Reading Macbeth will give you pretty much all the Shakespearean context you need for Wyrd Sisters.

It's Macbeth that's the main influence, not Hamlet. Compare opening lines of the play and the book: MACBETH First Witch: When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain? Second Witch: When the hurly-burly's done, When the battle's lost and won. Third Witch: That will be ere the set of sun. First Witch: Where the place? Second Witch: Upon the heath. Third Witch: There to meet with Macbeth. WYRD SISTERS As the cauldron bubbled an eldritch voice shrieked: ‘When shall we three meet again?’ There was a pause. Finally another voice said in far more ordinary tones: ‘Well I can do next Tuesday.’

Nicodemus is such a great villain. Death Masks spoilers: He has no compunction using a literal baby to tempt Harry into danger, and he wins whatever happens. Then when he just smiles and says “be seeing you, Dresden.” It is just so laden with sinister meaning.

23:10 We did it boys! Merphy is now officially us when we were 13 years old!

Spoiler of Death Mask: I love the sacrifice that Harry makes by picking up the coin, instead of letting Michael's baby get it. And he cannot even tell Michael about it, because he KNOWS what he must do in that case. Truly a selfless sacrifice for your friend and for the innocent baby that not only won't be celebrated, but that it is now one of Harry's darkest secrets.

I understand completely what you're saying about Dresden Files being the perfect "buffer" book for you ! It's the series I come back to every time I don't know what to read next and everything seems overwhelmingly complicated. Dresden Files is comfy... The world is often brutal to its characters, but there's so much heart in them. The first person narration helps a lot a think. You follow ONE Pov, and that's it, everything happens smoothly from one person's perspective and as you get to understand Harry, you kind of develop a fondness for his reactions and know him as a person. Which is something non-1st person stories can achieve too, but I never feel like it's as intimate as with 1st person. Here it's like Harry is opening up to me about his insecurities, his dark thoughts, his aches, etc. So every time I get back to those books, it's like meeting up with a dear friend and asking them how their week went. Death Mask is a pivot-book in the series as I think you can guess given that ending ! I absolutely love where the author goes with it, and I hope you do too :D

The other Witches books all have a bit of a riff on a specific play/story. Not exactly spoilers but: Wyrd Sisters - Macbeth Witches Abroad - Fairy Tales Lords and Ladies - A Midsummer Nights Dream Maskerade - Phantom of the Opera Carpe Jugulum - Dracula

Book five is definitely where Dresden became a favorite for me. Dresden becomes an amazing series as you continue I’m so glad you are enjoying it now!

I would love to have a spoiler video just for Wyrd Sisters. I'm always looking forward to your Discworld review videos

As a life long dragon ball fan(of the manga; I've never seen an episode) it is absolutely wonderful to see someone appreciate Dragon Ball for the same reasons me and my family fell in love with this series. Dragon Ball is not about just power levels and impossibly high stakes, what makes the series so special, at least in my opinion, is Akira Toriyama's beautiful portrayal of action, and comedic ingenuity. So glad that you are enjoying this series!

As someone who got into shakespeare this year, i can say with confidence that it's absolutely worth to check out any of his works as I've enjoyed a lot of them greatly.

It's kinda impressive how Merph hasn't seen Vegeta before she read Dragon Ball

I love that she is reading dragon ball z. It’s so weird to hear it talked about spoiler free though. Without knowing where she is in the story and the panels on the screen you might have no idea what arc she is on lol.

The handkerchief ref is from Macbeth - “Is this a dagger which I see before me”. Post murder PTSD has an impact on the mc and his wife. It’s also where the jokes about hand washing/ scrubbing come from 😊

Even without the knowledge of Shakespear, the characters are just wonderful and Granny Weatherwax starts really shining. Granny Og is such a sweet character too, one who almost always knows more than she lets on. Death masks I would love a more in depth discussion. There's so many new themes and ideas in the book that really set up a lot for the broader series. So many incredibly well crafted characters, even the villans.

