Ly Tin Wheedle

Ly Tin Wheedle, a philosopher indigenous to the Discworld created by Terry Pratchett. As with most things in the Discworld books, there is a hidden joke here, but not a very funny one, as Ly Tin Wheedle is phonetically similar to "Lighting [...]-le"... He comes from the Counterweight Continent, where Rincewind's friend Twoflower comes from. In his home-country he is regarded as a great sage because of his peculiar smell, and his many sayings advocating respect for the old and the virtues of poverty are frequently qouted by the rich and elderly. He is first mentioned in The Colour of Magic. He has made many, many profound statements, such as "Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day, but set fire to him and he will be warm for the rest of his life . He has also theorised on a means of faster-than-light transmission of information based on royal succession. This theory is based on the traditional demand for there to be only one king, with no gap between kings. The succession, he claims, must be carried out instantly by a fundamental particle known as a kingon (or possibly queon), unless it is struck in flight by an anti-particle, or republicon. The means of communication he proposed to take advantage of this, by means of carefully torturing a small king, was never fully explained because at that point, the bar closed. Ly is arguably the greatest philosopher on the Disc, although he is usually the one arguing for this.