(Special thanks to
Morgon77 for his correction about Death being fired (not on
holiday) and
Habakkuk for the reminder about the Death of Hamsters.)
Death of Rats is perhaps the most enigmatic character of the
Discworld series. He first appears in the book
Reaper Man by
Terry Pratchett.
Death is
fired from his
job and forgot his normal activities... as such, the
universe attempts to compensate by creating
Little Deaths for everything, even
rats. At the end, Death absorbed all the Little Deaths except for the Death of Rats. Perhaps because he is in need of a friend. In any case, Death of Rats now acts as an assistant, advisor, and confidant to Death. It was also established that he is also the
Death of
Hamsters in the book
Soul Music.
Only a few beings are actually able to understand the Death of Rats. Namely: Death,
Susan Sto-Helit,
Wizards from
Unseen University,
Mort, and of course, rats. This is because, a typical conversation with the Death of Rats goes something like this.
Death:
WHAT DO YOU THINK?DoR:
SQUEAKDeath:
INDEED.The Death of Rats can also be summoned by
The Rite of AshkEnte, just as normal Death can, and in fact has been summoned by mistake when Death was not available.