History Literature / NightWatchDiscworld

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Colon and Throat's argument with Leggy about Reg being in his cemetery, with talk of Reg being unable to help being what he is.

** Notable, though, is a subtle TitleDrop in the ''cover'', which is a restaging of the Rembrandt painting nicknamed [[http://www.thefastertimes.com/overlookedhistory/files/2009/09/rembrandt_night_watch.jpg "The Night Watch".]]

* LaResistance: But of course.

** Part of what does Winder in. Faced with Vetenari, dressed all in black, he asks who he is and who sent him (since Assassins are hired out, after all, and if asked who sent them must answer truthfully). Vetinari answers with "your future" and "the city" respectively, which are technically true.

* ImpersonationExclusiveCharacter: The reader knows of the impersionation from the start, but with Carcer Dun killing John Keel offscreen, most of what we know of him is based on how Vimes imitates him.

* LineInTheSand: Vimes makes one right before training his men for the barricade; later, history books will disagree about what happened but they all agreed about Sergeant Keel and the Line. Young Sam is the first to step over, which Vimes finds almost embarrassing.

* OneLiner

** Another: Vimes finally revealed that he wasn't really Sergeant Keel to Ned Coates. He admitted he traveled through time. This is after a huge melee. Coates looked over Vimes, blood and all, heavily-used [[DualWielding swords in his hands]], and once he was told Vimes was a time-traveller, he had just one thing to ask: [[spoiler:"From how far ''back''?"]]

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: In the time since Treacle Mine Road got burnt down, some dwarfs have moved into the cellar. Of course, enough money means less dwarf, and no-one can outbid Vetenari.

*** This was not lost on [[Series/DeadRingers Jon Culshaw]] when he narrated the 2023 audiobook, with Qu's voice being a very definite impression of Desmond Llywelyn's Q.

** Captain Findthee Swing also has a lot of correspondences with the deranged secret policeman Liutnant Verkramp in Creator/TomSharpe's ''Literature/IndecentExposure'' and ''Literature/RiotousAssembly''. Verkramp is also borderline insane with an obsession with how far racial impurity in White South Africans can be measured and quantified - a big deal in UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra - and also works for a controlling and pernicious secret police force which routinely tortures political suspects (BOSS).

* TermsOfEndangerment: The Agony Aunts tend to referring to people as "kind sir / lady" and "dearie". But the parrot-handled umbrella is always there...
* ThatCameOutWrong: When Corporal Colon returns with the ginger beer Vimes had ordered, he announces to the room: "Old Mrs Arbiter didn't like being knocked up in the middle of the night, I had to give her a dollar!". Vimes couldn't look at Dr Lawn's face after that line.

** Hardly counts, considering how integral the words "Night Watch" are to the story. However, in one scene Vimes is struggling with the violent side of his nature "that was the nature of the beast." Guess what one of the alternate titles which Terry and the publishers considered was.

* VillainsBlendInBetter: Carcer adapts to being sent back in time a lot faster than Vimes: although when Vimes catches up, he catches up rather spectacularly. It's reflected by Vimes that, in a time of chaos, those who remain firm and authoritative and full of conviction can rise to the top very quickly and dictate major events. Which is of course very similar to how "revolutions" can sometimes succeed despite what seem titanic odds. Justified when Carcer points out that while watchmen must be known to be watchmen to be able to do their jobs, it's actually quite beneficial to the criminal if no one knows they're a criminal.

** Swing's unusuallypaced... speech pattern

* ArcWords: "Just do the job in front of you." and its variations.

** Vimes' house and paranoia has made it practically impossible for Assassins-in-training to get to him, being littered with FakeOut [[DeathTrap Death Traps]].

* BreakTheCutie

* CallBack: Shortly after his arrival in the past, Vimes thinks of something Visit once quoted "[[Literature/SmallGods here and now, we are alive]]", which is used to introduce this book's arc words, "do the job in front of you."
* CallForward

** Mention is made once against of the neighbourhood Vimes grew up in, Cockbill Street, and how it had ''Standards'', as brought up in ''Feet of Clay''.

** Vimes is introduced dealing with an Assassin in a polite but very definite way, which demonstrates for a new reader his attitude and ability to rig defensive traps and generally be devious, a skill which he puts to great use during the Glorious Revolution.

* EvilCounterpart

** In a smaller example, Sergeant Knock and Corporal Quirke (later Captain "Mayonnaise" Quirke of the Day Watch) are explicitly called out as evil versions of Sergeant Colon and Corporal Nobbs. Like present-day Fred Colon, Knock is an older, incompetent, cowardly fat man but without any of Fred's redeeming qualities, and is corrupt to the core whereas Quirke is presented as an ''efficient'' version of Nobby without the amiable incompetence, as well as "bullying, brown-nosing, and a delight in small evils". They also have the same ranks as Colon and Nobby do in the present.

