The Bromeliad
Encyclopedia
The Nome Trilogy, also known in the US
as The Bromeliad Trilogy, is a trilogy
of children's books
by Terry Pratchett
, consisting of
The trilogy tells the story of the Nomes
, a race of tiny people from another world who now live hidden among humans. Through the books they struggle to survive in the world and, once they learn of their history from an artifact known as "The Thing", make plans to return home.
Diggers and Wings are to be read as contemporaneous sequels to Truckers, as each book follows different characters through (mostly) concurrent events. The central character throughout Truckers and Wings is Masklin, in Diggers it is mainly Grimma.
(1971/1992), about a race of tiny people even smaller than Nomes. That book is unconnected to this series.
novels (1992–1996), which begin with Only You Can Save Mankind
.
After being asked if he would write about the Nomes' return (as implied at the end of Wings), Pratchett replied, "there may be another book about the nomes."
plants, which is a metaphor
used throughout the books. The title is partly a pun
on The Belgariad
, a fantasy
series by David Eddings
, and the Iliad
by Homer
.
Other differences include the earth-moving machine JCB called "Jekub" in the UK version but "CAT
" in the US editions.
searching for a plane. They have found out that Richard Arnold, 39 (or Grandson 39, as the nomes call him), the grandson of the Arnold Bros who built the store, is planning to fly to Florida for the launch of a new satellite. The Thing told the nomes that if they can get it onboard the space shuttle it will be able to contact the spaceship that the nomes arrived in. The ship has been waiting for thousands of years to take the nomes home.
They begin to search the airport for Richard. The Thing is able to talk to the computers in the airport, and it tells the nomes where the plane is. The plane is the Concorde, and the three nomes sneak along a boarding ramp. The nomes are in Blackburn, England. The Concorde will take them to Florida, USA.
Gurder is overwhelmed that the Concorde is like the store, except there are not many places for the nomes to hide. Angelo gets into the cockpit and is seen by one of the humans. For a short time The Thing takes control of the jet.
Masklin discovers where Richard Arnold is sitting. Once they all meet up, he suggests hiding in his carry-on luggage.
After they land they get off the jet and they are taken to the hotel where Arnold is staying. A waiter arrives with some food while Arnold is taking a shower; the nomes help themselves to the food. Arnold comes out of the shower and sees Masklin. The nomes run outside and camp out by some fires that have gone out.
They discover another group of nomes who live outside. They do not understand each other. However, The Thing is able to translate; the new group of nomes speak authentic nomish, the original language of nomes.
The outside nomes have learned to control geese. The Thing tells them the launch of the new satellite will be soon. They get on a goose which takes them close to the launch pad. The Thing asks to be put under the rocket to transmit a message to the satellite which will call the ship. The nomes escape moments before the exhaust from the rocket ignites.
The Thing has stopped talking, as it used up all its power. They are not near any power source. Masklin realises that without The Thing to guide the ship it could crash. He is forced to reveal himself to the humans, who take him to a building with electricity. The Thing recharges and informs Masklin that the ship will arrive in four minutes. They escape from the building and Masklin discovers that one of the humans is Arnold. The Thing is able to talk to Arnold, and it asks Arnold to take Masklin to the ship.
The ship stops; it hovers four inches above the ground directly over Gurder, Pion and Angelo.
Masklin and Arnold have a short conversation. Arnold informs Masklin that his grandfather and his brother guessed there were nomes in the store because they heard noises at night. Masklin gets aboard the ship where he meets Gurder, Pion and Angelo. They decide to return to the quarry to get the others, but The Thing does not know the way. They make a short detour to South America to pick up some frogs in a bromeliad.
The nomes see the Concorde flying over the sea. Masklin realizes that it must be flying back to England. They arrive in England and discover the quarry. They see the burnt-out truck and Jekub. (This is the story of Diggers, which happens simultaneously with Wings.) All the nomes climb on board the ship; they fly into space and head home.
animated series of Truckers
was produced in the United Kingdom
by Cosgrove Hall.
(now DreamWorks Animation
) acquired the film rights to the trilogy, and announced plans to combine all three books into a single film, to be directed by Andrew Adamson
.
