Book:The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic
Cover art by Josh Kirby
Co-author(s)
Illustrator(s)	Josh Kirby
Publisher	Colin Smythe
Publication date	May 1986
ISBN	9780861402038
Pages	217
RRP
Main characters	Rincewind, Twoflower, the Luggage
Series	Rincewind Series
Annotations	View
Notes	Book #02
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Blurb

As it moves towards a seemingly inevitable collision with a malevolent red star, the Discworld has only one possible saviour. Unfortunately, this happens to be the singularly inept and cowardly wizard called Rincewind, who was last seen falling off the edge of the world ....

Characters

Major Characters

• Rincewind
• Twoflower
• the Luggage
• Ymper Trymon
• Cohen (first appearance)

Minor Characters

• Galder Weatherwax, 304th Archchancellor of Unseen University
• Swires, a gnome (possibly the first appearance of Buggy Swires, though this is not confirmed)
• Bethan
• Horse People, collective name for the Horse Tribes in the Hubland steppes
• Herrena the Henna-Haired Harridan (first appearance)
• Kwartz, a homophone of Quartz
• Krysoprase (first appearance), a homophone of Chrysoprase
• Breccia, a troll; not to be confused with 'the' Breccia, a troll crime syndicate, though the latter is possibly named after the former; named after Breccia
• Jasper, a troll; named after Jasper
• Beryl, a troll; named after Beryl
• Old Grandad, nickname for a troll whose real name we do not learn
• Weems, Morpork mercenary
• Lackjaw, dwarf jeweler

Cameos

• Death
• the Librarian (first appearance)
• Greyhald Spold
• Belafon, a surprisingly modern druid whose job title is "computer hardware consultant"
• Zakriah, colleague of Belafon's
• Professor of Astrology
• Ysabell (first appearance)
• Jiglad Wert
• Lumuel Panter
• Ganmack Treehallet
• War (first appearance)
• Famine (first appearance)
• Pestilence (first appearance)
• Gancia, leader of a gang of Morpork mercenaries
• Dahoney, demagogue of the Star People

Mentions

• A box with many little legs that looks malevolently upon you without eyes -- sometimes seen by hallucinogen-enhanced shaman. However, this one is for real...
• Ancient Ones -- omniscient multi-verse beings who know everything about all the universes
• Azimrothe, T'chikel, Yrriph, Kcharla, Cheliliki, and Orizone -- supernatural entities by which Death can presumably be commanded (though Galder Weatherwax may just be posturing, especially since Death is answering questions freely anyway)
• Sky God and Celestial Cow -- possible creators of the universe according to some theories
• Skrelt Changebasket -- wizard
• Cimbar -- an Assassin
• Creosote -- Seriph of Al Khali in the expression "as rich as Creosote"
• Dean of Liberal Studies -- swallowed by the Luggage
• Captain Eightpanther -- creator of Captain Eightpanther's Travellers' Digestives, a type of biscuit (full name given in The Colour of Magic, though possibly the human equivalent of dwarf bread)
• Moon goddess -- who virgin druids meet when they are sacrificed (later in the book, we learn there are several moon goddesses)
• Olaf Quimby II -- a Patritian of Ankh with views on descriptive writing
• Rhunlet Vard -- apparent successor to Greyhald Spold (but opposed by Trymon)
• Ly Tin Wheedle -- famous philosopher
• Granny Whitlow -- witch who built a candy cottage (even though it sounds more like something Black Aliss would do)
• Woo Hun Ling -- owner of Woo Hun Ling's Oriental Exotica and Martial Aids, a shop on Heroes Street. Interestingly, the shop name does appear to be "martial" (relating to war), not "marital" (relating to marriage), possibly a typo, but perhaps an intentional joke. It's also interesting that the shop's name contains the word "Oriental": on the Disc, shouldn't this be Agatean? (or perhaps Auriental as this variant is used elsewhere).

Things and Devices

• Book of Going Forth Around Elevenish -- book written by rather lazy Llamaic sect
• bronze torc -- apparently a small unit of druid currency
• Bumper Fun Grimoire -- book possibly containing last original joke in the universe
• Chant of the Trodden Spiral -- software-like chant designed for "concentric circle computing"
• charm, persuasion, uncertainty, bloody-mindedness -- according to druids, the universe's operation depends on these four forces
• Cupumuguk snow runes -- a language that the Eight Spells appear in briefly
• Iyt Gryet Teymple hyte Tsort, Y Hiystory Myistical -- a book (perhaps the only one) about the Pyramids of Tsort.
• I Don't Know, What? -- a geographical feature of unknown type with a silly name
• Just A Mountain -- a mountain with a silly name
• manicreach -- creature whose entrails can be used for scrying purposes
• Mirror of Oversight -- magical device
• Necrotelicomnicon -- a famous grimoire
• Nosehinger on the Laws of Contract, a book Twoflower gives the Four Horseman to learn bridge
• Potent Voyager -- research vessel
• Runes of M'haw
• Seal of Eightfold Stasis -- magical seal with considerable stopping power
• Seven League Boots --a somewhat tricky means of transportation
• Skelde, Spirit of the Smoke -- sometimes seen by hallucinogen-enhanced shaman
• The Little Folks' Book of Flower Fairies -- a book about pixies that Twoflower read as a child
• Topaxci, the God of the Red Mushroom -- sometimes seen by hallucinogen-enhanced shaman
• Umcherrel, the Soul of the Forest -- sometimes seen by hallucinogen-enhanced shaman
• Wandering Shop -- theoretical galactic empire controlled by shopkeepers (reminiscent of Robert Asprin's Deva?)
• Young Men's Pagan Association -- parody of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA)

