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Eric

Eric

NovellaFantasyHigh Fantasy
Pages
149
Published
1990
Language
English

Synopsis

Eric is a thirteen-year-old demonology hacker who attempts to summon a demon to grant his three wishes — mastery of the world, the most beautiful woman who has ever lived, and to live forever. Instead, he accidentally summons Rincewind, freshly escaped from the Dungeon Dimensions. Together they lurch through time and space — to the siege of Tsort, the birth of the universe, and Hell itself — as Rincewind attempts to fulfil the wishes by accident and things go spectacularly wrong. Originally published as a fully illustrated volume in 1990.

Prose complexity
3/10

Vibe

FunnySatiricalWhimsicalAdventurous
Reluctant HeroQuestFish Out of WaterSurvival

Genres

Fantasy High Fantasy Comic Fiction Humor

About the author

T
Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) was an English author best known for the Discworld series, a sequence of forty-one comic fantasy novels set on a flat world carried through space on the backs of four elephants standing on a giant turtle. Across four decades, the Discworld grew from a parody of sword-and-sorcery fantasy into one of the most sustained works of social satire in English literature, examining politics, religion, science, gender, race, capitalism, and the nature of stories themselves. Pra...

Characters

RincewindProtagonist

The Disc's most incompetent wizard, reluctantly dragooned into service by a boy who wanted a demon.

Eric ThursleySupporting

A thirteen-year-old demonology enthusiast whose three wishes drive the plot's chaotic trajectory.

The LuggageSupporting

The sapient pear-wood chest that locates Rincewind again, even across time.

All characters in Eric

Frequently asked questions

  • What is Eric a parody of?

    Eric is explicitly a parody of the Faust legend — a boy who bargains for worldly power, beauty, and immortality. The novel's title is a play on Faust's first name in many German retellings. The Trojan War sequence also parodies Homer's Iliad.

  • Why was Eric originally published differently from other Discworld novels?

    Eric was first published in 1990 by Gollancz as a large-format fully illustrated book with artwork by Josh Kirby. At roughly novella length, it was shorter and more expensive than standard Discworld novels. A plain text edition was published later.

  • Where in the Rincewind timeline does Eric fall?

    Eric picks up immediately after the end of Sourcery (1988), in which Rincewind was trapped in the Dungeon Dimensions. It is the fourth Rincewind novel and Discworld #9.

  • Who is Astfgl?

    Astfgl is the Duke of Hell — the senior demon administrator who has modernized Hell by making it a place of endless forms, hold music, and bureaucratic tedium rather than fire and pitchforks. He is a sharp parody of middle management.

  • Does Eric connect to other Discworld books?

    The visit to Hell establishes lore about Azrael — the Great Death who oversees all Deaths in all universes — which connects to the Death sub-series. The Trojan War parody also informs Pratchett's ongoing interest in myth and heroic narrative.

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