The staff usually come in a group in the books in which they appear, though Rincewind initially followed his own storyline, only being a part of the group in the Science of Discworld books and Unseen Academicals, and the Librarian makes solo appearances in several books. Ridcully and Ponder also appeared in Going Postal and Night Watch. Ridcully alone appears in Thud!. The wizards are referred to by their offices (e.g. "ancient runes"), rather than names. There is a slight reference to this in The Last Continent, when the wizards notice that they not only don't know the Librarian's name, but they also don't know the names of one another. In Unseen Academicals, Ridcully has difficulty remembering the Dean's name, despite having started at UU around the same time.
The head of Unseen University is the archchancellor, considered an important figure and holds a seat on the Ankh-Morpork council, in which he acts as a magical advisor to the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork.
The archchancellor of UU is considered the leader of all wizards on the Disc (by those at the UU), the first among equals. Unseen University has existed for thousands of years, and the average Archchancellor remains in office for about eleven months.
As of the final novel, the archchancellor is Mustrum Ridcully who assumed the post in Moving Pictures and held it for the rest of the novels.
At the time he became archchancellor, Ridcully had not been seen at the university for forty years, having left the university to look after his family's land.
Ridcully has shown the occasional flash of magical skill. For example, in Moving Pictures, the Bursar is surprised to discover Ridcully's adeptness at using a magic mirror, which, like most Discworld scrying devices, is hard to steer. In Soul Music Ridcully improvises, at short notice and with minimal assistance, a slimmed-down version of the rite of AshkEnte for summoning Death. It is also implied that he has some degree of practical magic knowledge (The Last Continent).
Professor A.A. Dinwiddie. The Bursar is a quiet, reserved person. He took over the job from the previous Bursar, Spelter, after the latter was killed trying to save the library from destruction in Sourcery.
Dinwiddie reacts to the stress of the events in the series by becoming less and less tethered to reality. By the events of Reaper Man, Dr. Dinwiddie is almost completely insensible. The Bursar's insanity has become a byword in Ankh-Morpork: "to go Bursar" is "to go crazy"[citation needed].
Dean
The Dean of Pentacles/Archchancellor Henry of Brazeneck College. An obese man (Moving Pictures) who is generally found in his study reading a grimoire or in the great hall. He attends some of the functions that are held by guilds or clubs around the city on behalf of the university.
According to Ponder Stibbons, he is "normally never nice".[citation needed] He is often susceptible to any occult or semi-magical occurrence happening in the university, as well as any fads or trends – most notably in Soul Music. When roused into action he can be very enthusiastic and violent, and is a part-time Watch Special Constable – on the proviso that he not use magic in the course of his duties.
He and Archchancellor Ridcully have been friends since their first days at the university. Their friendship is tested in Unseen Academicals, when the Dean leaves to become Archchancellor of the rival Brazeneck College. The Dean became the first person to voluntarily resign from the university – something previously considered unthinkable (as people usually left "in disgrace, in a box or, in a few cases, in bits"[citation needed]).
Librarian
The Librarian
The Librarian appeared in the second novel of the series, The Light Fantastic, where he was transformed into an orang-utan.[6] This had certain advantages for a librarian, such as being able to use his hands and feet for re-shelving books.[7] The other wizards have gradually become used to the situation, to the extent that, from Night Watch: "if someone ever reported that there was an orang-utan in the Library, the wizards would probably go and ask the Librarian if he'd seen it."[8]
He is known for his violent reaction to most people calling him a "monkey", as he is technically an ape. He primarily uses the word Ook, inflected for simple affirmations and negations, though he occasionally uses Eeek in moments of panic or rage. Nonetheless, most people seem able to understand him.[citation needed]
As with other members of the UU faculty, the Librarian is referred to by his office and not by a name. There are rumours that, pre-transformation, he was named Dr. Horace Worblehat, though no one speaks about it.[6]
The Librarian is a member of the Librarians of Time And Space, a group who have the knowledge and ability to travel through L-Space, an extradimensional space that connects all libraries and other large accumulations of books.[7]
Professor Stibbons is, among other things, Head of Inadvisably Applied Magic, Praelector and Reader in Invisible Writings, the Master of Traditions, the Camerlengo of Unseen University, the keeper of Hex (the university's computer), and the right-hand man of Archchancellor Ridcully.[citation needed]
His entry in The New Discworld Companion states:
originally rather lazy by nature, he seems to have blossomed to become the youngest and most depressingly keen member of the faculty ... as one of the few wizards at the University with his head screwed on in any fashion, he appears, quite against his will, to be in the front line.[10]
In the film version of Hogfather he is portrayed by Ed Coleman.[4]
Stibbons also appears in the video game Discworld II, in the High Energy Facility. He is characterized differently than in the books, evidenced by his erratic speech patterns and verbal tics, as well as his denials that he is being adversely affected by working on Hex.
