Limited Advancement Opportunities: Difference between revisions

* The [[Discworld]] books covering the Ankh-Morpork City Watch are largely an exception. Several characters get promoted throughout the series, but they often don't want to, and it doesn't change their jobs all that much:

** Constable Carrot (who was a Lance-Constable while in training, but that's a temporary rank anyway) is promoted directly to Corporal, skipping Lance-Corporal, and then Captain, skipping Sergeant. In a practical sense, he's probably third in command of the city, behind the Patrician and Vimes, and that's by choice; the worst-kept secret in Ankh-Morpork is that Carrot is the descendant of the kings of Ankh-Morpork, but he doesn't want to be king. Still, being an all-around good guy whom everyone knows and likes (because he knows and likes everyone) means he can wield a ''lot'' of influence.

** Even Cheery Littlebottom (despite disliking shouting at people) is made a Sergeant because she's good at thinking. Detritus the troll (despite, as he puts it, "them two short planks bein' as fick as Detritus") becomes one because he's good at shouting.

** The (reluctant) king (and he'd refuse the title) of this trope, however, has to be Vimes himself. When first encountered, he's a captain of the three-man Night Watch, who hide from criminals. The next time we see him he plans to retire after getting married. However, intrigued by the notion of a Watch that truly ''matters'', he accepts the rank of Commander—and, though he has to grit his teeth, the knighthood which goes with it. Later, after stopping a war (by arresting the armies involved) and demonstrating his willingness to do his duty no matter the consequences (by arresting the Patrician), he's made Duke of Ankh, rendering him the most powerful nobleman in the city (save Vetinari himself, though he isn't really a descendant of a noble family, as far as we know).