History Characters / DiscworldSpecies

** The pots are also extremely important to what is essentially their religion and entire culture all in one, being something made by a magical process out of anything handy that can't be replicated by non-goblins (though [[spoiler: Fred Colon is implied to develop the ability after being exposed to one of their pots and the soul inside for an extended period]]). The religion is founded on the notion that if one's body is a temple then the things that come out of it are holy, and thus the pots are used to store things like snot and nail clippings; this has given them a reputation for being unpleasantly obsessed with all things nasty and unhygienic.

* SuperToughness: Fittingly for beings made of rock, they are hard to injure even with the sharpest of blades. The typical solution for a troll being in your way is to sic another troll on it.

* ElementalEmbodiment: Of physics of all things and thus MurphysLaw.

* MagicalUnderpinningsOfReality: What they're ''supposed'' to be doing: seeing that the universe operates as it's supposed to.

* GlassCannon: For all their world-breaking powers, even a child like Eskarina Smith could easily defeat them by just punching them.

* MonsterMountain: Some of the Disc's mountains are actually trolls who sat down for a deep hard think one day and just stopped moving. Apparently the world might be in trouble if they ever wake up.

* HumansAreUgly: Variant, they do not like all the disgusting orifices life has.

* BizarreAlienSenses: They actually have hundreds of senses, all for the purposes of gathering data. But they don't have taste.

* CreativeSterility: Originality and learning are not their things, possibly because of aforementioned lack of creativity. They ''can'' do it, but it takes serious effort. And they can still only learn so far.
* DeathOfPersonality: Inverted. They exist as grey soulless entities. For them, to develop a recognisable personality and individual self-awareness is death.

* TheDitz: A particularly dark version. They are, what with the aforementioned Creative Sterility, very stupid. Very, ''very'' stupid. Which might explain some of their insane actions, and ultimately doesn't make them any less dangerous.

* ElementalEmbodiment: Of physics of all things.

* EnemyToAllLivingThings: They find life intolerably messy, their mere presence causes an increase in malignity - ordinary objects becoming more hostile to non-objects. Buttered bread becomes [[SlipperySkid tripping hazards]], ropes and hoses tie themselves [[InstantKnots into knots]], rakes get [[RakeTake under foot]].
** When they ''focus'' on causing a bad day that leads to NecroNonSequitur or MurphysLaw

* GhostlyChill; Variant, they aren't undead but when one is accidentally summoned by the Rite of [=AshkEnte=] a ritual meant to summon Death, which was a vacant position during ''Literature/ReaperMan'', ice starts forming in the circle, something that never happens when Death is summoned.

* InsaneTrollLogic: Something is only alive if it has an independent existence. All living beings die in time. Any span of time is minuscule compared to the lifespan of the universe. Therefore, if an Auditor develops signs of an individual identity, it [[PuffOfLogic instantly vanishes]].

* OrderIsNotGood: The other part their alignment; desiring absolute order, which, combined with their InsaneTrollLogic, makes them into {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s due to life being untidy.

* SmugSnake: Their pettiness and arrogance cements them as this.

* [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Our Dwarfs Are All The Same]]: Initially played straight, but later parodied and averted, especially on the subject of gender and associated norms.

* ViciousCycle: "Remember Koom Valley!" Koom Valley was a famous battle-site where dwarfes and trolls managed to ambush one another more than once in the same fight, losing their kings. Since then, both sides have used it as a justification to try and murder one another. The narration notes the accurate translation would be "Remember the atrocity that happened last time that we're using to justify the atrocity this time, and so on, huzzah!"

* PaintingTheMedium: They don't speak as such. Rather, they send the words they would've said if they spoke into someone's head, represented as text.

* WitchSpecies: Downplayed; It's mentioned in ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'' that they're said to be one of the magical races, but they're never shown to use magic -- with one notable exception: they're the ones who manufacture witches' {{Flying Broomstick}}s. It's also mentioned in passing in ''Literature/FeetOfClay'' that they famously make magic rings.

