History Literature / ThiefOfTime

** [[spoiler:Ronnie Soak, also known as Kaos]].

* SmokyGentlemensClub: Ankh-Morpork has one, of a sort, where men of the city can get away from women. It's not ''that'' kind of gentleman's club, which is a little down the street and much better decorated. This is just a place where men who've spent their entire life being told what to do by women can sit down, put their feet up and loosen their belts for a bit. Death is allowed in, because of ''course'' he's a gentleman (he owns property in country, is punctual and impeccably polite). Women are not allowed in. Any woman who does get in obviously doesn't really exist, and can be ignored, as Susan demonstrates when she goes to pay granddad a visit.

* LoopholeAbuse: Used by the Horsemen in the climax, [[spoiler:as they decide to fight the Auditors on humanity's behalf]]:
-->'''Death:''' [[spoiler:[[AC:While it is true we have to ride out, it doesn't say anywhere against ''whom''.]] ]]

** [[spoiler: Chaos (Ronnie Soak) has an impossibly cold sword, and, like Death, the ability to be where he needs to be. He uses the sword to keep milk cold, and the ability to deliver milk and dairy products to everyone in Ankh-Morpork. Every day. At ''precisely'' 7 AM. Everywhere.]]

Preceded by ''Literature/TheTruth'', followed by ''Literature/NightWatchDiscworld''. The inciting incident of ''Night Watch'' is directly caused by the climax of ''Thief of Time,'' so these books are closely connected, despite being part of different "series." This is the final novel to feature cover art by Josh Kirby, who would pass away before ''Night Watch'' was published. Paul Kidby would take on the role of cover artist for the rest of the series.

* BadassGrandpa: "[[RuleNumberOne Rule One]]: Never act incautiously when confronting a little bald wrinkly smiling man!"
** "Rule 19: "Always remember Rule One and ask yourself, ''why was it created in the first place?''

Preceded by ''Literature/TheTruth'', followed by ''Literature/NightWatchDiscworld''. The inciting incident of ''Night Watch'' is directly caused by the climax of ''Thief of Time,'' so these books are closely connected, despite being part of different "series." This is the final novel to feature cover art by Josh Kirby who would pass away before ''Night Watch'' was published. Paul Kidby would take on the role of cover artist for the rest of the series.

Preceded by ''Literature/TheTruth'', followed by ''Literature/NightWatch''. The inciting incident of ''Night Watch'' is directly caused by the climax of ''Thief of Time,'' so these books are closely connected, despite being part of different "series." This is the final novel to feature cover art by Josh Kirby who would pass away before ''Night Watch'' was published. Paul Kidby would take on the role of cover artist for the rest of the series.

Meanwhile, another foundling called Lobsang Ludd has been taken away by the History Monks and is taught their disciplines - chiefly chronological kung fu. A difficult but know-it-all student, he is apprenticed to Lu-Tze (from ''Discworld/SmallGods''), spoken of with fear yet claiming to be only a simple sweeper, and thus outside the system. Via their Mandala, the monks learn of the attempt to reconstruct the Glass Clock, and know that this time there's no hope of repairing history if it strikes. Merely a birth pang of the coming doom causes the room of Procrastinators (time manipulating machines) to go haywire, yet Lobsang somehow instinctively calms them. Lu-Tze, who failed to stop the first clock, is put on the case by the Abbot, a serial reincarnator currently in the body of a baby. He and Lobsang journey down towards Ankh-Morpork...

Preceded by ''Discworld/TheTruth'', followed by ''Discworld/NightWatch''. The inciting incident of ''Night Watch'' is directly caused by the climax of ''Thief of Time,'' so these books are closely connected, despite being part of different "series." This is the final novel to feature cover art by Josh Kirby who would pass away before ''Night Watch'' was published. Paul Kidby would take on the role of cover artist for the rest of the series.

Preceded in the Death/Susan subseries by ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}''.

* CallBack: Lu-Tze and the Abbot first appear as minor characters in ''Discworld/SmallGods''. Young monks hanging around Mrs. Cosmopilite's dress shop to seek enlightenment was a gag reference in ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad''.

