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109-629: The Last Hero is a short fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett , the twenty-seventh book in his Discworld series. It was published in 2001 in a larger format than the other Discworld novels and illustrated on every page by Paul Kidby . A message arrives for Lord Vetinari from the Agatean Empire, explaining that the Silver Horde (a group of aged barbarians introduced in Interesting Times , and led by Cohen

218-464: A desert to be crossed. Death appears in every single Discworld novel — to greater or lesser degrees — except for The Wee Free Men and Snuff . In some of the novels, he is just a momentary humorous aside, whereas in others he has a more significant bearing on a plot point. The character of Death evolves over the progression of the novels, developing more across the earlier books with his character gradually stabilising in later ones. Death

327-417: A scrofula . Death himself must collect some minimum number of souls, to keep the balance. His selection from ordinary deaths is worked out by a system called the "nodes" possibly based on the showiness of the death. A common thief incinerated by a dragon might qualify for example. He has shown up for at least two kittens, a swan, and a red flower-like sea creature. These events are usually of importance within

436-814: A "My Little Binky" gift set for her third birthday. It was returned by her parents, who feared that it would make her a less "normal" child. The Death of Rats , also known as the Grim Squeaker, was not, strictly speaking, a personification in his own right but rather an aspect of Death, allowed an independent existence. His purpose was to usher on the souls of dead rodents, and assist Death in other ways. His jurisdiction also seems to cover certain kinds of "ratty" humans, such as Mr. Clete in Soul Music , Mr. Pin in The Truth , and Mr. Pounder in Maskerade . He

545-535: A black robe, and carrying a tiny scythe , since his form took shape from the latent form of Death in Reaper Man , and he came into existence in the vicinity of Bill Door. The Death of Rats finds ways around the rules more easily than Death, and assisted Susan in Soul Music , Hogfather , and Thief of Time . He sometimes travels with a talking raven named Quoth , who acts as his translator. The Death of Rats, like Death, speaks in small caps , but has

654-487: A chapter of his book English Prose Style (1928) to discussing "Fantasy" as an aspect of literature, arguing it was unjustly considered suitable only for children: "The Western World does not seem to have conceived the necessity of Fairy Tales for Grown-Ups". In 1938, with the publication of The Sword in the Stone , T. H. White introduced one of the most notable works of comic fantasy . The first major contribution to

763-580: A circle and prevented him from leaving until invited to do so by the summoning wizard. This may have been wishful thinking on the part of the wizards as, in Eric , Death appeared outside the circle, behind the wizards, and in Reaper Man a wizard commented that he believed Death only stayed in the circle for the look of the thing. The Rite is not tuned to Death himself, but rather to whoever happened to be performing his duties; Mort (then Death's apprentice)

872-421: A crown to the disgust of the original Death. He rode the classic skeletal steed, in contrast to the special but very real Binky . Instead of a scythe he wielded a weapon "which may, at some point in its evolution, have incorporated aspects of a scythe, in the same way a scalpel incorporated aspects of a stick". In place of a face or skull, the new Death had just a crown and was prideful, dramatic, cold, and cruel,

981-480: A fellow English professor with a similar array of interests, also helped to publicize the fantasy genre. Tove Jansson , author of The Moomins , was also a strong contributor to the popularity of fantasy literature in the field of children and adults. The tradition established by these predecessors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has continued to thrive and be adapted by new authors. The influence of J.R.R. Tolkien's fiction has—particularly over

1090-491: A few seconds left, and could no longer leave Death's Domain. Albert was a highly idiosyncratic cook, who believed everything needed to be fried to get rid of the germs, including porridge . Albert's childhood was touched upon lightly in Hogfather . He came from a very poor family, even by the standards of Ankh-Morpork. This novel also suggested that he was fond of pork pies with mustard and sherry . A statue of Alberto in

1199-639: A few weeks). Carrot asks for a boon to allow for the repairs of the Kite so that they can return to Ankh-Morpork. Rincewind asks for a blue balloon and the Librarian asks for some library supplies (and a red balloon). The Horde's end is ambiguous. Valkyries come to take the heroes to the Halls of the Slain , where a feast has been prepared for them. Instead, the Silver Horde, refusing to accept their deaths, steal

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1308-476: A hallway of Unseen University was inscribed (apart from the usual student scribbles) with " We Shall Not See His Like Again ." This turned out to be entirely wrong. After the statue was destroyed in Mort , the wizards believed that the returned Albert was the statue, and it was suggested that a new one be built in a very secure place—such as the dungeon, allegedly to prevent it being defiled by students. Alberto Malich

1417-447: A pipe, with the smoke drifting out of his eye sockets. He pays for goods and services with an assortment of copper coins, many turned blue or green with age, which he says he acquired In pairs . Death is fascinated by humanity. His interest is coupled with bafflement: it's a favorite point of Pratchett's that the habits and beliefs that are grown into instead of being rationally acquired are an essential part of being human. As Death

