|
oxy posted:I wouldnt mind reading the other wizards one. Which books and in what order do they go? The wizards feature heavily in the "Death" series on that guide. This is what The_Doctor was referring to.
|
# ? Aug 25, 2009 04:29 |
|
|
# ? May 23, 2024 15:37 |
|
Just read the books in published order, it's probably the best way because you're guaranteed not to miss out on anything. Also, totally excited for a new discworld book
|
# ? Aug 25, 2009 18:23 |
|
Moist von Lipwig posted:Just read the books in published order, it's probably the best way because you're guaranteed not to miss out on anything. Also, for the most part, you will probably enjoy each book slightly more than the last (or at least be able to notice how gradually his writing style goes from "slightly silly" to "well, goddamn").
|
# ? Aug 26, 2009 00:01 |
|
precision posted:Also, for the most part, you will probably enjoy each book slightly more than the last (or at least be able to notice how gradually his writing style goes from "slightly silly" to "well, goddamn"). Also, all of the recurring characters/running gags make slightly more sense this way, as they are introduced to you in the same order as Pratchett wrote them.
|
# ? Aug 26, 2009 07:32 |
|
I guess its too late for that that. I started reading the series four days ago and due to a slow down at work am already finished the Rincewind series. Shame really, does he appear in the other books? I guess I'll get started on Death, then move to Guards? The witches don't seem that interesting.
|
# ? Aug 26, 2009 21:27 |
|
oxy posted:I guess its too late for that that. I started reading the series four days ago and due to a slow down at work am already finished the Rincewind series. Shame really, does he appear in the other books? I enjoyed the Night Watch (guards) series the most. Sam Vimes is a pre-industrial revolution Dirty Harry, great fun to watch him flail about Ank Mopork.
|
# ? Aug 26, 2009 21:46 |
|
oxy posted:I guess I'll get started on Death, then move to Guards? The witches don't seem that interesting. To me, the witches are the most interesting series other than the new Moist ones. Esme > Vimes any day.
|
# ? Aug 27, 2009 03:51 |
|
precision posted:To me, the witches are the most interesting series other than the new Moist ones. The witch books are kind of repetitive and definitely have the worst starting novel, though. Definitely skip the first book if you're reading them. It's worse than Last Continent.
|
# ? Aug 27, 2009 04:03 |
|
precision posted:To me, the witches are the most interesting series other than the new Moist ones. Eh... The Witches series really takes a while to get going though. Equal Rites is eminently skippable (as has been said before, Pterry drastically changed Granny Weatherwax's character after the first book) and Wyrd Sisters has got nothing on Men At Arms, it's not got much going for it IMHO unless you really love Shakespeare jokes. By around Witches Abroad or Lords and Ladies though, the Witches series takes off when the Granny/Nanny dynamic really clicks. It's interesting how similar Commander Vimes and Granny Weatherwax are. I mean obviously they have completely different approaches, but at this point they're the two big uncrossable Defenders of Good on the Disc. I don't think they've ever met, have they?
|
# ? Aug 27, 2009 04:08 |
|
Entropic posted:Eh... The Witches series really takes a while to get going though. Equal Rites is eminently skippable (as has been said before, Pterry drastically changed Granny Weatherwax's character after the first book) and Wyrd Sisters has got nothing on Men At Arms, it's not got much going for it IMHO unless you really love Shakespeare jokes. By around Witches Abroad or Lords and Ladies though, the Witches series takes off when the Granny/Nanny dynamic really clicks. Nope, and I hope they never will. I really hated Carpe Jugulum.. Vampires! Everywhere! And Granny's taking the time out to have a debate with herself about light and dark.
|
# ? Aug 27, 2009 06:19 |
|
Mokinokaro posted:It's worse than Last Continent. Last Continent rules, there's a rainbow stick in it.
|
# ? Aug 27, 2009 06:25 |
|
For a while I thought my favourite Discworld books were the ones about the City Watch but then I realized that it was really the ones about Ankh Morpork. I didn't like the Witches books as much at first but I eventually came around to them.
|
# ? Aug 27, 2009 08:26 |
|
Entropic posted:It's interesting how similar Commander Vimes and Granny Weatherwax are. I mean obviously they have completely different approaches, but at this point they're the two big uncrossable Defenders of Good on the Disc. I don't think they've ever met, have they? They both have the whole 'Watch themselves to not become evil despite the great temptation of their overwhelming power' thing going on; the Guardian Dark from Thud! could have happened just as easily with Granny (though she probably would have been able to kick it out before it got that far, just from being a witch) The mind boggles as to what would happen were they ever on opposite sides, though.
|
# ? Aug 27, 2009 11:14 |
|
The_Doctor posted:Nope, and I hope they never will. I really hated Carpe Jugulum.. Vampires! Everywhere! And Granny's taking the time out to have a debate with herself about light and dark. Strangely that was one of the ones I liked. I guess I just like Discworld vampires (I mean, I can't be the only one wanting another Watch novel so we get more Angua and Sally partnerships. Otto's still the best vampire, though.
