#omnians
Text
"All right, what happened?" said Vimes, turning to the troll.
"We're hearing where dis boy shot dis man," said Detritus. "We got here, next minute it rainin' people from everywhere, shoutin'."
"He smote him as Hudrun smote the fleshpots of Ur," said Constable Visit.*
"Smote?" said Vimes, bewildered. "He killed someone?"
"Not by der way der man was cussing, sir," said Detritus.
* Constable Visit-the-Ungodly-With-Explanatory-Pamphlets was a good copper, Vimes always said, and that was his highest term of praise. He was an Omnian with his countrymen's almost pathological interest in evangelical religion and spent all his wages on pamphlets; he even had his own printing press. The results were handed out to anyone interested and everyone who wasn't interested as well. Even Detritus couldn't clear a crowd faster than Visit, Vimes said. And on his days off he could be seen tramping the streets with his colleague, Smite-The-Unbeliever-with-Cunning-Arguments. So far they hadn't made a single convert. Vimes thought that Visit was probably a really nice man underneath it all, but somehow he could never face the task of finding out.
Terry Pratchett, Jingo
#sam vimes#samuel vimes#visit the infidel with expanatory pamphlets#detritus#jingo#discworld#terry pratchett#police#police report#crime#smote#omnians#evangelism#pamphlets#religion#awkward#coworkers#work friends#character study#backstory#footnotes#probably a really nice man#what happened
273 notes
·
View notes
Text
#discworld#gnu terry pratchett#meme#discworld meme#created by yours truly#small gods#brutha#om#the gods#omnia#omnianism#food/drink
2K notes
·
View notes
Text
One kinda fun/odd bit about Discworld is the place of Jews/Judaism in it (no, this probably won't go where you expect).
So there are the 2 obvious places and one arguably subtle/debatable place:
Feet of Clay/Golems very clearly drawing from Judaism (though in subsequent books that was toned *way* down)
Omnianism is a very clear stand in for/amalgamation of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism (the amount of each is left as an exercise to the reader).
and Lastly / debatably many people find a similarity between the description of the Dwarf religion and Judaism (I am not stating I agree, just I would have been remiss if I didn't bring it up)
Now the one thing that kinda gets forgotten is that: Judaism as a whole independent religion is somewhat confirmed in Discworld leaving arguments about the above somewhat moot! (you can't have a stand in for a religion if you already have the religion itself).
In both Feet of Clay and Fifth Elephant it mentions Vampires working at Kosher Butchers (for those unaware blood is not kosher so it needs to be drained extra well from meat, a perfect job for a vampire).
Now what does that actually imply? Absolutely nothing.
PTerry often had off the cuff jokes, as well as mucked about with continuity (remember how Trolls originally would continue to grow until they died, and could get up to the size of a small mountain, which only came up in one of the early books and was ignored in the rest?)
and (I am sure) just liked that joke and did not intend to imply any theological ramifications or serious world building from it.
But dammit, it is (to me) incredibly funny to step into a (semi) serious discussion about Judaism in Discworld and completely derail it with a throw away line.
#Discworld#gnu terry pratchett#sillieness#Serious voice: So what does Small Gods Say about Terry's view of Judaism?#Shit eating Grin: Uhhh Jews exist in Canon... So Nothing? Have you even read the books or are you just looking to be angry?#Note I do not actually do this as I tend to avoid discussions like that#though the kosher butchers does have interesting Implications if taken to the logical extent#Aside from the obvious: There is only one real world religion on Discworld which Implies that it is correct#A religion based purely on a Non corporial no real form god#in a world where every single religion has had their god manifest in physical form lends itself to a fascinating cross religion interaction#This is of course assuming that Disworld!Judaism is as similar as possible to Real World#The idea of a religious debate where sometimes the god will actually show up makes non corporeal montheism kinda funny#(of course since the knowledge of how small gods become great ones feeding on belief is somewhat understood that sword cuts both ways)#Then of course is the obvious issue of Omnianism being fairly similar in broad strokes to Judaism#watching another religion kinda crib your whole style must be odd#And of course the lack of Christianity and Islam has some interesting implications#all of which is an over analysis but in the fun stupid way rather than the fighty way#maybe I will do a discussion of religion in Discworld one day
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
What gets to me about Vorbis is that he's sincere. He's not corrupt, he's not a hypocrite; he is a pious follower of the Church of Om who obeys every rule. And yet he is one of the evilest people on the Disc.
