Troll (Discworld)
Encyclopedia
Trolls in Terry Pratchett
's Discworld
novels, unlike the monstrous trolls of folklore
and J. R. R. Tolkien
, have been subverted into a moderately civilised race. Trolls on the Discworld
are, essentially, living, mobile rocks. Trolls have grown to overcome those vicious stereotypes of yore and have lived very prosperous lives in heavily populated cities with (relatively) little killing, and have held jobs as diverse as police officer and concert promoter. They have also held jobs as "bridgekeepers," collecting tolls from those that cross their bridges. It is relatively harmless, although farmers in the company of billy goats
have to pay a hefty toll.
that turn to stone during daylight (traditionally troll
s were flesh and blood creatures) Disc trolls are stone all the time, but become dormant and sluggish during daylight. Trolls are made of "metamorphorical rock" (a play on metamorphic rock
and metaphor
ical), which means that trolls take on some of the appearance and characteristics of certain stones and minerals, after which they are usually named. The most extreme example of this is the pitiful troll Brick in the novel Thud!
, Ankh-Morpork
born and bred, who took on the appearance of the man-made bricks of his city home. Some trolls are made of sedimentary rock
and trolls who have taken the forms of more solid minerals are sometimes prejudiced against their sedimentary kin. On very rare occasions, a troll made of diamond
is born. These trolls are vastly more intelligent than most trolls, as their reflective bodies allow them to ward off heat and regulate their internal temperature. A diamond troll is the indisputable king of the trolls, whether it wants to be or not.
The common troll is nocturnal. Their natural tendency to spend daylight hours dormant led to the stories of them turning to stone when hit by the sun. Though apparently unintelligent, this is due to heat negatively affecting the conductivity of their silicon brains, which operate in a similar fashion to computer circuits (in essence a trollish form of hyperthermia
). In the coldness of the high mountain areas that they usually call home, they can, in certain respects, be quite clever. When sufficiently deep-frozen, they can perform exceptional mathematical feats, possibly involving quantum computing. Oddly, the silicon-based trolls are capable of freezing to death if exposed to sufficiently cold temperatures, although the book Men At Arms
makes it clear that such temperatures are far lower than fleshly creatures, such as dwarfs
, could survive.
Rock and stone is also the natural diet of trolls, and they have diamond
teeth to enable this. Quartz
is held to be unhealthy, as it "clogs the arteries", and ammonite
s are also avoided as a sign of the rock having gone stale. Trolls frequently use the word coprolite
where a human would refer to fresher fecal matter; this may have a physiological analogue. They may gain some nutrition from the mineral content of carbon
-based animals but not much, and occasionally cite this as the reason trolls did not (or at least do not) eat people.
Trolls often drink molten minerals for recreation. Due to the heat affecting their brains, this has the much same effect on them as alcohol does on humans. Electrolyte
solutions have a similar effect, presumably more directly. One such drink is the Electrick Floorbanger (a reference to the Harvey Wallbanger drink). Troll "beer" is ammonium sulfide
dissolved in alcohol.
"Slab" (a street name for ammonium chloride
mixed with radium
) has a similar effect to electrolyte drinks, but much more severely. It eventually melts the troll's brain. The clean version generally makes a troll sit in a corner to watch the colours, but variants exist with more disturbing effects ("disturbing" for either the troll, anyone nearby, or both).
Trolls are theoretically immortal, but as they get older they get bigger and slower and tend to be more inclined to sit and think. They call this "getting philosophy
". Eventually they just stop moving altogether, gradually "decomposing" or eroding into an oddly shaped heap of minerals with a tiny living spark in the center. Many of the Discworld
's mountains are actually very old trolls.
Their scientific or species name (in Latatian) is Stultus Saxum (i.e. "Dumb Rock").
s and hitting people. They have numerous gods, all of whom bless their worshippers by hitting them on the head with a rock. Trolls believe in a heaven located underground, possibly because of a philosophizing troll's tendency to become part of the landscape. Troll courtships generally consist in the male troll hitting the female troll on the head with a suitably attractive rock followed after that by a candle lit dinner for two with a human as main course (although it is no longer considered polite to eat humans). Some female trolls, through contact with other races, have taken a more feminist approach to courting and now hit the males that they have chosen. In Nanny Ogg's Cookbook
, it is also revealed that the sight of troll women wearing clothes excites male trolls. She says there is a club in Ankh-Morpork where the troll dancers end up wearing seven layers of heavy blankets.
Troll society consists of numerous tribes, with frequent fights between them (although to trolls, this would be a spirited argument). They can only be united by a Diamond King.
Trolls tend to be named after rocks, minerals and geological features, such as Detritus, Flint, and Mica, to name a few. Female trolls tend to be named for precious stones, such as "Jade" or "Ruby."
One of the more sophisticated aspects of Trollish culture is their traditional view of time
. As the past
, where we have been, can be 'seen', whereas the future
, where we are going, lies in front of us, they logically conclude we are going through time facing backwards. Also, since they are a nocturnal race, the trollish equivalent of the "Dawn of Time" is the "Sunset of Time."
Some troll tribes play a game called aargrooha, which is rather a lot like soccer. The game involves kicking a human head around on a field with obsidian boots until one side scores a goal or the head bursts, although civilized trolls claim to never play this game anymore (they can't make the boots).
Other known games include a boardgame somewhat similar to chess, in which players set pieces on a board and wait for them to move of their own accord, and a game consisting of throwing rocks in the air and betting on whether or not they will come down. Troll games as a whole are stated to be closely bound up with troll religion and sometimes rather difficult to understand. There is also the Troll/dwarf
game of Thud.
, trollish is "basically body language, and they like to shout". However, they do have a spoken language, although the extent to which it is used commonly among the different tribes is unknown. Troll characters appearing in the novels thus far generally appear to speak the same language as local humans as well. "Street troll" is a term used to refer to the slang
version of Morporkian spoken by city trolls. Known trollish words include:
Trolls may have the oldest written language on the Disc. Samples of troll pictograms engraved on basalt slabs have been found in rock layers dating back 500,000 years. A sample translation of these ancient pictograms, found in Thud!
, reveals a very isolating grammatic structure.
Trolls have a numeral system
of their own, based on powers of 4
. The base numerals are one (1), two (2), three (3), many (4) and lots (16), which can be combined to form higher numbers. When combined, each numeral's value is added to those of the others. Higher-valued numerals take priority over lower-valued ones, so that 4 is written "many" and not "two-two" or "three-one" and 20 is written "lots many" rather than "many many many many many". If there are no ones, twos or threes, the number is written with spaces between the numerals; if any exist a hyphen replaces the space between every numeral. With only the revealed numerals the system rapidly becomes unwieldy in higher numbers (for example, one hundred twenty-six
in English becomes lots-lots-lots-lots-lots-lots-lots-many-many-many-two in trollish numerals, assuming that they do not have numerals higher than lots), but this may not bother the trolls.
