In the third part of\u00c2\u00a0Eric<\/i>, WHAT THE HELL. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
THAT ESCALATED RATHER QUICKLY. I suppose I shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be surprised; this book is very, very short. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more of a novella than anything else. BUT STILL. SO MUCH JUST HAPPENED!!! Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s start with this:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t settle down,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Rincewind. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sorry, but this sort of thing has never happened to me before. All the jewels and things. Everything going as expected. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not right.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Technically, this is both a reference to Rincewind\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s characterization\u00c2\u00a0and<\/i> a bit of meta savviness. We, as readers, know that something is inevitably going to go wrong. There was no way the Tezuman\u00c2\u00a0were actually going to honor Eric as the leader. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not even basing that on what I already know of them; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just highly unlikely that in the third part of this book, everyone gets what they want. But\u00c2\u00a0then<\/i> you factor in Rincewind\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history\u00c2\u00a0and<\/i> the Tezuman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s philosophical outlook on the world, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s downright impossible for this to end well for Eric. (Well, I guess it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a million-to-one odds, eh? EH??? SEE, I CAN MAKE JOKES, TOO.)<\/p>\n
And then Rincewind comes across a physical representation of Quetzovercoatl, in statue form, and it somehow makes matters worse than before. Was this even possible??? (Of course! This is a Rincewind book. At any given moment, everything can get worse than it was before.) So it makes sense that when Rincewind discovers a prisoner of the Tezuman, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reluctant to help out. In Rincewind\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s view, this is a quick path to certain death. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get involved, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! Actually, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not quite right. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0want<\/i> to get involved, but he frequently is\u00c2\u00a0forced<\/i> to get involved. An important distinction! In this case, Rincewind actually chooses to help Ponce da Quirm, an older gentleman who was captured by the Tezuman while searching for the Fountain of Youth. His crime? Well\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know it yet.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thankful, though, that Pratchett is so willing to change perspective as much as he does. While I sat there, curious as to da Quirm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s backstory, Pratchett interjects the main plot with a few scenes from Astfgl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s point of view, and GOOD LORD. Quetzovercoatl is a\u00c2\u00a0real demon<\/i>. The statue in the pyramid? Yeah, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lifelike representation of the imp. (Well\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 technically.) And all of this is revealed so that Pratchett can set up a number of jokes. First of all, the imp IS NOT CREATIVE ENOUGH. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually something that was referenced in the text of the last section, since Astfgl was so irritated that the demons under him lacked ingenuity. So what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good example of that? The kind of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153evil\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that Quetzovercoatl created was so one-note, so simplistic, that there was absolutely no return on his investment, so-to-speak. As Astfgl puts it:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thousands of more-or-less innocent people dying? Straight out of our hands,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he snapped his fingers, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153just like that. Straight off to their happy hunting ground or whatever. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the trouble with you people. You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think of the Big Picture. I mean, look at the Tezumen. Gloomy, unimaginative, obsessive\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 by now they could have invented a whole bureaucracy and taxation system could have turned the minds of the continent to slag. Instead of which, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a bunch of second-rate axe-murderers. What a waste.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The evil done here has guaranteed that not a single soul will go to Hell. All of those killed by the Tezumen died righteously because they died\u00c2\u00a0unfairly<\/i>. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what the King of Demon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s goal is: to create\u00c2\u00a0more<\/i> demons, building a system of evil along the way. Therefore, it makes sense that Astfgl would intercede here. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to risk losing Eric Thursley to the Tezumen,\u00c2\u00a0and<\/i> he can dismantle this entire kingdom in the process. He can kill two birds with one stone!<\/p>\n
Or kill one demon with one Luggage, I should say.<\/p>\n
It was at this moment, against all his instincts, in great trepidation and, most unfortunately of all, in deep ignorance of what was happening, that Quetzovercoatl himself chose to materialize on top of the pyramid.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I really thought I had this figured out. This was\u00c2\u00a0clearly<\/i> the way in which Rincewind, Eric, and da Quirm would escape. Quetzovercoatl would compel the Tezumen to let them go. HAHAHA OH NO.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6and it really hurt to reveal that, in one important particular, it was incorrect.<\/p>\n
He was six inches high.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Now then,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he began, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153this is very important \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, no one ever found out why. At that moment the Luggage breasted the top of the pyramid, its legs whirring like propellers, and landed squarely on the slabs.<\/p>\n
There was a brief, flat squeak.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I DID NOT EXPECT THIS. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fascinating to me that technically, da Quirm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s optimism won out in the end. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s overjoyed by how this all turned out; hell, he truly found it all to be uproariously funny. (I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t blame him.) But how is this going to affect Eric? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I want to know! Rincewind takes him to task in this section, openly calling him out for his ridiculous expectations. Did he think the Disc would be completely fine with him becoming the Ruler of the World? Did he honestly think that a sudden declaration of power would earn him respect? Clearly, he did, but is he going to continue to cling to this kind of harmful na\u00c3\u00afvet\u00c3\u00a9? He\u00c2\u00a0does<\/i> express interest in taking all of the Tezumen treasure with him, which is clearly a bad idea, so maybe he hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t learned his lesson. f<\/p>\n
Well, neither did the Tezumen, who replace Quetzcoatl with the Luggage. I still feel weird about the use of indigenous people for an extended joke, since at the end of all of this, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still just as foolish and gullible as they were at the start of this. Plus, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got Pratchett making fun of a non-English language\u00c2\u00a0again<\/i>, much like he poked fun at hieroglyphics in\u00c2\u00a0Pyramids<\/i>. I think anyone born to a culture who has benefited from centuries of colonization doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get to make fun of this sort of thing, you know?<\/p>\n
Anyway, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how this is a book! What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s next for Eric? The Demon King? Rincewind??? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got anything to go on. SO ONWARDS I GO.<\/p>\n
The original text contains use of the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mad.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=l9q087Xa–M<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S., Canada, Europe, the U.K., and Ireland. Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of\u00c2\u00a0The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!
\n– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running,\u00c2\u00a0I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
\n<\/a>– Please check out the\u00c2\u00a0MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the third part of\u00c2\u00a0Eric, WHAT THE HELL. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[489,463,248],"class_list":["post-3282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-eric","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}