Discworld Companions – Comparison

So far, five different Discworld companions have been released (the fifth also got an exclusive edition released in 2022, “Dunmanifestin Edition” which, due to the differences, can be counted as a separate entity and the sixth guide, it contains some additional entries (from the Science of the Discworld series) and specially made illustrations, but we do not have access to this edition at the moment), these are:

The Discworld Companion released in 1994
The Discworld Companion Updated released in 1997
The New Discworld Companion released in 2002
Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion…So Farreleased in 2012
The Ultimate Discworld Companion released in 2021

Each title above is a link to a note focusing on a specific edition, while in this text we look at the differences between them, based on the topic we are interested in, i.e. elements related to turtles.

Shortcuts to individual parts of the text:
Encyclopedic part:
Summary of the encyclopedic part
Additional texts
Illustrations

Encyclopedic part:
Entry: Astrolabe

Astrolabe. One of the Disc’s finest astrolabes is kept in a large, star-filled room in KRULL. It includes the entire Great A’Tuin-Elephant-Disc system wrought in brass and picked out with tiny jewels.
Around it the stars and planets wheel on fine silver wires. On the walls the constellations have been made of tiny phosphorescent seed pearls set out on vast tapestries of jet-black velvet. These were, of course, the constellations current at the time of the room’s decoration – several would be unrecognisable now owing to the Turtle’s movement through space. The planets are minor bodies of rock picked up and sometimes discarded by the system as it moves through space, and seem to have no other role in Discworld astronomy or astrology than to be considered a bloody nuisance.

Entry: Astrozoologists

Astrozoologists. Krullian scientists interested in studying the nature of the Great A’TUIN. Specifically, its sex.

Entry: A’Tuin, the Great

A’Tuin, the Great. The star turtle who carries the Discworld on its back. Ten-thousand-mile-long member of the species Chelys galactica, and the only turtle ever to feature on the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram. Almost as big as the Disc it carries. Sex unknown.
Shell-frosted with frozen methane, pitted with meteor craters and scoured with asteroidal dust, its eyes are like ancient seas, crusted with rheum. Its brain is the size of a continent, through which thoughts move like glittering glaciers.
It is as large as worlds. As patient as a brick. Great A’Tuin is the only creature in the entire universe that knows exactly where it is going.
Upon its back stand Berilia, Tubul, Great T’Phon and Jerakeen, the four giant elephants upon whose shoulders the disc of the world rests. A tiny sun and moon spin around them on a complicated orbit to induce seasons, although probably nowhere else in the multiverse is it sometimes necessary for an elephant to cock its leg to allow the sun to go past.
After the events of The Light Fantastic, the Great A’Tuin was orbited by eight baby turtles, each with four small world-elephant calves and tiny discworlds, covered in smoke and volcanoes. They have subsequently begun their own cosmic journeys.
Wizards have tried to tune into Great A’Tuin’s mind. They trained up on tortoises and giant sea turtles to get the hang of the Chelonian mind. But although they knew that the Great A’Tuin’s mind would be big, they rather foolishly hadn’t realised it would be slow. After thirty years all they found out was that the Great A’Tuin was looking forward to something.
People have asked: How does the Disc move on the shoulders of the elephants? What does the Turtle eat? One may as well ask: What kind of smell has yellow got? It is how things are.

The Discworld Companion – The above text
The Discworld Companion Updated – The above text
The New Discworld Companion – The above text
Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion…So Far – The above text
The Ultimate Discworld Companion – The above text and unique picture.
Summary: This entry is identical in all editions, in the last one there is also an additional graphic.

Entry: Brutha

(…) When the Great God OM was trapped in the form of a tortoise, Brutha – whose quiet and unquestioning belief meant he was the only person left in the entire country who could hear the god speak – carried him round in a wickerwork box slung over his shoulder. (…)

The Discworld Companion – The above text

(…) When the Great God OM was trapped in the form of a tortoise, Brutha – whose quiet and unquestioning belief meant he was the only person left in the entire country who could hear the god speak – carried him round in a wickerwork box slung over his shoulder. After many adventures, both prospered in their chosen spheres. (…)

The Discworld Companion Updated – The above text
The New Discworld Companion – The above text
Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion…So Far – The above text
The Ultimate Discworld Companion – The above text
Summary: The entry is almost identical, starting from the second edition, it have one additional sentence.

