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Characters from
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series
Death illustrated by Christopher Stryjewski (2008) www.whtmnk.deviantart.com
Illustrated by Christopher Stryjewski
Character details
Full name: Death
Description: The personification of death but with a more elaborate personality
Associations: Azrael
Mort
Albert
Susan Sto Helit
Death of Rats
Location: Death's Domain and everywhere else
Story appearances
First seen: The Colour of Magic
Also in: Every Discworld novel except The Wee Free Men
Other details
Notes: alias Bill Door (Reaper Man), Beau Nidle (Soul Music), and Mr Scrub (Soul Music)

Death, also occasionally called Mort by the other horsemen of the apocalypse (see The Light Fantastic), is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. This article contains brief biographies for characters from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series Terence David John Pratchett, OBE (born 28 April 1948 is an English fantasy, Science fiction, and children's author. Discworld is a comedic Fantasy Book series by the British author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat In English Death is often given the name the " Grim Reaper " and shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large Scythe, and wearing a midnight black gown robe See also Discworld (world#Magic The Discworld gods are the fictional deities from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series of fantasy Mort and Ysabell are Fictional characters a young married couple in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series Albert (known as Alberto Malich when he founded the Unseen University) is a character from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series Susan Sto Helit (also spelled Sto-Helit) once referred to as Susan Death, is a Fictional character who has featured in three of Terry Pratchett Death, is a Fictional character in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series See also Discworld (world The Discworld, the fantastical setting for Terry Pratchett 's bestselling series of novels of the same name, The Colour of Magic is a 1983 Comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the Discworld series For The Wee Free see the Free Church of Scotland. The Wee Free Men, first published in 2003 is the second Story of The Discworld The Light Fantastic is a Comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, the second of the Discworld series Terence David John Pratchett, OBE (born 28 April 1948 is an English fantasy, Science fiction, and children's author. Discworld is a comedic Fantasy Book series by the British author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat Discworld's Death is a parody of several other personifications of death. The Discworld is the fictional setting for all of Terry Pratchett 's Discworld fantasy novels A parody (ˈpɛɹədiː US, [ˈpaɹədiː] UK) in contemporary usage is a work created to mock comment on or poke fun at an original work its subject In English Death is often given the name the " Grim Reaper " and shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large Scythe, and wearing a midnight black gown robe Like most Grim Reapers, he is a black-robed skeleton (usually- he wears the Dean's "Born to Rune" leather jacket in Soul Music, and is portrayed in overalls in ''The Art of the Discworld) carrying a scythe and, for royalty, a sword (It's the rules, he once told Mort). A robe is a loose-fitting outer garment. A robe is distinguished from a Cape or Cloak by the fact that it usually has Sleeves The English In Biology, the skeleton is a strong and often a rigid framework that supports the body of an animal holding it upright and giving it shape and strength (Also skeletal For the ancient Sicilian tyrant see Scythes. A scythe (ˈsaɪð from Old English siðe. Mort and Ysabell are Fictional characters a young married couple in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series Unlike many of them, he has a personality beyond this.

Death is one of the most popular Discworld characters. His steed is a great pale horse called Binky who is very much still alive (in Reaper Man it is remarked that he tried riding a steed of flames and a skeletal one, but the former was constantly setting the stable on fire, and he got rid of the latter because he grew tired of "constantly getting off to wire bits back on"). The horse ( Equus caballus) is a hoofed ( Ungulate) Mammal, one of eight living species of the family Equidae. Reaper Man is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. Published in 1991 it is the 11th Discworld novel and the second to focus on His hollow, peculiar voice is represented in the books by unquoted small caps; it is peculiar because since he is a tall skeleton, he has no vocal cords to speak with, and therefore the words enter your head with no involvement from your ears. In Typography, small capitals (usually abbreviated small caps) are Uppercase ( capital) characters set at the same height as surrounding In The Colour of Magic (the first Discworld novel), and in Eric, all direct written references to Death are proper nouns, thus, for example, "he" is written as "He". The Colour of Magic is a 1983 Comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the Discworld series Eric is the ninth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. It was originally published in 1990 as a " Discworld story" This is usually reserved for the Discworld gods and is not featured in any of the other novels. See also Discworld (world#Magic The Discworld gods are the fictional deities from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series of fantasy A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story