1526-546: A ravine in Soul Music . They had turned down Death's offer to extend their existence by letting them stay in his domain, on the grounds that it would not actually be longer life. In The Light Fantastic , Rincewind hears Twoflower teaching the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Death, Famine, Pestilence and War) to play bridge. At one point, War calls Death " Mort ". The name might be why Death chose Mort. In

1635-400: A sack of drowned kittens), and curry , the consumption of which he describes as like biting a red-hot ice cube. Being a skeleton with no digestive organs, it is not revealed how he is able to partake of food and drink. Anyone who dines with him tends to become extremely focused upon their own meal, and merely notices Death's plate being full one moment and empty the next. He occasionally smokes

1744-491: A shock of bright red hair. He walks like he is entirely made of knees. Mort learns to accept his position mucking out the stables , trying to ignore Ysabell , Death's adopted daughter. When Death feels in need of a break, Mort takes over The Duty . Unfortunately his feelings for the teenage princess of Sto Lat interfere and he impulsively prevents her assassination, starting a chain reaction of events. Reluctant to tell Death about his gaffe , Mort tries unsuccessfully to fix

1853-634: A shock when the Death of Rats and Quoth the Raven come looking for her. She had to act as a stand-in for Death when he disappeared, but subsequently returned to her education. Although she inherited all of her grandfather's abilities, she longed to be normal, and got human jobs, first as a governess in Hogfather , and then as a schoolteacher in Thief of Time . Death constantly dragged her back into his world. At

1962-506: A sword so that he may deal with his punisher. The bard, changed by his experience, composes a new style of saga, one with musical accompaniment, about it. Fantasy novel Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe , often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic , the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fantasy literature may be directed at both children and adults. Fantasy

2071-662: A vocabulary consisting of words such as Squeak, Eek, Ik , and Snh when he laughs, although his speech could be interpreted from context like the Librarian 's. In the mythology of the Changeling Clan in The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents the Death of Rats was known as the Bone Rat. Quoth is a talking raven who accompanies the Death of Rats . He was named Quoth by his previous owner,

2180-440: A wizard with no sense of humour attempting to make a joke by referencing the famous line in " The Raven " by Edgar Allan Poe – but Quoth refused to give in to this stereotype by saying "the N word" ( Nevermore ). At times he acts as steed and interpreter for the Death of Rats . He has a constant craving for eyeballs and frequently (and hopefully) mistakes various other small round objects for eyeballs, such as olives and walnuts. He

2289-508: Is Death's steed, so named by Death because it is "a nice name". He is a living horse. Death tried a skeletal steed, but kept having to "stop and wire bits back on". Death also tried a fiery steed, but it repeatedly set his barn and his robe on fire. Binky is rather more intelligent than most horses and is pure, milky white . He can fly by just creating his own ground-level, and travel through time and across dimensions, sometimes leaving glowing hoofprints in his wake, but in all other respects

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2398-401: Is a Victorian house with a well-tended garden in shades of black and a skull and crossbones motif. Its name, " Mon Repos ", ( Quirmian means "my rest"), and is much larger inside than outside. Death hasn't mastered scale. He doesn't understand real distance or perspective either, so its surroundings are blurred and seem distant. Death adds a large golden wheat field to the grounds after

2507-432: Is a perfectly ordinary horse. He is well-treated, and loyal to his master and Susan . He was shoed by Jason Ogg , a Lancrastian blacksmith of mythical skill. Binky is not immortal, but while in Death's service does not age. Binky gained some of his powers by sharing one of Death's qualities: being so much "realer" than ordinary things such as walls, great distances, or time that he can simply ignore them. Death gave Susan

2616-492: Is an outside observer, his imitations of humanity are intricate but marked by a fundamental lack of comprehension. When acting as a stand-in for the Hogfather (a figure similar to Santa Claus ) he starts by greeting the children with Cower, brief mortals from force of habit until reminded not to do so. He is especially intrigued by humanity's ability to complicate their own existence, and their ability to actually get up in

2725-643: Is considered a genre of speculative fiction and is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the absence of scientific or macabre themes, respectively, though these may overlap. Historically, most works of fantasy were in written form , but since the 1960s, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films , television programs , graphic novels , video games , music and art. Many fantasy novels originally written for children and adolescents also attract an adult audience. Examples include Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ,

2834-426: Is given as "he" and "his" without the special capital as in the earlier books. In Reaper Man , Death is unambiguously identified as a male, and in Soul Music and Hogfather Susan calls him her grandfather or "Granddad". When asked to describe Death, in the second Discworld computer game , the protagonist Rincewind hazards a guess, "Well, I suppose he's a man. You have to look at the pelvis , don't you?" In

2943-545: Is simply his job to collect their souls at the appointed time. In many ways, he epitomizes the bleakness of human existence. In Reaper Man , in which he is rendered temporarily mortal (or at least the imagination of being mortal, since his state of being "it/death" is, as mentioned in Discworld Noir , constant), he becomes frustrated and infuriated with the unfair inevitability of death, a theme that continues through later books. In Soul Music he expresses misery at

3052-406: Is the leading or an important central character in the following — in which he goes through significant character development — and these are considered to be the Death strand novels: The books represent Death's hollow, peculiar voice with unquoted small caps ; as a skeleton, he has no vocal cords; and his words seem to enter the head without involving the ears. Pratchett wrote that his voice

