Character of the Week - Rincewind

And so, my attempt to give you all regular features begins! May I present to you, the first-ever Character of the Week...Rincewind!

Name: Rincewind
Appears in: Various novels of The Discworld, written by the amazing Sir Terry Pratchett
Age: Young...ish
Gender: Male
Occupation: Wizzard (his spelling, not mine); running from certain, implied, and threatened death



Pictured here as drawn by Paul Kidby of The Art of Discworld.


Behold, Rincewind! The unkempt-est, fastest, least magical and most-persecuted wizard on the Discworld. He - what? You've never read the Discworld series? Shame, shame upon you! Go out right now and do whatever it takes - beg, borrow, steal, I mean it - to get The Color of Magic, first book in the series. Hell, if you're reading this you don't even have to move; you can just grab it online. If you know me in person, come over to my house so I can lend it to you. Really. Go now. I'll wait.

Got it? Good! Anyway...

Behold Rincewind, Character of the Week! What has he done to earn this award, you ask? Well, he's run away from a lot of things. In fact, he's usually running away from something attempting to kill, maim, or otherwise subdue him, and when he isn't currently running it's because he either just finished running or because he will be running again shortly. I love Rincewind - look at him go!

Rincewind is the most unmagical wizard - likely the most unmagical human being and possibly the most unmagical organic object - on the Discworld, the setting of Sir Terry Pratchett's delicious fantasy satire series of the same name. He first appeared in the earliest book, the afore-mentioned Color of Magic, and has since turned fleeing in terror into a near religion. Rincewind is a wizard - no, he can't do any magic, but he can be identified by his pointy hat, which has WIZZARD clearly spelled on it with little glittery sequins. Despite his lack of magical ability, he actually is a wizard, because like all wizards (and cats) he can see Death, and he can perceive Octarine, which is the eight color and is a visible indicator of magic. Other than the innate abilities and his hat, Rincewind has none of the traits of a wizard, i.e. any ability whatsoever to do magic. He is a failed student of The Unseen University of Magic, and the quote on him is that he is the magical equivalent of the number zero, and when he dies the occult potential of the human race will actually go up a fraction of a point. Though no one knows it, Rincewind is one of the favorite chosen of The Lady, Discworld's mysterious luck goddess/personification. This makes him a favorite target of Fate, the eternal enemy of The Lady, and hence terrible things seek Rincewind out like he had a bulls-eye tattooed on his forehead. Fortunately, Rincewind has an amazing will and talent for survival, and manages to escape even the most devastating and asuredly fatal events unscathed - often by running. His best friend is an Orangutan, Librarian of the Unseen University.

Sir Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld, has had to explain repeatedly that Rincewind is not his favorite character. In fact, supposedly Sir Pratchett never planned to bring Rincewind in again after the first two books - considering the cowardly wizard too one-sided for any substantial material - but Rincewind proved to be a fan-favorite and has returned in many Discworld books by popular demand. Though Sir Pratchett feels that Rincewind is one-dimensional, on occasion we do see hints that there is a tiny little spark of bravery somewhere in that scrawny, toast-rack chest. This is particularly true in the end of Sourcery, where we get to see the best in Rincewind - in spite of all his efforts to the contrary.

And so, for his utter dedication to cowardice, and his insistence the he is a wizard despite all evidence to the contrary, we salute you Rincewind! Congratulations on being the very first Character of the Week.


Post-text: On a sadder note, for those of you who don't know, Sir Terry Pratchett announced in December of 2007 that he is suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. I am deeply moved by this - Sir Pratchett is an amazing mind, and the depth of his contribution not just to fantasy but to taking a long look at the human condition is literally to much to describe on a page. So everyone, send out your thoughts, prayers, well-wishes, or other positive feelings of choice to Sir Terry Pratchett. He is one of the best.


~Blue Nephelim Out