#Then of course is the obvious issue of Omnianism being fairly similar in broad strokes to Judaism | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

realitys-ex · 1 year

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One kinda fun/odd bit about Discworld is the place of Jews/Judaism in it (no, this probably won't go where you expect).

So there are the 2 obvious places and one arguably subtle/debatable place:

Feet of Clay/Golems very clearly drawing from Judaism (though in subsequent books that was toned *way* down)

Omnianism is a very clear stand in for/amalgamation of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism (the amount of each is left as an exercise to the reader).

and Lastly / debatably many people find a similarity between the description of the Dwarf religion and Judaism (I am not stating I agree, just I would have been remiss if I didn't bring it up)

Now the one thing that kinda gets forgotten is that: Judaism as a whole independent religion is somewhat confirmed in Discworld leaving arguments about the above somewhat moot! (you can't have a stand in for a religion if you already have the religion itself).

In both Feet of Clay and Fifth Elephant it mentions Vampires working at Kosher Butchers (for those unaware blood is not kosher so it needs to be drained extra well from meat, a perfect job for a vampire).

Now what does that actually imply? Absolutely nothing.

PTerry often had off the cuff jokes, as well as mucked about with continuity (remember how Trolls originally would continue to grow until they died, and could get up to the size of a small mountain, which only came up in one of the early books and was ignored in the rest?) and (I am sure) just liked that joke and did not intend to imply any theological ramifications or serious world building from it.

But dammit, it is (to me) incredibly funny to step into a (semi) serious discussion about Judaism in Discworld and completely derail it with a throw away line.

#Discworld #gnu terry pratchett #sillieness #Serious voice: So what does Small Gods Say about Terry's view of Judaism?#Shit eating Grin: Uhhh Jews exist in Canon... So Nothing? Have you even read the books or are you just looking to be angry?#Note I do not actually do this as I tend to avoid discussions like that #though the kosher butchers does have interesting Implications if taken to the logical extent #Aside from the obvious: There is only one real world religion on Discworld which Implies that it is correct #A religion based purely on a Non corporial no real form god #in a world where every single religion has had their god manifest in physical form lends itself to a fascinating cross religion interaction #This is of course assuming that Disworld!Judaism is as similar as possible to Real World #The idea of a religious debate where sometimes the god will actually show up makes non corporeal montheism kinda funny #(of course since the knowledge of how small gods become great ones feeding on belief is somewhat understood that sword cuts both ways)#Then of course is the obvious issue of Omnianism being fairly similar in broad strokes to Judaism #watching another religion kinda crib your whole style must be odd #And of course the lack of Christianity and Islam has some interesting implications #all of which is an over analysis but in the fun stupid way rather than the fighty way #maybe I will do a discussion of religion in Discworld one day

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