In this sense it is both the light cast by the red star and the star itself which can be referred to as the ‘fantastic light.’ Both trip and light refer to the movement of the feet.Īnd this is where the pun comes in, Pratchett uses the phrase to refer to actual ‘light’ that is ‘fantastic’. It is not light that is fantastic, but rather the toe or dance step. Later, in 1894, as cited in Wikipedia, Clarke’s B Lawlor and James W Blake included the linesīoys and girls together, me and Mamie O'Rourke The phrase seems to arise from the works of Milton, in Comus he wrote, as you have already seen,

To dance, especially in an imaginative or 'fantastic' manner. It is a punning reference to the phrase ‘trip the light fantastic’, which means (per The Phrase Finder) It can be described in terms of other colours about as readily as red can be described in terms of green, yellow and blue, but if some description is really insisted on then octarine is a rather disappointing greeny-purple-yellow colour. Ordinary light passing through a strong magical field is split into not seven but eight colours, and the eighth – OCTARINE – is generally associated with things magical. The light fantastic is the light that lies on the far side of darkness. Darkness is not the opposite of light, it is simply its absence.

Not strictly light at all but the opposite of light. The light fantastic is perhaps best evidenced by the dull, sullen light which fills the room where the OCTAVO is kept. It is widely used in the film industry for shots in caves and mines. If it didn’t exist, darkness could not be visible. It is the light by which darkness can be seen, and therefore is always available, everywhere.

Meta-light is almost an idea rather than a phenomenon. For the sake of discussion they could be calledĬommon light, meta-light, dark light and ‘the light fantastic’. Pratchett, in the Discworld Companion notes that this is not to be confused with Octarine (which is the ' Colour of Magic') and splits from ordinary light.Īs far as can be determined, there are now four distinct types of It was a rather disappointing purple colour. The Octavo filled the room with a dull, sullen light, which wasn’t strictly light at all but the opposite of light darkness isn’t the opposite of light, it is simply its absence, and what was radiating from the book was the light that lies on the far side of darkness, the light fantastic. In-universe the 'light fantastic' is an actual, factual thing.

Pratchett the light fantastic