The
Discworld novels can be read chronologically, and were originally published as a continuous series. However, they are also grouped into sub-series of related novels which contain the same characters or themes. The editions published by
Transworld from 2023 assign 30 of the novels to five sub-series, identified by a subtitle on the cover, which respectively group the novels about the Discworld's witches, its wizards, the
Ankh-Morpork City Watch, and the characters
Death and
Tiffany Aching. The Discworld Emporium organises all of the novels except
The Last Hero into seven sub-series, focussed respectively on the Discworld's witches, gods, and industrial revolution, the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, the wizards of
Unseen University, the character Death, and novels aimed at younger readers.
Rincewind Rincewind was the first protagonist of
Discworld. He is a wizard with no skill, no wizardly qualifications, and no interest in heroics. He is extremely cowardly but is constantly thrust into dangerous adventures. He saves Discworld on several occasions, and has an instrumental role in the emergence of life on Roundworld (
Science of Discworld). Other characters in the Rincewind story arc include
Cohen the Barbarian, an aging hero of the old fantasy tradition, out of touch with the modern world and still fighting despite his advanced age;
Twoflower, a naive tourist from the Agatean Empire (inspired by cultures of East Asia, particularly Japan and China); and
The Luggage, a magical, semi-sentient and aggressive multi-legged travelling accessory. Rincewind appears in eight Discworld novels as well as the four
Science of Discworld supplementary books.
Death Death, a seven-foot
skeleton in a black robe who rides a pale horse named Binky, appears in every novel except
The Wee Free Men and
Snuff, although sometimes with only a few lines. His dialogue is always depicted in
SMALL CAPS without quotation marks. Several characters have said that his voice seemed to reach their minds without making a sound. Death guides souls from this world to the next. Over millennia he has developed a fascination with humanity to a point and feels protective of it. In the novel
Mort, he adopted a human daughter and took on a human apprentice. Eventually the daughter and apprentice had a daughter,
Susan Sto Helit, a primary character in
Soul Music, Hogfather, and
Thief of Time. Characters that often appear with Death include his butler
Albert, his granddaughter Susan Sto Helit, the
Death of Rats in charge of gathering the souls of rodents,
Quoth the raven, and the Auditors of Reality, the closest thing Death has to a nemesis. Five Discworld novels feature prominently either Death or Susan with Death appearing. He also appears in the short stories
Death and What Comes Next,
Theatre of Cruelty and
Turntables of the Night.
Witches Witches in Pratchett's universe act as
herbalists, nurses, adjudicators and wise women who can use
magic but generally prefer not to, finding simple but cunningly applied psychology (called "headology") far more effective. The principal witch,
Granny Weatherwax, a taciturn, bitter old crone from the small mountain country of
Lancre, largely despises people but acts as their healer and protector because no one else can do this as well as she can. Her closest friend is
Nanny Ogg, a jolly, personable witch with the "common touch" who enjoys a smoke and a pint of beer, and often sings bawdy folk songs like the notorious "Hedgehog Song". The two take on apprentice witches: first
Magrat Garlick, then
Agnes Nitt, then
Tiffany Aching, who become accomplished witches. Other characters in the Witches series include: • King Verence II of Lancre, a onetime
Fool •
Jason Ogg, Nanny Ogg's eldest son, the local blacksmith •
Shawn Ogg, Nanny's youngest son who serves as his country's entire army and civil service • Nanny's murderous cat Greebo. The witches appear in many Discworld books, and are protagonists in seven. They also appeared in the short story "
The Sea and Little Fishes". Their stories frequently draw on ancient European folklore and fairy tales, and parody famous works of literature, particularly by
Shakespeare.
City Watch The stories featuring the
Ankh-Morpork City Watch are
urban fantasy, and frequently depict a traditional, magically run fantasy world coming into contact with modern technology. They revolve around the growth of the
Ankh-Morpork City Watch from a hopeless gang of three to a fully-equipped and efficient police force. The stories are largely
police procedurals, featuring crimes with heavy political or societal overtones. The main character
Sam Vimes is a haggard, cynical, working-class street copper. When introduced in
Guards! Guards!, he is the alcoholic captain of the three-person Night Watch, which also includes the lazy, cowardly, and none-too-bright sergeant
Fred Colon and Corporal
Nobby Nobbs, a petty thief in his own right. Then
Carrot Ironfoundersson, a 6-foot-6-inch-tall (1.98 m) dwarf-by-adoption, joins the Watch. Other main characters include •
Angua, a werewolf, • Detritus, a troll, • Reg Shoe, a zombie and Dead Rights campaigner, • Cuddy, a
Dwarf in
Men at Arms, and • Golem Constable Dorfl.