Some trolls, particularly musicians, prefer to count "one, two, many, lots", although how they continue from there is unknown, even to some of them. For example, Jade in Monstrous Regiment
says she "ran outa numbers" at that point.
In Men at Arms
, Detritus was able to count in a purely binary
system after some teaching by Cuddy the dwarf ("A sixteen, an eight, a four and a one"), possibly a joke relating to their silicon brains
, and invented higher forms of mathematics while locked in a cold-storage warehouse, although this hasn't been observed on any other occasion; Detritus is able to be somewhat smarter than the average troll even under normal circumstances since he wears a cooling hat / helmet created for him by Cuddy. (It is interesting to note that under the same circumstances, Chrysophrase, who is implied to be one of the smartest trolls on the Disc, still spoke poorly. Samuel Vimes
theorizes that Chrysophrase did this solely to try to keep him off guard.)
manage to direct their tendency towards violence in more civilised directions. Many trolls have joined the City Watch
, beginning with Sergeant Detritus. Others have found a niche in the opposing profession; there is a troll organised crime family called the Breccia
, led by the "Ton" Chrysoprase.
Trolls and dwarfs
have an ongoing feud, ostensibly stemming from one being a race of living rocks, and the other being a race of miners. But really, this feud goes on because it is a tradition strongly ground into the cultures of both races. Representatives of both races have, however, been known to get along very well, especially in the case of Detritus and Cuddy, but this is rare. In the novel Thud!
it is revealed that Koom Valley, the famous troll/dwarf battle, was actually an attempt to sign a peace treaty between dwarfs and trolls and in this novel the tensions grow weaker.
are a kind of troll that dwell in the high Ramtops. They are noted for having thick, white, insulating rock-based fur
, and large feet, which are considered an aphrodisiac
in the Agatean Empire. At least some tribes are unaware that attempting to eat humans is considered inappropriate these days. Yeti have a hunting technique of lying still in the snow until their prey is near them, then pouncing.
The most surprising thing about yeti is their ability to manipulate time. A yeti can "save" its life up to a certain point and, at the point of death, can return to that point, with the knowledge of what was going to kill it (a clear reference to video games—Terry Pratchett is known to be a gamer). According to the History Monks
, the entire species has been rendered extinct three times.
s. Gargoyles are either urban trolls who formed a symbiosis
with guttering, or pieces of stonemasonry initially brought to life by accident, or perhaps by the standing magical field of the Unseen University
. They are mainly filter-feeders, but also consider pigeons to be a particular delicacy, partially out of spite for the birds. Many are employed by the Ankh-Morpork Watch, and more recently by the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company (the clacks), due to their ability to stay in one place watching for long periods of time. They have no concept of money, and are paid in pigeons. A gargoyle's personal identity
is closely tied into its normal location; one example answered to the name of "Cornice-Overlooking-Broadway". Most gargoyles are unable to close their mouths, and consequently have some trouble pronouncing many human phoneme
s (consonant
s in particular). Apart from this, they are quite capable of understanding and speaking Morporkian.
, which resemble a humanoid with a compost heap strapped to their back, and seem too organic to really be a kind of troll. It has been suggested that they have the same relationship to soil as trolls have to rock, though nobody seems to want to do an in-depth study. They are scavengers of anything that doesn't struggle, although there are rumours. Nobody has really closely enquired into what it is they scavenge. Many of the gnolls in Ankh-Morpork work for Harry King, collecting rubbish for recycling, although they have to be watched to ensure they don't eat it.
It isn't known why Gnolls hoard rubbish. One possible reason is that collectors of carefully sorted kinds of faeces are held in high renown among the gnoll community. Another is simply that they are saving it for later.
in The Colour of Magic
. Tethis' body was made up of animated water, as opposed to the more normal rock, and his height and body shape changed with the tides. He was a Lengthman for Krull, which meant that he patrolled the vast nets the citizens of that continent arranges around the rim of the Disc (the 'Circumfence'), to trap debris from falling off the edge of the Disc. Tethis himself however claims to have come from another world altogether, named Bathys, and to have passed through space in a frozen state after falling off the edge. Tethis and other 'sea trolls' like him have never appeared in any of the other books, possibly suggesting that there is no similar race native to the Discworld.
While Tethis was in the Potent Voyager along with Twoflower at the end of The Colour of Magic, he is not in the ship in the sequel, The Light Fantastic, and no mention is made of him or his fate. It is possible that the universal reshift at the beginning of that book returned him home.
s, troll horse
s and troll duck
s (although the ducks tend to sink a lot). However, none of these have been seen in the novels thus far.
. He is described as being emaciated by troll standards, having a texture and pattern to his hide that makes him resemble a brick wall (due to being made of "metamorphorical rock," and having been born in Ankh-Morpork). To make himself look tougher he wears a belt of rubber skulls, although the effect is somewhat spoiled by the skull with a red nose. He is so down and out that even his lichen is fake. Samuel Vimes, upon seeing him, classifies him as the loser's loser. Brick regularly used troll drugs scrounged from the few gutter trolls who didn't always throw things at him when they saw him, and was generally considered to have sunk somewhat lower than the gutter.
Brick becomes involved in the Discworld mythos when he falls through a basement floor into a dwarf tunnel, whereupon he witnesses a Dwarf beating another dwarf in the head with a Troll club. He takes part in a street "fight" where he strikes Commander Vimes, breaking his ribs; before Brick can hit Vimes again, he is attacked by A.E. Pessimal (whom Brick mistakes for a gnome), and Detritus takes him into custody. Upon his release he searches out Mr. Shine. Brick later is brought back to the Watch by the same. Eventually, Sergeant Detritus of the City Watch takes in Brick and seems to unofficially adopt him. Detritus was convinced of Brick's potential after Brick was found still conscious, and, what's more, still walking after having a few mugs of a potent troll beverage, the name of which translates to Big Hammer.
Brick appears to have been made a watchman at the end of Thud!
, as he and Lance-Constable Sally are on guard at the cave of the kings. Later, in an inner monologue, he says that Detritus tells him he can aspire to be a 'lance-constable' one day, a rank that makes lots of money and comes with a shiny badge.
He has not appeared by name in any other Discworld novels to date.
