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==Plot==
==Plot==
{{Long plot|date=October 2018}}
A secret [[monastic order]], the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night, plots to overthrow the [[Havelock Vetinari|Patrician]] of [[Ankh-Morpork]] and install a [[puppet monarch]], under the control of the Order's Supreme Grand Master. Using a stolen magic book, they summon a [[dragon]] to terrorize the city, planning to have their puppet "slay" the dragon and claim to be a lost heir of the defunct royal house.
A secret [[monastic order]], the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night, plots to overthrow the [[Havelock Vetinari|Patrician]] of [[Ankh-Morpork]] and install a [[puppet monarch]], under the control of the Order's Supreme Grand Master. Using a stolen magic book, they summon a [[dragon]] to terrorize the city, planning to have their puppet "slay" the dragon and claim to be a lost heir of the defunct royal house.


Revision as of 17:09, 10 June 2023

Guards! Guards!
First edition
AuthorTerry Pratchett
Cover artistJosh Kirby
LanguageEnglish
Series
Subject
GenreFantasy
PublisherGollancz
Publication date
1989
AwardsCame 69th in the Big Read[1]
ISBN0-575-04606-6
Preceded byPyramids 
Followed byEric 

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]

Plot

A secret monastic order, the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night, plots to overthrow the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork and install a puppet monarch, under the control of the Order's Supreme Grand Master. Using a stolen magic book, they summon a dragon to terrorize the city, planning to have their puppet "slay" the dragon and claim to be a lost heir of the defunct royal house.

The city's Night Watch is generally regarded as both corrupt and incompetent, but that starts to change with the arrival of their idealistic new recruit, Carrot Ironfoundersson, a human orphan raised by dwarven parents to be hard-working and dutiful. Carrot's enthusiasm strikes a chord with the normally-cynical Captain Vimes. When the Librarian of the Unseen University (an orangutan) reports the theft of the book of magic, Vimes actually takes notice, and links the theft with other reports of the dragon's appearances. The Watch's investigation leads to an acquaintance with Lady Sybil Ramkin, a breeder of small swamp dragons, who gives an underdeveloped dragon, Errol, to the Watch as a mascot.

At first the Brethren's plot works flawlessly, and the Patrician is ousted in favor of the new "king." Unfortunately, the banished dragon returns of its own accord and makes itself the new king, keeping the Supreme Grand Master as its mouthpiece. It demands regular tributes of gold and virgin sacrifices, whilst preparing for an "ambitious and vigorous" foreign policy, aimed at subjugating Ankh-Morpork's neighbours.

Vimes confronts his old schoolmate, the Patrician's Secretary Luine Wonse, having figured out that he is the Supreme Grand Master, and responsible for the dragon's appearance. Shortly thereafter, Vimes is imprisoned in the same cell as the Patrician. 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. 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.

Vimes proceeds to arrest Wonse, while the latter is attempting to summon another dragon. Inadvertently, Carrot takes Vimes's instructions to "throw the book at him" literally, sending Wonse falling to his death after being hit by Carrot's copy of 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, since the Watch's original station house was destroyed by the dragon, Lady Ramkin donates her childhood home at Pseudopolis Yard to serve as the new one.

Characters

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

Reception

John Clute, writing in 1990, noted that Pratchett's decision to address serious topics risked damaging the Discworld's potential for comedy, "which Pratchett writes with something like genius", and particularly faulted Lord Vetinari's monologue on the nature of evil (which Clute described as Realpolitik and Weltschmerz): although Clute conceded that the monologue had been skilfully written, he felt that it "has all the ring of another sphere of discourse" and "comes close to shattering the comic pulse of the Discworld".[4]

National Public Radio described Guards! Guards! as a "solid entryway" into the Discworld novels.[5]

Adaptations

The novel has been adapted as:

