History Characters / DiscworldOneBookWonders

* ShoutOut: He's a blend on numerous famous philosophers, from Diogenes - living in a barrel and carrying around an unlit lantern in search of "an honest man" to Archimedes - persecuted for his cosmological theories.
* StepfordSmiler: ''Small Gods'' hints at this, as Didactylos generally has an optimistic approach to life, and is unafraid to call out or {{Troll}} authority figures in his own irascable way. However, he's well aware of the harshness of life, in particular the myriad ways his fellow men can be cruel to each other, and his voice loses all sense of humour when he recounts a time when he saw a crowd of Omnians stone a man to death:

The son of the renegade wizard Ipslore the Red, Coin is in fact Ipslore's eighth son -- and since Ipslore was the eighth son of an eighth son, this made Coin a sourcerer. Unlike wizards, who draw on the magic around them, Coin generates his own power, making him an obscenely powerful magic-user. Raised by his father's spirit bound to his staff, Coin takes over Unseen University to elevate wizards to their rightful place in the world (as seen by Ipslore), setting up the plot of ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}''

* DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength: Once he's free of his father's influence, when he laments to the Librarian that he still can't help warping reality for his own convenience. This leads the Librarian to advise him, "Ook"[[note]]Roughly, "So create a world where you won't."[[/note]].

* NeverLearnedToRead: Though due to his photographic memory he can replicate a book from the memory of its' appearance without understanding the words on it.

* TheGoodKing: He tries, somewhat ineffectually, to be a good reformist King. Unfortunately, the very nature of Djelibeybi resists change until the titular pyramids are destroyed, most of the common people aren't entirely comfortable with Teppic's attempts to Take An Interest and Set Them At Their Ease, and everyone's too scared of/too used to listening to Dios' "interpretations" of royal proclamations that nothing he says really sinks in. He is also utterly determined to get back into Djelibeybi after it vanishes to save it, even though he hates the place, out of a sense of duty.

* StrangerInAFamiliarLand: His now thoroughly Morporkian attitudes end up in a CultureClash with those of the Old Kingdom. While some Djel traits linger, he finds them increasingly absurd, and as he points out on more than one occasion, while he started in Djelibeybi he now really comes from Ankh-Morpork. As a result, he's quite relieved to find a SpareToTheThrone.

* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: Initially she assumes she can just get the body she pilots to do what it's told. Turns out the body has slightly more veto power than she presumed. It eats, breaths and sleeps when it damn well wants to.

* MundaneUtility: He's been using his powers to make milk, and keep it cool.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Split up with the other Horsemen over "creative differences" (mention was made of fights over who was getting enough credit, damages to hotel rooms...) He's still hurt about it, but keeps up on what the old gang are doing.

* [[AFatherToHisMen A Mother to Her Girls]]: [[spoiler:The epilogue shows her as a [[SergeantRock sergeant]] in the Borogravian army, displaying much the same tough-but-fair demeanour to the new recruits as Jackrum before her.]]

** Though the end of the book implies that she's becoming something of a sequel to Jackrum, who spends much of the book as her StealthMentor. She may not be quite as ''physically'' badass just yet, but on the other hand she's a quick-thinker, adept at picking up Jackrum's methods, and has picked up one or two tricks about fighting a modern war....

* OldSoldier: Has grandchildren and a middle-aged son, has been in the army for anywhere between 50 and 60 years (even Jackrum isn't actually sure how old he is) and is still probably the most feared hand-to-hand combatant in the region. Unusually, the downsides of this, such as being set in his ways and disdaining modern innovations such as camouflage as spying are noted throughout the book and at the end, he recognises this and decides it's his time to bow out gracefully.

* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: [[spoiler:She gave birth to a son, William Junior, a few months after her boyfriend was killed at Sepple. She left him with her grandmother and he grew up to be a respected armorer.]]

