History Literature / Eric

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Eric's wishes are (1) to rule all the kingdoms of the world, (2) to meet the most beautiful woman ever, and (3) to live forever. He and Rincewind first visit the Tezumen Empire [[spoiler:who try to sacrifice him out of revenge for their absolutely abysmal living conditions]], then meet Eleanor of Tsort [[spoiler:about 20 years past her prime]], and finally get to live forever [[spoiler:starting from the Creation of the Discworld, meaning it will be quite a few millenia before any people show up]].

* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Astfgl's use of boredom as torture. Specifically, the sort of boredom that occurs when A: you could be having a good time, and B: Is costing you ''money''. Both demons and damned would rather go back to the old tortures.

* LiteralMetaphor: While climbing out from hell, Rincewind notices the stairs are made of stone letters spelling common well meaning justifications for actions with undesirable results. He figures out that the road to hell really is paved of good intentions.

* RageAgainstTheHeavens: The Tezumen believe Quetovercoatl created the world. They'd like to have a word with him about it.

->''Eric is the Discworld's only demonology hacker. Pity he's not very good at it. All he wants is three wishes granted. Nothing fancy - to be immortal, rule the world, have the most beautiful woman in the world fall madly in love with him, the usual stuff. But instead of a tractable demon, he calls up Rincewind, probably the most incompetent wizard in the universe, and the extremely intractable and hostile form of travel accessory known as the Luggage. With them on his side, Eric's in for a ride through space and time that is bound to make him wish (quite fervently) again - this time that he'd never been born.''

* BadassFingersnap: How Rincewind appears to grant wishes, to his own immense astonishment. [[spoiler: It's just Vassanego using ''his'' demon powers in synch with Rincewind's finger-snapping.]]

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Eric's wishes are (1) to rule all the kingdoms of the world, (2) to meet the most beautiful woman ever, and (3) to live forever. He and Rincewind first visit the Tezumen Empire [[spoiler: who try to sacrifice him out of revenge for their absolutely abysmal living conditions]], then meet Eleanor of Tsort [[spoiler: about 20 years past her prime]], and finally get to live forever [[spoiler: starting from the Creation of the Discworld, meaning it will be quite a few millenia before any people show up]].

* DeadAllAlong: Baffled by his apparent new-found demon powers, Rincewind speculates that he might have died in the Dungeon Dimensions and been sent to Hell as one. Considering how terrified, and how busy running, he'd been during his sojourn among the Things from the Dungeon Dimension, he supposes he might not have noticed the difference. [[spoiler: He's wrong, his "magic" finger-snaps are Vassenego's doing.]]

** They also consider [[spoiler: Vassengo's]] [[KickedUpstairs scheme to get rid of him]] a bit much, and are amazed that humans came up with something like that on their own without any "hints" from them.

* ExactWords: Rincewind's realization about the wishes goes like this: [[spoiler: to be ruler of the world means getting the ire of the people, to meet the world's most beautiful woman never mentioned her being in her prime (or single, for that matter), and to live forever means to start from the first day of creation.]]

* ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself: Inverted by Astfgl, who dresses in royal diabolic regalia of his own design ... which is, basically, a kid's cheap Halloween devil-costume, complete with silly hood-mounted hornlets and a trident that keeps falling apart.
* FountainOfYouth: What Ponce da Quirm is searching for. In a typically Pratchett subversion, he actually finds it - but [[spoiler:his soul in Hell muses that someone should've told him 'boil the water first']].

* GoodOldWays: While not necessarily ''good'' - it is Hell and they are demons - pretty much every single occupant of the place bar Astfgl prefer "how things used to be" to the new tortures their leader has thought up. After all, one of the main perks of being a demon is ''not'' being the one getting tortured, and Astfgl's new policies don't discriminate.

* InTheBlood: Lavaeolus is a CombatPragmatist who avoids trouble as much as he can, and ends up earning the ire of gods and being their plaything. [[spoiler: Qualities his descendant Rincewind takes on.]]
* KickedUpstairs: [[spoiler: Astfgl]]'s final fate. Subverted in that he's quite happy there, though it's also open to debate if he even realized this ''happened''.

* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Elenor of Tsort. Eric wishes to meet her, and [[spoiler: he does, but she's well past her prime, married, and the mother of several small children]].

* BigRedDevil: Lord Astfgl's form is described as looking like a stereotypical red-clad pantomime devil, complete with a cap with little horns on it and a pitchfork (whose point is liable to drop off). Ironically, he considers it more stylish than the [[StarfishAliens Starfish Alien]] forms of the other demons.

* DeadAllAlong: Baffled by his apparent new-found demon powers, Rincewind speculates that he might have died in the Dungeon Dimensions and been sent to Hell as one. Considering how terrified, and how busy running, he'd been during his sojourn among the Dungeon Things, he supposes he might not have noticed the difference. [[spoiler: He's wrong, his "magic" finger-snaps are Vassenego's doing.]]

* ExactWords: Rincewind’s wishes go like this: [[spoiler: to be ruler of the world means getting the ire of the people, to meet the most beautiful woman never mentioned her being in her prime, and to live forever means to start from the first day of creation.]]

%%* GoodOldWays

* KickedUpstairs: [[spoiler: Astfgl]]'s final fate. Subverted in that he's quite happy there.

* SelfInflictedHell: It turns out that this is the literal case on the disc. ''Only'' those who deep down believe they deserve hell end up in it, people who don't believe or know about it are safe. Which is why the narrator suggests shooting missionarys on sight.
** Another instance is the demons inflicting the newly designed tortures. Since they consist mostly in inflicting inhumane ammounts of boredom, and the demons have to be there to inflict them, it's just as bad for them as for the victims.

%%* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:Vassenego.]]

* SuccubiAndIncubi: {{Parodied|Trope}}. It is said that there was a lonely old demonologist who wanted to conjure up a succubus but only ever managed a Neuralgia, "A demon what comes and has a headache at you," as the talking parrot puts it.
* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: Absolutely every single character gets their happy ending, this includes the demon king that gets effectively dethroned and imprisoned and, most surprising of all, the souls in the eternal torture of hell.

* HornyDevils: Parodied. It is said that there was a lonely old demonologist who wanted to conjure up a succubus but only ever managed a Neuralgia, "A demon what comes and has a headache at you," as the talking parrot puts it.

* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:Vassenego.]]

* GoodOldWays

* RageAgainstTheHeavens: The Tezumen believe Quetovercoatl created the word. They'd like to have a word with him about it.