History Literature / Maskerade

The 18th Literature/{{Discworld}} novel, and the fourth or fifth in the 'witches' theme. Its purpose within the theme is to bridge ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'' and ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'', which it does by means of an [[TwiceToldTale extended parody]] of the 1925 silent film version of ''Film/{{The Phantom of the Opera|1925}}''.

Preceded by ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'', followed by ''Discworld/FeetOfClay''. Preceded in the Witches series by ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'', followed by ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum''.

* AscendedExtra: Agnes briefly appeared in ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'', and goes on to have a prominent role in ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum''.

* BrickJoke: From [[Discworld/LordsAndLadies four books ago]]. In preparation for his wedding to Magrat, Verence tried to get a book on "[[TheTalk marital arts]]", but ended up with one on ''martial'' arts instead. Apparently he has since succeeded, since Nanny found such a book in the castle and spent a few minutes drawing moustaches on all the illustrations.

** Obscure, but Mr. Bucket's remark about "a dreadful bend in the road" might be referring to Dead Man's Curve, where Susan's parents and [[spoiler: Mr. Clete]] were killed in road accidents in ''Discworld/SoulMusic''.
** Also, several to ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'', such as the brief mention of another Carter son named after a vice, Deviousness Carter.
** The happy greetings Granny Weatherwax receives when she and Nanny Ogg show up at Mrs. Palm's looking for a place to stay while in the city, due to all the witching she did for them back in ''Discworld/EqualRites''. (Much to Nanny's astonishment, who assumes Granny doesn't realize the place is a brothel.)
** There's a mention of how the show went on even when a dragon was roosting on the roof of the opera house, which happened in ''Discworld/GuardsGuards''.

** When Granny is getting a makeover, the beautician remarks that she has excellent skin and she sadly agrees, which is a nod to the bit in ''Equal Rites'' about how she's always regretted having a good complexion because a few warts would make her look more witchy. And when the hairdresser asks how she has such good hair she says "You have to make sure there's no newts in the water", which is a nod to a joke in ''Discworld/ReaperMan''.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: [[spoiler:Andre]] being a secret policeman becomes this after ''Discworld/NightWatch''. While most of this isn't too much of a problem - it makes sense for Vimes would recruit undercover policemen - there's a whacking great problem with the name. Specifically, the idea that he would ''ever'' create anything even ''approximating'' a secret police division that's named the 'Cable Street Particulars' after the reveal of what the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName original Particulars were like]] makes about as much sense as UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi advocating the foundation of a Fourth Reich. However, ''Night Watch'' takes place after/during time shattering, so it's possible to {{handwave}} this as a side effect of history being put together imperfectly.

* HumanityEnsues: The human-form Greebo the cat from ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'' reappears, pressed into service as Granny's fake paramour and bodyguard.
* HurricaneOfPuns: In the grand tradition of Discworld/MovingPictures and Discworld/SoulMusic, [[spoiler: Walter's]] opera titles are all puns on popular musicals.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Unlike the other witches books where there is some sort of overt great magical threat, like TheFairFolk in ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'' or Lily in ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'', ''Maskerade'' is a murder mystery more akin to the watch books.

* WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma: Played with incessantly. An earlier statement in ''Discworld/ReaperMan'' that "five exclamation marks are the sure sign of a diseased mind" is expanded on here, to the point where a character's ongoing descent into madness is marked by the [[PaintingTheMedium number of exclamation marks after his statements]]. When he hits five, he's gone over the edge.

The 18th Literature/{{Discworld}} novel, and the fourth or fifth in the 'witches' theme. Its purpose within the theme is to bridge ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'' and ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'', which it does by means of an [[TwiceToldTale extended parody]] of the 1925 silent film version of ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera''.

* BrutalHonesty: One the Ghost's defining character traits, with responses to questions tending to be along these lines. He's not doing it to be cruel, but some of his responses can be absolutely ''vicious'' in their accuracy, particularly in his response to Agnes (pretending to be Christine in the dark) when she says [[ButHeSoundsSoHandsome (correctly) that "Perdita" is much better than 'her' (Christine)]].

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Commander Vimes does this off-screen. He sends Detritus and Corporal Nobbs to act as "undercover officers" in the last act of the book. The attention on them leaves the ''real'' undercover officer, [[spoiler:André]], free to get on with things.

* BrickJoke: From [[Discworld/LordsAndLadies four books ago]]. In preparation for his wedding to Magrat, Verence tried to get a book on "[[TheTalk marital arts]]", but ended up with one on ''martial'' arts instead. Apparently he has since succeeded, since Nanny found such a book in the castle and spent a few minutes drawing mustaches on all the illustrations.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: A deconstruction. Granny constantly feels people ''should'' be skeptical when she displays her magical powers, and observe that the same things could be done with trickery. If she knows you're at the door, she might have looked out a window. If she blocks a sword blade with her bare hands, she might have had a steel plate in her palm. (In truth, she didn't look out the window, and she actually did a BarehandedBladeBlock, but she still feels that people ''ought'' to be looking for common-sense explanations.)

* BrutalHonest: One the Ghost's defining character traits, with responses to questions tending to be along these lines. He's not doing it to be cruel, but some of his responses can be absolutely ''vicious'' in their accuracy, particularly in his response to Agnes (pretending to be Christine in the dark) when she says [[ButHeSoundsSoHandsome (correctly) that "Perdita" is much better than 'her' (Christine)]].

* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: Salzella and Bucket agree never to mention their harrowing lunch with Granny Weatherwax again. Understandable, given that [[spoiler: they were subject to the full force of Granny Weatherwax while also suffering severely from the effects of Nanny Ogg's [[OrgasmicallyDelicious aphrodisiac]] chocolate sauce.]]

* LovePotion: The chocolate sauce recipe Nanny Ogg uses in one scene has ''interesting'' effects on some of the people who try it. There's nothing magical about it, though, it's merely a powerful natural aphrosidiac.

* ButHeSoundsHandsome: When the Ghost offers "Perdita" singing lessons thinking she's Christine[[note]]Christine and Agnes switched rooms, but he can't tell because it's dark and Agnes decides to play along to find out what he wants[[/note]] she can't resist telling him, "Perdita is a lot better than me". She quickly comes to regret it, because he responds by telling her precisely why he doesn't consider Perdita worth his time.

** At least one of the girls who Nanny dismisses as no longer qualified to replace Magrat was one of Lucy 'Diamonda' Tokley's friends in the previous book. (She appears in the next, too, if you remember her from this mention.)

* TheDitz: Christine

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: [[spoiler:Andre]] being a secret policeman becomes this after ''Discworld/NightWatch''. The idea that Vimes would ''ever'' create a secret police division named the 'Cable Street Particulars' after the reveal of what the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName original Particulars were like]] makes about as much sense as UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi advocating the foundation of a Fourth Reich. However, ''Night Watch'' takes place after/during time shattering, so it's possible to {{handwave}} this as a side effect of history being put together imperfectly.

* MakeMeWannaShout: Frustrated and finally sick of the hypocrisy of the opera house, Agnes lets out a scream so high she breaks glass, splinters wood, distorts metal and just generally does a good deal of damage to the building.

** Death's [[AC:All I have is four ones.]] could be a reference to a Bugs Bunny cartoon, featuring Bugs lamenting in a game of poker that he only has 'a pair of ones... and another pair of ones.'

** Also death during his [[ChessWithDeath poker hand with Granny]] for the life of the innkeeper's son; it's implied he knows ''damn well'' that 4 aces beats 4 queens, but he figures he can get away with "losing" if he pretends to think it's "four ones".

* MagicPokerEquation: For the NarrativeCausality of the Discworld, a poker game for the life of a young girl is obviously important enough to qualify. That is why Granny draws four queens and Death gets four aces - which he immediately proclaims to be "four ones" and thus the losing hand.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Perdita X. Dream, the name Agnes gives to herself. The "X" just stands for "Someone who has a cool and exciting middle initial", and the earthy folk of Lancre just don't get it, calling her "That girl who calls herself Perditax".

With the loss of Magrat to her royal calling, Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax find themselves with a coven of two. Their eye falls on the expansive Agnes Nitt, who prefers calling herself [[AwesomeMcCoolname Perdita X Dream]] (or, as the women of Lancre say, "that girl who calls herself Perditax"). Agnes, though, has no interest in witches, and wants to be an opera singer. Stealing away to Ankh-Morpork, she soon finds herself (and her amazing voice) as a vocal understudy to the skinnier but much dumber and less melodious Christine.

'''Granny:''' Really? There's a word for people like that.\\

** A line early on from someone working in a printing press mentions that they accidentally printed "famine" with seven letters, a reference to a misprint from GoodOmens in which the character [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Famine]] is described as signing his name with seven letters.

** Nanny Ogg's boy Nev is (despite her protestations to the contrary) a thief. Or con man. Or fiddler. And in the wide, wonderful world of Discworld opera, where does he hang out? [[Theater/FiddlerOnTheRoof On the roof.]]

The 18th Literature/{{Discworld}} novel, and the fourth or fifth in the 'witches' theme. Its purpose within the theme is to bridge ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'' and ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'', which it does by means of an [[TwiceToldTale extended parody]] of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera''.

** After [[spoiler:Salzella's]] demise, Death comes to collect him. However, unlike his other appearances, he is bedecked much like the Phantom of the Opera in the masquerade scene of the musical: head to toe red evening dress. It also includes a cartoonishly unnecessary paper mask of a skull. But one must suppose you have to put a [[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe Masque on a Red Death.]]

** Although there is also the implication that he was scared of her. [[spoiler: She admits that, if she had lost, the first thing she would have done would be to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu break his arm]].]] A implication heavily reduced by her behavior towards Death compared to others tho.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: When Mr Bucket is told that the opera spends a small fortune on ballett shoes because they wear out so fast, he instructs the ballerinas to incorporate more high jumps into their choreographies and stand on tip-toe when possible. Guess which activities wear out these shoes the most...

** A line early on from someone working in a printing press mentions that they accidentally printed "famine" with seven letters, a reference to a misprint from {{GoodOmens}} in which the character [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Famine]] is described as signing his name with seven letters.

** Mrs Lawsley would rather be at the music hall listening to Nellie Stamp sing "She Sits Among the Cabbages and Leeks". This is a reference to a Marie Lloyd song which was originally "She Sits Among the Cabbages and Peas", but was changed to "Leeks" when MoralGuardians objected to the double meaning (but not, you will note, to actually remove that meanig in any way).