History Fridge / SmallGods

* The diminished, once-great small god that Om speaks to in the cave can't do much more than repeat how "thousands were sacrificed" in its name: useless deaths, for a name it ''can't even remember'' anymore. Not only that, but Om discovers its ephemeral presence hovering over a fragment of nearly-disintegrated bone... which is probably all that's left of '''that''' god's last believer, who (like Brutha) took shelter in that same cave. And never left.

* There are 512 holy commandments in the Omnian faith before Brutha's emergence, and seven Prophets before Brutha. 512 is exactly how many you'd get if the First Prophet laid down just eight of them, and every subsequent prophet doubled their number to secure his own authority as a match for all his predecessors.

* There are 512 holy commandments in the Omnian faith before Brutha's emergence, and seven Prophets before Brutha. 512 is exactly how many you'd get if the First Prophet laid down just eight of them, and every subsequent prophet doubled that number to secure his own authority.

* There's a brief cameo from the Librarian, where he saves several precious books from the burning library. While it's not so strange that he'd try to save books even if they'd be copied eventually, it makes more sense at the end, where the Abbot reveals that in the true History, Brutha died on the shore, long before he could copy the library. The Librarian's priority isn't 'rare original copy', but 'precious lost knowledge'.

* The introduction of the History Monks, who can alter history through their actions without causing paradoxes, tells us who exactly Death called in a favor from at the end of [[spoiler: ''Mort'']].

* The introduction of the History Monks, who can alter history through their actions without causing paradoxes, tells us who exactly Death called in a favor from at the end of [[spoiler: Mort]].

* Given what happens in this book when Om nearly runs out of followers, no wonder that when we get introduced to modern Omnianism it seems to revolve around recruiting more followers.

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* Vorbis always makes people more like him, it's basically a superpower. Brutha spends lots of time alone with him and yet never lost his moral center. Brutha isn't just magically incorruptible, he simply picks up the traits most people don't: farsightedness, ambition, confidence, and all those little things that make up leadership ability.

** Alternatively: the sudden explosion of schisms happened after Brutha died in the DistantFinale which is right around the start of the main series, and nobody was up to stepping into his shoes. All of the diverse subcults that he'd encouraged to counter the situation the church started the book in were suddenly in direct competition with no common authority to keep it together.

* After ''Thief Of Time'' revealed that Brutha's story played out over a century ago from the rest of the world's perspective, the recent increase in Omnian missionary activity in the Ankh-Morpork books makes a lot more sense: Brutha's endorsement of the "Turtle Moves" belief must have seemed to be vindicated when the entire Disc, Omnia included, witnessed the baby world-turtles hatching in ''The Light Fantastic''. Indeed, that event could be what initially kicked off the flood of schisms that beset the Omnian faith for so many years afterward, that culminated in Mightily Oats's internal conflict in ''Carpe Jugulum''.

* Om took the form of the tortoise because at the time all true belief that Omnians had was in the tortoise. That it moves. They didn't exactly believe in Om, but they still considered themselves his worshippers and thus gave him this form.

* Brutha can't read, yet carrying around the contents of the Library causes some of the information written in them to "leak" into his awareness. This ''could'' mean that he's finally starting to grasp how writing works, but it could also mean that he's become host to an entirely-mental version of a "tomb of words", like the Post Office from ''Going Postal''. He's not reading the books, they're ''talking'' to him--and he's ''listening'', the same way he was noted to ''listen'' to others talk earlier in the book.

* The book also gave us the NightmareFuel that Vorbis has spent an eternity in a hell of his own making. But why? Because he's in the desert, and he's absolutely alone. He knows it, there can be no doubt, that he is all alone. But he still hears the voice of Om. Because it's his own voice and always has been. The worst HeelRealization ever.
** Everyone in the desert is alone because they believe they have to face it alone. Brutha's seen the desert, and he knows they're not alone, and he knows Om will be there with them. Except for Vorbis, so Brutha's there for him, the only one who needs him.
* FridgeBrilliance: Om took the form of the tortoise because at the time all true belief that Omnians had was in the tortoise. That it moves. They didn't exactly believe in Om, but they still considered themselves his worshippers and thus gave him this form.
* FridgeBrilliance: Brutha can't read, yet carrying around the contents of the Library causes some of the information written in them to "leak" into his awareness. This ''could'' mean that he's finally starting to grasp how writing works, but it could also mean that he's become host to an entirely-mental version of a "tomb of words", like the Post Office from ''Going Postal''. He's not reading the books, they're ''talking'' to him--and he's ''listening'', the same way he was noted to ''listen'' to others talk earlier in the book.

* FridgeBrilliance: Brutha can't read, yet carrying around the contents of the Library causes some of the information written in them to "leak" into his awareness. This ''could'' mean that he's finally starting to grasp how writing works, but it could also mean that he's become host to an entirely-mental version of a "tomb of words", like the Post Office from ''Going Postal''. He's not reading the books, they're ''talking'' to him!

* FridgeBrilliance: Om took the form of the tortoise because at the time all true belief that Omnians had was in the tortoise. That it moves. They didn't exactly believe in Om, but they still considered themselves his worshippers and thus gave him this form.

* FridgeBrilliance: Om took the form of the turtoise because at the time all true belief that omnians had was in the turtoise. That it moves. They didn't exactly believe in Om, but they still considered themselves his worshippers and thus gave him this form.

** Everyone in the desert is alone because they believe they have to face it alone. Brutha's seen the desert, and he knows they're not alone, and he knows Om will be there with them. Except for Vorbis, so Brutha's there for him, the only one who needs him.

* The book also gave us the NightmareFuel that Vorbis has spent an eternity in a hell of his own making. But why? Because he's in the desert, and he's absolutely alone. He knows it, there can be no doubt, that he is all alone. But he still hears the voice of Om. Because it's his own voice and always has been. The worst HeelRealization ever.