* ContinuityNod: In reference to the ContinuitySnarl mentioned below, Lu-Tze points out several issues that fans have pointed out over the years about ''Discworld'' continuity as examples of problems caused by the new patchwork history. For example, there's the opera house/theatre business and the fact that Ephebe's philosophers are so long-lived (they appear both in ''Discworld/{{Pyramids}}'' and ''Discworld/SmallGods'', set about a century earlier). Also a FandomNod.

** Susan asks if Lobsang has "rhythm in his soul", a reference to ''Discworld/SoulMusic''.
** During the headmistress's interview with Susan, it's mentioned that one of the children who'd been terrified of bogeymen before joining Susan's class has now started hunting for them with her father's sword in hand. Sounds like [[Discworld/{{Hogfather}} belief in the poker]] is transferable to other implements too.
** This isn't the first time a Discworld character has crafted the masterpiece he'd dreamed of using notes scribbled all over his bedclothes: when filming ''Blown Away'' in ''Discworld/MovingPictures'', Dibbler had Detritus carry his whole bed around so he could consult the script.

* ContinuitySnarl: In-universe example, this is what happened to Discworld history after the first Glass Clock struck and the History Monks were unable to completely repair it. There's even a ShoutOut to specific continuity errors fans have previously pointed out, such as some characters crossing over between ''Discworld/{{Pyramids}}'' and ''Discworld/SmallGods'' despite the books taking place decades apart ([[EpilepticTrees ... probably]]) and the setting up of a Shakespearean-style theatre being new and radical in ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'' when it turns out that the city has had a Victorian-style opera house for many years in ''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}''.

** It's mentioned in passing that Susan has met the Tooth Fairy, the Soul Cake Duck, and Old Man Trouble. The Tooth Fairy encounter took place in ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'', and Old Man Trouble patronizes Biers like Susan does, but the Soul Cake Duck never appears in any Discworld novel.

* UnusualEuphemism: One of the Auditors starts spouting absolutely [[Discworld/TheTruth ---ing]] ''[[spoiler:organ]]ic'' modifiers and interjections after discovering how unpleasant it is to have a body and failing to express her frustration through normal human expletives.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/terry_pratchett_thief_of_time.jpg]]

** Susan's classroom forays to distant cities or ancient battles are similar to Ms. Frizzle's "field trips" in ''TheMagicSchoolBus''.

* ColourfulThemeNaming: Thanks to [=LeJean=] blurting something out upon first introducing them, the other Auditors are all named Mr or Miss [Colour] -- possibly a ShoutOut to ''Film/ReservoirDogs''. Or else a shout-out to the British board game ''Cluedo'' (named ''Clue'' in the American version), with characters named "Colonel Mustard", "Reverend Green", "Miss Scarlett", "Dr. Black", etc.
** The naming convention of the incarnated Auditors also has a certain resemblance to the Strangers from ''Film/DarkCity''.
** The theme of Auditors in human form all dressing in monochrome grey -- grey clothes, grey hats, grey shoes -- might be a {{homage}} to the Grey Gentlemen in Creator/MichaelEnde's fantasy novel ''Literature/{{Momo}}'', published in 1973 (alternative titles in English were ''The Grey Gentlemen'' or ''The Men in Grey''). The villanous (and non-human) Grey Gentlemen were also called "time thieves" because they stole time from humans by persuading them to "save" time and deposit it in the Grey Gentlemen's time banks to be paid back with interest at an unspecified date.
** Refer also to Creator/MichaelMoorcock. In his scifi novel ''The Final Countdown'', time-travelling hero ''Jerry Cornelius'' - another J.C. - is duped by his adversary Miss ''Brunner'' into helping to devise a supercomputer that puts a stop to human history - ending effectively the passage of time...

** Alternatively, another J.C. who is described as a ''chrononaut on the seas of Time'' is Creator/MichaelMoorcock's [[Literature/TheCorneliusChronicles Jerry Cornelius]]. And Moorcock's novel ''The Final Countdown'' sets Jerry Cornelius against an Auditor-like nemesis called ''Miss Brunner'' (cf "Miss Brown") who also uses him to help build a machine that brings Time and therefore history to a dead stop.