|
# ? Aug 27, 2009 17:43 |
|
Mokinokaro posted:Strangely that was one of the ones I liked. I guess I just like Discworld vampires (I mean, I can't be the only one wanting another Watch novel so we get more Angua and Sally partnerships. I loved Carpe. And yes, Sally is awesome. On the subject of getting sick of Disc races, the only one I'm sick of are the Igors. It's so lazy. It's literally one joke that he he stretched into an entire species, and he has every single one of them act exactly the same. I don't even care if that's part of the joke. The Igors are dumb, full stop. He should have had one recurring Igor character and left well enough alone.
|
# ? Aug 27, 2009 17:48 |
|
Well the way he does the Igors, it's easy enough to pretend it is just one recurring character if you really want.
|
# ? Aug 27, 2009 18:22 |
|
Speaking of vampires, I know it's been strongly hinted that Vetinari might be one, but has it ever been truly debunked (in the books or otherwise)?
|
# ? Aug 27, 2009 21:36 |
|
precision posted:Speaking of vampires, I know it's been strongly hinted that Vetinari might be one, but has it ever been truly debunked (in the books or otherwise)? It would be very unlikely, unless he was in complete control of his 'cravings' more than any other vampire we've seen. In 'Jingo' he was in a rural area in a foreign land for quite a while, so I doubt he would have been able to hide it for long.
|
# ? Aug 27, 2009 23:50 |
|
precision posted:Speaking of vampires, I know it's been strongly hinted that Vetinari might be one, but has it ever been truly debunked (in the books or otherwise)? I'm pretty sure the books have commented on Vetinari visibly aging, so him being a vampire is unlikely.
|
# ? Aug 28, 2009 00:13 |
|
Mokinokaro posted:I'm pretty sure the books have commented on Vetinari visibly aging, so him being a vampire is unlikely. Actually, the only quote of the sort I can recall is when his lady friend from Uberwald visits and says "You haven't aged a day!" or somesuch. I mean, in the context of the Disc it's very likely to be a red herring, but I do think Pratchett has intentionally made it one.
|
# ? Aug 28, 2009 00:41 |
|
precision posted:Actually, the only quote of the sort I can recall is when his lady friend from Uberwald visits and says "You haven't aged a day!" or somesuch. We've seen him as a teen in Night Watch though, and in TFE Lady Margolotta was just being generally in love with Havelock so what she says is to be taken with a grain of salt. If her name was Lady Margolotta, it's been a while since I've read TFE.
|
# ? Aug 28, 2009 01:27 |
|
Nilbop posted:We've seen him as a teen in Night Watch though True, but that doesn't rule out him becoming a vampire at some point after he grows up. I mean, Sally is said to look about 16, so clearly whatever age you get made into a vampire is the age you stay at. I think we're over-analyzing the Disc, sorry to have started it. If any series should be barred from this kind of analysis, it's the Disc. Terry makes mistakes, contradicts himself, re-writes history, etc. all the time. In fact I think it was me who pointed out somewhere in this thread that Terry has said the notion of "canon" is not something that should be taken seriously as regards Disc matters.
|
# ? Aug 28, 2009 01:49 |
|
precision posted:True, but that doesn't rule out him becoming a vampire at some point after he grows up. Of course then there are the history monks.
|
# ? Aug 28, 2009 02:00 |
|
Konstantin posted:It would be very unlikely, unless he was in complete control of his 'cravings' more than any other vampire we've seen. In 'Jingo' he was in a rural area in a foreign land for quite a while, so I doubt he would have been able to hide it for long. Not that I think he is one, but Vampires who've foresaken blood replace it with something else, and as we saw in the Fifth Elephant it's entirely possible to replace it with Political Machinations. His cravings would have been well satisfied then.
|
# ? Aug 28, 2009 08:48 |
|
MikeJF posted:Not that I think he is one, but Vampires who've foresaken blood replace it with something else, and as we saw in the Fifth Elephant it's entirely possible to replace it with Political Machinations. His cravings would have been well satisfied then. We saw him as a kid in Night Watch and he was already a political prodigy, even before he went to Uberwald on his Grand Sneer.
|
# ? Aug 28, 2009 10:19 |
|
precision posted:Speaking of vampires, I know it's been strongly hinted that Vetinari might be one, but has it ever been truly debunked (in the books or otherwise)? Could you please tell me where it's been strongly hinted at? I've never read anything that lead me to believe that Ventinari is anything other than an insanely Machiavellian politician with a supremely bad-rear end mind.
