Rincewind is a fictional character appearing in several of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. He is a failed student at the Unseen University for wizards in Ankh-Morpork, and is often described by scholars as "the magical equivalent to the number zero". He spends most of his time running away from bands of people who want to kill him for various reasons. The fact that he's still alive and running is explained in that, although he was born with a wizard's spirit, he has the body of a long-distance sprinter. Rincewind is also renowned for being able to solve minor problems by turning them into major disasters. His unique "skill" is implied to be due to being the chosen one of "The Lady", the anthropomorphic personification of luck (both good and bad).

Rincewind was portrayed by David Jason in the film adaption of The Colour of Magic[1] and Pratchett said in an interview that he unwittingly took Rincewind's name from "Churm Rincewind", a fictitious person referred to in early "'Beachcomber" columns in the Daily Express.[2]

In Rincewind's debut in The Colour of Magic, he acts as a guide for the tourist Twoflower, who hails from the Counterweight Continent, a continent across the disc from the 'hub' continent where Ankh-Morpork is situated. He is recruited for this job because he is the only one who can communicate with Twoflower (they use Be-Trobi as a lingua franca). He and Twoflower wander around for quite a while, and get chased by everything from the personification of Death to a Lovecraftian creature named Bel-Shamharoth.

Even after Rincewind and Twoflower part ways at the end of The Light Fantastic—with Twoflower giving Rincewind his sapient-pearwood Luggage in the process—Rincewind's adventures continue to see him being chased across various regions of the Discworld in spite of, or often driven by, his desire to find somewhere he can relish boredom in peace and quiet.

During the events of The Last Hero, Rincewind states that he does not wish to volunteer for a dangerous mission; when he is asked to explain himself, he states that he's merely refusing for appearances sake, because, as someone is bound to nominate him for the upcoming mission eventually, even if he refuses, somehow events will conspire against him and he'll end up going on the mission anyway as he attempts to escape.

In Raising Steam, Rincewind is mentioned in footnotes, which refer to him as a professor at the university, studying the effects of different flowers on the nervous system.