Entry: Calendars

Calendars (The discworld year). The calendar on a planet which is flat and revolves on the back of four giants elephants is always
difficult to establish.
It can be derived, though, by starting with the fact that the spin year – defined by the time taken for a
point on the Rim to turn one full circle – is about 800 days long. The tiny sun orbits in a fairly flat
ellipse, being rather closer to the surface of the disc at the rim than at the Hub (thus making the Hub
rather cooler than the rim). This ellipse is stable and stationary with respect to the Turtle – the sun
passes between two of the elephants. (…)

The Discworld Companion – The above text
The Discworld Companion Updated – The above text
The New Discworld Companion – Without that entry
Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion…So Far – The above text
The Ultimate Discworld Companion – The above text
Summary: The entry is identical in content in all editions except for the third, in which it was absent. In the other ones, there is a slight difference in the way the word “THE DISCWORLD YEAR” is printed, in the first two it is written in lowercase letters and in parentheses, in the fourth it is in capital letters, with a colon and with some additional space, in the final edition also in capital letters and with a additional space, but without a colon.

Entry: Caroc cards

Caroc cards. Distilled wisdom of the Ancients. Deck of cards used on the Discworld for fortune telling and for card games (see CRIPPLE MR ONION). Cards named in the Discworld canon include The Star, The Importance of Washing the Hands (Temperance), The Moon, The Dome of the Sky, The Pool of Night (the Moon), Death, the Eight of Octograms, the Four of Elephants, the Ace of Turtles.

The Discworld Companion – The above text
The Discworld Companion Updated – The above text
The New Discworld Companion – The above text
Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion…So Far – The above text
The Ultimate Discworld Companion – The above text
Summary: The entry is identical in all editions. In addition, in the first four, the image of these cards can be seen as a background picture for the letter C, which of course is showed at the beginning of the section with entries starting with that letter.

Entry: Chimera

Chimera. A desert creature, with the legs of a mermaid, the hair of a tortoise, the teeth of a fowl, the wings of a snake, the breath of a furnace and the temperament of a rubber balloon in a hurricane. Clearly a magical remnant. It is not known whether chimera breed and, if so, with what.

Entry: Chelonauts

Chelonauts. Men who journey – or at least intend to journey – below the Rim to explore the mysteries of the Great A’TUIN. Their suits are of fine white leather, hung about with straps and brass nozzles and other unfamiliar and suspicious contrivances. The leggings end in high, thick-soled boots, and the arms are shoved into big supple gauntlets. Topping it all is a big copper helmet designed to fit on the heavy collars around the neck of the suits. The helmet has a crest of white feathers on top and a little glass window in front.

Entry: Death, House of

(…) In one corner and dominating the room, however, is a large disc of the world. This magnificent feature is complete down to solid silver elephants standing on the back of a Great A’TUIN cast in bronze and more than a metre long. The rivers are picked out in veins of jade, the deserts are powdered diamonds and the most notable cities are picked out in precious stones.(…)

The Discworld Companion – The above text
The Discworld Companion Updated – The above text
The New Discworld Companion – The above text, but with the “yard” in place of “metre”
Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion…So Far – The above text
The Ultimate Discworld Companion – The above text
Summary: The entry is almost identical in all editions, the only slight difference is that in the third edition, instead of “more than a meter long” we have “more than a yard long“.

Entry: Discworld, the

(…) And there, below the mines and sea-ooze and fake fossil bones put there (most people believe) by a
Creator with nothing better to do than upset archaeologists and give them silly ideas, is Great A’TUIN.
(…)
The Discworld should not exist. Flatness is not a natural state for a planet. Turtles should grow only
so big. (…)

The Discworld Companion – The above text
The Discworld Companion Updated – The above text
The New Discworld Companion – The above text
Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion…So Far – The above text
The Ultimate Discworld Companion – The above text
Summary: This fragments of this extended entry that we quote, which contain the turtle references, are identical in all editions. The fifth edition also includes picture.

Entry: Gamblers’ Guild

Gamblers’ Guild. Motto: EXCRETVS EX FORTVNA. (Loosely speaking: ‘Really Out of Luck’.) Coat of arms: A shield, gyronny. On its panels, turnwise from upper sinister: a sabre or on a field sable; an octagon gules et argent on a field azure; a tortue vert on a field sable; an ‘A’ couronnée on a field argent; a sceptre d’or on a field sable, a calice or on a field azure; a piece argent on a field gules; an elephant gris on a field argent. (…)

The Discworld Companion – The above text
The Discworld Companion Updated – The above text
The New Discworld Companion – The above text
Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion…So Far – The above text
The Ultimate Discworld Companion – The above text
Summary: This entry is identical in all editions.In the first four editions there is a picture with a coat of arms.

Entry: Granny’s Cottage

(…) On the bed itself is a patchwork quilt which looks like a flat tortoise. It was made by Gordo SMITH and was given to Miss Weatherwax by ESK’S mother one HOGSWATCHNIGHT. (…)

Entry: Krull

(…) The Krullians once had plans to lower a vessel over the Edge to ascertain the sex of the Great A’TUIN.

