Unseen University
The Unseen University is a school of wizardry in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of fantasy novels. Located in the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork, the UU is staffed by mostly indolent and inept old wizards. The university's name is a pun on the Invisible College, and many aspects of the university are references to Oxford and Cambridge University. The exploits of the head wizards of the Unseen University are a major component in many of the story lines in the books, playing a central role in 13 novels of the main series, as well as the four supplementary The Science of Discworld books and the short story, A Collegiate Casting-Out of Devilish Devices.
Staff
The staff usually come in a group in the books in which they appear, though Rincewind initially followed his own storyline, only being a part of the group in the Science of Discworld books and Unseen Academicals, and the Librarian makes solo appearances in several books. Ridcully and Ponder also appeared in Going Postal and Night Watch. Ridcully alone appears in Thud!. The wizards are referred to by their offices, rather than names. There is a slight reference to this in The Last Continent, when the wizards notice that they not only don't know the Librarian's name, but they also don't know the names of one another. In Unseen Academicals, Ridcully has difficulty remembering the Dean's name, despite having started at UU around the same time.Archchancellor
The head of Unseen University is the Archchancellor, an important figure who holds a seat on the Ankh-Morpork council, although this council itself has no power either, acts as a magical adviser to the Patrician.The Archchancellor of UU is considered the leader of all wizards on the Disc, the first among equals. Unseen University has existed for thousands of years, and the average Archchancellor remains in office for about eleven months. There are eight eighth-level wizards and the number becomes progressively higher as the level decreases. It is common to ascend through the ranks by assassinating superiors. This has been known as the tradition of "dead man's pointy shoes."
Mustrum Ridcully becomes the Archchancellor of Unseen University in the tenth Discworld novel Moving Pictures, and holds it for the rest of the series. Unlike recent holders, Ridcully enjoys an injury-free term as Archchancellor, by bringing a halt to the traditional method of promotion simply by being indestructible. This is related to his habit of springing up behind would-be assassins, shouting loudly at them and banging their head repeatedly in the door. He is also known as Ridcully the Brown, being a country wizard and his affinity to small animals, similar to that of 'Radagast the Brown', but in Ridcully's place it's how he can hunt them.
Ridcully assumed the role of Archchancellor after an absence of forty years, having become a Seventh Level Wizard at the exceptionally young age of twenty-seven, he left to look after his family's land. He loves crossbow hunting and uses the corridors of Unseen University as a shooting range. He was a Rowing Brown for the university in his youth and has a different relationship to sport unlike his fellows who prefer competitive eating and Extreme Napping. Ridcully's form of governorship is that, if someone is still trying to explain something to him after about two minutes, it must be worth listening to and if they give up earlier, it was not worth bothering him with in the first place. He gets on best with Ponder Stibbons, as he never understands what Ponder is saying and in return Ponder never expects him to. His brother is Hughnon Ridcully, High Priest of Blind Io and Ankh-Morpork's religious spokesman.
Lords and Ladies reveals that he and a young Esme Weatherwax were in a relationship some fifty years before Ridcully became Archchancellor. He is deeply affected by her death.
Ridcully has shown the occasional flash of magical skill. For example, in Moving Pictures, the Bursar is surprised to discover Ridcully's adeptness at using a magic mirror, which, like most Discworld scrying devices, is hard to steer. In Soul Music Ridcully improvises, at short notice and with minimal assistance, a slimmed-down version of the rite of AshkEnte for summoning Death. It is also implied that he has some degree of practical magic knowledge.
In the Cosgrove Hall animation of Soul Music he was voiced by Graham Crowden.
In 2006's two-part adaptation of Hogfather he was played by Joss Ackland,
and in the 2010 adaptation of Going Postal he was portrayed by Timothy West.
Bursar
Professor A.A. Dinwiddie, DM, D.Thau., B.Occ., M.Coll. first appears in the ninth Discworld novelThe previous Bursar, Spelter, was killed trying to save the library from destruction in Sourcery. Dinwiddie expected a relatively safe office to hold since nobody else actually wanted to be bursar and dreamed of spending the rest of his life quietly adding up rows of figures. Unfortunately, shortly after he became Bursar, Mustrum Ridcully became Archchancellor. Ridcully's personality wear away at the Bursar, whose idea of excitement is a soft-boiled egg, which ultimately leads to his sanity slowly evaporating, by the events of Reaper Man, the Bursar is almost completely insane.
