Angua von Überwald
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| Characters from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series |
|
| Character details | |
| Full name: | Delphine Angua von Überwald |
| Description: | Female werewolf |
| Associations: | Ankh-Morpork City Watch |
| Location: | Ankh-Morpork |
| Story appearances | |
| First seen: | Men at Arms |
| Also in: | Feet of Clay Jingo The Fifth Elephant The Truth Night Watch Monstrous Regiment Thud! |
| Other details | |
| Notes: | Daughter of a Baron and Baroness in Überwald and girlfriend to Carrot Ironfoundersson |
Delphine Angua von Überwald is a character from the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett. She first appeared in Men at Arms. Angua is a member of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, originally hired as part of an affirmative action plan by Havelock Vetinari. Her physical beauty led coworkers to predict that criminals would be lining up to be arrested by her, but Angua's surprising strength and tough attitude soon made her one of the most feared officers on the Watch.
In the 1999 computer game Discworld Noir, and the 2001 books-on-tape version of Men at Arms, her name is pronounced "An-gyoo-uh" with a hard "g".
Angua comes from a family of werewolves. She is the daughter of a Baron and Baroness of Überwald, and has two brothers, Wolfgang and Andrei. Her sister, Elsa, is deceased, killed by Wolfgang who disguised it as an accident. Both Andrei and Elsa were "Yennorks", werewolves that are stuck in one form (Andrei always appeared to be a wolf, and Elsa a human). Angua and Wolfgang were the only children in their family with shapeshifting ability. Wolfgang was extremely violent and enjoyed killing, even eating, "inferior" humans. Angua rebelled against the traditional werewolf lifestyle of her parents and brother and left Überwald. Andrei managed to slip away as well and enjoys a career as a talented sheepherder.
After moving to Ankh-Morpork, Angua soon became both the first woman and the first supernatural creature to join the ranks of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. She met Corporal Carrot Ironfoundersson in the Watch, and the two soon fell in love. Since recovering from his initial surprise (which involved drawing his sword), Carrot has not seemed bothered by the fact that Angua is a werewolf. However, Angua often worries that their different backgrounds and needs will eventually doom the relationship.
One of Angua's closest friends in the Watch is Cheery Littlebottom the dwarf. In Feet of Clay, Angua helps encourage Cheery to "come out" as a woman (dwarf society expects both male and female dwarves to behave in an indistinguishable way), even lending her dresses and make-up. At the same time, Angua conceals her true nature as a werewolf from Cheery because she knows her new friend hates and fears werewolves. Throughout the book Angua debates with herself over whether it would be best to just return to Überwald and live among other werewolves. In the end, she decides to stay in Ankh-Morpork.
Angua has also made friends with Gaspode, a matty, hairy canine who gained and lost the talent of human speech in Moving Pictures and then regained it by the time of Men at Arms by sleeping too near the Unseen University's High-Energy Magic building. Gaspode flirts with Angua constantly and has helped her out on missions many times.
In The Fifth Elephant, Watch Commander Sam Vimes is sent to Überwald on a diplomatic mission. Lord Vetinari chooses Angua to be a member of the Watch team that will accompany him, but Angua has already left for Überwald on business of her own. Carrot, assisted by Gaspode the dog, sets out after her. This is the first Discworld book to reveal much about Angua's background, and her parents and brother Wolfgang all figure in the story. Wolfgang plays a significant role as the leader of a Nazi-like werewolf movement in Überwald.
The fact that the Watch now has a werewolf has become common knowledge throughout Ankh-Morpork, but that hasn't affected Angua's privacy substantially, as, for obvious reasons, everyone assumes it to be Nobby Nobbs; Carrot, Vimes, Vetinari and Angua herself all play along, mostly rather amused. As of Making Money, the only person in Anhk-Morpork outside of the Watch to have figured out the secret is Moist von Lipwig, seeing Angua in her werewolf form with Nobby standing beside her and recognizing her hair.
Though the widespread recognition of the werewolf presence in the Watch has not inconvenienced Angua on a human level, it has led to a growing sophistication within the city's criminal underworld in evading capture. In Night Watch, the psychopathic murderer Carcer Dun employs a bomb made from concentrated aniseed to confuse her sense of smell (and, in a perhaps intended consequence, send her home with a headache). William de Worde employes a similar tactic in The Truth, but includes oil of scallatine, making Angua quite ill.
Angua assists Vimes in another diplomatic mission in Monstrous Regiment, and is mentioned in Going Postal as being difficult for criminals in Ankh-Morpork to avoid. Angua also appears in a supporting role in Thud!, where she gains a rival in the form of the Watch's first vampire officer, Sally.
Angua is an extremely practical and level-headed person. While not as cynical as Commander Samuel Vimes, she balances out Carrot's naïveté (although she occasionally wonders if he's really as innocent as he appears). In human form, Angua is a strict vegetarian. In wolf form, she has a tendency to go after chickens, but she is always careful to go back and slip some money under the door the next day.
Though she is deeply committed to Carrot, even likening herself to being his dog in Jingo, she has been linked to others; she is seen as being very close to a wolf who goes by the name of Gavin in The Fifth Elephant, and receives a marriage proposal from the small mutt Mr. Fusspot in Making Money.
