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In addition to the main characters, there is a large cast of recurring characters, including dodgy street trader [[Honest John's Dealership|Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler]] and [[Anti-Villain|benevolent tyrant]] Havelock Vetinari ('benevolent' in the sense that he's a much ''nicer'' tyrant than his predecessors). Villains have included sociopathic geniuses, [[Eldritch Abomination]]s, and the Auditors of Reality, [[Obstructive Bureaucrat|cosmic bureaucrats]] who consider life too untidy to be tolerated.
As of [[Fan Nickname|Pterry]]'s death in 2015, there were fourty-three books in the series, six of them marketed as young-adult and another two marketed toward children, as well as several short stories. With the destruction of his notes in 2017, it is unlikely that there will be any more.
As of October, 2011, there are thirty-nine books in the series, five of them young-adult, as well as several short stories. There are also [[Spin-Off|Discworld calendars, diaries, maps]], [[Universe Compendium|compendia]], three [[Video Game]]s,<ref>Four if you include the ''Colour Of Magic'' 1986 text adventure</ref> three [[Board Game]]s,<ref>One based on the Watch, one based on a power struggle for Ankh-Morpork, and the [[Defictionalised]] chess-analogue Thud</ref> and a pen and paper [[RPG]], each with [[Word of God|additional background information]] about the Disc. All the books have been adapted for the stage, two have become animated series, and three (technically four, as ''The Colour of Magic'' and ''The Light Fantastic'' were filmed as a single story under the former title, but the second is a direct follow-on) have become live-action [[Made for TV Movie|Made For TV Movies]]. A ''cop show'' based around the Ankh-Morpork Watch is in the works. Yes, really.▼
▲
See also the [[Discworld/Characters|character sheet]] for details on the more major of the series' [[Loads and Loads of Characters]], and the fan-run [http://www.lspace.org/ L-Space Web] for [http://www.lspace.org/books/pqf/index.html quotes] and [http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/index.html annotations] (which unfortunately haven't updated since ''Going Postal'', from 2004). There is a [https://web.archive.org/web/20120419204136/http://discworldfanatics.co.uk/discworld/reading-guide/ reading order guide] for those who would like to go through the books by internal series.
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# ''[[Small Gods]]'' (1992 - standalone, History Monks cameo)
# ''[[Lords and Ladies]]'' (1992 - The Lancre witches, Wizards cameo)
# ''[[Men
# ''[[Soul Music (novel)|Soul Music]]'' (1994 - Death, Susan, Wizards subplot)
# ''[[Interesting Times]]'' (1994 - Rincewind, Heroes)
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# ''[[Making Money]]'' (2007 - Moist von Lipwig)
# ''[[Unseen Academicals]]'' (October 2009 - Wizards and new characters)
# ''[[
# ''[[
'''Illustrated novels:'''
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'''The young-adult Discworld novels:'''
* ''[[The Amazing Maurice and
* ''[[The Wee Free Men]]'' (2003 - Tiffany Aching)
* ''[[A Hat Full of Sky]]'' (2004 - Tiffany Aching)
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** ''[[Discworld MUD]]''
{{tropenamer}}
* [[Fertile Feet]]
* [[Hello, Insert Name Here]]
* [[Klatchian Coffee]]
* [[Lies to Children]]
* [[Stranger in a Familiar Land]]
* [[Theory of Narrative Causality]]
* [[Thunderbolt Iron]]
* [[Überwald]]
* [[Un-Equal Rites]]
* [[Vetinari Job Security]]
* [[Wanton Cruelty to the Common Comma]]
{{franchisetropes}}
'''Tropes that are not specific to one character (or group of characters) ''and'' appeared in three or more books (anything else should go in those pages, since otherwise five-sevenths of the tropes on this site would be listed).'''
== A-E ==
* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: Death's scythe and sword, Carrot's sword, and Inigo Skimmer's palm knife. Especially Death's scythe, which is described as "proverbially sharp" and can [[Painting the Fourth Wall|cut the dialog]] ''in the book'' when it's swung. It exudes an aura of sharpness that extends several inches from the actual blade- ''because it is that sharp.''