Death is not invisible. Most people just refuse to acknowledge him for who he is, unless he insists. Under normal circumstances, only those of a magical disposition (e. g. witches and wizards), children and cats can see him, or allow themselves to see him. See also Discworld magic A major subset of the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett involves the witches of Lancre. The Wizards are major characters in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series In Wyrd Sisters Death briefly took the place of an actor playing him in a play and was shocked to discover when he walked onto the stage that all of the audience could see him as they were expecting Death to appear; it was stated that he was quite nervous at this as he is usually seen only by one person at a time and was not comfortable with so many people watching him. Wyrd Sisters is Terry Pratchett 's sixth Discworld novel published in 1988 and re-introduces Granny Weatherwax of Equal Death can of course ignore things like walls or magic spells that stand between him and his object: this is because he's much "realer" than they are. A castle might stand for centuries, but Death has existed for billions of years: to him, the walls of the castle are less substantial than a cobweb. However, he can only go where people believe in death, as shown in Hogfather, and can only see people who can die, as shown in Thief of Time. Hogfather is the 20th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. The Hogfather is also a character in the book representing something Thief of Time is the 26th Discworld Novel written by Terry Pratchett.

It is also mentioned in The Colour of Magic that wizards, witches, and significant figures (e. The Colour of Magic is a 1983 Comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the Discworld series g. kings) have the "privilege" of being collected by Death himself upon their death, rather than one of the lesser entities. Indeed, wizards and witches have prior knowledge of the time of their deaths and expect Death to keep to schedule. Most other deaths are collected by another functionary, but with the exception of Mort and Susan (both acting as "authorized" replacements for Death), there has only been one "collection" described in the books by anyone other than Death, attempted of Rincewind by the anthropomorphic personification of Scrofula. This article contains brief biographies for characters from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series Susan Sto Helit (also spelled Sto-Helit) once referred to as Susan Death, is a Fictional character who has featured in three of Terry Pratchett Rincewind the Wizzard is a Fictional character Scrofula ( scrophula or struma) is any of a variety of Skin diseases in particular a form of Tuberculosis, affecting the Lymph nodes However, Death himself must collect some souls in order to keep the momentum of death going, worked out by a system described as the 'nodes'. These nodes seem handily to be most of the characters who die in the course of the novels, as Death almost invariably turns up whenever any character dies, sometimes (especially when taking bad characters' lives) replaced by the Death of Rats, mentioned below in this article. Death, is a Fictional character in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series As well as wizards and kings, he has shown up for numerous ordinary people, at least two dogs, a swan, and once for an incredibly small sea creature, possibly a tube worm. Siboglinidae, also known as the beard worms, is a family of Polychaete annelid worms whose members made up the former phyla He was present at the beginning and end of Time in one novel. He has also appeared even in situations where characters might potentially die. These events are usually of importance within the story, so Death's appearance may simply be considered a plot device. A plot device is an element introduced into a story solely to advance or resolve the plot of the story Death mentions in Guards! Guards! that he does personally collect the souls of ordinary people Sometimes. Guards! Guards! is the 8th Discworld Novel by Terry Pratchett, first published in 1989 On special occasions. This suggests that Death's conception of an important person is not, necessarily, the same as a human conception. Possibly he is able to judge "significant" deaths based on an understanding of the broad sweep of history and chaos theory. In Mathematics, chaos theory describes the behavior of certain dynamical systems – that is systems whose state evolves with time – that may exhibit dynamics that He may also do ordinary deaths judging by the showyness of the death (such as a beggar being incinerated by a dragon, the first dragon-based death in centuries).

Contents

Personality

Death is efficient but not cruel, and sees his job as a necessary public service. Cruelty can be described as indifference to Suffering, and even positive Pleasure in inflicting it Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by Government to its Citizens, either directly (through the Public sector) or His task is not to kill, but to collect. He harvests the old, worn-out souls of the dead so they may be properly "recycled" into fresh new lives. As shown in Reaper Man his is a necessary service as life force that isn't "recycled" properly tends to start producing unusual behavior (i. Reaper Man is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. Published in 1991 it is the 11th Discworld novel and the second to focus on e. . poltergeists). (from German poltern, meaning to rumble or make noise and Geist, meaning " Ghost ", " Spirit "

