What I learned from a cowardly, failed wizard

I read quite a lot of fiction and two of my favourite authors are Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Perhaps you’ve seen the adaptation of Good Omens, which they co-wrote, on Amazon Prime?

One of the things that Gaiman says about fiction is that it’s a way into others’ worlds, their point of view, their way of thinking. Fiction can also teach us about ourselves, or give us reassurance that we’re not alone in our experience.

I’ve been reading, re-reading and listening to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels since I was 16. The Colour of Magic (book 1), featuring a pretty poor wizard called Rincewind, helped me through waiting for my O level results. By the way, if you’ve not read Pratchett and have seen the Sky adaptations, they’re pretty average and don’t have the intelligence and social commentary of his books. Pratchett is funny and clever, I like his characters and his work is always accessible and never annoyingly ridiculous. As a writer, he starts to get more into his stride from book 4 onwards, that’s Mort, so if you start with book 1, you might need to forgive him a bit.

Of all Pratchett’s characters, I identify most with Rincewind and without quite realising it at the time, I think he’s helped me understand a few things about life.

Life is messy, confusing and unreliable… but that’s ok, if you know who you are

I think it was during my third job – and my first in marketing that I started looking for The Rules of Work. I knew once I’d figured out what they were, I’d be able to get things more organised and better planned. I spent about six months doing this. It didn’t work..

Whatever way I tried to do things, often, it didn’t quite work as I wanted. Rincewind is described as someone “who’s never really trusted magic to run the universe” I knew the feeling that there must be a better way too, I just couldn’t find it.

I started to feel like the young sourcerer at the end of book 5, Sourcery. In this bit, he’s just found out that he’s going to need to make his own decisions from now on and wails that he doesn’t know what to do.

‘No harm in that. I’ve never known what to do.’ said Rincewind with hollow cheerfulness. ‘Been completely at a loss my whole life.’ He hesitated, ‘I think it’s called being human, or something.’

That might seem unsatisfying and incomplete, but I think that the sooner we realise that’s life – (plans that don’t work and not always knowing what to do), the easier it is to handle whatever comes along. A little later, Rincewind tells the sourcerer what’s really important in life.

‘There was something else I was trying to say,’ said Rincewind. He looked blank for a moment and then added, ‘Oh yes. It’s vital to remember who you really are. It’s very important. It isn’t a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see. They always get it wrong.'

I keep coming back to this one, because if you know who you are and what matters to you, then there’s more chance you’ll know what to do when you need to. There are many ways of working out what matters, for me it’s been a lifelong journey. Rincewind is absolutely right, you have to discover this for yourself – though some coaching can be useful. Don’t take anyone else’s word for it, nor anyone else’s plan for you.

Who you are is complicated – and that’s ok too

Rincewind is described as a coward – and it’s pretty convincing, he does spend a lot of his time running away. It wasn’t until book 17 – Interesting Times (set in a place much like China) that I started to realise that Rincewind’s cowardice isn’t as simple as it first appears.

Thanks to a misunderstanding, the Red Army (the politest revolutionary group ever) believe that Rincewind is the reincarnation of the Great Wizard, who will lead them to victory against the ruling elite oppressors. Although Rincewind spends a lot of time running away, mostly from the Red Army, the fate of these innocent and humble people comes to matter to him and he tries to keep them safe. Cowardly he may be, but that’s because he understands how dangerous the world is. And when I’d finished Interesting Times I realised that every time in a previous book that something had really mattered to Rincewind, he overcame his cowardice and stood up for what he believed in, even if it put him in mortal danger. I hadn’t noticed this before because there was no big revelatory moment, no signposting, it just happened and fit naturally with the story. I don’t think of myself as particularly brave – even heated arguments can scare me, but I understand and identify with this kind of courage.

Unlike many (super) heroes or tragic heroes, Rincewind doesn’t have one overpowering weakness or fatal flaw. He can’t really do magic, but he knows the theory well and puts that to good use. He has a knack for languages, and is a great runner. He’s not wise, or clever but he is street smart and worldly wise. He’s a coward, but he’s also fundamentally a good person. All those skills and qualities are important to his stories, Rincewind has many human failings – some of which he overcomes. Rincewind reminds me that it’s ok not to be good at everything all the time and also that I can improve.

Being a hero isn’t always what you’d think

The Last Continent (set in an alternate Australia called Fourecks) is the Rincewind story in which Pratchett explores what it means to be a hero. The creator of the continent summons the Trickster (currently bird shaped) to guide Rincewind on a quest to find something to fix a weather problem and bring rain back to Fourecks. The Trickster complains that:

‘He’s not even heroic. He’s just in the right place at the right time.’ The old man indicated that this was maybe the definition of a hero. ‘All right, but why not go and get the thing yerself?’ said the bird. ‘You’ve gotta have heroes,’ said the old man.'

Rincewind spends most of the book trying to avoid saving the day and having numerous misadventures that turn out for the best and earn him an unexpected folk hero reputation.

He does save the day (again). And without spoiling the plot, one of the key moments involves Rincewind forgetting he’s a coward and just going with his intuition. Everything he’s learned on his journey comes together in a moment of inspiration that solves part of the problem. Fair enough, he stumbles upon the final thing that brings the rain back, but that’s Pratchett for you and real life too. Sometimes happy accidents happen to people who are in the right place at the right time.

And if most of us are honest, that’s probably where much of the good, bad or indifferent stuff has come from in our lives. Being in a particular place at a particular time – sometimes in the right (or wrong) frame of mind. We are much less the authors of our stories than we’d like to think we are. Yes, we can influence things sometimes. We can definitely choose how we perceive how life is going for us. I suppose where I’m different to Rincewind is that I’ve accepted and mostly enjoy that life is full of ‘interesting times’ rather than chasing the boredom he craves.

So, that’s Rincewind. Cowardly and brave, stumbling from catastrophe to world saving. Not intelligent, but streetwise; not good at magic, but somehow doing the right thing at just the right moment – often despite himself. And partly because of Rincewind, I’ve grown (mostly) comfortable with knowing who I am and what matters to me; but not knowing exactly what I’m doing all the time; managing life’s ups and downs and switch backs, sometimes ducking out of sight, sometimes standing up to be counted.

I’ll finish by wishing you the ability to find good things in these interesting times, the wisdom to know what really matters to you and the courage and commitment you’ll need when you’ve got to act on that. And if this has convinced you to travel to the Discworld for the first time, I envy you your new journey of discovery, but on the upside for me, it never gets old. Come and tell me if you enjoy it. Current fans, I’d love to hear your favourite Rincewind or other moments.