Painterly open birdcage beside a floating pale feather on a violet background.

Original artwork, not a still

Small Gods · 1992

Terry Pratchett

When the least they could do to you was everything, then the most they could do to you suddenly held no terror.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

When even the mildest possible treatment seems as bad as anything imaginable, the difference between lesser and greater threats collapses. The paradox is that complete vulnerability can drain a threat of its power: there is no worse possibility left to fear.

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