True heroes
True Heroes (Original Title: The Last Hero ) is the twenty-seventh Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett . It was published in a special hardcover format in 2001 and illustrated throughout by Paul Kidby (Manhattan, ISBN 3-442-54531-5 ). The action takes place in Ankh-Morpork and Cori Celesti , the seat of the gods. True heroes are part of the cultural stories and the protagonists are Cohen, the barbarian, and his gray horde. He wants to bring the fire back to the gods with interest. This idea would mean the end of the Discworld, which is why Leonard da Quirm, Captain Carrot and Rincewind set off to stop Cohen. The novel satirizes the Prometheus legend.
action
With a clever coup, Cohen and the Gray Horde have captured the throne of the Agaten Empire in Echt enchanting for private old-age security. Now Emperor Cohen sits on the throne, surrounded by his old comrades-in-arms and they are bored to death. In the case of Old Vincent this is to be taken literally when he died of a cucumber. So the barbarians do not want to resign and they decide on a very last hussar ride.
The last heroes of the Discworld set out to bring back to the gods the fire that the first hero, Mazda, stole from them. However, with interest, as Cohen emphasizes, so that instead of a torch they create a barrel of explosives up to the Cori Celesti. On the top of the mountain, in dignity , the home of the gods, the barrel is about to explode. Cohen, the Gray Horde and as many gods as possible would die in the process and help the heroes to become permanently immortal in the memory of the people.
A heroic deed only becomes legend if a singer ensures that humanity hears about it. Without further ado, Cohen kidnaps a bard from the Ankh-Morpork embassy, who accompanies them on their way to the summit.
At an altitude of 10,000 meters, the bard learns the basics of heroic poetry. The horde confidently clears all resistance aside and the respect of the singer grows from minute to minute. At first he thought the bunch of old men and their plans were completely insane, but now he fears that everything will work out as planned - but the plan actually comes from the gods who are playing one of their games again. On the way up, the horde simply meets too many old acquaintances who are traveling with very similar maps. What all those involved up to this point do not know, an explosion of the intended strength would result in the destruction of the magical center of the Discworld. That would be the end of it all.
After Ankh-Morpork was alerted, the patrician left the inventive genius Leonard von Quirm off the chain, who quickly developed a daring plan: a flying device powered by swamp kites, the Milan, should fly over the edge, fall under the Discworld and by means of gravity back up to the summit of Cori Celesti. After a successful landing, the crew should then dissuade Cohen and the Gray Horde from their plan. The Milan is designed for a maximum of 3 crew members and Leonard's participation is mandatory, as he will work on improving the device during the flight. Captain Karotte from the city guard volunteers for second place . Rincewind emphasizes that he does not volunteer, but since he knows how his life is going, he would somehow end up on board the Milan anyway, because after all it would once again be about saving the world, from which he regularly but unsuccessfully tried to press. So the patrician learns that Rincewind is a kind of friend of Cohen, in other words: he met him several times without having been killed by him. So these three set out to stop the last heroes.
The trip does not go quite as planned, but ultimately successful. Arrived at the summit of Cori Celesti, they smash the city gate of dignity on landing and witness immediately how Cohen wins his bet against fate by rolling a seven with a die by cutting it in half with his sword in the air. Then he asks Crawler, the impolite, to arm the bomb attached to the madman's wheelchair. Captain Carrot plans to arrest Cohen on charges of conspiracy to bring about the end of the world. The bard eventually makes it clear to Cohen that after the explosion, there will be no one left to hear the saga. The Gray Horde grabs the bumpster's wheelchair and races over the edge of the mountain.
The world is saved, but the last heroes are dead, probably anyway. Finally no corpses are found and a group of elderly gentlemen hijack the winged horses of some Valkyries, who usually accompany deceased heroes to the eternal festival. A little later, the first hero Mazda, who has been chained to a mountain for thousands of years, is freed.
The gods are persuaded to repair the Milan, and so the three world savers return to Ankh-Morpork a little later. With great enthusiasm Leonard von Quirm is now working off the punishment that the gods inflicted on him for having presumed to build an aircraft with which one could look down on the gods. He paints the ceiling of the Temple of the Lesser Gods .