In the twelfth part of Night Watch<\/i>, Vimes tries to impart some important lessons and discovers a flaw. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld.<\/i><\/p>\n
So, this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly a new bit of commentary from me about this book, but I continue to be fascinated with the way Pratchett is building tension. At this point, he is both filling in the blanks for this supposed revolution\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhose breaking point occurs on a single day\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhile also hanging that said revolution over our heads. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a carrot on the stick, but only like 25% of that carrot is there. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m interested because I want to know what the carrot looks like and<\/i> because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hungry.<\/p>\n
If that makes any sense.<\/p>\n
See, we open this section with a vital update from Nobby, and Pratchett does this in a way to give us a sense for how far gone the remainder of Ankh-Morpork is. After the brief confrontation (and multiple assassination attempts) at Treacle Mine Road come to pass, and after Vimes tricks Ferret into a confession\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, what now<\/i>? How much waiting can they do? And lord, that waiting is PAINFUL. Seriously, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t blame these characters for spending the night at the watch house. Why would you go out into the streets of Ankh-Morpork unless you absolutely had<\/i> to? You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a pissed-off mob and a furious<\/i> bunch of men from Cable Street, all of whom could easily turn on you in a second.<\/p>\n
Given that Vimes is working in such a short timeline, then, I think he realized that he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t waste a single moment. What was something that Keel taught Vimes when he was younger? Well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that how to fight dirty was one of those things. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say it in the text, so maybe I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m misinterpreting this, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not out of the realm of possibility. Indeed, that is<\/i> the point of his presence here in one sense, but the other is that\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, I feel like Vimes is actively<\/i> trying to change history, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gonna actually work. The entire training sequence here feels less like he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trying to fulfill Keel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s original role in history and MORE like Vimes is just trying to prepare these people for what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to come. Which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t prepared for originally? And some of them actually died<\/i>?<\/p>\n
UGH I HAVEN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T FIGURED ALL OF THIS OUT, YET. I gotta say, though, that I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t imagine a more Sam Vimes thing to do than being sent back and time and then changing that history because you couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t bear to let it unfold again. And it felt very<\/i> Sam Vimes to watch him get a little bit of revenge on Ned Coates\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, up until we learned the truth. Coates just seemed like an asshole, one that would believably fit in with the Night Watch because most of those men were also<\/i> pretty awful. Plus, Coates had hinted that he thought Vimes was a spy, and I was prepared to just write him off as a character who had just gotten it all wrong, but GUESS WHAT.<\/p>\n
I GOT IT ALL WRONG.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not John Keel.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
All right, red flag, yes, I see you. But how<\/i>? And why was he being so bold<\/i> in all his attempts to attack Vimes???<\/p>\n
He relaxed his grip. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Who taught you all this stuff, anyway?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sergeant Keel, Sarge,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Ned.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Oh.<\/p>\n
OH<\/i>.<\/p>\n
OH WAIT. HE KNEW THE REAL KEEL. WHICH MEANS HE WOULD KNOW VIMES IS AN IMPOSTER.
\nAnd of course Pratchett doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t focus on this because Swing shows up EXACTLY after this is said!!! But I found myself fascinated with what did<\/i> happen. After Swing reveals that more soldiers are being sent in to Ankh-Morpork, Vimes knows they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re on the precipice of THE THING. And even knowing how bad Swing is, how violent the mob is, how horrible the Unmentionables are\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 every Watch man at Treacle Mine Road decides to side with Vimes to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153keep the peace.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\nExcept<\/i> Coates. And who can blame him? The odds are terrible AND he knows Vimes is a liar. Coates cannot fathom any other outcome\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 especially since he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s with the revolutionaries. He knows this is going to be bad<\/i>. Does he warn the Watch men? No. Does he try to get them to leave town? No. He blames Vimes for sticking them in the middle of a disaster, but does he do anything himself to stop it?<\/p>\n
Not a thing.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/youtu.be\/Pj2NRDGTZw4<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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