History TearJerker / DiscWorld

* ''TearJerker/MovingPictures''

[[AC:Meta-examples]]

* The introduction in which Creator/TerryPratchett writes about getting letters from people who are due to meet Death, and hope that he is as Pratchett has written him. Not just any people. CHILDREN. Terminally ill children who thank Mr. Pratchett for making Death less scary for them. Let's just say Terry wasn't the only one left [[HeroicBSOD staring at the walls]] when they read that.
* Towards the end of his life, Pratchett suffered from Alzheimer's, a disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions, and eventually died from complications thereof.
* He made a documentary discussing the concept of assisted suicide, showing a half dozen people suffering from horrible diseases that have absolutely destroyed their bodies, yet they are just as alive and bright in mind as Pratchett himself...and the point of it all was explaining and showing how he planned to end his own life (which he does not seem to have). Watch it [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xnu340 here]].
** He wrote a Dimbleby Lecture, ''Shaking Hands with Death'', about a year after that documentary was made. It was about euthanasia, and the single hardest thing to watch in it is him explaining that he needed his friend Creator/TonyRobinson to read out his entire speech for him, because his brain just is not capable of letting him properly read any more. The look on everybody's faces, and the obvious way Pratchett is struggling to read about a page of notes- the introduction- is heartbreaking. Making it worse is that he sits on stage afterwards, extremely dignified, as Robinson reads the speech, and the camera keeps cutting occasionally to Pratchett quietly sitting in his chair, his hat covering his face. Watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90b1MBwnEHM here]].
* Shortly after Pratchett's death [[http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-31859675 his literary agent, Rob Wilkins]], posted several tweets to the effect of Pratchett meeting the Discworld Death.
-->[[https://twitter.com/terryandrob/status/576036599047258112 AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.]]\\
[[https://twitter.com/terryandrob/status/576036726046646272 Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.]]\\
[[https://twitter.com/terryandrob/status/576036888190038016 The End.]]
** It gets worse when you realise those tweets were written by his daughter Rhianna. During one of the hardest moments of her life, she was still thoughtful enough to give strangers what was, to many of us, the only goodbye we could take. Thank you, Rhianna.
* Naturally, after Pratchett's death [[http://morloth88.deviantart.com/art/The-End-519838429 there]] [[http://www.deviantart.com/art/In-the-memory-of-sir-Terry-Pratchett-519727972 was]] [[http://www.deviantart.com/art/Farewell-Sir-Terry-Pratchett-519883824 an]] [[http://www.deviantart.com/art/Maker-s-Last-Journey-Pratchett-tribute-521221865 outpouring]] [[http://www.deviantart.com/art/AT-LAST-SIR-TERRY-WE-MUST-WALK-TOGETHER-519739557 of]] [[http://www.deviantart.com/art/goodbye-Sir-Terry-519918457 fanart]] [[http://www.deviantart.com/art/Shaking-hands-with-Death-519841642 mourning]] [[http://www.deviantart.com/art/Sir-Terry-Pratchett-519731360 his]] [[http://www.deviantart.com/art/So-long-519743742 passing]].
* In the wake of his death, two trends became very meaningful and pervasive among Pratchett's fans.
** The first was "Death brought the sword", since it's explained in one of the books that for the common folk, Death has a scythe, but kings get the sword.
** Instead of signing 'RIP Terry Pratchett', fans started tagging 'GNU Terry Pratchett'. This is from Going Postal, where it is a mechanism of the clacks towers that any message marked "GNU" will continue to be passed up and down the lines. And a man never dies as long as his name is still spoken...
** Which has led to the tag Speak His Name
*** Not only that, but according to [[https://www.shodan.io/search?query=GNU+Terry+Pratchett this page]], more than 32,000 (!!!) different pages are broadcasting GNU Terry Pratchett across the web, as it would be on the clacks.
** [[https://xkcd.com/1498/ Special notice]] should go to Webcomic/{{Xkcd}}'s tribute, one of the very few that didn't mention Death.