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This article is about the 1988 Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. For other uses,
see Sorcery.
"Sourcerer" redirects here. For other uses, see Sourceror and Sorcerer.
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This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2009)

Sourcery is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the fifth book in
his Discworld series, published in 1988. 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. As
eight is a powerful magical number on Discworld, men born as the eighth son of an
eighth son are commonly wizards. Since sourcerers are born the eighth son of an
eighth son of an eighth son, they are wizards squared. To prevent the creation of
sourcerers, therefore, wizards are not allowed to marry or have children. 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. The rest of the novel deals with the sourcerer's plan to have wizards
rule the Discworld, and the efforts of a small group – including Rincewind the
Wizard, Nijel the Destroyer and Conina the Hairdresser, daughter of Cohen the
Barbarian – to thwart those plans.
Sourcery
Sourcery-cover.jpg
First edition
Author
Terry Pratchett
Cover artist
Josh Kirby
Language
English
Series

Discworld
5th novel – 3rd Rincewind story

Subject

Wizards and sorcery; Apocalypse

Characters:
Rincewind
Locations:
Ankh-Morpork, Klatch

Genre
Fantasy
Publisher
Victor Gollancz in association with Colin Smythe
Publication date
26 May 1988
ISBN
0-575-04217-6
Preceded by
Mort
Followed by
Wyrd Sisters

There are many references to geasa in the text, which are idiosyncratic curses,
vows or obligations placed upon a person (usually a hero, such as Cúchulainn in
Irish mythology).
PlotEdit

Death comes to collect the soul of Ipslore the Red, a wizard who was banished from
Unseen University for marrying and having children, something forbidden for
wizards. Bitter over this fate, Ipslore vows to take revenge upon the wizards
through his eighth son, Coin. As the eighth son of a wizard, Coin is born a
sourcerer, a wizard who generates new magic rather than drawing it from the world,
effectively making him the most powerful wizard on the Disc. At the moment of his
death, Ipslore transfers his essential being into the infant Coin's staff,
preventing Death from collecting his soul (since damaging the staff to do so would
kill Coin) and allowing him to influence his son.

Eight years later, Virrid Wayzygoose, the Archchancellor-designate of Unseen

University, is murdered by Coin before his induction, who then forces his way into
the university's Great Hall. After Coin bests one of the top wizards in the
University, he is welcomed by the majority of the wizards. Rincewind, The Luggage
and the Librarian miss Coin's arrival, having fled the University shortly
beforehand after the foreboding departure of all of its magically-influenced pest
populations. While they are at the Mended Drum, Conina, a professional thief and a
daughter of Discworld legend Cohen the Barbarian, arrives holding a box containing
the Archchancellor's hat, which she has procured from the room of Wayzygoose, and
possesses a kind of sentience as a result of being worn by hundreds of
Archchancellors. Under the direction of the hat, which sees Coin as a threat to
wizardry and the very world, Conina forces Rincewind to come with her and take a
boat to the city of Al Khali, where the hat claims there is someone fit to wear it.

In Ankh-Morpork, the wizards are made more powerful due to Coin's presence drawing
more magic into the Discworld. Under Coin's direction, the wizards take over Ankh-
Morpork, transforming it into a pristine city and transforming the Patrician Lord
Vetinari into a newt, and make plans to take over the world. Elsewhere, Rincewind,
Conina and the Luggage end up in the company of Creosote, the seriph of Al Khali,
and Abrim, his treacherous vizier. The trio are eventually separated; Rincewind is
thrown into the snake pit, where he meets Nijel the Destroyer, a barbarian hero in
training. Conina is taken to Creosote's harem, where the Seriph has his concubines
tell him stories. The Luggage, having been scorned by Conina, runs away and gets
drunk, before killing and eating several creatures in the deserts.

Coin eventually declares Unseen University and the various wizarding orders
obsolete and orders the Library to be burnt down, claiming that Wizardry no longer
requires such things. A group of wizards then attack Al Khali, with the sheer
amount of magic created by their arrival temporarily putting Rincewind into a
trance and enabling him to use magic, allowing him and Nijel to escape the snake
pit. They join up with Creosote and Conina, the latter immediately falling in love
with Nijel, and they encounter Abrim, who had put on the Archchancellor's hat
hoping to gain power from it, only to be possessed instead. Having the experience
of many previous Archchancellors, the hat proves an even match for Sourcery
empowered wizards, fighting off a group of them and enlisting others to its cause.
As this takes place, Rincewind, Conina, Nijel and Creosote find a magical flying
carpet in the palace's treasury, and use it to escape the palace as it gets
destroyed by the possessed Abrim building his own tower.

With the orders no longer around to keep the wizards in check, wizards across the
Discworld go to war with one another, threatening to destroy the world completely.
Upon hearing Creosote express anti-wizard sentiments, an angry and humiliated
Rincewind abandons the group, taking the flying carpet and making his way to the
University, where he learns that the Librarian has saved the library books by
hiding them in the ancient Tower of Art. The Librarian convinces Rincewind to stop
Coin, and he goes off to face the Sourcerer with a sock containing a half-brick.
Back in Al Khali, the Luggage, blaming the Archchancellor's hat for everything it
has endured, forces its way into Abrim's tower. Distracted by the Luggage, the
possessed vizier is killed by the Ankh-Morpork wizards, with the tower and the
Archchancellor's hat getting destroyed in the process.

Despite his victory, Coin becomes concerned when he is told that wizards rule under
the Discworld Gods. He traps the gods in an alternate reality, which shrinks to
become a large pearl, unknowingly causing the Ice Giants, a race of beings who had
been imprisoned by the gods, to escape their prison, whereupon they begin strolling
across the Discworld, freezing everything in their path. Rincewind confronts Coin
soon after this. The Sourcerer is amused, but unthreatened, by Rincewind attempting
to fight him, prompting Ipslore to try and force Coin to kill him. Rincewind
eventually convinces Coin to throw the staff away, but Ipslore's power is
channelled against that of his son. The other wizards leave the tower as Rincewind
rushes forward, grabbing the child and sending both of them to the Dungeon
Dimensions while Death strikes the staff and takes Ipslore's soul. Rincewind orders
Coin to return to the University and, using his other sock filled with sand,
attacks the Creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions as a distraction to ensure Coin's
escape. The Gods are subsequently set free, stopping the march of the Ice Giants.
As the Librarian helps Coin escape, the Luggage charges into the Dungeon Dimensions
after Rincewind.

Coin returns the University and Ankh-Morpork to the way they were before he came.
After Conina and Nijel travel to the University looking for Rincewind, Coin uses
his magic to make them forget him and live happily ever after together. Recognising
that he is too powerful to remain in the world, Coin steps into a dimension of his
own making, and is not seen on the Discworld again. The Librarian takes Rincewind's
battered hat, which got left behind when he went into the Dungeon Dimensions, and
places it on a pedestal in the Library.
CharactersEdit

Marmaric Carding
Coin
Conina
The Luggage
Nijel the Destroyer
Rincewind
Spelter

Adaptations
Reception
References
External links
Last edited 5 months ago by SWM
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