#fifth elephant

[snippit-crickit]

wee oo wee oo discworld doodle dump (and i mean really doodle)

(cheery, i love her)

small nobby!!

+ i love that angua got comforted by sybil and vimes,,,, i like how people point out that angua and vimes are kinda similar, how they both have a darker side and are loved by someone who they feel is too good for them sometimes.... and how vimes taught angua some dirty street fighting moves that she uses on wolfgang, absolute dad moment

also carrot, now that im looking at it his hair looks crown-ish, i might go into that direction more some other tidbits under the cut

vimes as a dog vimes as a dog

vimes playing the werewolf game........ god dammit i gotta draw more stuff from fifth elephant this was absolutely epic, so was night watch

((tried to sketch out the werewolf game, failed miserably))

height headcanons? more or less

and wuffles......patricians terrier ((also shoutout to the one person who set out one of my vimes arts as their discord pfp i love when people use my art as pfp's aaargfhn im glad you enjoy)) ok thats all i could gather, i am constantly doodling discworld characters theyre running in my head like little creatures but its hard to gather it up all in a post grhn

#gnu terry pratchett #terry pratchett #night watch #fifth elephant #discworld #carrot ironfoundersson #samuel vimes #sam vimes #wuffles #angua von uberwald #sybil ramkin #cheery littlebottom #nobby nobbs

[22ratonthestreet]

enjoying fifth elephant 👍

#smth smth a dog in wolf country #that old man is getting put thru a lovely meatgrinder #also every time i draw vetinaris face i feel like it gets longer #hes going to be walking into a bar in an anecdote next thing i know #smth smth why the long face well he's already been treated by a horse doctor #wait i think i can do this #the patrician walks into a bar the reckless bartender asks why the long face #“its what happens when you get treated by doughnut jimmy” #<- very bad but not nothing #AKHEM #discworld #samuel vimes #22ratonthestreet #night watch #fifth elephant

[spoofymcgee]

just remembered that, prior to reading night watch, having read all the previous books–except for, and this is important, the fifth elephant–i knew exactly three things:

one, vimes and vetinari have an absolutely insane relationship that can be interpreted in many different ways, but nothing about that shit is normal.

two, time travel, a young vetinari and a young sam vimes were involved.

three, vimes acquires a child whose name is, also, sam vimes.

using these facts, i came to the obvious conclusion that the plot of night watch was that sam traveled back in time to acquire a baby version of himself, which he was, for whatever reason, raising in conjunction with vetinari. this is, in hindsight, an absolutely batshit idea to have landed on considering he's a) married b) it's very common to name children after one of their parents and c) just a general what the fuck.

it made sense at the time, however, and honestly i might have to write that fic one day because. look at it. do you see that nonsense?

#sam vimes #discworld #vetinari #havelock vetinari #sam jr #night watch #fifth elephant #vetvimes #if anyone's curious i did remember this because i was crying on the sofa at ten pm and my mom sent me a picture of me as a baby

[graveyardbong]

Before I officially go to sleep I am listening to the audiobook of fifth elephant and I just had the revelation that while Angua is a werewolf- gaspode is almost a werehuman, I really like the parallels he draws between those two living as not a wolf and not a human do you know what I mean?????

#terry pratchett gnu #discworld #fifth elephant #im tired ill explain it properly some other time #but this is such a good story

[valdin-zone]

Fifth Elephant (heavy spoilers)

9th book i read

whoooo okay

this book is easily my favorite of all the discworld books ive read so far almost everything about it is just simply chef's kiss

so i loved loved loved! pretty much everything with Uberwald, just seeing a setting that is different from Ankh-Morpork is great for one (love that place but all the past City Watch books have been heavily based in it so a slight change of pace was a breath of fresh air) the political intrigue with everything there was a blast to read and each of the characters were simply divine (Angua's father now holds a special place in my heart for example)

Vime's personal arc with discovering how to navigate his new role as Duke was fantastic and im excited to see how it goes next especially with a child on the way. i also loved seeing Sybil playing a bit of a more active role in the story as well, esp. with her not doing much in past books

all of the fun exploration with gender with the dwarfs was also superb and i wasn't really expecting it to have as much focus and dialogue as it did considering it was written in 1999

another thing this book did for me is solidify my extreme dislike of Fred Colon. like i disliked him in previous books (mainly Jingo) but this one just made me all the more mad at him. his type of casual bigotry towards people that aren't like him is one that i experience too much in my day to day life for me to enjoy him as a character. i can see him potentially getting some sort of redemption but if he doesn't i wont be too broken up

overall;

9.8/10

#val's discworld ranking #discworld spoilers #discworld #the city watch #val's thoughts #terry pratchett #Fifth Elephant #fifth elephant spoilers #tw mention of bigotry

[carriagelamp]

One of my favourite cosy little autumn indulgences is the child horror genre. I love old Halloween TV specials and made-for-TV Halloween movies, and I adore all types of Halloween books made for kids especially the ones that are Genuine Horror rather than just trick or treating stories.