* {{Expy}}: At first glance, and indeed at second glance, he can come across as one for [[Literature/MovingPictures Gaspode the Wonder Dog]]; Maurice's OriginStory is similar to Gaspode's second origin (normal stray animals made intelligent from exposure to magical garbage), they're both, on the whole, smarter than the humans they hang out with and use similar tactics in manipulating said humans, and they are both ''masters'' of [[DeadpanSnarker snide and sarcastic comments]]. As the story goes on, however, it turns out that despite similar set-ups and many shared personality traits, the two animals are actually very different when it comes down to it -- where Gaspode is ultimately a pessimist who loves to wallow in self-pity and set himself up as a tragic hero, Maurice has a more positive outlook on life and is a lot more unashamedly a self-centered JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

* BigBadWannabe: He's not the BigBad of ''The Last Hero'', he's not even a threat, and a description of his career provides illumination: He's ''crap'' at being a threat. He is to villainy as Dibbler is to free enterprise. When he was young, he started with Shed of Doom and just a badly tempered donkey as his Evil Steed. He grew to managing dungeons, cursed temples and Doom Pits (profiting until the third act, when the hero beats him while he escapes to try another day).

* GenreSavvy: He knows what the role of a ''proper'' Dread Lord is, and follows it willingly, even when it bites him in the arse, such as hiring idiotic henchmen, having his minions wear outfits that easily disguise heroes, and getting jailers who make breaking out of cells a dawdle.

* TurnOutLikeHisFather: Apparently, his mother was afraid he would, as she forbade him from playing football. "Turn out" in this case meaning "killed whilst playing football"

* CunningLinguist: He's casually multi-lingual, thanks to an Assassin's Guild education.

[[folder:Ronnie Soak]]

A milkman in Ankh-Morpork who has the uncanny ability to always deliver his wares at the exact same time for ''everywhere''.

In fact, Ronnie is actually [[spoiler:Kaos, the ''Fifth'' Horseman, who quit before they were famous.]]

%%* [[AFatherToHisMen A Mother to Her Girls]]: [[spoiler:Becomes this, if the epilogue is anything to go by]].

* [[spoiler:[[AFatherToHisMen A Mother to Her Girls]]]]: Becomes this, if the epilogue is anything to go by.

** DefusingTheTykebomb: ... but starts to change after encountering Rincewind, being intrigued by the way that Rincewind (who's no threat to him in any way, shape, or form) challenges him not with any great magical spells or artefacts, but with half a brick in a sock.

* BigBadWannabe: He's not the BigBad of ''The Last Hero'', he's not even a threat, and a description of his career provides illumination: He's ''crap'' at being a threat. He is to villainy as Dibbler is to free enterprise.

** It's more than hinted that she got this character trait from her own mother, and part of her CharacterDevelopment is to overcome this part of herself.

* BenevolentBoss: He's noted as being a decent boss -- while he doesn't do much in the way of actual work, but he's kind to his subordinates, who, truthfully, probably need kindness more than supervision.
* BigBrotherInstinct: He's very protective of Nutt, even going out of his way to teach him elocution at the start of the book. Glenda is initially baffled by this, since Nutt is [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness very well-spoken]] and Trev has the vocabulary and diction of a working class ex-street kid, then realises that Trev's actually doing it to protect Nutt from those who might react badly to a posh accent and long words -- something shown to be a warranted fear.
* BookDumb: Not learned or intellectual, but he's fairly intelligent, has a good amount of street smarts, and has picked up surprising random facts.

* SmarterThanYouLook: He's a good deal more intelligent than he seems, especially in terms of street smarts and reading people (though considering that he's spent a fair amount of time around Andy, this is probably a matter of survival).

Azrael is one of the Old High Ones of the Universe, he's possibly ''the'' Universe itself. He is the Death of the Universe, Death of the Discworld is merely an aspect of himself as are all lesser deaths. He's only appeared in one book ''Reaper Men''.

* ImmortalityImmaturity: Just a bit human in his actions. Lu-Tze, long used to handling these sorts of personalities, gets him into a massive strunt when he figures out his identity.

* HorsemenOfTheApocalypse: Well, he didn't get a horse. He got a chariot. And he quit the band long ago, before they hit the big time.