* DoingInTheWizard: Downplayed since they're still a WitchSpecies, but their weakness to ColdIron is given a scientific explanation - Their primary sense is "seeing" lines of magnetic force (like some birds), and iron so badly screws with this sense that it's like going deaf and blind ''at the same time.''

* IndividualityIsIllegal: They so loathe individuality that any Auditor who uses the personal pronoun "I" tends to spontaneously vanish, to be replaced by another, identical Auditor because to have an individual personality is to be mortal, and what is mortal life compared to the infinite span of the universe? In ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'', a number of Auditors take human form, and their excursion to the Discworld ends in chaos and bloodshed, with the only survivor driven hopelessly insane (by Auditor standards at least) and [[spoiler:[[SenseFreak committing suicide in a vat of chocolate]]]].

* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of Order - and Bureaucracy. In fact, they're possibly "Taxes" - Because there are two things certain in life, and Death is already accounted for, right?

* [[JewsLoveToArgue Dwarfs Love To Argue]]: Dwarfs are often compared to real-life Jews (this was not the author's original intention but he [[AscendedFanon seems to be running with it]].) One of the main reasons? They argue a lot, especially about their faith. As Cheery Littlebottom says in ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'':

-->'''Detritus''': SOUND OFF!\\
'''Troll Recruits''': ONE! TWO!\\
'''Detritus''': SOUND OFF!\\
'''Troll Recruits''': MANY! LOTS!\\
'''Detritus''': SOUND OFF!\\
'''Troll Recruits''': ERR! WHAT?

* {{Foil}}: To the elves. Both are terrifying races of {{Humanoid Abomination}}s with very hostile intentions towards mortal life. However, not only are the Auditors overall ''far'' higher on the cosmic totem pole than the elves are, but they're at the exact opposite ends of the scale of OrderVersusChaos: The elves lead chaotic existences unfettered by laws, rules and restrictions, while the Auditors have "lives" with such order and rigidity that they see gaining a personality as a FateWorseThanDeath.

* SmugSnake: Their pettiness cements them as this.

* {{Foil}}: To the Auditors of Reality. Both are terrifying races of {{Humanoid Abomination}}s with very hostile intentions towards mortal life. However, not only are the Auditors overall ''far'' higher on the cosmic totem pole than the elves are, but they're at the exact opposite ends of the scale of OrderVersusChaos: The elves lead chaotic existences unfettered by laws, rules and restrictions, while the Auditors have "lives" with such order and rigidity that they see gaining a personality as a FateWorseThanDeath.

* ADayInTheLimelight: All they want really, though sadly this will destroy everything else. Still, they're given the most prominence in ''Literature/MovingPictures''.

* MixAndMatchCritters: The nicer looking ones look like a mix between an octopus and bicycle. It MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext.

* MonstrousCannibalism: Subverted. Goblins practise cannibalism only [[spoiler: as part of a reincarnation ritual when faced with starvation and have to resort to cannibalism so they can put the poor thing into a SoulJar for when things get better]], but it's in-universe CommonKnowledge that they eat their own children out of hand.

* FantasticRacism: In ''Witches Abroad'', it's observed that racism doesn't get much traction on the Disc (though ''Jingo'' demonstrates that it's very real) as speceism is much more fun ("black and white ganged up on green"). While it's mostly seen between [[ArchEnemy dwarfs and trolls]], many of the different races on the Disc view each other with poorly disguised disdain even on the best of days. The only ones that are hated by ''everyone'' are elves and goblins, and for very different reasons.

* CulturalTranslation: Dwarf kings would, technicaly, translate more accurately to "head miner", and the word for their Low King is something like "chief mining engineer".

* OhMyGods: They don't exactly worship Tak, their god. According to moderate dwarfs, Tak doesn't command dwarfs think of him, only that they ''think'' period. Also explained that it helps to have ''someone'' to swear to. "Oh bloody quantum on a stick" just doesn't sound as good, after all.