Since there's so many limitations to what can reasonably be put in a kids book, it takes away some of the tropes that are staples in adult horror and, in my experience, really forces the author to be creative in their presentation if they want the story to actually be scary. Delicious. So, like every other Halloween, I had to go out of my way to try reading at least a few of those!

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

I saw this book in a library a while back and the title was just so eyecatching that I haven’t been able to forget it. I finally gave it a go and it was very worth it — I thought it would be a rather mediocre middle grade adventure but it was actually something rather special!

It creates a very quirky world where the world that we’re used to is “Librarian Controlled” (the Hushlands), and the knowledge we’re fed is very carefully curated to keep us under control. The rest of the world is aware of how much bigger things are, and are able to use all sorts of strange technologies and magics. One significant magic is that of “oculators”, people who can use special sands to create magical lenses that give them all sorts of unique powers.

The main character, an orphan shunted through the foster system due to his tendency to destroy anything he touches, finds out that he was left a very unusual inheritance by his parents: a sack of plain looking sand. At least it seems plain until his bizarre grandfather — who has the “talent” of always being five minutes late to things — appears out of nowhere and informs him that he’s from a family of oculators and that they must, simply must retrieve that precious sand…

The one downside is that it does have the frustratingly common misogyny that you expect in a "boy's adventure" novel, so that sucked. But otherwise, the narrator’s voice is very funny and snide, with a lot of Snicket-style meta-narration. If you want a light adventures, this is worth trying — scratches a similar itch to Harry Potter in my opinion. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel.

Dead Voices

I had read the first book of this series, Small Spaces, a couple Halloweens ago, and figured that this would be a nice book to pick up this Halloween. “Child horror” is a genre that I really love — it has a very specific vibe that really is unmatched in any other genre or style. It’s one of my favourite, cosiest memories about autumn! So I love an excuse to read a well-written youth horror.

This series by Katherine Arden absolutely hits that nostalgic autumnal child terror, and she actually does it well enough to give an adult some chills, ha! In this book, Ollie, Coco, and Brian, who have bonded since defeating the Smiling Man the previous fall, have arranged to all go on a skiing trip up in the mountains with Ollie’s dad and Coco’s mom. However things take a bad turn when a snowstorm strands them in the nearly-deserted ski resort, and the voices of the dead start whispering their dark secrets and lies to them… The resort has a much darker past than they could have guessed, and some of those ancient cruelties haven't let go yet.

The Fifth Elephant

Continuing to reread Terry Pratchett novels to self-sooth. The Fifth Elephants is one of my all-time favourites and it’s been a while since I last picked it up. In this book, Sam Vimes finds himself roped into playing diplomat when Lord Vetinari sends him, his wife, and a small entourage up into the largely-uncharted and mysterious Uberworld. In a land where Ankh-Morpork’s law and Vimes’ badge carry little weight, he finds himself forced to investigate a theft that could throw everything into turmoil, and which puts him directly in the middle of the violent machinations of the dwarves, werewolves, and vampires who are vying for control of the region…

Goosebumps: Trapped In Bat Wing Hall

I loved Goosebumps as a kid. I still love Goosebumps, let’s be honest. Trapped In Bat Wing Hall was one of my favourites — it was one of the only choose your own adventure books that I owned, and me, my brother, and my friend would sit in my bed during the fall and read it together, trying to find the best ending and getting ourselves spooked (and killed) along the way.

In this specific book, You end up joining a new friend when he goes to participate in The Horror Club -- a strange group of kids that meet in the abandoned mansion and the end of the dead end street. Only, they're not sitting around and telling scary stories tonight like they usually do. Tonight is games night, and you're forced to choose a team to join in on this deadly game.

