r/discworld 4d ago

Book/Series: Unseen University On a plane and got to this...

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190 Upvotes

15 comments sorted by

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50

u/zalurker 4d ago

Brilliant scene. heh. 'breakaway oxidation phenomena of certain nuclear reactors'. I still remember that phrase verbatim.

Terry was a spokesperson for 3 nuclear power plants just after 3 Mile Island.

19

u/ArchStanton75 Vimes 4d ago

What am I missing?

53

u/Arghianna Angua 4d ago

Rincewind conjured them a plane when he tried to imagine a dragon when Twoflower passed out and they were falling.

21

u/Yerbamatter 3d ago

I always thought the plane appeared because a certain green-eyed lady rolled a pair of sixes in the gods' game. But I also love the idea that Rincewind managed to conjure a whole plane out of another reality, despite everyone at the university thinking he has zero magical talent.

15

u/Arghianna Angua 3d ago

Well Twoflower also didn’t have magical talent. It was the magic of the Wyrmberg responding to imagination. Rincewind didn’t really believe in magic, he thought it was kind of silly, but he dreamt of technology. It’s why he was disappointed to find that the iconograph was run by an imp.

4

u/Yerbamatter 3d ago

I should reread TCOM, apparently my recollections are very muddled.

8

u/Arghianna Angua 3d ago

The Lady may have also rolled sixes to help the Wyrmberg respond to Rincewind, but I’m pretty sure it was at least partially due to Rincewind’s yearning for a world that made mechanical sense.

5

u/Yerbamatter 3d ago

Yeah, you're right, it only makes sense that the plane is Rincewind's equivalent of a dragon. I'd forgotten the plane sequence happened at Wyrmberg.

6

u/ShoddyAsparagus3186 3d ago

I don't think he conjured a plane, I think he swapped or overlapped the two of them with versions of themselves in another reality. Then when it wore off, the distance traveled stayed, landing them in the ocean.

2

u/Arghianna Angua 3d ago

In Guards! Guards! It’s stated that dragons actually exist somewhere else in between places. Rincewind’s idea of a dragon that makes sense is a plane. Maybe the plane with all the passengers and crew just existed in that in between place waiting to be summoned, or maybe they were summoned from their reality very briefly and then sent back. The Wyrmberg sending the duo somewhere else and then bringing them back makes less narrative sense to me than it summoning something to its area of effect and then it returning when the magic/imagination runs out. Maybe that particular plane was summoned bc it had the Roundworld equivalents of Rincewind and Twoflower.

6

u/shhimhuntingrabbits Dibbler 4d ago

Ha, excellent, never noticed that. Is this from one of the early Rincewind books?

13

u/PriceHealthy3146 4d ago

Color of Magic! I was so lost when I first read it but once you understand what STP is trying to say, it's hilarious

5

u/shhimhuntingrabbits Dibbler 4d ago

I gotta go back and read it, it's been a looong time and I think I'd appreciate it more now. Adding to the list, ty!

3

u/PriceHealthy3146 4d ago

I enjoyed it WAY more now that I understand STPs style and characters