Nutt

Mister Nutt
Name	Nutt
Race	Orc
Age	Unknown
Occupation	Candle Dribbler
Physical appearance	Thin, grey-skinned. Has black retractable claws and an oddly round head. Clean but badly-dressed. Appears to be able to change what size he is at will
Residence	Unseen University
Death	Once, but not for long.
Parents
Relatives	Presumed dead.
Children
Marital Status	Romantically linked with Glenda Sugarbean
Appearances
Books	Unseen Academicals
Cameos

Nutt is an Orc. He was found and freed by Mightily Oats from the village in which he was chained to an anvil in a forge for seven years. To Nutt this was when he was born and helped into the light. In the forge, he picked up some smithing. He was presumably brought by Oats to Lady Margolotta, who taught him that he must be becoming and attain worth. This caused him to develop a complex and during the events of Unseen Academicals he regularly asked the question "Do I have worth?" He spent much of his time in Lady Margolotta's library where he read quickly and voraciously, to the amazement of Miss Healstether, Lady Margolotta's librarian. He has a tendency to liken situations to those described in philosophical texts, and seems to generally assume that everyone else is as well-read as he is.

He was sent by Lady Margolotta to Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork where he worked in the candle vats as a dribbler, a job that he said he enjoyed, as well as later coaching football for the Unseen Academicals football team after impressing Ponder Stibbons with his knowledge and skills (or possibly because Ponder Stibbons was just happy to delegate one of his thirteen jobs). Nutt befriended Trevor Likely (who nicknamed him Gobbo, short for Goblin) and Glenda Sugarbean, and as of the end of Unseen Academicals he is romantically involved with Glenda.

Nutt did not know that he was an orc for most of Unseen Academicals and believed that he was a goblin, having shut the information behind a metaphorical door in his head. He eventually opened that door with the help of Glenda and Trev, by psychoanalyzing himself under hypnosis, and thoughout the book is followed by the Sisters of Perpetual Velocity, whom it transpires have been sent by Lady Margolotta to stop him killing or injuring anyone. On discovering that he was an orc he fled, planning to return to Uberwald. Glenda, Trevor, and Juliet Stollop chased after him by coach and caught up with him in Sto Lat, where they convinced him to return to Unseen University; he grows more comfortable with his race and in particular his strength (for example when he breaks into the Palace, Vetinari asks if he tore the gates bodily from their hinges; he is told that Nutt lifted them bodily from their hinges and stacked them neatly in the courtyard.)

Nutt takes over as Unseen Academicals' goalkeeper during the Ankh-Morpork United match after the Librarian is poisoned. He is a successful goalkeeper, although the game is really won by Trev Likely's impressive tin-can skills, after some quick thinking by Glenda.

Annotation

On page 370 of Unseen Academicals Nutt claims, "I am an orc with a terrible urge to smoke a cigar". This could be seen as a parody of World of Warcraft as certain Orcs can be seen with cigars in some screenshots, although this is stretching the realms of the likely to breaking point. Considering that Nutt had just finished psychoanalysing himself however, it is more likely a reference to the famous phrase 'sometimes a cigar is just a cigar,' generally attributed to Freud, although it does not appear in any of his works.

The "closed door" subplot in Unseen Academicals relies almost completely on psychoanalysis parodies. Nutt brings a chaise longue (fainting couch) down to the candle-making area where he works, and subsequently uses it as the location for his hypnosis. He requires Trev to spin his shiny can in front of Nutt's face, mimicking the popular music hall hypnosis trick. Nutt also lapses into an Uberwaldian accent during his self-hypnosis, and explains to Glenda and Trev that this accent relaxes the patient, again harkening back to Freud.