The Fifth Elephant/Heartwarming

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Gaspode tries to stand up to a wolf pack to defend a sleeping Carrot.
    • And what happens next:

Gaspode:Oh well, here goes. He stood in front of the unconscious Carrot and barked at the wolves Mine, Mine!
A paw came out and pinned him to the ground.
Mine. snarled Angua.

  • Gaspode tries to help Gavin out during the wolf's last fight. And what happens afterwards.
  • Very subtle example: when Gaspode tells Carrot that hunters in the next town have caught a wolf, and Carrot (who's been searching for Angua) says: "Killed it?". Seems innocuous enough ... until you realize that it's the only time Carrot has ever raised his voice out of sheer, unbridled emotion, not just to make sure someone can hear him. If Angua'd heard that, she'd have no more doubts about how he feels.
  • Vimes and Sybil, time and time again.
    • For this troper, she had doubts about Vimes' real feelings, especially when all she read was Thud (where his love of his son was the focus, not the wife), Guards Guards and Men at Arms, all where Vimes is rather distant towards Sybil. Then there's this book where he's still distant but obviously very, very in love. Just in his own grumpy way.
  • The scene where Vetinari is talking to Leonard about Lady Margolotta. It's not very long and quite oblique in some places, but then again this is Vetinari we're talking about here. It shows that Vetinari does have a heart after all.
  • The scene in the embassy when Sam and Sybil are trying to sleep, and keep getting woken by Igor removing the animals, with them guessing the animal before going back to sleep. I found it very heartwarming when they both woke up, guessed "swordfish" at the same time, and then both went back to sleep. They're just so perfect for each other.
  • Igor gets one towards the end of the book. After he's attacked by Wolfgang and near death Igor tells Vimes which parts of his body are still in good shape so that the other Igors can use them to help people, specifically mentioning an old woman who could use his hip. He dies once Vimes assures him he'll pass the message on. The Igors may squick some readers out but they're some of the most compassionate people on the Disc.