 As part of Rincewind's backstory, he opens the Octavo in his first year for a bet, whereupon one of the Eight Great Spells leapt from the book and lodged itself into his mind.The failure of the aforementioned security measures is later explained as the actions of the Great Spells themselves.Efforts to remove the spell fail and, unable to learn any other spells (supposedly afraid of sharing his head with a Great Spell) Rincewind is dismissed from the University.