(or "Ton
") of the Breccia
troll organised crime family and owns the troll hotel known as the Gritz and the Cavern nightclub. He is more obviously at home in Ankh-Morpork
than most trolls; his features are deliberately polished smooth and he wears a suit rather than the usual loincloth and lichen. Vimes dryly notes the troll's ability to emulate human behavior makes him even more insidious. His understanding of civilized behaviour is that violence is barbaric, but paying other people to do it is business. He also wears diamond jewellery, apparently made from the teeth of trolls who moved against him (an allusion to Meyer Wolfsheim in The Great Gatsby
, who wears "ivory" cufflinks made from human molars). He considers himself a fine example of a troll achieving great success in a foreign culture and is the head of the Silicon Anti-Defamation League, which seeks to raise the issue of discrimination against trolls by humans and dwarfs in Ankh-Morpork. He is first mentioned in Wyrd Sisters
(as "Chrystoprase"), and appears in Soul Music
and Thud!. The Light Fantastic
briefly features a troll called Krysoprase, who was confirmed to be the same character in The Discworld Companion
(it was attributed to the fact that trolls are terrible spellers).
" at the Mended Drum. In Moving Pictures
, he was used by C.M.O.T. Dibbler as hired muscle in his takeover of Century of the Fruitbat Pictures. While in Holy Wood, Detritus met and fell in love with another troll, called Ruby, who insisted that he get a better job than hitting people for money. Detritus' relationship with Ruby has been mentioned infrequently since; in Thud!
they are described as 'happily married-but-childless.' Over the course of that novel, Detritus takes the severely drug-dependent young troll, named Brick, under his wing, the implication being that Detritus and Ruby want children.
As a result of Ruby's insisting he improve himself, he joined the Ankh-Morpork
City Watch
, and made friends with the dwarf, Cuddy, in Men at Arms
. When Corporal Carrot formed the Ankh-Morpork City Militia, Detritus was promoted to Acting-Constable
and it was during this time that he discovered his natural leadership abilities, as he was able to 'recruit
' a large number of able-bodied men and trolls into the Militia and eventually into the reformed City Watch. When we next see Detritus in Feet of Clay
, he has already made Sergeant, and by Night Watch he was heading up the Watch's training academy. He accompanied Samuel Vimes
to Überwald for the negotiations in Bonk, in The Fifth Elephant
, and was temporarily appointed 'cultural attache
' by Vimes.
While Detritus does not have much imagination and was originally not highly regarded even by other trolls, he has become fairly intelligent by troll standards, especially since the end of Men At Arms when Cuddy made a clockwork cooling helmet which reduces the effect heat has on the conductivity of Detritus' silicon brain. Before having the helmet Detritus was considered one of the most stupid trolls on the Disc, which is saying something due to average troll intelligence. The helmet stopped working completely in the desert heat of Jingo
, but has been repaired by the time of The Truth
. Like all trolls, he becomes extremely intelligent as the temperature drops, once almost developing a grand unified theory of everything
in several hours when locked in a 'Pork Futures
' warehouse. This is unfortunately a nearly fatal experience, as the ideal temperature of operation for troll brains is also very close to the optimum point of troll death.
His lack of imagination results in an interesting interrogation
technique
; while he cannot think of any questions beyond 'It was you what done it, own up', he never gets bored with asking it. He can, however, be thrown completely by a simple denial. He has also started a personal crusade against trading in Slab, a troll-specific narcotic
that literally 'melts troll brains.'
In contradiction to his species preference, his weapon of choice is not a club, but rather a converted siege-crossbow
. Originally, this fired a blunt-but-enormous metal bolt, but after further modifications he made it to shoot a large bundle of wooden bolts at once and renamed the bow as the 'Piecemaker'. Due to the various forces they are under, the bolts, once fired, quickly become an expanding cloud of high-speed burning wooden shrapnel
. The first time it was fired, it removed several archery targets, the bunker wall behind them, and a flock of seagulls directly above Detritus. Samuel Vimes
appreciates its intimidation factor, but otherwise discourages its use except under extreme circumstances.
.
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's Discworld
Discworld
Discworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....
novels, unlike the monstrous trolls of folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
and J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
, have been subverted into a moderately civilised race. Trolls on the Discworld
Discworld (world)
The Discworld is the fictional setting for all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld fantasy novels. It consists of a large disc resting on the backs of four huge elephants which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle, named Great A'Tuin as it slowly swims...
are, essentially, living, mobile rocks. Trolls have grown to overcome those vicious stereotypes of yore and have lived very prosperous lives in heavily populated cities with (relatively) little killing, and have held jobs as diverse as police officer and concert promoter. They have also held jobs as "bridgekeepers," collecting tolls from those that cross their bridges. It is relatively harmless, although farmers in the company of billy goats
Three Billy Goats Gruff
Three Billy Goats Gruff is a Norwegian fairy tale. The fairy tale was collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr, first published between 1841 and 1844...
have to pay a hefty toll.
Physiology
Unlike Tolkien's trollsTroll (Middle-earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Trolls are large humanoids of great strength and poor intellect.While in Norse mythology, the Troll was a magical creature with special skills, in Tolkien's writings they are portrayed as evil, stupid, with crude habits, although still intelligent enough to...
that turn to stone during daylight (traditionally troll
Troll
A troll is a supernatural being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In origin, the term troll was a generally negative synonym for a jötunn , a being in Norse mythology...
s were flesh and blood creatures) Disc trolls are stone all the time, but become dormant and sluggish during daylight. Trolls are made of "metamorphorical rock" (a play on metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rock is the transformation of an existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form". The protolith is subjected to heat and pressure causing profound physical and/or chemical change...
and metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
ical), which means that trolls take on some of the appearance and characteristics of certain stones and minerals, after which they are usually named. The most extreme example of this is the pitiful troll Brick in the novel Thud!
Thud!
Thud! is Terry Pratchett's 34th Discworld novel, released in the United States of America on September 13, 2005, the United Kingdom on 1 October 2005. Thud! was released in the U.S. three weeks before it was released in Pratchett's native UK, to coincide with a United States signing tour...
, Ankh-Morpork
Ankh-Morpork
Ankh-Morpork is a fictional city-state which prominently features in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of fantasy novels. As cities go, it is on the far side of corrupt and polluted, and is subject to outbreaks of comedic violence and brouhaha on a fairly regular basis...
born and bred, who took on the appearance of the man-made bricks of his city home. Some trolls are made of sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....
and trolls who have taken the forms of more solid minerals are sometimes prejudiced against their sedimentary kin. On very rare occasions, a troll made of diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
is born. These trolls are vastly more intelligent than most trolls, as their reflective bodies allow them to ward off heat and regulate their internal temperature. A diamond troll is the indisputable king of the trolls, whether it wants to be or not.
The common troll is nocturnal. Their natural tendency to spend daylight hours dormant led to the stories of them turning to stone when hit by the sun. Though apparently unintelligent, this is due to heat negatively affecting the conductivity of their silicon brains, which operate in a similar fashion to computer circuits (in essence a trollish form of hyperthermia
Hyperthermia
Hyperthermia is an elevated body temperature due to failed thermoregulation. Hyperthermia occurs when the body produces or absorbs more heat than it can dissipate...
