Book:The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic
Cover art by Josh Kirby
Co-author(s)
Illustrator(s)	Josh Kirby
Publisher	Colin Smythe
Publication date	May 1986
ISBN	9780861402038
Pages	217
RRP
Main characters	Rincewind, Twoflower, the Luggage
Series	Rincewind Series
Annotations	View
Notes	Book #02
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Blurb

As it moves towards a seemingly inevitable collision with a malevolent red star, the Discworld has only one possible saviour. Unfortunately, this happens to be the singularly inept and cowardly wizard called Rincewind, who was last seen falling off the edge of the world ....

Characters

Major Characters

Minor Characters

Galder Weatherwax, 304th Archchancellor of Unseen University
Swires, a gnome (possibly the first appearance of Buggy Swires, though this is not confirmed)
Bethan
Horse People, collective name for the Horse Tribes in the Hubland steppes
Herrena the Henna-Haired Harridan (first appearance)
Kwartz, a homophone of Quartz
Krysoprase (first appearance), a homophone of Chrysoprase
Breccia, a troll; not to be confused with 'the' Breccia, a troll crime syndicate, though the latter is possibly named after the former; named after Breccia
Jasper, a troll; named after Jasper
Beryl, a troll; named after Beryl
Old Grandad, nickname for a troll whose real name we do not learn
Weems, Morpork mercenary
Lackjaw, dwarf jeweler

Cameos

Death
the Librarian (first appearance)
Greyhald Spold
Belafon, a surprisingly modern druid whose job title is "computer hardware consultant"
Zakriah, colleague of Belafon's
Professor of Astrology
Ysabell (first appearance)
Jiglad Wert
Lumuel Panter
Ganmack Treehallet
War (first appearance)
Famine (first appearance)
Pestilence (first appearance)
Gancia, leader of a gang of Morpork mercenaries
Dahoney, demagogue of the Star People

Mentions

A box with many little legs that looks malevolently upon you without eyes -- sometimes seen by hallucinogen-enhanced shaman. However, this one is for real...
Ancient Ones -- omniscient multi-verse beings who know everything about all the universes
Azimrothe, T'chikel, Yrriph, Kcharla, Cheliliki, and Orizone -- supernatural entities by which Death can presumably be commanded (though Galder Weatherwax may just be posturing, especially since Death is answering questions freely anyway)
Sky God and Celestial Cow -- possible creators of the universe according to some theories
Skrelt Changebasket -- wizard
Cimbar -- an Assassin
Creosote -- Seriph of Al Khali in the expression "as rich as Creosote"
Dean of Liberal Studies -- swallowed by the Luggage
Captain Eightpanther -- creator of Captain Eightpanther's Travellers' Digestives, a type of biscuit (full name given in The Colour of Magic, though possibly the human equivalent of dwarf bread)
Moon goddess -- who virgin druids meet when they are sacrificed (later in the book, we learn there are several moon goddesses)
Olaf Quimby II -- a Patritian of Ankh with views on descriptive writing
Rhunlet Vard -- apparent successor to Greyhald Spold (but opposed by Trymon)
Ly Tin Wheedle -- famous philosopher
Granny Whitlow -- witch who built a candy cottage (even though it sounds more like something Black Aliss would do)
Woo Hun Ling -- owner of Woo Hun Ling's Oriental Exotica and Martial Aids, a shop on Heroes Street. Interestingly, the shop name does appear to be "martial" (relating to war), not "marital" (relating to marriage), possibly a typo, but perhaps an intentional joke. It's also interesting that the shop's name contains the word "Oriental": on the Disc, shouldn't this be Agatean? (or perhaps Auriental as this variant is used elsewhere).

