Discworld

The Discworld is the creation of Terry Pratchett. It is an imaginary location that appears in most of his books. (One of Pratchett's earlier novels, Strata, also features a disc-shaped world, but a different one.)

The Discworld

It consists of (as the name suggests) a flat disc (complete with edge-of-the-world drop-off and consequent waterfall) resting on the backs of four huge elephants (Great T'phon, Tubul, Berilia, and Jerakeen) which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle (Great A'Tuin) as it slowly swims through space.

The gender of the Turtle is something of a mystery to the inhabitants of the disc, being not able to peer underneath the turtle themselves. This leads to some great debate and argument as to what position the turtle would assume should there be another cosmic big bang.

Directions within the discworld are not given as North, South, East and West, but rather as directions relating to the disc itself, eg Hubward (towards the centre), Rimward (away from the centre) and to a lesser extent, turnwise and widdershins (relation to the direction of the disc's spin). It relies on magic.

Eight is a significant number on the Discworld. There are eight colours in the spectrum (the eighth being octarine, the "colour of magic"), and eight days in a week (the eighth being Octeday). There are also, due to the peculiar astronomical arrangements, eight seasons (and 800 days) in a year, although most Discworlders consider four seasons make a year, whatever astronomers say. The Discworld calendar has 13 months.

There are five main continents on the Discworld. The one on which most of the books is set is unnamed, it is essentially the equivalent of Eurasia, and contains the Sto Plains and Ramtops, as well as the more Eastern European lands around Überwald.

On the Sto Plains lies the most famous city on the Disc, Ankh-Morpork, site of the Unseen University and setting of many Discworld novels.

Hubward of the Sto Plains are the Ramtops, incredibly high mountains which are dotted with tiny kingdoms such as Lancre. At the very Hub is Cori Celeste, a massive mountain upon the peak of which rests "Dunmanifestin", home of the Discworld's gods.

Chief among the Gods, by reason of having more worshippers than any of the others, is Blind Io. He is a thunder god: in fact, he is every thunder god worshipped on the disc, appearing under different guises and answering different names in various places, so as to ensure the largest possible number of worshippers. (He nevertheless comes by his position of leadership relatively fairly, since all his rivals use similar dodges.)

The other continents and geographic areas are the Counterweight Continent, which has a decidedly Oriental feel, Klatch, which generally reflects the culture of Northern Africa and the Middle East, but also contains elements of India (and is often, from an Ankh-Morpork point of view, just "generically foreign") , and XXXX (commonly refered to as "Fourecks"), which is clearly influenced by Australian culture.

Published work

The novels

The world has been chronicled through at least 30 novels so far and several short stories. The novels prior to The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (and almost all Pratchett books to date) had cover art done by Josh Kirby (who died in October 2001), but only in the original British editions. The American editions, published by HarperCollins, do not feature Kirby's cover art. Recent British editions of Pratchett's older novels no longer feature Kirby's art. Since the death of Kirby, the covers have been designed by artist Paul Kidby.

Almost all of the Discworld novels are notable for having no chapter divisions. Instead, most of the time there are different storylines interwoven with each other. The biggest advantage of not having chapters is that you can stop reading on nearly every page... if you are able to. Or you can just go through it non-stop, as some do.

The novels can be grouped into several story 'arcs', with characters or themes in common:

• The Rincewind stories - These stories centre around a wizard of sorts called Rincewind. The 'of sorts' is because Rincewind is a complete failure at magic, but through a series of events is recognised as a wizard (for want of any other suitable term). The other wizards at the Unseen University are sometimes seen in these stories.
• The Witches stories - These stories centre around the witches of Lancre, particularly Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat Garlick, and later Agnes Nitt.
• The Death stories - These stories centre around Death in his usual personification as a skeleton in black robes with a scythe. Death's companions are his granddaughter Susan, his butler Albert and the Death of Rats, the rat equivalent of the human Death. In later novels Susan takes centre stage, although Death is still a key player.
• The City Watch stories - These stories centre around Ankh-Morpork's equivalent of a police force, the City Watch. Samuel Vimes leads the city watch, and among his officers are Carrot Ironfoundersson, Angua, Fred Colon, Detritus and "Nobby" Nobbs.
• The Tiffany Aching stories - These stories centre around the character of Tiffany Aching who is a young girl who has the unusual allies of the Nac Mac Feegle. The stories are primarily written as children's books. They also tie in to the Witches stories, especially A Hat Full of Sky.
• The Miscellaneous stories - where none of the above five applies, or the main characters from them only appear briefly, or at least not as the main characters of the story in question.

The Discworld novels are as follows:

Short Stories

There are also four short stories by Pratchett based in the Discworld: "Theatre of Cruelty", "Death and What Comes Next", "Troll Bridge" and "The Sea and Little Fishes". The first two are available online (http://www.lspace.org/books/index.html). The third was published in After The King: Stories in honour of J. R. R. Tolkien, and the fourth in Legends, edited by Robert Silverberg.

In addition, all of these stories, as well as such Discworld miscelleny as the history of Thud and the Ankh-Morpork national anthem have been collected as part of a compilation of all Pratchett's short work, Once More* *With Footnotes.