3161-426: Is too bland or simplistic creates the impression that the fantasy setting is simply a modern world in disguise, and presents examples of clear, effective fantasy writing in brief excerpts from Tolkien and Evangeline Walton . Michael Moorcock observed that many writers use archaic language for its sonority and to lend color to a lifeless story. Brian Peters writes that in various forms of fairytale fantasy , even

3270-507: The Harry Potter series, The Chronicles of Narnia , and The Hobbit . Stories involving magic and terrible monsters have existed in spoken forms before the advent of printed literature. Classical mythology is replete with fantastical stories and characters, the best known (and perhaps the most relevant to modern fantasy) being the works of Homer (Greek) and Virgil (Roman). The philosophy of Plato has had great influence on

3379-629: The Kalevala , they compiled existing folklore into an epic to match other nation's, and sometimes, as in The Poems of Ossian , they fabricated folklore that should have been there. These works, whether fairy tale, ballads, or folk epics, were a major source for later fantasy works. The Romantic interest in medievalism also resulted in a revival of interest in the literary fairy tale. The tradition begun with Giovanni Francesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile and developed by Charles Perrault and

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3488-456: The Age of Enlightenment . Many of Perrault's tales became fairy tale staples and were influential to later fantasy. When d'Aulnoy termed her works contes de fée (fairy tales), she invented the term that is now generally used for the genre, thus distinguishing such tales from those involving no marvels. This approach influenced later writers who took up the folk fairy tales in the same manner during

3597-804: The Cosgrove Hall Films animation of Soul Music , Mort is voiced by Neil Morrissey . In 2004 BBC Radio 4 adapted Mort , with the title character voiced by Carl Prekopp and Ysabell being voiced by Clare Corbett. Mort is included in Wayne Barlowe 's Barlowe's Guide to Fantasy . Ysabell is the adopted daughter of Death, who saved her as a baby when her parents were killed in the Great Nef desert (no explanation has been given as to why he did this; Ysabell said that "He didn't feel sorry for me, he never feels anything. ... He probably thought sorry for me."). When first encountered she

3706-534: The Elizabethan era in England , fantasy literature became extraordinarily popular and fueled populist and anti-authoritarian sentiment during the 1590s . Topics that were written about included " fairylands in which the sexes traded places [and] men and immortals mingl[ing]". Romanticism , a movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, was a dramatic reaction to rationalism, challenging

3815-504: The Kite by Leonard, can carry only three people. Leonard of Quirm, Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson , and Rincewind volunteer for the mission (although Rincewind volunteers reluctantly, believing that he would have wound up going on the mission in any case, either by being forced to go or whilst trying to run away). The Librarian accidentally stows away, having fallen asleep behind some crates of equipment while loading

3924-475: The Kite . After a few mishaps, including landing on the moon (to replenish their oxygen supply) and nearly having their swamp dragon powered spaceship explode on them, they crash in a spectacular fashion into the main gate of Cori Celesti. Meanwhile, the Horde have already reached Cori Celesti. The gods allow them to sneak in disguised as gods themselves, despite (or perhaps because of) their having been betrayed to

4033-560: The Little Match Girl in Hogfather ). 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 he offers include chess, though he consistently has trouble remembering how the knights move, and another game (referred to by Death as "Exclusive Possession" in the book, presumably based on Monopoly ), which

4142-736: The Middle East has been influential in the West since it was translated from the Arabic into French in 1704 by Antoine Galland . Many imitations were written, especially in France. The Fornaldarsagas , Norse and Icelandic sagas , both of which are based on ancient oral tradition influenced the German Romantics, as well as William Morris , and J. R. R. Tolkien . The Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf has also had deep influence on

4251-534: The Romantic era . Several fantasies aimed at an adult readership were also published in 18th century France, including Voltaire 's " contes philosophique " The Princess of Babylon (1768) and The White Bull (1774). This era, however, was notably hostile to fantasy. Writers of the new types of fiction such as Defoe , Richardson , and Fielding were realistic in style, and many early realistic works were critical of fantastical elements in fiction. However, in

4360-563: The "First Terrible Fate that Awaiteth Unwary Beginners in Fantasy", alluding to young writers attempting to write in Lord Dunsany's style. According to S. T. Joshi , "Dunsany's work had the effect of segregating fantasy—a mode whereby the author creates his own realm of pure imagination—from supernatural horror. From the foundations he established came the later work of E. R. Eddison , Mervyn Peake , and J. R. R. Tolkien. In Britain in

4469-573: The Barbarian ) have set out on a quest. The first hero of the Discworld , "Fingers" Mazda, stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind (analogous to Prometheus ), and was chained to a rock to be torn open daily by a giant eagle as punishment. Disillusioned with how their lives have turned out, the Silver Horde seek to return fire to the gods with interest, in the form of a large sled packed with explosive Agatean Thunder Clay. They plan to blow up

