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Guards! Guards!
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Guards! Guards! is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the eighth in
the Discworld series, first published in 1989.[2] It is the first novel about the
Ankh-Morpork City Watch. The first Discworld point-and-click adventure game
borrowed heavily from the plot of Guards! Guards![3]
Guards! Guards!
Guards-Guards-cover.jpg
First edition
Author
Terry Pratchett
Cover artist
Josh Kirby
Language
English
Series

Discworld
8th novel – 1st City Watch story

Subject

Cop novels, Film Noir, show dog (dragon) breeding, nobility/monarchy, secret
societies, The Hobbit, particularly Smaug
Characters:
Samuel Vimes, Fred Colon, Nobby Nobbs, Carrot Ironfoundersson, Havelock
Vetinari, Sybil Ramkin
Locations:
Ankh-Morpork

Genre
Fantasy
Publisher
Gollancz
Publication date
1989
Awards
Came 69th in the Big Read[1]
ISBN
0-575-04606-6
Preceded by
Pyramids
Followed by
Eric
PlotEdit
Learn more
This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (October 2018)
The story follows a plot by a secret brotherhood, the Unique and Supreme Lodge of
the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night, to overthrow the Patrician of Ankh-
Morpork and install a puppet king, under the control of the Supreme Grand Master.
Using a stolen magic book, they summon a dragon to strike fear into the people of
Ankh-Morpork.

Once a suitable state of terror and panic has been created, the Supreme Grand
Master proposes to put forth an "heir" to the throne, who will slay the dragon and
rid the city of tyranny. It is the task of the Night Watch – Captain Vimes,
Sergeant Colon, Corporal Nobbs, and new volunteer Carrot Ironfoundersson – to stop
them, with some help from the Librarian of the Unseen University, an orangutan
trying to get the stolen book back.

The Watch is generally regarded as a bunch of incompetents who walk around ringing
their bells without accomplishing anything. Carrot's arrival changes this; Whereas
the existing officers are either cynical, incompetent, mildly crooked or all three,
Carrot is honest, straightforward and idealistic. Additionally, he is 6'6" (1.9812
meters) tall and enormously strong. Having memorized the Laws and Ordinances of the
Cities of Ankh and Morpork, on his first day he tries to arrest the head of the
Thieves' Guild for theft (the Thieves' Guild is permitted a quota of legally
licensed thieving, a concept that the book of ancient Laws does not take into
account). Brought up as a dwarf – dwarves are a literal, dutiful people – Carrot
has an absolute dedication and conscientiousness that unnerve his colleagues who
view them as bordering on the suicidal in the face of the reality of Ankh-Morpork
life. Carrot's policing style is reminiscent of traditional idealized portrayals of
British police, but astoundingly, it actually seems to work.

Carrot's enthusiasm strikes a chord with Vimes, who decides that the Watch should
try to carry out its ostensible duties. Vimes begins investigating the dragon's
appearances, which leads to an acquaintance with Sybil Ramkin, a breeder of swamp
dragons. Ramkin gives an underdeveloped dragon, Errol, to the Watch as a mascot.

The leader of the Elucidated Brethren is initially successful in controlling the

dragon, but he has not accounted for the dragon's own abilities. The banished
dragon returns, and makes itself king of Ankh-Morpork (keeping the head of the
Elucidated Brethren as its mouthpiece) and demands that the people of Ankh-Morpork
bring it gold and regular virgin sacrifices, whilst preparing for an "ambitious and
vigorous" foreign policy, aimed at subjugating the neighbours of Ankh Morpork.

Shortly after, Vimes is imprisoned in the same cell as the Patrician, who has been
leading a relatively comfortable life with the help of the rats he uses as spies.
The Librarian helps Vimes to escape and he runs to the aid of Sybil, who has been
chosen as the first maiden to be sacrificed. The Watch's swamp dragon, Errol,
reorganises his digestive system to form a supersonic propulsion system and fights
the king, eventually knocking it out of the sky with a shock wave. As the assembled
crowd closes in on the king for the kill, Sybil tries to plead for the dragon's
life. Carrot instead places it under arrest, however Errol lets the dragon escape,
revealing that the dragon is in fact female, the battle between the two being a
courtship ritual.

Sam Vimes proceeds to arrest the Supreme Grand Master (Lupine Wonse, the
Patrician's secretary) but accidentally causes the man's death when he tells Carrot
to "throw the book at him." The man was attempting to summon another dragon, and
dies from falling off a broken floor after being hit by the Laws and Ordinances of
Ankh-Morpork.

The Patrician is reinstated as ruler of Ankh-Morpork, and offers the Watch anything
they want as a reward. They ask only for a modest pay raise, a new tea kettle, and
a dartboard. However, the Watch House at Treacle Mine Road was destroyed by the
dragon. Lady Ramkin donates her childhood home at Pseudopolis Yard as the new Watch
House.
CharactersEdit

Carrot Ironfoundersson
Samuel Vimes
Fred Colon
Nobby
Havelock Vetinari
Lupine Wonse
The Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night
Sybil Ramkin

Reception
Adaptations
Translations
References
External links
Last edited 5 months ago by The war moose
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