). In the coldness of the high mountain areas that they usually call home, they can, in certain respects, be quite clever. When sufficiently deep-frozen, they can perform exceptional mathematical feats, possibly involving quantum computing. Oddly, the silicon-based trolls are capable of freezing to death if exposed to sufficiently cold temperatures, although the book Men At Arms
Men at Arms
Men at Arms is the 15th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett first published in 1993. It is the second novel about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch on the Discworld. Lance-constable Angua von Überwald, later in the series promoted to the rank of Sergeant, is introduced in this book...
makes it clear that such temperatures are far lower than fleshly creatures, such as dwarfs
Dwarfs (Discworld)
Sam leighton is dwarf kingDwarfs in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels are similar to the Dwarves of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, to which they largely started out as a homage, and dwarves in other fantasy novels. They are short, stocky, bearded metal-workers, generally seen wearing chain mail...
, could survive.
Rock and stone is also the natural diet of trolls, and they have diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
teeth to enable this. Quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
is held to be unhealthy, as it "clogs the arteries", and ammonite
Ammonite
Ammonite, as a zoological or paleontological term, refers to any member of the Ammonoidea an extinct subclass within the Molluscan class Cephalopoda which are more closely related to living coleoids Ammonite, as a zoological or paleontological term, refers to any member of the Ammonoidea an extinct...
s are also avoided as a sign of the rock having gone stale. Trolls frequently use the word coprolite
Coprolite
A coprolite is fossilized animal dung. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour rather than morphology. The name is derived from the Greek words κοπρος / kopros meaning 'dung' and λιθος / lithos meaning 'stone'. They...
where a human would refer to fresher fecal matter; this may have a physiological analogue. They may gain some nutrition from the mineral content of carbon
Carbon
Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...
-based animals but not much, and occasionally cite this as the reason trolls did not (or at least do not) eat people.
Trolls often drink molten minerals for recreation. Due to the heat affecting their brains, this has the much same effect on them as alcohol does on humans. Electrolyte
Electrolyte
In chemistry, an electrolyte is any substance containing free ions that make the substance electrically conductive. The most typical electrolyte is an ionic solution, but molten electrolytes and solid electrolytes are also possible....
solutions have a similar effect, presumably more directly. One such drink is the Electrick Floorbanger (a reference to the Harvey Wallbanger drink). Troll "beer" is ammonium sulfide
Ammonium sulfide
Ammonium hydrosulfide is the chemical compound with the formula SH. It is the salt derived from the ammonium cation and the hydrosulfide anion. The salt exists as colourless, water soluble, micaceous crystals. The compound is encountered mainly as a solution, not as the solid...
dissolved in alcohol.
"Slab" (a street name for ammonium chloride
Ammonium chloride
Ammonium chloride NH4Cl is an inorganic compound with the formula NH4Cl. It is a white crystalline salt that is highly soluble in water. Solutions of ammonium chloride are mildly acidic. Sal ammoniac is a name of natural, mineralogical form of ammonium chloride...
mixed with radium
Radium
Radium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by the symbol Ra. Radium is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,...
) has a similar effect to electrolyte drinks, but much more severely. It eventually melts the troll's brain. The clean version generally makes a troll sit in a corner to watch the colours, but variants exist with more disturbing effects ("disturbing" for either the troll, anyone nearby, or both).
Trolls are theoretically immortal, but as they get older they get bigger and slower and tend to be more inclined to sit and think. They call this "getting philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
". Eventually they just stop moving altogether, gradually "decomposing" or eroding into an oddly shaped heap of minerals with a tiny living spark in the center. Many of the Discworld
Discworld (world)
The Discworld is the fictional setting for all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld fantasy novels. It consists of a large disc resting on the backs of four huge elephants which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle, named Great A'Tuin as it slowly swims...
's mountains are actually very old trolls.
Their scientific or species name (in Latatian) is Stultus Saxum (i.e. "Dumb Rock").
Troll culture
Troll society is based on rockRock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
s and hitting people. They have numerous gods, all of whom bless their worshippers by hitting them on the head with a rock. Trolls believe in a heaven located underground, possibly because of a philosophizing troll's tendency to become part of the landscape. Troll courtships generally consist in the male troll hitting the female troll on the head with a suitably attractive rock followed after that by a candle lit dinner for two with a human as main course (although it is no longer considered polite to eat humans). Some female trolls, through contact with other races, have taken a more feminist approach to courting and now hit the males that they have chosen. In Nanny Ogg's Cookbook
Nanny Ogg's Cookbook
Nanny Ogg's Cookbook is a book of recipes and wisdom of the Discworld character Nanny Ogg by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Briggs and Tina Hannan, and illustrated by Paul Kidby...
, it is also revealed that the sight of troll women wearing clothes excites male trolls. She says there is a club in Ankh-Morpork where the troll dancers end up wearing seven layers of heavy blankets.
Troll society consists of numerous tribes, with frequent fights between them (although to trolls, this would be a spirited argument). They can only be united by a Diamond King.
Trolls tend to be named after rocks, minerals and geological features, such as Detritus, Flint, and Mica, to name a few. Female trolls tend to be named for precious stones, such as "Jade" or "Ruby."
One of the more sophisticated aspects of Trollish culture is their traditional view of time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
. As the past
Past
Most generally, the past is a term used to indicate the totality of events which occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience time, and is...
, where we have been, can be 'seen', whereas the future
Future
The future is the indefinite time period after the present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the nature of the reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently exists and will exist is temporary and will come...
, where we are going, lies in front of us, they logically conclude we are going through time facing backwards. Also, since they are a nocturnal race, the trollish equivalent of the "Dawn of Time" is the "Sunset of Time."
Some troll tribes play a game called aargrooha, which is rather a lot like soccer. The game involves kicking a human head around on a field with obsidian boots until one side scores a goal or the head bursts, although civilized trolls claim to never play this game anymore (they can't make the boots).
Other known games include a boardgame somewhat similar to chess, in which players set pieces on a board and wait for them to move of their own accord, and a game consisting of throwing rocks in the air and betting on whether or not they will come down. Troll games as a whole are stated to be closely bound up with troll religion and sometimes rather difficult to understand. There is also the Troll/dwarf
Dwarfs (Discworld)
Sam leighton is dwarf kingDwarfs in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels are similar to the Dwarves of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, to which they largely started out as a homage, and dwarves in other fantasy novels. They are short, stocky, bearded metal-workers, generally seen wearing chain mail...
game of Thud.
Language
Trolls normally express themselves in a very physical way, and according to Samuel VimesSamuel Vimes
Samuel "Sam" Vimes is a fictional policeman from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. As of his latest promotion, his full name and title is; "'His Grace, His Excellency, The Duke of Ankh; Commander Sir Samuel Vimes": When serving as Ambassador for Ankh-Morpork, he is also referred to simply as...
