Discworld.
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- Опубліковано 15 лип 2021
- I'm finally ready to talk about Terry Pratchett.
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I ran into Sir Terry at a convention when I was 3. Literally physically barreled into him in the hotel hallway. I barely remember it, but my mom sure does, and it is to date the accomplishment I am most proud of. -R
I have never been more envious of something in my entire life.
I was sure that would be Red even before i checked.
I'm sure he thought it was quite endearing.
Yo, Red! 🤣
nice seeing you here
“Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on.” (Hogfather)
It’s largely because of throwaway gags like this that make me consider Pratchett this funniest author in the English language.
XD!!!! No way... That's the line??? That was funny...
@@NickJohnCoop Thanks to Patrick Couton's awesome translation skills, Pratchett is also the funniest in French. (There is even additional jokes, like the different footnote in every single book that specifies that "La Mort" (Death) is male, or the "correct" pronunciation of Teatime (Lheureduthé in French, that sounds like "Le Redouté": "The Feared One") )
This is my favourite Discworld novel. Death’s observations of human nature are absolutely in point. And I love his conversations with the children in the department store.
Hogfather has to be my favourite Discworld book, it's so good
"what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?"
Death thought about it.
"Cats," he said eventually. "Cats are nice."
Cats are indeed nice. Much better than dogs. I bet death owns every dead cat
Agreed
They really are.
I see Death is a being of culture..
Death is relatable to me! Loves cats, doesn't really understand humans (but still cares about them).
"It always embarrassed Samuel Vimes when civilians tried to speak to him in what they thought was ‘policeman’. If it came to that, he hated thinking of them as civilians. What was a policeman, if not a civilian with a uniform and a badge? But they tended to use the term these days as a way of describing people who were not policemen. It was a dangerous habit: once policemen stopped being civilians the only other thing they could be was soldiers. “ - from Snuff by Terry Pratchett
Yeah I think he does address the problems in policing (such as the militarisation through this quote) and I have always read it as a quasi manifesto on how you could reform policing ie. people focused and actually on their side, as a force that challenges authority rather than protects it and more community policing, like the watch ends up being.
These kinds of moments made me confident that Sir Terry Pratchett understanding the issue of police violence, and that he was making a role model for what the police SHOULD be - not an authoritarian force to protect the interests of the rich and powerful, but members of the people who take the job to protect and help keep everything from bringing more harm and damage!
'You can't kick a man while he's down!'
- 'I can't think of a better time actually.'
Nobby is just a national treasure.
"No! I can't be king! Old Vimes would go spare!" Poor Nobby.
And missing from the tv series "the watch"
@@ianharvey4406 The what now? A tv series "based" on the books? Nope, 100% certain that doesn't exist.
@@alenazwiep2996
It is a rather good show, and surprisingly faithful to the spirit of the books.
international treasure, even if he was made in England - some of us do feel he is ours as well - cheers from Denmark. If we could have knighted the Sir Pratchett I would actually have cared just a tiny bit about our nobility in Denmark.
Pratchett wrote the scene that has perhaps impacted me the most. It's at the end of Hogather, discussing assumed and manufactured meaning, and I will never forget it.
“All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little-"
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
"So we can believe the big ones?"
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
"They're not the same at all!"
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET-Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point-"
MY POINT EXACTLY.”
― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
This is one of the sling most profound prices of writing in all of human history. this is why I am a Terry Pratchett and what got me interested in DiscWorld. One passage changed my life as profoundly as any idealogy or religion may have for others. this and J Michael Straczynski
three-edged sword hopes me form the philosophy by which I live my life.
“Understanding is a three-edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth.”
J Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5)
THE HOGFATHER CAN. THE HOGFATHER GIVES PRESENTS. THERE'S NO BETTER PRESENT THAN A FUTURE.
My favourite Pratchett scene too! I'll never forget the sheer awe I felt when I understood the full meaning of it.
just reading it makes me well up a little.
This quote is my creed.
I wish Pratchett could still be here to help us make sense of it all.
Vetinari: "Down there are people who will follow any dragon, worship any god, ignore any iniquity. They accept evil not because they say yes, but because they don't say no."
Prachett by all his humor put such profound truths in his books...
I miss him so much
“If there is a creator , we must strive to be his moral superior”
Vetinari is a testament to great writing that, even though in every book he definitely has many occasions when he DEFINITELY is caught off guard, you STILL believe that he IS still a Magnificent Bastard, because of how much he is still written as not losing control, despite not necessarily being IN control (ie - every time Vimes starts kicking up, and ready to turn in his badge)
When you say the loss of Terry Pratchett affected you in a way that is usually reserved only for close friends and family members, all I could think was “Same, man. Same.”
His writing changed me for the better.
Sir Terry has meant so much to both me and my eldest daughter - losing him was almost as painful as losing my father.
Came here to say that! I actually cried when he died.
I've lost grandparents and other relatives and while it certainly was sad it never affected me much.
After Terry's death I was a nervous wreck and broke into tears at the drop of a pin for two or three weeks.
It's a touchstone for me whenever I get too angry or depressed.
GNU Sir Terry
"Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
One of my favorite bits!
Of course every page contains one of my favorite bits...... Sir Terry Pratchett was so brilliant.
@AeonReign well it's been attributed to him on trusted sites...
I mean, anyone can say anything before someone famous says it and gets the credit. I am sure Terry wasn't the only one to think of that.
I have used that quote many times and I still laugh every time I read it.
But i've got my potato
I always liked that The Witches are described as The Maiden, The Mother, and The Other One
And continued to be even after Magrat had a baby, even if Granny did expect to retire and let some junior Witch join the coven.
The really funny part in one of the later books was that Granny Weatherwax was the true Maiden of the triad.