Entry: Morecombe

Morecombe. A vampire. The solicitor of the RAMKIN family. Scrawny, like a tortoise; very pale, with pearly, dead eyes.

The Discworld Companion – The above text

Morecombe. A vampire, although obviously housetrained. He is the solicitor of the RAMKIN family, and senior member of the firm Morecombe, Slant and Honeyplace. Scrawny around the neck, like a tortoise; very pale, with pearly, dead eyes.

The Discworld Companion Updated – The above text, bit more extensive than in the first edition.

Morecombe, Schwarzlache von. A vampire, although obviously housetrained. He has been the RAMKIN family’s solicitor for more than 400 years, and is senior member of the firm Morecombe, Slant and Honeyplace. Scrawny around the neck, like a tortoise; very pale, with pearly, dead eyes.

The New Discworld Companion – The above text, even more elaborate and with the added last name!
Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion…So Far – The same text as in The Discworld Companion, which is, you can say a regression in relation to the third edition.
The Ultimate Discworld Companion – The same text as in The Discworld Companion
Summary: The most diverse entry within the Companions, appearing in as many as three versions, the second, fourth and fifth editions have identical text, the first edition has a different one and the third also different. The fact that the information from the third issue was later ignored may be quite puzzling.

Entry: Oats, Quite Reverend
The Discworld Companion – Without that entry
The Discworld Companion Updated – Without that entry

(…) He also wore a holy turtle pendant and carried a finely printed graduation copy of the Book of Om, which he unfortunately mislaid during the events of Carpe Jugulum. (…)

The New Discworld Companion – The above text
Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion…So Far – The above text
The Ultimate Discworld Companion – The above text
Summary: The entry is identical in the three editions of the Companion, in the first two it is absent, because it refers to a character from the book Carpe Jugulum, not yet published at the time of their publication, so this absence is not the result of cutting out, as in some cases.

Entry: Om

Om. The Great God Om. He has a vast church in Kom, OMNIA. When he is first encountered, he is a small tortoise with one beady eye and a badly chipped shell. (…)

The Discworld Companion – The above text
The Discworld Companion Updated – The above text

Om. The Great God Om. When he is first encountered, he is a small tortoise with one beady eye and a badly chipped shell. (…)

The New Discworld Companion – The above text, slightly shortened when compared to the version from the first Companions
Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion…So Far – The above text
The Ultimate Discworld Companion – The above text
Summary: In the first two editions, the entry is a bit longer, in the next three it is the same text, but shortened by one sentence. There is a graphic in the fifth edition.

Entry: Potent Voyager

Potent Voyager. Vessel constructed by DACTYLOS to take two chelonauts out over the Rim to determine the sex of the Great A’TUIN. A huge bronze space ship, without any motive power other than the ability to drop.

Entry: Rimbow

(…) The Rimbow hangs in the mists just beyond the edge of the world, appearing only at morning and evening when the light of the Disc’s little orbiting sun shines past the massive bulk of the Great A’TUIN and strikes the Disc’s magical field at exactly the right angle.

Entry: Simony, Sergeant

Simony, Sergeant. Sergeant in the Divine Legion in OMNIA and a follower of the Turtle Movement.(…)

Entry: Turtle, the Great

Turtle, the Great. (See A’TUIN, GREAT.)

Entry: Turtle Movement

Turtle Movement. A secret society in OMNIA which believes that the Disc is flat and is carried
through space on the backs of four elephants and a giant turtle. Their secret recognition saying is ‘The
Turtle Moves’. Their secret sign is a left-hand fist with the right hand, palm extended, brought down
on it. Most of the senior officials of the Omnian church are members of the ‘movement’, but since they
all wear hoods and are sworn to absolute secrecy each thinks he is the only one.

Entry: Zodiac

(…) It would be more correct to say that there are always sixty-four signs in the Discworld zodiac but also that these are subject to change. Stars immediately ahead of the Turtle’s line of flight change their position only very gradually, as do the ones aft. The ones at right angles, however, may easily alter their relative positions in the lifetime of the average person, so there is a constant need for an updating of the Zodiac. This is done for the STO PLAINS by Unseen University, but communications with distant continents (who in any case have their own interpretations of the apparent shapes in the sky) are so slow that by the time any constellation is known Discwide it has already gone past. (…)

The Discworld Companion – The above text
The Discworld Companion Updated – The above text

(…) It would be more correct to say that there are always sixty-four signs in the Discworld zodiac but also that these are subject to change without notice. Stars immediately ahead of the Turtle’s line of flight change their position only very gradually, as do the ones aft. The ones at right angles, however, may easily alter their relative positions in the lifetime of the average person, so there is a constant need for an updating of the Zodiac. This is done for the STO PLAINS by Unseen University, but communications with distant continents (who in any case have their own interpretations of the apparent shapes in the sky) are so slow that by the time any constellation is known Discwide it has already gone past. (…)

The New Discworld Companion – The above text, but differs by adding two words, “without notice”
Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion…So Far – The above text
The Ultimate Discworld Companion – The above text
Summary: The text is almost identical in all editions, the only difference is that the third and subsequent editions have an additional two words, in these are subject to change without notice a bold fragment has been added.

