Discworld Characters - Reacher Gilt

Reacher Gilt

Reacher Gilt appears in the novel Going Postal. He is the head of a consortium of financiers who had been embezzling from the clacks network since it was set up, and who, when it reached the point of collapse, bought the original owners out with their own money. A ruthless businessman with a piratical appearance, including an eyepatch and a cockatoo that, instead of saying "pieces of eight", said "twelve and a half percent" (that is, one eighth), he was a shameless con-artist and fraudster whose business style was described as playing "find the lady with entire banks". Under his management, the clacks network became more profitable, but less reliable. As the new owners didn't really understand the clacks the way the previous management had, they worked it until it broke. He maintained his monopoly by killing anyone attempting to set up another network, including Dearheart's son, John, and employing the banshee Mr. Gryle to do so. After his dealings were uncovered, Havelock Vetinari offered him the "choice" of becoming head of the Royal Mint, or walking out a very large closed door. He chose the latter. In the TV adaption of Going Postal, Gilt is portrayed by David Suchet.