Hey, I've read the Dresden Files, and I have no desire to piss of Mother Winter
@@jacob_90s I wouldn’t even dare to irritate Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness. She’s my favourite sidhe.
When Nanny realized she would be the new “other one”
“None of my bra’s will fit” as though she expected to physically change to match the social status
The holy Gaimen-Pratchett trinity: Good Omens, Small Gods, and American Gods
I'm fond of Rincewind, the tired and half-savvy wizard who is constantly terrified but willing to face down the eldritch beings beyond reality with a brick in a sock.
Same! I love his constant pessimism which usually ends up being 100% right
“I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?"
Death thought about it.
CATS, he said eventually. CATS ARE NICE.”
He got this right. :)
"Curse you!"
"MANY HAVE."
I did not know Death was such a monster!
Set a man on fire and he is warm for his life is my fav.
Death is a wise fellow
My girlfriend has trouble sleeping so I've taken to reading her discworld novels over the phone to help her sleep. And it's when you're reading it aloud to someone that you really notice how ingenious Pratchett's casual conversational tone is
This is the SWEETEST thing 💛
I have intense insomnia, but since I found the Discworld books on audiobook and listen to them every night, my evenings sometimes end in the most fantastic dreams.
That is nauseatingly sweet of you.
I’ve got to give that a try somewhere in my life 😍
I used to read the books to my my mother while she was sewing. It was one of the few things we both enjoyed and could bond over
Also Vettanari is a gem of a character. One of my favorite quirks: In one of the books his favorite music is described as not played. He essentially says, or thinks, that actually playing out the songs ruins them. So he reads notesheets.
I can relate to this on a somewhat similar, but still completely different medium.
By the end of it, he does make an exception
And, if you’re a fan of OSP (which, if you’re subbed to this channel, you SHOULD be) Vetinari is also the most accurate portrayal of what Machiavelli was writing about in his thesis about rulership.
In effect - being loved or feared is not the important thing, but rather, being INDISPENSABLE by dint of being very good at your job.
"This isn't police brutality, this is police shouting!" - Sgt. Detritus.
"Everytime i goes looking for trouble it's gone when i show up..."
Also our beloved walking rock with a bow that opens the front and backdoor at the same time.
I read somewhere the opinion that “reading Pratchett’s works is like listening to the most amazing storyteller you’ve met in a pub” and it’s been the best summary of Sir Terry Pratchett’s writing style I have ever seen
I think that comes from that wonderful Tale Foundry video on his style… or, they might have been quoting your remembered source?
"A man is not dead as long as his name is spoken"
-Sir Terry Pratchett GNU. He is definitely my favorite author of all time. The way he manages to slightly twist things is beautiful. Also, the watch series is one of the best and the rincewind stories are amazing.
I love The Watch series, too, and Granny Weatherwax is perhaps my favorite character ever.
GNU Terry Pratchett.
Well from that perspective Pratchett is immortal.
[everyone liked that]
As long as a name is spoken a man(or person isnt dead, now give sir terry a snuggle good sir terry
GNU Terry Pratchett
As for favorite author, that would be a toss up between Sir Terry and Douglas Adams. Both similarly showing social issues, one in a magical universe, the other in space
Among numerous other things, Discworld gave two quotes to live by:
"Here and now, we are alive".
"You need to believe in things that aren't true. How else can they become?"
Regarding favourite characters, I must confess I am in awe of Patrician Vetinari.
another qquote to live by:
"BUGGRIT! MILLENNIUM HAND AND SHRIMP!"
just watch out for beliving in gods... that can get you killed.
Reminds me of: "It is often said that before you die your life passes before your eyes. It is in fact true. It's called living."
As someone who is fat and probably never will be anything but fat. I really don't think I agree with you about the fat shaming. Sir Terry managed to make me relate and laugh. I think people who don't struggle with their weight don't realise how healing his very real portraying is. Like you I felt his passing very heavily. His books are the ones I still read over and over again.
I came to the comment section trying to find someone talking about this. I'm not a fat person, but I never got that impression of fat shaming from the books. I wonder how other people feel. I always found it nice how Sybil (who is a cool and interesting character) is described as being very very fat, but also attractive? She is the love interest of the main character, and he's very attracted to her, besides being in a loving relationship with her. I always found that a little different, and worth noticing.
After all - I have very beautiful hair and my singing voice is nice, although not as amazing as Agnes' voice.
It’s probably a very subjective thing. What one person thinks is clever, funny, or humanizing; another person finds insensitive or cruel.
Personally, I found the majority of the moments to be funny and humanizing, with one or two exceptions ( usually when it’s an antagonist and there’s a subtle “they’re fat because they’re bad/they’re bad because they’re fat” undercurrent to them)
Like Dom says - not ALWAYS there, but when you see it, it’s uncomfortable.
I'll tell you who is fat-phobic. That J. K. Rowling
I love the clowns guild
the clowns are as depressing as they can be on purpose, their Idea being:
"we could be funny and make you forget your sorrows FOR A WHILE.
but if we are very depressing instead, then the rest of your life will seem much brighter in comparison"
Fools guild actually. They trained court jesters, Minstrels, Mimes and others along with Clowns.
Small thing but I always liked the footnote saying the Gamblers' Guild was opposite the Alchemist Guild. People ask them why they set up their guildhouse near a building that frequently explodes. Their answer is "Did you read the name on the door?"
“The fool jingled miserably across the floor” is a Best of All Time line
The collection of eggs with clown faces is such a great image; and all the better for being based on real world clown lore.
Forging your own meteorite sword is fucking awesome.
Space Sword!