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4578-557: The Death of Universes and ruler of all deaths. In earlier books and also Thief of Time Death works with War, Pestilence, and Famine, three other Horsemen of the Apocalypse . Like him they have grown more human than required. "Form defines function," Death explains in Thief of Time . Kaos, the Fifth Horseman, left the group before it became famous to work as a milkman under the name Ronnie Soak. In Thief of Time he reunites with

4687-529: The Disc's magical field (the only thing holding the Disc together), so Vetinari organises an effort to stop the Horde. Since the Horde is already near the centre of the Discworld and the home of the gods, speed is of the essence. Vetinari recruits Leonard of Quirm, who designs the Discworld's second known spacecraft to slingshot under the Discworld and back around the top, landing on Cori Celesti. The vessel, named

4796-622: The French précieuses was taken up by the German Romantic movement. The German author Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué created medieval-set stories such as Undine (1811) and Sintram and his Companions (1815), which would later inspire British writers such as George MacDonald and William Morris . E.T.A. Hoffmann 's tales, such as The Golden Pot (1814) and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816) were notable additions to

4905-427: The Horde, at which point the Horde arms the explosives. While initially intending to attack him, the Horde realise that as a single brave man outnumbered by his foes and trying to save the world, Carrot is a Hero (and probably a king in disguise), and so their defeat is certain. After Rincewind explains that the detonation will destroy the entire Discworld, the Horde grab the explosives and throw them (and themselves) off

5014-532: The Southwest Wind an irascible but kindly character similar to J.R.R. Tolkien 's later Gandalf . The history of modern fantasy literature began with George MacDonald, author of such novels as The Princess and the Goblin (1868) and Phantastes (1868), the latter of which is widely considered to be the first fantasy novel written for adults. MacDonald also wrote one of the first critical essays about

5123-701: The Vampire ), a collection of various fantasy tales set within a frame story is, according to Richard Francis Burton and Isabel Burton , "the germ which culminated in the Arabian Nights , and which also inspired the Golden Ass of Apuleius , (2nd century A.D). Boccaccio 's Decamerone (c.1353) the Pentamerone (1634, 1636) and all that class of facetious fictitious literature." The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) from

5232-529: The aftermath of World War I, a notably large number of fantasy books aimed at an adult readership were published, including Living Alone (1919) by Stella Benson , A Voyage to Arcturus (1920) by David Lindsay , Lady into Fox (1922) by David Garnett , Lud-in-the-Mist (1926) by Hope Mirrlees , and Lolly Willowes (1926) by Sylvia Townsend Warner . E. R. Eddison was another influential writer who wrote during this era. He drew inspiration from Northern sagas, as Morris did, but his prose style

5341-432: The canon of German fantasy. Ludwig Tieck 's collection Phantasus (1812–1817) contained several short fairy tales, including "The Elves". In France, the main writers of Romantic-era fantasy were Charles Nodier with Smarra (1821) and Trilby (1822) and Théophile Gautier who penned such stories as "Omphale" (1834) and " One of Cleopatra's Nights " (1838) as well as the novel Spirite (1866). Fantasy literature

5450-410: The challenger lost despite having "three streets and all the utilities". Granny Weatherwax was able to play cards against Death in a successful bid to save a child's life, Granny's hand having four queens while Death's had only four "ones" . (A hand of four aces would generally beat a hand of queens in poker , but Death chose to consider them low, giving the old witch a "wink" in the process.) In

5559-410: The comic strip adaptation of Mort , Death is seen in mirrors as a black-bearded human wearing a black cloak, a look he takes when he needs to be seen by the living. Many languages must provide a grammatical gender to each object, and 'death' is often a feminine noun. As such, translations of early novels sometimes refer to Death as a woman. This is generally changed, by the time of Reaper Man . Also,

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5668-411: The continent. Other writers, including Edgar Rice Burroughs and Abraham Merritt , further developed the style. Several classic children's fantasies such as Lewis Carroll 's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), L. Frank Baum 's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), as well as the work of E. Nesbit and Frank R. Stockton were also published around this time. C. S. Lewis noted that in

5777-489: The development of fantasy with their writing of horror stories. Wilde also wrote a large number of children's fantasies, collected in The Happy Prince and Other Stories (1888) and A House of Pomegranates (1891). H. Rider Haggard developed the conventions of the lost world subgenre with his novel King Solomon's Mines (1885), which presented a fantastical Africa to a European audience still unfamiliar with

5886-446: The earlier part of the 20th century, fantasy was more accepted in juvenile literature, and therefore a writer interested in fantasy often wrote for that audience, despite using concepts and themes that could form a work aimed at adults. At this time, the terminology for the genre was not settled. Many fantasies in this era were termed fairy tales, including Max Beerbohm 's " The Happy Hypocrite " (1896) and MacDonald's Phantastes . It

5995-580: The end of Thief of Time , she begins a relationship with Lobsang Ludd , the anthropomorphic personification of Time . Albert (originally known as Alberto Malich ), Death's manservant , butler , and cook , was once a wizard and founder of Unseen University ; he attempted to gain immortality by reciting the Rite of AshkEnte (a ritual to summon Death) backwards, believing this would force Death to stay away from him. Instead it brought him directly to Death's Domain. Since time in Death's Domain does not flow in

