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The Colour of Magic

Revision as of 18:05, 29 August 2018 by Nurtlurt (Message Wall | contribs) (fixed link)
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For other uses, see The Colour of Magic (disambiguation).
TCoM cover
The Colour of Magic
Attribution
Author(s)

Terry Pratchett

Cover artist

Josh Kirby

Publication information
Media type

Novel

Chronology
Series

Rincewind series

Preceded by

None

Followed by

The Light Fantastic

[Source]

The Colour of Magic is a 1983 comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the Discworld series.

Publisher's summary

On a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There's an avaricious but inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course THE EDGE of the planet…

Plot summary

The main character is an incompetent and cynical Wizard named Rincewind. He involuntarily becomes a guide to the naive tourist, Twoflower. Forced to flee the city of Ankh-Morpork to escape a terrible fire (, they begin on a journey across the Disc. Unbeknownst to them, their journey is controlled by the Gods playing a board game.

They visit the temple of Bel-Shamharoth, where they meet the Hero, Hrun and then head towards the Wyrmberg, an upside-down mountain which is home to dragons that only exist in the imagination. After escaping (leaving Hrun behind), Rincewind and Twoflower nearly go over the waterfall on the edge of the Disc, only to be rescued by Tethis the Sea Troll, and are taken to the country of Krull, a city perched on the very edge of the Discworld by a hydrophobic wizard. The Krullians wish to discover the gender of Great A'Tuin, the giant turtle which carries the Discworld through space, so they have built a space capsule to launch over the edge. They intend on sacrificing Rincewind and Twoflower to get Fate to smile on the voyage. Instead, Rincewind and Twoflower hijack the capsule in an attempt to escape and are launched off the Disc themselves.

The story is continued in the succeeding Discworld novel, The Light Fantastic.

Structure

The Colour of Magic is one of only eight Discworld novels to be divided into sections or chapters, the others being Pyramids, Going Postal, Making Money, and the four books for younger readers, specifically The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents and the three Tiffany Aching books, The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith.

Adaptations

Graphic novel

Blue Glass Arrow Main article: The Colour of Magic (graphic novel)

A graphic novel, illustrated by Steven Ross and adapted by Scott Rockwell, was published by Corgi in 1992. The graphic novel is split up into several chapters like the book, and is faithful to the source material in that it is built up like classic barbarian stories.

Crucial differences between the book and comic include the cutting-out of some of the adventures in Ankh-Morpork and Krull. Also, in the book, the female Dragonriders are described as being topless, as barbarian women in fiction tend to be. However, to keep the graphic novel child-friendly, the women wear chain-mail bras as well as the clothing described in the book. It has been published in hardcover along with the graphic novel of The Light Fantastic, as The Discworld Graphic Novels. (ISBN 9780061685965)

TV adaptation

Blue Glass Arrow Main article: The Colour of Magic (television film)

The Mob Film Company and Sky One have produced a two-part television adaptation, combining both The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic broadcast over Easter 2008. Sir David Jason starred in the role of Rincewind.[1] Sean Astin took the role of Twoflower. Christopher Lee took over the role of Death from Ian Richardson[2] (a role Lee previously portrayed in the animated series Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters).

Computer game

Blue Glass Arrow Main article: The Colour of Magic (video game)
The plot was adapted for a text adventure computer game in 1986.

Appearances

Characters

Books

Creatures

Deities and anthropomorphic personifications

Food and drink

Languages

Locations

Species

Technology

Miscellaneous

External links

References

  1. ↑ Del's spells as David lands role. The Sun Online (24 April 2007). Retrieved on June 8, 2024, 2007.
  2. ↑ Colour of Magic Cast. Paul Kidby official website (July 31 2007).
Wikipedia

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia.

The original article was at The Colour of Magic. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with the Discworld Wiki, the text of Wikipedia:Wikipedia is available under the Wikipedia:GNU Free Documentation License.

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
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