The holiday season is upon us, and although I’m not by any means a fanatic for Christmas
or anything, the month brings out some of our best, and sometimes our worst.
This year I’ve been diving into the Discworld series and for the end of the year I decided
to read Hogfather because ‘tis the season.
I had seen the tv film adaptation the year before on Yule and I couldn’t be more excited
to read it.
I don’t think I was fully prepared for the way this book touched me.
For those of you who have absolutely no idea what nonsense I’m talking about, Discworld
is a series of books by the late and great Sir Terry Pratchett that document the lives,
history and mythology of the Discworld, a flat planet balancing on the back of 4 elephants
and the great turtle A’Tuin.
Much like our world’s fantasy it has wizards and trolls and assassins and elves, but like
our reality, some of them are dentists and carpenters and musicians and cops.
It’s satire, and it’s beautiful, and as Pratchett himself described it “an antidote
to fantasy”.
The absurdity of the Discworld is what makes it the perfect way of telling meaningful stories.
There’s tons of videos out there to help you delve into the universe further if you’re
interested, which you might just be after this I hope, I barely even scrape the surface.
The Hogfather is basically Discworld's father Christmas.
He flies around in a sleigh led by hogs to deliver presents to the good children on the
winter’s eve night, or Hogswatch.
But the Auditors of Reality, who basically see to the universe functioning, have sent
an assassin after him because they believe destroying the Hogfather will discourage humans
from being… well, human.
They hate life, especially humans, because it’s unpredictable and messy and they can’t
control it.
The problem is, with all that extra belief not being used to believe in the Hogfather,
it’s beginning to boil over, and it’s not all pleasant.
Childhood nightmares start to loom at every corner, and if you believe in it, well then
it’s real isn’t it?
Not to worry though, Death is here to save the day!
Skeleton with a clip on beard, big red hat and all take up the Hogfather’s job, while
his granddaughter Susan goes after the assassin himself.
Death is like the absurdist hero, though calling Death a hero might not feel like it fits,
Discworld’s Death is as gentle as a spring’s breeze.
But come a gust of wind, or a tornado, that’s out of his control.
In other words, Death simply is.
And what I love about him is his simple curiosity and admiration for life.
A recurring theme in Death novels is his struggle between his existence, and his, for lack of
a better word, humanity.
As Death he exists to bring the dead through the process, he sees everything from murdered
men, to dying Matchstick girls, to tube worms at the bottom of the ocean crumbling under
a rock.
He doesn’t just understand the indifference of the universe, he is part of it every day.
But for one night, Death doesn’t have to be Death anymore, and he doesn’t just get
to be a farmer or a beggar (see Reaper Man and Soul Music), but the Hogfather himself!
For one night Death gets to spend it giving humans every reason to believe in the Hogfather,
to keep him alive.
He gets to give kids every gift they’ve ever wanted, no matter how ridiculous, and
he loves every second of it.
Death gets to embody a creation of the humans’ imagination and I think nothing delighted
him more.
To be desired by them rather than feared like he’s used to.
While Death often has a certain humorous air to him, like most Discworld characters, he
doesn’t often tend to be happy, like truly happy, and as the Hogfather he was as close
as he will probably get.
There’s a moment in the book that stuck out to me.
After all's said and done Death is sitting in the nursery for the kids Susan works for.
He’s observing the wallpaper covered in little bunnies in overcoats and remarks on
how there would never be a real rabbit in an overcoat.
He had seen many rabbits and none wore overcoats, but how humans find joy in their simple imagination.
That children find humour in cute rodents wearing clothing, why rodents are considered
cute and happy at all.
They’re simply an animal among many animals, but to understand humans would be to understand
why we would put a rabbit in a waistcoat.
We’ve all all heard of Peter Rabbit or Winnie the Pooh or any variety of Disney movie.
Who doesn’t remember the simple joy of a child’s imagination, playing spies and knights
and princesses.
And we remember our fears, the nightmares of what’s under the bed and hiding in the
dark and ghosts that were as real to you as the news on the TV.
Belief in things is simply a willingness in yourself to know something as truth.
And what makes it real and exist in the universe is the collective belief in that truth.
Death proclaiming the absence of inherent right and wrong in the universe doesn’t
negate that he also believes there is, in fact, a right and a wrong, and it’s our
humanity that makes us believe in them.
Death is someone who’s existed as long as well, dying has existed, from the very beginnings
and he’s spent that existence trying to understand life.
The lives from the wizards of the Unseen University to the lives of the tiniest tube worm at the
bottom of the ocean.
They fascinate him with their simple and yet powerful way of looking at the world.
They created justice and duty and laws and morals and ethics and also tooth fairies and
boogeymen and hogfathers and death himself, in a way.
The only reason Death appears the way he does is because that is what people believe Death
looks like.
When Death proclaims “You need to believe in things that aren’t true, how else do
they become?”
He reveals humanity's greatest strength, and why the Auditors of Reality are so scared
of them.
As I’m sure some of you out there might understand.
Sometimes the universe just seems like it doesn’t care, that nothing you do makes
a difference or really changes any injustice or evil in this world.
But something that’s become clear to me, that Hogfather really illuminated for me,
was that if I believe, and I mean truly believe in anything in this world, it’s in people.
In people’s capability of kindness and bravery and compassion and desire to be better.
In the face of all the bad and the wrong in the world, to choose to believe in the good,
because without that, how can anything change?
And if Death can be the Hogfather for a night, because humans have convinced him of their
goodness and worth in this universe, why not give people a chance?
Take the leap of faith to trust in someone or believe the best in them.
Despite all the injustices in the universe, like my other favourite absurdist hero would
say, prove to the world what it could be to show it what it can be.
So believe in Hogfathers and Tooth fairies and boogeymen, and believe there is such a
thing as good in the world!
And most importantly, believe in yourself, your ability to do good, and in others.
You never know, maybe you could save someone’s life.