In The Color of Magic/The Light Fantastic and Sourcery, the life expectancy of the wizards of Unseen University is distressingly short. All eight heads of the Orders of Wizardry meet a stony doom in The Light Fantastic, and of course the new Archchancellor at the time of Sourcery never even gets to officially don the pointy Archchancellor’s hat, while once again there is a veritable massacre of the senior wizards at the end of the book.
In this week’s episode we take a look at why that is, and your Gnomic host asserts that their mortality is as much a hindrance to their becoming engaging characters as their generally unpleasant personalities. Thus, the true “sea change” in wizards and wizardry in the course of the books is not the attenuation of their wizardly powers, but Sir Terry’s decision to develop them as a group and as individual characters rather than killing them off. Or something like that.
This week’s lottery question: “Who is your favorite wizard character, and why?”
The feedback I received on the issue of show length came down firmly on the side of remaining with the 20-minute show format. However, I will be producing two 20-minute bonus episodes a month, beginning in November. These will be available to Patreon subscribers only. See the Portal’s Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=21210045, or just search Discworld Portal on the Patreon home page)for details.
This means that the ability to pick a topic for a show, as well as to access the show’s chat server on Discord, are no longer restricted to Patreon subscribers. If you have a topic you would like to hear covered, just send in an email requesting it. First come, first served, and I reserve the right to restrict the topic to fit a 20-minute show.
. The Discord server is called “Friends of the Discworld Portal.” There is (of course) a mobile app for it, but you can also get the desktop app at discord.com. I will be hosting chats on the server on Saturdays at 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. GMT. You can also go to the server any time to chat with whoever’s around—including, rather frequently, me.