Mark Reads ‘Carpe Jugulum’: Part 9

In the ninth part of Carpe Jugulum, the witches seek out Granny Weatherwax. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Discworld. 

Well, this is the last thing I expected, but I GUESS I HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT. It was a possibility, but I thought Granny would at least respond to some form of appeal, but in hindsight? Yeah, I don’t think Granny is necessarily behaving out of character. Her behavior might be exaggerated in some instances, but isn’t this still the same character we’ve known this whole time?

In the scenes that lead-up to the trio’s confrontation to her, everything fits perfectly within what we know of Granny. All of the illusions are headology, aren’t they? Each of them prey on the fears and insecurities of the person who encounters them, and I’m willing to bet that Granny exploited the magical weirdness of the gnarly places to specifically target these three people. She had to know that Nanny, Agnes, and Magrat would come after her, right?

However, I’m not sure Granny knows all that much about the Perdita side of Agnes. (She might, but I am trying to remember their interactions in Masquerade, and I’m drawing a blank.) Pratchett suggests something new here that I had not considered: Perdita is not simply Agnes’s inner monologue, but more like a completely separate personality. What’s fascinating about this is that he doesn’t then designate it as an illness or a flaw of Agnes’s in this context. Perdita is often cruel and lacks compassion. Here, though? Perdita is a good thing. When Agnes slips off the “bridge” over the massive “gorge,” it’s Perdita who asserts herself so strongly that her version of reality is made true. Agnes doesn’t fall to her death, but merely drops the “eighteen inches” into the stream below the bridge. It’s a very strange choice, but I also don’t feel remotely qualified to examine this in any real-world sense; I don’t have dissociative identity disorder myself.

As for Granny Weatherwax, I think I know what’s going on with her, but I can’t be sure if this a mood or emblematic of something much larger. Granny’s questioned her purpose before, but, as Nanny has mentioned multiple times, she also gets in “moods.” What makes me think this is much more serious is how wholesale her rejection is, despite the reluctance she expresses. Oh, that reluctance is definitely there, y’all, and you can see it in those “infinitesimal” pauses that are just a bit too long. I’m curious if Granny would have had such a strong reaction if Agnes hadn’t made the mistake of telling Granny what she ought to do.

Personally? We would have gotten this ending regardless. Granny believed that she had been insulted and hadn’t been invited to Magrat’s daughter’s naming ceremony, despite that she had. (But she knew, right? Right?) It pushed her to this point, along with the realization that she could be replaced, and thus… life in a cave? Elsewhere? Who knows? It’s believable, but there’s another context to this all that’s not revealed until after Nanny goes back to speak with Granny alone. (Though note that Perdita figures out that Granny is lying!) AND LORD, I WASN’T READY.

“I can’t beat ‘em, Gytha,” said Granny. “I can’t beat ‘em, and that’s a fact.”

Granny follows this with… well, shit. The truth, I guess. She can’t beat the Magpyrs. She’s been trying to stop them and break through their defenses, but she can’t. Just hearing those words out of her mouth chilled me because THIS IS GRANNY WEATHERWAX WE’RE TALKING ABOUT. She can do anything, you know? However, maybe that isn’t the case:

“I am beaten, Gytha. Even before I start. Maybe someone else has a way, but I haven’t. I’m up against a mind that’s better’n mine. I just about keep it away from me but I can’t get in. I can’t fight back.”

Thus, we are brought to a horrifying point: Granny isn’t coming home, and the trio will not have her help. They’re on their own.

WHAT IS THIS BOOK.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NMX3kGgmq4

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