Sacharissa Cripslock
Sacharissa Cripslock | |
Name | Sacharissa Cripslock |
Race | Human |
Age | Twenty-something |
Occupation | Journalist |
Physical appearance | Buxom, attractive young lady |
Residence | Ankh-Morpork |
Death | |
Parents | Mr Cripslock, engraver |
Relatives | |
Children | |
Marital Status | married, spouse unknown |
Appearances | |
Books | The Truth |
Cameos | Going Postal Making Money I Shall Wear Midnight |
The Discworld's very own Lois Lane, Sacharissa Cripslock is the granddaughter of the engraver formerly employed by William de Worde to make copies of his newsletter. She confronts him angrily when he starts printing his newsletter with Gunilla Goodmountain, threatening her grandfather's livelihood.
She is described as eclectically attractive insofar as facial features are concerned: various aspects of her face would have had differing appeal over the centuries and went in and out of fashion. However, certain bodily features never go out of style and she is quite well-endowed in that respect.
Sacharissa strives for Respectability – however she suffers from misplaced assumptions on what exactly constitutes Respectability. She takes most of her cues from previous centuries, and believes that correct mannerisms are an adequate substitute for good manners. Either way it is a difficult task for one with her figure, which she tries to conceal with old-fashioned dresses (to no avail).
She ends up becoming a reporter with the new Ankh-Morpork Times, where she shows considerable talent as a journalist with a nose for news and a knack of creating snappy headlines. Unlike most citizens of Ankh-Morpork, she does not wield a pen like a carving knife, and has a firm grasp on the idea of punctuation. In addition, thanks to her physical qualities, various young men from all walks of life tend to come to her with various titbits which she can put into the paper.
In Going Postal, she wears a wedding ring: it is more than likely that she married William, who was quite taken with her in The Truth, eventually getting up the courage to ask her to lunch... before the hungry press intervened! Despite being married, she still refers to herself as Miss, which Moist von Lipwig surmises upon first meeting her means that she has Views. In Raising Steam, a footnote on page 123 explicitly refers to "Mr de Worde and wife". However, the reference does not elaborate as to whom. The lack of emphasis upon a romance between William and Sacharissa may reflect on their own reluctance to publicize their private lives (perhaps with good cause in William's case!). Or, it may just be another example of Pratchett's relaxed attitude towards the traditional narrative, in which the main characters' romance would certainly take center stage. Pratchett characters frequently marry; far less frequently is a Big Deal made over the nuptials, provided a dragon doesn't show up.
External links
- Sacharissa Cripslock on Wikipedia
The role was played by [Tamsin Greig] in the TV adaptation of Going Postal.