Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 71.232.118.62 (talk) at 00:04, 29 May 2007 (→Plot summary). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Mort is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett and also the name of its main character. Published in 1987, it is the fourth Discworld novel and the first to focus on the Death of the Discworld, who only appeared as a side character in the previous novels.

Plot summary

As a teenager, Mort had a personality and temperament that made him rather unsuited to the family farming business. Mort's father, named Lezek, felt that Mort thought too much, which prevented him from achieving anything practical. Thus, Lezek took him to a local hiring fair, hoping that Mort would land an apprenticeship with some tradesman; not only would this provide a job for his son, but it would also make his son's propensity towards thinking someone else's problem.

At the job fair, Mort at first has no luck attracting the interest of an employer. Then, just before the stroke of midnight, a man concealed in a black cloak arrives on a white horse. He says he is looking for a young man to assist him in his work and selects Mort for the job. The man turns out to be Death, and gives Mort an apprenticeship in ushering souls into the next world (though his father thinks he's been apprenticed to an undertaker).

Some believe that Death chose Mort partly because Death himself has the nickname Mort (he is called this by the other members of the four horsemen). Mort is also the French word for "death," and the serves as the root of several English words (for example mortal and post mortem).

The pressure of the job (and a developing crush on a princess who is due to die) forces Mort to make a few mistakes, but like all good heroes, he grows some spine, gains some self control, challenges Death to a duel and waltzes away with the girl in the end, but not the correct girl by normal fantasy standards.

Mort marries Death's adopted daughter Ysabell and they live relatively happily ever after as the duke and duchess of Sto Helit, the real duke of Sto Helit having been killed during the duel.

Their storyline (and that of their daughter Susan) is continued in the later Discworld novel Soul Music.

Trivia

This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles.

• Mort is the second novel to feature Ysabell (she was introduced in The Light Fantastic) and introduces Death's manservant Albert. It also features a brief cameo by Rincewind.
• It was later adapted into a graphic novel with art by Graham Higgins.
• In 2004 BBC Radio 4 adapted Mort, with the title character voiced by Carl Prekopp.
• Terry Pratchett jokingly said on an interview on BBC Radio 4 that if he wrote it now, he would "write it better".

Translations

• Морт (Bulgarian)
• Dødens lærling (Danish)
• Dunne Hein (Dutch)
• Mortimer (French)
• Gevatter Tod (German)
• Θανατηφόρος Βοηθός (Thanatiforos Voithos) (Greek)
• Mort, a Halál Kisinasa (Hungarian)
• Morty l'apprendista (Italian)
• Dødens læregutt (Norwegian)
• O aprendiz de Morte (Portuguese-Brazil)
• Мор, ученик Смерти (Russian)
• Mort (Czech, Estonian, Finnish, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish)
• תרועת המוות (Hebrew)

External links

• Annotations for Mort
• Quotes from Mort
• Synopsis of Mort
• Unofficial short film and its web page

• 1987 novels
• Discworld books
• Novels by Terry Pratchett