Original artwork, not a still
Lords and Ladies • 1992
In the Beginning there was nothing, which exploded.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is the Big Bang in eight words, delivered the way Pratchett delivers most things: deadpan, accurate enough to pass, and gently rude about everyone else's theory. Readers quote it as the shortest cosmology lecture on record, and Discworld fans treat it as proof that his jokes carry a real argument underneath them.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Lords and LadiesShow the scene
The sentence opens Lords and Ladies (1992), the fourteenth Discworld novel, on its first page. Pratchett's narrator surveys the ultimate Before and gives the current state of knowledge: in the beginning there was nothing, which exploded. He then waves at rival theories in which gods build the universe out of their father's ribs, entrails and testicles, and adds a footnote that gods like a joke as much as anyone else. The story that follows has Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick facing an elf invasion of Lancre.
Sources (2)
- Discworld on WikiquoteLords and Ladies (1992) section, p. 1Reference checked
- Lords and Ladies (Wikipedia)Intro and SynopsisReference checked
Context reviewed