Watching Merphy going through what "in retrospect" is Harry Dresden's "high school" years is a real treat

Having watches the anime many many times over the years, when I finally bought all 42 manga volumes of DB and DBZ, I could hear every single sound effect of the fighting, it made reading it so much better

There are 2 other Discworld books with "required reading" that I can remember: Soul music: Blues Brothers movie Maskerade: Probably just need to read a synopsis of The Phantom of the Opera

Yay Dresden files! The next book has one of the best opening lines ever! -edit- Betting you that Dresden will soon go from 'buffer' book to blazing through them in one go.... Also, YAY, Discworld! (and yes, definitely read it by publishing date. Too many quirky jokes you're missing :) )

Death Masks is so good. That's one of my favorites too.

Hey :] If you have the time (and want to, of course!), I'd rly rly like to see a spoiler review of Wyrd Sisters, even if you don't feel like you're qualified to talk about all the Shakespearean parts. Ur reviews are so lovely to watch because you have so many wonderful insights into the themes and structures and characterisations and stuff, not because you understand every reference! Anyway, managing to understand every single reference in a Pratchett book is probably impossible for anyone to do haha. If you do end up not making a Wyrd Sisters review though, maybe you could put this vlog in the Discworld playlist? Just so anyone only watching the playlist doesn't end up missing your thoughts on this one :3

Love Cyrus!!!❤❤❤❤ he seems to be a very loving cat- hope Locke adjusts soon

I’m always down for full Discworld chats. I definitely agree though, save Hogfather for next year 🧙‍♀️❤️‍🔥

The Witches books are usually based off the classics. Just a heads up, for future books. I wouldn't say you were unqualified to talk about a book just because you haven't seen a play, but if you don't feel comfortable doing it, then it's ok to hold off

I totally agree, Toriyama does action so well. It would be cool if you made a video about this arc of DBZ once your done with it.

I'm glad you're enjoying Dresden! Fair warning, it doesn't stay in your "buffer book" category for too much longer. Also, book six is considered the weakest in the series, so if it doesn't work as well, that's part of why. Discworld does stay well within the "buffer" series, and is so much fun! I thought Wyrd Sisters leaned more heavily toward MacBeth than Hamlet, but it probably uses both a lot. Shakespeare's dope and worth looking into. Lasly, I'm anxious for you to pick up Reaper's Gale.

I also know very little but wyrd sisters is my favourite Discworld so far! I have read the 12 first books.

My favorite thing about dragon ball is that despite how each of the “villains” goku has faced started, most of them just later become intense rivals with him. I also love that it’s a series that doesn’t beg you to only like the main character, there are so many characters you get a chance to fall in love with, and just like togashi does with his villains most of dragon ball’s villains aren’t just motivated by singular ideas but deep complex concepts that can be driven by other things than our main character and don’t have to revolve around them. And finally I love that the characters involved in the plot can be just as confused as we are when they get thrust into a situation in which they are unfamiliar.

Very glad you're enjoying the Dresden Files. And you're very right: Butcher has a knack for writing fairly complex and very human characters, even when those characters are literal monsters. A fair warning: book 6, _Blood Rites_, is widely considered one of the weaker books in the series. However, book 7, _Dead Beat_, is one of the BEST in the series, or at least in the first "Act" of the series. I hope you enjoy book 6, but if not please k ow that it's a small dip and that it gets so much better with the next in the series.

I think seeing a perspective of something that is inspired by something else, but not being familiar with that something else is still valid.

Always great to find another Nanny Ogg fan! 😊

Truly the best wizard named Harry. Fight me.

Butcher's pacing is incredible... The worst week in Dresden's year is intense! I call it slash-and-burn fantasy.

It’s nice being ahead for once, I love all of Pratchett, love Dresden, love Dragonball. It’ll be great to see move through these great series (and great to see you on Hitchhikers’ over Xmas, I love that too).

