The Light Fantastic characters

Appears from the start

A failed wizard of Ankh-Morpork's Unseen University, expelled after one of the eight great spells of the Octavo lodged itself in his mind and crowded out everything he tried to learn afterwards. He can cast nothing, speaks several languages, and treats running away as a skill worth being good at. Since being pressed into service as guide to the Disc's first tourist he has been carried from one disaster to the next, and the book opens with him falling off the edge of the world. His hat is embroidered with the word wizzard.

Appears from the start

A small, cheerful insurance clerk from the wealthy Agatean Empire on the far side of the Disc, and the first tourist the Discworld has ever had. He carries a picture-making box, a phrasebook, and an unshakeable belief that the world is fundamentally a friendly place put on for his benefit. He does not recognise danger when it is directly in front of him, which has so far worked out better for him than it has for anyone travelling with him.

Appears from the start

Twoflower's travelling chest, made of sapient pearwood and moving on hundreds of small legs. It holds far more than its size allows, follows its owner across continents and through impossible places, and destroys anything that threatens him. It cannot be reasoned with, outrun, or left behind.

First appears in chapter 4

The vast star turtle on whose shell four elephants stand carrying the Discworld. Astronomers on the Disc have noticed that it has changed course and is swimming steadily toward a red star that grows larger in the sky with every passing day, and nobody knows why.

First appears in chapter 6

The anthropomorphic personification of death, a robed skeleton with a scythe who speaks in a voice that arrives directly inside the listener's head. He collects the souls of the notable and the interesting, keeps a careful diary of appointments, and has been trying to keep an appointment with Rincewind for some time without success. He is patient, literal-minded, and increasingly curious about the living.

First appears in chapter 6

The Archchancellor of Unseen University and the most senior wizard on the Disc, weighed down with ceremonial titles and a robe to match. Elderly, imperious, and thoroughly conventional, he treats magic as a matter of ritual and precedence. When the Octavo begins acting on its own he takes charge of the University's response and attempts to recover the missing spell by force of high magic.

First appears in chapter 8

A young senior wizard of Unseen University, unusual among his colleagues for being neither fat nor obviously magical. He keeps files, draws up organisational charts, and thinks of the University as an institution to be managed rather than a brotherhood of spellcasters. He is patient, tidy, and quietly determined to climb every rung of the eight orders of wizardry, and he pays close attention to what the Octavo is doing.

First appears in chapter 20

A mercenary captain hired to bring Rincewind back to Unseen University alive. Competent, practical, and impatient with the men she leads, she is a professional in a trade that mostly attracts amateurs, and she pursues her quarry across country with more persistence than her employers expected.

First appears in chapter 28

The Disc's greatest hero, now eighty-seven years old, toothless, thin as a stick, and still alive after a career that has killed every rival he ever had. He has been robbing temples and fighting monsters since before most kingdoms existed, owns almost nothing, and has strong opinions about the modern habit of wearing trousers. Age has cost him his teeth and much of his hearing but none of his speed or nerve.

First appears in chapter 30

A young woman of the Circle Sea country who was chosen by her people's druids as a sacrifice at a stone circle, and who is unimpressed by the honour. Sensible, blunt, and quick to organise the people around her, she attaches herself to the travellers after being freed and takes a particular interest in Cohen.

First appears in chapter 38

The keeper of Unseen University's library, the largest collection of magical books on the Disc. A surge of raw magic turns him into an orangutan, and once he discovers how convenient long arms are for reaching high shelves he declines every offer to be turned back. He communicates in a single syllable, is enormously strong, and is fiercely protective of the books in his care.

First appears in chapter 6

The Discworld's most powerful book of magic, written by the Creator and holding the eight great spells that underpin the world. It sits chained in a cellar beneath Unseen University, is aware of its own contents, and has begun taking an interest in the fact that one of its spells is missing.