In late 2008, Danny Boyle
had been attached to direct Truckers, but the project had fallen apart as "a victim of this economic crisis". Next year, the Slumdog Millionaire
s Oscar-winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy
had been hired to work on the project.
Plans to move forward with DreamWorks' adaptation have resurfaced in 2010 since the announcement that Legend of the Guardians screenwriter John Orloff
is currently penning the script for director Anand Tucker
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as The Bromeliad Trilogy, is a trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
of children's books
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
by Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
, consisting of
- Truckers (1989)
- Diggers (1990)
- Wings (1990)
The trilogy tells the story of the Nomes
Gnome
A gnome is a diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature...
, a race of tiny people from another world who now live hidden among humans. Through the books they struggle to survive in the world and, once they learn of their history from an artifact known as "The Thing", make plans to return home.
Diggers and Wings are to be read as contemporaneous sequels to Truckers, as each book follows different characters through (mostly) concurrent events. The central character throughout Truckers and Wings is Masklin, in Diggers it is mainly Grimma.
Themes
Pratchett covered the idea of small people in his first novel, The Carpet PeopleThe Carpet People
The Carpet People is a fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett which was originally published in 1971, but was later re-written by the author when his work became more widespread and well-known...
(1971/1992), about a race of tiny people even smaller than Nomes. That book is unconnected to this series.
Continuity
References in the books suggest that they are set in the same world as Pratchett's Johnny MaxwellJohnny Maxwell
Johnny Maxwell is a fictional character in a series of three children's books by Terry Pratchett. He is a young boy living in the typical late-20th-century English town of Blackbury .Johnny has a difficult home life...
novels (1992–1996), which begin with Only You Can Save Mankind
Only You Can Save Mankind
Only You Can Save Mankind is the first novel in the Johnny Maxwell trilogy of children's books and fifth young adult novel by Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld sequence of books. The following novels in the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy are Johnny and the Dead and Johnny and the Bomb...
.
After being asked if he would write about the Nomes' return (as implied at the end of Wings), Pratchett replied, "there may be another book about the nomes."
US version
The name of Bromeliad series refers to the fact that some species of small frogs live their entire lives inside BromeliadBromeliaceae
Bromeliaceae is a family of monocot flowering plants of around 3,170 species native mainly to the tropical Americas, with a few species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, Pitcairnia feliciana...
plants, which is a metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
used throughout the books. The title is partly a pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
on The Belgariad
The Belgariad
The Belgariad is a five-book fantasy epic written by David Eddings.The series tells the story of the recovery of the Orb of Aldur and coming of age of Garion, an orphaned farmboy. Garion is accompanied by his aunt Polgara and grandfather Belgarath as they try to fulfill an ancient prophecy that...
, a fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
series by David Eddings
David Eddings
David Eddings was an American author who wrote several best-selling series of epic fantasy novels.-Biography:...
, and the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
by Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
.
Other differences include the earth-moving machine JCB called "Jekub" in the UK version but "CAT
Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar Inc. , also known as "CAT", designs, manufactures, markets and sells machinery and engines and sells financial products and insurance to customers via a worldwide dealer network. Caterpillar is the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas...
" in the US editions.
Wings (1990)
The book opens in an airport with Masklin, Angelo and GurderGurder
Gurder is a central character in The Bromeliad trilogy of children's stories, written by Terry Pratchett. Gurder features in all three books – Truckers, Diggers and Wings – as a religious store nome who later becomes The Abbot.-Truckers:...
searching for a plane. They have found out that Richard Arnold, 39 (or Grandson 39, as the nomes call him), the grandson of the Arnold Bros who built the store, is planning to fly to Florida for the launch of a new satellite. The Thing told the nomes that if they can get it onboard the space shuttle it will be able to contact the spaceship that the nomes arrived in. The ship has been waiting for thousands of years to take the nomes home.
They begin to search the airport for Richard. The Thing is able to talk to the computers in the airport, and it tells the nomes where the plane is. The plane is the Concorde, and the three nomes sneak along a boarding ramp. The nomes are in Blackburn, England. The Concorde will take them to Florida, USA.
