Any Questions?

[=Tamar]

I believe there is a Ron somewhere in everybook, and often more than one (as in The Truth). I know I began looking for them once I noticed. I've read that it was a quiet joke about Josh Kirby, whose official first name was Ron.

 

[RathDarkblade]

Oh! :idea: And I just remembered (dimly) that there is a character named Ronron. I did a quick google search and found it - Ronron "Revelation Joe" Shuwadi, the Klatchian mystic who invented the pizza - or at least claimed to have gotten the recipe from the Creator. He is mentioned in Mort. Apparently it came to him in a dream.

Apparently, the Creator had a simple pepperoni and cheese pizza in mind when creating the Discworld, but slightly overdid it. The original pizza can be found in the Forbidden City of Ee - although, of course, that would require finding that city first.

In the computer game Discworld Noir, there is a big stained glass window in the Temple of Small Gods, depicting the moment when the creator gave the recipe to a mortal.

So maybe Ron's Pizza Hovel is named after the original Ronron, rather than The Restaurant Owned by the Evil Clown.

Who is Glossy Ron, by the way? I don't remember him... :|

Also, any idea why Terry likes the name Ron so much? I'll admit, it's a good funny name - like Bob...

 

[Tonyblack]

Glossy Ron:
A thief, possibly an unlicenced one, in Ankh-Morpork who is known to have been murdered by Ma Lilywhite. Little more is known about him.

 

[Sister Jennifer]

I believe there is a Ron somewhere in everybook, and often more than one (as in The Truth). I know I began looking for them once I noticed. I've read that it was a quiet joke about Josh Kirby, whose official first name was Ron.

That's a great bit of information, thanks.

 

[=Tamar]

What is the closest analogue to Easter in the Discworld?
Is it Soul Cake Tuesday?

 

[RathDarkblade]

That is... possible. See this entry at the L-Space wiki about the Soul Cake Duck. To quote:

The Soul Cake Duck is a minor (or at least not noticeably powerful) supernatural entity, the anthropomorphic personification of Soul Cake Tuesday, which curiously also marks the start of duck-hunting season. The first duck to appear on Soul Cake Tuesday is considered very lucky, but perhaps only to someone who would like a duck dinner, not the first duck itself. The Soul Cake Duck is rumored to be paranoid beyond sanity and generally in a very bad mood.

Soul Cake Tuesday seems to bear some relationship to All Hallow's Eve on Roundworld, where Soul Cakes also exist. Like the Easter Bunny on Roundworld, the Soul Cake Duck is associated with sweets and something called "trickle-treating." It lays edible eggs of a more confectionary variety than the usual duck egg.

In Hogfather, the assassin Jonathan Teatime reveals that he often used to lie awake in bed at night and think of ways to kill, not only the Hogfather, but also the Tooth Fairy and the Soul Cake Tuesday Duck. The Soul Cake Duck is also mentioned in The Discworld Companion.

However, if you take Hogfather as truth - for a given value of "truth" - then it seems pretty certain that the Soul Cake Duck is the Discworld equivalent of the Easter Bunny. Quoting again:

"She (Susan -Ed.) had never looked for eggs laid by the Soul Cake Duck." (Hogfather, pg. 66)

Hope this helps!

 

[Tonyblack]

So, a cross between Easter and Halloween.

All you might ever wish to know about Soul Cakes.

Hmmm . . . I guess you could add Hot Cross Buns into the celebration as well.

 

[raisindot]

Ron seems to be a favourite name for Terry - Ron and various Ron sounding names. Off the top of my head: Foul Old Ron, Ronald Rust, Hrun the Barbarian, Ronald the Third, Ronald Saveloy, and Glossy Ron. As to Ron's Pizza Hovel - maybe that's a pun on Ronald McDonald.

Hmmmm...you almost wonder whether Roland in the Tiffany Aching books is a a play on "Ronald."....