I'm only casually familiar, but I get the feeling that there's a common plot where there's a corrupt and decadent religion that is returned to its good roots by a humble believer. The villains are often priests who put up a veneer of piety in public while they secretly hoard wealth and get drunk in violation of their religion's tenets.
Small Gods is not that plot. Brutha isn't fighting the corruption of Om's words, nor is he fighting people who use religion as a means to wealth and power. If anything, he's the one who 'corrupted' Omnianism into a religion of peace and debate.
The church under Vorbis isn't a corruption of Om's words as much as a distillation; at the very start, Om only cared about getting new followers and putting unbelievers to the sword, and now he has countries conquered in his name and heretics put to the knife. And Vorbis doesn't seek wealth or power for himself; he denies himself pleasures of the flesh, and dedicates himself entirely to his religion (or so he thinks).
When Vorbis kills the porpoise, not even Brutha can find a word in the books of the Prophets against that. When Didactylos burns the Library of Ephebe, he says it's in part a way to keep its knowledge out of Vorbis's hands, but Brutha knows that Vorbis would not read a single scroll. And the scene where Om and Brutha are eating the melon in Ephebe hits me every time; Om thinks that Vorbis is feasting, while Brutha says that he only eats stale bread. He adds that he sits and waits for the bread to get stale.
152 notes
·
View notes
Text
The fine Rank and File (or at least the rank) of the Ankh Morpork city watch! I've been figuring out my designs for them, and I wanted to put them in a lineup to see how they look beside one another. makes you realize how ridiculous the height difference between some of them is
[ID: three digital drawings of the Watch members, against a police lineup background with height marks and an ankh morpork city watch watermark and logo. The featured members are in order of height: Detritus, Dorfl, Carrot, Angua. then Reg Shoe, Visit, Colon, and Vimes. finally, Nobby, Cheery, Buggy Swires and Wee Mad Arthur. they are all wearing variations on the watch uniform of brass colored armor, chainmaille, leather boots or sandals, and a skirt of studded leather straps. end ID]
more detailed description of the designs under the cut
First drawing: standing at over 8 feet is Dorfl. He is a grey-green troll with a very muscled top heavy build, patches of moss on his skin, and angular features. He is wearing oversized armor with pauldrons, one with sergeant's stripes painted on it, and scale mail underneath. the Piece Maker (a siege weapon crossbow) is strapped to his back. second, standing at 7 foot 4 inches is Dorfl, a reddish Golem made out of patchwork clay, with a overall gingerbread man look, and glowing red eyes. he is only wearing a breastplate, and he has his sergeant's stripes painted on his arm. Third at 6 foot 6 inches is Carrot. He is a redheaded white human, with a sturdy build, round face, and a cheerful smile. he has a captains pip pin in the collar of his shirt and his armor is visibly shinier than all the other's. fourth at 6 foot 2 inches is Angua. she is a white human with lots of very light blonde hair and slightly pointed ears. Her armor has straps at the shoulder rather than being one piece, and she is wearing her badge on a collar. (end of first drawing)
Second drawing: first, standing at 6 ish feet is Reg Shoe. He is a green zombie with a hunched posture and several missing chunks and lines of stitching visible, most noticeably the right half of his mouth has no lips, exposing his teeth. he wearing a tattered and patched flow-y white shirt under his armor, which is also the strap style, and there is a red ribbon in his long-ish dirty blonde hair. second at 5 foot 9 inches is constable Visit. He is a brown skinned human, with slicked back 80's business guy hair and a slightly strained smile. He is wearing a very crisp white shirt under his armor as well as khaki pants and a Omnian turtle necklace. he is clutching a bundle of pamphlets. Third at 5 foot 6 inches is Colon. He is a white human with a heavy-set build, a mustache, and a large bald spot. his armor has sculpted muscles in it and he is wearing sandals. Fourth at barely 5 foot 4 inches is Vimes. He is a white human with messy greying brown hair, and a five o-clock shadow, he looks a bit like house era Hugh Laurie. along with his armor he is wearing a red cloak and a sword. (end of second drawing)