He is fond of cats (who can see him at all times) and curry (although he doesn't need to eat), which he tells Mort is like biting a red-hot ice cube. Curry is the English description of any of a general variety of spicy dishes best known in Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan Mort and Ysabell are Fictional characters a young married couple in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series He lives in an extradimensional realm called Death's Domain. A realm (rɛlm is the dominion of a monarch king queen emperor empress or other sovereign ruler See also Discworld (world The Discworld, the fantastical setting for Terry Pratchett 's bestselling series of novels of the same name, Within the domain, his home looks like a normal upper middle class Victorian house with a garden, (With little skeletal Garden Gnomes, as well as skeletal fish in a pond), is well-tended, but is predominantly black and decorated with a skull and crossbone motif. It is called Mon Repos, and is much, much bigger on the inside, because Death has not quite mastered the art of scale. Geometry The tesseract can be constructed in a number of different ways Similarly, because he does not quite understand real distance compared to perspective, the surrounding terrain is actually relatively close, but blurred to appear farther away. Death adds a large golden wheat field to the grounds after the events of Reaper Man as an alternate representation of the people he influences during his work. Reaper Man is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. Published in 1991 it is the 11th Discworld novel and the second to focus on There is also a swing, created by Death for Susan, which mainly serves to further prove Death's lack of understanding of traditional physics. When he discovered that he had tied the two ropes on branches either side of the trunk, he simply removed the offending trunk as opposed to repositioning the ropes. This has not in the least affected the growth of the tree (another obvious example of Death's misunderstanding of things). Inside, he has many strange things, such as doors that are several metres talland at one and the same time a few feet tall. He also has a bathroom (Never used by him, but by Albert) with a bar of bone-white, rock-hard soap, a towel rack with one real towel, owned by albert (the other towels are as hard as the rack, and attached to the rack, because Death doesn't get an idea of basic towel-ness, among other things).

Death is fascinated by humanity, hence the above attempts at living beyond the role, and why he once adopted an orphaned child named Ysabell (see below). Mort and Ysabell are Fictional characters a young married couple in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series His interest is coupled with bafflement: it's a favorite point of Prachett's that the habits and beliefs are grown into instead of being rationally acquired are an essential part of being human. As Death is an outside observer, his imitations are intricate but marked by a fundamental lack of comprehension. When acting as a stand-in for the Hogfather he starts by greeting the children he meets in the course of his duties with Cower, brief mortals from force of habit, until reminded not to do so by Albert. In Going Postal, he is faced by the rare occasion of a golem's death, whereby he is unable to understand the golem's lack of desire to move on onto the afterlife, instead choosing to stay in a barren plain. Going postal is an American English Slang term used as a verb meaning to suddenly become extremely and uncontrollably angry possibly to the point of violence

This fascination with humanity extends to the point of sympathy towards them, and he will often side with humans against greater threats (notably the Auditors of Reality) as well as the Dungeon Dimensions. See also Anthropomorphic personifications (Discworld, Death (Discworld, Discworld gods The Auditors of Reality are fictional godlike beings in He has on a number of occasions bent the rules to allow a character extra life. Death has also indicated that he will oblige dying humans by playing a game with them for their lives (much like the personification of Death in The Seventh Seal); the games including chess (though he consistently has trouble remembering how the knights move), and another game - "I think it was called "Exclusive Possession", which the challenger lost despite having "three streets and all the utilities". For the Biblical concept see Seven seals. For the Rakim album see The Seventh Seal (Rakim album. Monopoly is a Board game published by Parker Brothers, a subsidiary of Hasbro. In one case, Granny Weatherwax was able to play cards against Death in a successful bid to save a child's life (Granny's hand had four queens, while he only had four 'ones' - it is suggested that Death knew the true value of the hand but was prepared to pretend otherwise for the child's sake). Esmerelda "Esme" Weatherwax (usually called Granny Weatherwax or Mistress Weatherwax on formal occasions such as when being addressed by not-yet witches The word " ace " comes from the Old French word 'as' (from Latin 'as' meaning 'a unit' from the name of a small Roman coin In many ways, he is a character who epitomises the bleakness of human existence – in the book Reaper Man, in which he is rendered temporarily mortal, he becomes frustrated and infuriated with the unfair inevitability of death, a theme that continues through later books. Reaper Man is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. Published in 1991 it is the 11th Discworld novel and the second to focus on In Soul Music he expresses misery at the fact that he is capable of preventing deaths but is forbidden to do so. Soul music is a Music genre that combines Rhythm and blues and Gospel music, originating in the United States. Terry Pratchett even says in The Art of Discworld that he has received a number of letters from terminally ill fans in which they hope that Death will resemble the Discworld incarnation (he also says that those particular letters usually cause him to spend some time staring at the wall). Terence David John Pratchett, OBE (born 28 April 1948 is an English fantasy, Science fiction, and children's author. The Art of Discworld is a descriptive book of the world of the Discworld as portrayed in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series