It's impossible not to love this man
@@leyrounni1304 I was the letterer on the Mort Big Comic, and my mate, Graham Higgins, was the artist. Graham had a bit to do with Sir Terry in person, and was touched by how genuine he was. Apparently, if someone phoned and Pratchett did feel up to talking to them, he would stand outside, so the caller could honestly be told that Terry wasn't at home at the moment.
@@KayleighBourquin It fits the Discworld perfectly :)
Sokka would be proud
I was the Pratchett dealer in my high school. My dad introduced me to "Soul Music" when I was 14 or 15, and I went around school going, "Have you heard of this author? Do you want to borrow my book?". I got so many classmates hooked!
Sounds like me with ElfQuest, the original series graphic novel(s). One time, I had a bunch of friends over and I started passing issues of the comic around...soon, 5 people were passing them around, out of order, because they were so caught up in the story.
I feel you missed out Tiffany Aching. For so far into the series it still amazes me how Sir Terry manages to write believable YA books about a girl growing and learning power and responsibility
Tiffany and her series is so amazing and just the best. I love the Nac Mac Feegles so much as well.
Wee Free Men was my first real intro to Discworld. I had tried Colour of Magic years prior and not finished it. I loved it so much that I made an audiobook for my kids (with all the voices and such). CRIVENS!
@@wendybalivet6543 same. her series hits me hard, especially when she goes away for training - her musings on her identity and her sense of belonging ring very true to my own journey atm.
though i've had to pause reading her series for a while cuz it's started touching on the witch trials (or at least the sentiments that fuelled it). that's some heavy shit and i need to be in a better headspace for it. until then, i've just finished Moist von Lipwig's series and have started on the Watch series. They deal with Some Shit but not quite as affecting as the witch trials (even the gender stuff, which surprised me given i'm trans).
@@elfinvale Yes, many of his books touch on prejudice, including the Watch books. His treatment of our innate biases is elegant, making them both obvious and ridiculous, and one comes away with the strong feelings that one does not wish to be like the characters who are so narrow minded. You may wish to read Monstrous Regiment, which is kind of a one-off book. I usually like the books with familiar characters more, and I was surprised how much I enjoyed MR. The discworld emporium website has a list of them in order (I finished book 41 a few weeks ago). Listening to them in order really highlights the growth of the characters. I hope you enjoy. :)
I first read Discworld when I was nine, the same age as Tiffany in The Wee Free Men. Ever since then, I’ve loved the Discworld series. I carry at least two Discworld books whenever I go out of the house and I love them so much.
*insert raised eyebrow*
“Don’t let me detain you.”
"Sex is a lot like food. Some people use books for ideas, and you imagine very lavish feasts when you go a long time without it, although you're usually content with just a plain ham and cheese sandwich."
"...wizards who are by nature celibate, and can come up with some pretty funny ideas
at 2 am in the morning."
...New additions to the legendary Pratchett footnotes will also be sorely missed.
Honestly, if Dom just wants to start a series gushing over every single book, one at a time. I would watch it!
In a loop!
Me too
seconded!!
Thirded
I'm in.
I discovered Pratchett's books as a child in an abusive home (middle eastern Europe), he saved my life in so many ways and he's still helping me. As an autistic person I often find it hard to get the sense of humour so it is so very precious for me that Pratchett is among very few people who can genuinely make me laugh, such a rare, wonderful experience most people take for granted. Not just that - he can make me experience the whole range of emotions. Whenever I feel I get "too far away", too dissociated, I turn to his books, it's like he makes me more human, both kinder and smarter. GNU
🧡 This comment
🥹🙏🏼🌷 This is beautiful
“What can the harvest hope for, if not the care of the Reaper Man?” I’m still upset that over half the series is unavailable on Audible in my region
There's a playlist even on UA-cam with a read through
Wait…what??? Please tell me you’re from somewhere I’ve never
Thank you!
I’ve found them from FantasyAudiobooks. I don’t know if it’s the whole series yet, but they’ve got quite a few.
ua-cam.com/video/XKETYXTyMu8/v-deo.html
For Masquerade, but it should get the algorithm flowing in the right direction for you.
The Discworld books were such a heavy influence in my role play days on AOL. We would use the world of Ankh-Morpork and create guilds inspired by the series. I think Pratchett was one of the funniest writers to ever live; I remember picking up Small Gods in a Barnes and Noble and laughing SO hard at the description of the turtle and the eagle. My personal recommendation is Mort (Guards, Guards a close second!). Thank you for the breakdown and love letter.
Mort is my second favorite book after Going Postal. Small Gods was my first Discworld book too.
Those three books you mention are like all of my favorites!
My friend in high school made me read Guards! Guards! first, so I is naturally my favorite. I had no idea I would love it so much; it was like a one-in-a-million chance...
Please Dom and Pushing up Rose's, do another crossover 🙏
I remember, as a kid loving, Mort, and being so sad to learn he wasn't in any other books.
Favourite Quote from the entire series:
"Things that try to look like things often do look more like things than things. Well known fact" - Granny Weatherwax, Wyrd Sisters.
We made a whole Granny Weatherwax/discworld calendar for my mother. That is one of the first one we put on it!
That's some good headology there!
Oe of my fabourites is "It's like a chance on one million!
-Then it's a guaranteed sucess".
It demonstrates really well the narrative logic of this world XD
I wish I could remember her speech to Ridcully the Brown on the bridge over Lancre Gorge, when he was getting all wistful and nostalgic, from "Lords & Ladies." I remember finding it both profound and pragmatic -- Classic Granny.
My favourites: "better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness the darkness" or "set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life"
"HUMAN'S NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T REAL TO BE HUMAN. TO BE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE."
I will never stop thinking about that idea.
