Night Watch - Tumblr Posts - Page 2
Hey guys! Today is May 25th, y'all know what that means...
-deep inhale-
JUSTICE!
FREEDOM!
TRUTH!
REASONABLY PRICED LOVE!
AND A HARD BOILED EGG!!!
happy glorious 25th of may
y'know having read them multiple times i don't understand why people say that Night Watch is the darkest City Watch book when Thud! is right there.
like, Night Watch is pretty grim when you focus on the inevitability of it, but throughout the book the whole like... THING of it is "being told something is inevitable, and fighting it anyway." it's a story about hope and inspiring it in others even when you're not sure you're going to make it through either way. right up until the final melee with Carcer, Vimes does what he can to forestall the inevitable, and for most of the book, he *wins.*
Thud! on the other hand is about fighting against the weight of deep ancient grudges, and the outcome of it SEEMS inevitable. Koom Valley Will Happen Again, and throughout the book there seems no way to stop it. the resolution comes right at the very end, although the book 100% earns the reveal. but it's one man and a small team fighting against bigotry and hatred and figureheads stoking war.
that's not even TOUCHING on the actual Events in the book, which include a hit squad armed with flamethrowers very nearly torching Sam Vimes' infant son to fucking death. then there's the whole thing with the Summoning Dark which keeps trying to push Vimes' rage to the point of murder, there's the part where it *succeeds* and drives him into an unstoppable berserker rage, there's people dying slowly in dark tunnels, and the Vurms which feasting on putrefied corpses.
it's also the first time we've seen Vimes in an actual Murderous rage. every time beforehand he's been angry but it's been "oh i'm gonna arrest the SHIT out of you. i might put the boot in for good measure but you're coming with ME, sunshine." but no, this time he's literally chasing down a hitman screaming "i'll kill you" over and over again.
Thud! is a properly dark book. and yet despite it's unrelenting horribleness... Love Still Wins. Love for your fellow "man." Love wins in all Pterry's books, you can tell, it shines off the page when you read them just how much that man loved humanity, warts 'n' all, but in this one it feels like it's the most optimistic ending. it's the one that goes "in spite of it all, the bigots and warmongers and the narrow minded Will Lose, because there are always people willing to go to the ends of the earth for Love, Love of one another."
i think that's why it's my favourite book in the series.
Okay so Dear My Followers Who Aren’t Discworld People,
I bet you get so FUCKING confused when I and dozens of others are putting all this “Glorious 25th of May” stuff on your dash and I’m sorry about that so let me TELL YOU what it’s ALL ABOUT okay but I had a couple shots too fast so bear with my lightweight ass.
It’s a thing from a book called Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. On May 25 in-universe, a thing happened called the “Glorious Revolution” where in this city called Ankh-Morpork the leader (Patrician) died (was sort of assassinated sort of induced into having a heart attack) and a new leader came to power. There was a lot of unrest in the city because the regular people were like Life Sucks We Want Things To Not Suck In These Particular Ways. So the Bad side of the police got dispatched to quell the rebellion and also the damn army got made involved, while there was a group of ragtag Good police who ended up just trying to actually keep the peace and protect the rebels so things would calm down, but a bunch of them got killed and the revolution ended with the new leader sucking almost as bad as the old leader and yeah everything still kinda sucked.
Fast forward a bunch of years to our hero Sam Vimes the commander of the Watch cops chasing a criminal and getting zapped back into the past by magical lightning no that’s not a joke. Vimes was a teenage new police recruit the first time the Glorious 25th happened and now he’s in the past having to pretend to be the guy who trained him the first time. As the same things happen as happened before in this pivotal moment in his life/the city’s history.
And like!! Vimes knows what’s going to happen! He knows people are going to die!! And he knows that if anything about the past changes too much, he won’t be able to go home to his proper present. But the criminal he was chasing got zapped back to the past too and could be fucking things up even worse due to being an asshole! So Vimes has to catch that guy so he can go back to the present and have justice be served.
BUT!!!! Even though he KNOWS he probably can’t save anyone who’s “supposed to die” and even though he KNOWS he’s doomed to lose everything he has in his present if things change too much (his wife! is about to have their child!)!!! HE TRIES TO SAVE PEOPLE. Because they’re good men!! And if the price of going home is NOT TRYING! and selling those good men to the night! He doesn’t want to pay it!!
So he TRIES. So fucking hard. Because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be Sam Vimes.
And okay anyway let’s not spoil the whole book KidK but anyway! When the good cops are out doing their duty trying to just help things be peaceful in the city, one of them is like “we should have some kind of banner or plume to show we’re in this together” and one of them is like “how about sprigs of lilac I mean they’re all over the place.” So that’s why lilac.
And that’s why Glorious 25th.
And the fandom decided to celebrate it as a remembrance of Terry Pratchett and as a Thing to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s because that’s what PTerry died of.