** Carrot's sword is also very interesting. It is one of the very few swords on the Disc without a single hint of magic in it. Instead, it is a long and very sharp piece of metal designed specifically to cut through man, horse and armour. IT is also an extremely old sword. This makes sense, given its implied origin.
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** Vimes' wife right from her first appearance in Guards! Guards! In that one, some Palace Guards come to take her to be eaten by the dragon. She takes exception to being dragged off by a load of guards...with a broadsword. It doesn't work out for her, but two of her pets (Sam Vimes and a most peculiar young male swamp dragon) rescue her later on.
** It is noted on several occasions, as recently as 'Snuff' that Sybil is descended from the kind of old aristocracy that kept its place by being more than able to defend themselves. Hence why even in Night Watch a younger Sybil grabs a ornamental sword (or something else long and metal?) to defend herself when (stranger to her at that time) Vimes comes to the door.
*** There were previous references to the martial activities of Sybil's male ancestors, usually in the context of her even tougher female ancestors looking after everything else, including caring for whatever portions of their male relatives made it back from battle. As well, given the later references to the family apparently never throwing anything away if it could possibly have any use, there's no reason to think that sword wasn't entirely functional. (Given how badly she handles a sword in the chronologically later events of ''[[Guards! Guards!]]'' she probably didn't know how to use it, but that's not important when you consider the kind of help the family tends to hire and the fact that her father might well have been home.)
* [[Brick Joke]]: Happens quite often, even across books in the form of [[Continuity Nod]]s. As one example, in ''[[The Truth]]'', there's mention of someone trying to pass a parrot off as a dog by teaching it to bark and writing "DoG" on its feathers. In ''[[The Last Hero]]'', Leonard of Quirm is shown feeding a bunch of birds, one of which is that parrot.
** Also, a bar called The Broken Drum (You Can't Beat It!) burns down in the first book. It appears rebuilt subsequently throughout later books as The Mended Drum (You Can Get Beaten).
** Bloody Stupid Johnson's handiwork constantly appears around Ankh-Mopork. See [[Bungling Inventor]] for more.
** In ''[[Soul Music (novel)|Soul Music]]'', it's detailed that the Klatchian Foreign Legion is where people go to forget their lives ([[Laser-Guided Amnesia|in the literal sense]]). This is mentioned again as a throwaway line in ''[[Going Postal (Discworld)|Going Postal]]'', '''12 books later'''.
** In ''[[Men
*** Though in ''[[The Fifth Elephant]]'', we're told that most true wolves don't have names so much as descriptions. Gaspode attempts to translate one of these for the rather prudish Captain Carrot. They eventually settle on "Bum," which Carrot can choose to interpret in the way common in the US (vagrant, tramp, hobo) while remaining at least somewhat similar to the more precise translation {{spoiler|"Arsehole"}}.
** Another one crops up in ''[[Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'': In ''[[The Truth]]'', one of the newspaper headlines is "CITTY's BIGGEST CAKE MIX-Up!!!". It's a story about cart carrying several tons of flour overturning and causing a cart of carrying a cartload of eggs to overturn, which in turn causes a cart carrying 30 churns of milk to overturn... Anyway, in ''Night Watch'', after Vimes destroys certain siege engine, we find out that it is not the biggest cake mix-up after all. As one of people who ordered siege engine sent against Vimes: "Those oxen were really feisty, sir."
** A character introduced in a book published in 1987 finally makes a second appearance... in a book published in 2010.
* [[Bungling Inventor]]: Bloody Stupid Johnson, whose works tend to warp reality when they're not outright useless: the Colossus of Ankh-Morpork, which fits in a pocket, an exploding sundial, a [[Portal Network]] apartment complex, a tower built with quicksand (it'd be built faster), several pipe organs, a shower that combines with a pipe organ and a geyser, a mail-sorting machine that receives letters from alternate universes...
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*** A maze so small that people get lost looking for it.
