There, still wearing his hugely oversized coat but now with the addition of a helmet much too large for him, was Nobby Nobbs. “How did you get there, Nobby?” “My mum says I’m insidious,” said Nobby, grinning. A concertina sleeve rose to the vicinity of Nobby’s head, and Vimes realized that somewhere in there was a salute. “She’s right,” said Vimes. “So, where—” “’M an acting constable now, Sarge,” said Nobby. “Mr. Colon said so. Gave me a spare helmet. ’M carvin’ meself a badge out of, of—what’s that, like, waxy, kind of like candles but you can’t eat it?” “Soap, Nobby. Remember the word.”
“The plain old Sam Vimes had fought back. He got rid of most of the plumes and the stupid tights, and ended up with a dress uniform that at least looked as though its owner was male. But the helmet had gold decoration, and the bespoke armorers had made a new, gleaming breastplate with useless gold ornamentation on it. Sam Vimes felt like a class traitor every time he wore it. He hated being thought of as one of those people that wore stupid ornamental armor. It was gilt by association.”
oh! Also I should take this opportunity to air my crack theory about Night Watch, to wit: Ned Coates is a time-traveling grown-up Young Sam.
My evidence:
Ned is the only other Watchman who is new to the squad, and new to Ankh-Morpork.
He is supposedly the only person who knew the real John Keel, but he never calls Sam out for it. If there ever was a real Ned Coates, and he really knew John Keel, we only have Ned’s word for it.
When he and Sam spar, he fights just as dirty as Sam does, and claims John Keel taught him the tricks Sam uses himself.
He’s protective of Vimesy, moreso than other Watchmen though he’s known them all for the same length of time.
He is clearly up to SOMETHING; Sam thinks he’s one of the real revolutionaries plotting to overthrow Winder, but none of the other revolutionaries interact with him or seem to know him that I can recall.
When Sam admits he’s a time traveler, he’s unfazed; his question “From how far back?” would make perfect sense as “from how far back in my timeline, where you are my dad?”
He supposedly dies in the last fight, but Sam doesn’t see it, and Sam supposedly died in that fight too.
Lu-Tze is 100% good enough to have two time-travelers operating at the same time without breaking the timeline; he does, however, worry about the unusual strain he’s creating.
So, let’s say an adult Young Sam has a time-travel accident. Possibly after some sort of major falling-out with his dad, one that’s got him still pissed off at him. And now he’s stuck in a vastly more shitty version of the city he grew up in, and the versions of his dad he has met so far are a) a dumb kid and b) kind of a dick. He is not having a great time. He really, really wants to go home, but first he has a revolution to see through.
Just consider the fact that Vetinari wears the lilac for a second.
It’s one hell of a political statement, coming from a man who is typically all about being very subtle and understated and keeping his cards close to his chest. Just consider how much of a— aha… ballsy move that is.
He’s openly stating with each passing year that he believed in the Glorious Revolution, that he believed that Lord Winder should have been assassinated, that he believed that police brutality on that scale needs to be stamped out once and for all.
That he believed, and still believes, that unfit rulers should be overthrown.
He meets with aristocrats and the “perennial waverers” as they are termed in the book with a lilac bloom pinned to his robe. He wears a symbol of the hopes and dreams of his youth, every year.
It almost reads as a throwaway statement at the end of an incredibly emotional book, but it’s far from it. There’s so much meaning in the fact that Vetinari wears the lilac and visits the little graveyard each year under the cover of darkness. Is it any wonder that he wound down a corrupt City Watch, and is so vehemently against the prospect of war and loss of life?
I love the dynamic in the Discworld fandom on this site, I think it’s mainly because there are a lot of dormant fans, if you will, who’ve read and loved the books for years but haven’t engaged much recently, who sort of reappear whenever a fun post is doing the rounds. It’s fantastic. We get the cozy small fandom vibe without the screaming matches, but also get the popular posts from time to time, y'know?
YEP. In fact for some people it’s Emotions Day right now.
To everyone tagging and commenting with some variation of “Oh, I almost forgot that it’s tomorrow!”
“Damn! Damn! Damn! Every year he forgot. Well, no. He never forgot. He just put the memories away like old silverware that you didn’t want to tarnish. And every year they came back, sharp and sparkling, and stabbed him in the heart. And today, of all days…”
night watch nightly where you get the events set around and during the glorious 25th of may emailed to you over three days and then the opening and closing parts of the book forty years later
Sights of Ankh-Morpork: the old Watch House at Treacle Mine Road.
“It could all be put back, commander. In memory of John Keel, a man who in a few short days changed the lives of many and, perhaps, saved some sanity in a mad world. Why, in a few months you could light the lamp over the door…”
