Sourcery Discussion **Spoilers**

[raptornx01]

wasn't it almost a year between the begining of CoM and the end of TLF? and are you sure he isn't talking about since graduating? do students get staffs? is he still a student?

[Tonyblack]

It seems to me that, after the events in Light Fantastic, and Rincewind effectively saving the Disc, that he has been allowed into the university and given a job there - librarian's assistant. He's even got a hat now which was never mentioned in the first two books.

[LilMaibe]

20 years between TLF and Sourcery seems a bit very much. Guess someone has to ask Sir Terry what he was intending...

[raptornx01]

Huh? the famous wizzard hat?

and i know he came back to UU after TLF and stayed there but was he still a student in the first two books?

[Tonyblack]

Huh? the famous wizzard hat?

and i know he came back to UU after TLF and stayed there but was he still a student in the first two books?

My impression was that he'd been kicked out because he couldn't pass his exams (he mentions that he sleeps in stables etc.). He continued to call himself a wizard, even though he wasn't strictly entitled to. And yes, this is the first mention of the famous hat.

[LilMaibe]

If I remember correctly he had the medallion that showed he graduated, though it was more of a 'For hell's sake, your useless. Here, graduation medallion, now GTFO' thing. He said he'll re-enroll at the UU at the end of TLF. Next time we saw him (in Mort) he had been made the Librarian's assistant, and it's constantly mentioned that he failed to pass any exam. (He CAN do magic, though, he just needs a strong magical enviroment. Very strong)

[raptornx01]

I could have sworn they mentioned the hat in the first two books, i'll have to go through them again..... though i had been planning to anyway.

[LilMaibe]

Will have to check again too, but if I recall correctly Rinso lost his hat in CoM when they fled the city.

[TimBou]

While on the subject of Sourcery, timelines and links between books...

I'm just reading Interesting Times for the first time. There's a little bit near the beginning where the Dean and Recent Runes sort of admit to having been involved in that... unpleasantness with the Sourcerer, years ago. But from a distance. Visiting their aunts or sitting in their rooms quietly.

Do the Dean, Recent Runes, Bursar etc. have real names? I don't recall any passages from the books I've read so far that go into this, though I haven't finished the Last Continent yet and I know there was a bit in there about the Librarian's name.

I get the feeling Pratchett just wrote the stories as they came, made things up and then went back to see what needed patching up to create a coherent history. Kind of like the History Monks.

[Tonyblack]

We know the Dean is named 'Henry' and the Burser is Dr. A. A. Dinwiddie. However, the Burser in Sourcery is not Dinwiddie. The Librarian is Dr Horace Worblehat.

One of the reasons for choosing Ridcully as Archchancellor is that he really was away during the events in Sourcery. By the way - Moving Pictures is the next discussion and the first appearance of both Ridcully and Ponder.

[TimBou]

Thanks, it's really interesting to watch how the characters, races, institutions evolve from one book to the next. - I'm just having a go at writing a book myself for the first time and that helps me understand a bit more how it probably works. When I get to a certain point I have to go back and rewrite/add/delete etc. in order to get to the end. Otherwise the whole thing will just fall in a heap. Must be a bit trickier in some ways when you've written 39 of them all set in the same world!

Yes, MP was one of the first DW books I read - not one of my favourites but I think I would like to read it again now that I know a bit more of the UU story.

[LilMaibe]

Plan the general outline for races/the world ahead. As well as what the characters are like and avoid turning them 1-dimensional and7or their personality by 180° because otherwise your story wouldn't work. (An advice: DO get -how not to write a novel. While tongue-in-cheek, it is much more helpful than those How to books and novel writing. For further advice, ask Jan )

[Sister Jennifer]

Is this the only DW novel that has the ice giants in it? Rincewind is a real hero in this one, with his half-brick in a sock and being blasted into the Dungeon Dimensions while saving Coin. The Librarian quiet likes Rincewind. It's lovely how he carefully puts Rincewinds battered hat on a shelf in the library and the line goes something like, No matter how far away a wizard is, he'll always come back for his hat.

[raptornx01]

They are mentioned in other books, but never seen.

[Tonyblack]

It struck me, when I read it this time, that this was a book about an out of control arms race. It was as if our own Cold War suddenly got Hot.

The wizards knew (it seems) that their actions could cause the end of the world, and yet they just couldn't stop themselves from hurling spells at each other.

The role Rincewind plays is most significant in that he realises that someone has to put a stop to the madness, and he accepts that has to be him. As Sister Jennifer says - this is Rincewind being a real hero.

For those of us who lived through the fear of the Cold War, this is an interesting parallel.