History Fridge / Thud

* Angua points out to Carrot, after returning from her trek through the mud, that the dwarf who painted the Summoning Dark rune on the door in his own blood was probably still alive when she and Vimes went down into the Long Dark mine with Ardent. Vimes gashed his hand on a nail/rivet on one of the water-tight doors while he was down there. Ardent caught up with him about that moment, quite flustered by Vimes' going down a tunnel without him. Ardent explained it as "this is a mine, there are dangers!" Once you consider the fact that somewhere down there, one of the miners is slowly dying in the dark because of Ardent and the grags, it adds a little more color to Ardent's sudden concern for Vimes looking around.
* Angua also mentions at the time that there wouldn't be a nail in a metal door, and leaving a rivet/weld sharp enough to cut yourself on is exceptionally poor engineering practice and totally uncharacteristic of dwarfs... and that's in a normal mine, never mind one that is housing ''grags''. The cut wasn't from anything physical - it was Vimes being "infected" by the Summoning Dark, in much the same way that it left a scar after it left.

** Except that's not what happened. The Cube was at the bottom of the well at Empirical Crescent, indicating that B.S. Johnson's "[[GiftedlyBad Unique]] approach to engineering didn't effect the well. The reason the Grags had to dig out half the city to find it is that Rascal didn't ''just'' live at Empirical Crescent. His acute paranoia meant that he was constantly changing residence and never wrote down where he was staying or when a given note was written. Vimes maps out the various places Rascal stayed, and they're spread across a sizable chunk of the city. The Grags had no way of knowing ''where'' he was when he wrote the note about throwing it in the well, so they decided to just dig everywhere.

* The Dwarfs fanatically respect the written word and their lore. Yet, at some point since Koom Valley, their priest class has systematically defaced written versions of their origin myth so that the part about Trolls was ''completely reversed'' in their culture's collective memory. '''That''' was the depth of their unthinking hatred: to defile everything they claimed to hold sacred in order to retroactively justify that hate. They probably thought they were heroes for doing it, too.

** What's the one recognizable feature the Summoning Dark's mental presence and symbol exhibits? A barbed tail. It ''stung'' Vimes.

* Arguably, the hypocrisy inherent in the fundamentalist dwarves' attempts to prevent knowledge of the Low and Diamond Kings' message from spreading, when one realizes they were erasing recorded words.

** Except that Carrot states that the worst Dark Symbol requires the dwarf drawing it "wants it to happen with their very last breath." and Mr. Shine uses the fact that it was drawn by a dying dwarf to identify the symbol. Basically, unless you want to hypotheses an even worse symbol than the Summoning Dark, the dwarf would have to be dead before the Dark could have infected Vimes.

* Troll teeth are made of diamond. Mr Shine is made of diamond. Mr Shine is made of teeth...
** This Troper applies this logic thusly: Human Fingernails are made of Keratin, Human hair is made of Keratin, Humans grow fingernails from their heads...

* Angua points out to Carrot, after returning from her trek through the mud, that the [[spoiler:dwarf who painted the Summoning Dark rune on the door in his own blood was probably still alive]] when she and Vimes went down into the Long Dark mine with Ardent. Vimes gashed his hand on a nail/rivet on one of the water-tight doors while he was down there. Ardent caught up with him about that moment, quite flustered by Vimes' going down a tunnel without him. Ardent explained it as "this is a mine, there are dangers!" Once you consider the fact that [[spoiler: somewhere down there, one of the miners was dying because of Ardent and the grags]], it adds a little more color to Ardent's sudden concern for Vimes looking around.
* Angua also mentions at the time that there wouldn't be a nail in a metal door, and leaving a rivet/weld sharp enough to cut yourself on is exceptionally poor engineering practice and totally uncharacteristic of dwarfs. [[spoiler: The cut wasn't from anything physical - it was Vimes being "infected" by the Summoning Dark, in much the same way that it left a scar after it left.]]
* Arguably, [[spoiler:the hypocrisy inherent in the fundamentalist dwarves' attempts to prevent knowledge of the Low and Diamond Kings' message from spreading, when one realizes they were erasing recorded words]].

* It's mentioned in the scene where Carrot, Angua, and Sally are investigating the crime scene that every deep dwarf has a draht, a unique identifier tattooed on their right wrist. [[spoiler: The Summoning Dark leaves an "exit wound" scar on Vimes' right wrist - so from now on, any dwarf automatically/reflexively looking for a draht would see ''the Summoning Dark'' staring back.]]
* After Vimes 'cuts' his hand on the 'rivet' in the door (see above), Igor goes on about 'tiny invisible biting creatures' (lisp omitted). Now, imagine that [[spoiler: in the form of the Summoning Dark. A tiny invisible biting creature, eating its way into his mind...]]

* When Grag Bashfullsson starts wondering if [[spoiler: the Summoning Dark]] is following the other grags. Later on, we realize that it is. [[spoiler: Right inside Samuel Vimes, who is following them.]]

