#and six is a perfect number

w modern warfare ( for a value of ‘modern" that incl von clausewitz , who i guess is no longer studied by warmongering politicians any more than sun tzu ….)

“GO TELL THE EPHEBIANS –WHAT TOOK YOU SO BLOODY LONG?”

so discworld & ergo the del toro verse had thermopylae before frank millar started swiping from STARGATE to make his unhistorical machofied version of THE PERSIANS

except mary renault had it first w the YA LION IN THE GATEWAY

& renaults version of THE GOLDEN BOUGH has been part of british sf & english lang pop culture & the us teenage education system since the 1970s & WATERSHIP DOWN

& it is no coincidence that the nac mac feegles , like hobbits , are so often equated w rabbits

but i get ahead of myself

altho getting ahead of oneself is part of the monomyth

bc cyclicality & retcon & time loops are there from the start of the multiverse

its in PYRAMIDS

& so is the royal assassin who is his own evil twin & saves the realm by parkour

which is how the bondverse reboot team got 007 as jamie lannister & moneypenny as the E-V & M as the red queen AND the sacrificial stag king in the scottish highlands too

& all of it a satirical retake on dame judis 1st outing as M

bc corn kings & king sacrifice & priestly substitution & tanists & GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING from the “good parts” story are there in PYRAMIDS

along w the frustrated romance btwn two heroes who turn out to be siblings of the DNA sort & this isnt wagner nor lensmen nor ancient times any more

so the bastard princess ends up , possibly , w the smuggler-who-Q-ships-pyrates

or poss , bc she is The Elizabeth as well , she chooses not to end up w anyone if she cannot have her 1st choice , we are never told –

& there is a long old linkage btwn discworld book fandom & the trodden stage

even if it isnt hardly known at all in the usa

so theres the likeliest line of alliance btwn sam mendes & kenneth branagh & sir terry , assuming it didnt go via comics 1st thru guillermo working on B2 which is also a likely ave of connection

but it is def there & all the mirroring of HB1 & 2 in SKYFALL are deliberate ( & even the name “mallory” has a sergio leone /eastwood & thus a DEVILS BACKBONE cx as well as an alistair maclean-&-so-gregory-peck connex , before ralph fiennes played him as an allusion to SHARPES RIFLES & used the bulldog icon from MUMMY 3 as a symbol of the stasis of the old kingdom prevailing….

bc PYRAMIDS is as much abt the pointlessness of the english monarchy as it is abt religious hypocrisy faced w the realities of belief ( & includes in the process an overt shoutout to narnia & THE LAST BATTLE in the form of hat the vulture god )

& crocodiles as the embodiment of devouring time -& devouring theocracy too , bc PYRAMIDS sets up all the serves for SMALL GODS & the omnian quisition to come–

equally a shoutout to those twin pillars of english fantasy jm barrie & lewis carroll

& yet by INTERESTING TIMES & reconfirmed in LAST HERO we also have the crocodile-god as one of the wisest of the great gods of dunmanifestin-the elder god who has learned most from humanity , who hates sad endings & doesnt burden his worshippers unduly , staying popular by only anathemetizing the bitter….

its complicated & im sure im missing more of the pieces of the mosaic than ive got & some of them are in the wrong place , or upside down

but PACIFIC RIM-as-the-latest-in-a-series-of-discworld-fics-that-have-become-a-round-robin-@-some-point-before-2008/9-&-UNSEEN ACADEMICALS

makes all my greatest confusions into logical necessities by laws if narrative causality

oh & there are invisible trains in PYRAMIDS & INTERESTING TIMES

& engineers , & bridges

( yes i now know why sah ridley mocked HOGFATHER & the watch both in PROMETHEUS , & why his next own-goal is set in fantasy-myffic egypt – im not sure why he thinks its going to go better than his last bit of spellcasting , tho ! ! !)