Book 20: Hogfather

On the Discworld, belief is a tangible force. It creates dragons, it gives life to gods. In Hogfather, we learn that, most importantly of all, it shapes ordinary people. For belief, it seems, shapes existence, rather than (as on our world) vice-versa; the fact that something is real is not enough to justify belief, and the fact that something is obviously invented is not enough to counter it.

When belief in the Hogfather disappears from the world, the need for humans to believe in the supernatural creates a variety of new entities that explain various odd things about life, such as what happens to pencils and socks. It's only human, the book explains, to look for explanations for these phenomena; and on the Discworld, any explanation that generates enough belief becomes true.

And at this point, it becomes clear that Pratchett is not writing about some sort of fantasy world, but about our world, what is sometimes called the 'real' world. In the famous Christmas newspaper editorial, "Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus", the writer explains at length that merely because something might be said not to exist does not mean that it isn't real. As Death himself explains,

Take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder and sieve it through the finest sieve and then show me one atom of justice, one molecule of mercy.

It's not just on the Discworld that belief shapes reality: as ever, he's writing here about the real world. We know that our own Santa exists, because if he did not, justice and mercy would not exist either; and then we would not be human.

This is a book in which the characters are defined by their beliefs. Children believe in anything they are told; adults believe in different things, and this is what makes them adults. Death believes in humanity: to him there is something sacred about it, something that no outside force has the right to tamper with. The Auditors believe in order. The wizards believe in science. The Lilywhite boys believe very firmly in their ma. Teatime believes in himself, and is prepared to sacrifice the rest of humanity - including his own - in that cause. Susan, alone, refuses to believe in anything, and that makes her the peculiarly sceptical hero of a deeply romantic book.

As in Soul Music, Susan's disbelief is tested by the things she sees and hears. In contrast to the Religious, who believe in what they cannot see, Susan refuses to believe even in what she does see. Death himself could never set foot in the Tooth Fairy's country, because that would break the taboo that binds him to respect human beliefs. Susan has no such restraint. Her faith in rationality, in normality, is every bit as strong - and, Pratchett shows us, every bit as powerful - as a priest's faith in their god. It protects her in the tower and allows her to use the deeply un-magical poker as a weapon that can beat even Death's sword. Susan believes in Teatime, because Teatime is something that falls within her rational framework; but even at the end of the book, she doesn't really believe in Death. Hence the poker goes through Death as if he wasn't there at all.

Mike Kew

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