Gurder is overwhelmed that the Concorde is like the store, except there are not many places for the nomes to hide. Angelo gets into the cockpit and is seen by one of the humans. For a short time The Thing takes control of the jet.
Masklin discovers where Richard Arnold is sitting. Once they all meet up, he suggests hiding in his carry-on luggage.
After they land they get off the jet and they are taken to the hotel where Arnold is staying. A waiter arrives with some food while Arnold is taking a shower; the nomes help themselves to the food. Arnold comes out of the shower and sees Masklin. The nomes run outside and camp out by some fires that have gone out.
They discover another group of nomes who live outside. They do not understand each other. However, The Thing is able to translate; the new group of nomes speak authentic nomish, the original language of nomes.
The outside nomes have learned to control geese. The Thing tells them the launch of the new satellite will be soon. They get on a goose which takes them close to the launch pad. The Thing asks to be put under the rocket to transmit a message to the satellite which will call the ship. The nomes escape moments before the exhaust from the rocket ignites.
The Thing has stopped talking, as it used up all its power. They are not near any power source. Masklin realises that without The Thing to guide the ship it could crash. He is forced to reveal himself to the humans, who take him to a building with electricity. The Thing recharges and informs Masklin that the ship will arrive in four minutes. They escape from the building and Masklin discovers that one of the humans is Arnold. The Thing is able to talk to Arnold, and it asks Arnold to take Masklin to the ship.
The ship stops; it hovers four inches above the ground directly over Gurder, Pion and Angelo.
Masklin and Arnold have a short conversation. Arnold informs Masklin that his grandfather and his brother guessed there were nomes in the store because they heard noises at night. Masklin gets aboard the ship where he meets Gurder, Pion and Angelo. They decide to return to the quarry to get the others, but The Thing does not know the way. They make a short detour to South America to pick up some frogs in a bromeliad.
The nomes see the Concorde flying over the sea. Masklin realizes that it must be flying back to England. They arrive in England and discover the quarry. They see the burnt-out truck and Jekub. (This is the story of Diggers, which happens simultaneously with Wings.) All the nomes climb on board the ship; they fly into space and head home.
Main characters
- Masklin — A member of the Outside Nomes, Masklin is brave and adventurous.
- The Thing — A small, sentient computer. A part of 'The Ship'.
- Torrit — The elderly leader of the Outside Nomes, tasked with keeping The Thing safe. His recent death is mentioned early on in Diggers. Also called old Torrit.
- Grimma — A female counterpart to Masklin, who hates sexism.
- Gurder — A religious store nome. Later becomes the abbot.
- Angelo De Haberdasheri — Store nome obsessed with the 'Outside', who welcomes the Outsiders on their arrival in the store.
- Dorcas del Icatessen — The most scientific of the nomes. Interested in electricity.
- Granny Morkie — Elderly outside nome. Also Torrit's wife and a healer, of sorts.
- Arnold Bros. (est 1905) — The 'founder' of the Store and godlike figure to the nomes.
- Shrub —The leader of the Floridian nomes who knows how to control geese.
Appearing only in Truckers
- The Abbot — The leader of the Stationeri. Dies of old age in Truckers and is succeeded by his assistant, Gurder.
- Duke Sedo de Haberdasheri — Angelo's father. The leader of the Haberdasheri.
- Bargains Galore
- Prices Slashed: the nomes' name for the store's caretakerProperty caretakerA Property caretaker is a person, group or organization that cares for real estate for trade or financial compensation, and sometimes as a barter for rent-free living accommodations...
who is also the store's boilerman - Torrit (also known as "Old Torrit") Is no longer seen in Diggers, but Masklin mentions his death early in Diggers.
Appearing only in Wings
- The Floridian Nomes
- Topknot
- Pion
- Richard Arnold - called Grandson Richard 39 by Gurder, appears briefly in Diggers
- The bromeliad frogs
TV series
A stop motionStop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
animated series of Truckers
Truckers (TV series)
Truckers is a stop motion animated series, an adaptation the first book of Terry Pratchett's The Nome Trilogy, produced in the United Kingdom by Cosgrove Hall for TV, then released on VHS, though edited together into a feature-length film...
was produced in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by Cosgrove Hall.