I think it says a lot about the power of Sir Terry's writing that even quick descriptions of his wonderful characters can reduce me to tears. I miss his words so, SO much
"When shall we three meet again!"
"I can do next Tuesday."
You mean *everyone* brought potato salad?
"You made me drop me toast!"
Dom: “My dad is literally a mad scientist.”
That makes me think that ‘Dominic’ is an alias and our intrepid reviewer is really called Domination Noble.
World Domination Noble
@@merrittanimation7721 Domination World Noble with World being second name
Well, in his earlier videos he called himself "The Dom" while he told us "to sub" to his channel.
W. Domination in 3 easy Steps Noble IV. ?
You can admire other authors for their literary skills, the scope of their worlds, the things that they make you feel, but very few are as genuine and decent as Terry seemed. I mean in a very real, very human, very flawed way, he wasn't perfect, but he had a sense of kindness and warmth that I can feel running through his books. He cared about people and reading his books he made me care too. As a very lonely and shut-off little boy, this really helped me.
He has this optimistic nihilistic point of view that really helps in life.
Oh my!
As a person who read his books only in translation, it hit me just now, what
"Don't let me detain you"
actually means.
Brilliant!
I guess I have to read Discworld in original language. 😊
"My motives are entierly transparent."
Me too. But luckily the Czech translator got permission from Sir Pratchett himself to make his own jokes, to make up for the untranslatable ones
My favorite character is the presciently named "Bloody Stupid Johnson."
In fairness he was only presciently initialed B.S. Johnson. I believe it was bergholt Stuttley or something. People these days just remember the other name due to his works.
@@michaelbootes4822 I was thinking in terms of a current Prime Minister known by the same name.
@@branovices ah sorry I’m out of the loop on uk politics
Cut me own throat Dibbler is better! And his cousin in Pyramids! I love the Finnish translation "Persnettoa tulee mutta tulkoon Dibbler" 💕
I have a Bloody stupid Johnson hat and the pattern follows the most convoluted way possible to knit a beanie. I love it!
Just yesterday a spoon got stuck in my drawer and I was like "Damn it, Anoia!"
every time
HOW CAN IT CLOSE ON THE DAMNED THING BUT NOT OPEN IT? rattle, rattle. WHO BOUGHT THIS? rattle, rattle, rattle. DO WE EVER USE IT? rattle.
@@karmagrl76 (These cries are as praise unto Anoia)
Could've been worse, could've been the fish slice.
Stop giving her more power!
My favorite has to be Rincewind. Especially as a young teen, it was reassuring having someone as equally lost in their world.
I also feel reading rincewind books when things are bad for you just make you connect to him in a really nice way.
Love Pratchett, and I feel like Monstrous Regiment is really good for people who don't know him much. It's got the typical Pratchett elements and takes part in Discworld with some cameos but can be read by someone with no knowledge of it.
I loved how Sam Vines popped up from time to time, and seemed amused by what was going on in Monsterous Regiment.
Yes I think this was my first and it wasn’t definitely the right gateway for a teen girl to get into Discworld!
I always recommend it to start with plus it doubles as one if my favourite books☺️🍊
Ditto for me ❤ it would also make a pretty good anime
Monstrous Regiment is my favourite discworld book, I love all the lgbtq representation in what is now a fairly old book (there's a canon lesbian couple and also one or two characters who are heavily implied to be trans or gender non-conforming)
When Pratchett died, i donated 100$ to Alzheimer's research in memory of him. His writings were huge for me in my childhood.
"I ain't been vampired. You've been Weatherwaxed." One of my favorite lines in any book. Pratchett is an extremely quotable author.
“See this badge? It says I’m supposed to keep the peace! If I kill people to do that then I’m reading the wrong manual!”
Although Death is and always will be my favourite Discworld character, I’ve been gradually gaining a deeper understanding of why my brother loves the Watch series so much.
"see this"
"its a truncheon"
"yes if it was a board with an nail in it we would be having this conversation"
I just finished “Jingo” and it’s terrifying how prescient it still is, in this, Year-of-Our-World 2023.
Like… I’m not sure that he wasn’t secretly a time traveler, with some of it.
I feel like the Watch series needs to be required reading for cops lol
The Vimes' "Boot's theory of economics" has apparently inserted itself into economics text books.wish I knew which ones....
I found Terry Pratchett books in 1983 and after all this time, I still miss Terry and I still cry at the thought that he is no longer with us. As Dominic said it was like his death of a close member of my family.
Small Gods is possibly the best book on religion and the relationship between people and gods. It radically shifted how I thought about the divine and what it means to be holy.
Small Gods only has one recurring character from the series, but I personally think it's my choice for the best one. It's about faith and religion, but also funny and moving.
A hundred percent, one of my favorite Discworld novels, if not my favorite. The exploration of religion, what it means, what it should mean, and how we should mean it, is just fascinating and comforting; Pratchett's Humanism is a guiding light throughout the series, but this story particularly shows the heights we can aspire to, and the depths we should avoid.
So human that even death who explicit is not human, is human.
It criticises religion while, at the same time, it is about a man who is rewarded for his faith in a One True God
It was the first discworld book i read, just a week ago and i was completely taken off guard at how much i sobbed at the end. ive had my own issues with faith and religion and this novel just took not prisoner in deconstructing all of them... and then turned it around at the end with a batch of hope ;w;
To this day I still really love the fact that dragons, which are usually pretty cool, are basically conceptually stupid animals in Discworld as they tend to self-ignite and explode because of the fact that they can breathe fire.
That's damn genius.
Is the high priest an Offlian? Does a dragon explode in the woods? :P
@@ClaymooreEOC The dragons contain a mixture of gases in their stomachs that help them spray fire. But it also leads to them self-igniting. For example, hiccups.
