Night Watch (Discworld): Difference between revisions

A note, two of the links at the top of the page (characters, main) are for the Sergei Lukyanenko's ''[[Night Watch (novel)|Night Watch]]'', and the rest are shared.

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* [[A Nazi by Any Other Name]]: Captain Swing and the Cable Street Particulars

* [[A Storm Is Coming]]: And with it, Sam Vimes' finest moment.

* [[A Worldwide Punomenon]]: The book contains a sequence describing the ornamental armour Sam Vimes has to wear, and how it makes him feel like a class traitor. The pune-chline: {{spoiler|"It was gilt by association."}}

** And when the newold Patrician is appointed, a bilingual pun.

* [[All the Myriad Ways]]: Lu-Tze and Vimes discuss the concept of many universes (which Vimes already knows about from ''[[Discworld/Jingo|Jingo]]''), but Lu-Tze comforts him by telling them that, in all the great bounds of possibility, ''there is no universe'' in which Sam Vimes ''as he is now'' killed his wife, meaning that people's choices really do matter.

** This is a reference to a reality in which young Sam Vimes is given guidance by Carcer, if old Sam fails. Hence the ''as he is now'' instead of just there is no universe. That Sam recognizes this on some level is alluded to in other parts of the novel.

{{quote|"He's not an enemy; he's a nemesis."}}

** Which takes on a whole new (hilarious) meaning if you remember Brick Top's speech from ''[[Snatch]]'': "Do you know what 'nemesis' means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an 'orrible cunt..." In this universe, Vimes.

** Only people who where there can wear the lilac.

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Lady Meserole was clearly as power-hungry a schemer as anyone else, whose nephew suggested that she let him kill Keel for expediency (though she only gave him empty threats), when she sees {{spoiler|Snapcase turn around and order his death despite the amnesty}} she's so disgusted she {{spoiler|orders Vetinari to protect Keel, and he happily obliges}}.

** The [http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/night-watch.html Annotated Pratchett File] described the difference between Javert and Vimes in an interesting way: both are obsessed with justice, but while Javert defines justice as the punishment of the guilty, Vimes defines it as the protection of the innocent.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: Emphasizing the fact that she is Vetinari's prototypical [[Distaff Counterpart]], Madam's façade only cracks around her cat.

* [[Posthumous Character]]: Keel. Vimes makes his moves and decision with Keel's previous acts in mind, and we get a pretty good sense of who he was.

* [[Powder Keg Crowd]]: People are already rioting against Watch houses elsewhere in the city. Vimes gives orders to prevent anything like that happening in his precinct. See [[To Win Without Fighting]] below.

{{quote|"But here's some advice, boy. Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions."}}

* [[Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory]]: Intentionally invoked and discussed.

* [[Save the Villain]]: Vimes sets fire to the Particulars' HQ, *then* remembers that he left one of their thugs strapped into a prisoner's chair inside. He runs back in, deciding that he'll only undo one of the straps before legging it, as it'll be more of a chance than any of their victims got. {{spoiler|He runs into Swing, who's already killed him.}}

* [[Secret Police]]: The Unmentionables. A rather unfortunate nickname (probably a play on [[The Untouchables]]) [[Parody Names|since it's British slang for underwear]], but it does manage to evoke "[[He Who Must Not Be Named|They Who Must Not Be Named]]" at the same time.