Death has developed considerably since his first appearance in The Colour of Magic. The Colour of Magic is a 1983 Comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the Discworld series In this, he was actually quite a malicious character. At one point he deliberately stops a character's heart. By the time of Mort he had gained the sympathetic and humorous personality that would make him so popular. MoRT (an acronym for "Metamorphosis of Realistic Theories" Mort is also the French word for death) is an Avant-garde metal In more recent novels, he has been used to examine recent developments in theoretical physics as, being a supernatural being, he is able to witness such events firsthand (although being a cat lover, he is not fond of Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment). Theoretical physics employs Mathematical models and Abstractions of Physics in an attempt to explain experimental data taken of the natural world The term supernatural or supranatural ( Latin: super, supra "above" + natura "nature" pertains to entities events Schrödinger's cat is a Thought experiment, often described as a Paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935


Some readers have suggested that Death may have been partially based on the Doctor from Doctor Who. The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and also features in Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Both are beings who can travel anywhere in time and space, are fascinated with humanity but do not always understand it, live in domiciles that are significantly bigger on the inside than the outside, and have granddaughters named Susan. Pratchett has stated that "As far as I'm aware, the Death/Dr Who 'coincidences' are in the mind of the beholders. Death can move through space and time, yes, but that's built in to the character. I made his house bigger on the inside than the outside so that I could have quiet fun with people's perceptions"[1].

Death's gender

The initial books did not pronounce themselves about the gender of Death, giving an ambiguous "it". However, in Reaper Man, Death is unambiguously identified as a male. Reaper Man is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. Published in 1991 it is the 11th Discworld novel and the second to focus on When asked to describe Death, in the second Discworld computer game, the protagonist Rincewind hazards a guess, "Well, I suppose he's a man. Rincewind the Wizzard is a Fictional character You have to look at the pelvis, don't you?". In the comic strip adaptation of Mort, Death is seen in mirrors as a black-bearded human wearing a black cloak, and also seen as this when he needs to be seen by the living.

In the Spanish translations of the books, it was not possible to be ambiguous about Death's sex, because Spanish language must provide a grammatical gender to each object (table is female while pencil is male), sometimes even changing the gender of synonyms (computer can be ordenador (male), or computadora (female)). In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong This article deals with the general meaning of the term "synonym" Thus, translator Cristina Macía chose the female gender for Death, as death in Spanish; muerte, is female. It had to be changed when Reaper Man was published, and justified in a footnote. Reaper Man is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. Published in 1991 it is the 11th Discworld novel and the second to focus on A footnote (or bootnote) is a note of text placed at the bottom of a page in a book or document It seems the latest editions of Mort corrected Death's gender.

In the French translation, though the noun for death (la mort) is feminine, the actual gender when conjugating is masculine. The translator, Patrick Couton, justified the fact by a pun in a footnote: "La Mort est un mâle, car c'est un mal nécessaire" (Death is male because it is a necessary evil/male). In French: mâle = male and mal = evil are pronounced almost identically. The translator footnote has become a running gag in the French translation, "Death is male because there are horseman and no horsewoman of the apocalypse".

In the Polish translation by Piotr W. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Cholewa Death is masculine, despite the noun (Śmierć) being feminine in Polish. Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. As a result Death is definitely male and is addressed exclusively as He (On).

In the Croatian translation Death was female up to Sourcery where it was changed to a male persona. Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between The changing of his gender is addressed at the beginning of the book via a translator's commentary.

In the Russian translation of the Discworld series (different translators, all translations edited by Alexander Zhikarentsev) Death is masculine (despite the noun смерть being feminine in the Russian language and the Russian tradition to depict death as an old woman) and his gender is explicitely stated when he first appears in The Colour of Magic. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The Colour of Magic is a 1983 Comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the Discworld series

In the Czech translation by Jan Kantůrek, Death is masculine, although the noun smrt (death) is feminine. The Czech Republic ( ˈt͡ʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka short form in Česko ˈt͡ʃɛskɔ also called Czechia, Jan Kantůrek ( 4 May 1948 in Zlín) is a Czech translator of fantasy science fiction comics and westerns from English Kantůrek used the name Smrť, which is obviously derived from "death", but has no independent meaning.

In the Hungarian translation by Dr. Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic Anikó Sohár, Death is indirectly suggested to be masculine (Hungarian language does not feature genders at all). Death is called "a Halál" with a definite article and a capital "H" (meaning literally "the Death"). The masculine characteristics is emphasized via addressing of Death by other characters, which utilizes variations of the Hungarian equivalents of "(my) Sir", "Mr" etc.