@@LunaDragon1000 Apologies if you didnt get the quote. Pratchett uses it in several of the books. It is the discworld equivalent of "Is the pope a catholic and does a bear crap in the woods" saying.
@@ClaymooreEOC well, I had forgotten that quote, Thank you for reminding me.
That's just a swamp dragons. The real dragons are sleeping in their dimension...
I'm an American. He was my favorite writer as a kid and shaped my life in ways I can't even imagine. I still own every book he's ever written and spent ungodly amounts of money buying the guide books, maps, and cartoon DVDs that only aired in the UK. Truly a great mind that will be missed.
I had the great pleasure of meeting him at the book release / on stage discussion of Going Postal here in NZ. He signed my book with my name but spelt it wrong with a K on the end, Dominick. I remarked that he had spelt it wrong with a K to which he recovered by writing “with a K on the end”. Personalised it more for me and is a treasure in my book shelf.
"I hope you're in the mood to hear me gush about Discworld"
Me: Yaaaaas!
Me: Always
As a priest in the Church of the Algorithm, I bless this video with a comment.
Please don't worship the algorithm, it will only use you up and spit you out.
@@JosephDaviesyeah... I just try to appease it. Does not really work, but whatever :D
+
If we disband the church of the Algorithm the Algorithm will cease to be as it loses the power of our belief.
I pray with thee father
Im a fairly recent Sir Terry fan but im absolutly loving both the Witches and Guards series such quality writing.
Something Pratchett helped me come to terms with is the very concept of Death. He is not some foul harvester of souls or some malicious blighter who takes what is not owed; he is an old friend ready to help you along to the next part of your life. He has seen everything and carries that burden always. Death can even be kind or forgiving, expediting painful deaths or delaying deaths undeserved.
Death waits for us all, not with a sword but with outstretched arms and a warm drink.
"And you're left with the fundamentally good policemen*"
*And Nobby
Well, we can't be sure he's really any type of man. Though he has the certification papers signed by Vetinari...
Nobby is a good policeman: he reduces the crime rates of a district by staying clear of it.
I believe Pratchett described Nobby as the sort of bloke you can trust with your life, but you'd be an idiot to trust him with five quid.
Nobby is interesting because he's consistently shown to be a far, _far_ more complex character than he lets on. Colon is a somewhat well-meaning idiot with surprisingly good survival instincts, but Nobby is actually very good at poking holes into the "a bloke at the pub told me" philosophies his sergeant tends to espouse. He's got very little in the way of book learning, but he's street-smart with an emphasis on the smart bit. He's also probably the least prejudiced character in all the Discworld.
@@GaldirEonai Well, he NEEDS a note vouching for his human status, so most likely the lack of prejudice was learned by experience. Also, he has more success with women when he removes "human" from the trait list (or when that vampire made him pass off as nobility with rights to the throne, but that was a one-off thing that ended quickly).
Terry Pratchett was a stealth humanistic philosopher. He made you laugh, and laugh and laugh and then bang! The philosophy hits you right in the gut, leaves you breathless. A single theory could take a whole book to explain or a whole concept of ideas with a few sentences. He cannot be accused of literature but he sure is a changer of minds.
He could also nail perfectly how sometimes we humans need to get over ourselves:
"...it wasn't that the Librarian wasn't aware of the nobility of human struggle, it is that as far as he was concerned you could just stuff it."
@@celestepalm6949 It's very calming when the questions of existence all boil down to where to get a regular banana supply.
Sir Pratchett is sometimes compared to P.G. Wodehouse, an early 1900s humor prose writer. In the front of his own books, even. Rather than accuse him of literature, the fix is in, Pratchett is literature for sure. I've never read something so thoughtful yet witty.
@@Curry-tan- Mark Twain my friend.
I like when he took a whole book to explain that Money is shared fiction, and always has been.
Vetinari is my favourite character. He is a genius, who uses every wit at his disposal to make the world a better place. Long live the Patrician
I think round world could use a benevolent tyrant.
@@cindydott452 too bad that is how they all see themselves but they always seem to degenerate.
The Dom, you are one of the reasons I bought a copy of, and finished in one sitting, The Color of Magic. I almost can not WAIT to read the next Discworld story. Thank you for what you do, and for helping to introduce me to this series :)
My entire final dissertation at university was how the first three books of the Watch managed to pull a bait and switch with traditional police and murder mystery tropes (as defined by Hernest Mandel) and integrate them with fairy tales (as defined by Propp). In particular, I focused a lot on how in discworld a technological weapon was percived as something completely alien, almost possessing an intelligence of its own, whereas a golem (who is definitely intelligent) is considered just a very valuable and unusual commodity.
*holds up hand* i would like to see it
@@vanilloia7479 unfortunately it's in Italian.
@@Woodclaw I am italian and I'd like to see it if you don't mind sharing!
How lucky! I wanted to write about the influence of nordic mythology in LotR and the teacher wouldn't let me "because fantasy is not real literature" D:
@@MartinaSinT That doesn't sound like a very good teacher.
I met Terry back in the 90s: he came to my bookstore for a signing before going on to an sff con we'd been part of arranging (and were present at). He and I started an argument about nuclear power facilities that continued on through the entire weekend, punctuated by him stopping to buy me another beer.
I, too, was devastated by his illness and demise.
I would have loved to meet him
"[…]but after a while all the bad apples get sorted out and you're just left with the fundamentally good policemen."
And Cecil Wormsborough St. John Nobbs…
The We Didn't Start The Fire cover at the end was so damn delightful
Vimes and Granny Weatherwax are mine and my late husband's favorite characters. Pratchett surely had a gift for writing people that inspire and move the reader. I haven't been able to read any of the novels since my husband died last year, but I look forward to doing so again some day. Perhaps a leopard can change its shorts...
