The first few pages of the novel deal with a sourcerer's father who cheats death by making a prophecy that Death must honour the alternative is to risk destroying the Discworld. To prevent the creation of sourcerers, therefore, wizards are not allowed to marry or have children. Since sourcerers are born the eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son, they are wizards squared.

As eight is a powerful magical number on Discworld, men born as the eighth son of an eighth son are commonly wizards. On the Discworld, sourcerers – wizards who are sources of magic, and thus immensely more powerful than normal wizards – were the main cause of the great mage wars that left areas of the disc uninhabitable. Sourcery is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the fifth book in his Discworld series, published in 1988. The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Men At Arms is the second book in the City Watch series. One minute you might be minding your own business on a normal if not spectacular career path, the next you might be in the frame for the big job, like saving the world.

most of the time) and Corporal Nobbs (disqualified from the human race for shoving).Īnd they need all the help they can get, because someone in Ankh-Morpork has been getting dangerous ideas - about crowns and legendary swords, and destiny.Īnd the problem with destiny is, of course, that she is not always careful where she points her finger. The City Watch needs MEN! But what it's got includes Corporal Carrot (technically a dwarf), Lance-constable Cuddy (really a dwarf), Lance-constable Detritus (a troll), Lance-constable Angua (a woman. You ought to make yourself useful and find the man who put the sword in the stone in the first place.'

'What's so hard about pulling a sword out of a stone? The real work's already been done.

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