Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Rincewind is Eskarina's Son

Having just finished Terry Pratchett's final Discworld novel I've been puzzled as to who Eskarina Smith's son could be.  We found out that she had a son in the story I Shall Wear Midnight after her character had not been present for most of the series.  Although Pratchett didn't spell it out, I like to think that her son is Rincewind the Wizzard.

From the few lines we get about her son in her appearances in the Tiffany Aching books we know that she wants to protect her son and Rincewind does have an uncanny way of surviving some rather precarious situations.  Also at the end of Equal Rites it was shown that Eskarina and her partner Simon were researching how the most powerful magic is the one you don't use.  I find this interesting since Rincewind is a wizard who can't do magic.  What if this was by the design of his mother?

Other tidbits point in this direction too, such as Rincewind stating that his mother abandoned him before he was born.  Eskarina, with her time traveling was could certainly have done this.  But there are things that don't quite fit as well, which I shall choose to ignore for my own enjoyment.

Anyway, that's the theory I like the best.  Also it ties the last Discworld book back to the first in a nice circle.