History Literature / Thud

* NoodleIncident: Non-comedic example in the Battle of Koom Valley. All they know is that dwarves fought trolls and vice-versa. The climax finally sheds some light on it.

* BewareTheBoringOnes[=/=]BewareTheNiceOnes: [[spoiler:A.E. Pessimal, the prissy milquetoast bureaucrat investigating the watch, turns out to be an insanely brave badass who attacks a troll barehanded that was about to kill Vimes and manages to distract it for long enough for Detritus to intervene. It's so unexpected that even Vetinari is flummoxed by the very idea.]]

* IJustWantToBeBadass: A.E. Pessimal

* IncorruptiblePurePureness

* IronicNurseryTune
* ItsNotPornItsArt: Spoofed in both directions: Colon reasons that a picture's in a museum and has an urn, a plinth, or a cherub somewhere in it, it must be art; Nobby rationalizes Tawneee's job as "artistic."

* UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar

* TheMenFirst

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: A.E. Pessimal.

** The unsanitary game of "Poosticks" (referenced in a footnote) seems to be a shout out to "Poohsticks" from Franchise/WinnieThePooh

** Hiker and guide writer Eric Wheelbrace (who was also mentioned in ''The Discworld Mapp'') is a pretty obvious nod to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Wainwright Alfred Wainwright]].[[labelnote:*]] A wainwright builds wagons; a wheelbrace is a tool they would use.[[/labelnote]] However, they differ fundamentally in personality; whereas Wainwright -- for all the ire his books would draw from farmers for suggesting routes that wandered off the official rights of way -- was noted for his humble and kindly nature, Eric represents the rather nastier and more aggressive archetype of British fell-walkers -- those who believe their "Right to Roam" (wherever they like) supercedes all else, such as other people's right to keep trespassers off their land.

* StolenMacGuffinReveal

* UpperClassTwit: Averted with museum curator Sir Reynold Stitched who, despite having an accent ''so'' posh that Nobby and Colon can barely understand him and being flabbergasted at their (lack of) knowledge of art, is never demeaning to either of them. He is also shown to not be at all stupid, as when Fred highlights the major clues about how the painting was stolen (that took him a long time to put together even after being told what to look for,) Sir Reynold pre-empts Fred's explanation and immediately works out what must have happened.

* AllTrollsAreDifferent: Trolls in Literature/{{Discworld}} are made out of metamorphorical rock (a portmanteau of the words metaphor and metamorphic). Once in a while a special [[spoiler:diamond]] troll will turn up; these trolls tend to be the [[spoiler:kings and leaders]] of the troll race. [[spoiler:This is because diamond trolls are capable of regulating their internal body temperature; troll brains, being silicon-based, work better and faster the colder they get (as long as they don't actually freeze to death), and diamond is a very good thermal conductor, so diamond trolls are naturally the smartest trolls around]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: [[spoiler:A.E. Pessimal, the prissy milquetoast bureaucrat investigating the watch turns out to be an insanely brave badass who attacks a troll barehanded that was about to kill Vimes and manages to distract it for long enough for Detritus to intervene.]]

* CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen: According to one legend, Tak (the Dwarf creator deity) made the First Man and the First Dwarf from a rock. Afterward, the rock was trying to come life by itself, leading to the creation of the First Troll. Depending on which version you hear he either never noticed or happily adopted it.

** The contrast between Hamcrusher and Bashfulsson and those who follow them, with radical preachers trying to take over parallel communities of immigrants, trying to turn them against the culture of their adopted home by invoking fundamentalist ideas and traditions, as well as those groups' insistence that their internal problems are to be handled internally and according to their tradition not general law, is something that is strongly analogous to the struggle between traditionalist/fundamentalist and moderate streams visible in many different religious (and nonreligious) communities, particularly among immigrant populations.

