Unseen Academicals/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

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* Why is the statue of Alberto Malich still up in UU in ''[[Making Money]]''? I thought Albert blew up up in ''Reaper Man''?
** That happened in ''[[Discworld/Mort|Mort]]'', not ''[[Discworld/Reaper Man|Reaper Man]]''
** They made a new one. He's the University's founder, Ridcully wouldn't listen to the Bursar's "muck about statues coming alive" and it's expected.
*** Having said that, after Malich's second disappearance it was suggested that the Statue WOULD be made, only it would be locked away in a dungeon, which was then to be bricked up forever, to make sure that no one ever 'offended' it. Given Ridcully's attitude towards opening locked doors and messing around with what he finds beyond (as in [[Hogfather]], with traumatic consequences) it seems reasonable that it was later unearthed and put onto display, to the horror of the surviving staff members.
**** I'm not sure who Malich is but it isn't uncommon for exploding stuff to later reappear. Cue 'Bloody Stupid Johnson' stories.
***** Remove the last letter from Alberto's name and think of Death.
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** They ''try'' that; it just doesn't work, because it's a different situation. The Post Mortem Communications thing works because everyone's in on it; anyone who knows about it knows it's ''really'' necromancy, but they also know Hix is a decent sort really and that calling it something polite helps encourage a more polite kind of necromancy. But calling Nutt "a kind of goblin" only works until someone like Ottomy uses the word "Orc". (Of course, after that they realise he's a decent sort too, so it doesn't matter any more.)
 
* Does anyone have any idea what was with that thing through the end of the book'? Spoilering in case it's spoilery, I don't think it is but since I don't think I get it, better safe than sorry: {{spoiler|Where it has the blank pages with "'''You think this is over?" in the middle, several times, and then the last page is something along the lines of "Okay, ''now'' it's over." I assumed it was something like the Summoning Dark in ''[[Discworld/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]]'', [[Painting the Fourth Wall]] and all, and it was The Shove, or whatever the tin can was (the spirit of football?) talking, but... it's left totally unexplained, almost like a weak joke that decided to go into [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]] just for the heck of it. Maybe it was supposed to be a note to readers that this is the last "real" Discworld book (The Tiffany Aching books either not counting, or the plans for ''I Shall Wear Midnight'' being foregone), but that... doesn't sound right. Was it some theme I completely missed, like an expansion on Glenda's repeated mention of fairy tales, that went Meta?}} Did ''anyone'' get that?
** Probably more of a cultural reference issue, but spoilered link just in case: {{spoiler|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_think_it%27s_all_over}}
** Presumably they're meant to indicate that everything following these are epilogues.
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* Wouldn't the whole thing about -They have to play football every 20 years- already be void? After all, ''[[Discworld/The Colour of Magic|The Colour of Magic]]'' is further back and I don't remember the book giving an explanation on this.
** Lots of things have happened in the timeframe of the books that we don't get told about. The faculty don't recall the last time they played, but this only means they haven't done so since before ''[[Discworld/Moving Pictures|Moving Pictures]]'', when Ponder was a student and Ridcully had just been appointed Archchancellor (after a long period away from the University). The rest of the faculty I wouldn't rely on to remember ''anything'' except how long it's been since their last meal.
*** I thought about this since I wrote the initial headscratcher...Now I wonder: Is UA set in the same Leg of the Trousers of Time as, let's say, The Last Continent?
**** History Monks. Stop complaining, they gave it their best shot. Everyone remembers the BIG game, so that had to happen, no one remembers the other games so they probably got nicked to patch up somewhen else.
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* The enigma of the Arch-chancellor's Hat. Last seen in ''sourcery'' on the head of Abrim the mad mage, who while wearing it comes second in a magical battle and is blasted to smithereens, along with the Hat, after which no more is said of it in Sourcery. How, then, is it available in ''Unseen Academicals'' to be the prize in a bet between Ridcully and "Henry"? How did it get back from Klatch - or indeed survive when so many wizards died in the Mage War?
** Narrativium-induced reparing-mistakes on the timelines after the events of Thief Of Time ...?
** Notice how ''this'' Archchancellor's hat doesn't talk. It's ''The'' Archchancellor's hat in the same way that the [[Stanley Cup]] that the Bruins got this year is ''The'' Stanley Cup...despite the fact the ''original'' cup is, in fact, in retirement at the hall of fame in Toronto.<br />Think back to ''[[Discworld/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]]'', I think it was. The Low King mentions that he has his grandfather's axe...only the handle's had to be replaced once or twice, and the blade's had to be remade a couple times. Its component parts are not, in fact, the originals, but as a whole it's still his grandfather's axe.
*** Didn't Ridcully mention somewhere in the text that the hat 'Henry's after' is grumbling too much for his taste?
**** Perhaps, like the cricket trophy annually contested by England and Australia, it literally is The Ashes - of the Hat, and not the cricket stumps? This would fit the theme of UA and all the obscure British sporting allusions...
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* If there are over 200 football rules on the Disc compared to the 17 we have on Roundworld (printed on about 125-200 pages and up, mind you), why is there none yet concerning penalty kicks, linesmen etc? What DO these rules concern?
** Going by earlier books (Like [[Jingo]], where they count the score based on fouls rather than goals), it's likely that at this point, a certain amount of violence on the field is expected and allowed, and you just keep playing rather than stop to do penalty kicks.
*** Yes, but those 200+ rules are those they found in the urn. Therefore they are the rules of football before it became what it is at the beginning of the book. It's just weird.
** While it is strange there wouldn't be some of the basic rules in place, the rules which are in place are probably along the same lines as the rules for Quiditch in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' universe, albeit fewer magic related ones- basically, there is a need to expressly forbid specific forms of violence as otherwise, people will do them (have done them), because there [[Aint No Rule]]. Imagine if football rules included things like no stabbing or shooting other players or wearing brass knuckles on the field. The number of rules would pile up quickly.
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** Those are the rules for football ''as it was previously played at UU''. As in, the place where the porters go through obnoxious rituals about lost keys every morning just because it's always been done. Most of those excess "rules" are probably there to ensure that the ref bows twice towards the Tower of Art before wiping the ball clean, in remembrance of Archchancellar Whatchamacallit, or whatever.
 
* In the end of Unseen Academicals when Glenda and {{spoiler|the orc}} go to the palace, Lady Margolotta apparently adviced Drumknott to station guards with crossbows in the hall to shoot the two. And she seems rather offended when Vetinari tells his secretary to 'stand them (the guards) down'. Now, we learned that {{spoiler|the orc}} is pretty much nigh-immortal and that the bolts therefore would only harm/kill Glenda, very likely sending him in a near impossible to stop bersekerrageberseker rage and rampage. Margolotta's ought to be fully aware of that. What the hell was that woman thinking/planning?
** Nutt's "little brother" might be able to bring him back from apparent death, but that doesn't stop the apparent death in the first place—recall it took several hours the first time for him to recover, and that was from a blow to the head—crossbow bolts would likely "kill" him just as easily. In the meantime, there's almost certainly a way to make sure he ''stays'' "dead" once he's out cold. If the "little brother" is a physical piece of his physiology, it can be located and removed.<br />Recall what {{spoiler|orcs}} apparently served the ''losing'' side of some sorceror war, so they ''can'' be beaten in combat.
*** But we never learn what it took to take them down completely. And, as said, it might be viewed as a bit weird that Margolotta adviced Drumknott to prepare a way of dealing with the two she should have known could easily have ...very negative consequences.
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[[Category:Literature/Headscratchers]]
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[[Category:Discworld]]
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