The Color of Magic

The Discworld’s most hapless wizard is the perfect protagonist (the picaro) for a picaresque adventure. He is a coward and a rogue, but his pragmatism keeps him alive when braver men would perish. When Rincewind is first introduced, fleeing the burning city of Ankh-Morpork, he runs into Bravd and the Weasel, who had been poised for a robbery. Rincewind knows exactly what kind of person he is; he tells them, with full honesty, “I’m so scared of you my spine has turned to jelly, it’s just that I’m suffering from an overdose of terror right now. I mean, when I’ve got over that then I’ll have time to be decently frightened of you” (10). Rincewind is a comic foil to the traditional swash and buckle hero. His greed is untempered by courage, and he is never hampered by altruism. The character is lovable because all his faults are mundane to the point of being reasonable; he looks out for himself, and he wants nothing more than peace and quiet—peace that, of course, he can’t have as the protagonist of the story. He isn’t brave or heroic, but neither is he evil or cruel.