Maskerade: Difference between revisions

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With the loss of Magrat to her royal calling, Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax find themselves with a coven of two. Their eye falls on the expansive Agnes Nitt, who prefers calling herself Perdita X Dream (or, as the women of Lancre say, "that girl who calls herself Perditax"). Agnes, though, has no interest in witches, and wants to be an opera singer. Stealing away to Ankh-Morpork, she soon finds herself (and her amazing voice) as a vocal understudy to the skinnier but much dumber and less melodious Christine.

* [[Brainless Beauty]]: Christine.

* [[Chess With Death]]: As usual Death dislikes the traditional game, so Granny challenges him to a hand of poker instead for a boy's life. She wins, though it's implied that Death let her, because he's ''on our side''. She also fixes his arm bones for him with chiropractic.

** There's also the fact that {{spoiler|he says that his hand was a pair of "ones." As in aces.}}

* [[Contest Winner Cameo]]: Collette.

::There's also a fragment from a song in German, "''Schneide meinen eigenen Hals''" - [[Bilingual Bonus|not translated in the text]], but means "cut my own throat". Did we mention that the song is called the [[CMOT Dibbler|Pedlar's Song?]]

* [[Good Is Not Dumb]]: Agnes.

* [[Humanity Ensues]]: The human-form Greebo the cat from ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Witches Abroad|Witches Abroad]]'' reappears, pressed into service as Granny's fake paramour and bodyguard.

* [[Hurricane of Puns]]: In the grand tradition of [[Discworld (Literature)/Moving Pictures|Moving Pictures]] and [[Discworld (Literature)/Soul Music|Soul Music]], {{spoiler|Walter's}} opera titles are all puns on popular musicals.

* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: The villain gives a long [[Final Speech]] about how ridiculous opera conventions like the long [[Final Speech]] are. This comes not long after he claims to be the [[Only Sane Man]], using multiple exclamation marks (a sure sign of madness).

* [[I Just Want to Be Normal]]: Agnes

{{quote| '''Christine''' (to Agnes): Perdita, dear? It did seem to me you were signing the ''teensiest'' bit loud, dear! I'm sure it must have been a little difficult for everyone to hear me. }}

* [[I'll Never Tell You What I'm Telling You]]: Death and the swan.

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: Plenty, of course, but the stand-out is the end of {{spoiler|Salzella's}} death rant:

{{quote| "...and the ''worst'' thing about opera is the way everyone takes...such[[Sanity Slippage|!!!]] ... a[[Sanity Slippage|!!!!]] long[[Sanity Slippage|!!!!!]] time!!!!! ... to!!!!!" *dies*}}

* [[Motive Rant]]

* [[Mugging the Monster]]: Subverted; Granny and Mrs. Plinge are threatened by some muggers, but before Granny can open up a can of whup-ass on them, the Ghost does it for her.

* [[Painting the Fourth Wall]]: Christine's dialogue always ends in either "!?" or "!!" because she's just that excited about everything. In all other dialogue, multiple exclamation marks are a sign of [[Sanity Slippage]].

* [[Awesome McCoolname|Perdita X Dream]]: The former [[Trope Namer]].

* [[Shout Out]]: "Walter Plinge" is a real-life pseudonym used by actors who don't want to be associated with early minor parts (similar to "A.N. Other") and the character's description clearly evokes Frank Spencer from ''[[Some Mothers Do Ave Em]]'' (Michael Crawford, the first actor who played the musical version's Phantom, was once best known for that role).

** The troll name for Granny Weatherwax ("She Who Must Be Avoided") is a reference to the [[H Rider Haggard]] novel ''[[She (Literature)|She]]'' and the eponymous character "She Who Must Be Obeyed".

** Later, {{spoiler|Walter}} invents the modern musical and Nanny sees some of his ideas, such as [[Andrew Lloyd Webber|an opera about cats]], ''[[Les Misérables|Miserable Les]]'' and ''[[Seven Brides for Seven Brothers|Seven Dwarfs For Seven Other Dwarfs]]''.

* [[This Is My Name On Foreign]]: Henry Slugg becomes Enrico Basilica.

{{quote| '''André''': It'd be terrible if anything happened to [Christine] ''(in the aftermath of her 'fainting' again)'', everyone says she shows such promise.<br />

'''Agnes''': Yes, but... ''you'' know it was me doing the signing. <br />