Is it really worth its own page?
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanMike Rosoft: Removed
- Fridge Logic: Otto is a vampire. He takes photographs for the newspaper during the day.
- Ankh-Morpork is analogous to England, is severely polluted, and is therefore almost always cloudy or smoggy and usually safe for vampires. The book mentions this (at least, one of them does). Additionally, Discworld Vampires don't really find sunlight as difficult to deal with as most others; it merely disorients in most cases, rather than burns. And very bright light (such as Otto's salamander flashes) does turn him to dust. He gets better.
I'll add that vampires (e.g. Sally) can survive in daylight if they are protected by thick clothing; and, after all (as the Wikipedia article on Discworld undead says), on Discworld all vampire myths are true, even the mutually contradictory ones - they just aren't all true for the same vampire.
Long live Marxism-Lennonism! Hide / Show RepliesThere is a contradiction across books: in Carpe Jugulum, Vlad is adamant that only decapitation can seriously inconvenience a vampire, and this is proven when Mightily Oats chops his father's head off with the battleaxe, thus making it an unanswerably holy symbol revisited in Unseen Academicals.
yet here in The Truth, Otto Chriek is decapitated by the bad guys: he is seen to ask the Dwarfs later to roll his head over to where his body can find it to pick it up and re-attach it. He then remarks that "this stings a bit", but is otherwise able to return to active life. Maybe Otto comes from a different part of Überwald to the de Magpyrs?
Male, early sixties, Cranky old fart, at least two decades behind. So you have been warned. Functionally illiterate in several languages.Could be; as Pterry has mentioned, all vampire myths are true, but they're not all necessarily true for all vampires.
Also, as you mentioned, in CJ, the chopping was done by a newly-christened holy symbol being swung in faith by a devout clergyman. In The Truth, it was a knife swung by a desperate low life.
In Carpe Jugulum, there is a list of methods to dispose of a vampire depending on the area the vampire comes from, implying that to each vampire applies the folklore of their origin. Add to that the general power of belief on the Discworld, and it could be easily said that what the vampires believe to be harmful to them is harmful to them. (Mightly Oats's axe was also bolstered by his belief, after all, and after they were "Weatherwaxed", the Magpyrs complained that "everywhere they look they see something holy").
The Magpyrs were "raised" (for want of a better term) in the classical vampire folklore, and had to break away from it using all these techniques, which made them very dangerous. Otto and Sally are probably more "modern," Friendly Neighborhood Vampires, and as such they may work by a completely different archetype.
When Mr. Pin kills Mr. Tulip, he mentions he doesn't want to see him suffer. Does this fall under Pet the Dog / Mercy Kill?
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Is it worth adding a Trivia subpage for Write What You Know? Pterry was a journalist long before he started writing novels...
Reality is for those who lack imagination. Hide / Show Replies