* FreezeFrameBonus: If you look hard at an establishing scene in ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'' where the History Monks are moving through a time-slowed tableau in a thunderstorm, you can see the Establishing Moment that kick-starts this novel. (the murder of a Dwarf officer by Carcer)

* HeroicBSOD

Should not be confused with the ''[[Literature/NightWatchSeries Night Watch]]'' series of books by Sergei Lukyanenko, or its film adaptation, or [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire the Night's Watch.]] The front cover art by Paul Kidby is an {{homage}} to Creator/{{Rembrandt|VanRijn}}'s famous 1642 painting The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq, also commonly referred to as ''Art/TheNightWatch'', a reproduction of which adorns the back cover in the Hardcover edition. This is the first cover by Kidby who took over the role of cover artist after the death of Josh Kirby.

*** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the most anticlimactic way the Discworld could muster. [[spoiler: Winder is so paranoid that when an assassin, (young Vetinari, again) walks up to him in a crowded room, in full plain sight, he has a heart attack before Havelock can even draw his blade. Vetinari realizes this, sheathes it, and merely ... ''pushes'' Winder over.]]

** A literal example when Vimes spots someone hiding in a doorway because their black clothing makes the shadows too dark. This is reflected later in the story, in young Vetinari's decisions on clothing .

** Vimes accidentally inspires [[HonestJohnsDealership Cut-Me-Own-Throat-Dibbler's]] CatchPhrase, establishing a StableTimeLoop.

-->'''Dibbler:''' It's called victory stew, Sergeant. Tuppence a bowl, or I'll cut my own throat, eh?
-->'''Vimes:''' Close enough.

--> "Thirty damn years of being hammered on the anvil of life, you poor bastard. You've got it all to come."

-->'''Lu-Tze:''' Did you understand what I just said?\\

* AssassinOutclassin:
** An assassin sent after "Keel" comes clattering down in front of a tense crowd, having been struck by an unidentified assailant (young Vetinari).
** Winder's paranoia means that after eleven years the Assassins Guild have had no luck getting to him, which he's naturally proud of.
** Vimes' house and paranoia has made it practically impossible for (potential would be) Assassins (in training) to get to him, being littered with FakeOut [[DeathTrap Death Traps]].
*** One of these is ultimately [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in the most anticlimactic way the Discworld could muster [[spoiler: Winder is so paranoid that when an assassin, (young Vetinari, again) walks up to him in a crowded room, in full plain sight, he has a heart attack before Havelock can even draw his blade. Vetinari realizes this, sheathes it, and merely ... ''pushes'' Winder over. Him being dead of a heart attack.[[/spoiler]]

* ToWinWithoutFighting: Inverted: Vimes wisely choosing not to fight is what defuses a mob situation without incident. To wit - all the Watch Houses have been put on high alert and told to expect rioters. All the other Watch Houses put up shutters and barricade the doors, and swiftly get put under siege and some get set on fire. Vimes orders his Watch House to light the lamp over the door, then sits outside waiting for the angry mob with a cigar and a mug of cocoa -- making a point when things get confrontational with a drunk hothead getting in his face and looking for an excuse to fight to hold them in ''both'' hands, so nobody can misremember him as having assaulted the man when he attempts to invoke GrievousBottleyHarm and [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome winds up with a fistful of broken glass instead]].

* ToWinWithoutFighting: Inverted: Vimes wisely choosing not to fight is what defuses a mob situation without incident. To wit - all the Watch Houses have been put on high alert and told to expect rioters. All the other Watch Houses put up shutters and barricade the doors, and swiftly get put under siege and some get set on fire. Vimes orders his Watch House to light the lamp over the door, then sits outside waiting for the angry mob with a cigar and a mug of cocoa.

* ProducePelting: Downey throws an apple at Vetinari, but Vetinari catches it on his fork. Without even looking up from his book.

* KilledOffscreen: John Keel never actually, ''actually'' appears in the book. The TimeyWimey aspect makes it unclear whether Vimes was always John Keel or that his memory is [[RippleProofMemory Ripple Proof]].

** Later on [[spoiler: Swing]] is killed off after having been presented a legit threat to Vimes' business in the past. Of course it was [[BigBad Carcer]] who done him in.

* FailedASpotCheck: Upon realizing that Vimes's barricade is actually containing the one peaceful bit of the city, a captain in the military pretends to fail a spot check to avoid being forced to dismantle it.

* AssShove: Vimes does this... to a couple of oxen. With ginger. The ensuing carnage alters the course of history.