Rincewind holds the Chair of Experimental Serendipity, the Chair for the Public Misunderstanding of Magic, and the positions of Professor of Virtual Anthropology, Egregious Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geography, Reader in Slood Dynamics, Fretwork Teacher, Lecturer in Approximate Accuracy, and Health and Safety Officer. These apparently unwanted positions were awarded to Rincewind provided that he does not receive any salary. Prior to receiving these titles, Rincewind held the post of Assistant Librarian, but it is unclear whether or not he retains the office. Rincewind is often concerned with his life, as many people all across Discworld have attempted to take it.
In the film version of The Colour of Magic he is portrayed by David Jason.[9]
Doctor Hix
Dr. John Hix – 'Hicks with an X' in Unseen Academicals, after changing his name from Hicks because it didn't suit his position. Dr Hix is a necromancer. Since necromancy is officially banned in Ankh-Morpork, he is instead the Head of the Department of Postmortem Communications (although he acknowledges this is just a fancy way of saying necromancy). Hix has one member of staff, a reanimated skeleton called Charlie. He previously had another member of staff, the late Professor Flead, but Hix bound him to a club at the end of Making Money.[citation needed]
Hix frequently misbehaves, performs evil deeds and makes comments in bad taste as he is required to under university statute, a fact which the other members of UU grudgingly accept. He uses the phrase "Skull ring, remember?" as an excuse for his misbehavior, much like the Patrician's use of the phrase, "Tyrant, remember?".
Hex is the UU's first mainframe computer, though instead of RAM, it is powered by a waterwheel inside a ram skull, and its mouse is an actual mouse. Its "brain" consists of a series of glass tubes filled with ants, which form its processor, and a beehive in a back room, which constitutes its hard drive. It bears a sticker up front saying that there is an anthill inside (a parody of the advertising slogan "Intel Inside"). Initially just a computer, it has gradually developed more of a personality over the course of the series. Ponder Stibbons has by default become the person in charge of developing and operating Hex, though he admits that Hex largely develops itself.
Past archchancellors
Alberto Malich, the first archchancellor and founder of UU. He went to the land of Death when he performed the Rite of AshkEnte backwards, and remained in Death's Domain as Death's assistant and butler. He also appeared in Mort, Soul Music, and in Hogfather where he appeared as Pixie Albert to Death's Hogfather. In the film version of Hogfather he is portrayed by David Jason.
Chancellor Galder Weatherwax, a distant cousin of Granny Weatherwax, is chancellor for the first half of The Light Fantastic. He is the 304th Chancellor of the university. In the film version of The Colour of Magic he is portrayed by James Cosmo.
Archchancellor Ymper Trymon is archchancellor for the second half of The Light Fantastic. In the film version of The Colour of Magic he is portrayed by Tim Curry.
Coin the Sourcerer is the archchancellor during Sourcery.
Others include Cutangle (Equal Rites), Virrid Wayzygoose (Sourcery), Ezrolith Churn (Eric), Sloman, who discovered the Special Theory of Slood, and Preserved Bigger (Unseen Academicals).
Past students
Eskarina Smith, known as Esk, is the main character in Equal Rites, and was the Unseen University's first and only known female graduate. She did not appear again in the series until I Shall Wear Midnight, in which she was described as being both old and young due to her mastery of time travel. She becomes a close friend of the adult Tiffany Aching. Esk is mentioned briefly again in The Shepherd's Crown with an (unnamed) son.
Drum Billet, a wizard appearing in Equal Rites, later reincarnated as an ant living under Unseen University.
Windle Poons, a very old wizard, first appearing in Moving Pictures. He died at the age of 130, before returning briefly as a zombie.
Related Research Articles
The Last Continent is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the twenty-second book in his Discworld series. First published in 1998, it mocks the aspects of time travel such as the grandfather paradox and the Ray Bradbury short story "A Sound of Thunder". It also parodies Australian people and aspects of Australian culture, such as Crocodile Dundee, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Mad Max films, the Australian beer XXXX, Vegemite, thongs, cork hats, the Peach Melba, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, the bushranger Ned Kelly, the Henley-on-Todd Regatta, and the Australian songs "Waltzing Matilda", "Down Under", and "The Man From Snowy River".
Sourcery is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the fifth book in his Discworld series, published in 1988.
Soul Music is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the sixteenth book in the Discworld series, first published in 1994. Like many of Pratchett's novels it introduces an element of modern society into the magical and vaguely late medieval, early modern world of the Discworld, in this case Rock and Roll music and stardom, with near disastrous consequences. It also introduces Susan Sto Helit, daughter of Mort and Ysabell and granddaughter of Death.
The Colour of Magic is a 1983 fantasy comedy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the Discworld series. The first printing of the British edition consisted of only 506 copies. Pratchett has described it as "an attempt to do for the classical fantasy universe what Blazing Saddles did for Westerns."
The Light Fantastic is a comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, the second of the Discworld series. It was published on 2 June 1986, the first printing being of 1,034 copies. The title is taken from L'Allegro, a poem by John Milton, and refers to dancing lightly with extravagance, although in the novel it is explained as "the light that lies on the far side of darkness, the light fantastic. It was a rather disappointing purple colour."