*** Crazy paving that has committed suicide.
*** The 'Ho-Ho', which is like a [[wikipedia:Ha-ha|Ha-ha]] (a ditch that hides a fence) but much,
{{quote|''"To Bloody Stupid Johnson, scale was something that happened to other people."''
''"If you wanted a small ground-to-air missile, you just asked him to make an ornamental fountain"'' }}
** And, quite impressively, he managed to create an explosive out of nothing but sand and water.
** Completely inverted with Leonard of Quirm (who invents, among other things, incredibly destructive siege engines as intellectual exercises, including cutting instructions and parts lists) and Goldeneyes (one client tore them out to prevent him from making any works greater for anyone else) Silverhand (hand cut off for similar reasons by ANOTHER client) Dactylos, the Discworld's greatest engineer (who dies near the end of the first book, killed by his LAST client, same reason).
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** The Death of Rats: {{small-caps| Squeak.}}
** The Librarian: "Ook."
* [[Cats Are Magic]]: Death is very fond of cats and gives them all nine lives. That said, the only cat who is really magical is Maurice, from ''[[The Amazing Maurice and
* [[Cat Stereotype]]: Granny Weatherwax's cat You is a pure white kitten, full of purity and innocence. Nanny Ogg's cat Greebo, on the other hand, is grey, and is older, wiser, and pure malevolent evil.
* [[Chronoscope]]:
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* [[Cerebus Rollercoaster]]: The series has gotten darker and more mature over the years, all without quite losing its sense of humor. And yes, Pratchett even plays with this trope, contrasting the dark ''[[Monstrous Regiment]]'' with the moderately lighthearted ''[[Going Postal (Discworld)|Going Postal]]'' followed by the dark ''[[Thud!]]'' followed by the moderately lighthearted ''[[Making Money]]'' followed by the even more lighthearted ''[[Unseen Academicals]]'' followed by the pitch black ''[[I Shall Wear Midnight]]''...
* [[Chalk Outline]]: Invoked rarely, and only for laughs. For example, the Ankh is the only river in the world you can draw a chalk outline on. Also, one of the previous postmasters spied into the sorting machine, and [[Nightmare Fuel|his outline was all over the sorting office]].
** In ''[[The Truth]]'' The probably human Corporal Nobbs drew a chalk outline of a victim, which is all fine and normal for a copper, except he did it in colored chalk, and felt the need to add a pipe and draw some clouds and flowers.
* [[Chameleon Camouflage]]: Susan Sto Helit, Granny Weatherwax and her apprentice Tiffany Aching have powers to do this. The young Vetinari learns this in ''[[Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'' [[Irony|(to the point that he nearly fails his Camouflage class for nonattendance)]], and Vimes has an uncanny ability to blend neatly into shadows.
* [[Characterization Marches On]]: Remember when the The Patrician of Ankh-Morpork was obese? Or when Death seemed to actively cause people to die rather than merely collect their souls? Both have gotten excuses, one of which is that Death changed character after Mort, the other that it was a different Patrician. [[Word of God]] denies the latter, admitting it is this trope.
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* [[Excuse Me, Coming Through]]: An important element of the Law of Narrative Causality, complete with [[Lampshade]] and two guys carrying a pane of glass.
* [[Exposition of Immortality]]: In a [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]] world populated by Anthropomorphic personifications, golems, gods, and wizards you should expect plenty of this. The golems are one of bigger examples: given that they're made of rock and effectively unkillable. [[Time Abyss|Anghammarad]] is an extreme example; built over 20,000 years ago and still functioning, remembering times, events, places and languages that nothing else on the Disc does. Several of the vampires who pop up get in on this, too. The Count de Magpyr (the old, traditional one, not the trendy new one) recognises the names of several of the peasants in the mob at his castle and makes mentioning of remembering their grandparents.
== F-J ==
* [[Fallen-On-Hard-Times Job]]: Is [[Cut Me Own Throat Dibbler]] selling sausages? Then another stupid moneymaking scheme has just blown up in his face.
* [[Fantastic Racism]]: dwarfs versus trolls; humans versus trolls in some places; just about everyone versus goblins.
