Small Gods: (Discworld Novel 13) (Discworld Novels)

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The turtle moves!", the cry of the revolutionists against Omnia's dogmatism and a Shout-Out to Galileo.

And I Must Scream: Vorbis's final fate - an eternity in the absolute silence of his own mind, all alone with himself - is Subverted when Brutha mercifully takes him to the afterlife. Message Board: Small Gods Radio Play". terrypratchettbooks.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011 . Retrieved 9 May 2009. Noble Bird of Prey: The crowd at the Place of Lamentation believe in this, and get very excited when a particularly noble-looking eagle perches itself atop a statue; they discuss whether it is a sign (not a sign of anything, just a sign in general), or a messenger from the Great God Om, or possibly the god himself. Om, who is nearby, is not happy, as he's currently a tortoise and eagles are one of his few natural predators; he sneers that it's just a "better-looking turkey" with a brain the size of a walnut. Several characters throughout the book, when they're killed and find themselves in the spectral desert of the afterlife which they must journey through, ask Death "what awaits at the end of the desert?", to which Death replies Judgement. At the end, there's a twist when Brutha does the same, considers for a moment, then asks: "Which end?" Deadly Distant Finale: A hundred years after the events of the main plot, Brutha, having become head of the Omnian Church and thoroughly reformed it, dies on the anniversary day of his crossing of the desert.Really 700 Years Old: The History Monks, who use 'circular aging' the way those who play wind instruments use 'circular breathing'. What Happened to the Mouse?: Used for drama, when Om starts thinking about his past, and remembers his old arch-enemy, Ur-Gilash, and realises he has no idea what happened to the guy. He can barely remember what he did, some sort of spider-like god if he remembers correctly. Then, later on, Om and Brutha take refuge in a temple with a very spidery look to its artwork... Life in this world,” he said, “is, as it were, a sojourn in a cave. What can we know of reality? For all we see of the true nature of existence is, shall we say, no more than bewildering and amusing shadows cast upon the inner wall of the cave by the unseen blinding light of absolute truth, from which we may or may not deduce some glimmer of veracity, and we as troglodyte seekers of wisdom can only lift our voices to the unseen and say, humbly, ‘Go on, do Deformed Rabbit . . . it’s my favorite.’ ”

Chekhov's Gun: One chapter has Urn casting metal for the Moving turtle and commenting "S’not ’n important cast anyway, ... Jus’ the control levers." Later on, the Moving Turtle fails when the lever to start it breaks. Terry also manages at least one truly audacious Shout-Out. (Well, he has said that he's disappointed none of his books have yet been bonfired by Deep South Fundamentalists.) When Brutha is in his old familiar garden praying for guidance from a God who has apparently withdrawn himself, when he is frightened of the consequences of disobeying Vorbis but knowing he has to do it, while wishing somebody else would: this is Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. Small Gods is particularly renowned for its Zelda-like havoc-wreaking with the always-spotty Discworld timeline due to the appearance of Pyramids characters in the "young Brutha" segments yet the fact that the Omnianism that appears in later books is the more tolerant post-Brutha version. This was eventually explained in Thief of Time as being due to the Timey-Wimey Ball. It's also been said by Pratchett that he was here able to more fully explore ideas he first introduced in Pyramids.Near the end of the novel, Brutha chews out Simony, Urn, and company for following him to a parley with the incoming armies when he had previously stated he wished to do so alone—their presence had disrupted the peace talks and was about to precipitate a war. In such instances, you need an acolyte, and fast. Enter Brutha, the Chosen One - or at least the only One available. He wants peace, justice and love - but that's hard to achieve in a world where religion means power, and corruption reigns supreme . . . Madness Mantra: The small god Om meets keeps repeating "I", "as you may dream of", and "greater glory", even as Om asks if it can recall its own name. Om is deeply disturbed. This is the second book where someone paraphrases the last recorded words of Lawrence Oates. ("I'm just going out. I may be some time.") The line will reappear again in Soul Music.

You Can't Fight Fate - Subverted: Lu-Tze changes events, and the Discworld's usual Rubber-Band History does not come into play because the History Monks can just edit the books which contain the whole history of the world so it fits his changes. Dropped a Bridge on Him: General Fri'it, one of the leaders of La Résistance, gets a fair amount of focus in the first quarter of the novel, but then is caught by the Quisition and Killed Offscreen. The first book in the Discworld series - The Colour of Magic - was published in 1983. Some elements of the Discworld universe may reflect this. A beautiful edition of Tolkien’s classic children’s story. Leaving his comfortable hobbit hole Bilbo Baggins goes on a reluctant adventure to defeat a dragon, and along the way he encounters the vile, but pathetic Gollum, and his ‘Precious’ – a ring to rule them all.And it all meant this: that there are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal, kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do. Vorbis loved knowing that. A man who knew that, knew everything he needed to know about people.” Religion is a competitive business in the Discworld. Everyone has their own opinion and their own gods, of every shape and size – all fighting for faith, followers, and a place at the top. Church Militant: Vorbis. Ultimately he cares more about his personal power and the power of the church than the god it was supposed to be dedicated to. Part of what makes him frightening is how completely unaware he is of this; he believes he's following the commands of his god all the way to end, until he passes to the desert and finally learns that he's only been hearing himself. And now that's all the company he'll ever have...