Troll Bridge [short story]

The best out of the Discworld short stories.

A very touching tale lamenting how the world passes you by without care. Pratchett touches a lot in his works about the heartlessness of modernity, which is easily misinterpreted as an old man whining how "things were better in my day." But he also takes care to note that the past was dangerous and stupid, too, just in different ways. And this short encapsulates that message succinctly.

And seriously, watch the fan film based on this story. It's capital-s Superb.

Apparently even the strange world of the Discworld changes to become more civilized. Cohen the Barbarian decides that before he dies (which isn't today, by the way) that he must defeat a troll in single combat, just like his father told him he had to so that he would know that he's "someone." The problem with grande parental instructions such as this is that the world changes so that their statement isn't easily accomplished. Cohen manages to find a bridge with a troll, but this bridge troll isn't exactly the fighting type because he is so out of practice. In fact, his biggest problem seems to be with his rather unsupportive (read: obnoxious) troll wife, and with the fact that he just refuses to get with the times and move out from show more under the bridge. show less

Cohen the Barbarian tries to battle a troll under a bridge, but when the troll comes out, it seems times have changed more than both Cohen and the troll are comfortable with. Great little short from the Master, great characters and a beautiful twist.

I just listened to this story via LaVar Burton Reads podcast. It’s a great story and I really enjoyed LaVar’s reading of it.

Troll Bridge is a short story in the Discworld universe. It can be read for free from here: http://loki.ovh.org/T Pratchett - Troll Bridge.htm

The story features Cohen the Barbarian, a character we met in previous books from the Rincewind subseries. Cohen is a well-known hero in the Discworld, modeled off of Conan no doubt, who’s well past his prime. Cohen remembers his father telling him as a child that, if he could defeat a troll in single combat, he could do anything. He decides it’s time to cross that task off his bucket list, but naturally things don’t quite go quite the way he expected.

This one was pretty cute, although short. I think it has a continuity error in terms of how cold affects trolls as compared to what we learned show more in Men at Arms, but I guess it depends on how you read the sentence. show less

A poignant short story of the quality that I would expect from Pratchett.

I do love Cohen.