* SdrawkcabName: Soak is just his actual name backwards.

[[folder:Lobsang Ludd]]

A foundling raised in the Guild of Thieves until a chance meeting with a history monk resulted in him being wiped from the Guild's collective memory and taken to be trained in the mountains in abilities he was only barely aware he had. However, Lobsang is apparently "a smart boy" and there's no teaching a smart boy. Compared to other characters in ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'' (and Pratchett characters in general), Lobsang is rather a blank slate. Of course then you discover that [[spoiler:he's actually half of a whole person who is also the son of the personification of time and ends up ''becoming'' Time itself in the end]], and suddenly he doesn't seem quite so standardised any more.

* SplitAtBirth: [[spoiler:Him and Jeremy Clockson, a socially inept and supersane (which is just as bad as being crazy) individual, are the same person, born twice because their/his/whatever mother freaked out a little bit during childbirth, and when Time herself freaks out ''strange'' things tend to happen. It comes out to the same thing in the end, and after they merge, the result is more Lobsang with more depth than a true composite -- this being explained InUniverse as being because Jeremy had a pretty miserable life.]]

* BrainlessBeauty: Though she eventually learns to make a decent pie.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: Before her formal training, she (mostly through her staff) performs some pretty impressive tricks, like turning ale into milk, and then milk into apple brandy.

* BodySurf: She learns how to Borrow animals from Granny Weatherwax, but discovers the hard way that if she stays in one body too long, she can't return to her body, the animal's mind starts to reassert itself and she eventually [[NightmareFuel forgets that she's a girl]].

* TheSmartGuy: Long before Ponder Stibbons, there was this guy. He's so smart there aren't words for the things he describes, because they haven't been invented yet, or because they're things that can't be put in words. Even wizards, who look down on discover as a gross discourtesy and something that Shouldn't Be Done, are amazed and impressed by him, even if they have no idea what the hell he's talking about.

[[hardline]]

[[hardline]]

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Becomes Archchancellor by ''incinerating'' his rivals.

* TheGoodKing: He tries, somewhat ineffectually, to be a good reformist King. Unfortunately, the very nature of Djelibeybi resists change until the titular pyramids are destroyed, most of the common people aren't entirely comfortable with Teppic's attempts to Take An Interest and Set Them At Their Ease, and everyone's too scared of/too used to listening to Dios' 'interpretations' of royal proclamations that nothing he sees really sinks in. He is also utterly determined to get back into Djelibeybi after it vanishes to save it, even though he hates the place, out of a sense of duty.

* ThouShaltNotKill: He can't bring himself to kill the presumed victim in the final exam of the Assassin's Guild (but his attempt to fail with flair ends up as a trick shot which pierces what turns out to be a dummy), and while he's a capable fighter, he's rather opposed to killing. Ironically, he ends up with what is probably the highest kill count in the series, taking out approximately 1300 undead ancestors [[MercyKill (to their great relief)]] and an entire pantheon of gods.
* NiceGuy: For a fully trained assassin, he's very good-natured (and somewhat squeamish), and genuinely wants to be TheGoodKing (though he's not particularly happy about being King in the first place.

* DarkSkinnedBlonde: Either she's deeply tanned or naturally dusky.

* PragmaticHero: Like Vimes, he's zealously dedicated to the pursuit of justice. Unlike him, however, he doesn't follow ThouShaltNotKill rule and is willing to break SacredHospitality. See also ShadowArchetype below.

* MajoredInWesternHypocrisy: He went to the Assassins' Guild school, basically a posh British-style boarding school "with all the knobs turned UpToEleven, especially the one marked 'violence'", which takes a lot of international students. As he dryly observes, after seven years at a school for young gentlemen, life among the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy D'regs]] held no fears for him. Vimes is surprised despite himself when Ahmed mentions it. The thickly-accented Morporkian that Ahmed spoke when first introduced turns out to be just part of his act.

* KnifeNut: He doesn't usually use weapons, but he's a dab hand with blades when needs be [[spoiler:as Andy finds out to his cost at the end of the book]].