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* [[Freudian Trio]]: The Lancre witches (Magrat: ego, Granny Weatherwax: superego, Nanny Ogg: id. Very, very id)
* [[Fridge Brilliance]]: Thank goodness for [http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/index.html the Pratchett File].
** Also counts as a [[Genius Bonus]] in many cases. Only the most widely traveled of readers will get most of them, let alone some of the more obscure ones
* [[Friendly Neighbourhood Vampire]]: All the members of the League of Temperance, who only drink animal blood taken from slaughterhouses.
** Or switch to something completely different. Coffee, anyone?
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* [[Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook]]: The "learning to commit more serious crimes" variety is parodied when the Ankh-Morpork Thieves' Guild, an entirely legal organisation, runs official classes in the city's main prison, the Tanty.
* [[Happily Married]]: Commander Vimes and Lady Sybil, Fred Colon and his [[The Ghost|unnamed wife]], and King Verence and Queen Magrat of Lancre.
** And Mort and Ysabell
** Detritus is said to be Happily Married to Ruby in Thud!, though they lack Babies Ever After.
* [[The Hat Makes the Man]]: The king's crown and the archmage's hat both influence their wearer's personality.
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* [[Humans Are Leaders]]: Not too surprising as humans appears to be the most populous species. But in Ankh-Morpork, dwarves, trolls, and vampires are factions that Vetinari and the Watch deal with like another guild.
* [[The Igor]]: An entire family of them that does henching and [[Mad Science]] professionally. They also pioneer surgical techniques and do it almost recreationally; when an Igor is said to have his father's eyes, it's probably not a figure of speech. They may have been handed down through the generations (a good pair of hands are worth hanging onto as well). One of them has a pet dog made up of the pieces of many other pet dogs; he isn't too broken up about it when Scraps gets killed off, because it's only a matter of time until the next thunderstorm.
** It's important to also note that the male Igors are [[Kavorka Man|Kavorka Men]] and considered quite the prize for young women, whereas the Igorinas are [[Cute Monster Girl|cute monster girls]] mixed with [[Hello, Nurse!]]
*** When we finally get an on-screen Igorina (in ''[[Monstrous Regiment]]'') she makes an off-hand remark that the scars from the stitching can be gotten rid of in 15 minutes with the right ointment. That means that Igors go around covered in scars ''because that's how Igors want to look''.
* [[I Just Want to Be Normal]]: Susan Sto Helit desperately wants to lead an ordinary life, which is complicated by the fact that she's the daughter of Death's adopted daughter and his former apprentice. And she's a duchess. Rincewind also hates being forced into dangerous quests to save the world, and would like nothing more than to be bored the rest of his life. Carrot Ironfoundersson may also qualify, as despite the fact that he <s> is</s> probably is the heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork, he prefers to be a copper.
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** This is the Discworld. [[Heads-Tails-Edge|It might not.]]
* [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Incredibly Lame Pune, or Play on Words]]: Common, though often subtle.
* [[Instant Book Deal]]
* [[In the Local Tongue]]: Discussed several times. For example, Mount Oolskunrahod in Skund, which translates as "Who is this fool who doesn't know what a mountain is?"
** The above is found in a forest named "Your finger, you fool," after an explorer pointed and asked a native "What's this?"
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* [[Just Following Orders]]: Subverted, inverted, played with, deconstructed, and generally given hell from (at the very latest) ''[[Guards! Guards!]]'' onwards.
** ''[[The Fifth Elephant]]'' probably attacked it most viciously, when Vimes encounters a man who let the enemies take his wife, Lady Sybil, because of 'orders'. He ordered Detritus to shoot the man on the spot, which the troll refused to do, proving why Vimes works with him at all. Doubles as a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for both Detritus, and for Vimes, who trusts his officers not to take bad orders ''even from him''.
== K-O ==
* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: Just about every book not only includes a lot of [[Playing with a Trope|Trope Play]], but a lot of [[Genre Savvy]] characters who will know just what's going on, and will be in no way shy about stating it.
