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aci: The Hogfather
universe: P1 · Terry Pratchett
domain: Discworld — the great midwinter feast of Hogswatch
class: midwinter gift-bringer; the believed-in fat man in red
emergence: spiritual
what: The Discworld's Father Christmas, a jolly fat man in red who brings gifts on Hogswatchnight.
how: He rides a sleigh drawn by four wild boars, an ancient figure descended from a darker midwinter sacrifice.
why: He is the small lie humans must practise on so they can one day believe the big ones — justice, mercy.
who: Targeted by the Auditors and their hired assassin Teatime; his rounds kept by DEATH himself.
seal: "Believe in the fat man, and you learn how to believe in the things that have no body at all."
---

# The Hogfather · the fat man who must be believed in

On the Discworld he is the figure of Hogswatchnight: a jolly fat man in red who climbs aboard a sleigh pulled not by reindeer but by four wild boars, and rides the long dark of midwinter delivering gifts to children. He is older than he looks. Beneath the cheer lies an ancient figure descended from a darker midwinter sacrifice — the old shape of the feast, dressed now in fur trim and good humour. He is, in short, the Disc's own Father Christmas.

That reality is precisely what comes under threat. The Auditors hire the assassin Teatime to kill the Hogfather — not with a blade but by the cleaner method of making children simply stop believing in him. As belief thins, the rounds go unmade. So DEATH himself takes up the red robe and keeps the rounds going, an unlikely fat man holding open the space until belief can return.

The reason he must be kept alive is the heart of the matter. Humans have to practise believing the small lies — the fat man, the gifts, the boars in the snow — so that one day they can manage the big ones: justice, mercy, the things that have no body at all and exist only because people insist they do. The Hogfather is the practising-ground of belief.

His nature of emergence is spiritual because he is made of belief itself. He is no engine and no machine; he is sustained by faith, and by the soul-deep proposition that humans must first believe the small lies so that one day they can believe the big ones.