* TheSacredDarkness: Being belowground-dwellers, Dwarfs have several inverted values to humans. One of them is that they consider darkness the most sacred, and the grags try to keep themselves in it whenever possible, many shunning daylight altogether and believing it to be blasphemy. Their culture recognize different kinds of darkness -- including malevolent kinds like the [[EldritchAbomination Summoning Dark]] -- but generally think of it as a good thing; one dwarf priest uses the metaphor that the eyes grow wider in darkness, but shrink in light. For example, their creation myth:

* WalkingArsenal: The basic daily clothes of a dwarf include mail and a battle axe, with additional weapons and armor for specific jobs as necessary. Dwarf street toughs in Ankh-Morpork especially as tensions with trolls rise, start carrying a lot more than the traditional battle ax, a form of macho swagger derisively called "clang". By contrast, the personal guard of the dwarf ruler pointedly carry only one axe each. With Grag Bashfulsson going axeless having an "axe in the mind".

A race of SiliconBasedLife originating in the mountains that often feuds with the Dwarfs and has a unfair reputation for being nothing more than DumbMuscle.

* HeavenAbove: In an InvertedTrope, the usually subterranean trolls they view ''down'' as the direction of Heaven. This is so unusual a view in a culture where Heaven is constantly associated with the sky that it ends up PlayedForLaughs.

* TinyHeadedBehemoth: looking like a monolith with an apple perched at the top is what it takes to be considered a hunky troll. Detritus qualifys.
* TooDumbToFool: It's a bit more complex then usual, but it's accurate for most of them. Generally, if they aren't dumb, then they're terrifyingly intelligent.

* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Tolkinesque-style orcs are deconstructed with them. While they're bred (biologically and socially) to be war machines, if you take them out of the environment, they're no more "evil" [[GreyAndGrayMorality than anyone else]].

* DeathOfPersonality: Inverted. They exist as grey soul-less entities. For them, to develop a recognisable personality and individual self-awareness is death.
* DirtyCoward: In ''Literature/TheScienceOfDiscworld III: Darwin's Watch'' it's stated they're all cowards, which is part of why they resort to cheating and weaseling in their schemes.

* EnemiesWithDeath: {{Played With}}, as they're literally this and could count as "Death" themselves for the purposes of the trope. A personifications of the physical laws of the universe, like death, they are a necessary to its function. Unlike Death, they hate all life and butt heads with him quite often.
* EnemyToAllLivingThings: They find life intolerably messy, their mere presence causes an increase in malignity - ordinary objects becoming more hostile to non-objects. Buttered bread become [[SlipperySkid tripping hazards]], ropes and hoses tie themselves [[InstantKnots into knots]], rakes get [[RakeTake under foot]].

* {{Expy}}: In many ways, they're evocative of the Men in Grey from Creator/{{Michael Ende}}'s ''Literature/{{Momo}}''. Just like the Men in Grey, the Auditors are a race of gray-clothed accountant-like entities closely monitor the actions of all people, are stumped by encounters that seem not to follow literal guidelines, and are ultimately flouted by beauty and a childlike love of narrative.

* GodOfOrder: Though not strictly gods in the same sense as [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly actual gods]] in the series, they are cosmic beings who represent order, by making sure the universe works as it's supposed to. They're contemptuous of life because its inherently chaotic and messy by their standards, making their job harder.

* KnightTemplar: They will stand for nothing but the cessation of life, which they view as chaotic and in need of organisation.

* MagicalUnderpinningsOfReality: What they're ''supposed'' to be doing: seeing that the universe, operates as it's supposed to.

** Speaking of... Fate himself appears in Cori Celesti whenever the Lady does. They've been embroiled in a bitter rivalry for ever, what with a fair amount of [[OrderVersusChaos Order (Fate) Versus Chaos (Luck)]] going on. He's described as being a well-groomed man with grey hair whose only unique feature is his pure black eyes, punctuated with pin-pricks of light. Upon close inspection you'll see that in fact his eyes contain the entire universe, the instant before the terror of it [[DrivenToMadness sends you insane]]. Mean-spirited at best, downright sadistic at worst; you have to be alive to be a psychopath.. so he isn't one. Just.

