Faust Eric shows Great A'Tuin being made instantly from nothing, (by the Creator reading the Octavo) seemingly in support of the theory that it came from nowhere and would continue at a constant pace into nowhere however, the events in The Light Fantastic, in which the Great A'Tuin attended the hatching of eight baby turtles, each with four baby elephants and a tiny discworld of their own, would seem to support the Big Bang hypothesis. The other theory, described as being popular among academics is the "steady gait" theory, is that he/she came from nowhere and is going to keep swimming through space to nowhere for ever. (Telepaths have also attempted to read the minds of the Elephants, who apparently feel 'incredibly bored', and have terrible back pains.) All they've been able to discern is that the Great A'Tuin is looking forward to something. If, as the popular " big bang theory" states, Great A'Tuin is moving to his (or her) mating grounds, then at the point of mating might the civilisations of the Disc be crushed or simply slide off? Attempts by telepathy to learn more about Great A'Tuin's intents have not met with much success, mainly because they did not realise that its brain functions are on such a slow timescale. The sex of the World Turtle is pivotal in proving or disproving a number of conflicting theories about the destination of Great A'Tuin's journey through the cosmos. Great A'Tuin's gender is unknown, but is the subject of much speculation by some of the Disc's finest scientific minds.
The narration has described A'Tuin as "the only turtle ever to feature on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram." Great A'Tuin is the Giant Star Turtle (species: Chelys galactica) who travels through space, carrying the four giant elephants (named Berilia, Tubul, Great T'Phon, and Jerakeen) who in turn carry the Discworld, and is introduced as such in nearly every book.
Pratchett first explored the idea of a disc-shaped world in the novel Strata (1981). The Disc is heavily influenced by magic and, while having similarities to (and in some cases, based on) planet Earth, it (generally) conforms to its own laws of physics. The Discworld is a fantasy land in the Tolkien and Brothers Grimm mould, complete with witches, wizards, dragons, trolls, and dwarfs however, over time it has largely evolved into its own distinct culture, as its denizens find more sophisticated ways to outgrow their narrative conventions. It consists of a slightly convex disc (complete with edge-of-the-world drop-off and consequent waterfall) resting on the backs of four huge elephants which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle, named Great A'Tuin, (similar to Chukwa or Akupara from Hindu mythology, though "world turtles" are common to many disparate cosmologies) as it slowly swims through space. The Discworld is the fictional setting for all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld fantasy novels.
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