Mark Reads ‘Men at Arms’: Part 9

In the ninth part of Men at Arms, Cuddy and Detritus get closer to the truth while Vimes is warned away from it. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Discworld. 

AHHHHH SO MANY THINGS ARE HAPPENING, IT’S SO EXCITING!

Cuddy and Detritus

It really is a treat to see how these characters all learn to actually be good at their jobs. They’ve each got innate traits that benefit the job, and they utilize them in ways that demonstrate what this job should ideally be like.

I’ll get to that more in Vimes’s section of this review, so let’s talk about how fucking adorable this part of the book is. After having spent days together, Cuddy and Detritus resolve to treat one another better, at least since they’ll have to spend more time in one another’s company. But Cuddy’s technique isn’t just about behaving differently; he teaches Detritus how to count. It’s important to note that he does so by accepting that Detritus currently counts in a way that’s simply different than how most other species do it. I respect that so much because it humanizes Detritus. (Which is a strange phrase to use because… well, he’s a troll.) Instead of making fun of Detritus for counting differently, Cuddy uses that to teach him a valuable new skill.

It’s incredible. I love how quickly it matters to the story, given that we see how well these two work with one another once they start chasing after Edward. (Who I now understand was running away from the Opera House!) There’s a confidence to them that we never saw before, and I think that is directly influenced by the fact that they’re both dropping their misconceptions of one another. They’re becoming actual partners. There’s that really awesome line where Cuddy imagines the kind of pride he’ll feel if he’s able to apprehend the suspect, and I believe that’s indicative of how even his perception of police work has changed because of Detritus. Would these two have been able to put together clues and follow a case if they’d not grown to trust one another?

I don’t think so. I wonder if we’ll ever see the “cooled” version of Detritus again, by the way. Is this the only chance he’ll get to use his brain to its full capacity? I imagine once he thaws out, he’ll go back to the way he was.

Vimes

I admit that I find much of Vimes’s rumination on the nature of police work to be fantastical, not because of Pratchett’s writing, but because I live in a country where most places have never had that kind of presence. Throughout this section, Vimes reflects on what it means to be part of the Night Watch. It’s spurned by the fact that his officers are DOING REAL POLICE WORK. They’re detectoring, they’re collecting clues, and they’re writing reports. (Cuddy’s is my favorite of the two. I kept imagining dramatic orchestral music rising behind it as I read it.) They are clearly on the “edge of something, some fundamental central thing…,” and I won’t deny that this is a huge reason why Vimes can’t let this case go. But I also think it’s important to note that through this, he starts feeling like he’s doing something he hasn’t had a chance to do very often, if at all. The Night Watch never gets cases that feel so vital, that make Vimes feel so alive.

So it was unsurprising to me that the Patrician would catch wind of what Vimes was doing. You can’t keep a secret from that man. But how could Vimes let go of this mystery now, of all times? As I vocalized on video, I was deeply frustrated by the Patrician’s reasoning for wanting Vimes off the case. He claims that the vast, complicated machine that is Ankh-Morpork might be thrown off balance by a “piece of grit” in the gears. If that’s the case, isn’t Edward that piece of grit? Isn’t his work capable of shutting down everything? Granted, the Patrician might genuinely not know what Edward D’Eath is planning, which… well, that would be shocking. The Patrician knows everything!

So why is he so certain that Vimes is the problem? I think it’s because he wants to rely on the guilds that he helped to set up. He believes the machine can fix itself, and that’s where he differs from Vimes. Vimes does not believe that this is a simple case of letting the system handle itself. No, the city is a massive beast, with many layers, many interests, and many citizens, all who have their own agendas and their own needs. I think that Vimes wants to believe what Carrot proposes: that a cop is really just a man for the city, the kind of ideal citizen that all others should use for inspiration. If that’s the case, then his actions are the perfect inspiration. He is most likely going to ignore the Vetenari because it’s wrong to let this murder go unsolved. I truly believe it would remain that way if Vimes were not determined to figure this all out.

(I am very aware how wrong I might be. I still have no idea how any of this fits together. IT’S A LOT OF FUN.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4xLwO_metg

Mark Links Stuff

– I am now on Patreon!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME.
– I will be at numerous conventions in 2016! Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates / Appearances page.
– My Master Schedule is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often. My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be seasons 1 & 2 of The 100, Death Note, and Neon Genesis Evangelion. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series will replace the Emelan books.
- Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook! I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!