  • a six-episode serial on BBC Radio 4 (23 November - 28 December 1992) dramatised by Michael Butt and starring John Wood (Vimes), Melvyn Hayes (Nobby), Robert Gwilym (Carrot), Crawford Logan (Vetinari), Helen Atkinson-Wood (Lady Ramkin), Brett Usher (Supreme Grand Master), Martin Jarvis (narrator).[6]
  • a stage play for the amateur stage scripted by Stephen Briggs (1993) (script later published in book form 1997).[7]
  • a professional stage play scripted by Geoffrey Cush and starring Paul Darrow (1998).[8]
  • a "Big Comic" (Graphic novel) drawn by Graham Higgins and based on Briggs' script (2000).
  • an audio play presented live at Dragon*Con in 2001, adapted by David Benedict and performed by the ARTC (Atlanta Radio Theatre Company).[9] In appreciation, the ARTC made a donation to the Orangutan Foundation International.[10]
  • a video game loosely based on the plot of the book, with Rincewind substituted for Sam Vimes.[3]
  • a Board Game - officially launched at Titancon, Belfast 24 September 2011 by Backspindle Games (Designers: Leonard Boyd & David Brashaw) in conjunction with Z-Man Games, USA. The game includes 90 Discworld character illustrations drawn by Stephen Player and respective text quotes from over twenty Discworld novels.

Translations

  • Стражите! Стражите! (Bulgarian)
  • Stráže! Stráže! (Czech)
  • Wacht! Wacht! (Dutch)
  • Vahid! Vahid! (Estonian)
  • Vartijat, hoi! (Finnish)
  • Au Guet ! (French)
  • Wachen! Wachen! (German)
  • שומרים! שומרים! (Shomrim! Shomrim!) (Hebrew)
  • Őrség! Őrség! (Hungarian)
  • A me le guardie! (Italian)
  • I lovens navn! (In the name of the law) (Norwegian)
  • Straż! Straż! (Polish)
  • Guardas! Guardas! (Portuguese - Brazil)
  • Gărzi! Gărzi! (Romanian)
  • Стража! Стража! (Russian)
  • Straža! Straža! (Serbian)
  • ¡Guardias! ¿Guardias? (Spanish)
  • I lagens namn (In the name of the law) (Swedish)
  • Muhafızlar! Muhafızlar! (Turkish)
  • 來人啊! (繁體中文)
  • 卫兵！卫兵！(简体中文)
  • Варта! Варта! (Ukrainian)
  • Guàrdies, guàrdies! (Catalan)

References

  1. ^ BBC - The Big Read - Top 100 Books April 2003, Retrieved 2009-05-9
  2. ^ Fantastic Fiction Guards! Guards! (Discworld, book 8) Terry Pratchett Retrieved 2009-05-9
  3. ^ a b BBC - h2g2 - Terry Pratchett's Discworld - the Computer Game Retrieved 2009-05-9
  4. ^ Guards, Unicorns, Zool, by John Clute, originally published in Interzone January/February 1990; archived in Look at the Evidence: Essays and Reviews; published 2016 by Orion Publishing Group
  5. ^ There's No Wrong Place To Start Reading Pratchett, by Tasha Robinson, at National Public Radio; published March 16, 2015; retrieved September 29, 2017
  6. ^ The L-Space Web Events: Radio: Guards Guards Retrieved 2009-05-9
  7. ^ Doollee - The Playwrights Database Stephen Briggs - complete guide to the Playwright, Plays, Theatres, Agent Archived 7 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2009-05-9
  8. ^ The L-Space Web Plays: Guards! Guards!: 1998 Retrieved 2009-05-9
  9. ^ ARTC's Podcast Archived 9 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2009-05-9
  10. ^ ARTC's Podcast Archived 9 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2009-05-9
Wikiquote has quotations related to Guards! Guards!.
Reading order guide
Preceded by 8th Discworld Novel Succeeded by
Preceded by
None
 1st City Watch Story
Published in 1989 		Succeeded by
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