SPOILERS Mort Discussion *Spoilers*

[ZFR77]

OK, thanks. I guess I was looking for some specific promise Mort made. While Albert did say that Mort has to do his duty, Mort never promised anything, not even implicitly.

But I guess that has to be the explanation, I went throgh all Mort-Albert interactions and didn't find anything that fits better.

 

[Tonyblack]

Terry does that to us! I must have read all the books at least four times, and I still discover new things each time. Sometimes I go down a rabbit hole trying to understand a deeper meaning, only to discover that maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree, or that Terry has got one over on me . . . again!

 

[RathDarkblade]

I don't think Terry (or Mort) had to explicitly tell us everything. I think we can read between the lines: Mort is a solid, honest lad. Honesty is down into his bones.

Albert is cantankerous old geezer, who would never do Mort a favour, just because he likes Mort so much. (And he doesn't.) That's just something that would never, ever happen.

Albert doesn't write the spell down as a favour, to be repaid later. He explicitly says: "You have to do the Duty first." So Mort, being the honest, hardworking lad that he is, tries to do the Duty first and THEN save Keli. But he runs out of time. That's all.

 

[ZFR77]

Terry does that to us! I must have read all the books at least four times, and I still discover new things each time. Sometimes I go down a rabbit hole trying to understand a deeper meaning, only to discover that maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree, or that Terry has got one over on me . . . again!

Exactly. It's one of those really minor issues that nevertheless sometimes keep nagging me: Did I miss something deeper here? Did Terry Pratchett make some obscure reference that I'm not getting? Or is the cigar just a cigar?

 

[RathDarkblade]

You haven't missed anything, ZFR77. Please see my post above about this.

 

[ZFR77]

You haven't missed anything, ZFR77. Please see my post above about this.

Yes I saw it. I was just explaining how those little things can bug you sometimes in general.

Thnks for the response.

 

[=Tamar]

Mort is a very early book. Terry said later that he had just discovered the joy of plot (a bit of an exaggeration, given the number of books he had already published), but he was writing fast and there are some holes here and there.

 

[Clem Peppermint]

Mort was an excellent book, but I'm not really sure where it fits timeline-wise. Is it after the events of CoFM and TLF?

 

[=Tamar]

Yes. Sir Terry once said that all the books happen in sequence, except for Small Gods, whih covers a hundred years. The confusing bits of the timeline are mainly the result of the events described in Thief of Time.

 

[Clem Peppermint]

Yes. Sir Terry once said that all the books happen in sequence, except for Small Gods, whih covers a hundred years. The confusing bits of the timeline are mainly the result of the events described in Thief of Time.

Ahhh okay that makes sense. So they appear in the order they were written in? I've seen all of these complex flowcharts showing the reading order so I think that's what made me a bit confused lol. Thank you!

 

[Molokov]

Some example timelines that fans have attempted to work out:

https://www.lspace.org/books/timeline/dw-timeline-intro.html

https://wiki.lspace.org/Discworld_Timeline

https://wiki.lspace.org/Discworld_Timeline_2.0

... although, as covered in "Thief of Time", it's entirely possible that it all makes no sense and no difference as the History Monks have had to repair the entire history of the Discworld on more than one occasion.

 

[Clem Peppermint]

Some example timelines that fans have attempted to work out:

https://www.lspace.org/books/timeline/dw-timeline-intro.html

https://wiki.lspace.org/Discworld_Timeline

https://wiki.lspace.org/Discworld_Timeline_2.0

... although, as covered in "Thief of Time", it's entirely possible that it all makes no sense and no difference as the History Monks have had to repair the entire history of the Discworld on more than one occasion.

Ohh okay thank you that helps! Just out of curiosity, in regards to the year, does UC mean something similar to AD? Is it 'unseen' something for Unseen University? Thanks!

 

[Molokov]

Yes, University Calendar (commonly used throughout Ankh-Morpork and the Sto Plains, and thus, most of the Discworld). There's some more info about the Discworld Year and the calendar system in the Discworld Companion, but Terry was always very free and ambiguous about it, he never bothered working out a system that was consistent.

 

[Clem Peppermint]

Yes, University Calendar (commonly used throughout Ankh-Morpork and the Sto Plains, and thus, most of the Discworld). There's some more info about the Discworld Year and the calendar system in the Discworld Companion, but Terry was always very free and ambiguous about it, he never bothered working out a system that was consistent.

Right, that makes sense, thank you! That's really cool