Third Drawing: First, standing at 4 foot nothing, is Nobby Nobbs. he is a white-ish human with vitiligo spots, several suspiciously red or green patches of skin, and very scruffy black hair and a five o-clock shadow. he is smoking a cigarette and has several dog ends behind his ear. he has managed to tarnish his armor. second, at 3 foot 4 inches is Cheery. She is a white dwarf with a stocky build, blonde hair and a blond, braided beard. she has some burns on her arms, ears, and forehead, and is missing her eyebrows. she has a full lentgh leather skirt rather than pants. third, at 7 inches is Buggy Swires. he is a brown skinned Gnome, with grey hair and pointed ears. he is not wearing armor, but instead a rain cloak. next to him is his pigeon, which carries his badge and is a foot tall. Finally, at 4 inches, is Wee Mad Arthur. he is a blue nac mac feegle with red hair. he is in a watch uniform with a kilt, and is carrying his badge like a shield on his back, unlike the others he has a dynamic aggressive stance, rather than standing straight up. (end of third picture)
background of all drawings: a lineup height marker background, with the initials AM (ankh) CW and the city seal in the top right corner. the city seal is two hippos on a shield, with a tower between them. they are in shades of copper or bronze, as is the overall color palate of the drawings. (end of ID)
#discworld#gnu terry pratchett#Samuel vimes#nobby nobbs#angua von uberwald#cheery littlebottom#carrot ironfoundersson#reg shoe#detritus#dorfl#visit the infidel with explanatory pamphlets#buggy swires#wee mad arthur#I think i went a little too hard making vimes look like hugh laurie but the idea wouldnt leave my mind#I went full squeaky clean evangelist for visit#and gay french revolutionary for reg#happiest with dorfl he looks exactly how i imagine#also next time ill give angua more hair i swear
213 notes
·
View notes
Text
‘Then I will write another book,’ said Didactylos calmly. 'Think how it will look – Proud Didactylos swayed by the arguments of the Omnians. A full retraction. Hmm? In fact, with your permission, lord – I know you have much to do, looting and burning and so on – I will retire to my barrel right away and start work on it. A universe of spheres. Balls spinning through space. Hmm. Yes. With your permission, lord, I will write you more balls than you can imagine…’
The old philosopher turned and, very slowly, walked towards the exit.
Vorbis watched him go.
Bruth saw him half-raise his hand to signal the guards, and then lower it again.
Vorbis turned to the Tyrant.
'So much for your–’ he began.
'Coo-ee!’
The lantern sailed through the doorway and shattered against Vorbis’s skull.
'Nevertheless… the Turtle Moves!’
— Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
133 notes
·
View notes
Text
This is a very long excerpt, but it has a) the frozen ink scene (Havelock, my love, why do you opt for brisk temperatures in your office?), b) the "transparent motives" bit AND c) Vetinari's musings on the importance of accepting progress. The bolded passages are those that I find funny or poignant.
Lord Vetinari, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, poked at the ink in his inkwell. There was ice in it.
‘Don’t you even have a proper fire?’ said Hughnon Ridcully, Chief Priest of Blind Io and unofficial spokesman for the city’s religious establishment. ‘I mean, I’m not one for stuffy rooms, but it’s freezing in here!’
‘Brisk, certainly,’ said Lord Vetinari. ‘It’s odd, but the ice isn’t as dark as the rest of the ink. What causes that, do you think?’
‘Science, probably,’ said Hughnon vaguely. Like his wizardly brother, Archchancellor Mustrum, he didn’t like to bother himself with patently silly questions. Both gods and magic required solid, sensible men, and the brothers Ridcully were solid as rocks. And, in some respects, as sensible.
‘Ah. Anyway … you were saying?’
‘You must put a stop to this, Havelock. You know the … understanding.’
Vetinari seemed engrossed in the ink. ‘Must, your reverence?’ he said calmly, without looking up.
