SOURCE: Moody, Nickianne. “Death.” In Terry Pratchett: Guilty of Literature, edited by Andrew M. Butler, Edward James, and Farah Mendlesohn, pp. 99-111. Reading, England: The Science Fiction Foundation, 2000.

In the following essay, Moody reflects upon Pratchett's literal personification of Death as a lead character, asserting that Death serves as an anchor to the fantasy occurring around him.

When the outline of this book was first plotted, the obvious way in which to structure it was to invite contribute chapters on the relatively discrete sequences which have emerged. Consequently, this chapter is intended to consider the sequence in which Death takes the leading role, rather than Death as a character within the Discworld. However, Death's position as a linking character is important, because it points to the mutability of the Discworld series which Penelope Hill identified in her chapter on the Unseen University: the limitations, or rubric, to which...