Orginal or parody?

[Pyan]

Do you think that the characters on the Discworld are parodies or originals? I'm not talking about the first two or three books, where there is little doubt on the matter, but since the books took on a life of their own. Or did they start as parodies, and mutate into something different? Or are each new central characters parodic or original? I mean, have you ever met anyone like Sergeant Jackrum or Moist von Lipwig before? I'd be interested to hear other views on this.

 

[HiddenTiger]

From what I’ve read of TP, I believe that he creates his central characters and revolves the parodies and clichés around them. Sergeant Jackrum may have started off as a 'Mulan' type but TP has taken it to the extreme and weaved a great 'what-if' story around Jackrum and 'his boys'...

So yes I think TP's central characters are original characters that live within a parody.

I enjoyed the 'Thief of Time'. Especially the Old Sweeper who is a time martial artist and also the yeti's special 'save' ability

 

[sanityassassin]

I have just finished Gardens of the moon by Steven errikson and have noticed that the monstourous regiment (in said title) seems to be a parody of the bridgeburners from GotM esp. Sgt Jackrum/Sgt whiskeyjack

 

[alicebandassassin]

i think tp likes to mixs the recognizable with the new but as long as it makes me smile im all for it

 

[CarlottaVonUberwald]

it's bit of both..... read soul music and watch certain films... lol.... but some ideas are original i think the fact he isn't afraid to do paradies is what makes him so great