However, while the story is ostensibly about Esk, the majority of page time is given over to Granny, one of my favourite characters of the Discworld series. The novel follows Esk’s eventful journey to Ankh-Morpork and fraught introduction to the Unseen University. And this is a problem, because there has never been a female wizard in the history of the Discworld: it’s against the lore. No, her power is a Wizard’s power, and the only way she can learn how to control it is by travelling to the Unseen University to train amongst wizards. When she begins to show signs of magic, Granny Weatherwax takes it upon herself to train Esk in the ways of Witchcraft (herb-growing, medicine making, distilling alcohol, cleaning the kitchen table) but she soon comes to realise that Esk was never meant to be a witch. She can stare down the toughest of men, engage in shapeshifting duels, cure sick people and deliver babies but when suddenly faced with a curious little girl who is much more than she seems, Granny is at a bit of a loss.Įsk is the eighth child of an eighth son, and, due to a mix-up when she was born, has inherited a staff of power formerly belonging to a wizard. Granny raises goats, grows mysterious herbs, and can inhabit, or ‘borrow’, the minds of animals. Granny is a witch, dwells in a remote mountain village named Bad Ass, and is an expert in the field of headology she is allergic to cats, despises ‘jommetry’, and is wary of people originating from ‘forn parts’. The Truth, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, Night Watch, The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Going Postal all represent new departures and new ideas for the Discworld.The third Discworld novel waves farewell to Rincewind and Twoflower, and introduces us instead to one of the most popular recurring characters of the series: Granny Weatherwax. For me The Truth represents the start of the second golden age for Discworld books, in place of the repetition of Soul Music or Feet of Clay you get some real innovation. Journalism is ripe for satire and this does that brilliantly too. So a book about the development of free press just adds to this milieu of early modern city life. Vetinari is a despot, but he’s not despotic (apart from towards mimes) and he’s inclusive, elites in the city have an interest in it working via the guilds, crime is organised, and Drawfs, Trolls, Werewolfs and the rest can all make a home (and money) in Ankh-Morpork. I’m a big New Institutional Economics fan, for all its faults, and Vetinari’s rule meets lots of the conditions which should support economic development. The Truth is where you see modernity start to slipinto the Discworld. Perhaps this was never intentional, but from Guards! Guards! something like The Truth (not to mention Raising Steam) was inevitable.
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