Things and Devices

Book of Going Forth Around Elevenish -- book written by rather lazy Llamaic sect
bronze torc -- apparently a small unit of druid currency
Bumper Fun Grimoire -- book possibly containing last original joke in the universe
Chant of the Trodden Spiral -- software-like chant designed for "concentric circle computing"
charm, persuasion, uncertainty, bloody-mindedness -- according to druids, the universe's operation depends on these four forces
Cupumuguk snow runes -- a language that the Eight Spells appear in briefly
Iyt Gryet Teymple hyte Tsort, Y Hiystory Myistical -- a book (perhaps the only one) about the Pyramids of Tsort.
I Don't Know, What? -- a geographical feature of unknown type with a silly name
Just A Mountain -- a mountain with a silly name
manicreach -- creature whose entrails can be used for scrying purposes
Mirror of Oversight -- magical device
Necrotelicomnicon -- a famous grimoire
Nosehinger on the Laws of Contract, a book Twoflower gives the Four Horseman to learn bridge
Potent Voyager -- research vessel
Runes of M'haw
Seal of Eightfold Stasis -- magical seal with considerable stopping power
Seven League Boots --a somewhat tricky means of transportation
Skelde, Spirit of the Smoke -- sometimes seen by hallucinogen-enhanced shaman
The Little Folks' Book of Flower Fairies -- a book about pixies that Twoflower read as a child
Topaxci, the God of the Red Mushroom -- sometimes seen by hallucinogen-enhanced shaman
Umcherrel, the Soul of the Forest -- sometimes seen by hallucinogen-enhanced shaman
Wandering Shop -- theoretical galactic empire controlled by shopkeepers (reminiscent of Robert Asprin's Deva?)
Young Men's Pagan Association -- parody of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA)

Locations

Ankh-Morpork
- Unseen University (first appearance)
  - Great Hall
  - Tower of Art
Death's Domain
Dungeon Dimensions
Krull
The Octavo (in certain metaphysical respects)
The Red Star
River Smarl, a river connecting to the Circle Sea
Skillet, Wang, Yrxle!yt, Bunglestiff, Cwmlad and Patel, a wandering shop appearing inside brick wall
Skund
Trollbone Mountains
Vortex Plains
Your Finger You Fool, a forest in Skund, rimwards of the Ramtop Mountains, including:
- Mount Oolskunrahod, a mountain whose name translates to "Who is this Fool who does Not Know what a Mountain Is"

Sentient Species

Dwarfs
Humans
Giants (mentioned)
Gnomes
Trolls

Supernatural Entities

The Creator (mentioned)
Demons (mentioned)
Death & the Horsemen of the the Apocralypse
The Gods (mentioned)
Ice Giants (mentioned)
Imps
Horrors from the Dungeon Dimensions

Adaptations

Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic

ASIN	B001EM1E8A
IMDB	1079959
First Broadcast	23-24 March 2008
Broadcast Channel	Sky One
Director(s)	Vadim Jean
Producer(s)	Rod Brown & Ian Sharples
Writer(s)	{{{writer}}}
Starring	David Jason, Sean Astin, Tim Curry, Christopher Lee (voice)
Duration	184 minutes
Episodes	2
Series	Rincewind Series
Annotations	Annotations for Book:The Light Fantastic
Notes
Preceded by	Terry Pratchett's Hogfather
Followed by	Terry Pratchett's Going Postal
All data relates to the UK home release.

Television

The plot of 'The Light Fantastic' was the focus of the series second episode.

Cast:

Rincewind - David Jason (Only Fools And Horses, A Touch Of Frost, The Darling Buds of May, Open All Hours)
Twoflower - Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Goonies)
Trymon - Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Legend)
Death (voice) - Christopher Lee (The Wicker Man, The Man with the Golden Gun, Lord of the Rings trilogy, Star Wars Episode II: The Attack of the Clones, Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith)
Lord Vetinari - Jeremy Irons (Die Hard with a Vengance, Dead Ringers)
Cohen the Barbarian - David Bradley (Harry Potter series, Hot Fuzz)
Bethan - Laura Haddock (Honest, How Not To Live Your Life)
Galder Weatherwax - James Cosmo (Highlander, Braveheart, Trainspotting)
Head Librarian of the Unseen University - Nicolas Tennant (Terry Pratchett's Hogfather)
Liessa - Karen David
Herrena - Liz May Brice
Arch-Astronomer - Nigel Planer (The Young Ones)
The Luggage - Richard Da Costa
Lumuel Panter - Roger Ashton-Griffiths
Zlorf Flannelfoot - Miles Richardson
Kring - James Perry
Broadman - Stephen Marcus (Terry Pratchett's Hogfather)

The TV adaptation also adds characters not referenced in the original book like Hector Tugelbend and Ransak Boggett, who are essentially "placeholder" characters added for completion who are referenced only once, with minimal information, and then disappear again.

Video Game

The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic were adapted into a text adventure video game The Colour of Magic in 1986.

Graphic Novel

The novel was adapted into a series of four comics illustrated by Steven Ross. These were then collected into a single edition in 1993 and then later in 2008 combined with the other collected edition based on The Colour of Magic into the omnibus The Discworld Graphic Novels The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic.

In 2008 The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic were reprinted together in a 25th anniversary edition with illustrations by Stephen Player.