* [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou The graphic featured on the title page and used to separate blocks of text throughout the book]] is the [[NightmareFuel Summoning Dark]] rune, [[spoiler: representing an unbelievably ancient, [[EldritchAbomination quasidemonic entity]] of pure {{revenge}}, summoned with a dying dwarf's last breath [[CouldntFindAPen in his own blood]], that in order to have an effect in the world must [[DemonicPossession choose a champion to possess and inspire killing rampages]].]] What happens when you shut the book? [[spoiler:You leave that rune in the dark... Of course, it ''is'' in there with the Guarding Dark.]]

* Angua points out to Carrot, after returning from her trek through the mud, that the [[spoiler:dwarf who painted the Summoning Dark rune on the door in his own blood was probably still alive]] when she and Vimes went down into the Long Dark mine with Ardent. Vimes gashed his hand on a nail/rivet on one of the water-tight doors while he was down there. Ardent caught up with him about that moment, quite flustered by Vimes' going down a tunnel without him. Ardent explained it as "this is a mine, there are dangers!" Once you consider the fact that [[spoiler: somewhere down there, one of the miners was dying because of Ardent and the grags]], it adds a little more color to Ardent's sudden concern.

* One for longtime readers of the series: in the famous "THAT! IS!! NOT!!! MY!!!! COW!!!!!" line... well, look at it. One more exclamation point for each word. Remember how both Reaper Man and Maskerade discussed how five exclamation marks is a sure sign of madness? Well, it's a much less comedic use here since it's in the middle of Vimes' climactic struggle with the Summoning Dark, but still...
* It's mentioned in the scene where Carrot, Angua, and Sally are investigating the crime scene that every deep dwarf has a draht, a unique identifier tattooed on their right wrist. [[spoiler: The Summoning Dark leaves an "exit wound" scar on Vimes' right wrist - so from now on, any dwarf automatically looking for a draht would see ''the Summoning Dark''.]]

* When Grag Bashfullsson starts wondering if [[spoiler: the Summoning Dark]] is following the other grags. Later on, we realize that it is. [[spoiler: Right inside Samuel Vimes.]]
* When Vimes and co are bowling along to Koom Valley in the magic coaches, the narrative notes that the landscape ahead looks bluish, while the landscape behind has a "relatively red tint". They're ''[[Literature/ThiefOfTime slicing time.]]''

* The Dwarfs fanatically respect the written word and their lore. Yet, at some point since Koom Valley, their priest class systematically defaced written versions of their origin myth so that the part about Trolls was ''completely reversed'' in their culture's collective memory. '''That''' was the depth of their unthinking hatred: to defile everything they claimed to hold sacred in order to retroactively justify that hate. They probably thought they were heroes for doing it, too.

* [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou The graphic featured on the title page and used to separate blocks of text throughout the book]] is the [[NightmareFuel Summoning Dark]] rune, [[spoiler: representing an unbelievably ancient, [[EldritchAbomination quasidemonic entity]] of pure {{revenge}}, summoned with a dying dwarf's last breath [[CouldntFindAPen in his own blood]], that in order to have an effect in the world must [[DemonicPossession choose a champion to possess and inspire killing rampages]].]] And what happens when you shut the book? [[spoiler:You leave that rune in the dark... Of course, it ''is'' in there with the Guarding Dark.]]
* The Dwarfs fanatically respect the written word and their lore. And yet, at some point since Koom Valley, their priest class systematically defaced written versions of their origin myth so that the part about Trolls was ''completely reversed'' in their culture's collective memory. '''That''' was the depth of their unthinking hatred: to defile everything they claimed to hold sacred in order to retroactively justify that hate. They probably thought they were heroes for doing it, too.

* Angua also mentions at the time that there wouldn't be a nail in a metal door. And leaving a rivet/weld sharp enough to cut yourself on is exceptionally poor engineering practice and totally uncharacteristic of dwarfs. [[spoiler: The cut wasn't from anything physical - it was Vimes being "infected" by the Summoning Dark, in much the same way that it left a scar after it left.]]

* When Vimes and co are bowling along to Koom Valley in the magic coaches, the narrative notes that the landscape ahead looks bluish, while the landscape behind has a "relatively red tint". They're ''[[Discworld/ThiefOfTime slicing time.]]''

* Arguably [[spoiler:the fundamentalist dwarves' attempts to prevent knowledge of the kings' message from spreading, when one realizes they were erasing recorded words]].

** They were most likely just moving at relativistic speed and are experiencing blueshift and redshift, which also occur while time-slicing. The speed of light on the Disc is quite low. Pratchett even uses relatively to describe the redness behind them.

** They were most likely just moving at relativistic speed and are experiencing blueshift and redshift, which also occur while time-slicing . The speed of light on the Disc is quite low. Pratchett even uses relatively to describe the redness behind them.

* When Vimes and co are bowling along to Koom Valley in the magic coaches, the narrative notes that the landscape behind looks bluish, while the landscape in front has a relatively red tint. They're ''[[Discworld/ThiefOfTime slicing time.]]''