Wooooooo love seeing you gush about Death Masks, definitely one of my favs from the first 10. Your deep discussion really struck a chord about the human side of these books and the heartfelt scenes of open and vulnerable communication. Enjoy the rest!

Harry Dresden is one of the few male protagonists that I have liked lately. I tend to read books lead by women because I feel like I have seen most of what male protagonist have to offer: The rascal with the heart of gold, the suave and cool gentleman, etc. But Harry has a bit of everyone, and yet it is so human. In the first book I was like "Oh right, here we go again..." and as I kept reading and reading I fell in love with him.

10 years ago, when I lived in London, I borrowed a Pratchett book from the library, can't remember which one, and after a couple of pages I gave up. For a non-native English speaker it was hard to read and understand some of his nonsense words and all. Then couple of years later, my best friend, who is a big Pratchett fan, gave me Wyrd Sisters in English, so I trusted her judgement that I will love it and I did it. I am still quite new to Discworld, have read about 5-6 books, not in order, and I loved them, but Wyrd Sisters was my proper intro to Terry Pratchett.

Shakespearean play on the wyrd sisters taught me a whole lot on the sisters of fate mythology. I was super invested in it and found their concept in a lot of literature. Also how cool was Gohan's outburst during frieza's second transformation

I love how much you're enjoying DBZ! 😁👍 Its something that i would've have picked you to read, but i feel One Piece was a perfect starter for you to reach this point. DBZ is a big, big part of my childhood (like a lot of people haha), so this is awesome! Can't wait for you to read more, yay 🤩

I truly don’t mind if people don’t read Shakespeare. I can understand why not but I do think it’s a disservice to oneself to not see some of the plays. You’ll connect better by watching them. I absolutely love that you enjoy the Dresden files, literally one of my favorite series. I do agree that there’s always a glaring problem in each book. Like you said, fantastic inbetweeners.

I can't wait for you to get to Changes :D

So glad you are enjoying Dresden, I am almost up to date on the series and loving it (have The Law & Side Jobs remaining) That Bread!!!! Looks delicious!!!!!

Dresden is one of my favorite series ever. So all written

Watching Merphy become a Dresden fan in real time is beautiful to see lol. Book 6 Blood Rites I predict will take Book 4 Summer Knight’s place as her 2nd least liked book (because of the obvious) but I can’t wait until she gets to Book 7 Dead Beat. That’s the moment when Dresden will stop being a “buffer” series for her lol

One thing about DB is that the fights are tied to the story. Where most stories have the fight as a conclusion in DB the tale is told through the fight

I agree with merphy DBZ is such a vibe

I am so happy you got to meet Nanny Ogg and that you love her! She's one of my mom's and my favorites too!

Dresden and Discworld. D&D. What a treat. You have a good week. 👏👏 Wow, in USA Shakespeare is not in school? We have it as a must. And I’m not even a native English speaker. Interesting. Daniel also spoke about the education in USA. That could be a video too. What are the books you read in school in general education? Etc… it’s a good discussion topic for the different countries you have as subscribers.

You talking about the mutual respect of differences in beliefs makes me excited to get to Dresden someday!

As far as Wyrd Sisters go, I think if you did a shorter video talking about the interactions between the witches of the coven, that might be nice. The coven do show up in future witches books and this way you don’t have to watch or read Shakespeare. Also maybe watch phantom of the opera in the coming year, just to be safe

I love vlogs of sequels. It just makes me happy to see anyone continue reading in a good series

One of my favorite supporting characters in the series is Butters.

I love Shakespeare, I definitely recommend reading his plays, Folger has great editions with page by page notes and scene summaries, I think there are so many illusions to Shakespeare in literature and so having that background enriches so many other books, I haven’t read Discworld but the Wyrd Sisters are from Macbeth

I’m sorry did you just eyeball how much baking soda you added?????? Edit: the shot right after the baking interlude is CINEMATIC! It’s a beautiful shot. The lighting in the room and on you is just great and the blurred background. It feels so visually pleasing. Great camera work!

