History Literature / Pyramids

** The relationship between Dios and Teppic is a shout-out to the British comedy of government, {{Yes Minister}}, with Dios playing the Sir Humphrey Appleby role of senior civill servant effortlessly running rings round an enthusuiastic but clueless Minister. Dios even ''says''

* SteppingStoneSword: Teppic uses knives this way.

* ReverseFunnyAneurysm: The whole "having to spend billions on making the pyramids" is suddenly much more funny, now that research has revealed that much of the labour done in Ancient Egypt wasn't actually done by slaves, but by actual ''workers''.

* PinballProjectile: The arrow ricocheting at the assassin's test

Terry Pratchett has quoted the assassin "road test" as one of his favorite sequences, and that [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants he had no idea where it was going while he was writing it]].[[hottip:*:Back to the DMV office, as it turns out.]]

Terry Pratchett has quoted the assassin "road test" as one of his favorite sequences, and that [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants he had no idea where it was going while he was writing it]].

* ReverseFunnyAneurysm: The whole "having to spend billions on making the pyramids" is suddenly much more funny, now that research has revealed that much of the labour done in Ancient Egypt was by ''free workers''.
** The pyramids themselves still weren't free and it's still believed their construction nearly ruined Egypt financially.
*** That's what the above troper was referring to. Turns out the workers were "free", meaning "not slaves" as people always thought. They ''did'' cost money, which makes the whole business even more expensive than previously assumed.

** [[DontExplainTheJoke For the uninitiated]], "jelly babies" are a kind of candy in England.
*** And try pronouncing "Hersheba" with an r on the end.
* YouFailSexEdForever: It features on a tattoo that defies biological facts. (It's an in-story example; [[NoodleIncident all we are told about the tattoo is that it defies said facts.]]

* TimeAbyss: [[spoiler: Dios. 7,000 years old at the beginning of the novel... and at the end of the book he [[StableTimeLoop is looped back to the beginning of the kingdom.]]]]

** The pyramids themselves still weren't free and it's still believed their construction nearly ruined Egypt financially.

* BrotherSisterIncest: Very nearly happens...
** And this being a version of AncientEgypt, the only one who has a problem with the idea is Teppic himself.
** Actually, it was hinted that the mother was just as ''confused'' as her daughter and that Teppic and Ptraci weren't [[strike:at all]] that closely related.
** "Very nearly"? They ''kiss'' at the end of the book.
** It is described as a ''chaste'' kiss though.
*** By a camel.

** ''[[FlatWhat What]].''
*** Really! See [[http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/pyramids.html the Annotated Pratchett File entry]] for page 12 of Pyramids.
** Quite frankly, if the UK driving license test involves free running over rooftops, climbing tall building and [[spoiler:not really]] killing someone, I can't see how there's such a traffic problem.
** The line "In your own time" is a particular giveaway. In the UK it's sort of a cliche that driving instructors will say that. For another example, see RedDwarf.

Teppic has just graduated the Guild of Assassins' School, the finest educational establishment on the Disc, when he learns that his father has died and he is now King of Djelibeybi, a tiny backwards state which has long since sold its empire to pay for more pyramids to bury its dead kings in. At first enamoured with the idea of being the king, Teppic soon discovers that it's not quite what it's hyped up to be. A country thousands of years old shows remarkable resistance to change (or plumbing), and Teppic soon begins to yearn for what he left behind. With the help of a surprisingly sharp handmaiden named Ptraci and a camel named You Bastard who is not all he seems, Teppic goes forth with the attempt to escape his own kingdom from the clutches of the domineering High Priest Dios.

Teppic has just graduated the Guild of Assassins' School, the finest educational establishment on the Disc, when he learns that his father has died and he is now King of Djelibeybi, a tiny backwards state which has long since sold its empire to pay for more pyramids to bury its dead kings in.

He dutifully takes the throne, but is stifled by the fact that the ancient High Priest, Dios, "creatively interprets" his commands and keeps running the country himself the way he always has. Despite the fact that Teppic's father wanted to be buried at sea, Dios engages Ptaclusp the architect to build him the largest pyramid in the kingdom.

It emerges that the pyramids act as the temporal equivalent of hydraulic rams, pumping time against its usual flow and recirculating it - originally so that a dying king could be placed in one and never truly die due to the recycled time, but that has long since been forgotten. Now the pyramids absorb the time that should be passing in Djelibeybi and flare it off every morning, so the valley remains forever stuck in a changeless existence, the way Dios wants it.

But the new pyramid is so large that it actually removes the country from the space-time continuum altogether, tilting it through ninety degrees and meaning that its rival neighbours Tsort and Ephebe now share a border. Teppic, the handmaid Ptraci and a camel called You Bastard - the only escapees from Djelibeybi before it vanishes - find their way back in and discover that Djelibebyi's countless pantheon of gods are walking around upsetting things.

All the mummies of the dead kings come back to life, including Teppic's father, and they discover that the seal on the very oldest pyramid is designed to swing easily aside. It emerges that Dios sleeps inside this pyramid and thus never ages, and has been High Priest for seven thousand years, keeping the country ever unchanged. But when Teppic manages to make the big pyramid flare off, destroying it and returning Djelibeybi to existence, Dios is blown back in time to the dawn of the country, starting the cycle again.

The book ends with Teppic going off adventuring, as it emerges that Ptraci is actually his sister and the rightful heir to the throne.

* StableTimeLoop: [[spoiler: Dios definitely, but maybe the Djel itself. In Teppic's DreamSequence Khuft said the river appeared from nowhere...]]

Terry Pratchett has quoted the assassin "road test" as one of his favorite sequences, and that he had no idea where it was going while he was writing it.