My girlfriend was murdered years ago and I managed to read The Shepard's Crown once... Some day I will read it again, but I know it will destroy me to do so.
I'm sorry to read of your loss... Pratchett taught me to look at death differently with this.
“In the Ramtop village where they dance the real Morris dance, for example, they believe that no one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away-until the clock he wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone’s life, they say, is only the core of their actual existence.”
Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett
I hope me quoting it doesn't cause you destress.
@@Sgtshadist I'm sorry for your loss as well, and hope you're okay. That's a beautiful quote, and makes me smile - thinking of the descriptions of Morris Dancing in the novels, especially.
"The titular witches" Oh boy, I can hear Nanny Ogg guffawing at being called that, before she belts back a beverage and starts singing 'that song'
"...a giraffe, if you stand on a chair, but the hedgehog can never be..." XD
"...Nanny Ogg, who is good to basically everybody."
Me: *remembering her dozens of terrorized daughters-in-law
Titular... oh dear... yeah, I can feel her grinning from one universe away.
The one about the rodent the couldn't be bothered to care about anything?
Or the one about wizards and their equipment?
@@criseastman6503 The one about the imperturbable spiny garden dweller, as I believe that comes up in the series more frequently than the one about a male magic scholar's accoutrement.
Don: Rinsing, a wizard utterly incapable of performing even the smallest bit of magic...
Me: SCHMEDRICK, IS THAT YOU???
hehehe I like to think that Rincewind and Schmendrick are brothers in magic misadventures :)
Vetinari is definitely my favorite. You described him perfectly! He's intimidating, wickedly clever, and usually pretty good natured.
Sir Terry Pratchett is the only person whom I never met and only read his books, but cried when I found out about his passing. Truely a legend.
Yep, him and Jim Henson
for me, he's the third the first was dr. Seuss (thanks to him I learned to read at all), Robin Williams (I did not understand what imagination was until seeing hook as a very small child.)Sir Terry Pratchett (the man that gave even beath a soul and by so doing should me what it truly means to be human.)
I am tearing up as I write this. I have cried more for that wonderful man than I did for the passing of my own grandparents. But then again, Pratchett has taught me more about life than they ever did.
My two were Sir Terry & Anne McCaffery. Anne is the only author to ever make me bawl my eyes out for a fictional character.
To be clear. I never don't want to hear someone gush about Discworld.
Way too many amazing characters but my boy Moist will always own my heart
Golden suit man!
(I did my last English homework on going postal)
Yeah, but I love Adorabelle Dearheart. Spike fucking rocks!
"Seagulls stop it now." I love it!🤣
Dom: "Which book or character is your favourite?"
Me: YES!
Terry Pratchett: The guy that turned a joke about atheism (Turtles all the way down) into a subgenre
And invented lightning-proof atheists that CAN mouth off about gods!
I just finished reading Monstrous Regiment and absolutely loved it. Pratchett had such a way of stripping common narratives to the bone and rebuilding them so no aspect is able to hide.
I really missed reading a book with annotations at the bottom of a page.
I was playing the game Gardenscapes and in one area you meet a giant tortoise. One of the characters said, "There's room on that tortoise for four elephants and a discworld". I'm not kidding. I never expected a mobile game to reference discworld like that. Just something that I had to share when I saw it.
I could never finish "The Shepherd's Crown" because then the Discworld would be over.
Me too. I know it's somewhat silly and Terry himself probably wouldn't be too pleased, but I just can't pick up that book. It's been standing on my shelf for quite a while now.
and me as well. i got it when it was first released, put it on the bookshelf with the other tiffany books, and there it sits. like simon - it feels like discworld would be over :( and i just can't bear that
I feel that. I did eventually read it, though, mostly because it's literally about the world coming to terms with the death of someone so important you can't imagine life without them. Achingly fitting.
@@meganechan720 thanks, megan (?) i did read up to the second chapter, and then had to put it down. i admire your fortitude!
It's the only one I bought in hardcover.
My favorite book is "Monstrous Regiment" because his sociological storytelling is just so impeccable.
I'm not a violent man, but leaving that one unmentioned could be considered a grave mistake
YES! The way it deals with gender roles and how people choose to present themselves and why.
I proclaim things and abomination unto Nuggan quite often
@@sophiawoodward4838 That's also an abomination unto Nuggan!
I loved that book! One of my favorites too :D
The feeling of loss when I heard he died back then was startling. I've lost grand parents, even those I liked, but Sir Pterry's death hit me harder than anything else.
I still love his books, always way ahead of his time with his writing, a master of the written word. May Binky let him ride safely forever.
The development of the Discworld throughout the decades was amazing, characters also evolved and readers could grow with them.
This video is me infodumping at a party after someone asks my favorite book.
Lord Vetinari & his maddeningly malicious metropolitan management methods are my very favorite things about the series.
Now if you'll excuse me I must go into hiding, as that much alliteration has most likely put a price on my head.
He's a pun on Medici.
No, so long as you're not a mime you're probably safe . . . but mimes go straight to the Scorpion Pit.
You're ok, the Assassins don't work weekends.
Whilst I think Pratchett would have had a lot to say about the problems with policing in the present day, I will say that re-reading Night Watch last summer still felt incredibly relevant. But then again a lot of issues we face are the old ones with a new coat of paint and he touched on a good number over the years.
I always felt like the Patrician and the Watch are examples of Pratchett's Narativiam. They represent an ideal of this type of institution. The benign Dictator and the competent, earnest, and ethical law enforcement.
This is how it's supposed to be, here in round world though, we have no Narativiam to right the wrongs of such institutions.