He keeps barely functional by experimental dosages of dried frog pills, though the effects are erratic. The pills are hallucinogens, the other wizards hope they will cause him to hallucinate being sane. An improper dose causes catatonia or disorganized schizophrenia.
Hex temporarily inherited the Bursar's condition after having a "conversation" with him, until Archchancellor Ridcully remedied the matter by convincing the ant-run thinking engine it had just been administered "LOTS OF DRYD FRORG P¼LLS". The Bursar's insanity became a byword in Ankh-Morpork; "to go totally Bursar" is "to go totally doolally".
The Dean
The Dean of Pentacles — is a senior wizard, archetypally argumentative and lazy. He is generally found in his study reading a grimoire or more likely, in the great hall, eating. The Dean is particularly susceptible to occult or semi-magical occurrences, fads, or trends – most notably in Soul Music, where he slicks back his hair and takes to wearing a live fast die gnu leather jacket. However when the occasion arises, he can be among the more enthusiastic and competent of his peers; being a part-time Watch Special Constable – on the proviso that he not use magic in the course of his duties.He is very obese, earning the nickname, 'Two Chairs' from Mustrum, which sees him purchase a custom double-width chair. He and Archchancellor Ridcully have been friends since their first days at the university. By the time of Unseen Academicals the Dean becomes the first person to voluntarily resign from the university in memory; to become Archchancellor Henry of Brazeneck College of Pseudopolis. Ridcully regards this as traitorous despite their long friendship. On the Dean's first return visit to UU, Ridcully cannot decide how to address him and eventually remembers his fore-name is Henry. By the end of the novel, Ridcully is comfortable enough with The Dean's presence to refer to him as 'Dean', which Henry ignores.
Librarian
The Librarian first appeared in the second novel of the series, The Light Fantastic, where he was transformed in a magical accident into an orang-utan, as the great magical tome of the Creator, the Octavo was working a spell reshaping the world to ensure that Rincewind did not leave the Disc. On discovering that being an orang-utan had certain advantages for a librarian — he could climb up to high shelves, for example — he refused to be transformed back into a human and has remained an orang-utan ever since. The wizards are so used to this that "if someone ever reported that there was an orang-utan in the Library, the wizards would probably go and ask the Librarian if he'd seen it."He is known for his violent reaction to most people calling him a "monkey", as he is technically an ape. He primarily uses the word Ook, inflected for simple affirmations and negations, though he occasionally uses Eeek in moments of panic or rage. Most people seem able to understand him.
As with other members of the UU faculty, the Librarian is referred to by his office and not by a name. If his name were known, he could be changed back into a human, and by the time of The Last Continent novel, he has carefully excised his name from the records of the Unseen University. The Discworld Companion hints and The Art of Discworld confirms that the Librarian was Dr Horace Worblehat, and that his fears of turning back into human are baseless at most. Rincewind is apparently the only wizard who still remembers the Librarian's name, but has agreed not to tell anyone, and no one else talks about it.
The Librarian served a brief stint in the City Watch during the reign of terror caused by the dragon, and he helped rescue Sam Vimes from the Patrician's cell. He retains an honorary position with the Watch and in Thud! is considered one of the first members of the 'Specials', the Ankh-Morpork City Militia. In Soul Music, he joins the Band with Rocks In and his large hands and wide reach make him an excellent keyboard player. He remains the chief organist for Unseen University. The Librarian is also a member of a small elite group of senior Librarians of Time and Space who have the knowledge and ability to travel through L-Space, an extra-dimensional space that connects all libraries and other large accumulations of books. He uses this knowledge to save books from the great library of Ephebe in Small Gods and to enter our world via the library of Sir Francis Walsingham in The Science of Discworld II. The very strict rules that members of this group are pledged to enforce are:
- Silence.
- Books must be returned no later than the last date shown.
- Do not meddle with the nature of causality.
The Librarian spends his leisure hours at the pub, the Mended Drum, on Short Street where drinks quietly unless provoked, eats prodigious quantities of peanuts, and plays a ruthless game of Cripple Mr Onion.
The Librarian appears in orangutan form in the video games Discworld and Discworld II. In the 2008 TV adaptation of The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic by Sky One, he appears in both human and orang-utan form. His human form is played by Nicolas Tennant, who had previously played Corporal Nobbs in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather.