Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
214,144
edits
Unseen Academicals/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
m (Dai-Guard moved page Discworld (Literature)/Unseen Academicals/Headscratchers to Discworld/Unseen Academicals/Headscratchers: Move to correct namespace) |
No edit summary |
||
| (9 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{work}}
* 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 ''[[
** 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.
Line 23:
** 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 ''[[
** 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.
Line 38:
**** Perhaps he was a sourcerer, but (unlike Coin) he ''knew about the Dungeon Dimensions'', so preferred to use non-magical methods when they'd do the job?
* What exactly happened to Andy at the end? I got the "never have to pay for a drink" reference, but nothing else. Guess I just wasn't paying attention.
** Pepe slashed Andy's forehead. The blood ran into Andy's eyes, so Andy couldn't see. Then Pepe gave him something, which, being unable to see it, Andy tried to wipe up the blood with. It turned out to be a slice of lemon. Ouch. So Andy has a nasty scar in an obvious location. I guess if you have a nasty scar like that, either people will buy you drinks out of pity or bartenders will fear you and not be too picky about you paying your tab.
** Unless I'm mistaken, the "never have to pay for a drink" line is a reference to earlier in the book, when it was said about someone who had ''lost'' an eye. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what Pepe did to Andy.
Line 60:
* Wouldn't the whole thing about -They have to play football every 20 years- already be void? After all, ''[[
** 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 ''[[
*** 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.
Line 74:
** I'm not sure they have 9 individual meals. It might be that they eat the equivalent to 9 meals a day over the course of their actual 4-5 "meals". Or they're measuring less by meals and more by occasional breaks in eating.
*** Have to give the book another look soon anyway, will check what it states. Though I do think it was 9 individual ones as there were some remarks about how the achievements for the (magical) world of some former Archchancellors were inventing, for example, the second breakfast.
**** Over on the L-Space Wiki (to which I contribute and edit) the speculation is (backed by observational evidence) that wizards are offered a meal ina set pattern corresponding to either monastic prayer times, or the sounding of Bells aboard a ship.
https://web.archive.org/web/20190823110617/http://wiki.lspace.org/
nobody is forced to be present for ''every'' meal - look at wizards like Ponder, who manage to stay normally slim - but the dining times are there and on offer.
***** (Hi there, dude. It's me, the (more) crazy one) That might be one answer, but it still baffles me what actual reason there is to have 9 meals instead of, well, stretching the availability time of 4 or 5. At my brother's university you can get breakfast from 6 am to 11:30 pm.
* 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 ''[[
*** 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...
Line 89:
* 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.
Line 96:
** 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
** 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
*** 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.
*** You're right. '''''We''''' don't learn what it takes to bring down {{spoiler|an orc}}. Lady Magolotta, who's helped ''raise'' Nutt, probably did. Just because ''we'' don't know something doesn't mean the ''characters'' don't know it. In fact, it's usually quite the opposite.
*** ''I'' am fully aware of that. But as said, the text suggests ''she'' adviced to arm the guards with crossbows and ''she'' seemed offended when Vetinari ordered to stand them down. I am not saying that it DOES mean anything, just that it COULD.
*** I'm not sure what you're saying is wrong here. She thought Nutt was a threat and wanted him killed, and Vetinari overruled
*** We might never know whether she wanted him killed or to go into bersekrmode and rampage through the city. Not until someone asks Pterry.
*** Pretty certain it has to be the former. Lady Margolotta has no reason seen, said, implied, or even inferrable from what we've seen that suggests she'd want the latter.
Line 107:
*** She probably never intended for them to shoot Nutt himself, but rather, to threaten Glenda if Nutt became aggressive. Margolotta knows Nutt and his social insecurities well enough to deduce that any young woman willingly seen in his company is bound to be his [[Love Interest]], for whose sake he'd back off.
* [[What Happened to
** He went back to Brazeneck, where the thing with the chicken happened, if I remember correctly.
*** Thing is, it is never said. Only the former Dean actively goes back to Brazeneck. There's no mention of what Adrian was doing in all the time. He appears, speaks one line, flees the scene not to get into the line of fire and...vanishes.
Line 114:
***** He was brought up as the one running the copy of Hex, you know the one who messed up and allowed the chicken incident. Thus he was brought up as the Ponder of the new universities faculty.(just not a very good one)
****** That I got, I am not daft. My thought more went into the direction of, why did he vanish from the story after the scene he was in? Shouldn't there at least have been a talk or quarrel between him and Ponder? For good measures? It just feels odd that there's no interaction between those two. Left alone no information as to why Adrian left exactly.
***** Adrian probably couldn't risk talking to Ponder because of the harsh feelings between their respective bosses. If ex-Dean Henry caught him chatting with one of Ridcully's loyal
* If Ponder is doing the Bursar's job now, what happened to the Bursar?
Line 123:
*** Point taken, though one then could still argue that Vetinari lost his reputation when he initially forbid foot-the-ball for being ''too brutal'' but left the fans unristricted. Even with the new rules, they will remain as brutal as before, jumping each others throats for the colours they wear, etc. Not to mention the former Dean as referee and then NOT have him try to undermine the UU and Vetinari and thereby Ankh-Morpork as total? But that's another question...
{{worksubpagefooter}}
[[Category:Literature/Headscratchers]]
__NOTOC__▼
[[Category:Discworld]]
▲__NOTOC__
| |||