History Literature / MenAtArms

* FirearmsAreRevolutionary: It's revealed that the Disc's greatest inventor came up with a revolver rifle, which briefly terrorizes Ankh-Morpork when it's stolen by an unhinged assassin. Something about the "gonne"'s singular nature and sheer killing power turned it into an EvilWeapon capable of possessing its wielders, and it actively enforces FantasyGunControl by killing an artisan that was trying to duplicate it. When the thing is finally defeated, it's buried forever with a fallen guardsman so that he can have a peerless weapon in the afterlife.

* RedHerring: It turns out [[spoiler: Edward d'Eath, despite all the foreshadowing surrounding his unstable mind and, you know, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast family name]], only ever killed one person during the story, and that was quite by accident.]]

* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: [[spoiler:Werewolf!]]Angua can tell immediately when Carrot's been hurt, even if she's halfway across the city.

* BeneathNotice: It's established early on in the book that Carrot knows just about ''everyone'' in Ankh-Morpork. Then, later on, it's shown how low down the totem pole the late Lettuce Nibbs was that Carrot ''doesn't'' know who she was when he and Angua are called in to investigate her murder.

* [[IncrediblyLamePun Incredibly Lame Pune Or Play On Words]]:

** On Vimes's retirement gift: "A Watch from, your Old Freinds in the Watch" (sic)

** Beano the clown isn't comforted when Edward d'Earth says his death was "nothing personal." In fact, that makes him feel even worse - he died for what amounts to no reason.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: [[spoiler:Angua]]
* PaintingTheMedium: Edward D'eath can think in ''italics''.

** "A man would have to be a fool to break into the Assassins' Guild," he said. (Itself a re-use or CallBack to the same ProphecyTwist from ''Literature/WyrdSisters'').

* ThrowTheBookAtThem: ''[[{{Doorstopper}} How To Kille Insects]]''

* MeaningfulName: The gonne. It could stand for: [[OneHitKill those it's pointed at]] are gone. It could also mean: [[EvilWeapon those who hold it]] are gone. Or it could just be a heavier pronunciation of the word ''gun''. 'Gonne' is in fact a real early word for the earliest hand-held guns.

** Early in the book, Carrot talks down about the undead--saying they're just not "our type of people," and they should go back to where they came from. This is a marked contrast with how open, tolerant, and understanding Carrot is of just about everyone in later books. (To be fair, [[spoiler:becoming romantically involved with a werewolf]] probably gave him a new perspective.)

* ProbabilityPileup: It's mentioned that only a genius like Leonard da Quirm can invente a weapon so radically different from everything else Ankh-Morpork had ever seen --aka the gonne. However, once the gonne is invented, all it takes to make more of them is a clever craftsman, which the city has plenty of. Bjorn Hammerhock is murdered [[spoiler:by the gonne]] specifically to prevent him from reverse-engineering and reproducing the invention.

* GagBoobs:
** While being only realistically large for a sexy lady with an athletic lifestyle, and thus far smaller than the pair used for this trope, Angua's ''are'' the subject of a throwaway joke related to their size.
** There is also a literal example of gag boobs in the form of the Fools' Guild main gate door-[[StealthPun knocker]], "shaped like a pair of artificial breasts, the kind that are highly amusing to rugby players and anyone whose sense of humour has been surgically removed."

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Among the trollish members of the Watch, anyway. ''Their'' oath runs along the lines of, "I will do what I'm told, or else I get my ''[[PardonMyKlingon goohuloog]]'' head kicked in." Detritus puts in a [[DopeSlap practical demonstration]] mid-oath at one point.

-->In a million universes, [[BreakingTheFourthWall this was a very short book]].

* [[ChekhovsGun Chekhovs Gonne:]] The retirement present watch and how it runs accurately whereas the rest of the city's clocks are slightly ahead.

-->DON'T ARSK US ABOUT:
-->rocks
-->troll's with sticks
-->All sorts of dragons
-->Mrs Cake
-->Huje green things with teeth
-->Any kinds of black dogs with orange eyebrows
-->Rains of spaniel's
-->fog.
-->Mrs Cake

--> '''Vimes''': But when the bells stop... I won't be a guard any more.
--> ...The little metallic sound as Vimes' badge bounced on the floor filled it from edge to edge.

