Definitely. When I first read Discworld, Lankhmar was all I could think of. The intrigue, the guilds, the ne’er-do-well heroes and thieves lazing about in the taverns in between adventures and/or throatslitting, the ruthless and cunning “former” assassin running the city, etc…
I meant Tallinn and Central Prague…I was typing in a hurry. Sorry!
Just reading Moving Pictures. I noticed his Balrog knockoffs have wings. Just mentioning it.
Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is a Hanseatic city with an Old Town area dating back to the Middle Ages. The Old Town has narrow stone-paved streets with even narrower alleyways and a not-so-organized structure, with remnants of the old city wall from the 1400’s still marking some of its boundaries; here is an example. Here, here and here are some more pictures of the Old Town area. I can kind of see an inspiration…
Off topic: I love Tallinn. It’s the coolest city ever. It only takes a few hours by boat to get there from Helsinki. I keep going back over and over again.
Judging by the level of cleanliness of the Ankh River, it’s not based on Cleveland, at least.
What, are you saying the Ankh is too clean?
Don’t forget Paris. The short-lived Republic of Treacle Mine Road in Night Watch (commemorated on the Glorious 25th of May) is clearly inspired by the Paris Commune of 1871.
I haven’t read all of the Discworld books yet, but has it ever spontaneously combusted? I rest my case.
MT has a steward instead of a king, AM has a Patrician instead of a king. But there’s surely no physical resemblance. MT is built on a hill, with concentric ascending levels. AM is a riverbank city described as being built “on loam.”
Although, of course, it’s mostly built on Ankh-Morpork.
Which means if they ever need to chain a virgin to the rocks, they’re out of luck.
It’s Ankh-Morpork. Where are they going to find a virgin?
Probably at UU. Ponder Stibbons and Big Mad Adrian come to mind.
They done that. They did have to import the rock, though.
Actually, I believe it’s mentioned the Ankh lights on fire now and again.
No, they don’t. It’s explicitly mentioned that Morraine and Rock (nee Flint) have to get off camera ‘mugging terribly trying to hold his wings on with one hand’ [not quite actually verbatim], so trolls don’t have wings.
Also, A-M doesn’t have rowing teams, they have guys who run across the surface of the river, though as you can imagine, this wears away at the soles of your shoes. Archchancellor Ridcully actually has a pair of his old rowing shoes on the wall of his office (he got a Brown for it when he was younger, though don’t ask me what that means).
Trolls are not Balrogs, but they were playing Balrogs for the film. That’s why they had fake wings on. Therefore, ipso facto, Balrogs have wings, at least on the Disc.
Thank you, that was of course what I meant.
Yeah, but wasn’t it a big hunk of old masonry that they had to use? No rocks.
At Oxford or Cambridge, if you represent your university at a certain sport you may be awarded a “Blue”. Some sports, and some lesser levels of achievement, earn you a “Half-Blue” or a “Quarter-Blue”.