‘You know why we’re all against this movable type nonsense!’
‘Remind me again … Look, it bobs up and down…’ Hughnon sighed. ‘Words are too important to be left to machinery. We’ve got nothing against engraving, you know that. We’ve nothing against words being nailed down properly. But words that can be taken apart and used to make other words … well, that’s downright dangerous. And I thought you weren’t in favour, either?’
‘Broadly, yes,’ said the Patrician. ‘But many years of ruling this city, your reverence, have taught me that you cannot apply brakes to a volcano. Sometimes it is best to let these things run their course. They generally die down again after a while.’
‘You have not always taken such a relaxed approach, Havelock,’ said Hughnon.
The Patrician gave him a cool stare that went on for a couple of seconds beyond the comfort barrier. ‘Flexibility and understanding have always been my watchwords,’ he said.
‘My god, have they?’
‘Indeed. And what I would like you and your brother to understand now, your reverence, in a flexible way, is that this enterprise is being undertaken by dwarfs. And do you know where the largest dwarf city is, your reverence?’
‘What? Oh … let’s see … there’s that place in—’
‘Yes, everyone starts by saying that. But it’s Ankh-Morpork, in fact. There are more than fifty thousand dwarfs here now.’
‘Surely not?’
‘I assure you. We have currently very good relationships with the dwarf communities in Copperhead and Uberwald. In dealings with the dwarfs I have seen to it that the city’s hand of friendship is permanently outstretched in a slightly downward direction. And in this current cold snap I am sure we are all very glad that bargeloads of coal and lamp oil are coming down from the dwarf mines every day. Do you catch my meaning?’
Hughnon glanced at the fireplace. Against all probability, one lump of coal was smouldering all by itself.
‘And of course,’ the Patrician went on, ‘it is increasingly hard to ignore this new type, aha, of printing when vast printeries now exist in the Agatean Empire and, as I am sure you are aware, in Omnia. And from Omnia, as you no doubt know, the Omnians export huge amounts of their holy Book of Om and these pamphlets they’re so keen on.’
‘Evangelical nonsense,’ said Hughnon. ‘You should have banned them long ago.’
Once again the stare went on a good deal too long.
‘Ban a religion, your reverence?’
‘Well, when I say ban, I mean—’
‘I’m sure no one could call me a despot, your reverence,’ said Lord Vetinari severely.
Hughnon Ridcully made a misjudged attempt to lighten the mood. ‘Not twice at any rate, ahaha.’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘I said … not twice at any rate … ahaha.’
‘I do apologize, but you seem to have lost me there.’
‘It was, uh, a minor witticism, Hav— my lord.’
‘Oh. Yes. Ahah,’ said Vetinari, and the words withered in the air. ‘No, I’m afraid you will find that the Omnians are quite free to distribute their good news about Om. But take heart! Surely you have some good news about Io?’
‘What? Oh. Yes, of course. He had a bit of a cold last month, but he’s up and about again.’
‘Capital. That is good news. No doubt these printers will happily spread the word on your behalf. I’m sure they will work to your exacting requirements.’
‘And these are your reasons, my lord?’
‘Do you think I have others?’ said Lord Vetinari. ‘My motives, as ever, are entirely transparent.’
Hughnon reflected that ‘entirely transparent’ meant either that you could see right through them or that you couldn’t see them at all.
Lord Vetinari shuffled through a file of paper. ‘However, the Guild of Engravers has put its rates up three times in the past year.’
‘Ah. I see,’ said Hughnon.
‘A civilization runs on words, your reverence. Civilization is words. Which, on the whole, should not be too expensive. The world turns, your reverence, and we must spin with it.’ He smiled. ‘Once upon a time nations fought like great grunting beasts in a swamp. Ankh-Morpork ruled a large part of that swamp because it had the best claws. But today gold has taken the place of steel and, my goodness, the Ankh-Morpork dollar seems to be the currency of choice. Tomorrow … perhaps the weaponry will be just words. The most words, the quickest words, the last words. Look out of the window. Tell me what you see.’
‘Fog,’ said the Chief Priest.