, trollish is "basically body language, and they like to shout". However, they do have a spoken language, although the extent to which it is used commonly among the different tribes is unknown. Troll characters appearing in the novels thus far generally appear to speak the same language as local humans as well. "Street troll" is a term used to refer to the slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
version of Morporkian spoken by city trolls. Known trollish words include:
- Aagragaah - "Forebodings", "lit'rally der time when you see dem little pebbles an' you jus' know there's gonna be a great big landslide on toppa you and it already too late to run" in Detritus' translation. Presumed to stem from the sound you'll make when you see the rocks rushing towards you.
- Aaoograha hoa - "She who must be avoided" in Nanny OggNanny OggGytha Ogg is a character from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. She is a witch and member of the Lancre coven.- Personality :The character of Nanny Ogg is based on the Mother stereotype of the Triple Goddess myth...
's translation. A name for Granny WeatherwaxGranny WeatherwaxEsmerelda "Esme" Weatherwax is a fictional character from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. She is a witch and member of the Lancre coven. She is the self-appointed guardian of her small country, and frequently defends it against supernatural powers...
. - Aargrooha - The name of a sportSportA Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
, see Troll Culture above. - Aaroograhaa - The precise moment at which dog droppings turn white, according to Detritus in Discworld NoirDiscworld NoirDiscworld Noir is a computer game based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld comic fantasy novels, and unlike the previous Discworld games is both an example and parody of the noir genre. The game was developed by Perfect Entertainment and published by GT Interactive. It was originally released in 1999...
- Gahanka - The troll war beat, made by pounding clubs against the ground in unison, and gradually speeding up. In ThudThudThud may refer to:*Thud , a 2002 board game inspired by Terry Pratchett's Discworld series*Thud!, a 2005 Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett*Thud , an album by Kevin Gilbert*F-105 Thunderchief, a U.S...
it is said that within 10 minutes of hearing the Gahanka, you're dead - Ggroohauga - "Music made from rocks". Percussion musicPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
achieved by means of rocks of different sizes, shapes and mineral compositions being banged together or hit with hammers. Not to be confused with Music with Rocks In. - Ghuhg - A profanity. Exact translation unknown. Presumably a verb.
- Goohuloog - Translation unknown, used in Detritus' "troll oath" in Men at Arms: "I will do what I told - otherwise I get my goohuloog head kicked in". From the context it is probably a profanity of sorts.
- Groophar - In Monstrous RegimentMonstrous Regiment (novel)Monstrous Regiment is the 31st novel in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. It takes its name from the anti-Catholic 16th century tract by John Knox, the full title of which is The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regimen of Women....
, Jade defines "groophar" (in the context of "groophar stupidity") as "when, right, a daddy troll an' a mummy troll --" before getting cut off - Horug - An offensive term for dwarfs
- Luglarr - "Big Hammer". An extremely potent type of troll beer.
- Oograh - All types of vegetation, which is superfluous given the usual troll diet.
- Taka Taka - the trollish war club.
- Wukwuk - a Slab cigarette. Also a body part that such a cigarette resembles.
Literacy and Numeracy
Many non-trolls stereotypically assume that trolls are either illiterate/innumerate or barely not. This, like many stereotypes, is untrue.Trolls may have the oldest written language on the Disc. Samples of troll pictograms engraved on basalt slabs have been found in rock layers dating back 500,000 years. A sample translation of these ancient pictograms, found in Thud!
Thud!
Thud! is Terry Pratchett's 34th Discworld novel, released in the United States of America on September 13, 2005, the United Kingdom on 1 October 2005. Thud! was released in the U.S. three weeks before it was released in Pratchett's native UK, to coincide with a United States signing tour...
, reveals a very isolating grammatic structure.
- Him who mountain crush him no
- Him who sun him stop him no
- Him who hammer him break him no
- Him who fire him fear him no
- Him who raise him head above him heart
- Him diamond
Trolls have a numeral system
Numeral system
A numeral system is a writing system for expressing numbers, that is a mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set, using graphemes or symbols in a consistent manner....
of their own, based on powers of 4
Quaternary numeral system
Quaternary is the base- numeral system. It uses the digits 0, 1, 2 and 3 to represent any real number.It shares with all fixed-radix numeral systems many properties, such as the ability to represent any real number with a canonical representation and the characteristics of the representations of...
. The base numerals are one (1), two (2), three (3), many (4) and lots (16), which can be combined to form higher numbers. When combined, each numeral's value is added to those of the others. Higher-valued numerals take priority over lower-valued ones, so that 4 is written "many" and not "two-two" or "three-one" and 20 is written "lots many" rather than "many many many many many". If there are no ones, twos or threes, the number is written with spaces between the numerals; if any exist a hyphen replaces the space between every numeral. With only the revealed numerals the system rapidly becomes unwieldy in higher numbers (for example, one hundred twenty-six
126 (number)
126 is the natural number following 125 and preceding 127.-In mathematics:One hundred [and] twenty-six is a pentagonal pyramidal number, and a decagonal number as well as a pentatope number....
in English becomes lots-lots-lots-lots-lots-lots-lots-many-many-many-two in trollish numerals, assuming that they do not have numerals higher than lots), but this may not bother the trolls.
Some trolls, particularly musicians, prefer to count "one, two, many, lots", although how they continue from there is unknown, even to some of them. For example, Jade in Monstrous Regiment
Monstrous Regiment (novel)
Monstrous Regiment is the 31st novel in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. It takes its name from the anti-Catholic 16th century tract by John Knox, the full title of which is The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regimen of Women....
says she "ran outa numbers" at that point.
In Men at Arms
Men at Arms
Men at Arms is the 15th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett first published in 1993. It is the second novel about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch on the Discworld. Lance-constable Angua von Überwald, later in the series promoted to the rank of Sergeant, is introduced in this book...
, Detritus was able to count in a purely binary
Binary numeral system
The binary numeral system, or base-2 number system, represents numeric values using two symbols, 0 and 1. More specifically, the usual base-2 system is a positional notation with a radix of 2...
system after some teaching by Cuddy the dwarf ("A sixteen, an eight, a four and a one"), possibly a joke relating to their silicon brains
Silicon Chip
Silicon Chip is an Australian electronics magazine. It was started in November, 1987 by Leo Simpson. Following the demise of Electronics Australia, it is the only hobbyist-related electronics magazine remaining in Australia.- Magazine :...
