Igor (Discworld)

Igor
Discworld character
First appearance	Carpe Jugulum
Created by	Terry Pratchett
Information
Description	A group of gifted medical specialists / assistants with a remarkable drive for self-improvement of the most creative fashion.
Associations	Various, but noted assistants of mad scientists and, lately, the Ankh-Morpork City Watch.
Location	Überwald, Ankh-Morpork, Borogravia
Notes
Talented surgeons, but must be monitored, lest the patient awake with a few modifications the Igor in question thought would be nice to have.

The Igors are a recurring set of characters in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of novels. They are members of a clan of servants from the region of Überwald, all of which are named Igor.

The Igors are based partially upon Mary Shelley's Frankenstein's monster, and partially upon the hunchbacked assistant Fritz in the original Universal and Hammer film versions.

While Igors are born in the normal fashion, the clan's strong tradition of surgery usually means that by the time they would have grown to maturity in the natural way many of their body-parts have already been swapped around repeatedly, mostly within the clan.

All Igors have stitches, but these appear to be more like clan markings than actual repairs. The male members of the Igor clan traditionally lisp (though sometimes some forget), are considered very good catches for any young lady (it is probably best not to wonder why), and their daughters tend to be very attractive (according to the Hollywood tradition of beautiful lab assistants). In Making Money, it is shown by Hubert's Igor that their lisping is actually just for show, because people "expect it." The female members (Igorinas) tend to not show their stitches and can be very attractive in conventional human standards, although they usually wear one or two subtle rings of stitches to show allegiance to the clan. Igorinas usually share the talent of the males, but sometimes are denied as much access to their work owing to deep-rooted traditional sexism. They also generally do not lisp as much.

While they are extremely diligent in using their surgical skills among themselves they are also careful to share them among the people around their homes, possibly in a bid to make sure that when the torch-bearing mob comes along to kill the latest freak of science the resident Igor will be spared. The tradition is that people helped by an Igor later allow it to have a "rummage around" for useful organs after they die. If the Igor is turned away from the house, no Igor will help that village again. The Igor clan motto is, "What goeth around, cometh around... or thtopth."

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