Vetinari sighed. Sometimes the weather had no sense of narrative convenience. ‘If it was a fine day,’ he said sharply, ‘you would see the big semaphore tower on the other side of the river. Words flying back and forth from every corner of the continent. Not long ago it would take me the better part of a month to exchange letters with our ambassador in Genua. Now I can have a reply tomorrow. Certain things become easier, but this makes them harder in other ways. We have to change the way we think. We have to move with the times. Have you heard of c-commerce?’
‘Certainly. The merchant ships are always—’
‘I mean that you may now send a clacks all the way to Genua to order a … a pint of prawns, if you like. Is that not a notable thing?’
‘They would be pretty high when they got here, my lord!’
‘Certainly. That was just an example. But now think of a prawn as merely an assemblage of information!’ said Lord Vetinari, his eyes sparkling.
‘Are you suggesting that prawns could travel by semaphore?’ said the Chief Priest. ‘I suppose that you might be able to flick them from—’
‘I was endeavouring to point out the fact that information is also bought and sold,’ said Lord Vetinari. ‘And also that what was once considered impossible is now quite easily achieved. Kings and lords come and go and leave nothing but statues in a desert, while a couple of young men tinkering in a workshop change the way the world works.’
He walked over to a table on which was spread out a map of the world. It was a workman’s map; this is to say, it was a map used by someone who needed to refer to it a lot. It was covered with notes and markers.
‘We’ve always looked beyond the walls for the invaders,’ he said. ‘We always thought change came from outside, usually on the point of a sword. And then we look around and find that it comes from the inside of the head of someone you wouldn’t notice in the street. In certain circumstances it may be convenient to remove the head, but there seem to be such a lot of them these days.’ He gestured towards the busy map. ‘A thousand years ago we thought the world was a bowl,’ he said. ‘Five hundred years ago we knew it was a globe. Today we know it is flat and round and carried through space on the back of a turtle.’ He turned and gave the High Priest another smile. ‘Don’t you wonder what shape it will turn out to be tomorrow?’
But a family trait of all the Ridcullys was not to let go of a thread until you’ve unravelled the whole garment.
‘Besides, they have these little pincer things, you know, and would probably hang on like—’
‘What do?’
‘Prawns. They’d hang on to—’
‘You are taking me rather too literally, your reverence,’ said Vetinari sharply.
‘Oh.’
‘I was merely endeavouring to indicate that if we do not grab events by the collar they will have us by the throat.’
‘It’ll end in trouble, my lord,’ said Ridcully. He’d found it a good general comment in practically any debate. Besides, it was so often true.
Lord Vetinari sighed. ‘In my experience, practically everything does,’ he said. ‘That is the nature of things. All we can do is sing as we go.’
#discworld#pratchett quotes#the truth#havelock vetinari#frozen ink#transparent motives#all we can do is sing along#and much more
15 notes
·
View notes
Text
Terry Pratchett, Night Watch
"We are here, and this is now." Constable Visit, a strict believer in the Omnian religion, occasionally quoted that from their holy book. Vimes understood it to mean, in less exalted copper speak, that you have to do the job that is in front of you.
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
(Just a ficlet for my mentol elf <3)
Rincewind was generally a great fan of faculty meetings. They were very long, very dull, and had very generous tea breaks. Of course, he had to put up with a certain amount of Archchancellor Ridcully’s shouting, but that was par for the course around the university anyway. Generally he could just keep quiet and fade into the background for an hour or two, content in the knowledge that he wouldn’t be faced with anything more exciting than a new variety of biscuit.
Generally the topic of the meeting didn’t strike so close to home.
It had started with the discreet little announcement in the Times that the editors and head iconographer were to be married the following Octeday. That would probably have been an end to it as well if the Senior Wrangler hadn’t been baffled by a wedding with more than one groom. Even then, it could still have been a five minute diversion.
But Ponder had to be helpful. Apparently one of his aunts had been Offlerian and her friend whatshername had married a Tsortean couple, and no one had thought anything of it. “And besides, you all act like an expanded old married couple anyway,” he’d finished brightly.
Rincewind tried to hide under his hat. It was difficult to make out any full sentences in the ensuing uproar, but loudly declaring their heterosexuality and/or general lack of interest in their fellows seemed to make up a decent chunk of it.