Guardian Herd: Starfire

Hoo boy. This series. All I wanted was a chill talking animal book to listen to on a long drive. Well, it was a cute animal adventure story along a similar bend to Warriors, so I'll give it that. The premise is that once every hundred years a black pegasus foal is born and on its first birthday it will either become a “destroyer” or a “healer” who will “unite the five herds”. Most of the black foals over the past several hundred years have been killed rather than risk the danger they pose. Star is the latest black foal, and with his long, dragging wings he’s one who can’t even fly. Feared and scorned, all Star wants to do is reach his first birthday, but with war pressing in from neighbouring herds and mistrust within his own, that seems increasingly unlikely.

Sadly, it was a very mediocre book with lax lustre world building. Kind of expected it, since it mostly just seems like a knock off trying to capitalize on this particular genre. Still, I liked how it explored the actual physical problems a pegasus would have with oversized wings and the health ramifications. That was interesting. It had a few intriguing points and I had an enjoyable enough time reading it, enough so to try the sequel…

Guardian Herd: Stormbound

But the sequel. Oh the sequel. Okay, the first one definitely had a christian lean that was hard to ignore, but the second book ramped that up beyond the point I could ignore. The bits I found the most interesting in book one were over by this point, and now we’re just left with… this. The Brave Chosen One Trying To Be a Pacifist Leader And Do What’s Right. It was as dull as it sounded.

I don’t know the bible well enough to tell if this is an actual full-on intentional allegory, but at the very least it’s so baked in cultural christianity that all I can do is roll my eyes. I gave up when it started trying to explain why Christ— sorry, why Star couldn’t use his healing magic to, yknow, heal the pegasi. Or use any of his powers to actually help people. Because basic universal health care would like, decrease the quality of their lives or something? I don’t know man, it was so american. We had pony!Jesus, pony!Judas, pony!Mary, the whole fucking kit and kaboodle.  Couldn’t finish, it was rough.

The Lost Rainforest: Mez’s Magic

A talking animal book that was significantly more fun that the Jesus Pegasus books. It dragged a bit towards the end, but over all it was an enjoyable adventure, fast-paced, and you could tell the author really cared about animals and knew his shit. It’s what led to me looking into his other stuff, actually. The characters managed to walk that very precarious balance between feeling like they could be authentic animals, while still being fun, interesting characters with their own personalities and voices.

In this rainforest, the animals of night and day are very distinct. Animals that walk by night will, without fail, fall asleep as soon as dawn arrives and be unable to rise until dusk, and vice versa. Never shall the two mix. Except for a few, strange, unnatural animals that were born during the eclipse. Unable to sleep when they’re supposed to, and brimming with strange, unknown magic, they become known as "shadow walkers" and are feared. However an ancient evil, one heralded by the ants and which walks in those between times, is beginning to awaken, and these shadow walkers are slowly recruited one by one to try to save the rainforest.

Night Lunch

This is a beautifully made picture book that I read because I honestly just love everything made by Eric Fan. Barnabus Project and It Fell From The Sky are two that stand out as very strange, almost eerie picture books that have the most stunning art. I would recommend checking them out, they all hit differently than most of the standard picture books on the market right now.

Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): the Natural World of Animal Sexuality

A book I found because I was looking into Eliot Schrefer’s other works! This is a pop-sci work written for a teen and up audience that looks into how fascinating and diverse sexuality and gender is within the natural world. It breaks down the idea that queerness in humans could ever be unnatural, but it is, literally and factually, incorrect. Animals have always lived in a way that extends far beyond humans' very binary views of sex and gender.

Though the language is very accessible and Schrefer has a very engaging way of writing, the facts are presenting in very solid way and include further works to look into for more detailed information; I certainly look a lot from it! I absolutely devoured it and I don’t usually enjoy nonfiction that much, so for anyone that wants to look at sexuality through a scientific lens it is very worth reading and feels super validating.

Raising Steam

This is actually my first time reading Raising Steam all the way through. I had bought it when it first came out, but found I was too emotional about Sir Terry’s declining health to be able to settle into it.

Over all, I had mixed feelings about it. It certainly wasn’t one of my favourites, and I dislike it as a Lipwig book. I really passionately love Going Postal and Making Money so this one felt very… out of sync. The length of time it covered and really just sort of... summarized was odd, especially for a Lipwig book which are usually more high energy and deal with very immediate and active problems. And then Moist himself felt like he had become as a different character that just didn’t hit right for me. I think I would have enjoyed it more if Lipwig had been entirely removed from the plot and it had been left as a standalone that focused on Harry King and Dick Simnel.

