History Literature / LordsAndLadies

* IRegretNothing: Granny tells Nanny Ogg that 'Whatever happens. I ain't never regretted anything. Never regretted one single thing.'

* IronicName: The Carters' daughters, as is traditional, are all named after virtues (Hope, Patience, Chastity), but then Mr and Mrs Carter got a bit confused and named all the sons after vices (Bestiality, Covetousness, Anger). None of the children live up to their names.

* AlienFairFolk: The elves are extra-dimensional beings, and include several aspects of UFO mythology, such as crop circles heralding their presence, and their un-glamoured appearance resembling the description of TheGreys.

* AlternateUniverse: Ridcully "mishears" 'parallel universe' as 'parasite universe' when Ponder tries to explain it. The narration then notes that there are indeed such things as parasite universes, and the elves' country is one of them: little scraps of reality lacking a past or a future, trying to latch onto real timelines and suck them dry. (Which also explains the elves' immortality and CreativeSterility).

** Granny Weatherwax [[CharacterizationMarchesOn potentially retcons]] previous comments about elves in SoulMusic and 'MovingPictures'', dismissing *those* as harmless (if weird) humans with elven ancestry.

* BadBadActing: InUniverse. While rehearing for the Entertainment, Tinker complains that while he and the other actors are ''supposed'' to come across as bad actors in the PlayWithinAPlay, they somehow manage to be bad at acting like people who are bad at acting.

* BookEnds: At the beginning, the Queen of the Elves appears in the Dancers and attempts to the tempt the young Esme Weatherwax with promises of power by dismissing her own studies (in particular speaking with trolls) as 'pebbles'. At the end, Ponder Stibbons studies the Dancers and quotes Isaac Newton about playing with pebbles while there is a vast ocean of truth waiting to be discovered--to which the Librarian retorts (via the narrative) that it is by studying the pebbles that you learn about the ocean.

* CallBack: Ridcully asks Granny about [[Literature/TheLightFantastic Archchancelor Weatherwax]]. Turns out he was a distant cousin she never met.

** [[spoiler: Granny Weatherwax doesn't even need to be pissed off to be immune to their MindRape. She just that badass. It's later revealed that this used to be the defining characteristic, and original purpose, of witches.]]

* CropCircles: A rash of these presages the elves' arrival. As usual for the series, they don't limit themselves to fields of grain, but [[IncrediblyLamePun crop up]] among cabbages, beans, cress grown on a flannel, a bowl of oatmeal, and even Archchancellor Ridcully's "crop" of hair.

* FantasyAliens TheFairFolk come from a parasite universe rather than outer space, but their physical descriptions are reminiscent of TheGreys.

* IJustWantToBeSpecial: The 'cool' new witches led by Lucy "Diamanda" Tockley'. Only Diamanda and Agnes have any actual power. The rest are just wannabes.

* {{Sleepwalking}}: The Bursar has gotten so used to Ridcully's shouts waking him up in the morning that he's begun sleep''dressing'' a few minutes before the daily cry of "''Bursar!!!''".

* UltimateBlacksmith: Jason Ogg, said to be part of the power of his office: as long as he is willing to shoe anything, he will have the ability to shoe anything. He's shoed an ''ant'', Death's horse, and [[spoiler:a unicorn]].