Ponder’s “I didn’t mean-” wasn’t quite lost, but it was ignored.
“Mustrum, we’ve known each other almost half a century, so I only think it’s right to let you know. I never liked you in the slightest and I hope the feeling is mutual.”
“It most certainly is, Two Chairs,” Ridcully bellowed. “You remember Esme. You’ve met Esme!”
“And you know Mrs Whitlow. Come to think of it, the way you and Ponder acted back on the island was very odd,” the Senior Wrangler said pointedly.
“Oh, so not fawning over a housekeeper is considered strange now?”
“Whatever happened to the days of women and wizardry not mixing?”
“Esk, I think.”
“I’ve got nothing against it, but it isn’t natural.”
Whatever Rincewind said at this point wasn’t going to make anything worse and probably wouldn’t even be heard. It certainly wasn’t going to be listened to. Might as well get it off his chest, then.
“I’m gay,” he said quietly.
And with the luck he was so known for, his statement coincided perfectly with a lull in the shouting.
All eyes turned to him. Rincewind could feel his cheeks going red. A familiar pit of dread welled up in his stomach.
“And?” said the Lecturer in Recent Runes.
Rincewind peeked out from under the brim of his hat. “And nothing. I’m gay, that’s all.”
“So?”
“Funny thing to bring up.” The Chair of Indefinite Studies snatched the penultimate chocolate biscuit from under the Dean’s hand. “It’s not as if anyone here is an Orthodox Omnian.”
“You have a point, Chair. How are the Times people supposed to marry in any religious building when one of them’s a vampire?”
“Maybe at Small Gods? Old Windle wasn’t stopped by a bit of hallowed ground.”
“He wanted to come back as a woman,” the Bursar said.
“Really? Good for him- uh, her. Well done, Bursar, a valuable contribution.” The Archchancellor pushed the final chocolate biscuit towards him.
Rincewind breathed out as the faculty’s attention turned away from him.
Ponder caught his eye. “Alright?” he mouthed.
Rincewind nodded.
“Drink?”
Rincewind started to nod again, then stopped. “Dinner?”
“Dinner.” Ponder nodded once and called the meeting back to order.
#disc fic#my fic#rincewind#ponderwind#ish#we're starved enough for ship content to tag it anyway#uu#uu shenanigans
29 notes
·
View notes
Text
Ankh-Morpork City Watch Tournament!
Dorfl is a golem who owns himself - his chem isn't a list of magic words, it is his ownership receipt. He chooses to work for the Watch, reasoning that there is no better job for someone who loves freedom than to be a Watchman. Immensely strong and fiercely logical, he is a boon to the Watch and a terror to criminals throughout Ankh-Morpork.
Visit-The-Infidel-With-Explanatory-Pamphlets (or just "Visit"; also nicknamed "Washpot") is an Omnian of a gentle but determined proselytising nature. He can clear a large crowd in seconds, just by talking to them about religion and threatening them with pamphlets. He spends all his wages on them and has even his own printing press. In off-duty moments he goes door to door with his fellow Omnian, Smite-the-Unbeliever-With-Cunning-Arguments. Samuel Vimes says he is a good copper, his highest form of personal praise.
#monstrous tournament#ankh morpork city watch#round 1#dorfl#constable visit#visit the infidel with explanatory pamphlets
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
"You could have helped people," said Brutha. "But all you did was stamp around and roar and try to make people afraid. Like...like a man hitting a donkey with a stick. But people like Vorbis made the stick so good, that's all the donkey ends up believing in."
"That could use some work, as a parable," said Om sourly.
"This is real life I'm talking about!"
"It's not my fault if people misuse the--"
"It is! It has to be! If you muck up people's minds just because you want them to believe in you, what they do is all your fault!"
Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
#brutha#om#vorbis#omnians#small gods#discworld#terry pratchett#religion#belief#deity#gods#power#blame#authority#fear#real life#parable#philosophy#theology#morality#could use some work#all your fault
794 notes
·
View notes
Text
#discworld#gnu terry pratchett#meme#discworld meme#created by yours truly#small gods#brutha#om#omnianism
565 notes
·
View notes
Text
We all love seeing the Watch and the wizards and the Times crew show up and cause problems in other people's books, but I do think my favorite instance of Discworld intertextuality is running into present-day Omnians in later books and going, "Hey, did you know that your god got stuck as a tortoise once? It made me cry because of humanism."
#to be fair 'it made me cry because of himanism' could be the tagline of most Discworld books#the Turtle Moves#it's just funny watching Visit and especially Oats talk about their god and going 'aww! i knew him when he was just a little guy!#he sucked until eventually he didn't!'
19 notes
·
View notes
Text
i opened an Ogg Vorbis music file once. it was half Omnian hymns and half The Hedgehog Can Never Be Buggered
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
I've just finished Small Gods. And I gotta say. I'm divided on this one.
I have heard a lot of people recommend it, even as an entry into Discworld books. But I honestly would never tell someone interested in starting Discworld to start with Small Gods. It is not an easy to get into book. I almost felt like I was forcing my way through the book till the Ephebe section.
But I enjoyed it.
I think the problem I had with it is that it felt like it had a message and tried to tell a story a long with it. The book itself is hardly about the small gods, which I'm honestly fascinated to learn more about. What it is really about is metaphysics and ontology, but a very odd (and interesting) fictional ontological and metaphysical situation.
The question presented to the reader is not "does god exist" or "does this god, or any god exist". No, the book is pretty clear, as far as Discworld goes, gods are real. Lots of them. Far too many, really (though I have a soft spot for P'tang P'tang, guy didn't know what hit him). The questions the book presents are more about the relationship between gods and worshipers. It's almost an iteration of "which came first, the chicken or the egg" because the books big thesis is that gods need people more than people need gods.
But I also don't think it's quite so simple as that. Because a "god" by the books standards is a specific type of entity, but it also explains how people replace gods. The quisition is a form of god replacement; it does almost exactly what Om did early on and led followers through fear and power. People believed in the quisition the same way they believed in Om and so one was able to replace the other. The quisition was not a god, it was an organization of men; but it was able to take the place of one in the lives of devotees. The philosophers of Ephebe are another sort of religion. They aren't exactly atheists, because they know that would be foolish, but they worship ideas. They replaced religion with theories and innovations and questions.
The book almost says that gods need people and people need something to believe in. But not quite. Brutha falls short in that way (imo). He is a wonderful character and a good window for the narrative (and he's just a good dude and very endearing). But he doesn't really have a solution. He never addresses the problem. Not even Om, when he started a tavern brawl with the gods, fixes the problem. The conclusion of the book only feels like it managed to say "there is a problem" and that fixing it is an ever-present process. But nothing gets solved apart from the military conflicts. Omnianism is still... A mess. Religion and the gods and philosophy and the quisition are all still a mess. And Brutha's solution to it all is nearly "it needs to be better."
I recognize, of course, why it is this way. Attempting to answer the problem of what is there that people can believe in that still makes the world work is just... It's *the* question isn't it? Yeah, there's small and personal answers. But systematically answering that question basically creates a religion in the process.
---
Something I really appreciated, and I'm glad Pratchett wrote it this way (and frankly I wish there was more talk about it) was Vorbis' idea of truth and fundamental truth. Because that truly felt like the crux of the story.
I see it a lot in conversation in real religious circles. There is the reality of a situation (often something meaningless) and then there is the "fundamental" truth of it (usually an understanding of the situation with perceived values ascribed to it). It is like the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic value. There is a truth that is (reality) and a truth that matters (perception). The whole discussion in the book really boils down to being able to lie well, but it's like lying is a method of changing reality by altering perception.
The whole thing, and honestly a good chunk of the book, gave me a headache trying to work out. But it was a very interesting headache.
Lastly, I wanted to touch on Vorbis. Because he is almost a fantastic villain. But he falls short because he's a very chaotic neutral character. He's essentially a curious nihilist. He isn't, exactly, power hungry. The book explains that he does things, horrible things, just to see what happens next. But that, combined with his steel ball mind... Makes me wonder why he really did anything at all? I never felt like he was motivated, just that he was the force in motion that would go up against the protagonist. It was like he was a mechanism for disasters to strike, that his poking and prodding at reality had actually torn it asunder--but not in an interesting way.