** Although a Goddess of the Seas is seen in ''Literature/TheLastHero'' with a startling resemblance to the Statue of Liberty. She is even ''called'' Libertina.

Elves in the Discworld, unlike the fairytale versions, are ''not'' Nice. Elves are ''bad''. Generally speaking, they're a inhuman race of terrifyingly beautiful and alien monsters from a "parasite universe" that love to screw with mortals for [[ForTheEvulz the same reason]] that little sociopaths like to burn anthives with magnifying glasses.

* AlienFairFolk: Thinks to Glamour, they can pass for human but they are definitely not, being closer to TheGreys. They raid alien worlds and collect things that humans can barely wrap their head around.
* AlienInvasion: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. It's actually stated that nothing that lives in the pocket universe they've set up shop in is actually native to it.

* NightmareFace: The ones that are described are merely hideously unpleasant to look at, such as one with the face of a dead rabbit. There are worse.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Vampirism is often compared to both various disease and alcoholism, with the organization dedicated to helping create friendly {{Vegetarian Vampire}}s being literally called a "League of Temperance."

The archetypical shapeshifting "savages" of legend, humans that transform in wolves in concordance with the full moon. On the Discworld, lycanthropy is classified as a form of the undead, and this hereditary condition originates from Überwald along with vampirism (helping explain the numerous vampire and werewolf baronies in the region).

* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire: There's numerous werewolves that aren't just sadistic predators. Easily the most notable and recurring example is Captain Angua von Überwald of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, [[NobleShoplifter with her even leaving behind payment for the chickens she eats]] whenever she's having her "[[InvoluntaryShapeshifting unseemly time of the month]]." Another clan is mentioned in ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'', with the villagers of Escrow mentioning that unlike the Magpyr family, they never bother the humans because "we don't run fast enough to be interesting."

* SuperSenses: Werewolves have far more accurate and sensitive in terms of senses than ordinary humans are, most notably with their senses of hearing and smell.

The numerous deities populating the many pantheons of the Discworld. Not so much worshiped as blamed, being generally more trouble then they're worth. See [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/DiscworldGods]]

The numerous deities populating the many pantheons of the Discworld. Not so much worshiped as blamed, being generally more trouble then they're worth.