Quiz Books

Thus far, there are also two Discworld Quizbooks compiled by David Langford:

• The Unseen University Challenge See University Challenge (TV)..
• The Wyrdest Link See The Weakest Link (TV)..

The Maps

Furthermore, there are four Maps:

• The Streets of Ankh-Morpork (1993)
• The Discworld Mapp (1995)
• A Tourist Guide to Lancre (1998)
• Death's Domain (1999)

The first two were drawn by Stephen Player, based on plans by Pratchett and Stephen Briggs, the third is a collaboration between Briggs and Kidby, and the last is by Paul Kidby. All also contain booklets written by Pratchett and Briggs.

Non-fiction books

Pratchett has also collaborated with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen on three books using the Discworld to illuminate popular science topics:

• The Science of Discworld
• The Science of Discworld II: The Globe
• Darwin's Watch: Science of Discworld III

Diaries

Most years see the release of a Discworld Diary and Calendar, both usually following a particular theme.

Associated publications

Other Discworldesque publications include:

• The Discworld Portfolio (a collection of Paul Kidby's artwork, with notes by Pratchett)
• The Discworld Companion (an encyclopedia of Discworld information, compiled by Pratchett and Briggs)
• Nanny Ogg's Cookbook (a collection of Discworldly recipes, combined with ettiquette, language of flowers etc., written by Pratchett with Stephen Briggs and Tina Hannan)
• The Art of Discworld (another collection of Paul Kidby's art)
• The Ankh-Morpork Almanack (an almanac for the Discworld year, in the style of the Diaries and the Cookbook, written by Pratchett with Bernard Pearson)

Adaptations

Stage adaptations

Stage adaptations of nine Discworld novels have been published, with proceeds from the rights going to charity. The adaptations are by Stephen Briggs, and were first produced by the Studio Theatre Club in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. They include adaptations of The Truth, Maskerade, Mort, Wyrd Sisters, and Guards! Guards!. Stage adaptions of Discworld novels have been performed on every continent in the world, including Antarctica.

Movie adaptations

There have been several aborted attempts at bringing stories from the Discworld to the silver screen, including a fan attempt of Maskerade that inevitably failed through lack of funds. Australian group Snowgum Films have completed principal photography on the short story Troll Bridge. A link to their website can be found below.

Animated adaptations

Animated adaptations of Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters were produced by Cosgrove-Hall Productions for Channel 4 in 1996. These are available on DVD and VHS in the US from Acorn Media.

Radio adaptations

There have been several BBC radio adaptations of Discworld stories, including versions of Wyrd Sisters, Guards! Guards! (narrated by Martin Jarvis) and Mort.

Spin-off games

Role-playing games

In addition Terry Pratchett co-authored with Phil Masters two role-playing game supplements for Discworld, utilising the GURPS system:

• GURPS Discworld
• GURPS Discworld Also

An unofficial online supplement to this is:

• GURPS Discworld Bye Nighte

Computer games

Available Discworld computer games are:

• The Colour of Magic (Sinclair Spectrum)
• Discworld 1 (PC/Windows)
• Discworld 2: Missing Presumed...!? (PC/Windows)
• Discworld Noir (PC/Windows)
• Discworld MUD (PC/Windows)

Board games

There is also a Discworld board game, Thud, created by puzzle compiler Trevor Truran.

Merchandise

Various other types of related merchandise have been produced by cottage industries with an interest in the books, including Stephen Briggs, Bernard Pearson and Clarecraft.

Miscellaneous

It is even possible to get a character in one of the future Discworld books named after yourself. Usually people appear in the books by bidding for the privilege in charity auctions.

Related topics

• Discworld characters

Races of the Discworld

The Discworld is populated by numerous classic fantasy/mythological races. Pratchett has different characteristics for some of these races when compared to other noted authors.

• Dwarfs (other definitions)
• Trolls (other definitions)
• Golems (other definitions)
• Gnomes (other definitions)
• Undead (other definitions)
• Elves (other definitions)
• Werewolves (other definitions)
• The Nac Mac Feegle

External links

• The L-Space Web (http://www.lspace.org/), possibly the definitive Discworld web site
• Discworld Monthly (http://www.discworldmonthly.co.uk) (free monthly newsletter about Terry Pratchett OBE and his Discworld and other novels.)
• Discworld.Com (http://www.discworld.com/) The official Discworld website. No longer under construction.
• A 30kb .gif showing the interrelationships between the books and series within Discworld (http://www.ie.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discworld-reading-order-guide-colour-1-25.gif)
• Snowgum Films (http://www.snowgumfilms.com/index2.htm) Makers of Troll Bridge: The Movie.
• Discworld MUD (http://discworld.atuin.net/) Allows you to enter the Discworld and become a wizard or assassin, or whatever you choose.
• Extra Publications (http://www.geocities.com/freespirit1402/books.htm) A - fairly - complete list of all tomes not in the official series. (Mapps, Diaries, Cookbooks...)
• The Watch House (http://bb.tpdw.com) An unofficial messageboard for discussing Discworld and other related topics

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