History TearJerker / Jingo

--> "Things to do today: ''[[spoiler:die....]]''"

* Vimes is leveling a crossbow at a warmongering prince just as he realizes (as the prince knows) that he can't just arrest a ruler, even if he says he can. At the end of his rope, [[spoiler:he then hears a malfunctioning day planner start telling him what would have happened if he hadn't pursued the prince: namely, he would've stayed to fight the war in Ankh-Morpork, where he and all the other watchmen would've died. The planner starts rattling off the names and times of each casualty]]...

** ...and a fair bit of FridgeHorror when one considers the alternate Vimes, whose Disorganizer likely went on with cheery little reminders of [[spoiler:"Pleasant dinner with D'reg wiseman," "Discover truth behind assassination plot," and "Charge into tent, arrest military commanders, arrest both armies before they start fighting, hold off war long enough for Vetinari to do his thing"... exactly as he and everyone in his Watch is dead or dying, and Angua is stuck in the Klatchian desert without a way home or any idea that this is happening]]. The novel itself specifically mentions that ''both'' Vimes would get to know what would have happened...
*** [[spoiler: Also true for Reg Shoe, whose name was ''not'' listed by the Dis-organizer, presumably because the Klatchian troops that attacked the alternate-timeline Watch hadn't come equipped to put down a zombie. He's already risen from the grave once, only to learn his comrades had been slaughtered in his absence; how much worse for him to be there ''watching it happen'' this time, and be powerless to stop it? Did alt-Reg wind up burying himself for solidarity's sake on ''that'' anniversary too?]]
** It's even sad to hear the progression of the [[spoiler: Disorganizer's imp. It's initially sort of pitiful, never being able to keep Vimes' appointments straight, but when it starts reading them out ''before'' they happen, he seems almost...proud. Then when they stop matching up, he starts off confused, and gets worse and worse until his words make it sound like he's a malfunctioning computer program. The imp is torn between the world as he ''knows'' it should be and the world how it is, and it...broke him.]]

* It's hard not to feel for Leonard when [[spoiler:he sets the Boat adrift in the sea after learning what other people would use it for]].
* The deaths of Privates Hobbley and Webb, killed by [[spoiler:71-Hour Ahmed]] after he and Vimes were mistakenly attacked by Ankh-Morpork soldiers. The others don't seem to blame [[spoiler:Ahmed]] - who was, after all, just defending himself - but as Vimes said, "But... one moment they're alive-"
* "I tell you this, girls: I wish I'd settled for the ten-dollar version. Don't you just sometimes wanna sit down and cry?" Nobby taking to being a woman (leading to more crossdressing in later books) is funny, but behind the laughs it's hard not to feel sorry for him: The ugly, temperamental, and female "Beti" might get degradatory comments about her looks, but overall she's still treated better by men and women alike than plain old Nobby Nobbs.

* Janil mistakes a customer for an attacker and tries to shoot him with a crossbow. By the time the Watch arrives, Mr. Goriff is fully prepared to go to jail to protect his son--thankfully, Vimes understands, and nobody is arrested.

* "I tell you this, girls: I wish I'd settled for the ten-dollar version. Don't you just sometimes wanna sit down and cry?" Nobby taking to being a woman (leading to more crossdressing in later books) is funny, but behind the laughs it's hard not to feel sorry for him: The ugly, temperamental and female "Beti" might get degradatory comments about her looks, but overall she's still treated better by men and women alike than plain old Nobby Nobbs.

* "All in all, she considered, she was jolly lucky."

** The thought of what the life of that universe's Angua would be like [[spoiler:as the only survivor left of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, with her boyfriend and all her co-workers dead and her home under Klatchian occupation.]]

* The deaths of Privates Hobbeley and Webb, killed by [[spoiler:71-Hour Ahmed]] after he and Vimes were mistakenly attacked by Ankh-Morpork soldiers. The others don't seem to blame [[spoiler:Ahmed]] - who was, after all, just defending himself - but as Vimes said, "But...one moment they're alive-"

** The young woman who was crying when the others called "Beti" over to try to cheer her up. Even if the war ended before her fiance could get hurt or killed, she's still learned what a callous jerk he is, to run off and abandon her at the altar just so he could puff up his own ego playing soldier.

** Why did it affect Vimes so much? Read ''Discworld/NightWatch''.

** The thought of what the life of that universe's Angua would have been like [[spoiler:as the only survivor left of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, with her boyfriend and all her co-workers dead and her home under Klatchian occupation.]]

** The thought of how the life of that universe's Angua would have been like [[spoiler:as the only survivor left of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, with her boyfriend and all her co-workers dead and her home under Klatchian occupation.]]

*** [[spoiler: Also true for Reg Shoe, whose name was ''not'' listed by the Dis-organizer, presumably because the Klatchian troops that attacked the alternate-timeline Watch hadn't come equipped to put down a zombie. He's already risen from the grave once to find his comrades have been slaughtered; how much worse for him to be there ''watching it happen'' this time, and be powerless to stop it? Did alt-Reg wind up burying himself for solidarity's sake on ''that'' anniversary too?]]

*** [[spoiler: Also true for Reg Shoe, whose name was ''not'' listed by the Dis-organizer, presumably because the Klatchian troops that attacked the alternate-timeline Watch hadn't come equipped to put down a zombie. He's already risen from the grave once to find his comrades have been slaughtered; how much worse for him to be there ''watching it happen'' this time, and be powerless to stop it?]]

* "I tell you this, girls: I wish I'd settled for the ten-dollar version. Don't you just sometimes wanna sit down and cry?" Nobby taking to being a woman (leading to more crossdressing in later books) is funny, but behind the laughs it's hard not to feel sorry for him: The ugly, temperamental and female "Beti" might get degradatory comments about her looks, but overall she's still treated better by men and women alike than plain old Nobby Nobbs.

** Why did it affect Vimes so much? Read Discworld/NightWatch.
** That bit really got me, even though you ''know'' most of those names are standing right there, completely not dead.

*** For extra NightmareFuel, listen to that part in the (unabridged) audiobook version.

* The deaths of Privates Hobbeley and Webb, killed by [[spoiler:71-Hour Ahmed]] after he and Vimes were mistakenly attacked by Ankh-Morpork soldiers. The others don't seem to blame [[spoiler:Ahmed]] - who was, after all, just defending himself - but as Vimes said, "But...one moment they're alive-"

* It's hard not to feel for Leonard when [[spoiler:he sets the Boat adrift in the sea after learning what other people would use it for]].

** ...and a fair bit of FridgeHorror when one considers the alternate Vimes, whose Disorganizer likely went on with cheery little reminders of [[spoiler:"Pleasant dinner with D'reg wiseman," "Discover truth behind assassination plot," and "Charge into tent, arrest military commanders, arrest both armies before they start fighting, hold off war long enough for Vetinari to do his thing"... exactly as he and everyone in his Watch is dead or dying, and Angua is stuck in the Klatchian desert without a way home or any idea that this is happening]]. The novel itself specifically mentions that ''both'' Vimes would get to know what would have happened...