6104-508: The epic Mabinogion . One influential retelling of this was the fantasy work of Evangeline Walton . The Irish Ulster Cycle and Fenian Cycle have also been plentifully mined for fantasy. Its greatest influence was, however, indirect. Celtic folklore and mythology provided a major source for the Arthurian cycle of chivalric romance : the Matter of Britain . Although the subject matter

6213-433: The events of Reaper Man . A tree swing he built for his granddaughter Susan , swings through the trunk of the tree. The doors reach a height of several yards yet are only a few feet tall. He has a bathroom which he never uses, with a bar of bone-white, rock-hard soap and a towel rack with hard towels. Death's house is full of cats. He also sends cats to Heaven where Maurice encounters Death. Plumbing confuses him, and

6322-472: The fact that he is capable of preventing deaths but is forbidden to do so; during his time as the Hogfather, he uses his new dual role to save a little match girl from dying of the cold by employing a loophole through giving her the gift of a future, thus allowing him to avoid the usual complications that arise from his breaking the rules. Despite his general lack of emotion, the Auditors of Reality are one of

6431-519: The fantasy genre, "The Fantastic Imagination", in his book A Dish of Orts (1893). MacDonald was a major influence on both Tolkien and C. S. Lewis . The other major fantasy author of this era was William Morris, an admirer of the Middle Ages and a poet who wrote several fantastic romances and novels in the latter part of the 19th century, including The Well at the World's End (1896). Morris

6540-616: The fantasy genre. In the Christian Platonic tradition, the reality of other worlds, and an overarching structure of great metaphysical and moral importance, has lent substance to the fantasy worlds of modern works. With Empedocles ( c.  490  – c.  430 BC ), elements are often used in fantasy works as personifications of the forces of nature. India has a long tradition of fantastical stories and characters, dating back to Vedic mythology . The Panchatantra ( Fables of Bidpai ), which some scholars believe

6649-407: The fantasy genre; although it was unknown for centuries and so not developed in medieval legend and romance, several fantasy works have retold the tale, such as John Gardner 's Grendel . Celtic folklore and legend has been an inspiration for many fantasy works. The Welsh tradition has been particularly influential, owing to its connection to King Arthur and its collection in a single work,

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6758-498: The few things actually capable of angering him. He also gets angry upon hearing of Rincewind: In Eric , for example, his eyes turn red at the mention of Rincewind. 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

6867-520: The first literary results of this trend was the Gothic novel , a genre that began in Britain with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole . That work is considered the predecessor to both modern fantasy and modern horror fiction . Another noted Gothic novel which also contains a large amount of Arabian Nights -influenced fantasy elements is Vathek (1786) by William Thomas Beckford . In

6976-723: The genre after World War II was Mervyn Peake 's Titus Groan (1946), the book that launched the Gormenghast series . J. R. R. Tolkien played a large role in the popularization and accessibility of the fantasy genre with his highly successful publications The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). Tolkien was largely influenced by an ancient body of Anglo-Saxon myths , particularly Beowulf , as well as William Morris's romances and E. R. Eddison 's 1922 novel, The Worm Ouroboros . Tolkien's close friend C. S. Lewis , author of The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–56) and

7085-435: The genre of high fantasy —prompted a reaction. In China, the idea of fantasy literature as a distinct genre first became prevalent in the early 21st century. China has long had pre-genre stories with fantastical elements, including zhiguai , ghost stories, and miracle tales, among others. It is not uncommon for fantasy novels to be ranked on The New York Times Best Seller list , and some have been at number one on

7194-467: The gods at their mountain home, Cori Celesti. They have kidnapped a bard so that he can write the saga of their quest. Along the way, they are joined by Evil Harry Dread (the last Dark Lord) and Vena the Raven-haired (an elderly heroine who has now gone grey). The Wizards of Unseen University explain to Lord Vetinari that blowing up Cori Celesti will destroy the Discworld by temporarily disrupting

7303-510: The gods by Evil Harry. The Horde suspect that the gods have been manipulating their entire quest. Fate challenges Cohen to roll a 7 on a standard 6-sided die . Cohen cheats Fate by slicing the die in half in mid-air with his sword; the two halves land with the 6 and 1 both facing up. Cohen also notes that even if he does not succeed in killing the gods, someone will have tried, so someone will eventually try harder. Captain Carrot attempts to arrest

7412-459: The infinitely sharp implement of Death, but sharpened by his rage and the harvest. Bill Door was disgusted and horrified by the New Death's callous attitude toward humanity, and his victory is the triumph of the compassionate "reaper man" over a tyrant who has no care for the harvest. The Rite of AshkEnte (also Ashk'Ente or Ash'Kente) was an ancient magic ritual that summoned and bound Death in

7521-537: The later part of the Romantic period, folklorists collected folktales, epic poems, and ballads, and released them in printed form. The Brothers Grimm were inspired by the movement of German Romanticism in their 1812 collection Grimm's Fairy Tales , and they in turn inspired other collectors. Frequently their motivation stemmed not merely from Romanticism, but from Romantic nationalism , in that many were inspired to save their own country's folklore. Sometimes, as in