* AngelsDevilsAndSquid: On a good day they'll count as Angels though it's pointed out [[NotSoDifferentRemark there's not much difference between gods and demons]], with it ultimately being the same distinction between terrorists and freedom fighters.
* BoltOfDivineRetribution: Their typical response to clever dicks going around wondering whether they exist or not.
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: How a small god becomes a big god.
* CouncilOfAngels: Functionally this as [[TheMaker actual creator deities]] don't stick around for long.
* DeityOfHumanOrigin: ''Very rarely,'' a person who is worshiped or beloved enough by a group of people (say, the Duchess of Borogravia) can be elevated to a position of genuine godhood after death.
* DivineConflict: In the early novels, they are engaged in an aeons-long feud with the Ice Giants, [[FelonyMisdemeanor who play their radio too loud and have refused to return the lawnmower]].
* FantasyPantheon: While GodsNeedPrayerBadly produces swarms of small gods and OddJobGods, the most prominent deities like Blind Io and Offler the Crocodile God form a recognizable pantheon. ''Literature/SmallGods'' provides a rare monotheistic example in the Great God Om, but believing Om is the only god doesn't actually make it so, and Om has to deal with the pantheon somehow. There's also a Bast, a cat headed god, but the only difference with the Egyptian cat goddess appears to be the gender.
* FateWorseThanDeath: If all the worshipers of a god dies, than they become "small gods" and go crazy, become rabid whispers on the wind found far from civilization who desperately try to cajole anyone who passes through into worshiping them (often driving those unfortunate sods to madness in the process).
* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: They can survive for a while without prayer, but if they can't find a new source of it, eventually they'll fade away.
* HomeOfTheGods: Theirs is Dunmanifestin, the city at the top of Cori Celesti, a ridiculously tall mountain at the center of their (disc-shaped, duh) world. There they spend their time playing games with the lives of mortals. It appears in ''Literature/TheLastHero'' as a vast structure of conflicting architectural styles, the gods coming from various different cultures, and also having zero taste.
* JerkassGods: '''All of them.''' Things like "mercy" or "empathy" or "thinking this through" aren't concepts they can wrap their heads around. That being said, a ''few'' are eventually shown to be slightly more moral and decent than others (i.e., Om post-CharacterDevelopment and Offler), while others are more [[NotSoDifferentRemark just as clueless and/or out of their depth as their own followers]] (like P'tang-P'tang, the newtlike god of a tiny tribe of 51 fishermen).
* KingOfAllCosmos: The entire pantheon. Most of them are incredibly kooky, quirky, and just plain bizarre, even on the best of days.
** Not only the deities who venture more into CrystalDragonJesus territory, like Blind Io and Fate, but the [[OddJobGods slightly odder ones]], like the god of great ideas you forget to write down and will never remember again, the "Oh God" of hangovers, the goddess of the afternoon, the goddess of small dead things left half-digested on the porch (she has a cat head), the goddess of things that get stuck in drawers, and *cough* the Lady.
** Meanwhile, the Creator of the Discworld is an absent-minded little guy who's basically an engineer working on spec, who laid down the terrain and then left it for somebody else to equip with life (not his department).
* NatureSpirit: Discworld gods are basically minor nature spirits that become more powerful through mortal belief.
* OurGodsAreDifferent: They [[RuleOfFunny run the gamut]]. However, it's shown as gods need (and are shaped by) belief: The more belief, the stronger the god. If you only have one believer, well you ''might'' be able to summon a minor thunderstorm over one person's head. The other end is Death, whom ''everything'' believes in. One god seems to get by believing in his own work. They aren't outright cosmic forces though, like the Auditors, but those are not the subject of worship and have no need for it.
** To further clarify, gods in the Discworld have two main varieties - proper "gods" and "Creators". Creators are cosmic entities that... well, create entire universe and worlds, such as the eponymous Discworld before letting everything sort itself out [[CelestialBureaucracy since seeing everything through isn't their department]]. Gods as people both on the Discworld and in RealLife would conceive of them are spirits of nature that wander the world and are empowered by mortal belief. The more genuine and widespread the belief, the stronger the god.
* StockGods: They come in several varieties with some using different personas to keep power. Blind Io, for instance, serves as ''every'' Discworld culture's thunder-and-lightning god.

* WeaksauceWeakness: Aside from the stock of stakes, bright light and holy objects, there's their {{Genre Blind}}ness - all vampires, regardless of age or intelligence, legitimately believe they can fool people by writing their names backwards. Also, certain types of vampires are allergic to fruit, and it's believed stealing their socks can put them out (the only known instance of this being mentioned is the Old Count de Magpyr, and that was more because they were ''expensive'', dammit!).

* HumansAreSpecial: With the above noted, [[DontFearTheReaper Death]] has grown oddly fond of humans as a species, and will protect them when push comes to shove. Furthermore, it's often mentioned that humans are profoundly unique among the Disc's races, and have a level of creativity seen nowhere else.

* WitchSpecies: Downplayed. It's mentioned in ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'' that they're said to be one of the magical races, but they're never shown to use magic -- with one notable exception: they're the ones who manufacture witches' {{Flying Broomstick}}s. It's also mentioned in passing in ''Literature/FeetOfClay'' that they famously make magic rings.