* [[The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday]]: Pops up in quite a few books, including ''[[The Light Fantastic]]'' and ''[[Soul Music (novel)|Soul Music]]''.
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** Subverted in the case of dwarfs, as they tend to keep tidy homes no matter what sex (if any) they admit to be. Nor do you ever find rats or cockroaches infesting their houses, so long as the residents can hold a frying pan.
* [[Micro Monarchy]]: Lancre, and some of its neighboring kingdoms which are even smaller.
* [[Million-to-One Chance]]: Invoked whenever someone needs a long shot to happen. Most notable in ''[[Guards! Guards!]]'', where the Watch is trying to make an impossibly difficult shot, then deliberately makes things even ''harder'' to raise the odds to exactly 1,000,000 to 1.
** They miss because any attempt to purposely invoke this trope results in only a 987,000 to one chance, not attracting The Lady's favor.
*** That, and they had a 0% chance to hit the very specific target, due to reasons discovered later.
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* [[Monster Modesty]]: Trolls (except Detritus, who wears Watch uniform, and Chrysophrase, who wears a suit) mostly just wear a loincloth "to conceal whatever it was that trolls found it necessary to conceal". This is so much a part of their culture that male trolls will go to clubs to watch female trolls put on clothing. There's usually a riot by the second overcoat.
* [[Morphic Resonance]]: Discworld has played a big part in popularising the phrase. Probably its most significant example is the law of magic that no shape-shifter, not even gods, can transform how their eyes look—so their eyes always provide a clue to their real identity or nature.
* [[Mugging the Monster]]: Usually [[Werewolf|Angua]], but has happened to others enough that the robber at the beginning of ''[[The Amazing Maurice and
** Also, Casanunda makes a cameo in ''[[Carpe Jugulum]]'' just to witness a highwayman getting killed by the Magpyrs.
** Members of the Assassin's Guild also get this in a book or two.
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** Nutt
** Death
* [[Nude Nature Dance]] : Alluded to, and then ''firmly'' averted more than once in the '''Discworld''' novels starring the [[The Hecate Sisters|three witches]]. [[Life of the Party|Nanny Ogg]] is probably game, but... no. Just no.
** Mustrum Ridcully, Moist von Lipwig and Nanny Ogg have practically made careers of it.
* [[Oh Look More Rooms]]: Death's Domain. The initial hallway is intimidating enough, but several of the rooms along it open up into cavernous chambers filled with books or hourglasses.
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* [[OOC Is Serious Business]]:
** Death is generally a calm and collected speaker, so whenever ''he'' loses his temper (at, say, New Death in ''[[Reaper Man]]''), you know shit just got real.
** Vetinari plays [[By-The-Book Cop|Sam Vimes]] like a fiddle and gets him to do the best job possible, but mainly by pissing him off first. Usually after such a meeting, Vimes would punch the wall outside Vetinari's office. [[Heroic BSOD|Until one day he doesn't]]
** An upset Nanny Ogg is bad to see, as Agnes notes in [[Carpe Jugulum]]. A Nanny Ogg that misses a chance to mock Agnes' [[Accidental Innuendo]], on the other hand, is rather dread-inducing, because then ''something is seriously wrong''.
* [[Our Dragons Are Different]]: Swamp dragons are unstable, [[Ugly Cute]] little runts which manufacture volatile chemicals in their insides for firebreathing purposes and are prone to exploding violently. Noble dragons are your typical fantasy dragon, but have all disappeared for some reason.
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* [[Overwhelming Obsession]]: This is the dwarfs' racial attitude toward gold. In more than one novel, it's made clear that their sorrow after a mine cave-in isn't caused by the loss of dwarf life, but rather by the loss of a seam of gold that hadn't been completely mined out yet. As for keeping the gold once they've dug it out of the ground:
{{quote|Dwarfs are very attached to gold. Any highwayman demanding 'Your money or your life' had better bring a folding chair and packed lunch and a book to read while the debate goes on.
|''[[Men
== P-T ==
* [[Painting the Fourth Wall]]: Death {{small-caps|who talks like this}} has his own font, as do Golems in some books; Carrot's letters and their "ballistic approach to grammar"; the Auditors talk outside of dialogue (One thinks, one speaks like this); particularly odd looking signs might actually appear in the books as poorly drawn handwriting; etc etc. Pratchett doesn't as much paint the fourth wall as much as he uses a nice wallpaper and hangs an attractive painting off it.