7630-431: The list, including most recently, Brandon Sanderson in 2014, Neil Gaiman in 2013, Patrick Rothfuss and George R. R. Martin in 2011, and Terry Goodkind in 2006. Symbolism often plays a significant role in fantasy literature, often through the use of archetypal figures inspired by earlier texts or folklore . Some argue that fantasy literature and its archetypes fulfill a function for individuals and society and

7739-407: The literal embodiment of humanity's fear of death. He chose to arrive exactly at midnight and appeared in a flash of lightning purely for the dramatic effect, which the old Death found degrading and rather excessive. When he cornered Bill Door, he mocked and beat him instead of finishing the job. The new Death was destroyed by Bill Door using the scythe he used on the farm; a humble garden tool, not

7848-550: The messages are continually updated for current societies. Ursula K. Le Guin , in her essay "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie", presented the idea that language is the most crucial element of high fantasy , because it creates a sense of place. She analyzed the misuse of a formal, "olden-day" style, saying that it was a dangerous trap for fantasy writers because it was ridiculous when done wrong. She warns writers away from trying to base their style on that of masters such as Lord Dunsany and E. R. Eddison , emphasizing that language that

7957-465: The modern image of "medieval" is more influenced by the romance than by any other medieval genre, and the word medieval evokes knights, distressed damsels, dragons, and other romantic tropes. At the time of the Renaissance romance continued to be popular, and the trend was to more fantastic fiction. The English Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory (c.1408–1471) was written in prose, and

8066-422: The morning without going insane from the sheer prospect of what life entails (from his perspective). 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 . He has on a number of occasions bent the rules to allow a character extra life (e.g., the little girl rescued from the fire in Reaper Man , or

8175-641: The most influential writers of fantasy and horror in the 20th century. Despite MacDonald's future influence, and Morris' popularity at the time, it was not until around the start of the 20th century that fantasy fiction began to reach a large audience, with authors such as Lord Dunsany (1878–1957) who, following Morris's example, wrote fantasy novels, but also in the short story form. He was particularly noted for his vivid and evocative style. His style greatly influenced many writers, not always happily; Ursula K. Le Guin , in her essay on style in fantasy "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie", wryly referred to Lord Dunsany as

8284-454: The mountain. As punishment for creating the Kite and for not expressing belief in the gods, Leonard is ordered by the gods to paint the entire ceiling of the Temple of Small Gods with a spectacular mural of the whole world (despite Blind Io saying he would be satisfied with "a nice duck-egg blue with a few stars"). They impose a time limit of 10 years on the task (Leonard finishes the task in

8393-535: The nodes'. This mainly involved figuring out which deaths needed to be attended to personally, an important aspect of all reality. Before Mort arrived she shared her home with Albert , Death's manservant. Susan Sto Helit was Mort and Ysabell's daughter and only child. When she first appeared as a schoolgirl in Soul Music , Susan had, at age sixteen, just inherited the duchy on the death of her parents. During her upbringing, her parents had hidden her background from her and brought her up to be logical, so it comes as

8502-781: The oldest recorded form of many well-known (and some more obscure) European fairy tales. This was the beginning of a tradition that would both influence the fantasy genre and be incorporated in it, as many works of fairytale fantasy appear to this day. In a work on alchemy in the 16th century, Paracelsus (1493–1541) identified four types of beings with the four elements of alchemy: gnomes (earth elementals); undines (water); sylphs (air); and salamanders (fire). Most of these beings are found in folklore as well as alchemy, and their names are often used interchangeably with similar beings from folklore. Literary fairy tales, such as those written by Charles Perrault (1628–1703) and Madame d'Aulnoy (c.1650 – 1705), became very popular early in

8611-596: The other Horsemen. " Mort ", short for Mortimer is the title character in Mort , first seen as the over-thoughtful son of a farmer in the Octarine Grass Country near the Ramtops . Having proven unworthy as a scarecrow , he was chosen by Death as an apprentice . Mort's father consented, mistaking Death for an undertaker. Mort is described as being very tall and skinny, with muscles like knots in string and

8720-510: The personification of Death varies from country to country leading to further confusion; for example the Russian personification is that of an old woman, while the Czech version uses for his name a normally nonexistent masculine variant of the feminine word for death. Explanations are given in footnotes, often with a pun. Death is both the servant and a part of The Old High One known as Azrael ,

8829-441: The pipes are completely solid. He didn't know that towels were soft and should be foldable. He never sleeps and has a violin he tries to play. He notes in Soul Music that he can only play "an empty chord," the sound made at the end of everything to signify no more sound. The initial books did not pronounce themselves about the sex of Death, although Ysabell called him 'Daddy', using the pronoun "it". In Mort Death's pronoun

8938-481: The priority of reason and promoting the importance of imagination and spirituality. Its success in rehabilitating imagination was of fundamental importance to the evolution of fantasy, and its interest in medieval romances provided many motifs to modern fantasy. The Romantics invoked the medieval romance as a model for the works they wanted to produce, in contrast to the realism of the Enlightenment. One of