Summary of the encyclopedic part
Entries identical in all editions:
– Chimera
– Chelonauts
– Death, House of (identical, except for the 3rd edition where there is “yard” instead of “metre”)
– Discworld, the (At least turtle parts of this entrie are identical)
– Granny’s Cottage
– Krull
– Potent Voyager
– Rimbow
– Simony, Sergeant
– Turtle, the Great
– Turtle Movement

Entries identical in editions 1-2 and 4-5 but absent in 3:
– Astrolabe
– Astrozoologists
– Calendars (there are only minimal differences in using of capital letters or not)

Entries are identical in all editions, but in the fifth edition pictures were added or subtracted:
– A’Tuin, the Great (picture added)
– Caroc cards (the graphic was at the beginning of section, as a background for the letter C, replaced in the fifth)
– Gamblers’ Guild (picture added)

Entry that has differences between editions, where the picture was also added in the fifth edition:
– Om

Entries with differences between editions:
– Brutha (editions 2-5 have one extra sentence)
– Morecombe (probably the most diverse entry)
– Zodiac

Entry appearing from the 3rd edition upward
– Oats, Quite Reverend

Additional texts
Each of the editions, apart from the encyclopedic part, had some additional texts, sometimes an interview, always an introduction. Details below:

The Discworld Companion
Before the encyclopedic part:
– “Turtles all the Way” – Almost identical text to one in “The Discworld Companion Updated” but with some minimal differences.
– “About the companion” – This text serves the same purpose as the text with the same title from the second edition and text titled “”Where am I?” from the third and next editions. They are all a bit different, each is a introduction they get also expanded with new book titles, etc.
After the encyclopedic part:
– “A brief history of Discworld” – Text unique to this edition.
– “Terry Pratchett: The Definitive Interview” – In theory, this text was reprinted in “Turtle Recall” so it should be identical, but reprinted one has some extra questions etc., so there are some differences.
– “Fans and Fanmail” – As above, In theory this text was reprinted in “Turtle Recall” (as “Readers and Fan Mail”) so it should be identical, but there are some differences, the reprint have more text.

The Discworld Companion Updated
Before the encyclopedic part:
– “Turtles all the Way” – Almost identical text to that in “The Discworld Companion” but there are some minimal differences.
– “About the companion” – This text serves the same purpose as the text with the same title from the first edition and text titled “”Where am I?” from the third and next editions. They are all a bit different, each is a introduction they get also expanded with new book titles, etc.
After the encyclopedic part:
– „The Definitive Interview II: The Author Strikes Back” – Text unique to this edition.

The New Discworld Companion
Before the encyclopedic part:
– “Where am I?” – This text serves the same purpose as the “About the companion” text with the same title from the first two editions, under this new title it appears in the third and subsequent editions. They are all a bit different, each is a introduction they get also expanded with new book titles, etc.
After the encyclopedic part:
– “The Terry Pratchett Interview: Discworld Quo Vadis?” – Text unique to this edition.

Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion…So Far
Before the encyclopedic part:
– “Where am I?” – This text serves the same purpose as the “About the companion” text with the same title from the first two editions, under this new title it appears in the third and subsequent editions. They are all a bit different, each is a introduction they get also expanded with new book titles, etc.
After the encyclopedic part:
– “Terry Pratchett: The Definitive Interview” – In theory, it’s a reprint of the interview from “The Discworld Companion”, in practice there are some differences, additional questions, etc.
– “Readers and Fan Mail” – In theory it’s a reprint of “The Discworld Companion” (it was titled “Fans and Fanmail” there), in practice there are some differences, extra content etc.
– “The Language Barrier” – Text unique to this edition.
– “Cripple Mr onion” – Text unique to this edition.

The Ultimate Discworld Companion
Before the encyclopedic part:
– “Where am I?” – This text serves the same purpose as the “About the companion” text with the same title from the first two editions, under this new title it appears in the third and subsequent editions. They are all a bit different, each is a introduction they get also expanded with new book titles, etc.
– “Illustrating Discworld” – Text unique to this edition.

Illustrations
The following three images appear in the first four Companions, but not in the fifth.

The graphics below (the letter A written in the turtle’s outline is used as an example, each of the letters of the alphabet at the beginning of the encyclopedic section for a given letter has such picture, with the appropriate letter of course) appear only in the fifth Companion.

Author: XYuriTT

Discworld Companions – Comparison

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