Überwald

In Terry Pratchett's fictional Discworld universe, Überwald (German pronunciation: [ˈyːbəʁvalt]) is a region located in near the foot of the Ramtops, farther from Ankh-Morpork than Lancre is. Its name is German for over the woods, as a play on Transylvania, which is Latin for across the woods. In fact, this name was actually used for Transylvania in some documents from the 13th century. The region is based less on the real Eastern Europe, and mor... more

In Terry Pratchett's fictional Discworld universe, Überwald (German pronunciation: [ˈyːbəʁvalt]) is a region located in near the foot of the Ramtops, farther from Ankh-Morpork than Lancre is. Its name is German for over the woods, as a play on Transylvania, which is Latin for across the woods. In fact, this name was actually used for Transylvania in some documents from the 13th century. The region is based less on the real Eastern Europe, and more on the Hammer Horror stereotype of the area. In keeping with the Discworld's affinity for narrative, Überwald's climate and conditions contrive to fulfil human expectations: for example, Überwaldian lightning strikes whenever someone makes a particularly forceful pronouncement. In The Truth this phenomenon is referred to as "psychotropic weather." The spelling of the German-language word is certainly "Überwald". The usage in some of the books is uneven, but the later narratives use "Uberwald" exclusively. In Carpe Jugulum, Pratchett writes:... less