!!The Wintersmith’s inability to become human as a criticism of rape culture, very badly articulated by Reshpeckowiggle [[note]]Formerly [=GluteusMaximusTheFirst=][[/note]]
First of all, if you don’t know what sexual intercourse is and/or you’re not a teenager yet, leave this page.\\\

Second of all, guys… hear me out.\\\

A staple of rape culture[=*=] is a narrative where the victim is culpable for the rape instead of the perpetrator, because the perpetrator is unable[=*1=], by their human nature, to control their reaction to their sexual desire. Here, the rapist doesn’t have free will, and therefore all responsibility is given to the victim, the only entity in the relationship who does.\\\

At first, ''Wintersmith'' appears to follow this narrative, with the destruction caused by the titular antagonist, the AnthropomorphicPersonification of- wait for it- [[CaptainObvious Winter]], acting on his attraction to Tiffany (his icebergs sinking ships, people and sheep being buried under his blizzards, etc.) being portrayed as her fault because she made him fall in love with her (albeit unwittingly) by dancing the Dark Morris.\\\

But we know the story builds up to a twist: he wants to become human so he can be with her, and attempts to do so by collecting the things in a folk rhyme about what makes a man. In his palace of ice during the climax, he thinks he has succeeded, but just before she harnesses the power of the Sun to banish him from her world forever, she points out that he doesn’t know the last lines of the rhyme:
->“Strength enough to build a home
-> Time enough to hold a child
-> Love enough to break a heart.”

Here’s where the criticism comes in: whereas in rape culture, the rapist’s pursuit of the victim at the expense of others’ happiness (and sometimes lives) is portrayed as innate human nature, the Wintersmith’s ''same pursuit'' of Tiffany isn’t just portrayed as ''inhuman'', it’s portrayed as the very thing which ''prevents'' him from becoming human[=*2=].\\\

So here, Pratchett isn’t just arguing that preserving life and happiness and understanding their value (as the final lines of the rhyme demonstrate) is human nature, he’s insinuating that all actions which disrespect that preservation and understanding, INCLUDING rape and the harassment embodied by the Wintersmith, go ''against'' what makes us human, and should be treated that way.\\\

->[=*=][[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_culture Here’s an overview of the topic, btw]]
->[=*1=] Sometimes responsibility is also shifted by portraying the victim as someone who must have inherently enjoyed the sexual experience regardless of whether they consented. My analysis doesn’t focus on this portrayal.
->[=*2=] Therefore Tiffany would never have been blamed for the Wintersmith’s actions if he was human, but he wasn’t, so here we are.