History Literature / WitchesAbroad

-->"Well, I suppose there's no place like home," she said.

* AnimalMotif: Granny Weatherwax compares Magrat to a wet hen. Later on in the book, she's given a comparison to a small furry creature (who's life, presumably, is destined to end in a damp crunch). This gets repeated later on, during the final confrontation with the snake-like Sisters, where it turns out in Magrat's case that small furry creature is actually a mongoose.

** This isn't the first time Death has received a compliment on the quality of his "mask". In ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'' his was at a (different) party when he is summoned by the wizards, and comments that it's going to go downhill at midnight, because:

* HustlingTheMark: Nanny Ogg loses her broomstick playing Cripple Mr. Onion with some young men on a riverboat, so Granny Weatherwax puts on her best "dottering old grandma" act and wins it back with some strategic Headology. Only using magic to disable their cheating aids.

* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: After the witches get drunk on absinthe and get involved "the Thing With the Bulls", up to and including Magrat snatching the rose from the lead bull, "No one ever talked about the Thing With the Bulls ever, ever again. At least, not in front of the men."

* MundaneSolution: When faced with a problem she isn't physically strong enough to handle, Nanny just asks Cassanunda for help. She reflects to herself that neither of the other witches would have even considered it (Granny is too proud, Magrat is too much of a StrawFeminist).

"Well, I suppose there's no place like home," she said.

** In the scene with the vampire, while he's given his final blow by Greebo, he's first stunned by Magrat opening the shutters. Magrat's last name happens to be ''Garlick'', a [[SpellMyNameWithAnS very slight variation]] on something known for being a weakness of vampires. Could be a coincidence, but then again, this ''is'' Discworld we're talking about.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: 'Begging from house to house .. Not coming directly here by any manner o' means'

* SelfProclaimedLiar: Casanunda claims to be a world-famous liar. When Nanny asks whether that's true, he repsonds: "No."

** Part of the book's theme is the idea that fairytale stories repeat themselves, wear a groove in the world and then subvert reality so that, for example, "it is now actually ''impossible'' for [[YoungestChildWins the third and youngest son of a king to set out on a quest that has claimed his two older brothers, and not succeed]]." Lily's power comes from manipulating the stories to her own ends. [[spoiler: Even when, as in the case of the stories she's using for her main plot, she's actually got at least one of them ''backwards''.]]

* VillainsWantMercy: {{Discussed}} When Lilith imprisons the witches instead of killing them outright, Nanny Ogg musses on this and Magrat reply'

* AbusiveParents: Granny Weatherwax mentions that her father used a stick "a fair bit" on at least one of his daughters - though it's also indicated that [[ValuesDissonance this wouldn't have been seen as out of place, by itself.]]

* DevourTheDragon: Lily eventually feels that she needs her magic for more important things than [[spoiler: keeping the Duc human]].

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The dwarfs the coven encounter are more upset that they'll lose out on a seam of gold and don't give a figgin about the miners trapped in there with it. In ''Literature/{{Thud}},'' leaving another dwarf to die in a cave-in is a MoralEventHorizon worthy of getting a demon set on the perpetrator.

* EyesNeverLie: On the Discworld your true nature shows through your eyes, and not even magic can change that. Hence why the Duc wears sunglasses: [[spoiler: to hide the fact that he has the eyes of a frog]].

* FairyGodmother: Played with in several ways.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Genua is New Orleans + Disneyworld with a slight dusting of 18th century Revolutionary France, but en route they also pass through areas based on Spain (the Running of the Bulls, or the Thing With the Bulls here) and the Hammer Horror version of Transylvania - what would later be named as {{Uberwald}}. According to Terry Pratchett:

* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Taken to its most extreme. Granny is a good witch who greatly appreciates free will. Lily is a bad witch who believes she should make everybody follow stories. [[spoiler: Of course only Death could solve this war]].

* HallOfMirrors: Played with.

* HappyEnding: Subverted, with Lily murdering and ruining people's lives to get to what the stories demand. Then played straight, releasing the city from her grip lets everyone relax and ''party.''

* SunglassesAtNight: The Duc, because on the Discworld one's true nature always shows through one's eyes, and he has [[spoiler:the eyes of a frog]].

%%* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Taken to its most extreme.

* {{Gainaxing}}: In a definite FanDisservice sort of way. There is a detailed (and hilarious) description of how Nanny can clear a considerable space around her on the dance floor by swinging her bust around.

* DarkSkinnedBlond: Ella, though it's noted this isn't an unusual arrangement in Genua.

* UncannyValley: In-universe, with the Sisters, twin enforcers of Lily's terror on Emberella. They only look human, but act and move in a way that actually unnerves the living daylights out of Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. And that takes some doing.

* BallroomBlitz: The grand ball where Emberella was supposed to meet the Duc turns into a showdown beteween Lady Lilith and Baron Saturday.

* TheGirlWhoFitsThisSlipper: Parodied, of course. The shoe fits Nanny just as well.

* BalefulPolymorph:
** [[spoiler: Lily turning the footmen, who we spent a while getting to know and sympathize with, into beetles. And stepping on them.]]
** Later on, with a reluctant Nanny Ogg, the witches agree to do this with [[spoiler:Greebo, her one-eyed cat. Greebo handles it fairly well, since he retains his catlike instincts and ferocity. He can also get all the milk he likes from the kitchen.]]

* WickedToymaker: Inverted. The toymaker is by no means evil, but he does not [[HappinessIsMandatory whistle and sing as he works or tell children stories]], and that is a very serious crime indeed in Genua (think [=DisneyWorld=] as a dystopia turned UpToEleven).

* VillainsWantMercy: {{Discussed}} When lilith imprisons the witches instead of killing them outright, Nanny Ogg musses on this and Magrat reply'

* InsistentTerminology: Baron Saturday states he was killed twelve years ago, but Death, who is the leading authority on such matters, tells him he wasn't dead. He just stopped ''living''.

* InsistentTerminology: Baron Saturday states he was killed twelve years ago, but Death, who knows whereof he speaks on such matters, tells him he wasn't dead. He just stopped ''living''.