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Something howled, out in the desert night. Tiny hairs rose, all down Vime's back, just like they had for his distant ancestors.

The night is always old.

He'd walked too often down dark streets in the secret hours and felt the night stretching away, and known in his blood that while kings and empires come and go, the night is always the same age, always aeons deep.

"I'm sorry. I know that I am a small, weak man, but I have amassed a large library; I dream of dangerous places."

There's a scene in Hogfather, a book by the late Terry Pratchett (spoilers ahead) in which Death who has for plot reasons taken the role of santa finds the little match girl. (I'm not too experienced, but maybe a trigger warning for death? Better safe than sorry.)

Does anyone know that story? A young girl is out in the cold, trying to sell matches, and lighting them herself for the brief warmth they provide. Eventually, she dies. Sure, it's presented as 'she goes off to a pleasant afterlife with family' but she's still dead. It's usually just another 'no matter how bad you've got it, someone's got it worse' story.

But not here. No, here Death ignores both his duties, because This Is Not Right.

So he gives the little match girl more life, and takes her to a charity.

That's one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite books. Because Death is kind, and is willing to ignore his job if he thinks it right.

I like to imagine that Sam Vimes, instead of dying properly, instead got minor godhood. All watchmen at some point thank him for his actions, his actions a ripple across the Disc. There's precedent in the Duchess of Borogravia, and in his arc. He keeps getting promotions, and hates each one. What higher status could he be unwillingly raised to than divinity, eternally watching the watchman?

Anyways, that's just a headcanon i've got

Folks, I've got a new life goal.

Go to Chippenham and see the Stick and Bucket Dance performed.

They've got annual competition, started by a group of fans and in the first goabout judged by Terry Pratchett himself (he had a trophy custom made for the event!).

I've got to go before the dance is performed for the last time, before that ripple fades

In case anyone didn't know yet (don't feel bad, i only found out this week) a band called Steeleye Span did a whole album on Tiffany Aching books 1-4 called Wintersmith. Not only was this a like thing they had permission for, the song The Good Witch has Terry Pratchett literally just reading the passage from Wintersmith about cackling being a sign of moral/mental degradation in witches. I've not heard all of it yet, but both (that's right, two) Dark Morris Dance songs are amazing

Spoilers for The Shepherd's Crown, the last published Terry Pratchett/Discworld book (Other than a few short story collections)

In that book, the Elf queen loses her station, and begins a redemption arc. She does well! This vicious bastard of a conquering monarch tries her best to be nice, and it works!

Until her former second in command kills her.

That's probably the single character across those forty something books I despise most, because he ruined redemption.

the concept and idea of “you can always start trying to be a better person” is extremely important to me both in media and irl and i continue to be deeply deeply disturbed by the trend on this site pushing that these ideas in media are bad writing or even morally reprehensible

because theyd rather someone stay terrible or just straight up die than become a better person 

from a compassionate point of view it’s deeply distressing and from a pragmatic point of view it’s outright frustrating

it’s fucked up. 

Dodger, by Terry Pratchett, is a great book for a number of reasons but the one burned in my brain probably atypical.

Sweeney Todd.

The book takes place in a fictionalized victorian London, with a combination of real and fake. One example of this is it's depiction of the character/urban legend Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

He isn't a demon. He isn't an unrepentant murderer.

He's broken.

He was recruited as a surgeon during the Crimean War, and what he saw still haunts him. I don't know enough about mental illness to say what he had, but it was something. And this was an age before medicine, before proper mechanisms for recovery.

So sometimes he would hallucinate, thinking a customer was one of his failed patients, back for vengeance.

Even after he was caught and the contents of his basement revealed the protagonist, Dodger, pitied him.

But it was victorian London, so there was never any hope. If memory serves, it says he was sent to bedlam. The fact bedlam is now a synonym of hellish chaos should tell you how that likely went.

Hey here's a fun lil thing

In The Science of Discworld II: The Globe, the argument is made that storytelling was one of the main causes of our evolution into people as you generally think of them.

But the best part is its suggestion that we be called not Homo sapiens, or wise man.

But instead Pan narrans, or storytelling chimp.

Because why set ourselves so very apart, claim ourselves distinct, when that's really the fundamentals boiled down. We're some silly chimps smart enough to be stupid.

Get Isekai'd lol

There will never be a book series quite like Discworld. One second you’re reading the silliest pun you’ve ever seen, the next second you’re either reading about how social and economic inequality leads to flaws the justice system or about how realizing our mortality can make us celebrate life more, and then several months later you finally learn about a niche historical event that Terry Pratchett used for a joke.

One day, I'll find out someone associated with Discworld passed away without it being years after the event. It didn't happen with Terry Pratchett, nor with Jack Cohen. Eventually, I'll not be caught unaware by the realization they've been gone for a long time.

Male Scifi and Fantasy writers: Look at this !Strong! female character! She can fight and solve puzzles, and ends up with the sidekick not the hero! Isn’t she a great character?

Everyone: No, she’s one-dimensional and still only exists to please the hero’s ego

Male scifi and fantasy writers: You’re never happy! This is how characters are written! Besides, it’s much harder for us to write women because we are men!

Terry Pratchett: *creates a female character who is literally the embodyment of a dog, sets her up to be the love interest of Protagonist Hero Man.* *writes her as clever, emotionally tortured, lonely and powerful* *uses her to explore difficulties of bisexuality and masculine dominated workforces*

Terry Pratchett: *Creates a pair of old witches, one of whom is a virgin and the other who has slept with lots of men.* *makes them best friends, never dismisses one lifestyle of the other, explains lifestyle choices based on characters history and personality, uses this to develop each character as the books progress*

Terry Pratchett: *Writes Sybil Rankin* *makes the powerful rich lady heavy set but beautiful, never plays her by her looks, develops her as she ages, acknowledges the way society views such people and then spits on their attitudes* *does it again with Agnes*

Terry Pratchett: *Writes a book about an entire army secretly being women, creates complex female relationships, introduces same sex relationships completely naturally*

Terry Pratchett: *takes old joke about female dwarves and uses it to explore gender identity without making it seem forced or unnatural, carefully discusses some of the issues and complextities whilst still making funny and witty observasions and maintaining genuine fantasy tropes*

Terry Pratchett: *DOES THIS ALL OVER AND OVER AGAIN, DEVELOPING CHARACTERS AS HIS VEIW OF THE WORLD DEVELOPS AND CAREFULLY APOLOGIZES FOR EARLY MISTAKES*