In the Bulgarian translation by Vladimit Zarkov, Death is masculine, although the noun смърт (pronounced a s "smurt") is feminine. The state of Bulgaria (България transliterated bg-Latn ''Balgaria'' The country preserves the traditions (in ethnic name language and alphabet of the First Bulgarian There the name is just Смърт (in English Death) and in some books Albert addresses Death as Mylord, Master (господарю).

Relations and associates

Death is both the servant and a part of The Old High One known as Azrael, the Death of Universes and ruler of all deaths. See also Discworld (world#Magic The Discworld gods are the fictional deities from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series of fantasy See also Discworld (world#Magic The Discworld gods are the fictional deities from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series of fantasy

Ysabell, Death's adopted daughter, first appears in The Light Fantastic, and has a significant role in Mort. Mort and Ysabell are Fictional characters a young married couple in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series The Light Fantastic is a Comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, the second of the Discworld series MoRT (an acronym for "Metamorphosis of Realistic Theories" Mort is also the French word for death) is an Avant-garde metal In this novel Mort is given the job of Death's apprentice, and he and Ysabell get married. This article contains brief biographies for characters from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series Their child is Susan (below).

Death's granddaughter Susan is first tapped to fill in for him during the events of Soul Music, and is again called in Hogfather. Susan Sto Helit (also spelled Sto-Helit) once referred to as Susan Death, is a Fictional character who has featured in three of Terry Pratchett Soul music is a Music genre that combines Rhythm and blues and Gospel music, originating in the United States. Hogfather is the 20th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. The Hogfather is also a character in the book representing something She also plays an important role in Thief of Time. Thief of Time is the 26th Discworld Novel written by Terry Pratchett. She would give it all up if it weren't for Binky, below. Death, is a Fictional character in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series

Death's domain has a "groundskeeper" named Albert. A groundskeeper is a person who maintains landscaping gardens or sporting venues (and their vegetation where appropriate for appearance and functionality Albert (known as Alberto Malich when he founded the Unseen University) is a character from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series He is not dead, but instead was brought to Death's domain when he performed the Rite of AshkEnte backwards. He entered the land of Death with around three months left before he was due to die. Subsequent trips to the Disc on errands for his master combined with the unfortunate shattering of his lifetimer in Soul Music have left him with a mere five seconds of life remaining. Soul music is a Music genre that combines Rhythm and blues and Gospel music, originating in the United States.

In the earlier books and Thief of Time Death works with War, Pestilence and Famine, the other three Horsemen of the Apocralypse (though, when War, Pestilence and Famine get their horses stolen in Sourcery, they sarcastically rename themselves The One Horseman and The Three Pedestrians of the Apocralypse). Thief of Time is the 26th Discworld Novel written by Terry Pratchett. An anthropomorphic personification is a natural process endowed with human form and personality Like him they have become more human than their roles require. Death himself explains this; in Thief of Time, he says that "form defines function". In Thief of Time, Kaos, the Fifth Horseman, was introduced, having previously left before they became famous and now works as a milkman under the name Ronnie Soak (this is probably a nod/reference to the Beatles). An anthropomorphic personification is a natural process endowed with human form and personality With the exception of Thief the other Horsemen do not generally appear in the books focused on Death, even when there is a potential narrative reason for their involvement.

Binky

Binky is Death's steed. He is a real horse; Death tried a skeletal steed, but kept having to stop and wire bits back on. The horse ( Equus caballus) is a hoofed ( Ungulate) Mammal, one of eight living species of the family Equidae. [1] Death also had a fiery steed, but that one repeatedly set his barn — and his robe — on fire. He is called Binky, instead of something more fearsome, because Death thought Binky was A Nice Name. Binky is more intelligent than most horses and is a pure, milky white (it is noted in some novels that Binky is an exception to the usual equestrian rule of all pale-coloured horses being officially 'grey'). True He can fly (though really he just creates his own ground-level), as well as travel through time and across dimensions, sometimes leaving glowing hoofprints in his wake, but is in all other respects a perfectly ordinary horse. He's well-treated, and loyal to his master and Susan when she's filling in for him. His shoes are made by Jason Ogg, the Lancrastian blacksmith of mythical skill. This article contains brief biographies for characters from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series He is not immortal, but while in death's service does not age[2]. Binky gains a part of his power by sharing one of Death's qualities: he's so much "realer" than ordinary things (for instance, walls, great distances, or time), that he can simply ignore them. When Susan observes Binky apparently walking on air and asks Albert if he's a real horse, she's told, "There's no horse realer than that one, Miss".

