Legend ? More like titan.
The first we knew of it was a series of poignant and heartbreaking twitter messages from his official Twitter and the account of his daughter, Rhianna. Here they are :
“AT LAST SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER”
“Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night”
“THE END”
And there was a link to an announcement too.
Here’s my tribute :
I’ll wear that avatar for a little while. I think it captures what we feel. Terry Pratchett was a unique genius. He captured comedy, ethics, spiritualism, magic, laughter, satire and downright silliness in a way that everyone from 8 to 80 (and beyond!) could appreciate.
His books were amazing. I feel a bit sad that I’ve only read a small selection of them. My personal favourites are the Guards books, the Witches books and especially the books where Gaspode the talking dog starred. I had tears at the end of Moving Pictures where the colour drained from Gaspode’s vision as he turned back into a normal dog.
The Death books were incredible too. Death was a highlight whenever he appeared in the books. That unique viewpoint on … life. He just didn’t get people, which was the whole point of the character and was what made him so utterly funny. I thought when completing the avatar above, “I need a Death Of Dragons”. But sadly my GIMP and drawing skills aren’t that advanced.
It’s a terrible loss. He was totally unique and I doubt whether we’ll see his equal for a long time.
But his body of work lives on. And it’s an incredible body of work. He brought so much joy to the world through his books. He made us think. He made us question.
He made us laugh.
RIP Sir Terry, we’ll miss you. But then we remember the characters, the scenarios and we laugh. May he not go with a moment of silence, may his passing be marked with applause.