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Tear Jerker / Interesting Times

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  • The death of Twoflower's wife. It is the only time Rincewind has ever seen Twoflower look anything other than happy, contented and trusting. Later, of course, he challenges the villainous Lord Hong to a duel to the death as payback — which is also highly out of character for Twoflower. And as we all know, O.O.C. Is Serious Business.
    Rincewind: I was, er, I was sorry to hear that your wife, er—
    Twoflower: Things happen in war. I have two dutiful daughters.
    Rincewind opened his mouth to say something but Twoflower's bright, brittle smile froze the words in his throat.
    • The fact that Twoflower's wife was basically caught in a crossfire just makes it even more heartbreaking.
    • Twoflower's daughters try to turn him away from revenge by pointing out that the Lord responsible for their mother's demise has no idea about it, but it makes it even worse for Twoflower. Because his wife is only a statistic to the Lord. The love of his life was a mere pawn a nobleman just discarded away in the trash, as he never bothered to think a mere common woman might have a value of her own. And Twoflower just can't accept this.
  • Cohen the Barbarian asks about his comrades in the middle of a fight. He learns that most of them are dead, and a Heroic BSoD sets in as he realizes he and the Silver Horde are the last of their kind in a world that has moved on from barbarian fantasy into urban civilization.
    • There's a Call-Back to the Color of Magic, which featured Hrun the Barbarian. He was last seen taking control of the Wyrmberg, a stronghold with dragon riders. It's mentioned that he's now become a member of the Watch, so that he gets a pension. Noone knows what happened to him, but him having to move with the times is a sobering thought for the Horde, who are twice his age.
  • The Luggage got a wife and kids in this story, but when Rincewind leaves the Empire he has to bid them farewell and follow his master.
  • Having spent virtually all his life as The Ace in whatever he sought to do and essentially controlling the Empire by proxy, Lord Hong's ultimate goal is to rise to power in Ankh Morpork and play chess with the Patrician. He even spent months having spies travel to the city, carefully ordering specific pieces of clothing until he had a complete set of clothing that fit the description of a Morpork noble. Amidst his detachment from virtually everything else, Hong literally trembling with anticipation as he periodically tries on the clothes is... heartbreaking. For all the evil he's done, he practically becomes a tragic villain when you realize that he's been The Ace ever since he could walk and talk, but it doesn't matter when the populace of the Empire will grovel at the feet of anyone with a horse. He wants nothing more than to rise to power in a city where he has to earn his respect by his own merits.
    • When you think about it in those terms, dying before ever getting to Ankh-Morpork is the best possible thing that could have happened to him, because the book points out that there's no way he could get to the top solely on his own merits. Being The Ace in a culture that has stagnated as much as his has wouldn't translate into the practical skills necessary to survive in Ankh-Morpork. He'd have to buy his way in which is exactly what he wanted to avoid. The narrator points out that far from the respect and awe he imagines, the Morporkians would laugh and throw half-bricks at the toff.

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