All in all, it was a fairly difficult book to wrap my head around. Not in the same way as some others. Unlike other Discworld books that have left me feeling like I was missing something, this one felt like it was missing something. The humor and the wit were there, the message was there. But there was this void that I can't really describe except by using all these words.
#discworld#small gods#gnu terry pratchett#ive let myself ramble far too long about this book#but then again it is a fairly long one
19 notes
·
View notes
Text
Carpe Jugulum
When I started this series, I knew I would find some of the series hadn't held up. But I was really hoping I'd find some which were better than I remembered - and here's one.
Carpe Jugulum
First Read: Post Grad-School
Verdict Then: Fine, but not particularly memorable. The witches books just aren't hitting as well as I expected
Verdict Now: A fun, propulsive, and allegorical ride, maybe my favorite of the witches books (not counting Tiffany Aching, who'll take over this subseries from here). Mightily Oats is a particular point of interest, especially in comparison to Brutha's journey.
Carpe Jugulum is perhaps the first Discworld book I've felt is underappreciated. It's not one that I hear talked about, Wikipedia says that it didn't hit the British "Big Read" list from 2003, and in general I feel like it's often forgotten. But hidden within that is just as interesting and scathing a satire as Hogfather, just with less overtly humorous window dressing. It's one of his least funny-haha books so far - not because his jokes don't land, but because they all have razor edges hidden just beneath the surface. He also leans into horror here in ways that he hasn't previously in the series.
Carpe Jugulum is a book about myth, morality, and religion, and the ways that those forces can be used to bind people or to free them. The vampyre antagonists have found a sort of freedom in directly contradicting the myths - but it's only freedom for themselves, while for everyone else it's a true horror. Mightily Oats is struggling and trying to find the truth hidden among all the tales and rules and morals that he grew up with. Granny Weatherwax confronts again the choice of light or dark, but here it has the tenor of deciding what myth she will embody. Nanny Ogg and Magrat all confront what the myths and stories of Witches really mean to them - are they bound by Maiden, Mother, and the other one, or is it a tool they can use? Agnes & Perdita get the character arc here they deserved in Maskerade, that classic adolescent story of deciding what path you will walk, and who you really want to be.
Granny gets some great monologues in during her journey with Mightily Oats, but it's really Oats's arc that I keep coming back to. In Small Gods, the Omnian church is cruel and broken, a force of evil in the world, but Brutha has the chance to change that, to show them how to be a force for good. But now, a few generations after Brutha, there are echoes of the same essential human failings recurring in the Omnian Church. An adherence to text, an evangelism that is still dehumanizing of its targets even if it's gentler now, and a constant conflict within and between the adherents of the church - all of these echo the failings of the church in Small Gods. The Omnians have gone from early Renaissance Catholics to mid-century Episcopalian/Church of England, but they're still an organized, evangelical religion. I wonder how much of the differences in Brutha's journey and Oats's journey are a reflection of Pratchett's own evolution - while Brutha was who I needed to see in high school, struggling with the Catholicism in which I was (happily, mostly) raised, but now, it's Oats's solution to the central conflicts of religion that rings most true. Find the wonder, awe, and holiness in everything - no god required. Listen to those who seem to be doing the most good in the world, not as a holy leader, but instead as a rough guide. Granny Weatherwax never tells Oats what to do. She's not a pastor. She's a Witch, a guide, a coach, an example, but never a shepherd.
This one really got under my skin. There were a few bits that didn't quite land - it's not as tight as Jingo - but overall, I do think this is a story I will want to revisit. Maybe even in a back-to-back with Small Gods, to really see the evolution of the thoughts on religion in stark relief. And in the end, that's always what the best Pratchett's do - get you to keep thinking long after the story has ended.
5 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
traumer69
Träumer
xdeving
Sfoghi di una vita triste
studyingandsteppingtowardslife
Studying And Stepping Towards Life
grind-core666-fan
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Aeternusprophet
mono-polisemico
An Bookie