Tiffany Aching
| Tiffany Aching | |
|---|---|
| Discworld character | |
Tiffany in The Wee Free Men, as drawn by Paul Kidby
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| First appearance | The Wee Free Men |
| Created by | Terry Pratchett |
| Information | |
| Description | A young witch in training |
| Associations |
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| Location | The Chalk, Lancre |
| Also in | |
| Notes | Granddaughter of Granny Aching |
Tiffany Aching is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's satirical Discworld series of fantasy novels. Her name in Nac Mac Feegle is Tir-far-thóinn or "Land Under Wave".
Tiffany is a trainee witch whose growth into her job forms one of the many arcs in the Discworld series. She is the main character in The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, I Shall Wear Midnight and The Shepherd's Crown. Tiffany grows up over the course of the series, from nine years old in The Wee Free Men to being in her late teens in The Shepherd's Crown.
Beginning with The Wee Free Men in 2003, the main Discworld books featuring Tiffany Aching are:
It sounds amateurish to say that characters invent themselves, and in truth they don't. That's just a short-hand phrase. Of course the author invents them. But while the creative channel is being held open, all sorts of memories and thoughts creep out, somewhat to the owner's surprise.
Pratchett has said Tiffany Aching "...started with a girl lying down by a river, on the first page of The Wee Free Men". In his youth, Pratchett was "fascinated" by nearby chalk pit, and like Tiffany knew how to read words before being able to pronounce them. The Wee Free Men features "a lot of [his] past" in its descriptions. A lot of Tiffany's understanding of the world is based on Pratchett's own experiences.
With Tiffany, Pratchett wanted to "restate" the purpose of magic on the Discworld and the relationship between wizards, witches and others. He included ideas of responsibility and "guarding your society" as he felt it drew closer to the reality of a witch – that is, "the village herbalist, the midwife, the person who knew things". Pratchett found a young protagonist useful, because when you're young "you have to learn". The name "Tiffany" was chosen for deliberately being poorly evocative of a witch.
A young witch (9 during The Wee Free Men, 11 in A Hat Full of Sky, 12 and 13 in Wintersmith, almost 16 in I Shall Wear Midnight, and in her late teens in The Shepherd's Crown), Tiffany hails from the Chalk, a Barony and a region of Downland Rimward of the Ramtops. Her family, the Achings are the tenants of the Home Farm of the local Barony, the de Chumsfanleigh (pronounced "de Chuffley"). Her late grandmother, Sarah Aching (who died 2 years prior to the events in The Wee Free Men), was a shepherd, and by Ramtop standards she was also a witch, although witchcraft was frowned upon on the Chalk until Tiffany openly practised it. Granny Aching was a friend of the Chalk's Clan of Nac Mac Feegles (an army of tiny, blue, rowdy, drunken and vaguely Scottish 'pictsies'), and they have befriended Tiffany as the new "hag o' the hills". As Tiffany was their Kelda (Queen) for a short time, the Nac Mac Feegle see her as their responsibility, and there is no time in Tiffany's life since then when they have not (in)discreetly watched her.
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