In the twenty-first part of Thud!<\/i>, Vimes is guided to the truth. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n
AHHHHHH, so I was<\/i> right about the Summoning Dark, which means I was initially wrong about that particular passage in part nineteen; while it may not have been obvious at the time, it is now incredibly<\/i> clear what Pratchett intended with all this. As I said on video, I imagine a re-read of this would be a trip. The Summoning Dark\u00e2\u20ac\u201dan entity of pure vengeance, mind you\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwas drawn to Vimes after his home was attacked. It explains his feelings towards the dwarfs by showing us how vengeance can be all-encompassing at times, so much so that Vimes didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even realize what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been thinking.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, as Vimes awakes at the bottom of his fall, he discovers he was somehow led to a drier spot of land, and I believe that this section confirms that somehow, the Summoning Dark did this. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s who guided Vimes, right? Which fascinates me! I had previously seen the Summoning Dark as an antagonistic force that was meant to be terrifying. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like it hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been portrayed that way; the mystery surrounding it hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly included imagery that makes me feel all cuddly and warm. But what happens here gives me a different sense of this character. It is<\/i> a force that can lead to terrifying things, of course, and Vimes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s break with reality\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhich includes his attack on the deep-downers\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis still really frightening. Pratchett balances the absurdity of it all with the very real threat, too. I mean, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard not to want to laugh when Vimes is yelling about trying to find his cow and swinging around an axe, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something so primal and ferocious about it, too. Vimes is separated from his son, and he is missing his six o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122clock reading appointment, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be damned<\/i> if anyone makes him miss. Indeed, he was so perfectly vulnerable for the Summoning Dark, but the entity, while it still possessed him in a way, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t destroy him. Why the restraint in the end when Vimes is so unrestrained<\/i> here?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot going on here, of course, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not all just to do with Vimes and his child. I feel like the Summoning Dark wanted<\/i> Vimes to find that cavern full of dwarfs. Why? To learn the truth behind the deep-downers? Or was it just to get Vimes in a place where he could act out the vengeance he desperately craved in his own deep-down place? Maybe a little of both, probably mostly the latter. The Summoning Dark certainly gave us one of the most intense scenes in the whole book, but there had to be a little truth to Vimes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s desire for revenge for it to be able to do what it did. And so, with that in mind, Vimes becomes obsessed with reading to Young Sam, obsessed with finding his cow, and obsessed with cutting down anyone<\/i> who is in his way. And yet… Vimes stops. The Summoning Dark leaves. Why? Because someone has<\/i> to watch the Watchmen:<\/p>\n “They would have killed his family!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The darkness lunged, and met resistance. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Think of the deaths they have caused! Who are you to stop me?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/i><\/p>\n “He created me. <\/i>Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who watches the watchmen? Me. I watch him. Always. You will not force him to murder for you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/i><\/p>\n “What kind of human creates his own policeman?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/i><\/p>\n “One who fears the dark.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a new thing that Vimes has a darkness within him; if I recall correctly, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a part of his character since the beginning. And perhaps Pratchett is suggesting that there is a darkness in all of us, though how it manifests is different for each person. But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another specificity here: Vimes has a darkness inside, and he is also<\/i> a Watchman. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what that last line means to me. If Vimes is going to continue in this line of work, he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> let that darkness out. He needs someone to watch him, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what the Guarding Dark is. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a mystical force, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also real<\/i>, and the Summoning Dark leaves Vimes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s body, and then his procession of wrath is over…<\/p>\n AND THEN I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING AGAIN. Okay, so… the deep-downers were destroying bodies<\/i>? The preserved bodies of dwarfs and trolls, and some were sitting back-to-back, meaning… they died that way? Were assembled that way? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get it! Why would the deep-downers be offended by their ancestors to the point of desecrating their corpses???<\/p>\n THAT CUBE HAS THE ANSWER. Please tell me one of these dwarfs still has it, because I need to know what Hamcrusher heard that was so viciously terrible. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so close!!! SO CLOSE!!!<\/p>\n https:\/\/youtu.be\/1UrC8FpNxk4<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now up for pre-order!<\/a> It comes out on May 7, 2019.\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":" In the twenty-first part of Thud!, Vimes is guided to the truth. Intrigued? 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