Small Gods: (Discworld Novel 13) (Discworld Novels)

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The dim bulb Nhumrod's name seems to be a play on "numbskull" and "nimrod," two words that in modern times mean a stupid person. The Discworld is ripe with gods – from the impressive inhabitants of Cori Celesti to P’tang-P’tang the newt god, worshipped by a grand total of 51 believers – and all of them need belief to exist. Illustrated by Angie Hoffmeister and with a brilliant new afterword by Donna Tartt, this edition is limited to just 500 copies and has been signed by both contributors.

Also Vorbis when he is forced to examine himself after death, then Brutha again when he finds him there a century later. Oppose What You Suffered: Brutha is used (and abused) as a useful pawn (or sacrifice) by the authorities of the Church of Om, the god Om himself, and even by those opposing the church. The 13th Discworld novel and a standalone, although it uses some characters and locations from Pyramids and its events influence later works. For most of the book, no one else can hear Om's words but Brutha; everyone else thinks Om is just a tortoise, and most believe Brutha is a bit mad in this regard. However, Om – more usually known for appearing as a monstrous bull or a majestic swan – has fallen on hard times.In among all the horrific torture implements are holiday mementoes, family photos, mugs saying "world's best dad", and letters from retired colleagues thanking everyone for the money at their leaving do. Yet the tale is never heavy-handed, thanks to Brutha's sincerity and some deftly comical plot twists, as well as all the levity that comes from picturing an angry God trapped in the body of a tortoise.

But when the trio get close to Omnia, it turns out that Vorbis had been faking helplessness the whole time, and knocks Brutha unconscious, allowing him free rein to spin what happened however he wants it. It turns out that commanding unwavering respect is rather more difficult from the body of a small, scrawny tortoise. There have been many Greek gods mentioned across thousands of stories in Greek mythology – from the Olympian gods all the way down to the many minor gods. When Om does regain a lot of die-hard believers, he's able to beat up Dunmanifestin's chief god Io because nobody believes in thunder gods all that strongly anymore. During events detailed in The Last Continent, he briefly takes on Ponder Stibbons as an apprentice, but scares him off when he reveals his most perfect creation to be the cockroach.Named after the technical term for long-sightedness, and it is possible that she is inspired by the Greek goddess Nike, and the shoes named after her. The book Bowdlerizes this, at least partly for humor (given the circumstances of Om hijacking the eagle); see below.

When Brutha comes to him asking about hearing the voice of Om, he lectures Brutha about demonic voices, on which he is an expert, hearing them constantly himself. Brutha is persuaded to go on a journey to Ephebe, home to a community of philosophers, where Omnian soldiers ransack the city and burn down its libraries.Death, who appears to several Omnians and conducts them to the edge of the great starlit black desert, which they must cross to face Judgement. This is a reference to the Parable of the Lost Sheep from the New Testament: "If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? Most of the rats who think about this are continually questioning it, so it's not clear if there is enough belief for a god to form.