@@TimeTravelingBunnis Well, the Watch and the legal system could be really corrupt and shitty, Pratchett just chose to make those instances into jokes -- Nobby and Colon taking bribes for protection and to let criminals go, a legal system where you get the death penalty for forgery unless you sell yourself into forced labor, and such.
many of the issues in policing have been present since its inception, but it should be noted that policing is generally not getting worse we are simply seeing more of the crap that usually gets dealt with quietly and internally. its very similar to how people believe the world to be very violent and conflict ridden place thanks to worldwide news, despite this actually being the most peaceful era of human history.
I've reread the watch series recently and found that they are still relevant, Vimes struggles so heavily with wanting to beat the criminal classes into a pulp yet he contains himself constantly, he truly does watch the watch.
Agreed, Night Watch (his best work IMO) touches on a lot of issues going on now. To me, his representation of the Watch, and Vimes in particular, is about exploring what the police *should* be, and that applies to any country.
Alright, you’ve enticed and convinced me to actually read Sir Terry’s works. Their goodness has on occasion over the years been extolled to me, but has never stuck. I am reluctant to try new series, but when I love something I really love it and will read the crap out of it the first time and then continue to enjoy it via audiobooks over and over again.
I hope you’re happy. 😝
There's many books I've loved so much throughout my life that I've read them twice or more times over the years. They tend to be individual volumes and the odd duology or trilogy here or there. The exception is the complete run of 40+ book in this series, all of which fall in the category of books I've read at least 3 times so far and that I fully expect to revisit again in a couple of years. Pretty much everything anyone needs to know about life and the human condition is discussed at some point in the series, and it's always done not only with humor and kindness, but with honesty.
"Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind."
!!!!!
In German we have the saying: Satzzeichen sind keine Rudeltiere!
Which roughly translates to: Punctuation marks are not pack animals!
@Caligo the best saying I ever heard was by an elderly fellow when I was in the Eiffel region.
@Caligo silly me can’t think of the original words. Di teufel macht di Eiffel
And he wasn't wrong!
I'm pretty much a real-life Agnes Nitt, in that I am overweight, a great singer (though I can't sing with myself in thirds, sadly), remain calm in a crisis, and who has a thin girl desperately wanting out whom I have named. I've never really felt any fat phobia in Discworld. That whole "every fat chick has a thin girl inside and lots of chocolate" isn't meant as an insult, but Sir Terry pointing out how judgemental people are, and how they say that kind of comment by rote, without thinking about how the people they say it about feels. There is an interaction in... I think it's "Carpe Jugulum", where Nanny says, "well, they do say inside every big girl, there's a thin girl-"
"And lots of chocolate." Agnes replied wearily. Proving that she's heard it a million times, and is so sick and tired of being judged by her size, instead of by her abilities, merits, talents and intelligence.
But hey, that's just the vibe I've gotten. He's not mean to Agnes, he doesn't make her to be a "stereotypical fat person" by having her gorging herself at every opportunity, or being crude the way a lot of films portray fat chicks (I really hate Melissa McCarthy and Rebel Wilson for exactly that reason). Agnes is a fully fleshed-out character who is complex and struggles with who she is physically versus who she wants to be. Magrat is the same, but in reverse. Look at how Magrat is always complaining about how her hair is frizzy and won't stay styled, how she's so skinny that dresses don't look good on her because she has no feminine shape, she has watery eyes and has, I think, a much lower sense of self-esteem and self-confidence than Agnes does. Magrat gets there eventually, but it takes becoming a mother for her to become really strong. Agnes is strong willed from the beginning because she has to deal with so many judgemental bastards.
But like I said, that's just my vibe. Vimes is my favourite character, and I too miss our glorious world-creator, Sir Terry Pratchett.
I, as someone who's been an overweight person most of my life, agree with you. All of his characters are always so much more than their physicality even if it is a butt of a joke sometimes.
I ate my thin girl. Shut her right up.
I'm glad you said this here. I think the other character it affects sometimes is Lady Ramkin, but the comments on her size are admiring from Vimes' point of view - her height and weight adding to the way she can naturally command a room, that sort of thing.
I also never felt that it was fat shaming, it was just a physical characteristic, like Carrot being so tall or Wee Mad Arthur so small, they made it possible to use all the common jokes and then bounce them around and make them work for the story
@Robin Hayes lady Ramkin is awesome. That’s why vines loves her and even indulges in her projects
She Is A Flotillian
Guys. This is amazing. I grew up in a rinky-dink town in the U.S, and Terry Prattchett essentially unknown here. I was lucky enough to stumble across the only books of his our library had, the Tiffany Aching series, and I fell in love. I've re-read them so many times! I knew there were other discworld books out there, but I never got ahold of them to read them. Now I find out that the Wyrd Sisters features some of the best charachters in the series! Granny Aching is my hero! Apparently the Tiffany Aching books is just more of a spin-off/sequal trilogy to the Wyrd Sisters. This is so cool!
tiffany aching series was the last 'hurrah' of discworld. And an amazing series it is, with all its amazing crossovers, and epic endings to each book. However I still offer you sympathy that you came into the series from the wrong end :D tiffany aching is an amazing series but the watch is my personal favourite, it has Soooo much character development and change across the books. seeing poor drunkard sam vimes become a duke, and the richest man in the city over several books is amazing to read.
My favourite is Death. I adore his trying to become human. I love how diligently he loves those close to him. And I have a real soft spot for Greebo. I named my cat after him but mine was not a mean cat. He was a beautiful, neurotic, mess of a Ragdoll. But the name stuck and it fitted so well.