* OurGargoylesRock: They're a subspecies of troll, for one. Gargoyles are living statues that live on rooftops and feed on pigeons, and are named after where they're located ("Cornice overlooking Broadway", for example). They are frequently used as Watchmen and to man the clacks system -- jobs where being able to stare at a single location for days on end and not get bored is a ''very'' useful capability. Also, unlike many depictions of monstrous gargoyles, Discworld gargoyles retain their waterspoutish nature, using their ears and wings to direct rain through the back of their heads and out their mouths, filtering out anything potentially tasty that passes through (especially pigeons). This means that their mouths are always open and their speech is affected quite a bit. It was mentioned once, by Vimes, that the gargoyle was a sort of troll -- a species of RockMonster in the Discworld -- evolved specifically to survive in the city. As of ''Literature/TheWorldOfPoo'', the younger generation of Ankh-Morpork gargoyles have adapted fully to an all-pigeon diet, a change that means they now ''can'' close their mouths and speak coherently. This is similar to how young city trolls like Brick are physically adapting to urban living, supporting the notion that gargoyles and trolls are closely related.

--->'''Carborundum:''' If people are ''groophar'' stupid, then we'll fight for ''groophar'' stupidity, 'cos it's ''our'' stupidity. And dat's good, yea?\\

* ArchEnemy: [[FurAgainstFang Werewolves]]. Not only do the noble werewolf and vampire families of Überwald feud with each other [[UpperClassTwit for all of the same reasons that ordinary mortal nobles do]], but they both feed off of the same food supply (humans).

** [[FurAgainstFang Vampires]]. Not only do the noble werewolf and vampire families of Überwald feud with each other [[UpperClassTwit for all of the same reasons that ordinary mortal nobles do]], but they both feed off of the same food supply (humans - or at least, sometimes, in the case of werewolves. The Von Uberwald family do, Angua excepted, because it's HuntingTheMostDangerousGame. An unnamed clan in ''Carpe Jugulum'' doesn't, by contrast, because humans don't run fast enough to be interesting).

* HealingFactor: Any damage a werewolf takes that isn't from silver or fire is only temporary, and even then they can heal from injuries inflicted by silver or fire given enough time.

* KryptoniteFactor: Silver and fire are their only two true weaknesses.

* WeaksauceWeakness: Silver. Even the slightest touch by silver can horribly burn a werewolf and incapacitate from the debilitating pain.

** [[FurAgainstFang Vampires]]. Not only do the noble werewolf and vampire families of Überwald feud with each other [[UpperClassTwit for all of the same reasons that ordinary mortal nobles do]], but they both feed off of the same food supply (humans - or at least, sometimes, in the case of werewolves. The Von Uberwald family do, Angua excepted, because it's HuntingTheDeadliestGame. An unnamed clan in ''Carpe Jugulum'' doesn't, by contrast, because humans don't run fast enough to be interesting).

** [[FurAgainstFang Vampires]]. Not only do the noble werewolf and vampire families of Überwald feud with each other [[UpperClassTwit for all of the same reasons that ordinary mortal nobles do]], but they both feed off of the same food supply (humans).

* BestialityIsDepraved: Subverted, surprisingly enough. Angua is all but stated to have the [[IntellectualAnimal uncannily intelligent wolf]] Gavin as her ex-boyfriend, and their relationship isn't portrayed as wrong but just a bit unusual.
* BizarreAlienSenses: A downplayed case; As wolves are creatures that have smell as their primary sense, the narration of werewolf characters often describes smells in incredibly detailed and vivid terms vaguely reminiscent of synesthesia.
* TheClan: Most werewolf noble families are made up of extensive clans with numerous family members. This is in sharp contrast to vampire noble families, which despite the name, typically consists of only a handful of allied vampires since vampires typically aren't the sort to raise families.

* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire: There's numerous werewolves that aren't just sadistic predators. Easily the most notable and recurring example is Captain Angua von Überwald of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, [[NobleShoplifter with her even leaving behind payment for the chickens she eats]] whenever she's having her "[[InvoluntaryShapeshifting unseemly time of the month]]."

* IntellectualAnimal: Angua implies at one point that some of the abnormally intelligent wolves that populate the Disc might actually be that way thanks to some werewolf ancestry.

