Book:Mort

Mort
Cover art by Josh Kirby
Co-author(s)
Illustrator(s)
Publisher	Victor Gollancz
Publication date	May 1987
ISBN	0575041714
Pages	221
RRP
Main characters	Death, Mort, Ysabell, Binky, Albert, Keli
Series	Death Series
Annotations	View
Notes	Book #04
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Blurb

Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job.

After being assured that being dead was not compulsory, Mort accepted. However, he soon found that romantic longings did not mix easily with the responsibilities of being Death's apprentice ....

Characters

Main Characters

• Death
• Mort
• Ysabell
• Binky
• Albert
• Keli

Minor Characters

• Lezek, Mort's father
• Duke of Sto Helit
• Igneous Cutwell, a wizard
• Terpsic Mims, an angler (fisherman) saved by Death ("for later") and his wife, Gwladys (largely the reason that Terpsic is an angler)
• Lord Rodley of Quirm
• Cripple Wa, who runs a floating crap game
• Liona Keeble, Ankh-Morpork's first job broker
• Sun Emperor, boy emperor who nominally runs the Agatean Empire, though the Grand Vizier, Nine Turning Mirrors, is really in charge (until his attempt to assassinate the boy emperor backfires)
• Rincewind

Mentioned (incl very minor speaking parts)

• Hamesh, Mort's uncle
• King Olerve the Bastard, Keli's father
• Pilgarlic, leader of a group of thieves who unwisely try to rob Mort
• Ammeline Hamstring, a witch who's scheduled to die, and Granny Beedle and Gammer Nutley, her colleagues
• Abbot Lobsang, a monk (member of the Listeners) who's scheduled to die.. again
• Offler
• Mrs. Nugent
• Artorollo, past King of Ankh
• Lesser nobles of Sto Lat:
  • Lord of the Privy Closet
  • Lady of the Small Hexagonal Room in the North Turret
• Staff of Sto Lat castle:
  • Chamberlain of Sto Lat
  • Yeoman of the Pantry
  • Moghedron, the wine butler
  • Royal Astrologer
• The Patrician
• Queen Ezeriel, a Klatchian queen who bathed in asses' milk, had many lovers, and killed herself by sitting on a snake, parodying Roundworld's Cleopatra
• Hummok M'guk
• Ug and Zog, names for several proto-humans
• Catroaster, a philosopher with a negative (albeit short-lived) opinion of Ankh-Morpork
• Blind Io and his somewhat more blind High Priest (in Sto Lat)
• Heavenly Guard, who patrol the Great Wall
• Ly Tin Wheedle (mentioned)
• King Zetesphut of Tsort (mentioned)
• Fate (mentioned)
• Destiny (mentioned)
• Sek (mentioned)
• Hoki (mentioned)
• Steikhegel, God of isolated cow byres (mentioned)

Locations

• Death's Domain
  • Death's Library
    • The Stack for biographies more than 500 years old
• Ramtops
  • Octarine Grass Country
    • Sheepridge
• Ankh-Morpork
  • Patrician's Palace
  • Curry Gardens
  • The Shades
    • Ham Alley
    • Pork Passage
    • Honey Lane
  • River Ankh (mentioned)
  • Mended Drum in Filigree Street
  • Harga's House of Ribs, owned by Harga
• Bay of Mante (mentioned)
• Klatch (mentioned)
• Klatchistan (mentioned), there's a promising war there
• Sto Lat
  • Wall Street, where Cutwell lives (until he's transferred to the castle)
  • Quene's Hed aka Duke's Head (depending on which reality you're in; presumably the King's Head before King Olerve died)
  • Sto Lat Castle
• Cori Celesti (mentioned)
• Great Nef (mentioned), Ysabell's parents died there
  • The Light Dams
• Pseudopolis (mentioned)
• Krull (mentioned)
  • The Edge (mentioned)
  • Hakrull River
• Carrack Mountains (mentioned)
• El-Kinte (mentioned)
• Dungeon Dimensions (mentioned)
• Agatean Empire (mentioned)
  • Bes Pelargic (mentioned)
• Tsort (mentioned)
  • River Tsort (mentioned)
  • Pyramids of Tsort (mentioned)
• Leshp (mentioned)