* [[Parodied Trope]]
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* [[Puny Humans]]: If anything this is played straighter in the '''''Discworld''''' books than in most fantasy. Most sapient races are flat out ''better'' than humans: dwarfs are tougher, stronger and live longer, trolls and golems are near indestructable and incredibly strong (and trolls are incredibly intelligent when in cooler temperatures), vampires have all their standard strengths and can even learn to replace their lust for blood, as noted above werewolves are extremely capable in combat and have fantastic regenerative capabilities, pictsies are unbelivably strong and ferocious (gnomes are described as being as strong as a human despite being the size of a Barbie doll), Igors (if they count as non-human) are all brilliant surgeons and also great healers and orcs can only be called superbeings.
* [[Real Dreams Are Weirder]]: A stock joke, appearing in ''[[Hogfather]]'', ''[[Eric]]'', and ''[[Small Gods]]'' at least.
* [[Recruiters Always Lie]]: Touched upon anytime armed forces jobs come up, most obviously in ''[[Monstrous Regiment]]'' where one of the markers that the war is going so poorly is that the recruiting party can't even be bothered to try.
* [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]: The eyes of golems glow an unnerving red. A subversion since they're not evil.
* [[Red Herring]]: Pratchett uses this trope a LOT. You see it at least once in every Watch book, and in some of the others as well.
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** "Do deformed rabbit, it's my favorite."
* [[Sand Is Water]]:
** The Dehydrated Ocean. Technically not sand, but a fourth state of water that occurs in a high density magical field.
** In ''[[Jingo]]'', a D'reg refers to ships as a camel of the water.
* [[Sanity Ball]]: Let's just say there are only a few bouncing around.
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* [[Smart People Play Chess]]: In the early novels, Vetinari plays chess. Later, when "thud" is introduced and made out to be the Disc's [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp|chess analogue]], Vetinari keeps a rare board in his viewing room and plays a friend by clacks.
* [[Spontaneous Crowd Formation]]: This is often called the official pastime of Ankh-Morpork. No matter what the citizenry are doing, if something interesting is going on, they WILL stop to watch it.
* [[Stop Worshipping Me!]]:▼
** The Lady. One of the few examples of this trope in a universe where [[Gods Need Prayer Badly]]. Explained by the fact that everyone believes in luck, even if no one worships it.▼
** The Duchess from ''[[Monstrous Regiment]]''. All the prayers to her have actually turned her into a deity, but as much as she wants to help she's powerless to do anything and just wants to be let off the hook.▼
* [[Squirrels in My Pants]]: It's mentioned in a few books that putting Ferrets (or Weasels) down your trousers is a popular rural entertainment. In ''I Shall Wear Midnight'' there is much disappointment when the man who does it doesn't show up for a fair. [http://www.cracked.com/article_16697_the-8-most-baffling-sports-from-around-world.html This is actually a real "sport".]
** Played somewhat more straight with the Feegles, and in ''The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents'' when the clan fight off a highwayman.
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** Averted by Rincewind and the Librarian. The former has spent the majority of his life running away from things, and the latter is an orangutan. Possibly also by Bengo Macarona,<ref>D.Thau (Bug), D.Maus (Chubb), Magistaludorum (QIS), Octavium (Hons), PHGK (Blit), DMSK, Mack, D.Thau (Bra), Visiting Professor in Chickens (Jahn the Conqueror University (Floor 2, Shrimp Packers Building, Genua)), Primo Octo (Deux), Visiting Professor of Blit/Slood Exchanges (Al Khali), KCbfJ, Reciprocating Professor of Blit Theory (Unki), D.Thau (Unki), Didimus Supremius (Unki), Emeritus Professor in Blit Substrate Determinations (Chubb), Chair of Blit and Music Studies (Quirm College for Young Ladies)</ref> who is athletic enough to be the backbone of the University's football team.