Shakespeare is delightful sometimes. I think you would really enjoy The Merchant of Venice, for example!

that bake has a nice shade of golden brown

You could give OSP's Shakespeare videos a try. They are nice little summaries about the plays and really fun to watch. Keep in mind these are pretty much Red's firsts youtube videos, so don't be to harsh on the audio quality. These have been my one and only contact with Shakespeare and seem like a pretty good way to at least get an idea of what is going on in them. I'm under the impression that Daniel could vouch for the OSP crew and their content. 😉 kzfaq.info/sun/PLDb22nlVXGgdPqE7Hs4F2oI7GBTmLhh7k

The knife line is actually from Macbeth Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?

The Scottish Play, OK, Macbeth, has the dagger soliloquy. "Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?". He his mentally wrestling with himself about something. It's one of those Shakespeare quotes that a lot of people quote totally out of context. However , Pterry knows the exact context

More Dresden Files!!!

I dont' think there's anything wrong with reading a TP book and not getting the literary references, although that does improve the enjoyment. Maybe if you had context it would raise the rating from 4 stars to 5, though. But you might have gotten a clue if you'd read the playwright's name aloud - "Hwel" - i.e. "Will". You can read a potted summary of Macbeth to get the references. I've never read Macbeth but absorved some of the key things by osmosis, so got all the key quotes, 3 witches etc. It's not the only Shakespeare play referenced (e.g. King Lear for the Fool), but the main one. And the twist at the end had me in stitches - they were both brothers, yes. But neither was the son of the king! Unfortunately, the next Dresden Files book is the worst one. It nearly made Daniel Greene give up on the whole thing. But he was very glad he didn't. I suspect you won't be as annoyed by it as he was, just due to your different personalities, but I'll be interested to see.

I have been thinking about your adopted cat being your son's best friend all week. I'm so invested in their love story 😊

Wyrd Sisters is my favorite Disworld book, I haven't read them all but I've read much and Wyrd Sisters is so good

Every time you talk about the DBZ manga, all I hear in my head is the narrators voice on the anime, "Next time on DBZ!"

Can't wait to see if she keeps to the "light buffer book once a month" when we start Changes.....

Can you possibly write down the recipe please! Baking and books is a great combination especially for this time of the year

It didn't occur to me AT ALL when I read Wyrd Sisters that it was Hamlet, lol. It seems very obvious when you pointed it out.

That's for sure a reference to Macbeth. But if you want more less heavy Shakespeare to lighten that up a bit, i can definitely give a recommendation for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Both really fun stories, I played the main male lead during college in the former and it's still one of my favorite plays of his to this day.

21:45 oh yeah, when it comes to that character he certainly the most well written in the series

Dresden is a favorite series of mine, almost a comfort series for me. Im due for a re read ❤✨ 🧛‍♀️ 👻

this is hilarious, i love you not knowing shakespeare references.

I’m on book Book 9 of Dresden. Let me tell you, my favorite book so far also (unfortunately) causes THE MOST side eye. Jim Butcher has no chill lol

What you made looked so yummy :)

A cat sitting on your lap is my favourite part of owning cats. 🐈🐈‍⬛

You should def watch the anime for DBZ after this. I grew up with it as a kid and I still love it. The series is known for being absurd and over the top and endearing. Vegeta is my favorite character in the whole series.

Aw! I was so looking forward to you reading Hogfather at christmas! I read Discworld out of order myself and thoroughly enjoyed every piece, tho some more than others tis true. ... I -I suppose you can decide anything you want but I'm still sad. Alas.

I really wish Merphy would make more dedicated and spoiler-allowed videos on Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z tbh. These short little non-spoilery bits aren't enough for me.

I would really love to see you do sets of spoiler videos for the Dresden Files. It's so hard to discuss the best bits of those books without discussing the events themselves. Shame you didn't record them as you were going through as well because of how fun all the reveals are, but would still be great to see you go back over them.

