Anghammarad

Anghammarad is a character in the novel Going Postal. He is a golem, almost nineteen thousand years old, having been baked by the priests of Upsa in the Third Ning of the Shaving of the Goat. He was also given a voice. However, Upsa was destroyed by the explosion of Mount Shiputu. He then spent two centuries under a mountain of pumice, before it eroded away. He then became a messenger for the Fisherman Kings of the holy Ult.

More recently, he delivered the decrees of King Het of Thut. That is, he delivered them until the land of Thut slid under the sea. He then spent nine thousand years in the deep ocean hearing the song of whales and watching the ships of the dead float past on deep currents, before being netted by a fisherman. Having returned to civilization, he still carried the message warning Het that the sea goddess is angry, and hoped to deliver it. Golems believe time is cyclical or doughnut-shaped (a ring doughnut-no other culinary details have been ascertained), and Anghammarad thought that if he waited long enough, he'd be able to get it right the second time around. As time has gone past he has periodically had to transcribe the message or find a new container for it, but it is still bolted to his arm.

He worked for the Ankh-Morpork Post Office (in the honorary position of Extremely Senior Postman) before his briefly white-hot ceramic body was engulfed with cold water while fighting a catastrophic fire in the post office building. The resulting explosion ended his existence. He subsequently asked Death to allow him to remain in The Desert, the entrance to the afterlife, equating an absence of tasks to perform with perfect freedom.

Miss Adora Belle Dearheart practically hero-worshipped him, and Postmaster Moist von Lipwig and the Postmen were in awe of his dedication to his task.

Annotations

The name Anghammarad appears to be reminiscent of Hammurabi and similar names, suggesting that the civilization in which he was created was the Discworld's equivalent of ancient Babylon.

However, it is also difficult to dissociate it with the traditional Welsh girls' name Angharad.