Small Gods: (Discworld Novel 13) (Discworld Novels)

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Simony, who refuses to believe in the existence of the gods even when they're speaking to him personally. Om likes him because atheism that militant is basically the same as religious belief from the point of view of a god — they're thinking and talking about the gods as frequently and as strongly as believers, if not more so. Urn, Didactylos's technically-minded nephew whose knowledge of steam power leads him to build a steam-powered boat and an Iron Turtle, a steam-powered war engine intended to aid the Turtle Movement. Steam powered machines contradict Omnian dogma, which states that such devices cannot perform work as they have neither minds nor muscles. Painting the Medium: When Om regains his full power, he begins speaking in numbered verse, like a holy text.

This is the second book where someone paraphrases the last recorded words of Lawrence Oates. ("I'm just going out. I may be some time.") The line will reappear again in Soul Music. The first adventure in the Folio Society editions of ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ series, Enid Blyton’s The Enchanted Wood features Jonathan Burton’s enchanting illustrations and a new introduction by Michael Morpurgo. And I Must Scream: Vorbis's final fate - an eternity in the absolute silence of his own mind, all alone with himself - is Subverted when Brutha mercifully takes him to the afterlife.Several characters throughout the book, when they're killed and find themselves in the spectral desert of the afterlife which they must journey through, ask Death "what awaits at the end of the desert?", to which Death replies Judgement. At the end, there's a twist when Brutha does the same, considers for a moment, then asks: "Which end?" Clueless Boss: The Cenobiarch, the High Priest of the Omnian Church, is this. He's just a senile old man who nods at anything said during meetings with the high-ranking church members, who tries to bless anyone nearby. Animal Motifs: Pretty explicitly Brutha with tortoises (harmless, slow, thoughtful) and Vorbis with eagles (predatory, focused, elevated); the eagle will lift the tortoise off the ground and broaden its horizons only to drop it to its death, just as Vorbis promotes Brutha with every intention of eventually having him killed. The problem for Vorbis comes in when the tortoise, as described in the opening tale, learns how to fly... The goddess Czol was an ancient goddess of Thut before that land sank under the sea some 9,000 years ago. One does not ask about her. Mentioned in Going Postal. May be somehow related to Mrs. Cake. Guardian god of the ancient city Lamark, where wounded heroes could find comfort and heal after battle. He was the son of Aphrodite.

Life in this world,” he said, “is, as it were, a sojourn in a cave. What can we know of reality? For all we see of the true nature of existence is, shall we say, no more than bewildering and amusing shadows cast upon the inner wall of the cave by the unseen blinding light of absolute truth, from which we may or may not deduce some glimmer of veracity, and we as troglodyte seekers of wisdom can only lift our voices to the unseen and say, humbly, ‘Go on, do Deformed Rabbit . . . it’s my favorite.’ ”In such instances, you need an acolyte, and fast. Enter Brutha, the Chosen One - or at least the only One available. He wants peace, justice and love - but that's hard to achieve in a world where religion means power, and corruption reigns supreme . . . A rather obscure shout-out can be found in the name of one of the ancient prophets of Om: Ishkibble . Saying Too Much: Initially, Om keeps reining himself in during conversation with Brutha, since he doesn't want to give away some of the major details about his chenolialism. Superstitious Sailors: The sailors have a number of superstitions and ritual practices, most notably a taboo against killing dolphins. Almost all of these turn out to be justified as they are part of a system of obeisance to the vindictive Sea Queen, who is enraged by killing dolphins.