---> '''Colon''': This, men, is your truncheon. ''Hand'' you will look ''after'' it. You will eat with hit, you will sleep with hit, you-
---> '''Cuddy''': How do we eat with it, sergeant? Do we use it as a knife or fork or cut it down the middle for chopsticks or what?
---> '''Angua''': And how exactly do we sleep with it?
---> '''Nobby''': *snigger*

---> '''Detritus''': Where you from, Bauxite?
---> '''Bauxite''': Slice Mountain, but -
---> '''Detritus''': Slice Mountain! ''Slice Mountain?'' [[Film/AnOfficerAndAGentleman Only two things come from Slice Mountain! Rocks... an'... an'... other sortsa rocks!]] What kind ''you'', Bauxite?

--> '''Colon''': Forward, Lance-Constable Angua. Tell me, Lance-Constable, do you think you could kill a man?
--> '''Angua''': How long will I have?

* NoIndoorVoice: SILAS! CUMBERBATCH!
-->Didn't you used to be the town crier?\\
THAT'S RIGHT!

-->You killed Bjorn Hammerhock! The boy said you fired yourself! [[TheFarmerAndTheViper And he'd repaired you!]]\\
''You expect gratitude? [[UniquenessDecay He would have made another gonne.]]''

---> '''Vetinari:''' ... Oh, no. [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness He didn't hit the wall]]. I may have gone too far.

--> "Such people need watching. Preferably from a safe distance".

* PowerBornOfMadness: Big Fido. "Madness - true madness - can drive a fist through a plank."

-->Vimes had a room.
-->More or less. It was hard to tell. Even a prisoner in a cell manages to stamp his personality on it somewhere, but Angua had never seen such an unlived-in room.
-->"This is where he lives?" said Angua. "Good grief."
-->"What did you expect?"
-->"I don't know. Anything. Something. Not nothing."
-->There was a joyless iron bedstead. The springs and mattress had sagged so that they formed a sort of mold, forcing anyone who got into it to instantly fold into a sleeping position. There was a washstand, under a broken mirror. On the stand was a razor, carefully aligned toward the Hub because Vimes shared the folk belief that this kept it sharp. There was a brown wooden chair with the cane seat broken. And a small chest at the foot of the bed.
-->And that was all.
-->"I mean, at least a rug," said Angua. "A picture on the wall. Something."

* SubParSupremacist: The main subplot involves a flatulence-prone dog named Big Fido advocating that dogs should rise up against their human masters, and makes long speeches about the nobility and savagery of wolves despite never having met one and being a tiny poodle himself. [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler No prizes for guessing which short, grandiloquent politician Big Fido was based on.

* TakenOffTheCase: Vetinari once took Vimes off the gonne case because it was upsetting the rich and powerful. Of course, this was only done to further motivate Vimes, he didn't want to break his spirit or undermotivate him either so it was a delicate process.
* TapOnTheHead - {{Subverted}}: [[spoiler:It accidentally kills someone]].

--->Lord Vetinari stood up as he saw the Watch running towards him. That was why the first shot went through his thigh, instead of his chest.\\
Then Carrot cleared the door of the carriage and flung himself across the man, which is why the next shot went through Carrot.

** Vetinari's realisation that [[spoiler:he'd accidentally sent Vimes into a HeroicBSOD]]:
--->He didn't thump the wall. I may have gone too far.

--> "The Ramkins were more highly bred than a hilltop bakery, whereas Corporal Nobbs had been disqualified from the human race for shoving."

--> DON'T ARSK US ABOUT:
--> rocks
--> troll's with sticks
--> All sorts of dragons
--> Mrs Cake
--> Huje green things with teeth
--> Any kinds of black dogs with orange eyebrows
--> Rains of spaniel's
--> fog.
--> Mrs Cake
* DiscriminateAndSwitch: Angua the w[[spoiler:...erewolf]].