"My Little Binky" (a reference to My Little Pony) was a gift given to Susan Sto Helit, Death's granddaughter, for one of her early birthdays. My Little Pony is a line of colorful Toy ponies marketed primarily to young girls and produced by the toy manufacturer Hasbro. Susan Sto Helit (also spelled Sto-Helit) once referred to as Susan Death, is a Fictional character who has featured in three of Terry Pratchett Her parents returned the gift, fearing that this would make her a less "normal" child.

The Death of Rats

The Death of Rats is not, strictly speaking, a personification in his own right but rather an aspect of Death allowed an independent existence. Personification is an ontological metaphor in which a thing or abstraction is represented as a person His purpose is to usher on the souls of dead rodents, and occasionally rodent-like humans, as well as assisting Death in other ways (he drew Death's attention to interference by the Auditors, demonstrating improbable statistics by using a machine that measured how often a piece of toast dropped butter-side-down). See also Anthropomorphic personifications (Discworld, Death (Discworld, Discworld gods The Auditors of Reality are fictional godlike beings in He was one of a disparate multitude of Deaths (down to the Death of Microorganisms) created during Death's absence in Reaper Man. Reaper Man is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. Published in 1991 it is the 11th Discworld novel and the second to focus on Upon Death's resumption of his duties, he reabsorbed the identities of all the millions of Deaths into himself. The Death of Rats, however, refused to be reabsorbed and, even though Death initially said he would not let the Death of Rats remain separate, Death nevertheless kept him around as company. The Death of Rats resembles a rodentine skeleton on its hind legs, wearing a black robe and carrying a tiny scythe. Rodentia is an order of Mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously-growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must

The Death of Rats more easily finds ways around the Rules than Death does, and has assisted Susan in Soul Music, Hogfather and Thief of Time. Susan Sto Helit (also spelled Sto-Helit) once referred to as Susan Death, is a Fictional character who has featured in three of Terry Pratchett Soul music is a Music genre that combines Rhythm and blues and Gospel music, originating in the United States. Hogfather is the 20th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. The Hogfather is also a character in the book representing something Thief of Time is the 26th Discworld Novel written by Terry Pratchett. He sometimes travels with a talking raven named Quoth (as in 'Quoth the Raven' from the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. " The Raven " is a narrative poem by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in January 1845 Edgar Allan Poe (January 19 1809 – October 7 1849 was an American poet, short-story Writer, editor and Literary critic, The 'N' word he doesn't like to say is Nevermore, also from the poem) who also acts as his translator (and says he's "in it for the eyeballs"). The Death of Fleas also escaped reabsorption, but has not been seen since Reaper Man. Reaper Man is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. Published in 1991 it is the 11th Discworld novel and the second to focus on

The Death of Rats' jurisdiction also seems to cover certain kinds of 'ratty' humans, such as Mr Clete in Soul Music. Soul music is a Music genre that combines Rhythm and blues and Gospel music, originating in the United States. In Maskerade the Death of Rats took the soul of the Opera House's ratcatcher, who then got reincarnated as a rodent. Maskerade is the eighteenth novel in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. The ratcatcher protested that he did not believe in reincarnation, and got the answer "reincarnation believes in you".

The Death of Rats, like Death, speaks in small caps, but has a vocabulary consisting of words such as Squeak, Eek, Ik and Snh, the last used when it laughs, although its speech can be interpreted from context much like the Librarian's. In Typography, small capitals (usually abbreviated small caps) are Uppercase ( capital) characters set at the same height as surrounding The Librarian of Unseen University is a character in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series of fantasy novels

In the mythology of the Clan (from The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents) the Death of Rats is known as the Bone Rat. The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents is the 28th Novel in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series published in 2001 He appears in the book for Dangerous Beans, but is stopped by Maurice, who trades one of his many own lives with Death in exchange of Dangerous Beans's.

