Open main menu

Wikipedia
Equal Rites
Article Talk

Language
Watch
Edit

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 wordplay on the phrase "Equal Rights".
Equal Rites
EqR.cover.jpg
First edition
Author
Terry Pratchett
Cover artist
Josh Kirby
Language
English
Series

Discworld
3rd novel – 1st Witches story

Subject

Fantasy clichés, Feminism

Characters:
Eskarina Smith, Granny Weatherwax
Locations:
Ankh-Morpork, Lancre

Genre
Fantasy
Publisher
Victor Gollancz in association with Colin Smythe
Publication date
15 January 1987
ISBN
0-575-03950-7
Preceded by
The Light Fantastic
Followed by
Mort

The novel introduces the character of Granny Weatherwax, who reappears in several
later Discworld novels. The protagonist Eskarina Smith does not return until I
Shall Wear Midnight, which was published 23 years later.

Pratchett based the character Esk on his daughter Rhianna Pratchett.[1]

Plot summaryEdit

The wizard Drum Billet knows that he will soon die and travels to a place where an
eighth son of an eighth son is about to be born. This signifies that the child is
destined to become a wizard; on the Discworld, the number eight has many of the
magical properties that are sometimes ascribed to seven in other mythologies.
Billet wants to pass his wizard's staff on to his successor.

However, the newborn child is actually a girl, Esk (full name Eskarina Smith).
Since Billet notices his mistake too late, the staff passes on to her. As Esk grows
up, it becomes apparent that she has uncontrollable powers, and the local witch
Granny Weatherwax decides to travel with her to Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork
to help her gain the knowledge required to properly manage her powers.

But a female wizard is something completely unheard of on the Discworld. Esk is

unsuccessful in her first, direct, attempt to gain entry to the University, but
Granny Weatherwax finds another way in; as a servant. While there, Esk witnesses
the progress of an apprentice wizard named Simon, whom she had met earlier, on her
way to Ankh-Morpork. Simon is a natural talent who invents a whole new way of
looking at the universe that reduces it to component numbers.

Simon's magic causes a hole to be opened into the Dungeon Dimensions while he is in
Esk's presence. The staff, acting to protect Esk, strikes Simon on the head,
closing the hole but trapping his mind in the Dungeon Dimensions. Esk throws the
staff away, believing that it attacked Simon. While attempting to rescue him, Esk
ends up in the Dungeon Dimensions. The extreme cold there causes the staff, now
washed out to sea, to create a huge ice sheet, causing a storm that floods the
university as well as the surrounding city.

Esk and Simon discover the weakness of the creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions—if
you can use magic, but don't, they become scared and weakened. With the help of
Granny Weatherwax and Archchancellor Cutangle, who have retrieved the staff, they
both manage to transport themselves back into the Discworld. Esk and Simon go on to
develop a new kind of magic, based on the notion that the greatest power is the
ability not to use all the others.
CharactersEdit

Granny Weatherwax
Eskarina Smith
Simon
Drum Billet, dying wizard, bloody-minded apple tree and reincarnated ant
Archchancellor Cutangle

Reception
Reviews
References
External links
Last edited 5 months ago by Citation bot
Wikipedia

Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted.

Privacy policy
Terms of Use
Desktop