Cheery Littlebottom, the Watch's
forensics expert and one of the first openly female dwarves, tried to rename herself "Cheri" without success. Constable Visit-the-infidel-with-explanatory-pamphlets appears in some novels, and Sam's wife,
Lady Sybil Vimes (née Ramkin) is integral to certain storylines.
Inspector A E Pessimal was recruited by Vimes as his adjutant after
Havelock Vetinari, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, sent him as an auditor. The City Watch feature in eight Discworld stories, and cameoed in a number of others, including
Making Money, the children's book ''
Where's My Cow?,'' and the short story "
Theatre of Cruelty". Pratchett stated on numerous occasions that the presence of the City Watch makes Ankh-Morpork stories "problematic", as stories set in the city that do not directly involve Vimes and the Watch often require a Watch presence to maintain the story—at which point, it becomes a Watch story by default.
Wizards The Wizards of
Unseen University (UU) appear prominently throughout many
Discworld novels; the books that centre around them exclusively are The Science of the Discworld series and the novels
Unseen Academicals and
The Last Continent. In the early books, the faculty of UU changed frequently; promotion usually involved assassination. However, after the ascension of the bombastic
Mustrum Ridcully to the position of
Archchancellor, the hierarchy settled down and characters had the chance to develop. Earlier books featured the wizards in possible invasions of Discworld by creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions, Lovecraftian monsters that hungered for magic. The wizards of UU employ the traditional "whizz-bang" type of magic seen in
Dungeons & Dragons games, but also investigate the rules and structure of magic in terms highly reminiscent of
particle physics. Prominent members include •
Ponder Stibbons, a geeky young wizard, •
Hex, the Disc's first computer/semi-sentient thinking engine, •
the Librarian, turned into an orangutan by magical accident, who refuses to be turned back, • the Dean, • the mentally unstable
Bursar, • the Chair of Indefinite Studies, • the Lecturer in Recent Runes, and • the Senior Wrangler. In later novels, Rincewind joins their group, while the Dean leaves to become the Archchancellor of Brazeneck College in the nearby city of Pseudopolis. The Wizards feature prominently in nine
Discworld books and star in The
Science of Discworld series and the short story "A Collegiate Casting-Out of Devilish Devices".
Tiffany Aching Tiffany Aching is a young apprentice witch in a series of Discworld books aimed at young adults. Her stories often parallel mythic heroes' quests, but also deal with Tiffany's difficulties as a young girl maturing into a responsible woman. She is aided in her task by the
Nac Mac Feegle, a gang of blue-tattooed, 6-inch tall, hard-drinking, loud-mouthed
picts, also called "The Wee Free Men", who serve as her guardians. She is the protagonist of five novels,
The Wee Free Men,
A Hat Full of Sky,
Wintersmith,
I Shall Wear Midnight, and ''
The Shepherd's Crown''. Major characters in this series include Miss Tick, a travelling witch who discovers Tiffany; Nac Mac Feegle chieftain Rob Anybody; and the other young witches Annagramma Hawkin and Petulia Gristle. Both
Granny Weatherwax and
Nanny Ogg also appear in her stories.
Moist von Lipwig Moist von Lipwig is a professional criminal and con man to whom Havelock Vetinari gives a "second chance" after staging his execution, recognising the advantages his
jack-of-all-trades abilities will give to the development of the city. After putting him in charge of the
Ankh-Morpork Post Office in
Going Postal, with good results, Vetinari orders him to clear up the city's corrupt financial sector in
Making Money. In a third book,
Raising Steam, Vetinari directs Lipwig to oversee the development of a railway network for Dick Simnel's newly invented steam locomotive. Other characters in this series include
Adora Belle Dearheart, Lipwig's acerbic, chain-smoking love interest; Gladys, a golem who develops a strange crush on Lipwig;
Stanley Howler, an obsessive young man who was raised by peas and becomes the Discworld's first
stamp collector; and the very old Junior Postman Groat, who never got promoted to Senior Postman because there was never a Postmaster alive long enough to promote him.
Discworld cultures Several other books can be grouped together as "Other cultures of Discworld" books. They may contain characters or locations from other arcs, typically not as protagonist or antagonist but as a supporting character or even a throwaway reference. These include
Pyramids (Djelibeybi),
Small Gods (Omnia), and
Monstrous Regiment (Zlobenia and Borogravia). == Composition ==