A Tribute to Sir Terry Pratchett and The Discworld Series

If I was as good a writer as the late great Terry Pratchett, I could have come up with a better opening to this post.

If I were a far worse writer than the late great Mr. Pratchett, I would probably start with something like this:


"Mr. Terrence "Terry" Pratchett was a very funny and talented writer, who wrote a very popular bunch of fantasy books known as the Discworld series. Sadly he passed away on March 12th, 2015 at the age of 66,  finally succumbing to Alzheimer's disease , which he was diagnosed with in 2008. There are 41 Discworld books in total, and thanks to them, Mr. Pratchett was knighted  in 1998 for 'services to literature'. He is survived by his daughter, video game writer Rhianna Pratchett"

This is not going to be a biographical sketch or an obituary. So the "tribute" part of the title is a bit misleading. This post is more of an analysis of a man's writing style and a reflection on his legacy.

The Man. With His Hat.

The Discworld series is by far his most famous work. It's the only books of his that I've read. Well, besides Good Omens, which he co-wrote with his best friend (and fellow badass writer) Neil Gaiman. It's so similar in style and tone to the Discworld novels that it's practically the "unofficial" 42nd book in the series.

Heck, considering that the Discworld's magic constantly warps and bends space and time, it may very well be part of the canon, and I just don't know it yet. I'll have to look it up later.

Anyway, what exactly is the Discworld series? What's the deal here?

OK, the best way I can describe the series is like this. Imagine one of the writers on The Simpsons (the classic season 1-10 era of the show) was a big fantasy fan. I'm not talking about J.K. Rowling or Supernatural modern urban fantasy. I mean the real old school stuff. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft and Fritz Leiber just to name a few. Three of the books in the series are basically parodies of Shakespeare, but Pratchett was a British humorist; he was, for all intents and purposes, required to poke fun at The Bard at some point.

So saying this is a fantasy version of the Simpsons feels both an appropriate comparison and a disservice to Pratchett's skill. For one thing, the first book in the series, The Color of Magic, was published in 1983. So it's not like he was really ripping off the show's style of humor. For another, there's a lot of references only a British audience would get. Not to say that Pratchett didn't have a broad appeal, but, well...how do I put this? There's a long running joke in the series about Morris dancing, just to give you an idea of how obscure he can be.  If I didn't have access to a fan website that compiled and explained all the references in the series, I would've been way more confused when I started reading these books.

It's also not fair to call these books the fantasy version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy either. Not helping matters is that both men held similar views on certain things. I think it is safe to say that, they were two men born around the same time who happened to be very funny British atheists. I mean, it's very easy to compare and contrast, but I doubt their similarities to each other is nothing more than a happy coincidence.

So getting back on track. The Discworld was (and is) for the most part, a parody of a wide variety fantasy stories and cliches. But sometime around book four in the series (Mort), Pratchett began to broaden out the themes and topics he would tackle in the flat (yet somehow still three-dimensional) world which he had created.

 It's easy to compare the Discworld books to The Simpsons, because there is a large cast of characters and places residing on the Disc. and through them, Pratchett would make fun of humanity's flaws and foibles, as well as modern society as he added more  changes to the setting over the years. Pratchett would eventually tackle topics ranging from slavery, racism and war, to the cult status of modern celebrites, what makes a hero a hero, and even what it means to be mortal and knowing that someday you will cease to exist, This a lot of heavy and heady stuff, but Pratchett took all this subject matter on with tongue firmly in cheek and a smile on his lips at all times (presumably). He was one of those rare writers who could make you laugh and pause to think on the sentence you had just read that had made you laugh.

To give just one of many, many examples, here's a paragraph from the opening page of Lords and Ladies, the 14th book in the series:

"The curtain goes up, the first pawn is moved, the first shot is fired-but that's not the start. The play, the game, the war is just a little window on a ribbon of events that may extend back thousands of years.The point is, there is always something before."

In the beginning of the book. Mr. Pratchett makes the reader stop and look at the word  "beginning". It's not really THE beginning of course, but we still use the word anyway to describe stories that always start "in medias res". It one paragraph, he's made us think about not just the quirks of the English language, but also the limited way humans view Time. Pretty damn impressive. if you ask me.

It's not all philosophy and social commentary. There is plenty of witty dialogue, references by the ton, scores of larger than life personalities, some pretty creepy scares, and a bit of cartoonish slapstick thrown in for seasoning. Take away the commentary and the humanist philosophizing though, and you take out a lot of the  heart and brains (and maybe a kidney)  of Pratchett's world. There is a reason why the Discworld is called "a world and mirror of worlds" many times in the series by the author. Like any writer, he makes us able to see ourselves more clearly. Like any good writer, he does it in a very clever and subtle way.

Lords and Ladies is a great example of Pratchett's strengths as a writer.

On one level it's a parody of A Midsummer Night's Dream. There's even an important plot point where a bunch of (bad) actors attempt to act out scenes from the play while they are under a kind of enchantment. But it doesn't necessarily follow or mock the plot of the play (for the most part). The novel centers around one specific aspect of the play, which is it's depiction of faeries.

