Small Gods

Small Gods is the thirteenth of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, published in 1992.[1] It tells the origin of the god Om, and his relations with his prophet, the reformer Brutha. In the process, it satirises religious institutions, people, and practices, and the role of religion in political life.

Small Gods

First edition
Author	Terry Pratchett
Cover artist	Josh Kirby
Language	English
Series	Discworld 13th novel – 3rd individual story
Subject	Religion, Philosophy Characters Brutha, Om Locations Omnia, Ephebe
Genre	Fantasy
Publisher	Victor Gollancz
Publication date	1992
ISBN	0-06-017750-0

Plot

The Great God Om tries to manifest himself once more in the world, as the time of his eighth prophet is nigh. He is surprised, however, when he finds himself in the body of a tortoise, stripped of his divine powers.

In the gardens of Omnia's capital he addresses the novice Brutha, the only one able to hear his voice. Om has a hard time convincing the boy of his godliness, as Brutha is convinced that Om can do anything he wants, and would not want to appear as a tortoise.

Brutha is gifted with an eidetic memory and is therefore chosen by Vorbis, the head of the Quisition, to come along on a diplomatic mission to Ephebe. However, Brutha is also considered unintelligent, since he never learned to read, and rarely thinks for himself. This begins to change after Brutha discovers Ephebe's philosophers; the idea of people entertaining ideas they're not certain they believe or even understand, let alone starting fistfights over them, is an entirely new concept to him.

With the help of Ephebe's Great Library, and the philosophers Didactylos, his nephew, Urn, and Abraxas, Om learns that Brutha is the only one left who believes in him. All others either just fear the Quisition's wrath or go along with the church out of habit. While in Ephebe, Brutha's memory aids an Omnian raid through the Labyrinth guarding the Tyrant's palace. While in the library of Ephebe, Brutha also memorizes many scrolls in order to protect Ephebeian knowledge as Didactylos sets fire to the building, to stop Vorbis reading the scrolls there. Completely unrelated to the story, the Librarian of the Unseen University travels through L-Space to rescue several of the abandoned scrolls.

Fleeing the ensuing struggle by boat, Brutha, Om and a severely injured Vorbis end up lost in the desert. Trekking home to Omnia, they encounter ruined temples as well as the small gods who are faint ghost-like beings yearning to be believed in to become powerful. Realizing his 'mortality' and how important his believers are to him, Om begins to care about them for the first time.

While Brutha, Vorbis, and Om are in the desert, the Tyrant of Ephebe manages to regain control of the city and contacts other nations who have been troubled by Omnia's imperialistic interactions with the other countries around it.

On the desert's edge, a recovered Vorbis attempts to finish off Om's tortoise form, abducts Brutha, and proceeds to become ordained as the Eighth Prophet. Brutha is to be publicly burned for heresy while strapped on a heatable bronze turtle when Om comes to the rescue, dropping from an eagle's claws onto Vorbis' head. As a great crowd witnesses this miracle they come to believe in Om and he becomes powerful again.

Om manifests himself within the citadel and attempts to grant Brutha the honour of establishing the Church's new doctrines. However, Brutha does not agree with Om's new rule and explains that the Church should care for people while having a tolerance for other religious practices.

Meanwhile, Ephebe has gained the support of several other nations and has sent an army against Omnia, establishing a beachhead near the citadel. Brutha attempts to establish diplomatic contact with the generals of the opposing army. Despite trusting Brutha, the leaders state they do not trust Omnia and that bloodshed is necessary. At the same time, Simony leads the Omnian military to the beachhead and uses Urn's machine of war in order to fight the Ephebians.

While the fighting occurs on the beachhead, Om attempts to physically intervene, but Brutha demands he does not interfere with the actions of humans. Om becomes infuriated but obeys Brutha, but he travels to the highest mountain on Discworld where gods gamble on the lives of humans in order to gain or lose belief. While there, Om manages to unleash his fury, striking other gods and causing a storm that disrupts the battle. Eventually, he forces all other gods of the forces at the battle to tell their soldiers to stop fighting and make peace.

In the book's conclusion Brutha becomes the Eighth Prophet, ending the Quisition and reforming the church to be more open-minded and humanist. Om also agrees to forsake the smiting of Omnian citizens for at least a hundred years. The last moments of the book see Brutha's death a hundred years to the day after Om's return to power and his journey across the ethereal desert towards judgement, accompanied by the spirit of Vorbis, whom Brutha found still in the desert and upon whom he took pity. It is also revealed that this century of peace was originally meant to be a century of war and bloodshed which the History Monk Lu-Tze changed to something he liked better.

Reception

Australian author Jack Heath described the book as "one of the 20th century's finest satires", and added that "the gods are pompous, the worshippers cowed, and the priests violently closed-minded. Yet the tale is never heavy-handed, thanks to Brutha's sincerity and some deftly comical plot twists, as well as all the levity that comes from picturing an angry God trapped in the body of a tortoise."[2] Thomas M. Wagner praised it as "an extraordinary novel" on SFreviews.net, and called it a "biting but compassionate satire".[3] In 2011, National Public Radio ranked it #57 on its list of 100 best science fiction / fantasy novels.[4]

Believers as well as unbelievers have praised the book for supporting their position, according to fan mail received by Terry Pratchett.[5]

The audio codec Ogg Vorbis is named after the character Exquisitor Vorbis in Small Gods.[6]

Adaptations

In 2006 the book was adapted as a serial for BBC Radio 4.[7] It starred Patrick Barlow as Om, Carl Prekopp as Brutha, and Alex Jennings as Vorbis. Anton Lesser was the narrator.[8]

A stage version of Small Gods was adapted in 2010 and performed between 17 and 19 February 2011 at The Assembly Rooms Theatre, Durham by OOOOK! Productions and members of Durham Student Theatre. All profits were donated to The Orangutan Foundation. The adaptation was written by Ben Saunders, a graduate of the University of Durham department of Archaeology.

In January 2016 the official Terry Pratchett Twitter feed announced an upcoming comic adaptation of Small Gods by cartoonist Ray Friesen.[9]

References

1. "Small Gods". fantasticfiction.co.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2009.
2. Heath, Jack. "Small Gods". The Jack Heath Blog. Retrieved 19 May 2012. Archived 10 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine
3. Wagner, Thomas M. "Small Gods / Terry Pratchett". sfreviews.net. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
4. "Top 100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Novels". National Public Radio. 11 August 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
5. "Words From The Master". lspace.org.
6. Xiph.Org Foundation. "xiph.org: naming". xiph.org.
7. "Small Gods". bbc.co.uk. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 9 May 2009.
8. "Message Board: Small Gods Radio Play". terrypratchettbooks.com. Retrieved 9 May 2009.
9. @terryandrob (21 January 2016). "#smallgodsgraphicnovel" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 January 2016 – via Twitter.

External links

• Small Gods title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Annotations on lspace.org
• Quotes on lspace.org
• Synopsis on lspace.org

Reading order guide
Preceded by Witches Abroad	13th Discworld Novel	Succeeded by Lords and Ladies
Preceded by "Troll Bridge"	4th Individual Story Published in 1990	Succeeded by The Truth