That being said, you can really see how it was meant to be a final, relentless, furious cry to the heavens to treat people like people. To look at the evils and the isolation and the lies and the pettiness of the world and to fight back. To not let the narrow minded, cruel people who want to drag the world backwards win, to force a better world, one step at a time, one railway tie at a time. And I can really respect that.

The Ribbajack // A Wolf at the Door

I’m going to talk about both of these at the same time because I had a similar experience with both. They’re both collections of “horror” short stories that I had been saving for Halloween, and I’m sad to say that neither really did it for me. The Ribbajack was a collection of short stories by Brian Jacques which I bought specifically because it’s ~*Brian Jacques*~, and A Wolf at the Door has an assortment of stories by various authors that all retell fairytales in some ways. 

A Wolf at the Door had a few stories that were very enjoyable and that I was glad to have read, but predominantly I thought a lot of the retellings/modernizations were rather… trite. I’ve seen tumblr come up with more interesting revisionings.

The Ribbajack I think I was even more disappointed in. I love the Redwall series and I figured Brian Jacques could do no wrong but… oof. It’s not even that they’re bad, I just found the writing style overwhelming boring. I couldn’t get through the titular story which I heard is supposed to be the best of the lot, and when I skimmed through some of the others to see if they got better none of the others managed to grab me. So I didn’t finish that one. A shame, but c’est la vie.

#book review #book reviews #halloween #halloween books #queer books #queer lit #brian jacques #the ribbajack #a wolf at the door #terry pratchett #raising steam #fifth elephant #queer ducks #eliot schrefer #the lost rainforest #mez's magic #eric fan #night lunch #canadian books #canlit #the guardian herd #goosebumps #dead voices #katherine arden #alcatraz vs the evil librarians #brandon sanderson #trapped in bat wing hall #chatter

[ross-hollander]

Something about Pratchett villains.

There's a lot of Pratchett villains who share one common thread: they're unromantic. They rip the charm and soul out of things.

Reach's service sends messages 'as warm and human as a thrown knife'. He himself 'kills people by numbers'.

Teatime is literally trying to kill Santa.

The Magpyrs turn the Gothic-vampire-novel style of the Old Count into industrial blood-harvesting.

Similarly, Wolfgang exchanges the traditional Game for just straight up killing people, and seeks to implement a werefascist regime to boot.

The Auditors are, by definition, made of unromantic. They are objectively unromantic.

And I think the idea of ripping apart the whimsy of things ties back to the idea of believing the little lies to believe the big ones. If you can't see charm and warmth, the dreams and imagination, you'll fall into what STP says is the biggest sin of all: treating people like objects.

#going postal #hogfather #carpe jugulum #the fifth elephant #reaper man #gnu terry pratchett #discworld

[solomonara]

Mrs. Sandwich, a seamstress (Good Omens Season 2)

and

The Seamstresses' Guild (Discworld)

(Men at Arms)

(Men at Arms)

(The Fifth Elephant)

#my delighted squeak when i realized what they did there! #these gifs do not do the delivery justice #good omens #good omens season 2 #mrs. sandwich #good omens 2 #the seamstresses' guild #discworld #terry pratchett #neil gaiman #men at arms #the fifth elephant #gifs #all images and gifs described provided tumblr didn't eat the alt text

[datsderbunnyblog]

Honorary mention for a quality Sam Vimes Dad Moment™

#sam vimes #the fifth elephant #gnu terry pratchett

[p4nishers]

[thru tears] yah the fifth elephant was nicq

#oh repressed trans ppl how i adore u #WHY would yall let my trans ass read this oh mh fucking god #the fifth elephant #cheery littlebottom #gnu terry pratchett #discworld #sam vimes #trans #transgender #again. this was published in 1999. if you even care.

[evilphrog]

I don’t know how anyone could say Terry Pratchett only made Cheery trans on accident. This man was out here writing about how gender identity and gender expression are two different things, making a point to show that Cheery does not have to perform femininity for her gender and pronouns to be respected, and he wrote all that in the year 2000.

Cheery is a woman. When she is surrounded by people who refuse to accept that, she feels pressured to look as girly as possible to stand up for herself and others like her. When she is surrounded by people who accept her, she may or may not feel in the mood for certain looks on certain days. She was able to stop being the Symbol For Gender Freedom In Ankh Morpork because she no longer had to prove that was worth fighting for. And she is still a girl when she wears pants. And she is treated as one.

