“But Gaskin went and forgot, he ran on, went around the corner and, well, this bloke had a couple of mates waiting.”
Guards! Guards! Page 207
Guards! Guards! begins with the funeral of the Watchman Gaskin, demoralizing what’s left of the watch. Later Colon tells us how Gaskin died. He made the fatal watchman mistake of running too fast when chasing someone.
There’s not much to go on when drawing Gaskin. We can assume he’s as old as Colon and Vimes. This was confirmed in Night Watch. Night Watch also gives the detail that he’s called “Leggy” Gaskin. because of this, I tried to make him tall and lanky.
Because it’s the Glorious 25th, I am of course thinking of Sam Vimes today.
And the thing about Vimes as a hero is that he’s so extreme in personality, but also so deeply relatable.
Carrot, for example, (and of course it’s not an accident that Carrot is there as comparison) is your typical fantasy hero. And he’s not relatable at all. He’s Good in a way that most people will never be, can never be. There’s something God-touched about his goodness. And his goodness isn’t…super effective. I mean, it is a little. But no, who is it that really creates and continues the sweeping change of Discworld, over and over again? It’s Sam Vimes.
Sam Vimes, who spent most of his life drunk and in a gutter. Who burnt out from his unfair job, unjust world, and unappreciated caring and gave up. For YEARS AND YEARS he gave up.
Until he finally met a situation that was so intense it forced him to care again.
And lord, that is so COMFORTING. That you can fuck up your whole life for a couple decades and then still answer the call when it comes. Save the day and push for changes. Be the sand in the gears of industry, fight impossible odds and win over and over, while complaining about having to do it the whole time.
Vimes as we mostly know him is a character our world desperately needed. Someone who keeps pushing and pushing against overwhelming injustice, even when it seems like the powers that be are stacked so high against you.
But also how much more powerful to say “this character was once a total waste of space.” He was ground down by daily life and constant injustice. But he didn’t stay that way forever.
And god if that’s not inspirational as fuck.
I mean, you could, in some ways, say the same of Moist Von Lipwig.
Or William de Worde. Or Brutha, for that matter. Or Windle Poons. Or–
This is an archetype that Terry loved. Bless him, because we can always use the reminder: be ye never so small, so petty, so insignificant, there still exists a set of circumstances in which you may find yourself presented with an opportunity to do a hard thing. To reach out beyond your comfortable, ground down, stunted mediocrity and build something new. You may find an opportunity to arrest a dragon, or write a letter with a broader audience, or to escort a tortoise, or to sort out why a public servant isn’t doing their job. You may find yourself, unexpectedly, presented with a problem that no one else seems to be doing much about.
And if you choose to try, if you choose to earnestly use your voice and your talents–be they never so humble and small to you–to serve a greater purpose, the ripples of each choice you make can resonate so widely through the world that they shiver through the souls of generations and generations to come. If you try to sort out a hole in the world, as best you can, that is like a butterfly gently wafting its wings in the direction of a greater world.
No matter how small you are at the first step you make. No matter how tired and ground down you are or how many gentle calls you’ve missed to be bigger. You can always listen to the next chance.
And you can always, in doing so, start to tug the world into alignment.
Book Review-Guards! Guards!/Terry Pratchett (Discworld #8, City Watch #1)
[image id: two covers of the book Guards! Guards!. one shows a dragon standing with white fire blasting from its mouth and steam coming out of its nostrils. the spine is shown with open books on it that look a bit as if they’re flying. the second cover shows a rock-like dragon in the air, blasting fire. a bunch of terrified people are cringing away from the fire. one of the people is holding a sword and another has a bow and arrow knocked.]
Review:
I really enjoy the characters in this-especially Vimes, Lady Sybil and Vetinari. I think that they’re enjoyable characters who are fun to watch alone but are great to watch interact with each other.
I liked the beginning with the Secret Society and the beginning of the mystery with the dragon first appearing.
I did not like the long stretch of the middle to the final battle. I was bored and it felt so long that by the time we got to the final battle I couldn’t believe it. It felt like there should be something bigger for everything I had just trudged through.
The last few pages were good again.
I think the characters are worth the middle but I don’t think the middle is worth the book.
One of my favourite things in Guards! Guards! is imagining Vetinari booking it from room to room in the palace in order to appear wherever Wonse goes to escape him. Just going full tilt down hidden passageways only to skid to a halt, quickly smooth himself down, take a deep breath and slip into each new room.
“The immortal remains of Brother Watchtower watched the dragon flap away into the fog, and then looked down at the congealing puddle of stone, metal and miscellaneous trace elements that was all that remained of the secret headquarters. And of its occupants, he realized in the dispassionate way that is part of being dead. You go through your whole life and end up a smear swirling around like cream in a coffee cup. Whatever the gods’ games were, they played them in a damn mysterious way. He looked up at the hooded figure beside him. “We never intended this,” he said weakly. “Honestly. No offense. We just wanted what was due to us.” A skeletal hand patted him on the shoulder, not unkindly. And Death said, CONGRATULATIONS”
“Monsters are getting more uppity, too,” said another. “I heard where this guy, he killed this monster in this lake, no problem, stuck its arm up over the door-”
“Pour encourjay lays ortras,” said one of the listeners.
“Right, and you know what? Its mum come and complained. Its actual mum come right down to the hall next day and complained. Actually complained. That’s the respect you get.”
“At times like this it’s traditional that a hero comes forth,” said the president of the Guild of Assassins. “A dragon slayer. Where is he, that’s what I want to know? Why aren’t our schools turning out young people with the kind of skills society needs.”
“You’d have thought, with that pale, equine face, that he’d incline towards stuff with whips, needles, and young women in dungeons. The other lords could have accepted that. Nothing wrong with whips and needles, in moderation. But the Patrician apparently spent his evenings studying reports and, on special occasions, if he could stand the excitement, playing chess.”
Sam Vimes, Carrot Ironfoundersson, Fred Colon and Nobby Nobbs
I finally scanned my Discworld Inktober drawings from last year, because I’m getting them printed into a zine! Here’s the first four, because of course I started with the four original Night Watch members from Guards! Guards! Fun fact: for some reason, Colon got the most likes out of any of these drawings when I posted them on Instagram. I guess The Algorithm™ really likes old Fred for some reason.