9047-515: The same way as it does on the Discworld , Albert succeeded, in a way, in gaining immortality. Before he returned to the world in Mort , "Albert" had 91 days, three hours and five minutes of time left on the Disc, most of which he spent shopping and using the soap and baths at the " Young Men's Reformed Cultist of the Ichor-God-Bel-Shamharoth's Association " (Death is not very good at plumbing ). After Soul Music , he had only

9156-463: The same way that his granddaughter, Susan , has been described as " Helpfulness Personified " in terms of her personality, Death, by his own admission, could very well be described as 'Duty Personified' in terms of personality; in Hogfather , in a discussion with Albert, Death comments If I had a first name , ' Duty ' would be my middle name . He does not cause people to die, nor does he concern himself with their goodness or badness in life; it

9265-472: The situation. After fighting Death and losing Mort gets an extra lease on life when the Grim Reaper chooses to turn his Lifetimer over, allowing Mort additional time in the world of the living. Mort leaves Death's service and marries Ysabell. The couple are given the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sto Helit, and become the parents of Susan Sto Helit . A freak accident sends their carriage plunging into

9374-508: The story, so Death's appearance may be considered a plot device . He sometimes appears for characters in mortal peril. Rincewind has seen him on numerous near-fatal occasions. Similarly, in Thud! , Vimes has a near-death experience, for which Death appears, sitting in a deckchair reading a mystery novel as he waits to see if Vimes will die. He is fond of cats, who can see him at all times (he seems particularly furious when he once attends to

9483-527: The time of Mort he had gained the sympathetic and humorous personality he has in later books. In later novels he has been used to examine developments in theoretical physics as, being supernatural , he is able to witness such events firsthand although, being a cat lover, he is not fond of the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment, believing it cruel to the cats involved. Death resides in an extra-dimensional realm called Death's Domain . His home there

9592-486: The valkyries' horses and set off to find other worlds to "do heroic stuff in" Death does not appear to them, as he often does when Discworld characters die, although he subsequently appears to Vena, and is evasive about whether he is "collecting". After the Horde leave with the Valkyries' horses, their first stop is to visit Mazda where he is being punished, cut off his chains, give him something to drink, and leave him

9701-467: The villain's language might be inappropriate if vulgar. Death (Discworld) Pratchett explores human existence through his depiction of death, which became more sympathetic throughout the series as it progresses. Death almost never kills anyone or anything but — acting in the form of a psychopomp — he merely ensures that when lives comes to an end, they move on to where they believe they should go if they are sentient , which often involves

9810-542: The wall). Death has developed considerably since his first appearance in The Colour of Magic . In this, he was quite a malicious character and followed Rincewind around wanting him to die after circumstances resulted in Rincewind missing his scheduled appointment. At one point he even deliberately stops a character's heart, though later in the book it was shown to have been the actions of Death's stand-in, Scrofula. By

9919-548: The word). She also has a fixation on the colour pink . Ysabell first appeared in The Light Fantastic , where she met Rincewind , and was surprised to learn that he was not actually dead. This state of affairs might not have continued long if the Luggage had not intervened. During the events of Mort it became clear that Ysabell was competent to carry out the work of her father including The Duty and 'doing

10028-589: The work dominates the Arthurian literature. Arthurian motifs have appeared steadily in literature from its publication, though the works have been a mix of fantasy and non-fantasy works. At the time, it and the Spanish Amadis de Gaula (1508), which was also written in prose, spawned many imitators, and the genre was popularly well-received. It later produced such masterpieces of Renaissance poetry as Ludovico Ariosto 's Orlando furioso and Torquato Tasso 's Gerusalemme Liberata . Ariosto's tale in particular

10137-491: The world of the living, as Death cannot make his life longer. The remaining sand was kept in a bottle in Albert's bedroom. Albert was able to temporarily return to the Discworld during the events of Hogfather , although merely in the pseudo-reality that allowed the Hogfather to travel around the entire world in a single night, and hence not actually in the world, strictly speaking. While Death and Albert got on rather well, it

10246-589: Was a fragile relationship. In Mort , Albert returned to the world to help Death, but seemed ready to attack him when it looked like he had his former job as Archchancellor back. He also seemed not to trust Death with his life-timer, and took it with him in Soul Music , although Death later reflected that the action was pointless, as he would never have done anything to it. Albert frequently found himself trying to keep Death " on course " when his master became too human. He and Susan did not get on very well. Binky

10355-443: Was a powerful wizard, perhaps the most powerful a wizard could be. This was why he so easily devised a spell to slow the passage of time indefinitely around a small area, a near-impossible feat with Discworld magic. When Death went missing in Soul Music , Albert tried to find him on the Disc, but got robbed and his life-timer was broken. After this incident, Albert had approximately 34 seconds left, and thus could no longer return to