Personal rec for Shaekspere is reading or watching The Tempest or Midnight Summer's Dream to start out with. Stanley Tucci is in a really good version of MND. I took a Shakespere class senior year of college and found a lot of his stories that I enjoyed once I understood them. My latin professor was also in a theater troupe that does a lot of Shakespere so seeing them act it out helped me to understand the scenes more.

OMG Merphy.... I cannot WAIT until you get to The Dresden Files: Changes. I am not going to spoil anything.... just, be ready for it. Like, set aside a weekend and get plenty of sleep before you start reading it. :)

On my reread of Malazan book of the fallen, I used a Dresden Files book (or two or three) as a buffer book, and, yeah, it works great for that. Honestly helped me enjoy Malazan more than reading back to back would have been, because ho boy those books hit HARD. As someone who does re-reads a fair bit, I'd probably never use a fresh book as a buffer, personally - generally when I need those I'm looking more for comfort than novelty, and...Dresden Files is a comfortable romp for me. Which is weird because I would not describe the subject of the books as being exactly cosy or lighthearted or...any of the things that seems compatible with a comfortable romp. It's kinda like how D&D often puts player characters through absolutely terrible situations, but we as players are having a grand old time all the while.

Explore Shakespear, he's a blast. We have him on a pedestal for his writing but in no way is the man serious about anything. I'm pretty sure old Will would have loved Terry Pratchett's books. 😂

My English teacher in middle school told me to watch Shakespeare, not read it. Good advice!

Glad you're enjoying the Dresden Books. Like you, I found them to be the perfect easy read between Malazan books back when I was reading the main series. Just a slight word of warning though, the next book (Blood Rites) was only ok if memory serves. Though it does introduce one of my favourite characters in the series (I think you'll be able to guess who). And the next two books after that, DEAD BEAT, and PROVEN GUILTY are absolute bangers.

Maybe you could do a spoiler review of wyrd sisters after watching a Macbeth adaptation or something like that!

Vegeta is one of my favs. My favorite Character in Dragon Ball of all time is still Piccolo, Gohan is pretty close to it. Freeza might be one of my favorite Villains in the Series.

This might not be true but i've always seen Vegeta as a lesser Zuko, love both characters delelopment!

I’ll be very curious to see how Merphy rates Blood Rites. I’m guessing dead last. Which makes me sad that we will need to wait at least untill Christmas time until book 7 :(.

You know what would be a great buffer series? Can you guess? It rhymes with tables... but it contains lots of faery tales characters... (from Vertigo Comics)

Sounds like you need to read some Shakespeare. I have all his plays in two volumes (looks like they were BOTM from back in the day.) I bought them at my library’s used book sale this spring but haven’t read a single play yet. We studied Romeo and Juliet in ninth grade and went to see the play.

The fact she knows nothing about Dragon Ball or DBZ is so mind-blowing to me. I knew pretty much every major spoiler about the story before I even started watching the anime. The IP is just that popular and is memed and referenced to death still to this day.

Patrick steward had a PBS modern take on MacBeth you might be interested in. IT should enlighten you on "is this a knife".

I would love your witches full review. I too didnt knew it was shakespearean. Also, the only peopme who should read shakespear are thise who are playing shakespear

Dresden is so good

I've always found that Hamlet is best enjoyed in the original Klingon.

Just a warning... Book 12 won't be a good buffer. It's kind of heavy. There's going to be a moment that will likely leave you staring into space unable to process.

No judgement from me on not reading Shakespeare... in fact, I'll stand in solidarity with you as I have never read Shakespeare either!

I really enjoyed Wyrd Sisters even though I’m not super familiar with Shakespeare

It was reading Shakespeare in Jr High that got me into fantasy! Go watch Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet for a starting point. Incredible cast and performances.

While Dresden never loses the humor, it definitely gets MUCH heavier. You should see if you can find a pattern in the title names and the one that doesn't fit the pattern.