Eric Discussion **Spoilers**

[Tonyblack]

Moving Pictures and Eric were published in the same year - but as Ridcully is very much a part of Moving Pictures and he clearly isn't in Eric, then I'd place Eric first.

[Quatermass]

Like Tony says - it's Vassenego who's the moving force in getting Rincewind out of DD by virtue of Pandemonium being a parallel dimension and then we're moving into late medieval/Da Quirm Renaissance and even 'Dickensian' phase Discworld

Speaking of which, does the name Vassenego actually mean anything in Italian? A lot of the demon's names in Dante's Inferno actually meant something in English. You have Barbariccia (Curly Beard), Cagnazzo (Nasty Dog), and so on.

[poohcarrot]

Here's an interesting point.

Is Eric the only book where hell is mentioned?

I know Mr Tulip gets reincarnated, but is there any book where heaven is mentioned?
(Not including the Barbarian heaven with copius quaffing and the lobbing of axes at the pigtails of buxom Wagnerian wenches.)

[Quatermass]

Here's an interesting point.

Is Eric the only book where hell is mentioned?

I know Mr Tulip gets reincarnated, but is there any book where heaven is mentioned?
(Not including the Barbarian heaven with copius quaffing and the lobbing of axes at the pigtails of buxom Wagnerian wenches.)

Not really. The only consistently mentioned afterlife is the Desert, and Death is rather coy about what happens afterwards. However, Scrofula (in The Colour of Magic) does pretty much state that reincarnation is common.

[Bouncy Castle]

Like Tony says - it's Vassenego who's the moving force in getting Rincewind out of DD by virtue of Pandemonium being a parallel dimension and then we're moving into late medieval/Da Quirm Renaissance and even 'Dickensian' phase Discworld

Speaking of which, does the name Vassenego actually mean anything in Italian? A lot of the demon's names in Dante's Inferno actually meant something in English. You have Barbariccia (Curly Beard), Cagnazzo (Nasty Dog), and so on.

Q - I put the word Vassenego into a web translation thingy, and it translated from Italian to English as.............. Vassenego.

[Quatermass]

Q - I put the word Vassenego into a web translation thingy, and it translated from Italian to English as.............. Vassenego.

And since when was web translation reliable?

[poohcarrot]

Vassenego is an anagram of Gas ovens - hell - hot place - etc.

[Quatermass]

Vassenego is an anagram of Gas ovens - hell - hot place - etc.

Whoa, that actually makes sense, Pooh.



Waitamoment...this is the second time that you and I agreed on something tonight.

....

I HAVE BEEN CON-TAM-IN-AT-ED!!!

[poohcarrot]

Waitamoment...this is the second time that you and I agreed on something tonight.

No. I am not agreeing with you.
I am saying things. YOU are agreeing with ME.

[raisindot]

Do we count both this discussion and the "pre-Eric discussion discussion" as discussions of Eric?

I'd hate to think in only a few days that this lower-tier effort has engendered more posts than those for The Truth, Mort, Soul Music, Unseen Academicals and (*sniff*) The Fifth Elephant...

[LilMaibe]

Do we count both this discussion and the "pre-Eric discussion discussion" as discussions of Eric?

I'd hate to think in only a few days that this lower-tier effort has engendered more posts than those for The Truth, Mort, Soul Music, Unseen Academicals and (*sniff*) The Fifth Elephant...

The board has more members now

[Tonyblack]

Do we count both this discussion and the "pre-Eric discussion discussion" as discussions of Eric?

I'd hate to think in only a few days that this lower-tier effort has engendered more posts than those for The Truth, Mort, Soul Music, Unseen Academicals and (*sniff*) The Fifth Elephant...

Forget the pre-Eric discussion, it very quickly turned into a discussion about anagrams and then to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[Tonyblack]

I was looking up Astfgl on the LSpace Wiki and found this, which I thought was rather apt. I wonder if Terry had it in mind when he wrote Eric:

The Portuguese military dictator General Salazar was effectively deposed when he suffered a life-threatening stroke that kept him bedridden and unable to move for the rest of his life.

The interesting thing is that nobody could bring themselves to tell him this, and to the end of his life, Salazar lived under the delusion that he was still Generalissimo and national ruler, although power had passed to other hands. He continued to issue laws and decrees from his bed, and a small staff who were in on the secret would dutifully record his wishes, take them away, and assure him his will would be done. They also controlled his access to the media, TV, radio, et c. In the meantime his successor got on with ruling Portugal, totally unimpeded and happy for his predecessor to carry on thinking he was the boss...

[RJH]

I have always enjoyed this book, even though it is a short book compared to the rest, I will have to re-read it and post my thoughts again as it has been a while since I last read it.

[ChristianBecker]

I was looking up Astfgl on the LSpace Wiki and found this, which I thought was rather apt. I wonder if Terry had it in mind when he wrote Eric:

The Portuguese military dictator General Salazar was effectively deposed when he suffered a life-threatening stroke that kept him bedridden and unable to move for the rest of his life.

The interesting thing is that nobody could bring themselves to tell him this, and to the end of his life, Salazar lived under the delusion that he was still Generalissimo and national ruler, although power had passed to other hands. He continued to issue laws and decrees from his bed, and a small staff who were in on the secret would dutifully record his wishes, take them away, and assure him his will would be done. They also controlled his access to the media, TV, radio, et c. In the meantime his successor got on with ruling Portugal, totally unimpeded and happy for his predecessor to carry on thinking he was the boss...

Totally unrelated. There was a German movie (Goodbye Lenin IIRC) exactly along these lines. A mother had a heartstroke or something in the GDR and fell in a coma. Then Germany was reunited, Some time later the woman woke up again and the doctors said every excitement could cause her to die. So her children keep up the illusion the GDR still existed by repackaging wares into old GDR containers, faking newspapers and so on.

But what I think Terry was really getting at in Eric with the deposal of Astfgl was that the people "in charge" are not necessarily really in charge but only have the highest post, whatever that means. Just like our (Germnany's) president, who doesn't do much in the ways of ruling the country; or like the Queen.