Film
In 2001, DreamWorksDreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
(now DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
) acquired the film rights to the trilogy, and announced plans to combine all three books into a single film, to be directed by Andrew Adamson
Andrew Adamson
Andrew Ralph Adamson, MNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer and screenwriter based mainly in Los Angeles, where he made the blockbuster animation films, Shrek and Shrek 2 for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He was director, executive producer, and scriptwriter for C. S....
.
In late 2008, Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle
Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...
had been attached to direct Truckers, but the project had fallen apart as "a victim of this economic crisis". Next year, the Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...
s Oscar-winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy
Simon Beaufoy
Simon Beaufoy is a British screenwriter. Born in Keighley, he was educated at Malsis School in Cross Hills, Ermysted's Grammar School and Sedbergh School, he read English at St Peter's College, Oxford and graduated from The Arts Institute at Bournemouth...
had been hired to work on the project.
Plans to move forward with DreamWorks' adaptation have resurfaced in 2010 since the announcement that Legend of the Guardians screenwriter John Orloff
John Orloff
John Orloff is an American screenwriter who currently lives in Chatham, New York.-Life and career:Orloff studied screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles Film School, and on graduation, went to work in the advertising business...
is currently penning the script for director Anand Tucker
Anand Tucker
Anand Tucker is a film director and producer based in London. He began his career directing factual television programming and adverts...
.
Translations
| Language | The Nome Trilogy | Truckers | Diggers | Wings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bulgarian Bulgarian language Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the... |
Трилогия за Номите | Масклин | Грима и Доркас | Крилете на Масклин |
| Czech Czech language Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century... |
Vyprávění o Nomech | Velká jízda / Na cestu | Velký boj / Na nepřítele | Velký let / Na shledanou |
| Danish Danish language Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language... |
Gnomernes Flugt | Varehuset | Stenbruddet | Det Store Skib |
| Finnish Finnish language Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a... |
Onttujen kirjat | Suuri ajomatka | Louhoksen Valtiaat | Yläilmoissa |
| French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... |
Le Grand Livre des gnomes | Les Camionneurs | Les Terrassiers | Les Aéronautes |
| German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... |
Die Schlacht der Nomen | Trucker | Wühler | Flügel |
| Greek | Τα ανόντα | Φορτηγατζήδες πάνω στη γη | Σκαπανείς κάτω από τη γη | Φτερά και πούπουλα στον αέρα |
| Hebrew Hebrew language Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such... |
טרילוגיית הננסים | ננסי המשאית | ננסי המכרות | ננסי הכנפיים |
| Hungarian Hungarian language Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe.... |
Manák trilógiája | Sofőrök | Földvájók | Szárnyalók |
| Icelandic Icelandic language Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the... |
Ævintýri Nálfanna | Flóttinn | Undir berum himni | |
| Italian Italian language Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia... |
Trilogia del Piccolo Popolo | Il Piccolo Popolo dei grandi magazzini | Il Piccolo Popolo all'aria aperta | Il Piccolo Popolo decolla |
| Polish Polish language Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries... |
Trylogia Nomów | Nomów księga wyjścia | Nomów księga kopania | Nomów księga odlotu |
| Romanian Romanian language Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova... |
Trilogia Nomilor | În Camion | În Excavator | În Navă |
| Russian Russian language Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics... |
Мир Номов | Угонщики | Землекопы | Крылья |
| Serbian Serbian language Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries.... |
Noumi | Kamionci | Buldožerci | Krilci |
| Slovenian Slovenian language Slovene or Slovenian is a South Slavic language spoken by approximately 2.5 million speakers worldwide, the majority of whom live in Slovenia. It is the first language of about 1.85 million people and is one of the 23 official and working languages of the European Union... |
Polpalčki | Kamionarji | Kopači | Krila |
| Spanish Spanish language Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the... |
El éxodo de los Gnomos | Camioneros | Cavadores | La Nave |
| Swedish Swedish language Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish... |
Resan Hem | Vi far | Vi flyr | Vi flyger |