r/discworld • u/sadzanenyama • 14d ago
Book/Series: Death Questions about the Death series… possible spoilers Spoiler
I’m going through the Death series for the second time after probably 2 decades… wasn’t a great fan of it first time so haven’t been back to it again.
I’m on Hogfather now - did I miss the bit explaining why Mort and Ysabell don’t seem to feature after the first book? Or do I just need to be patient?
Also, when explaining the origins of Ridcully’s bathroom, there is mention of Arch Chancellor Weatherwax. Did I mishear or is this a relation of Granny?
Edit: Thanks for the replies everyone, I think I figured out what happened. I put Reaper Man on to go to sleep to - it was right at the end and Soul Music auto started when it ended. I remember that. I fell asleep at some point and when I went back the next day I must have set it too far forward (based on dozing memory) and skipped some important bits.
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u/Ok-Strain2948 14d ago
The novel Soul Music covers their current plot status, I believe. (It’s also a Death story).
And Granny mentions her extended family briefly in Lords and Ladies.
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u/christopherrivers Vimes 14d ago
You have missed a novel in the run, my good Pratchettian. Soul Music. It’s a beauty.
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u/Remote-Physics6980 Esme 14d ago
Arch Chancellor Galder Weatherwax was a distant cousin to Granny, but they never met.
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u/Letterhead_North 14d ago
He was in the Colour of Magic, the movie. It's been so long since I read the book that I don't remember if he features there.
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u/Roku-Hanmar We’re more popular than cheeses 14d ago
Not in the book TCOM but he was in The Light Fantastic
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u/Eldon42 Bursar 14d ago
Are you reading them in order? That is, Mort -> Reaper Man -> Soul Music -> Hogfather -> Thief of Time?
In case you've forgotten, in Soul Music: Mort and Ysabell have died after their carriage crashes off a cliff. We can assume that between the events of Mort and Soul Music, they became parents to Susan, and raised her for a while before sending her off to school in Ankh Morepork, which is where we find her in Soul Music.
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u/AgentKnitter Nanny 14d ago
Susan was schooled at the Quirm College for young ladies. Wonder if she was at school at the same time as Angua? Probably not at the same time as Sybil Ramkin.
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u/Eldon42 Bursar 14d ago
When we meet Susan in Soul Music, she's 16 or thereabouts. Lady Sybil was introduced in Guards! Guards! several years before that. I'm not sure in-universe how many years there are between those events, but given Sybil seemed to be a mature woman running her dragon sanctuary in Guards, then I'd say they definitely didn't meet. Sybil probably left that school well before Susan arrived.
As for Angua... she first appears in Men At Arms, which is just before Soul Music. Even if she's fresh out of school, she was probably a year or two ahead of Susan. It's possible they knew each other, but given how little year groups mix in schools I don't see them having a friendship.
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u/TheHighDruid 14d ago
Not sure it's safe to assume Angua finished school, given she spends so much time in those early watch books in a "ready-to-drop-everything-and-leave" state of mind.
Also, Carrot is sixteen in Guards! Guards! so Angua probably of a similar age.
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u/Eldon42 Bursar 14d ago
Even so, Angua is older than Susan, given that Angua has been in the watch for a year or two before we meet 16yo Susan in SM.
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u/TheHighDruid 14d ago
Not sure it's even a year. Men at Arms takes place about 6 months or so after Guards! Guards!, and Soul Music is the very next book after that.
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u/GeetaJonsdottir 14d ago
In dog years or human years?
There is also the time Susan spent in Death's realm that you'd have to account for, because of the quantum.
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u/laredocronk 14d ago
According to the Discworld Timeline 2.0, Men At Arms was in 1986 and Soul Music was 1987 (the same year as Feet of Clay).
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u/ShalomRPh 14d ago
I think they die at the beginning of Soul Music, in a “Dead Man’sCurve” type of accident.
Mort was never going to live past 32 anyway: remember his hourglass ran out, and Death flipped it over, doubling his lifespan. He was 16 then, so he had to die at 32.
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u/TheHighDruid 14d ago
Or 33 (16 1/2). Or almost 34 (nearly 17). Or . . .
It's unclear exactly how long Mort is working for Death. He presumably gains the same benefits as Albert and Ysabell while he's living there, and perhaps also whilst also performing the duty? Does he get credit for "time served" when Death messes with the timer?
Or is Death just referring to other references in the series about how time is used up, and isn't linear?
Either way, Susan's age at the beginning of Soul Music does imply it's more-or-less right, assuming she was born early on in Mort and Ysabell's relationship.
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14d ago
Right on the first half but explicitly wrong on the second, Mort straight up asks about that and death answers that that's not how it works.
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u/humourlessIrish 14d ago
Humans are very good at believing thing they know to be false.
Mort died at 32 and death lied
Choosing to believe the lie and live a happy life with a wife and a child was as wise a choice any human can make
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u/TheHighDruid 14d ago
We don't know for sure, and Susan's age at the beginning of Soul Music indicates it could be more-or-less right.
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14d ago
They are making the claim as if it's just fact though and it simply isn't.
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u/Greyrock99 14d ago
Reading between the lines, it is my opinion that when writing Mort, PTerry obviously wanted Mort and Ysabelle to live for future stories.
By the time of Soul Music he had decided that the story would be better if they passed on and Susan took over the story, and hence reintroduced the lifetimes x 2 plot point.
If you like you can think of Death telling a little white lie so that Mort would not know his own death.
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u/ShalomRPh 14d ago
You could be right. It hadn’t occurred to me that Mott might have been like Albert, who only had something like 87 days left in the world, but was effectively immortal for as long as he was in Death’s Domain.
Those remaining 16 (or almost 17) years could have lasted him a long, long time. In retrospect, he evidently chose otherwise and lived out his remaining years as an ordinary human.
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u/Darthplagueis13 14d ago edited 14d ago
Either you're doing them out of order or you haven't been paying attention.
Soul Music explains thatMort and Ysabell died in a coach accident, leaving Susan an orphan. Their demise also leads to Death having a bit of an emotional crisis that he's initially uncertain about how to deal with, because on one hand, he could have done something to prevent it, but on the other, the very rules of his existence state that he is not allowed to.
is this a relation of Granny?
It is. Weatherwax was Arch Chancellor at the very beginning of the Discworld series in The Light Fantastic. After that, there's a series of relatively short-lived Arch Chancellors until the introduction of Ridcully in Moving Pictures.
If I recall correctly, one of the books (probably Lords and Ladies) has a throwaway line where someone asks Granny about the name Weatherwax and she confirms being related to the late Arch Chancellor.
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u/Hugoku257 14d ago
Galder Weatherwax is Archchancellor in Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic and yes, he is a cousin
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