In the second part of\u00c2\u00a0Hogfather<\/i>, Susan deals with more monsters; Teatime recruits some assistants; Death realizes something is wrong. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Susan<\/b><\/p>\n
So, let me see if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got this right: the previous governess treated the children she watched over in a very stereotypical way, using fear of the fantastical as a method to get the kids to behave. By virtue of the power of belief on the Disc, these very creations and creatures became or\u00c2\u00a0are<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0very real to the kids and to Susan, so she has to\u00c2\u00a0literally<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0battle them out of the way as she tries to get through her day. Everything about this is just as entertaining as it sounds, though I appreciated that Pratchett showed us how irritating this is for Susan. Not only is her day interrupted countless times because of what the previous governess did, but the two kids \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Gawain and Twyla \u00e2\u20ac\u201c sort of revel in the idea of conjuring up these creatures in order to watch Susan fight them.<\/p>\n
Like, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really blame them. At all. I WOULD PROBABLY DO THE SAME. But I\u00c2\u00a0think<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0that Susan has unknowingly caused a bit of havoc herself. See, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no real confirmation that Hogfather is real because only a certain subset of people believe in him. Namely? Children. But, like Santa Claus, that belief dissipates with adulthood. At the same time, this is the Discworld. The power of belief is a real thing that you shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take for granted or underestimate. So when Twyla begins to ask an uncomfortable question after a bedtime story (I WANT ALL BEDTIME STORIES TO BE TRANSLATED BY SUSAN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH), I wonder if Susan has solved the Assassins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 problem of Hogfather\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s existence.<\/p>\n
What I mean is that she assures them that there\u00c2\u00a0is<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0a Hogfather. Belief means everything here, so did she just ensure that there\u00c2\u00a0will<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0be a Hogfather for Teatime and his allies to go after?<\/p>\n
OH GOD WHAT IF SHE DID.<\/p>\n
Teatime<\/b>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Associates<\/b><\/p>\n
I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deny that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something genuine about Teatime. He may view the world strangely, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not\u00c2\u00a0lying<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0about it, you know? So when the five \u00e2\u20ac\u0153thieves\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Banjo, Catseye, Peachy, Chickenwire, and Medium Dave \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who all exist outside the Thieves\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Guild meet him, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that they absolutely believe him, too. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intimidating! And I get that! The guy sneaks up on the five of them, alternates between sharing emotional truths about himself and insulting the group, and states whatever he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thinking without any sort of filter at all. He has some idea of how to take down Hogfather, but he refuses to give anyone the details. Not only that, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also willing to use any means necessary to achieve his goal. He hires thieves outside of the Guild, and he reaches out to a wizard desperate for money. All this to break into a place that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0like<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0a wizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tower, that has a few guards, and that requires thieves and a wizard?<\/p>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get it. Nor do I get why Teatime PUNCHES BANJO IN THE MOUTH.<\/p>\n
Death<\/b><\/p>\n
Death! At the bottom of the ocean! Using miniature scythes to take the soul of a glorious tubeworm! THIS IS THE CONTEXT I CAME FOR, FRIENDS. I mean, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also excited that Death now knows something is wrong and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re inevitably going to get involved. But tubeworm souls! YES.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7SfUWgE3D48<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards.<\/b> In the second part of\u00c2\u00a0Hogfather, Susan deals with more monsters; Teatime recruits some assistants; Death realizes something is wrong. 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":[519,463,248],"class_list":["post-3915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-hogfather","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3915","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=3915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3915\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I\u00c2\u00a0will be at numerous conventions in 2016! 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 have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"