, and invented higher forms of mathematics while locked in a cold-storage warehouse, although this hasn't been observed on any other occasion; Detritus is able to be somewhat smarter than the average troll even under normal circumstances since he wears a cooling hat / helmet created for him by Cuddy. (It is interesting to note that under the same circumstances, Chrysophrase, who is implied to be one of the smartest trolls on the Disc, still spoke poorly. Samuel Vimes
Samuel Vimes
Samuel "Sam" Vimes is a fictional policeman from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. As of his latest promotion, his full name and title is; "'His Grace, His Excellency, The Duke of Ankh; Commander Sir Samuel Vimes": When serving as Ambassador for Ankh-Morpork, he is also referred to simply as...
theorizes that Chrysophrase did this solely to try to keep him off guard.)
Trolls and other cultures
Troll society is unsophisticated, but some trolls in urban areas such as Ankh-MorporkAnkh-Morpork
Ankh-Morpork is a fictional city-state which prominently features in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of fantasy novels. As cities go, it is on the far side of corrupt and polluted, and is subject to outbreaks of comedic violence and brouhaha on a fairly regular basis...
manage to direct their tendency towards violence in more civilised directions. Many trolls have joined the City Watch
Ankh-Morpork City Watch
The Ankh-Morpork City Watch is a fictional police force within the Discworld series of books by Terry Pratchett. It is based in the city-state of Ankh-Morpork on the Discworld. The Watch was originally two units, the Day Watch and the Night Watch which were combined after the events of Men at Arms...
, beginning with Sergeant Detritus. Others have found a niche in the opposing profession; there is a troll organised crime family called the Breccia
Breccia
Breccia is a rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together by a fine-grained matrix, that can be either similar to or different from the composition of the fragments....
, led by the "Ton" Chrysoprase.
Trolls and dwarfs
Dwarfs (Discworld)
Sam leighton is dwarf kingDwarfs in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels are similar to the Dwarves of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, to which they largely started out as a homage, and dwarves in other fantasy novels. They are short, stocky, bearded metal-workers, generally seen wearing chain mail...
have an ongoing feud, ostensibly stemming from one being a race of living rocks, and the other being a race of miners. But really, this feud goes on because it is a tradition strongly ground into the cultures of both races. Representatives of both races have, however, been known to get along very well, especially in the case of Detritus and Cuddy, but this is rare. In the novel Thud!
Thud!
Thud! is Terry Pratchett's 34th Discworld novel, released in the United States of America on September 13, 2005, the United Kingdom on 1 October 2005. Thud! was released in the U.S. three weeks before it was released in Pratchett's native UK, to coincide with a United States signing tour...
it is revealed that Koom Valley, the famous troll/dwarf battle, was actually an attempt to sign a peace treaty between dwarfs and trolls and in this novel the tensions grow weaker.
Yeti
Discworld yetiYeti
The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology...
are a kind of troll that dwell in the high Ramtops. They are noted for having thick, white, insulating rock-based fur
Mineral wool
Mineral wool, mineral fibers or man-made mineral fibers are fibers made from natural or synthetic minerals or metal oxides. The latter term is generally used to refer solely to synthetic materials including fiberglass, ceramic fibers and stone wool...
, and large feet, which are considered an aphrodisiac
Aphrodisiac
An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases sexual desire. The name comes from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sexuality and love. Throughout history, many foods, drinks, and behaviors have had a reputation for making sex more attainable and/or pleasurable...
in the Agatean Empire. At least some tribes are unaware that attempting to eat humans is considered inappropriate these days. Yeti have a hunting technique of lying still in the snow until their prey is near them, then pouncing.
The most surprising thing about yeti is their ability to manipulate time. A yeti can "save" its life up to a certain point and, at the point of death, can return to that point, with the knowledge of what was going to kill it (a clear reference to video games—Terry Pratchett is known to be a gamer). According to the History Monks
History Monks
The Order of Wen the Eternally Surprised, better known as the History Monks, and also sometimes referred to as THE Fighting Order of Wen, the Men In Saffron and No Such Monastery , is a highly secretive religious organisation in the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett, based in the Monastery of...
, the entire species has been rendered extinct three times.
Gargoyles
One species considered a relative of trolls are gargoyleGargoyle
In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between...
s. Gargoyles are either urban trolls who formed a symbiosis
Symbiosis
Symbiosis is close and often long-term interaction between different biological species. In 1877 Bennett used the word symbiosis to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens...
with guttering, or pieces of stonemasonry initially brought to life by accident, or perhaps by the standing magical field of the Unseen University
Unseen University
The Unseen University is a school of wizardry in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of fantasy novels. Located in the city of Ankh-Morpork, the UU is staffed by a faculty composed of mostly indolent and inept old wizards. The university's name is a pun on the Invisible College...
. They are mainly filter-feeders, but also consider pigeons to be a particular delicacy, partially out of spite for the birds. Many are employed by the Ankh-Morpork Watch, and more recently by the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company (the clacks), due to their ability to stay in one place watching for long periods of time. They have no concept of money, and are paid in pigeons. A gargoyle's personal identity
Identity (social science)
Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
is closely tied into its normal location; one example answered to the name of "Cornice-Overlooking-Broadway". Most gargoyles are unable to close their mouths, and consequently have some trouble pronouncing many human phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s (consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
s in particular). Apart from this, they are quite capable of understanding and speaking Morporkian.
Gnolls
Another relative to the troll is the GnollGnoll
A gnoll or gnole is a fictional humanoid creature - a cross between a gnome and a troll. They first appeared in Lord Dunsany's story in The Book of Wonder: How Nuth Would Have Practised His Art upon the Gnoles and subsequently reappeared in Margaret St. Clair's, The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles...
, which resemble a humanoid with a compost heap strapped to their back, and seem too organic to really be a kind of troll. It has been suggested that they have the same relationship to soil as trolls have to rock, though nobody seems to want to do an in-depth study. They are scavengers of anything that doesn't struggle, although there are rumours. Nobody has really closely enquired into what it is they scavenge. Many of the gnolls in Ankh-Morpork work for Harry King, collecting rubbish for recycling, although they have to be watched to ensure they don't eat it.
It isn't known why Gnolls hoard rubbish. One possible reason is that collectors of carefully sorted kinds of faeces are held in high renown among the gnoll community. Another is simply that they are saving it for later.
Sea troll
Sea Trolls are made of water, have a tendency to suffer from fish and chronic tides, (as related in The Colour of Magic) and are notoriously long-lived, even by trollish standards. A sea troll named Tethis was encountered by RincewindRincewind
Rincewind is a fictional character appearing in several of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. He is a failed student at the Unseen University for wizards in Ankh-Morpork, and is often described by scholars as "the magical equivalent to the number zero". He spends just about all of his time...
in The Colour of Magic
The Colour of Magic
The Colour of Magic is a 1983 comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the Discworld series. Pratchett has described it as "an attempt to do for the classical fantasy universe what Blazing Saddles did for Westerns."...