Locations

• Ankh-Morpork
  • Unseen University (first appearance)
    • Great Hall
    • Tower of Art
• Death's Domain
• Dungeon Dimensions
• Krull
• The Octavo (in certain metaphysical respects)
• The Red Star
• River Smarl, a river connecting to the Circle Sea
• Skillet, Wang, Yrxle!yt, Bunglestiff, Cwmlad and Patel, a wandering shop appearing inside brick wall
• Skund
• Trollbone Mountains
• Vortex Plains
• Your Finger You Fool, a forest in Skund, rimwards of the Ramtop Mountains, including:
  • Mount Oolskunrahod, a mountain whose name translates to "Who is this Fool who does Not Know what a Mountain Is"

Sentient Species

• Dwarfs
• Humans
• Giants (mentioned)
• Gnomes
• Trolls

Supernatural Entities

• The Creator (mentioned)
• Demons (mentioned)
• Death & the Horsemen of the the Apocralypse
• The Gods (mentioned)
• Ice Giants (mentioned)
• Imps
• Horrors from the Dungeon Dimensions

Adaptations

Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic
ASIN	B001EM1E8A
IMDB	1079959
First Broadcast	23-24 March 2008
Broadcast Channel	Sky One
Director(s)	Vadim Jean
Producer(s)	Rod Brown & Ian Sharples
Writer(s)	{{{writer}}}
Starring	David Jason, Sean Astin, Tim Curry, Christopher Lee (voice)
Duration	184 minutes
Episodes	2
Series	Rincewind Series
Annotations	Annotations for Book:The Light Fantastic
Notes
Preceded by	Terry Pratchett's Hogfather
Followed by	Terry Pratchett's Going Postal
All data relates to the UK home release.

Television

The plot of 'The Light Fantastic' was the focus of the series second episode.

Cast:

• Rincewind - David Jason (Only Fools And Horses, A Touch Of Frost, The Darling Buds of May, Open All Hours)
• Twoflower - Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Goonies)
• Trymon - Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Legend)
• Death (voice) - Christopher Lee (The Wicker Man, The Man with the Golden Gun, Lord of the Rings trilogy, Star Wars Episode II: The Attack of the Clones, Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith)
• Lord Vetinari - Jeremy Irons (Die Hard with a Vengance, Dead Ringers)
• Cohen the Barbarian - David Bradley (Harry Potter series, Hot Fuzz)
• Bethan - Laura Haddock (Honest, How Not To Live Your Life)
• Galder Weatherwax - James Cosmo (Highlander, Braveheart, Trainspotting)
• Head Librarian of the Unseen University - Nicolas Tennant (Terry Pratchett's Hogfather)
• Liessa - Karen David
• Herrena - Liz May Brice
• Arch-Astronomer - Nigel Planer (The Young Ones)
• The Luggage - Richard Da Costa
• Lumuel Panter - Roger Ashton-Griffiths
• Zlorf Flannelfoot - Miles Richardson
• Kring - James Perry
• Broadman - Stephen Marcus (Terry Pratchett's Hogfather)

The TV adaptation also adds characters not referenced in the original book like Hector Tugelbend and Ransak Boggett, who are essentially "placeholder" characters added for completion who are referenced only once, with minimal information, and then disappear again.

Video Game

The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic were adapted into a text adventure video game The Colour of Magic in 1986.

Graphic Novel

The novel was adapted into a series of four comics illustrated by Steven Ross. These were then collected into a single edition in 1993 and then later in 2008 combined with the other collected edition based on The Colour of Magic into the omnibus The Discworld Graphic Novels The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic.

In 2008 The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic were reprinted together in a 25th anniversary edition with illustrations by Stephen Player.

Theatre

Elements of the book were used in the playtext The Rince Cycle by Stephen Briggs in 2015.

Gallery

First Edition Cover by Josh Kirby

Compact Edition 1995

Paperback 2004

Audio Cassette

Audio CD

US Cover 2005

US Cover 2013

Illustrated Edition by Stephen Player

Omnibus with TV Cover

Paperback 2012

Unseen Library Edition

Collectors Library Edition

Paperback 2022

External links

The Light Fantastic Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File

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