* DyingCurse: A group of Dwarven miners are betrayed and killed by their masters. One takes a while to die, and uses the opportunity to write down the symbol of the Summoning Dark, a demonic embodiment of vengeance.

* EvilIsBigger: Alluded to after Vimes recovers from going full-on berseker. Even though dwarfs are perfectly able to defend themselves, part of the human brain instinctively objects to fighting someone [[WouldntHurtAChild the size of a child.]]

* GoneHorriblyRight: Vimes has Mr. A.E. Pessimal put in the Specials unit just as they're assigned to break up a riot before it starts mainly to mess with him. [[spoiler:It turns out this is A.E.'s lifelong dream.]]

* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler:Ardent kills a group of miners who happened to be nearby when the Device was found. They didn't even know what it said - they were just a bunch of dwarfs who wanted to feel like ''proper'' dwarfs for a day or two, and got murdered for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.]]

* IKnowKarate: [[spoiler:Bashfulsson dispatches Ardent with some sort of dwarf martial art:]]

* NayTheist: Bashfulsson doesn't "believe" in the Summoning Dark, he just knows that it exists - and is extremely dangerous.

** In a moment of frustration brought on by Vimes questioning the motives of Mr. Shine, Detritus accuses Vimes of this, pointing out thet he's bending over backwards to accommodate the dwarf traditionalists and community (though mainly because the alternative is snapping spectacularly) but not giving the troll community any of the same benefit of the doubt. Vimes can only shakily apologize, although this is due to being taken aback by ''[[GentleGiant Detritus]]'' of all people yelling at him.

* InnocentSwearing: Sam Vimes reads his son his own version of ''Literature/WheresMyCow'' with the {{Catch Phrase}}s of prominent Ankh-Morporkians instead of animal noises, including Foul Ole Ron's "Bugrit! Millenium hand and shrimp!" The next day Young Sam says "Buglit!" to his nanny, and from then on Vimes sticks to the authorised version.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: A troll thug working for the troll Mafia (specifically, Chrysoprase) gives an implied threat to Vimes' family in the middle of the Watchhouse, and is sent back being carried by his comrades. When Vimes speaks to Chrysoprase later, [[spoiler:it’s heavily implied he executed the thug for doing so, and offers his remains to Vimes as a rockery]]. Given later events, this also falls under PragmaticVillainy, as threatening Vimes' family is the worst of all possible ideas and Chrysoprase wants to make clear he does not condone it.

** Hiker and guide writer Eric Wheelbrace (who was also mentioned in ''The Discworld Mapp'') is a pretty obvious nod to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Wainwright Alfred Wainwright]].[[labelnote:*]] A wainwright builds wagons; a wheelbrace is a part they would use.[[/labelnote]] However, they differ fundamentally in personality; whereas Wainwright -- for all the ire his books would draw from farmers for suggesting routes that wandered off the official rights of way -- was noted for his humble and kindly nature, Eric represents the rather nastier and more aggressive archetype of British fell-walkers -- those who believe their "Right to Roam" (wherever they like) supercedes all else, such as other people's right to keep trespassers off their land.

* DrumsOfWar: As the anniversary of the Battle of Koom Valley approaches and tensions grow between the dwarves and the trolls, mention is made of troll war drums called gahanka. Traditionally it is made of cured Dwarf-skin for preference, stretched over a frame. Human skin will do, if Dwarf is in short supply; although today's trolls assure humans they don't do dat sort of ting no more and use animal leather.

* RevealingCoverup: The dark dwarfs attack to cover up [[spoiler:the truth of Koom Valley]], but by trying to do so they lead Vimes right to it.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: A troll thug working for the troll Mafia (specifically, Chrysoprase) gives an implied threat to Vimes' family in the middle of the Watchhouse, and is sent back being carried by his comrades. When Vimes speaks to Chrysoprase later, [[spoiler:it’s heavily implied he executed the thug for doing so, and offers his remains to Vimes as a rockery.]]

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.