** Although he isn't technically a wizard (as he keeps deliberately failing his final exams), Victor Tugelbend also avoids this out of sheer laziness. (He finds it easier not to carry all that extra weight around.)
* [[Stealth Mook]]: If you want to pass your exam in the Assassin's Guild, then you have to demonstrate the ability to be stealthy like this. And yes, per regulations you have to wear all-black. Veterinari as a young assassin was the exception that proved the rule.
** The Assassins Guild has also long stopped taking contracts on Constable Sam Vimes, because he can see through their stealth and it would not be sporting to shoot him on the street. Instead, they send uppity students after Sam to teach them a lesson in humility.
▲* [[Stop Worshipping Me!]]:
▲** The Lady. One of the few examples of this trope in a universe where [[Gods Need Prayer Badly]]. Explained by the fact that everyone believes in luck, even if no one worships it.
▲** The Duchess from ''[[Monstrous Regiment]]''. All the prayers to her have actually turned her into a deity, but as much as she wants to help she's powerless to do anything and just wants to be let off the hook.
* [[Subverted Trope]]: One of the major themes of the series. Not only for jokes, but people and situations often go in unexpected directions.
* [[Super Doc]]: See [[The Igor]] above.
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* [[T-Word Euphemism]]: Lots, from the vampires' refrain of "the B-vord", Mr. Tulip's repeated use of "---ing", Quoth the Raven's "N-word", and Moist Von Lipwig's tirade against Reacher Gilt in ''[[Going Postal (Discworld)|Going Postal]]''.
** The K-word, the L-word, the T-word, ''both'' S-words, the V-word and the Y-word.
** 'Murdering conniving bastard of a weasel' is acceptable, however.
** Don't forget to NEVER, EVER use the M-word near the Librarian of the Unseen University.
* [[Talking Animal]]: Usually due to the magical equivalent of radioactive waste.
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* [[True Sight]]: Wizards and witches can see what's really there. Susan also teaches this in her class in ''[[Thief of Time]]''
** Children seem to have this. Even when Death makes himself known, most adults won't even notice that he's a skeleton, because everybody knows that skeletons can't walk around and talk. Children don't know that, though, and they see Death as he really looks. Not that it bothers them at all.
== U-Z ==
* [[Unusually Uninteresting Name]]: The Patrician's scary secret service goes by the name of ...Clerks.
** Well, everyone calls the ''actual'' scary secret service the "Dark Clerks", and a good many of them are scholarship students to the Assassin's Guild School. (Generally regarded as just about the finest place to get a general education in the whole world, even foreign royalty have been known to send their children there. Of course, it's also helpful to know how it's done if you want to avoid being inhumed...)
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* [[Watering Down]]: Several jokes about this.
* [[We All Die Someday]]: It's widely acknowledged that Death meets everyone, sooner or later. But to note:
** In ''[[Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'' the conversation between Vimes and Lu-Tze:
{{quote|'''Vimes''': I've been talking to people who are going to die today. Do you have any idea how that feels like?
'''Lu-Tze''': Of course. Everyone I talk to is going to die. Everyone you talk to is going to die. Everybody dies. }}
** In ''[[Lords
{{quote|'''Ponder''': Graveyards are full of people who rushed in bravely but unwisely.
'''The Librarian''': Ook.<ref>Sooner or later, graveyards are full of ''everybody''</ref> }}
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* [[Your Vampires Suck]]: An entire book on this trope, before it ends with "Classic vampires are awesome". Mostly because they intentionally form a symbiotic relationship with their villages—they get blood and a mostly safe place to live, tourism (one is even mentioned as having a ''gift shop'') and give the local community something to feel good about. Namely, having beat a ''vampire'' (or, in the case of the ladies, having been beautiful enough to be kidnapped by one).
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