Ironic Echo: Difference between revisions

** Later uses are reference to and/or subversion of its use in ''[[Discworld/Mort|Mort]]''. "There is no justice, just us!" is used as an excuse for letting "good" people live and "bad" people die. It's later echoed as "There is no justice, just me," reasoning for why the world isn't fair, when [[It Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time|what seemed like a good idea]] turns out to have horrible consequences.

** And the ultimate [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] version from ''[[Discworld/Reaper Man|Reaper Man]]''.

** In ''[[Discworld/Feet of Clay (novel)|Feet of Clay]]'', the Dragon King Of Arms tells Vimes why his ancestor killing a tyrannical king means his family can't get a coat of arms: "''Whatever else he was'', he was the king. The crown isn't like a watchman's helmet. Even when you take it off, you're still wearing it." At the end of the book, when the Dragon King questions how "a man married to the richest woman in the city" can see himself as the champion of the common people, Vimes retorts "A watchman's helmet isn't like a crown. Even when you take it off, you're still wearing it."

** In ''[[Discworld/Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'', Vimes is chasing down [[Ax Crazy]] serial murderer Carcer Dun on the roofs of the Unseen University. When he finally gets Carcer in his grip, the man complains, "You're hurting!" Vimes says no, he's not hurting, he's ''protecting'' Carcer, wouldn't want him to fall off. At the end, after Carcer has spent the entire book harrying Vimes and wearing that insipid "what-have-I-done?" grin all over the place, Vimes finally gets him again, and again comes, "You're hurting!" This time, Vimes acknowledges that yes, he is hurting, and he's still doing it by the book; what's more, he's going to make sure everything is done by the book so that Carcer gets a fair trial if it means he has to do every last step of it himself, because a fair trial means a quick execution, and tomorrow's sunrise will shine down all the brighter on Vimes' little son Sam if it's not being shared with Carcer.

** A variant occurs in ''[[Discworld/Thud|Thud]]'', when the [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] who's come to inspect the watch asks Vimes ''Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?'' or "Who watches the watchmen?", to which Vimes replies 'Me.' When asked who watches ''him'', his answer 'I do that too. All the time. Believe me.' A boast merely meant to say he doesn't want a paperpusher looking over his shoulder? {{spoiler|The [[Demonic Possession|Summoning Dark]] that tried to make Vimes kill several dwarfs finds out the hard way it's not, when it runs into the Guarding Dark, a watchman ''inside'' Vimes mind, [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|who echoes the lines before kicking the Summoning Dark out.]]}}

** ''[[Discworld/Witches Abroad|Witches Abroad]]'' gets its own variant—the echo comes in quick succession and it illustrates a difference in philosophy rather than any malice one way or the other. Lily and Esme Weatherwax both get dragged into a mirror, and each is told that they're not quite dead-they'll be freed from the mirror when they can identify the real "them" out of a legion of mirror images. Lily, who has used paired mirrors to amplify her magic almost all her life, rushes off to find it. Esme, who believes in headology and always being certain of who you are and where you stand, asks if it's a trick question, then gestures to herself and says, "This one."

** In ''[[Discworld/Carpe Jugulum|Carpe Jugulum]]'', the phrase "Everywhere I look, I see something holy" takes on two very different meanings: an [[Oh Crap]] moment by a [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampire]] whose desensitization training is [[Villainous Breakdown|backfiring horribly]], and a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] coming from a nerdy, ineffective [[Good Shepherd]] on his way to [[Badass Preacher]]-hood.

** Death again, in ''[[Discworld/Hogfather|Hogfather]]''. Throughout the book, he has been filling in for a missing [[Captain Ersatz]] of Santa, but can't get the 'ho ho ho' to sound jolly rather than ominous. At the end, he confronts the Auditors of Reality, who had tried to kill said Santa-figure, and gives a ''very'' ominous {{small-caps| Ho. Ho. HO.}} before obliterating them.

** ''[[Discworld/Unseen Academicals|Unseen Academicals]]'' has "It's all Shove!" being used in two different contexts by two different characters to describe life among the Ankh-Morpork working class; first it's used in a fatalistic scene by [[Ax Crazy|Andy Shank]], then it's used by Trev Likely when he resolves to "get out of the Shove" and make something of himself.