Equal Rites is a comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett. Published in 1987, it is the third novel in the Discworld series and the first in which the main character is not Rincewind. The title is a play on words related to the phrase "Equal Rights".
Rincewind is a fictional character who appears in several of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. He was a failed student at Unseen University for wizards in Ankh-Morpork, often described as "the magical equivalent to the number zero". He spent most of his time running away from people who wanted to kill him for various reasons. The reason that he was still alive and running was explained by noting that while he was born with a wizard's spirit, he had the body of a long-distance sprinter.
Lord Havelock Vetinari, Lord Patrician of the city-state of Ankh-Morpork, is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Vetinari has written an unpublished manuscript known as The Servant, the Discworld version of The Prince by the Italian statesman and diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli.
Interesting Times is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett. It is the seventeenth book in the Discworld series and is set in the Aurient.
Reaper Man is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett. Published in 1991, it is the 11th Discworld novel and the second to focus on Death. The title is a reference to Alex Cox's movie Repo Man.
Hogfather is the 20th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, and a 1997 British Fantasy Award nominee. It was first released in 1996 and published by Victor Gollancz. It came in 137th place in The Big Read, a BBC survey of the most loved British books of all time, making it one of fifteen books by Pratchett in the Top 200.
Discworld II: Missing Presumed...!? is a 1996 point-and-click adventure game based on Terry Pratchett's series of fantasy novels set on the mythical Discworld, and sequel to the 1995 video game of the same name. The story sees players assume the role of Rincewind the "wizzard" as he becomes burdened with the task of finding Death and coercing him out of an impromptu retirement and back into his regular duties. The game's plot borrows from a number of Discworld books, including key elements from Reaper Man and Moving Pictures.
Discworld is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Teeny Weeny Games and Perfect 10 Productions and published by Psygnosis. It is based on Terry Pratchett's novels of the same name. Players assume the role of Rincewind the "wizzard", voiced by Eric Idle, as he becomes involved in exploring the Discworld for the means to prevent a dragon terrorising the city of Ankh-Morpork. The game's story borrows elements from several Discworld novels, with its central plot loosely based on the events in Guards! Guards!
Death is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and a parody of several other depictions of the Grim Reaper. He is a black-robed skeleton who usually carries a scythe. His jurisdiction is specifically the Discworld itself; he is only a minion of Azrael, the universal Death. Pratchett explores human existence through his depiction of death, which became more sympathetic throughout the series.
The Discworld is the fictional setting for all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld fantasy novels. It consists of a large disc resting on the backs of four huge elephants which are standing on the back of an enormous turtle, named Great A'Tuin as it slowly swims through space. Magic is an everyday feature of life on Discworld, whilst even science has unearthly qualities. The similarities to Planet Earth only exacerbate the strangeness of Discworld itself.
Terry Pratchett's Hogfather is a 2006 two-part British Christmas-themed fantasy comedy television miniseries adaptation of Hogfather by Terry Pratchett, produced by The Mob, and first broadcast on Sky1, and in High Definition on Sky1 HD, over Christmas 2006. First aired in two 1.5-hour episodes on 17 and 18 December 2006 at 20:00 UTC, it was the first live-action film adaptation of a Discworld novel. In 2007, the two episodes were rerun on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day respectively on Sky One and Sky1 HD.
Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic is a fantasy-comedy two-part British television adaptation of the bestselling novels The Colour of Magic (1983) and The Light Fantastic (1986) by Terry Pratchett. The fantasy film was produced for Sky1 by The Mob, a small British studio, starring David Jason, Sean Astin, Tim Curry, and Christopher Lee as the voice of Death. Vadim Jean both adapted the screenplay from Pratchett's original novels, and served as director.
Unseen Academicals is the 37th novel in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. The novel satirises football, and features Mustrum Ridcully setting up an Unseen University football team, with the Librarian in goal. It includes new details about "below stairs" life at the university. The book introduces several new characters, including Trevor Likely, a street urchin with a wonderful talent for kicking a tin can; Glenda Sugarbean, a maker of "jolly good" pies; Juliet Stollop, a dim but beautiful young woman who might just turn out to be the greatest fashion model there has ever been; and the mysterious Mr Nutt, a cultured, enigmatic, idealistic savant. According to the publisher, Transworld, the "on sale" date for the hardback was 1 October 2009 although the official publication date is 8 October 2009. Bookshop chain Borders included a small set of exclusive Discworld football cards with each book.
Discworld is a comic fantasy book series written by the English author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat planet balanced on the backs of four elephants which in turn stand on the back of a giant turtle. The series began in 1983 with The Colour of Magic and continued until the final novel The Shepherd's Crown, which was published in 2015, following Pratchett's death. The books frequently parody or take inspiration from classic works, usually fantasy or science fiction, as well as mythology, folklore and fairy tales, and often use them for satirical parallels with cultural, political and scientific issues.
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