Musing on The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett

According to my excel sheet and then as corroborated by the writing on the book, I have supposedly read this book in 2014. But I have absolutely no memory of reading the book. In my defense, in 2014 I had yet to fall in love with Discworld and I was at a strange place in that year. With so much rereading going on in my life it is only fair I take up this book and of course the bonus is another Discworld book! And also low key I want to check if my memory of the book is completely erased or there’s at least some trace left.

After few pages into the book and memory was stirred. I am so glad to know there is still some hope left for my brain. I did not remember the plot as a whole but characters and lines I remembered.

As we know Ankh-Morpork is a city in Discworld. Discworld is flat (as is our own world according to some). It is supported on the back of four elephants, who in turn stand on the back of a giant turtle (the Great A’Tuin). Long long ago, when Discworld was young, there was a fifth elephant. Once it comes out of sky in anger and jumps on Discworld at Uberwald. This incident creates mountains and continents on the young world and made Uberwald rich in minerals.

That incident really happened or it is only a myth no one knows. However, it made the fifth elephant very important for Uberwald. They use the fifth elephant as a metaphor to describe something, which is not real.

Lord Havelock Vetinari, the patrician of Ankh-Morpork, is as usual in control of the city and the last word in the welfare of the city. And everyone as ever is scared of his single raised eyebrow. This time his mission is trade with Uberwald.

Uberwald, known as the land of the fifth elephant, is mysterious, chaotic, and still in dark age. In contrast to multicultural Ankh-Morpork, in Uberwald all species are still at war with each other. However it is rich in mineral and fat. Lord Vetinari wants fat at a reasonable rate. For the coronation ceremony of Low King, he wants Commander Samuel Vimes to represent Ankh-Morpork and talk to the King about trade deal. But Vimes is a no-nonsense brave and fair cop who does not understand anything about diplomacy. Moreover isn’t it said wherever the cop goes (or any other fictional detective, just ask Jessica Fletcher) there’s a crime?

Crimes starts in Ankh-Morpork and goes with him to Uberwald. Wallace Sonky the rubber tradesman is murdered and the replica of the sacred symbol of dwarfs – Scone of Stone is stolen. These two incidents are related to the coronation in Uberwald.

Vimes starts for the city of Bonk in Uberwald leaving Captain Carrot in charge. His entourage to Uberwald includes his wife Dutchess Sybil, Corporal Cheery Littlebottom, Sergeant Detritus and the clerk Inigo Skimmer who seems to be more than a clerk.

Sergeant Angua suddenly goes missing. Her boyfriend Carrot goes in search of her and his companion in this search is world’s only talking dog Gaspode. This leaves Sergent Fred Colon as the acting captain just when he was busy in making revolutionary changes in traffic system of the city.

The murder, the theft and missing of Angua all connected to a conspiracy to stop the coronation and create instability in Uberwald. Vimes must solve the crime and at the same time fulfills his diplomatic duty.

There are three power centres in Uberwald: dwarf, vampire, and werewolf. The to be Low King Rhys rules the dwarfs, Lady Margolotta is the lead vampire while Angua’s family is the leader of werewolves. And the whom’s whom in Uberwald are served by Igors.

And, as a clan, Igors liked working for vampires. They kept regular hours , were generally polite to their servants and, an important extra, didn’t require much work in the bed-making and cookery department, and tended to have cool, roomy cellars where an Igor could pursue his true calling. This more than made up for those occasions when you had to sweep up their ashes.

Lady Sybil writes to Angua’s mother Lady Serafine Von Uberwald every Hogswatch (similar to Christmas of western world) so she expects a nice reception. She and her husband get a “nice” reception from the family especially from Angua’s brother Wolfgang as Vimes interferes in the family’s plan. But Vimes has always few plans in his sleeves. With backing of his loyal staffs he tries to fulfill his missions in Uberwald.

The plot ties up everything nicely, which is essential as the book is basically a thriller. And my favourite DEATH makes a special appearance!

The thing I particularly found interesting on first reading of this book, is the parody of using political correct language. On second time too that made me laugh out loud.

Few terms and their political correct terms taken from the book

1. Dead man – Vitally challenged

2. Werewolf – Morphologically gifted

3. Four legged animals – Pedestically gifted species

4. More representation of dwarf community – Campaign for equal height

There are also various guilds active in the city Ankh-Morpork working zealously for the welfare of their kinds. The most prominent among the guilds is the thief guild.

A multicultural city Ankh-Morpork is represented by a diverse Watch (police force), a policy endorsed by Commander Vimes.

Here are few members of diverse Watch

Constable Dorfl – golem

Constable Chert – troll

Lance-Constable Bluejohn – troll

Corporal Nobby Nobbs – human

Corporal Cheery Littlebottom – female dwarf

Sergeant Detritus – troll

Constable Swires – gnome

Constable Shoe – Zombie

Constable Downspout – gargoyle

Captain Carrot – human but honourable dwarf as raised by dwarf parents

Sergeant Angua – werewolf

Sergent Fred Colon – human

Although the book satires the political correct terms and system but it narrates the dangerous side of intolerance too. Political correctness is not a simple concept. It is layered, subjective and nuanced. Pratchett has tried to explore this complex idea through this book.

1. Gender identification

Dwarfs don’t recognise female gender, all have male pronouns but new age females especially the citizens of Ankh-Morpork have started enforcing their gender

Then Cheery Littlebottom had arrived in Ankh-Morpork and had seen that there were men out there who did not wear chain mail or leather underwear, but did wear interesting colors and exciting makeup, and these men were called “women.”

It is a big scandal when Cheery wears women’s cloths in Uberwald, country of her ancestors. But who can fight with a woman who wants to be a woman? This reminds me the golem identifying as a female in Making Money.

2. When rich tries to experience poverty/poor people

 “In those days rich young men from Ankh-Morpork used to go on what we called the Grand Sneer, visiting far-flung countries and cities in order to see at first hand how inferior they were…..”

In our world the backpackers of first world many a times try to experience the poor third world countries but “sneer” would be a better word.

3. Individual freedom vs. tradition

Everyone from Uberwald wants to go to Ankh-Morpork because they can have a future there and more importantly they can have individual freedom. They don’t have to suffocate under pressure of tradition. Like if Cheery wants to be a woman she can be one in Ankh-Morpork yet when she is in a grand ceremony of dwarfs in Uberwald her personal freedom makes her to choose to dress up like a dwarf.

4. Specie stereotype

Species stereotyping is as meaningless as stereotype of any kind. Because all members of a family are not identical. A daughter can go against cruelty of her own family, a wolf Gavin can be more intelligent than a man and vampire can be an ally of human beings.

5. A true leader

A true leader does not see the kind of his staffs but their capabilitities. The true leader only encourages and supports them unconditionally. In return the staff can easily lay down their lives for their leader.

6. The world is moved by symbols and good manners

Symbols may seem meaningless to some but it gives faith to people to carry on. Well mannered people like Lady Sybil understands the importance of symbols. Lady Sybil is not weak, she is only nice to everyone. With her niceness she can achieve things like no other.

Few unique qualities of species in Discworld

~ Werewolves are born not made with few bites.

~ Trolls have a silicon based brain which becomes more active in cold climate.

~ Igors may look deformed to common men but they are highly in demand among young ladies. Igors’ daughters are always very beautiful. Overall another brilliant Discworld book, which I am not going to forget (hopefully)!