The Fifth Elephant (by Terry Pratchett)

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In slowly re-reading my way through Terry Pratchett’s lengthy Discworld series, I reached #24, ‘The Fifth Elephant’. I read this aloud to my sons nearly twenty-two years ago, not long after it was published, but I had not read it since. So, unsurprisingly, I had no recollection at all of the plot.

And it’s one of the more confusing plots, in my opinion - not that any of them are straightforward. Sam Vimes, the Duke of Ankh and commander of the City Watch is the star of the book, although there are many other characters involved. But the story is mainly set in Uberwald, traditionally home to many dwarfs (underground) as well as werewolves and vampires. It’s roughly equivalent to a caricature of Transylvania, where the traditional ‘lore’ holds, rather than any real law.

Vimes is sent as part of a delegate from Ankh Morpork to the coronation of a new dwarf king; apparently one who is keen on moving with the times, although many of the dwarfs prefer a rigid traditionalist. Vimes takes with him two of his staff: Detritus the troll, and Cheery, the dwarf who has ‘come out’ as a woman. These are controversial choices, although they turn out to be good ones.He also takes his wife Sybil, who has something she really wants to tell him.

There’s a lot of politics, some of which went over my head, and the references to the fifth elephant are minimal; apparently a fifth elephant crashed into the Disc in prehistoric times, leaving mines of fat below the surface. Vimes hopes to come to an agreement to purchase some of them at a good price. To add to the confusion, an important dwarf artefact has been stolen, and it appears that a replica was made, although the person who did so is then found dead.

Meanwhile Sergeant Angua has vanished, having heard that her brother Wolfgang is causing mayhem in Uberwald; he’s sadistic and cruel, and she is probably the only person with any chance of stopping him. Captain Carrot is temporarily in charge of the Watch while Vimes is away… but resigns in order to go and find Angua. He takes with him Gaspode the talking dog…

So there are many subplots running alongside each other, and I found it quite tricky to keep track. Not that it’s a problem - it’s always enjoyable to read Pratchett, with his clever turn of phrase, even if I don’t have the slightest idea what’s going on. However I can’t say this was one of my favourites; it’s quite violent in places, and the political aspect didn’t interest me much. We see a lot of Vimes’ thought processes, but I couldn’t really follow his logic.

However this is the book which introduces the ‘clacks’ towers, which enable messages to travel faster then with carrier pigeons. It also introduces the traffic calming regimes, and the idea of clamping vehicles, something which some of the Watch do rather too enthusiastically. 

There’s a good subplot involving Sergeant Colon being temporarily promoted to Captain, only to find that power goes to his head… and there are some thought-provoking asides from Cheery. It’s the first book where Lady Sybil is more than an eccentric figurehead - she is immensely kind and thoughtful, as we learn in this book, and also vehemently against any kind of racism.

I don’t know that I’ll re-read this book again, although if I do I hope it will be before another 20+ years have passed, but I’m glad I did as part of the Discworld canon. As with all the books in the series it could stand alone, but is much better read after the earlier ‘Watch’ books, even if you avoid the others. The Watch books are: ‘Guards, Guards’, ‘Men at Arms’, ‘Feet of Clay’ and ‘Jingo’.

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