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Note: The title of this entry is Discworld. If it says 'Disc World' at the top, somebody has made a formatting error.

Stories are important. People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it's the other way round. Stories... have evolved... The strongest have survived, and they have grown fat... Stories etch grooves deep enough for people to follow... A thousand wolves have eaten grandmother, a thousand princesses have been kissed... Stories don't care who takes part in them. All that matters is that the story gets told, that the story repeats.
-- Terry Pratchett in Witches Abroad, describing the Theory Of Narrative Causality

The Discworld, a flat planet carried by four elephants standing on the back of a gigantic space-turtle, is the venue for Terry Pratchett's long running fantasy series.

The first few books were a straightforward parody of Heroic Fantasy tropes, but later books have subverted, played with, and hung lampshades on practically every trope on this site, in every genre, and many not yet covered, as well as parodying (and in some cases, deconstructing) many well known films, books, and TV series. The humour ranges from simple wordplay to wry reflections on the absurdities of life.

While all of the Discworld books exist in the same continuity (and roughly in chronological order, with a few exceptions), many can be loosely grouped into series following some of Pratchett's recurring characters, including Rincewind the incompetent "wizzard", The Ankh-Morpork City Watch (which are usually mystery novels), the Lancre witches and Death. Some books follow one-off protagonists who may or may not appear in supporting roles in other books.

In addition to the main characters, there is a large cast of recurrers, including dodgy street trader Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler and benevolent tyrant Havelock Vetinari. Villains have included sociopathic geniuses, Lovecraftian horrors, and the Auditors of Reality, cosmic bureaucrats who consider life too untidy to be tolerated.

There are currently thirty-five books in the series, four of them young-adult, as well as several short stories. There are also Discworld calendars, diaries, maps, and compendia, each with additional background information about the Disc. All the books have been adapted for the stage, two have become animated series, and two (technically three, as The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic were filmed as a single story under the former title, but the second is a direct follow-on) have become live-action Made For TV Movies.

We're not going to bother with making a list of used, averted, subverted, or inverted trope examples, as there is a perfectly good list of them on the top left of your screen. Just start with "Main Tropes Index" and keep going until you run out of pages.

See also the character sheet for details on the more major of the series' Loads And Loads Of Characters.

Discworld is the Trope Namer for:
The main Discworld novels, in order of release. Brackets denote date of UK publication and main character(s) - standalone indicates that it is not currently part of a series.

  • The Colour Of Magic (1983- Rincewind the wizard)
  • The Light Fantastic (1986- Rincewind)
  • Equal Rites (1987- Granny Weatherwax the witch)
  • Mort (1987- Death)
  • Sourcery (1988- Rincewind)
  • Wyrd Sisters (1988- The Lancre witches, inc. Granny Weatherwax)
  • Pyramids (1989- standalone)
  • Guard! Guards! (1989- The City Watch)
  • FaustEric (1990- Rincewind; originally published as an illustrated novel)
  • Moving Pictures (1990- standalone)
  • Reaper Man (1991- Death)
  • Witches Abroad (1991- The Lancre witches)
  • Small Gods (1992- standalone)
  • Lords and Ladies (1992- The Lancre witches)
  • Men at Arms (1993- The City Watch)
  • Soul Music (1994- Death, Susan)
  • Interesting Times (1994- Rincewind)
  • Maskerade (1995- The Lancre witches)
  • Feet of Clay (1996- The City Watch)
  • Hogfather (1996- Death, Susan)
  • Jingo (1997- The City Watch)
  • The Last Continent (1998- Rincewind)
  • Carpe Jugulum (1998- The Lancre witches)
  • The Fifth Elephant (1999- The City Watch)
  • The Truth (2000- standalone)
  • Thief of Time (2001- Death, Susan)
  • Night Watch (2002- The City Watch)
  • Monstrous Regiment (2003- standalone)
  • Going Postal (2004- Moist von Lipwig)
  • Thud! (2005- The City Watch)
  • Making Money (2007- Moist von Lipwig)

The young adult Discworld novels:
  • The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (2001- standalone)
  • The Wee Free Men (2003- Tiffany Aching the trainee witch)
  • A Hat Full of Sky (2004- Tiffany Aching)
  • Wintersmith (2006- Tiffany Aching)
  • I Shall Wear Midnight (Date not announced- Tiffany Aching)

Illustrated novels:
  • FaustEric (1990- Rincewind; also available in paperback novel format)
  • The Last Hero (2001- Rincewind, The City Watch; republished with more illustrations)

A world, and a mirror of worlds.