#discworld #the fifth elephant #cheery littlebottom #liveblogging

[rayneydayss]

It is my favorite thing in the world when I notice an author leaving sneaky little fun things in the text, especially when it relates to linguistics.

Terry Pratchett does this the most out of anyone I’ve read; I’ve just started The Fifth Elephant (reading the Guards series for the first time!) and there’s teeny little linguistic quips built into the very text itself.

“It’s one of the major towns in Überwald, sir,” said Carrot, balancing the umlaut perfectly.

…

“Klatch? But they’re even farther from Uberwald than we are!” -Sam Vimes

“A large country, Uberwald” [Vetinari]

Pratchett, in dialogue, only uses the umlauts when someone who knows how to pronounce it properly is speaking. And I think it’s doubly funny that Vetinari can’t pronounce it right.

Has anyone else noticed stuff like this in other Discworld books?

#gnu terry pratchett #the fifth elephant #discworld

[paradises-library]

‘Any normal person, they crawl off if they get a beating. Or they have the sense to stay down, at least. But sometimes you get one who just won’t let go... Idiots who’ll go on fighting long after they should stop...’

‘I think I recognize the type, yes,’ said Lady Sybil, with an irony that failed to register with Sam Vimes until some days later.

- The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett

#the fifth elephant #terry pratchett #gnu terry pratchett #discworld #quotes

[pratchettquotes]

"Carrot! Don't you remember last night? Didn't you wonder what I might become? Didn't you worry about the future?"

"No."

"Why the hell not?"

"It hasn't happened yet. Shall we get back? It'll be dark soon."

Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant

#angua von uberwald #carrot ironfoundersson #the fifth elephant #discworld #terry pratchett #werewolves #dating #relationships #fighting #existential crisis #logic #memory #past #present #future #worry #why not #it hasn't happened yet #what i might become

[stupidphototricks]

More Cheery Littlebottom, talking to Vimes (her commanding officer, hence the "sir"):

"Is that what you'll be wearing, Cheery?" "Yes, sir." "But it's just... ordinary dwarf clothes. Trousers and everything." "Yes, sir." "But Sybil said you'd got a fetching little green number and a helmet with a feather in it." "Yes, sir." "You're free to wear whatever you want, you know that." "Yes, sir. And then I thought about Dee. And I watched the king when he was talking to you, and... well, I can wear what I like, sir. That's the point. I don't have to wear that dress. I can wear what I like. I don't have to wear something just because other people don't want me to. Anyway, it made me look a rather stupid lettuce." -- Terry Pratchett,The Fifth Elephant (emphasis on "don't" added by me because I think it's important)

One of the many things that Sir Terry was excellent at is writing characters that start out as caricatures, and end up being the realest people ever. Cheery Littlebottom, who by the name is obviously a throwaway ridiculous character. And dwarfs in general (on Discworld, dwarfs and humans are two of many intelligent species) are absurd. Dwarfs sing songs about gold, they make inedible bread that's mostly used as weapons, they all have beards and wear helmets and carry axes. And yet. By the time you finish the book, real.

Now about Discworld dwarfs and gender. In dwarf society, gender is largely ignored and almost irrelevant; all dwarfs use the same pronouns, dress the same, do the same jobs. Gender-based discrimination can't even exist! I mean. Women in the real world have been fighting for this sort of equality for decades, right?

But it's not quite right. There's "equal," and then there's "being exactly the same as everyone else." So there are dwarfs who rebel against the homogeneous status quo by choosing to use different pronouns (she/her), and wear dresses and makeup.

Gender expression! It's a battle against the old ways, but dwarfs are good at fighting.

#terry pratchett #terry pratchett gnu #discworld #the fifth elephant #cheery littlebottom #sam vimes #sybil ramkin #gender

[gleefully-macabre]

Sam Vimes, you absolute legend. Assassins Guild has his price set at $600,000 in a world where one person could live modestly on $30 a month. I believe, on the Roundworld, that’d be comparable to John Wick’s highest bounty of $40 million.

However unlike in John Wick, that’s still not enough for anyone to make the attempt.

#Sam vimes #the fifth elephant #discworld #John wick #I’m not saying Sam Vimes is more badass than John Wick #I’m saying Discworld assassins are faster learners than Roundworld’s #who would win in a fight? #they wouldn’t fight #they’d chill over cigars and maybe show pics of their kid/dog #gnu terry pratchett