Quoth

A talking raven. Raven is the common name given to the largest species of Passerine Birds in the Genus Corvus. He hangs around with the Death of Rats. Death, is a Fictional character in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series His name derives from the famous line in the poem by the poet Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven" ("Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore'. Edgar Allan Poe (January 19 1809 – October 7 1849 was an American poet, short-story Writer, editor and Literary critic, " The Raven " is a narrative poem by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in January 1845 ") except this raven "doesn't do the N word". He got his name because his previous owner, a wizard, had no sense of humour. At times he acts as steed and interpreter for the Death of Rats and he has a constant craving for eyeballs – a species characteristic (which, he recalls, resulted in an unfortunate end to ravens working under Blind Io, the king of the Discworld Gods, who has innumerable eyeballs floating around his head. Death, is a Fictional character in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series See also Discworld (world#Magic The Discworld gods are the fictional deities from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series of fantasy This is a nod to Odin/Woden (King of Norse/Germanic Gods) who had two ravens, Thought and Memory. ). He was originally one of the ravens from the Tower of Art, the magical properties of which gave him his ability to speak. Unseen University (UU is a school of wizardry in Terry Pratchett's fictional Discworld city of Ankh-Morpork, staffed by a faculty

He was first seen in the Discworld novel Soul Music, and since then has made appearances in all novels involving Susan Sto Helit. Soul music is a Music genre that combines Rhythm and blues and Gospel music, originating in the United States. Susan Sto Helit (also spelled Sto-Helit) once referred to as Susan Death, is a Fictional character who has featured in three of Terry Pratchett Neil Pearson voices him in the Sky One adaptation of Hogfather. Neil Joshua Pearson (born April 27, 1959) is a British Actor best known for his work on television Terry Pratchett's Hogfather is a two-part Television adaptation of the book of the same name by Terry Pratchett, produced by The Mob

New Death

The New Death first appears in Reaper Man when he comes to collect the old Death, now known as "Bill Door". The New Death comes from human belief, but he is quite different from the original. Though he has the usual black robe, he is a larger figure than Bill Door and has only smoke underneath his robe, rather than bones. His horse is the classic skeletal steed, as opposed to Binky. Death, is a Fictional character in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series In place of a face or skull, the new Death wears a crown, and is prideful, dramatic, and cruel, the literal embodiment of humanity's fear of death; he chooses to arrive exactly at midnight and appears in a flash of lightning purely for the dramatic effect, something old Death finds infuriatingly overdramatic. When he corners Bill Door, he mocks him and beats him instead of finishing the job.

The new Death is destroyed when Miss Renata Flitworth comes to Bill Door's rescue by giving him some of her life, so that he can briefly escape "death". Bill Door then kills the new Death with the harvest scythe he used on the farm; just a humble garden tool, not the infinitely sharp implement of Death, but sharpened by his own rage. In Agriculture, the harvest is the process of Gathering mature crops from the fields Reaping is the cutting of Grain For the ancient Sicilian tyrant see Scythes. A scythe (ˈsaɪð from Old English siðe. Bill Door was disgusted and horrified by New Death choosing to wear a crown, and his victory is the triumph of the compassionate "reaper man" over the tyrant who has no care for the harvest.

Rite of AshkEnte

The Rite of AshkEnte is the ancient magic ritual that summons and binds Death to the circle and prevents him from leaving until invited to do so by the summoning wizard. A ritual is a set of actions often thought to have Symbolic value the performance of which is usually prescribed by a Religion or by the Traditions In Eric, Death appears outside the circle, behind the wizards ("Who are we waiting for exactly?"), and in Reaper Man a wizard comments that he believes he only stays in the circle for the look of the thing. Eric is the ninth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. It was originally published in 1990 as a " Discworld story" Reaper Man is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. Published in 1991 it is the 11th Discworld novel and the second to focus on Mort, however, was almost forced to respond to the summons, and Susan was summoned and subsequently bound. This does not, however, appear to apply to Death himself.

Since Death is professionally involved in almost everything that is going on everywhere, the Rite is usually performed so that he can be asked questions. Death hates this because he is always summoned at the worst possible time, like when he is at a party. The senior wizards performing the Rite are not too happy about it either, though, since they don't enjoy drawing Death's attention to them; they are often very senior.

Although the Rite can be performed by a couple of people with three small sticks and 4 cc of mouse blood or even with a fresh egg and two small sticks, wizards prefer to do it the old fashioned way, with heavy equipment consisting of numerous drippy candles, octograms written on the floor, thuribles and similar paraphernalia. A mouse (plural mice) is a small Animal that belongs to one An egg is a round or oval body laid by the female of many animals consisting of an Ovum surrounded by layers of Membranes and an outer casing which acts to nourish The Wizards are major characters in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series A thurible is a metal Censer suspended from chains in which Incense is burned during Worship services They feel it's not proper wizardry if it's not showy enough. There are nine ways of performing the Rite, but eight of them cause instant death and the ninth is very hard to remember[3].