** There are distinct varieties, too, within the traditional variety and without. To further expand, crossbreeding between yennorks and ordinary humans has resulted in various other forms of werewolf. The most obvious are the people who turn into wolf-men, rather than wolves, at the full moon, but the spectrum ranges from people who only have hairy palms and eyebrows that meet in the middle to creatures that look like feral wolf-human hybrids... except at the full moon when they completely turn into wolves. Meanwhile, yennork-wolf mating has led to some extremely intelligent and savage wolves, and is possibly also the cause of the occasional "[[RussianReversal were-man]]", a wolf that turns into a wolf-man at full moon.

* SuperStrength: Again, not on the same level as vampires, but werewolves can easily overpower humans through sheer force thanks to their enhanced strength.

* FantasticRacism: While it's mostly seen between [[ArchEnemy dwarfs and trolls]], many of the different races on the Disc view each other with poorly disguised disdain even on the best of days. The only ones that are hated by ''everyone'' are elves and goblins, and for for very different reasons.

** In ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'', there is a one-page mention that a dwarf and a troll have set up a house together in Ankh-Morpork. The same book also has Nobby Nobbs beginning a relationship with a female goblin. Of course, Nobby is also so odd-looking that there's a decent chance he has some goblin ancestry as well.

** In ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'', Greebo is strongly implied to have had sex with a drunken noblewoman at the masqued ball. Greebo is a ''cat'', albeit in human form at the time. Granted, Greebo is infamous for ''[[BlackComedyRape raping]]'' anything four-legged and female up to and including a ''bear'' ...but this time, the noblewoman evidently (and enthusiastically) cooperated.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces: It started with humans, trolls, and elves -- although even this was explained in the context of Rincewind trying to work out why there were still dryads. Then gnomes and dwarfs got added in ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'', and gnolls in ''Literature/EqualRites''. Then ''Literature/ReaperMan'' added zombies, vampires, werewolves, weremen, bogeymen and banshees. Then ''Literature/LordsAndLadies'' introduced TheFairFolk, so the elves that had been vaguely mentioned previously had to be explained as HalfHumanHybrids. ''Literature/FeetOfClay'' added golems, and ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'' added the Nac Mac Feegle (later [[RetCon explained]] as a society of gnomes) and the Igors (who may or may not be human, it's not quite clear). ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'' included yeti. ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'' introduced [[spoiler: orcs]] and featured the first mention of goblins, who would go on to play a major role in ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'' (as well as a throwaway reference to a "Medusa" in the Watch). (And ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'' had a brief mention of kvetches, but never really explained what they were beyond being covered in hair).

* TheBlacksmith: {{PlayedWith}}. All dwarfs can blacksmith but they're not all necessarily good at it. They branch out into all kinds of professions.
* ConvertingForLove: It's a little complicated, but due to the technicalities of dwarvish traditions, being born a dwarf isn't strictly necessary to be considered a dwarf. This is most notable in the case of Carot Ironfounderson, but a biologically human character in ''Unseen Academicals'' converted to dwarfdom to be with their dwarf partner. Apparently this has always been possible but it isn't advertised, not even in the relatively liberal city of Ankh-Morpork.

* TheSacredDarkness. Being belowground-dwellers, Dwarfs have several inverted values to humans. One of them is that they consider darkness the most sacred, and the grags try to keep themselves in it whenever possible, many shunning daylight altogether and believing it to be blasphemy. Their culture recognize different kinds of darkness -- including malevolent kinds like the [[EldritchAbomination Summoning Dark]] -- but generally think of it as a good thing; one dwarf priest uses the metaphor that the eyes grow wider in darkness, but shrink in light. For example, their creation myth:

* SuperStrength: Not as much as trolls, but they're still ''slightly'' stronger than the average human.

* WitchSpecies: Downplayed. It's mentioned in ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'' that they're said to be one of the magical races, but they're never shown to use magic -- with one notable exception: they're the ones who manufacture witches' {{Flying Broomstick}}s.

