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16 Maskerade

This article summarizes the 18th Discworld novel Maskerade by Terry Pratchett. The witches Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg visit the Ankh-Morpork Opera House to find Agnes Nitt, a girl from their village of Lancre, and get caught up in a mystery similar to The Phantom of the Opera involving murders being committed at the opera house. The witches investigate and uncover that the opera house's director of music, Mr. Salzella, was masquerading as the phantom and committing the crimes in order to cover up theft and frame the janitor Walter Plinge.

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400 views3 pages

16 Maskerade

This article summarizes the 18th Discworld novel Maskerade by Terry Pratchett. The witches Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg visit the Ankh-Morpork Opera House to find Agnes Nitt, a girl from their village of Lancre, and get caught up in a mystery similar to The Phantom of the Opera involving murders being committed at the opera house. The witches investigate and uncover that the opera house's director of music, Mr. Salzella, was masquerading as the phantom and committing the crimes in order to cover up theft and frame the janitor Walter Plinge.

Uploaded by

Paul Savvy
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Maskerade
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This article is about the Discworld book. For the Carl Nielsen opera, see
Maskarade.
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This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2009)

Maskerade is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the eighteenth book
in the Discworld series.[1] The witches Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg visit the
Ankh-Morpork Opera House to find Agnes Nitt, a girl from Lancre, and get caught up
in a story similar to The Phantom of the Opera.
Maskerade
Maskerade.jpg
First edition
Author
Terry Pratchett
Cover artist
Josh Kirby
Language
English
Series

Discworld
18th novel – 5th witches story

Subject

Opera, The Phantom of the Opera


Characters:
Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Agnes Nitt
Locations:
Ankh-Morpork

Genre
Fantasy
Publisher
Victor Gollancz
Publication date
1995
ISBN
0-575-05808-0
Preceded by
Interesting Times
Followed by
Feet of Clay
Plot summaryEdit

The story begins with Agnes Nitt leaving Lancre to seek a career at the Opera House
in Ankh-Morpork, recently purchased by Seldom Bucket, formerly a cheesemonger. When
Granny Weatherwax realizes Nanny Ogg has written an immensely popular "cookbook"
but has not been paid by the publisher (and that the nom de plume of 'A Lancre
Witch' may lead people to believe that she rather than Nanny wrote it), the witches
leave for Ankh-Morpork to collect the money. They also hope to recruit Agnes into
their coven, to replace Magrat Garlick who left the coven when she became Queen of
Lancre (in Lords and Ladies). This has the side benefit of distracting Granny from
becoming obsessive and self-centered, or so Nanny believes to her great relief. En
route, they meet Henry Slugg, an Ankh-Morporkian opera singer who adopted a
Brindisian persona of Enrico Basilica to further his career but yearns for Ankh-
Morporkian cuisine after years of Brindisian pasta, squid and tomato sauce; and
Granny makes a deal with Death for him not to claim the fatally-ill son of an
innkeeper.

Agnes Nitt is chosen as a member of the chorus, where she meets Christine, a more
popular but less talented girl whose father lent Bucket large sums of money to
purchase the Opera House. The Opera Ghost, who has long haunted the opera house
without much incident, begins to commit seemingly random murders staged as
"accidents", and also requests that Christine be given lead roles in several
upcoming productions. Due to her incredibly powerful, versatile and possibly
magical voice, Agnes is asked to sing the parts from the background, unbeknownst to
Christine or the audience. After swapping rooms with Christine, Agnes begins
receiving late-night training from the Opera Ghost originally intended for
Christine.

Having discovered the problems at the Opera House and also having coerced the
publisher to pay Nanny richly for her book, the witches investigate the mystery,
with Granny posing as a rich patron (using Nanny's royalties), Nanny insinuating
herself into the opera house staff, and Greebo being transmogrified into human form
(as during Witches Abroad) to pose as Granny's companion. Agnes unmasks Walter
Plinge, the janitor, as the ghost, though as he is seemingly harmless, the others
are unconvinced. Andre, another employee, is suspected, but he turns out to be a
Cable Street Particular. Granny determines that the finances of the Opera House,
which are a complete mess, have been made so intentionally in order to hide the
fact that money is being stolen, with the murders being used either as a
distraction or to cover up the evidence.

It is finally revealed that two people had been masquerading as the ghost. The
original (and harmless) ghost, Walter Plinge, was being psychologically manipulated
and blackmailed by the second ghost, Mr Salzella (Director of Music at the Opera
House), who assumed the identity to commit the murders and theft, and frame Walter
if he ever came close to being caught. With the witches' help, Walter is able to
overcome his fears and help defeat Salzella, who is killed by believing that the
fencing staged in opera is actual lethal swordplay, dying despite not actually
being injured, although not before delivering a lengthy monologue about his hatred
of opera. Walter then goes on to become the new Director of Music, integrating his
own music into the opera, turning them into musicals. Slugg, decidedly abandoning
his Enrico Basilica persona after being assaulted and concussed by Salzella,
reunites with Angeline Lawsy, his childhood sweetheart, and is introduced to his
long-lost son Henry Lawsy. Agnes, after realising that she does not fit in with the
environment of the opera, returns to Lancre to learn how to be a witch from Granny
and to serve as the third member of the Lancre Coven.
CharactersEdit

Agnes Nitt (Perdita)


Christine, a parody of Christine Daae
Walter Plinge, a parody of Michael Crawford
Mrs. Plinge
Salzella
Seldom Bucket
Dr. Undershaft
The Opera Ghost
Henry Slugg (Enrico Basilica)
Nanny Ogg
Greebo
Granny Weatherwax
André
The Librarian
Death
The Death Of Mice

Adaptations
Reception
Reviews
References
External links
Last edited 2 months ago by 68.111.134.59
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