"Some pirates achieved immortality by great deeds of cruelty or derring-do. Some achieved immortality by amassing great wealth. But the captain had long ago decided that he would, on the whole, prefer to achieve immortality by not dying."
My three favorite characters: Death, the Librarian, and the Luggage.
Sam Vimes
Oook
YES, the Luggage!
This is the most British expression of emotion and admiration that I have ever seen. Well done.
My favourite character has always been Rincewind! I just love his cowardice and pessimism, but how despite this he still has his hero moments. He is so quick witted and sarcastic, not to mention that he is much more intelligent than anyone (himself included) give him credit for. He just wants the world to make sense, but also still wants to be able to do magic. Love his character and his stories the most.
The amount of little characters that wander through between books for continuity and worldbuilding in the Discworld books is always impressive. My favourite desperate salesperson C.M.O.T Dibbler and his foreign counterparts being particularly memorable for me.
Give me a minute. Interesting time, where he's called...Disembowel myself honorably Dibbalah and... Is it sourcery, or small gods? Small gods it would be, since the wiki says he's Omnian : Cut Me Own Hand Off Dblah
To this day, whenever I or my dad purchase a sausage baguette or similar from a small vendor we refer to it as a sausage-inna-bun (and that’s cutting my own throat) without fail.
@intergalactic92 toppings extra. Lol.
Me too. Sausage inna bun. Only $2 this side of the ankh
His writing touched me in a way so profound, I didn't even realise how much until he died. I still can't talk about it without crying. And then when you read The Shepherd's Crown, you can tell he *knew* what was coming. It reads like a goodbye.
Shepherd's Crown was a beautiful send-off for Granny, and Sir Terry. :)
@@seekthevisceral A lovely sentiment, with which I wholeheartedly agree, though yikes, way to throw a spoiler in plain sight for those who've not read those.
I've never been able to bring myself to read that one. Because then I would have to fully acknowledge that it really is all over... 😣
So I just keep starting over instead. 🌷How do we rise up, rise up, rise up?🎶
@@C.L.Hinton Exactly my feelings, i think i will never be able to finish that book. GNU Terry Pratchett.
The moment when granny dies in shepherds crown is so beautiful & so sad. It always moves me to tears
My mum started reading me the witches books when I was 6 and I found the audiobooks in a library a few years later, I'm 28 and I still can't sleep at night without a STP book playing. And it HAS to be Nigel Planer or Stephen Briggs 😂
I love Sam Vimes so much, and all the kind hearted but slightly off things death did for Susan as a child. The swing he made her 😭 so pure
I'm an American. British humor doesn't put me off at all.
When I first read "Colour of Magic" I had to put it down several times because the tears of laughter (from the footnotes!) filled my glasses.
I can't decide which book is my favorite. The scene in "Soul Music" where Death is ready to strum the stone guitar with a chip off his scythe literally gave me goosebumps, which no other book has ever managed. "Hogfather" was terrifying in the best way possible, illustrating why life is so evenly balanced between wonder and terror, and why both are necessary.
I never met Sir Pterry in person but I think he's the only one of my heroes that wouldn't have disappointed had I had the opportunity.
I've always loved the little asides, small details that have no connection to the story. One I remember concerns the ants of unseen university who have a thriving society and steal sugarlumps to build a pyramid for their queen. I think it's from Equal Rites.
It makes me think of the illustrations by Sven Nordqvist, lots of little weird details all over the place.
My favorite aside is the one about the second person to steal fire from the gods.
My favorite footnote is about the importance of good spelling and how poor spelling caused a wish to go wrong such that when the king touched anything it turned to glod. Glod being a dwarf from a far away place who found himself being replicated mercilessly.
Oh fuck, I internalized too much Discworld as a kid, and now I actually believe there's good in people and that I have a duty to contribute toward increasing the amount of good in the world.
Equal Rites was my first book, after a friend lent my parents Hogfather and they read it to me
dude or miss I believe you might actually do something good for the world then :)
Om damn it, I’ve started crying. I miss Terry SO BAD. He DEEPLY influenced my socio-economic social justice understanding.
It's comforting to hear, that I'm not alone in feeling real loss for a man I've never met. I still haven't made myself to read the last book. An uncle who was telling me funny and wise stories since I was fifteen. Looking forward to a new story every year for 20 years. I miss that. I miss Sir Terry's humour and wisdom.
"Death comes for us all.
When he came for Mort, he offered him a job."
-- "Mort", by Terry Pratchett (back cover blurb)
For those who want to start reading the Discworld series, I'd recommend "Mort." It is stand-alone, and is a proper example of the author's wit. Don't forget to read the footnotes, and the foot-footnotes!
First in the series about Death and Susan, one of my personal favourites to this day ❤️❤️❤️
I started with Mort, too, some 15 years ago. DEATH instantly became my favourite character of all time.
In a similar vein, I started with Reaper Man, another excellent Death story and it was the tagline that convinced me to read it...
"Death is missing, presumed err... gone"
How dare you to forget the Luggage! My favorite Deus ex machina ever written.
Dom!!! Thank you so much for this video. I cried, I laughed, I nodded sagely. No one could have better summarised this series!
I read the Discworld series every year, as well as raising a glass to Sir Terry on April 28 and 12 March. I also listen to all of the audiobooks every year, usually during spring-cleaning and other chores.
If you’re ever feeling up to it, I’d love to see a series by series breakdown (wizards, Watch, DEATH, etc.) by you. You’re my favourite literary fiction reviewer and I don’t think anyone else could do this justice. Your passion, fondness and pain at Sir Terry’s loss is tangible… makes me feel less alone.
"‘Ah, but it is said that a coward dies a thousand deaths, while a hero dies only one.’
'Yes, but it’s the important one.'"
One of my favourite literary exchanges of all time :)