. Tethis' body was made up of animated water, as opposed to the more normal rock, and his height and body shape changed with the tides. He was a Lengthman for Krull, which meant that he patrolled the vast nets the citizens of that continent arranges around the rim of the Disc (the 'Circumfence'), to trap debris from falling off the edge of the Disc. Tethis himself however claims to have come from another world altogether, named Bathys, and to have passed through space in a frozen state after falling off the edge. Tethis and other 'sea trolls' like him have never appeared in any of the other books, possibly suggesting that there is no similar race native to the Discworld.
While Tethis was in the Potent Voyager along with Twoflower at the end of The Colour of Magic, he is not in the ship in the sequel, The Light Fantastic, and no mention is made of him or his fate. It is possible that the universal reshift at the beginning of that book returned him home.
Others
According to The Discworld Companion, there exist, in addition to humanoid trolls, troll dogDog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s, troll horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s and troll duck
Duck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
s (although the ducks tend to sink a lot). However, none of these have been seen in the novels thus far.
Brick
Brick is a young Gutter troll in the novel Thud!Thud!
Thud! is Terry Pratchett's 34th Discworld novel, released in the United States of America on September 13, 2005, the United Kingdom on 1 October 2005. Thud! was released in the U.S. three weeks before it was released in Pratchett's native UK, to coincide with a United States signing tour...
. He is described as being emaciated by troll standards, having a texture and pattern to his hide that makes him resemble a brick wall (due to being made of "metamorphorical rock," and having been born in Ankh-Morpork). To make himself look tougher he wears a belt of rubber skulls, although the effect is somewhat spoiled by the skull with a red nose. He is so down and out that even his lichen is fake. Samuel Vimes, upon seeing him, classifies him as the loser's loser. Brick regularly used troll drugs scrounged from the few gutter trolls who didn't always throw things at him when they saw him, and was generally considered to have sunk somewhat lower than the gutter.
Brick becomes involved in the Discworld mythos when he falls through a basement floor into a dwarf tunnel, whereupon he witnesses a Dwarf beating another dwarf in the head with a Troll club. He takes part in a street "fight" where he strikes Commander Vimes, breaking his ribs; before Brick can hit Vimes again, he is attacked by A.E. Pessimal (whom Brick mistakes for a gnome), and Detritus takes him into custody. Upon his release he searches out Mr. Shine. Brick later is brought back to the Watch by the same. Eventually, Sergeant Detritus of the City Watch takes in Brick and seems to unofficially adopt him. Detritus was convinced of Brick's potential after Brick was found still conscious, and, what's more, still walking after having a few mugs of a potent troll beverage, the name of which translates to Big Hammer.
Brick appears to have been made a watchman at the end of Thud!
Thud!
Thud! is Terry Pratchett's 34th Discworld novel, released in the United States of America on September 13, 2005, the United Kingdom on 1 October 2005. Thud! was released in the U.S. three weeks before it was released in Pratchett's native UK, to coincide with a United States signing tour...
, as he and Lance-Constable Sally are on guard at the cave of the kings. Later, in an inner monologue, he says that Detritus tells him he can aspire to be a 'lance-constable' one day, a rank that makes lots of money and comes with a shiny badge.
He has not appeared by name in any other Discworld novels to date.
Chrysoprase
Chrysoprase is the local godfatherCrime boss
A crime boss or boss is a person in charge of a criminal organization. A boss typically has absolute or near-absolute control over his subordinates, is greatly feared by his subordinates for his ruthlessness and willingness to take lives in order to exert his influence, and profits come from the...
(or "Ton
Don (honorific)
Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
") of the Breccia
Breccia
Breccia is a rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together by a fine-grained matrix, that can be either similar to or different from the composition of the fragments....
troll organised crime family and owns the troll hotel known as the Gritz and the Cavern nightclub. He is more obviously at home in Ankh-Morpork
Ankh-Morpork
Ankh-Morpork is a fictional city-state which prominently features in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of fantasy novels. As cities go, it is on the far side of corrupt and polluted, and is subject to outbreaks of comedic violence and brouhaha on a fairly regular basis...
than most trolls; his features are deliberately polished smooth and he wears a suit rather than the usual loincloth and lichen. Vimes dryly notes the troll's ability to emulate human behavior makes him even more insidious. His understanding of civilized behaviour is that violence is barbaric, but paying other people to do it is business. He also wears diamond jewellery, apparently made from the teeth of trolls who moved against him (an allusion to Meyer Wolfsheim in The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....
, who wears "ivory" cufflinks made from human molars). He considers himself a fine example of a troll achieving great success in a foreign culture and is the head of the Silicon Anti-Defamation League, which seeks to raise the issue of discrimination against trolls by humans and dwarfs in Ankh-Morpork. He is first mentioned in Wyrd Sisters
Wyrd Sisters
Wyrd Sisters is Terry Pratchett's sixth Discworld novel, published in 1988, and re-introduces Granny Weatherwax of Equal Rites.- Plot :...
(as "Chrystoprase"), and appears in Soul Music
Soul Music
Soul Music is the sixteenth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, first published in 1994. Like many of Pratchett's novels it introduces an element of modern society into the magical and vaguely late medieval, early modern world of the Discworld, in this case Rock and Roll music and stardom, with...
and Thud!. The Light Fantastic
The Light Fantastic
The Light Fantastic is a comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, the second of the Discworld series. It was published in 1986. The title is a quote from a poem by John Milton and in the original context referred to dancing lightly with extravagance....
briefly features a troll called Krysoprase, who was confirmed to be the same character in The Discworld Companion
The Discworld Companion
The Discworld Companion is an encyclopaedia of the Discworld fictional universe created by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs.The book compiles a precise definition of words, lives of historical people, geography of places and events that have appeared in at least one Discworld novel, map, diary,...
(it was attributed to the fact that trolls are terrible spellers).
Detritus
Detritus began as a hired thug and later a "splatterBouncer (doorman)
A bouncer is an informal term for a type of security guard employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs or concerts to provide security, check legal age, and refuse entry to a venue based on criteria such as intoxication, aggressive behavior, or attractiveness...
" at the Mended Drum. In Moving Pictures
Moving Pictures (novel)
Moving Pictures is the name of the tenth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, published in 1990. The book takes place in Discworld's most famous city, Ankh-Morpork and a town called "Holy Wood"...
, he was used by C.M.O.T. Dibbler as hired muscle in his takeover of Century of the Fruitbat Pictures. While in Holy Wood, Detritus met and fell in love with another troll, called Ruby, who insisted that he get a better job than hitting people for money. Detritus' relationship with Ruby has been mentioned infrequently since; in Thud!
Thud!
Thud! is Terry Pratchett's 34th Discworld novel, released in the United States of America on September 13, 2005, the United Kingdom on 1 October 2005. Thud! was released in the U.S. three weeks before it was released in Pratchett's native UK, to coincide with a United States signing tour...
they are described as 'happily married-but-childless.' Over the course of that novel, Detritus takes the severely drug-dependent young troll, named Brick, under his wing, the implication being that Detritus and Ruby want children.
