The Colour of Magic
The Colour of Magic, comic fantasy novel written by English author Terry Pratchett and published in 1983. It was the first of more than 40 volumes in his wildly popular Discworld series of satirical fantasy stories.
Summary
The Colour of Magic is a collection of four stories set on Discworld, a flat planet that is carried by four huge elephants that stand on the back of the giant turtle Great A’Tuin. The stories pivot on the hapless failed wizard Rincewind. In the first adventure, Rincewind is required to act as guide and protector to Twoflower, a wealthy insurance salesman from the Counterweight Continent who has come as the first-ever tourist to Ankh-Morpork, Discworld’s biggest city. Twoflower’s wealth attracts thieves and assassins, but Rincewind and Twoflower’s Luggage—an overprotective traveling trunk with legs, teeth, and the ability to locate its master anywhere—keep him from harm. Meanwhile, Twoflower sells fire insurance to the owner of the Broken Drum tavern, and the owner then sets the tavern on fire. The conflagration consumes the city, but Rincewind and Twoflower escape.
In the second adventure, the pair are the object of a dice game played by the gods of Discworld. One of the gods plants a troll in their way. Rincewind kills the troll, but their horses panic, and they are separated. Rincewind is captured by a dryad, while Twoflower finds his way to the Temple of Bel-Shamharoth, followed by Hrun the Barbarian, who is intent on robbing him. Rincewind escapes the dryad through a portal into the temple and warns both Twoflower and Hrun against saying the word “eight.” Nonetheless, Hrun’s talking sword, Kring, says the word, summoning the monster Bel-Shamharoth. Twoflower tries to photograph the fight, and the light from his camera’s flash attachment kills the monster and causes the temple to collapse. Hrun saves Rincewind and Twoflower.
The travelers come upon the upside-down mountain Wyrmberg in the third story. They are attacked by dragonriders, and Hrun and Twoflower are captured. At the insistence of Kring, Rincewind tries to rescue them, and he forces the dragonrider K!sdra to take them to Wyrmberg. There Rincewind is challenged to mortal combat (conducted while hanging upside down from a cavern roof) by Lio!rt Dragonlord. In the meantime, Liessa, daughter of the late ruler, tells Hrun that if he kills her brothers, he can marry her and become ruler himself, and he accepts her proposal. Twoflower accidentally summons a dragon with his imagination, and he and the dragon catch the defeated Rincewind as he is falling from the cavern roof. Hrun vanquishes Liessa’s brothers, but Rincewind and Twoflower, unaware that he does not need to be rescued, grab him, and they all flee on the dragon, followed by Liessa. When Twoflower faints, the dragon disappears, and Liessa regains Hrun. The other two, after a brief appearance in the real world, fall into the Circle Sea, where they use the Luggage as a raft.
In the final story, Rincewind and Twoflower, now on a ship, are about to be carried by the current off the edge of the world, but they hit the Circumfence, a giant net along Discworld’s edge, and are rescued by the sea troll Tethis. They are taken to the capital city of Krull and told that they are to be sacrificed to the god Fate so that he will bless Krull’s spaceship on its quest to learn whether Great A’Tuin is male or female. Lady Luck helps them flee, and they hide in the launch room, disguising themselves as chelonauts. Twoflower boards the spaceship and is launched, but Rincewind falls off the edge of the world.
Adaptations
Pratchett’s surreal world is a deeply satirical and witty spoof on the fantasy genre, referencing, among others, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Anne McCaffrey and the stories of Conan the Barbarian. The Discworld series developed a large and devoted following, especially in Britain. The Colour of Magic was adapted as a graphic novel (1991) and as a computer game, and the television movie Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic appeared in 2008.
Cathy Lowne Pat Bauer