May 25, 2025: In Remembrance Of The Glorious Revolution Of The Twenty-Fifth Of May

Before I get below the fold on my first-ever Daily Illuminator post, I ought to tell you that we're offering 15% off Discworld Roleplaying Game PDFs on Warehouse 23 until May 28. It's not truth, justice, or freedom, but it is reasonably priced. Plus, we still have deals on dice games and game accessories going on for a couple more days as well. Now . . .

For some, the 25th of May is a celebration of geek culture in general.

Others are grabbing their towels for a celebration of geek culture in particular.

And then there are those who are wearing lilac.

Wearing lilacs is how the survivors of the Glorious Revolution of the Twenty-Fifth of May quietly remember the Night Watchmen who fell in the 29th Discworld book by Sir Terry Pratchett, Night Watch. Since his death 10  years ago, lilac has also been how fond fans encourage the memory of the great author and offer support for research on Alzheimer's, the illness which ultimately claimed his life.

While many consider Night Watch to be one of the grimmest Discworld novels, it happens to be my personal favorite. A copper finds himself in his past, reluctantly participating in revolutionary events, and must become the ethical influence on his younger self. The humor of the other Discworld books isn't absent, but becomes instead, as Pratchett put it, "the humor that comes out of bad situations." In Night Watch are observations on law and justice, power and corruption, the revolutionary cycle, and deciding the right thing to do when the lines seem to keep changing. The themes are relevant to our past, present, and future, and they're what I choose to reflect on for this Glorious Twenty-Fifth of May, along with my belief that humor is an essential survival tool.

What lessons have you learned from the Disc? What are you celebrating on this glorious day? Let us know on the forums!

"Tomorrow the sun will come up again, and I'm pretty sure that whatever happens we won't have found Freedom, and there won't be a whole lot of Justice, and I'm damn sure we won't have found Truth. But it's just possible that I might get a hard-boiled egg."

-- Nicole