Sentient Species

• Humans
• Trolls (mentioned)

Supernatural Entities

• Death
• The Gods (mentioned)
• Old Dark Gods from the Dungeon Dimensions (mentioned)
• Tooth Fairy (mentioned)
• Sandman (mentioned)
• Water Sprite (mentioned)

Things and Concepts

• Reannual plants
• Hogswatch, time frame at start of book
• Granny Weatherwax's Ramrub Invigoratore and Passion's Philtre, a potion accidentally consumed by Cutwell
• Aurora Coriolis
• Shield of Passion ointment, a form of birth control
• Maidens' Longstop, a potion
• Pizza
• Caroc Cards
• Ching Aling
• Stardrip, a kind of drink
• Scumble
• Brass Gongs of Leshp
• Book of the Magick of Alberto Malich the Mage, a book by Albert that first alerts Mort that Death's butler is more than he appears to be
• Rag Week, a time when Albert's statue is traditionally (albeit unceremoniously) defiled
• Rite of AshkEnte (when Albert says this backwards many years ago, he summons himself to Death, instead of keeping Death away from himself; he later uses it to summon Mort)
• Ankh-Morpork Chamber of Commerce/Guild of Merchants (mentioned)
• Serpent Dance, Discworld equivalent of the conga.
• Peach Corniche, a type of drink
• Drinks sampled by Death
  • Melon Brandy
  • Spring Cordial (contains wasps)
  • Old Overcoat
  • Amanita Liquor
• Klatchian migratory bog truffle: it's pale, brown, and warty, but it's food
• Monster Fun Grimoire, which contains instructions (not very good ones) on how to make fireworks
• Deepwater puff eel, whose bladder and spleen may only eaten by those beloved of the gods (though it suspiciously sounds like bloat could come from this animal as well)
• Smoking Mirror of Grism

Adaptations

Graphic Novel

Mort was adapted into the graphic novel Mort A Discworld Big Comic in 1994, illustrated by Graham Higgins.

In 2017 'The Folio Society' published a new edition of Mort illustrated by Omar Rayyan, with an introduction by A. S. Byatt.

Theatre

In 1996 Mort was the second Discworld novel to be adapted into a stage-play by Stephen Briggs.

Fan Film

A thirty minute, stop motion, fan film of Mort was created in 2001 by Orange Cow Productions.

Radio

A radio play was broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in 2004, directed by Claire Grove.

Cast:

• Anton Lesser: Narrator
• Carl Prekopp as Mort
• Geoffrey Whitehead as Death
• Phillip Jackson: Albert
• Clare Corbett: Ysabell
• Philip Fox: Lezek, Keeble, Rincewind
• Alice Hart: Princess Keli
• Adam Godley: Igneous Cutwell
• John Rowe: Abbot Lobsang
• Sheila Mitchell: Ammeline Hamstring
• Jon Glover: Stallholder, Landlord, Duke of Sto Helit, Hamesh

Feature Film

A Mort feature film was announced in 2016 to be directed by Terry Rossio.

Gallery

First Edition Cover by Josh Kirby

Corgi Paperback

Book Proof

'Letterbox' Hardback 2001 by WHSmith

Compact Edition 1995

New American Library 1987, Cover by Jill Braumann

Paperback 2004

Audio Cassette

Audio CD

US Cover 2009

US Cover 2000, 2013

Paperback 2012

Unseen Library Edition

Collectors Library Edition

Folio Society Illustrated Edition

Folio Society Limited Illustrated Edition

Cover by Richard Ogle 2019

Paperback 2022

External Links

Mort Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File

Previous book Equal Rites	Discworld Series	Next book Sourcery

Previous book First book	Death Series	Next book Reaper Man