10464-488: Was a sixteen-year-old girl with silver hair and silver eyes who, it transpires, has been sixteen for thirty-five Discworld 'years', since no time passes in Death's Domain . In her encounter with Rincewind (see below), her behaviour is sufficiently flamboyant to make him believe she is "bonkers". When Mort first encountered Ysabell, he got the impression of "too many chocolates " (though Pratchett notes that he would have described her as " Pre-Raphaelite " if he had ever heard

10573-436: Was a source text for many fantasies of adventure. During the Renaissance , Giovanni Francesco Straparola wrote and published The Facetious Nights of Straparola (1550–1555), a collection of stories of which many are literary fairy tales . Giambattista Basile wrote and published the Pentamerone , which was the first collection of stories to contain solely what would later be known as fairy tales. The two works include

10682-531: Was almost forced to respond to the summons, and Susan Sto Helit (his granddaughter) was summoned and subsequently bound. The rite does not appear to apply to Death himself, although he may just appear out of politeness. Since Death was professionally involved in almost everything going on everywhere, the Rite was usually performed to question him on otherwise inexplicable phenomena. This was usually done only when all other avenues were exhausted, as most powerful wizards were quite old and therefore unwilling to attract

10791-501: Was composed around the 3rd century BC. It is based on older oral traditions, including "animal fables that are as old as we are able to imagine". It was influential in Europe and the Middle East . It used various animal fables and magical tales to illustrate the central Indian principles of political science . Talking animals endowed with human qualities have now become a staple of modern fantasy. The Baital Pachisi ( Vikram and

10900-505: Was heavily reworked by the authors, these romances developed marvels until they became independent of the original folklore and fictional, an important stage in the development of fantasy. Romance or chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that reworked legends , fairy tales , and history to suit the readers' and hearers' tastes, but by c.  1600 they were out of fashion, and Miguel de Cervantes famously burlesqued them in his novel Don Quixote . Still,

11009-412: Was inspired by the medieval sagas, and his writing was deliberately archaic in the style of the chivalric romances . Morris's work represented an important milestone in the history of fantasy, as while other writers wrote of foreign lands or of dream worlds , Morris was the first to set his stories in an entirely invented world . Authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and Oscar Wilde also contributed to

11118-663: Was like two slabs of granite rubbing together, or the slamming of coffin lids. These descriptions became frequent in later novels. Death is not invisible, but most people's brains refuse to process who he is unless he insists. Generally, only magical people like witches and wizards , children , and cats can allow themselves to see him. Death can ignore things like walls because he is eternal and things that last mere centuries are not as real as he is. He can also adjust time for himself and others nearby. Wizards, witches, and other significant figures like kings are collected by Death himself rather than by some lesser functionary such as

11227-449: Was modeled more on Tudor and Elizabethan English, and his stories were filled with vigorous characters in glorious adventures. Eddison's most famous work is The Worm Ouroboros (1922), a long heroic fantasy set on an imaginary version of the planet Mercury. Literary critics of the era began to take an interest in "fantasy" as a genre of writing, and also to argue that it was a genre worthy of serious consideration. Herbert Read devoted

11336-421: Was not until 1923 that the term "fantasist" was used to describe a writer (in this case, Oscar Wilde) who wrote fantasy fiction. The name "fantasy" was not developed until later; as late as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937), the term "fairy tale" was still being used. An important factor in the development of the fantasy genre was the arrival of magazines devoted to fantasy fiction. The first such publication

11445-421: Was one of a disparate multitude of death-personifications created during Death's absence in Reaper Man . The Death of Rats refused to be reabsorbed into Death himself upon the latter's resumption of his duties, and Death kept him around for company. The Death of Fleas also escaped resorption, but was not seen after Reaper Man . The Death of Rats resembles a rodentine skeleton walking on its hind legs, wearing

11554-516: Was originally one of the ravens from the Tower of Art , the magical properties of which gave him his ability to speak. He was first seen in Soul Music , then appeared in all novels involving Susan Sto Helit . Neil Pearson voiced him in the Sky One adaptation of Hogfather . The New Death appeared in Reaper Man when he came to collect the old Death, then known as "Bill Door". The New Death

11663-559: Was popular in Victorian times , with the works of writers such as Mary Shelley , William Morris, George MacDonald, and Charles Dodgson reaching wider audiences. Hans Christian Andersen took a new approach to fairy tales by creating original stories told in a serious fashion. From this origin, John Ruskin wrote The King of the Golden River (1851), a fairy tale that included complex levels of characterization and created in

11772-493: Was the German magazine Der Orchideengarten which ran from 1919 to 1921. In 1923, the first English-language fantasy fiction magazine, Weird Tales , was created. Many other similar magazines eventually followed. and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction H. P. Lovecraft was deeply influenced by Edgar Allan Poe and to a somewhat lesser extent, by Lord Dunsany; with his Cthulhu Mythos stories, he became one of

11881-422: Was the old Death's replacement as a result of the plot by the Auditors to rid the world of sloppy thinking. The New Death came from human belief, but was quite different from the original, having been formed by modern Discworlders who thought of death as malevolent rather than a simple cessation of life. Though he had the usual black robe, he was larger and had only smoke beneath his robe rather than bones, and wore

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