* See also ColourfulThemeNaming above.

* ColourfulThemeNaming: Thanks to Lejean blurting something out upon first introducing them, the other Auditors are all named Mr or Miss [Colour] -- possibly a ShoutOut to ''Film/ReservoirDogs''. Or else a shout-out to the British board game ''Cluedo'' (named ''Clue'' in the American version), with characters named "Colonel Mustard", "Reverend Green", "Miss Scarlett", "Dr. Black", etc.

* MeaningfulName: Doubles as punny -- Wen the Eternally Surprised. His name sounds like "when", and interestingly enough, ''wen'' in Chinese means "to ask a question", which he did after his enlightenment.
** Myria [=LeJean=], [[spoiler:Myriad Legion]]. After [[spoiler:Susan convinces her that it's no good to build her confidence on numbers]], she changes her name to [[spoiler:Unity.]]

* MistakenForProfound: Lu-Tze thinks what Mrs. Marietta Cosmopolite says is deep wisdom.
** It shows up Lobsang, who assumes the Way is more mystical, when Lu-Tze manages to use the Way to ignore the cold by [[spoiler:wearing a masterfully crafted pair of longjohns made by Mrs. Cosmopolite.]] Lu-Tze is later called a master at seeing "the wisdom hidden in plain sight."

* SdrawkcabAlias: [[spoiler:Ronnie ''Soak''.]]
** According to Pratchett, [[spoiler:he only realized who Soak really was a minute or two before Lu-Tze did, and ran into a bathroom with a pen and a piece of paper to check to see if it was recognizeable when it's mirrored]].

** "Jeremy Clockson" is almost certainly a pun on Jeremy Clarkson of ''Series/TopGear'', though the two don't share anything apart from the name (and, possibly, a fascination with engineering). This is debated ''[[http://disc.osiris-web.com/mediawiki/index.php/Talk:Jeremy_Clockson here]]'' on the L-Space Wiki. It may be another case of Tuckerisation?

** And ''Jeremy'' and ''Jerry'' are variations on the Biblical name ''Jeremiah'' - a harbinger and a prophet of bad news, hailed by Christians as one of the Biblical prophets of the End Times, ie the end of human history in the Apocalypse.

** Lu-Tze being a simple sweeper might also be a ShoutOut to the wuxia novel ''Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils'', where the most powerful character is a sweeping monk in the Shaolin temple who only appears in a few scenes and is never named.
*** His name is also a distortion of [[Creator/{{Laozi}} Lao Tzu]], the legendary founder of Taoism.

** Death breaks it to the Angel of the Prophecy of Tobrun that the Omnian Church has written him out of canon, deciding that the prophecy was actually a metaphor for the struggles of the early Church, which is a reference to a similar controversy over the Biblical Book of Revelation.
*** In the same vein, the idea of Kaos being the Fifth Horseman and riding in a chariot stems from a controversy over whether, when the Book of Revelation says "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him", is this a description, or is Hell (or Hades) supposed to be a separate entity, making five in total?

** To several works of music that Terry would be familiar with. As with ''Soul Music'', rock tracks are freely referenced, with a theme of the passing of time and history:
** The clocks ticking in Jeremy's shop - until they all chime at once: to Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon''. Or possibly the opening scene of ''Film/BackToTheFuture''. (Or both.)
** Death's soliloquy on Space being dark, deep, cold and lonely: directly quoted from ''Music/{{Hawkwind}}'s ''Space is Dark,'' written by Creator/MichaelMoorcock.
** When Lobsang slows time so far the world goes from blue to, er, ''Music/DeepPurple'', is he then a "Child In Time"?
** When Susan and Lobsang meet after time is frozen, she asks if he's got rhythm, then if he's got music. She then observes "And you certainly haven't got a girl. I saw Old Man Trouble just a while ago, you'd best avoid him" which is a reference to the song "Who Could Ask For Anything More" by Music/IrvingBerlin.

* ThatMakesMeFeelAngry: The Auditors in human form reporting their emotions without knowing the term for it. Including pain...
* ThemeNaming: The Auditors with colours, so much so that they run out of colours and start calling themselves things like Mr. Taupe, for example.