History Literature / Discworld

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The earliest books are quite different in tone, the characterization is different, things like troll biology are wildly different, all sorts of things. Sir Pterry spent some time building a plausible demiphysics based on the nature of the Disc (eight seasons, a tropical belt at the edge and polar hub, etc), a mythology founded on that (the number eight, {{Eldritch Abomination}}s) and so on. Except for the occasional reference to the eight day week and the eight seasons of the year, most of that is dropped/downplayed in favor of focusing on wicked good character pieces and archetype development.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Played with. The tone of the books and most of the characters are definitely on the cynical side -- the idealistic ones tend to be portrayed as naive, dumb, or [[ObfuscatingStupidity putting up a front]]. However, the universe itself is idealistic: the good guys do triumph, almost always in a BigDamnHeroes way. This is explicitly due to [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality narrativium]]. In fact, a big thing amongst all of the Discworld heroes is that they use cynical means to achieve idealistic ends.

** A lot of people on the Disc believe in this, which Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch '''hates'''. He bitterly notes that people are willing to put up with a lot of crap just because someone royal said so. His own ancestor, Suffer-Not-Injustice "Old Stoneface" Vimes, killed the last king of Ankh-Morpork, a horrific [[TheCaligula Caligula]] who was known for "[[ColdBloodedTorture entertaining]]" [[WouldHurtAChild children]] in the palace dungeons. Old Stoneface still gets made out as the villain of the tale, somehow. To make things worse for the Vimes family, the (brutally psyhcopathic) King in question is known historically as "King Lozenzo [[BlatantLies The]] [[RefugeInAudacity Kind]]".

->''"Stories are important. People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it's the other way round. Stories... have evolved... The strongest have survived, and they have grown fat... Stories etch grooves deep enough for people to follow... A thousand wolves have eaten grandmother, a thousand princesses have been kissed... Stories don't care who takes part in them. All that matters is that the story gets told, that the story repeats."''
-->-- ''Witches Abroad,'' describing the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality

** Unsurprisingly, GargleBlasters are made wherever you might want to find them, and for quite a few different species -- as most sapient beings tend to have a tendency to limit that sapience on a regular basis. Even putting aside the harder drugs found in later books, in ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'', the troll Carborundum wordlessly asks for an 'Electrick Floorbanger' (a takeoff on the classic Harvey Wallbanger found in the Roundworld), which is very simple: eye-searing vinegar, with copper and zinc in it. Carborundum knocks it back, sways for a few moments, and then shows exactly why it's called that.

%%* EvilChancellor: It's pretty much a default rule of the Disc that any man made chancellor is a corrupt, scheming bastard, if he wasn't one already.

* AuthorTract: While almost all the books examine real life issues, they usually avoid leaning too heavily onto this trope, informing the stories rather than dictated them, showing rather than telling. Every once in a while however, Terry's views on religion, race, integration, etc, take precedence and grind the story to a halt. These moments became a lot more blatant after he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers, as the books in general became much more heavy-handed. Fans overall agree this is the biggest flaw with Terry's writing and some even think it caused SeasonalRot.