As a result of Ruby's insisting he improve himself, he joined the Ankh-Morpork
Ankh-Morpork
Ankh-Morpork is a fictional city-state which prominently features in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of fantasy novels. As cities go, it is on the far side of corrupt and polluted, and is subject to outbreaks of comedic violence and brouhaha on a fairly regular basis...
City Watch
Ankh-Morpork City Watch
The Ankh-Morpork City Watch is a fictional police force within the Discworld series of books by Terry Pratchett. It is based in the city-state of Ankh-Morpork on the Discworld. The Watch was originally two units, the Day Watch and the Night Watch which were combined after the events of Men at Arms...
, and made friends with the dwarf, Cuddy, in Men at Arms
Men at Arms
Men at Arms is the 15th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett first published in 1993. It is the second novel about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch on the Discworld. Lance-constable Angua von Überwald, later in the series promoted to the rank of Sergeant, is introduced in this book...
. When Corporal Carrot formed the Ankh-Morpork City Militia, Detritus was promoted to Acting-Constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
and it was during this time that he discovered his natural leadership abilities, as he was able to 'recruit
Impressment
Impressment, colloquially, "the Press", was the act of taking men into a navy by force and without notice. It was used by the Royal Navy, beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries, in wartime, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to...
' a large number of able-bodied men and trolls into the Militia and eventually into the reformed City Watch. When we next see Detritus in Feet of Clay
Feet of Clay
Feet of Clay is the nineteenth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, published in 1996. The story follows the members of the City Watch, as they attempt to solve murders apparently committed by a golem, as well as the unusual poisoning of the Patrician, Lord Vetinari.The title is a figure of speech...
, he has already made Sergeant, and by Night Watch he was heading up the Watch's training academy. He accompanied Samuel Vimes
Samuel Vimes
Samuel "Sam" Vimes is a fictional policeman from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. As of his latest promotion, his full name and title is; "'His Grace, His Excellency, The Duke of Ankh; Commander Sir Samuel Vimes": When serving as Ambassador for Ankh-Morpork, he is also referred to simply as...
to Überwald for the negotiations in Bonk, in The Fifth Elephant
The Fifth Elephant
The Fifth Elephant is the 24th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. It introduces the clacks, a long-distance semaphore system. The novel was nominated for the Locus Award in 2000.-Plot summary:...
, and was temporarily appointed 'cultural attache
Attaché
Attaché is a French term in diplomacy referring to a person who is assigned to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency...
' by Vimes.
While Detritus does not have much imagination and was originally not highly regarded even by other trolls, he has become fairly intelligent by troll standards, especially since the end of Men At Arms when Cuddy made a clockwork cooling helmet which reduces the effect heat has on the conductivity of Detritus' silicon brain. Before having the helmet Detritus was considered one of the most stupid trolls on the Disc, which is saying something due to average troll intelligence. The helmet stopped working completely in the desert heat of Jingo
Jingo (novel)
Jingo is the 21st novel by Terry Pratchett, one of his Discworld series. It was published in 1997. The rising of a previously submerged island and the subconstituent sovereignty dispute were inspired by the real-life island of Ferdinandea.-Plot:...
, but has been repaired by the time of The Truth
The Truth (novel)
The Truth is the twenty-fifth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, published in 2000.The book features the coming of movable type to Ankh-Morpork, and the founding of the Discworld's first newspaper by William de Worde, as he invents investigative journalism with the help of his reporter Sacharissa...
. Like all trolls, he becomes extremely intelligent as the temperature drops, once almost developing a grand unified theory of everything
Theory of everything
A theory of everything is a putative theory of theoretical physics that fully explains and links together all known physical phenomena, and predicts the outcome of any experiment that could be carried out in principle....
in several hours when locked in a 'Pork Futures
Futures contract
In finance, a futures contract is a standardized contract between two parties to exchange a specified asset of standardized quantity and quality for a price agreed today with delivery occurring at a specified future date, the delivery date. The contracts are traded on a futures exchange...
' warehouse. This is unfortunately a nearly fatal experience, as the ideal temperature of operation for troll brains is also very close to the optimum point of troll death.
His lack of imagination results in an interesting interrogation
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
technique
Technique
A technique is a procedure used to accomplish a specific activity or task:* Technology, the study of or a collection of techniques*Skill, the ability to perform a task* Scientific technique, any systematic method to obtain information of a scientific nature...
; while he cannot think of any questions beyond 'It was you what done it, own up', he never gets bored with asking it. He can, however, be thrown completely by a simple denial. He has also started a personal crusade against trading in Slab, a troll-specific narcotic
Narcotic
The term narcotic originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with any sleep-inducing properties. In the United States of America it has since become associated with opioids, commonly morphine and heroin and their derivatives, such as hydrocodone. The term is, today, imprecisely...
that literally 'melts troll brains.'
In contradiction to his species preference, his weapon of choice is not a club, but rather a converted siege-crossbow
Ballista
The ballista , plural ballistae, was an ancient missile weapon which launched a large projectile at a distant target....
. Originally, this fired a blunt-but-enormous metal bolt, but after further modifications he made it to shoot a large bundle of wooden bolts at once and renamed the bow as the 'Piecemaker'. Due to the various forces they are under, the bolts, once fired, quickly become an expanding cloud of high-speed burning wooden shrapnel
Fragmentation (weaponry)
Fragmentation is the process by which the casing of an artillery shell, bomb, grenade, etc. is shattered by the detonating high explosive filling. The correct technical terminology for these casing pieces is fragments , although shards or splinters can be used for non-preformed fragments...
. The first time it was fired, it removed several archery targets, the bunker wall behind them, and a flock of seagulls directly above Detritus. Samuel Vimes
Samuel Vimes
Samuel "Sam" Vimes is a fictional policeman from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. As of his latest promotion, his full name and title is; "'His Grace, His Excellency, The Duke of Ankh; Commander Sir Samuel Vimes": When serving as Ambassador for Ankh-Morpork, he is also referred to simply as...
appreciates its intimidation factor, but otherwise discourages its use except under extreme circumstances.
Mr. Shine
Mr. Shine is the current Diamond King of trolls. His crystalline structure allows him to maintain a cool internal body temperature, making him far more intelligent than the average troll. When travelling, he must conceal himself in a cloak, since his appearance is blinding to most eyes. He was instrumental in preventing a dwarf-troll conflict in Thud!Thud!
Thud! is Terry Pratchett's 34th Discworld novel, released in the United States of America on September 13, 2005, the United Kingdom on 1 October 2005. Thud! was released in the U.S. three weeks before it was released in Pratchett's native UK, to coincide with a United States signing tour...
.