever was one. I believe that Granny and Sam Vimes are two of Pratchett’s main voices. They usually seem to reflect the general sensibility of the books and of, I assume, Pratchett.

The thing about Discworld for me is that Prachett and I seem to have very similar values. When reading his books I don’t feel so alone in my views about the world and its people. In these stories I find that others see what I see, feel what I feel.

[One of the great moments for me is when one character says that it’s hard to define morality. Granny Weatherwax say, no, it’s easy: it’s when you start treating people like objects. I’m hard-pressed to find a better definition. So was Kant.]

DEATH. Naturally, the avatar of Death is a real character on Discworld. He appears, at least briefly, in nearly every novel (save two), showing up when a character dies. But several novels feature Death as the main character.

A series of events has resulted in a separate character, the Death of Rats (think rat skeleton in a black robe and cowl complete with tiny scythe). Death also turns out to have a grand-daughter, Susan, who is the main character in one of the favored novels, Hogfather.

There is also a thread that follows the Wizards of the Unseen University and, in particular, a hapless wizard named Rincewind.

Another thread, the Industrial Revolution, contains stories of the new “moving pictures” industry, the new “news paper” industry (the invention of the printing press), the revival of the Post Office, the invention of paper money, and the idea of women in combat.

Each Discworld novel tends to be three things: a damned good and very funny adventure; an insightful commentary of society; and a treatise on a particular aspect of society. I just mentioned a number of such topics. Racial diversity is a common theme, as you might imagine in a place such as Discworld. Pratchett also frequently takes on religion and politics.

If any of this strikes your interest, I urge you to read the Wiki entries for more details. (Also see LSpace.org and the LSpace Wiki.)

I’m not being hyperbolic when I say these are my favorite favorites. These would be my “desert island” books. These are books I read over and over for the sheer joy of them.

And there is something a little bit magical for me about the way Pratchett wraps up a story. As I finish the last paragraph, I get this rush of frisson, every single time! The arc of the tale comes to this perfect conclusion that leaves me speechless and grinning.

Millennium hand and shrimp! I told ’em. I told ’em!

∇