* ArchEnemy: Species-wide with dwarfs. Dwarfs like mining for precious minerals, trolls often contain precious minerals in their bodies. Vimes notes in ''Literature/MenAtArms'' that the two species no longer ''need'' an excuse to fight, it's just standard procedure.

* OurGargoylesRock: They're a subspecies of troll, for one. Gargoyles are living statues that live on rooftops and feed on pigeons, and are named after where they're located ("Cornice overlooking Broadway", for example). They are frequently used as Watchmen and to man the clacks system -- jobs where being able to stare at a single location for days on end and not get bored is a ''very'' useful capability. Also, unlike many depictions of monstrous gargoyles, Discworld gargoyles retain their waterspoutish nature, using their ears and wings to direct rain through the back of their heads and out their mouths, filtering out anything potentially tasty that passes through (especially pigeons). This means that their mouths are always open and their speech is affected quite a bit. It was mentioned once, by either Vimes or Carrot, that the gargoyle was a sort of troll -- a species of RockMonster in the Discworld -- evolved specifically to survive in the city. As of ''Literature/TheWorldOfPoo'', the younger generation of Ankh-Morpork gargoyles have adapted fully to an all-pigeon diet, a change that means they now ''can'' close their mouths and speak coherently. This is similar to how young city trolls like Brick are physically adapting to urban living, supporting the notion that gargoyles and trolls are closely related.

* SiliconBasedLife: PlayedForLaughs, but they still qualify. It is specifically noted that, as silicon-based organisms, they function like supercomputers, with processing speed (and thus intelligence) being inversely proportional to temperature. One of them uses HulkSpeak at room temperatures, but when locked in a freezer for a while, almost came up with a unified field theory. They also count in either base four or binary because of that.

* TooDumbToFool: It's a bit more complex then usual, but it's accurate for most of them. Generally, if they aren't dumb, than they're terrifyingly intelligent.

* MonstrousCannibalism: Subverted. Goblins practise cannibalism only [[spoiler: as part of a reincarnation ritual when one of their children die so they can put the poor thing into a SoulJar for when things get better]], but it's in-universe CommonKnowledge that they eat their own children out of hand.

** The pots are also extremely important to what is essentially their religion and entire culture all in one, being something made by a magical process out of anything handy that can't be replicated by non-goblins. The religion is founded on the notion that if one's body is a temple then the things that come out of it are holy, and thus the pots are used to store things like snot and nail clippings; this has given them a reputation for being unpleasantly obsessed with all things nasty and unhygienic.

* GeniusBruiser: Surprisingly enough, but justified in that as they're {{Super Soldier}}s, [[{{Reconstruction}} they're bred to be good at strategy and tactics]], which naturally bleeds over into other aspects of intelligence. For instance, Mr. Nutt can tell someone just how much force note it will take to snap their neck, and which muscles will get in the way.

** ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'' introduces the fifth member, [[spoiler:Kaos, a.k.a. Ronnie Soak the dairyman]], [[ThePeteBest who quit the Horsemen before they got famous]]. [[spoiler:After gathering together, the Four Horsemen decide they like the world too much and decide to try and save it from being destroyed. Hey, the prophesy just says they'll ride out; nothing in there says ''against whom''.]]

* LoopholeAbuse: Their propensity for [[BotheringByTheBook White]] [[ExactWords Mutiny]] is taken directly from the old stories. Some characters (Moist V. Lipwig at least once) go around ordering Golems to think for themselves, leading to newly-liberated Golems who think for themselves on a permanent basis, because the order was never rescinded, in much the same way they'd empty a well because master never specified he only wanted one bucketful, just "some water."

* GoldFever: {{ZigZagged}}: They actually like iron much more for its practical applications but all the best {{Drunken Song}}s use gold because it rhymes better. They still have a realistic view of its limited usefulness.

* CulturalTranslation: Dwarf kings would, in technicality, translate more accurately to "head miner".