* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The series-long running gag of Nobby Nobbs's questionable humanity may possibly be explained [[spoiler:by him being a half-goblin. Vimes suspects, but doesn't conclude anything.]]
* DontShootTheMessage: This line theoretically supports gay and lesbian rights, but it manages to be very unkind, and the fact that the gel being described is one of the book's villains only worsens the effect[[note]]This is actually a pretty good verbal description of literary lesbian couples in the early 20th century, and may well be a direct reference to Creator/VirginiaWoolf and her great love Vita Sackville-West[[/note]]
--> ... Frankly, if a gel wanted to go around with another gel who wore a shirt and tie, trained horses, and had a face like a bulldog licking vinegar off a thistle, then it was entirely ''her'' business.
* HoYay: "Your friend told you to take your trousers off as well..." Also, just what ''was'' the deal with Stratford and Flutter's conversation that couldn't be revealed while Constable Upshot was listening?
* MoralEventHorizon:
** Stratford's attempt on the life of [[spoiler:Young Sam]].
** Gravid Rust and the Magistrates are revealed to have crossed it three years ago [[spoiler: by selling goblins to slavery.]] Gravid Rust's MEH [[spoiler: selling goblins to slavery and laughing at their plight]] is so terrible that the book ends with Vetinari [[spoiler:implying that he's going to send assassins after him]] ''even though everything has been sorted out.'' Normally, Vetinari's actions have practically constructive results, whereas here he has already got everything under control and is considering taking revenge anyway, purely out of disgust for Gravid's actions. You know you've gone too far when [[MagnificentBastard Vetinari]] is willing to sabotage (albeit in a minor way) a nicely wrapped up solution in order to exact justice. Although resolving the situation as he's implied to [[spoiler:does mean that Diamond King of Trolls won't be ''quite'' as upset with Vetinari for not turning Gravid over to be executed for smuggling Crystal Slam. A formal trial would be preferable as an example to others, but at least the drug-pushing bastard is still dead.]] Unfortunately it doesn't come across as very satisfying for the reader to see Gravid get his, mostly because he is TheGhost and thus not really a character which makes it difficult to hate him personally and get much emotional impact from his downfall.
* {{Squick}}: Depending on what your sense of humor is, Vimes' son's obsession with poo is either this or [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments hilarious]]. Though anyone who has ever been in the presence of a small child would not be remotely surprised.
* ValuesResonance:
** The story of Felicity Beedle's mother being "rescued" from living with goblins and then raised in an environment where she was beaten if she even spoke in goblin language is very similar to the situation in Canadian "residential schools" for natives which has risen to the public discussion in early 2020s.
** When Felicity started teaching goblins the alphabet beginning with "A is for Apple", she says she first had to bring them an apple to see and explain what it is. This neatly works as an introduction to discussion about the problems in trying to apply educational materials and methods developed in one culture in a completely different one, which can easily result in poor results not because the students are less intelligent, but because the education presumes knowledge of cultural reference points they lack.
* WoobieSpecies: The whole goblin race.
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