Men at Arms: Difference between revisions

* [[Exact Words]]: Carrot talks his way into the Fools' Guild with the implied threat of "If you refuse to let us in, I shall have to carry out my orders." The order was {{spoiler|to give up and leave.}}

* [[Fantasy Gun Control]]: Analysed. Vimes muses that gonnes would change the world because, instead of simply storing the power of your own muscles like crossbows, they 'give you power from outside' - the comparison to magic is obvious, and just as wizards try to restrict the availability of magic, assassins hate the gonne as it would make killing ''so easy''. So there are forces actively keeping gonnes from becoming available.

* [[Five-Token Band]]: One male human who was raised (er, figuratively speaking) as a dwarf, one actual dwarf, one troll, one female {{spoiler|werewolf}}, and one Nobby Nobbs (disqualified from the human race for shoving). Lampshaded, as the nonhumans were hired due to affirmative action. Vimes and Colon are the only normal people on the Watch, and that's using "normal" loosely.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: After Colon and Nobby (while playing cards) have discussed the Arthurian pull-a-sword-from-a-stone legend and considered it insufficient to become king-

* [[How Many Fingers?]]: Bleargh.

* [[I'll Tell You When I've Had Enough!]]: Subverted? Inverted? To show just how [[Off the Wagon|drunk]] Vimes is.

'''Colon''': [[Oh Crap|I've never known him not to give a loud clear "Yes"!]] }}

* [[I'm Thinking It Over]]: "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."

* [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness]]: Carrot, specifically when he stuns Vimes with the phrase "Personal isn't the same as important."

** Then again, {{spoiler|he suspected that the bullets (not being silver) wouldn't be enough to kill her.}} A better example would be when he picks up the gonne, which had previously taken the minds of every person who touched it, and even those aware of its poisonous influence could not bring themselves to destroy such a perfect, unique weapon. {{spoiler|Carrot crushes it against a wall, instantly and effortlessly.}}

** "He really got burned on that deal." (One gets the impression Pterry just couldn't stop himself.)

** Bjorn, the dwarf who believes in reincarnation. Meaning he'll be Bjorn-again. Made more hilarious the fact that the one making the comment is Death, and he's saying it to a race that generally doesn't understand figures of speech, puns, etc.

{{quote|'''Colon''': Forward, Lance-Constable Angua. Tell me, Lance-Constable, do you think you could kill a man?

'''Angua''': How long will I have? }}

* [[It's Personal]]: Subverted: "But personal isn't the same as important."

** Beano the clown isn't comforted when Edward d'Earth says his death was "nothing personal." In fact, that makes him feel even worse - he died for what amounts to no reason.

THAT'S RIGHT! }}

* [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup]]: Like most of Leonard's inventions, the Gonne is of this type. Hell, the Gonne itself takes efforts to ''ensure'' no more are made.

''You expect gratitude? He would have made another gonne.'' }}

* [[Noodle Incident]]: In one of the [[All the Myriad Ways|other universes]], "Corporal Carrot became Sergeant Carrot and, in the fullness of time, died in uniform aged seventy in an unlikely accident involving an anteater." And a localised hurricane painted the Watch-House pastel (as well as fixing a window and doing some other odd jobs around the place).

{{quote|'''Vetinari:''' ...Oh, no. [[OOC Is Serious Business|He didn't hit the wall]]. I may have gone too far.}}

* [[Only a Flesh Wound]]: Lord Vetinari attempts to [[Invoked Trope|invoke]] this trope when he is shot in the leg. He [[Subverted Trope|fails]]. (Evidence that the gonne really was a [[Game Breaker]], as Vetinari was ''never'' wounded or incapacitated before.)

The leg collapsed under him. }}

* [[Painting the Fourth Wall]]: Edward D'eath can think in ''italics''. Such people need watching.