|
# ? Aug 29, 2009 03:50 |
|
Aussie Crawl posted:Could you please tell me where it's been strongly hinted at? I've never read anything that lead me to believe that Ventinari is anything other than an insanely Machiavellian politician with a supremely bad-rear end mind. I read the books as they were published and have only re-read a few so far, so my memory on detail is really spotty. wikipedia posted:There he met the vampire Lady Margolotta. It is implied that the two had some kind of relationship, and stated more clearly that he taught her a lot of what she knows, and vice versa. In The Fifth Elephant, Margolotta is surprised when Vimes tells her that Vetinari seems to be the same age as himself; she had expected him to be "quite old now". In Making Money it is implied that he in fact may be a vampire as well (a popular theory in Ankh-Morpork, although Vetinari has been seen in broad daylight numerous times). However in Carpe Jugulum there was a vampire family called the Magpyres who had overcome the traditional vampire weaknesses through strength of mind. I believe it's been mentioned that he never seems to eat, as well.
|
# ? Aug 29, 2009 04:08 |
|
precision posted:I believe it's been mentioned that he never seems to eat, as well. Vimes thinks something about not knowing when/if the Patrician sleeps for sure. However, the Rincewind books do show that he at least has a fondness for certain foods.
|
# ? Aug 29, 2009 04:44 |
|
precision posted:I believe it's been mentioned that he never seems to eat, as well. Except that in feet of clay there are constant references to his food and a description of his food tasters and I believe that Dragon king of arms says that arsenic in the candles wouldn't work against a Vampire and it does against Vetinari.
|
# ? Aug 29, 2009 05:22 |
|
Mokinokaro posted:Vimes thinks something about not knowing when/if the Patrician sleeps for sure. However, the Rincewind books do show that he at least has a fondness for certain foods. Wasn't that back when the previous patrician still ruled? Lord Snapcase or something.
|
# ? Aug 29, 2009 08:57 |
|
yaffle posted:Except that in feet of clay there are constant references to his food and a description of his food tasters Well, if vampires can drink coffee (Monstrous Regiment) presumably they can eat if they want to. They just don't have to.
|
# ? Aug 29, 2009 10:05 |
|
precision posted:
Weren't the past versions of Sam and Vetinari about the same age in Night Watch? He's not a vampire, that would make him a lot less interesting.
|
# ? Aug 29, 2009 12:28 |
|
Yadoppsi posted:Wasn't that back when the previous patrician still ruled? Lord Snapcase or something. No. Pratchett has said that the only patrician in the discworld books, excluding Night Watch, is Vetinari. He simply wasn't named in the early Rincewind books. As yaffle says, Feet of Clay kind of disproves the whole thing.
|
# ? Aug 29, 2009 16:32 |
|
I'm pretty sure vampires can't go out into the sun on the disc, correct? There's a scene in one of the books where Vetinari is out enjoying his garden. I believe it's the same scene where it mentions that Bloody Stupid Johnson building the Ho-Ho. I may be completely wrong here, because it's been a long time since I've read the books.
|
# ? Aug 29, 2009 22:55 |
|
Moist von Lipwig posted:I'm pretty sure vampires can't go out into the sun on the disc, correct? They seem to be able to, as long as they cover up. Otto's seen in the sun quite often but he must be protecting himself somehow.
|
# ? Aug 29, 2009 23:46 |
|
Moist von Lipwig posted:I'm pretty sure vampires can't go out into the sun on the disc, correct? Also, mentioned earlier on the page, the Magpyres in Carpe Jugulum had learned to overcome such weaknesses. I think the real question has become "Why has Vetinari seemingly stopped aging, if he's not a vampire?"
|
# ? Aug 29, 2009 23:54 |
|
precision posted:I think the real question has become "Why has Vetinari seemingly stopped aging, if he's not a vampire?" Because he's the discworld version of Dick Clark? Some people just look the same for 50 years. Sean Connery's another one.
|
# ? Aug 29, 2009 23:57 |
|
Mokinokaro posted:They seem to be able to, as long as they cover up. Otto's seen in the sun quite often but he must be protecting himself somehow. I'm pretty sure vampires, like trolls, can withstand sunlight by merely applying sunscreen. I think this is mentioned in The Truth, but I could be wrong.
|
# ? Aug 30, 2009 09:37 |
|
There's also that time he was described carefully eating egg whites, for whoever said he's never eaten.
|
# ? Aug 30, 2009 10:40 |
|
|
# ? May 23, 2024 15:37 |
|
On the one hand these look kick arse (Anhk Morpork Watch badge emblem for those without magic zoom eyes) but on the other hand with shipping its close to $100 Australian... I can't work out if i want it badly enough or not. This is the kind of nerdy stuff that i can get behind, Nerd-joke shirts and stuff like that make me cringe, but the brass emblem looks great against the charcoal background and to people who don't read the books it just looks like a cool emblem while pratchett fans can have a little smile about it and go on with their day
|
# ? Aug 30, 2009 16:52 |