This is where Pratchett gets really smart with his symbolism. Only the two of the protagonists of the book, no-nonsense witch Esme Weatherwax and her far far more easy-going fellow witch Gintha "Nanny" Ogg, remember that elves are incredibly cruel and arrogant creatures. Only they remember the ancient lore about elves.

For one thing, the elves' greatest weakness is "Thunderbolt Iron" ( i.e., magnetic metal) and you must never, ever enter a bargain with an elf. Elves, as it turns out, have no concept of things such as "empathy" or "fairness". They will not hesitate to say anything to make you trust them, and will not hesitate to kill you once you stop being useful or  interesting to them. The whole plot is Esme and Nanny Ogg trying to stop the elves from returning to the Discworld, while everyone else believes that elves are benign and harmless. This is all built on the older, lesser known faeries of Celtic folklore, who are alien-like beings of pure chaos, if not outright evil. To be fair to Shakespeare, he he *did* give us Puck, who being the  mischievous trickster he is,  is closer to the original characterization of the earlier legends

The book covers a lot of ground. On one level, with the depiction of the elves, Pratchett shows the reader how drastically folklore can change. He doesn't just poke fun or blame Shakespeare either. Tolkien's depiction of elves definitely gets the most blame, because this is a fantasy story after all, and the professor's writing is still highly influential to this day. Even Disney's depiction of Tinker Bell gets a nod; because when you think of fairies, you're probably thinking of this famous scene

Another aspect of this theme is how Pratchett  parodies practitioners of Wicca. Now, I may not now what Mr. Pratchett's views were towards Wiccans, but clearly he thinks anyone who has only a superficial understanding of the supernatural, i.e., people who are only using magic and/or mysticism for power and prestige with the smallest awe or undersanding, than in the author's eyes, you deserve to be mocked relentlessly. That part of the plot may have been inspired by Neil Gaiman, who is known as an informal expert on mythology, and has depicted how the modern world misunderstands ancient beliefs many times in his own writing.

Ms. Weathrwax's growing self-doubt about her capabilities as a witch throughout the book &nbsp,not only shows us a far more human side of her, but also deals with the fears we face as we get older. What makes this almost terrifying in retrospect is that this book was written way before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, yet here you have one character dealing with loss of identity, senility and death. It's downright eerie.

Then of course, there is a sub-plot in the book about the former witch and now soon-to-be-queen Magrat, who tries to accommodate the people's traditional views of queenhood, but being a progressively-minded woman, is growing more and more miserable and she is forced to wear her mask. It doesn't take a genius to figure out the feminist subtext there.

So someone (i.e., me) would say  that the story is a critique of old and modern beliefs. Sometimes it's important to remember the old rules, sometimes it's better to discard them when they hold us back as a civilization. That's just my take on the book's themes. You might come up with something different.

If I had to analyze and explain just this one book (out of 41, mind you), this post would get really long. And keep in mind, I haven't gone into the character backstories or the world building. Or the really funny and awesome moments at the end of the plot. This is one of Pratchett's best finales, and trust me, he has written quite a few great ones over the years.

It is now been well over a year since Terry Pratchett passed away, leaving several Discworld books currently unfinished. His daughter Rhianna has said she is not interested in continuing her father's legacy, and I'm fine if the series remained as is. There's 41 books about the Disc; that's quite a body of work to leave behind!

This post has been too long is coming. And worse, I feel that it is very much inadequate. I am planning on writing a sequel post to this one, but for now let me just attempt to finish this off.

Terry Pratchett is a great writer. In fact, he is among my top 5 personal favorites. Which is why I am feeling frustrated right now. How can I possibly sum up the character and skill of a man who was able to make the Grim Reaper a sympathetic character? How can I convey to you that Pratchett could tell a story that was funny, sad, thrilling, heartwarming and thought provoking all at once? How can I talk about a man who has made fun of or referenced, every cliche and trope in existence over the course of 41 books, and by doing so, inspire many younger writers, including yours truly? I can't, and yet I feel compelled to try.

From the bottom of my heart, I implore each of you to seek out a Discworld book to read. Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't, but there are a lot of Discworld books out thre. I'm sure you will find one to your liking.

Mr. Pratchett, the world is infinitely poorer for your loss. I only hope Death was as kind to you as you have been to Him. But you have left us a large collection of ideas, characters and stories that will be remembered and referenced for many years to come. I guess we should all be grateful to have had you for as long as we did, but the pain and sorrow refuses to fade.

Maybe one day, we shall meet you again. In another time, another place. A world, or perhaps, a mirror of worlds.

*This footnote may or may not have been written by the ghost of Mr. Pratchett.**
**The writer of this footnote  thinks that the writer of the above footnote is a pretentious little git who should be concentrating on his own stories. Also he needs to get his sense of humour replaced.That joke was in very poor taste***
***AHHHHHHHHH!!! IT'S THE GHOST OF TERRY PRATCHETT!!****
****MR. PRATCHETT, WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT BOTHERING THE LIVING? SORRY ABOUT THAT, MR. CIUFFREDA. I'LL BE SEEING YOU IN ABOUT THIRTEEN YEARS. THAT IS, ASSUMING THAT YOU DON'T START EXERCISING SOON. GOOD DAY.