The founder of Unseen University Alberto Malich disappeared from the world when he tried to perform the Rite backwards. Unseen University (UU is a school of wizardry in Terry Pratchett's fictional Discworld city of Ankh-Morpork, staffed by a faculty Albert (known as Alberto Malich when he founded the Unseen University) is a character from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series Apparently, he thought that an inverted Rite of AshkEnte would keep Death away from him, allowing him to live forever. Unfortunately, what actually happened was that he was summoned to Death (quite possibly the wizards are trying to work their way around this). He has since elected to stay in Death's domain as Death's manservant (as no time passes there, it might be said that Alberto's ambition of immortality was fulfilled after all).

In the Discworld books, the Rite has been used a number of times:

The Rite is also used in the computer game Discworld II: Missing Presumed...!?. Discworld II Missing Presumed!? ( Discworld II Mortality Bytes! in North America) is the second graphic Adventure game based on However, the game requires the player to find not only the three small sticks (of equal length) and 4 cc of mouse's blood mentioned above, but also dribbly candles, a vile stench, and some glitter. During the ritual, the wizards perform an off-key version of "Day-O (Banana Boat Song)" and Death appears behind them, fresh from vacation, wearing a cork hat. A cork hat is a type of headgear with cork strung from the brim to ward off pestulant insects

Portrayals of Death

In the 1997 animated adaptations of Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters, Death was voiced by Christopher Lee. Soul Music is a seven-part animated Television adaptation of the book of the same name by Terry Pratchett, produced by Cosgrove Wyrd Sisters is a two-part animated Television adaptation of the book of the same name by Terry Pratchett, produced by Cosgrove Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBE, CStJ (born 27 May 1922 is a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award-nominated Saturn Award-winning English Actor In the 2006 Sky One adaptation of Hogfather he was voiced by Ian Richardson allowing him to make use of his famous catch phrase in the House of Cards trilogy. Terry Pratchett's Hogfather is a two-part Television adaptation of the book of the same name by Terry Pratchett, produced by The Mob Ian William Richardson CBE ( 7 April 1934 &ndash 9 February 2007) was a Scottish Actor best known for playing House of Cards is a political thriller novel written by Michael Dobbs, a former Chief of Staff at Conservative Party headquarters which was set at the The actor who played the physical Death in Hogfather was Marnix Van Den Broeke, a 6 foot 7 inch Dutchman. In the 2008 adaptation of The Colour of Magic, Van Den Broeke reprises the physical role, with Lee returning to the voice after the death of Richardson. The Colour of Magic is a 1983 Comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the Discworld series

Death has been voiced in all five BBC Radio adaptations of Discworld novels. Geoffery Whitehead played the part in the adaptation of Mort, John Rowe played him in The Amazing of Maurice and His Educated Rodents Michael Kilgariff appeared as Death in Epiosde 4 of Small Gods. In both Guards, Guards and Wyrd Sisters Death is credited as being played by himself (In Guards, Guards he is actually voiced by Stephen Thorne who also played Sergeant Colon). Stephen Thorne is a British actor of radio film stage and television His voice has also technically been performed by Terry Pratchett, Nigel Planer, Stephen Briggs, Tony Robinson and Celia Imrie in their audiobook readings. Nigel George Planer (born 22 February 1953 in London) is an English Actor, Novelist and Playwright. Stephen Briggs (1951&ndash is in his own words "a civil servant who dabbles in amateur dramatics" Dr Tony Robinson (born 15 August 1946 in Leytonstone, London) is an English Actor, broadcaster and Celia Diana Savile Imrie (born 15 July 1952 is an Olivier Award-winning English actress.

Death has appeared in various other media, in the Discworld Game Series he is voiced firstly by Richard Wilson and later by Nigel Planer. Death has also been played by numerous actors in amateur stage productions of Mort, Soul Music and Hogfather, as well as various other plays based upon the novels.

The Death of Rats has appeared in the animated Soul Music and in the radio serial The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, but has not been given a voice credit for either. In the Hogfather TV series the voice was credited to Dorckey Hellmice, whilst in the Discworld 2 game, the voice is credited as Katherine the Crocodile. Michelle Dockery is a British actress known primarily for playing Susan Sto Helit in the Sky One adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather

Quotations

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?
Death of Rats: Squeak. The Truth is the twenty-fifth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, published in 2000.
Well, obviously I do.

See also

References

  1. ^ Reaper Man
  2. ^ The New Discworld Companion
  3. ^ The New Discworld Companion

External links

See also Discworld (world#Magic The Discworld gods are the fictional deities from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series of fantasy
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