So that’s what this is all about. A really good book about time travel and found family and comradeship and trying your best against the worst kind of odds. And a really good author who shouldn’t be dead and trying to help others with his same illness.
That’s why lilac, that’s why 25th of May. Okay? Okay.
![A Reddit post to r/relationships from user ThrowRAlanternissues
title reads: My [26F] Boyfriend [28M] is Obsessed with a Lantern He Found at a Flea Market and It getting weird. How do I approach this?
post reads: Hello,
So, my boyfriend (28M) and I (26F) recently went to a flea market, and he found this old-style lantern that he absolutely fell in love with. He bought it on the spot, and I thought it was a cute little vintage decoration for our apartment. But now, things have taken a strange turn.
Ever since he got the lantern, he's become super attached to it. He keeps it by his bedside and even gets up in the middle of the night to walk around the apartment with it, pretending to be an old-timey watchman. He'll say things like "All is well!" or "The night is dark and full of terrors," and he really gets into character.
At first, I thought it was kind of funny and endearing as he always had an eccentric style of humour, but now it's starting to annoy me. He does this almost every night, and it's disrupting our sleep. I've tried talking to him about it, but he just tells me that he takes his watchman duties very seriously and that it's important for our safety. This issue is, I genuinely cannot tell if he’s joking.
Has anyone else experienced something like this? How do I get him to tone it down without hurting his feelings or making him feel like he can't enjoy his quirky interests?
Thanks for any advice!
TL;DR: Boyfriend is obsessed with an old lantern he found at a flea market and now pretends to be a night watchman, which is disrupting our sleep. How do I address this?](https://64.media.tumblr.com/c5517d1b456785f23e3396e8c83b34df/fad0484f177e2757-7b/s640x960/efe8d34ddeaaedbd3b80fcd99ab495a75890cbb0.png)
Don't lose your head
Some excellent moments from Nightwatch, in no particular order, because it's the 25th of May;
- reg shoe getting right back up after bein shot, being a zombie and,, just fuckin continuing to fight
- all of vimes' interactions with his younger self, all his criticizing and oh boy you're going to go through so much shit, here are some life hacks. so you can continue to live.
- mrs soupson, her knitting needles, and the fact that she has zero chill and is ready to stab Carcer.
- the. silver. cigar. case. how vimes is so desperate to go back home, but he also knows he won't be him if he makes it easy for history to let people die.
- and when he gets back home oh god. all his love and concern and worry, and he's drop-dead tired but that's not going to stop him
- ned coates. 'nuff said.
- young nobby is an absolute treasure, I will fight anyone who says otherwise
- the barricade and party scenes sorta happening side by side and madam
- just, the whole portrayal of revolution. the hope of people rising against their oppressors, the grubby high-politicking that seeks to change not-very-much-actually, the confusion and rampant violence and acts of breathtaking horror because people are so afraid and
- the cocoa on the steps of the watch house scene.
- lu tze is fantastic okay.
- young vetinari. I love the entire graveyard scene at the end, and then vimes flicks his cigar over the wall "and the world turns towards morning"
- YOU HAVE REACHED THE END OF CAKE.
Okay I need to shut up and go to sleep.
When I was little, I wanted to be a Bond girl. Now that I'm older, I want to be a Bond Villain. They have so much more fun and you know it. Luckily, there are characters in pop culture that are managing to be both a Bond girl and a Bond Villain (BTW - I always capitalise the word "Villain", especially Bond Villains. Why? Because they've earned it!).
Watch the video above. There - wasn't that awesome? The clip comes from the film Day Watch and the female that you were watching in awe is Alice. She's everything that's right with naughty Russian witches. The hell with that chick from The Matrix - I wanna be Alice! She's the right mix of Bond girl (smart, strong, sexy, female) and Bond Villain ("bad", awesome as hell, serious skills, will hurt you).
Day Watch is the sequel to Night Watch, and both are based on books of the same name. Watch the films first (you actually have to watch these in the right order. The second one just won't make sense without the back story of the first) then read the books. They are all awesome. Just like Alice.
The Glorious 25th of May is here, bust out your lilac my friends and see how they rise up
DIY Lillac, for this glorious day
All the little angels rise up, rise up
The Glorious 25th of May is here, bust out your lilac my friends and see how they rise up
Discworld posting while I'm 3/4 of the way through Night Watch bc I just had a literal *sits bolt upright in bed* moment
it's not just Les Mis because of the flag-waving on the barricades (or [character interaction that makes the whole plot happen])
But Rosie Palm is a Fantine analog but instead of giving her a child she has a competent 'preventatives' doctor, which is an incredible take
Also she isn't going to get done in by the terrible illness that's going around because she has the pox doctor on call
Greasiest Gavroche you've ever seen though
If you see this you’re legally obligated to reblog and tag with the book you’re currently reading