Book:Men at Arms

Book:Men at Arms
Co-author(s)	{{{coauthors}}}
Illustrator(s)	{{{illustrator}}}
Publisher	Gollancz
Publication date	1993
ISBN	0552140287
Pages	288
RRP	{{{rrp}}}
Main characters	Ankh-Morpork City Watch, Havelock Vetinari
Series	Watch Series
Annotations	View
Notes	Book #15
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Blurb

"Be a MAN in the City Watch! The City watch needs MEN!"

But what it's got includes Corporal Carrot (technically a dwarf), Lance-constable Cuddy (really a dwarf), Lance-constable Detritus (a troll), Lance-constable Angua (a woman ... most of the time) and Corporal Nobbs (disqualified from the human race for shoving).

And they need all the help they can get. Because there's evil in the air and murder afoot and something very nasty in the streets.

It'd help if it could all be sorted out by noon, because that's when Captain Vimes is officially retiring, handing in his badge and getting married.

And since this is Ankh-Morpork, noon promises to be not just high, but stinking.

Cover

The front cover features (from left to right) Cuddy, Detritus, Angua, Carrot, Nobby and Colon. Illustrator Josh Kirby neglected to give Cuddy the dwarf a beard. At the bottom right there is a dog, presumably Gaspode.

Characters

Main characters

• Angua
• Fred Colon
• Cuddy
• Detritus
• Carrot Ironfoundersson
• Nobby
• Lord Vetinari
• Samuel Vimes

Minor characters

• Bauxite
• Beano the Clown
• Big Fido, Chief Barker of the Dog Guild
• Blenkin, servant of the d'Eath residence
• Boffo the Clown
• Chubby the swamp dragon
• Coalface
• Cornice-overlooking-Broadway
• Doctor Cruces, head Assassin
• Silas Cumberbatch, former town crier
• Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler
• Lord Downey, then assistant head Assassin
• Edward d'Eath
• Duke of Eorle
• Gaspode
• Sir George
• Gayheart Talonthrust a swamp dragon
• Bjorn Hammerhock
• Leonard of Quirm
• Queen Molly
• Lord Monflathers
• Lord and Lady Omnius
• Captain Quirke of the Day Watch
• Sybil Ramkin
• Lord Rust
• Mr. Scant
• Lady Selachii
• Sendivoge, Alchemist Guild secretary
• Thomas Silverfish, head of the Alchemists
• Viscount Skater
• Abba Stronginthearm
• Lord Venturi
• Willikins
• Dr. Whiteface

Cameos and Mentions

• Kings and Queens of Ankh-Morpork (ancestors of Carrot's):
  • Queen Alguinna IV
  • Queen Coanna
  • King Paragore
  • King Veltrick III
  • King Tyrril, ruled in AM 907
  • King Webblethorpe the Unconscious
• Famous Architects:
  • Capability Brown
  • Bloody Stupid Johnson
  • Intuition De Vere Slade-Gore
  • Sagacity Smith
• Mrs. Cake
• Cheese (the pub owner, not the rotting of milk)
• Cumblethigh, a dwarf
• Death
• Mr. Flannel
• Gimlet Gimlet
• Hamslinger, a dwarf
• Sham Harga
• Deranged Lord Harmoni
• Here'n'now
• Grabber Hoskins
• Ironfoundersson
• Jimi, God of Beggars
• Sergeant Kepple
• Lorenzo the Kind
• Lettice Knibbs
• Cumbling Michael
• Mr. Morecombe, Ramkin family lawyer
• Bundo Prung
• Ruby
• Laughing Lord Scapula
• Reg Shoe
• Dribbling Sidney
• Mad Lord Snapcase
• Gerhardt Sock
• Grabpot Thundergust
• Stoneface Vimes
• Homicidal Lord Winder
• Zorgo the Retrophrenologist
• Sgt Wimbler
• Carbuncle

Locations

• Ankh-Morpork
  • Street of Alchemists
  • Borborygmic Lane
  • Brass Bridge
  • Broad Way
  • The Bucket
  • Cable Street
  • Elm Street
  • Filigree Street
  • Gleam Street
  • Grope Alley
  • Hubwards Gate
  • Knuckle Passage
  • Mormius Street
  • Patrician's Palace
  • Phedre Road
  • Post Office
  • Pork Futures Warehouse, along Morpork Street
  • Pseudopolis Yard
  • Quarry Lane
  • Rime Street
  • River Ankh
  • Scoone Avenue
  • The Shades
  • Sheer Street
  • Shirt Alley
  • Short Street
  • Lady Sybil's Sunshine Sanctuary for Sick Dragons
  • Three Lamps Alley
  • Unseen University
    • High Energy Magic Building
    • Tower of Art
  • Whirligig Alley
  • Zephire Street
• Copperhead
• Dunmanifestin (mentioned)
• Koom Valley (mentioned)
• Quirm Manor, presumably in Quirm?

Things and Concepts

• A Slow Comfortable Double-Entendre, drink
• Guilds of Ankh-Morpork
  • Alchemists' Guild
  • Assassins' Guild
  • Butchers' Guild
  • Dogs' Guild
  • Fools' Guild
  • Gamblers' Guild (mentioned)
  • Merchants' Guild
  • Thieves' Guild
• Battle of Koom Valley
• Dwarfs
• Swamp dragons
• Flameless Gripe, swamp dragon disease
• "Gathering Sweet Lilacs"- folk dance
• Gargoyles
• Gimlet's Hole Food Delicatessen
• C.M.O.T. Dibbler's Genuine Authentic Soggy Mountain Dew
• The Gonne
• Hermit Elephant
• Iconograph
• The Inhumation Bell
• The March of the Idiots, clown anthem.
• Monarchy
• Twurp's Peerage
• Herbalist Plants:
  • Eyebright for eyes
  • Phallicus impudicus
  • Spleenwort for spleens
  • Teethwort for teeth
• No. 1 Powder- gunpowder
• Rats
• Retrophrenology
• Thighbiter's The Ankh-Morpork Succession
• Trolls
• Velvet Gown
• Ankh-Morpork City Watch
• Wellcome to Ankh-Morporke, Citie of One Thousand Surprises
• Werewolves
• Jimkin Bearhugger's Whiskey

Annotations

When he and Carrot have chased down and arrested Dr Cruces, Vimes ineffectually fights the blandishments of the Gonne as it insists that he must kill Cruces and take the power to himself. Cruces, remember, has just seemingly killed Angua: the natural tendency of a policeman who has just seen a fellow copper killed is not going to be one mercy and forgiveness. Vimes is eventually shocked out of the killing mood by Carrot, and lowers his weapon.

This evokes an episode in hard-man cop show The Sweeney[1], where Flying Squad copper Inspector Regan, in a rage after seeing a copper shot, almost has to be physically disarmed by his sidekick Sergeant Carter before he realises he has almost stepped over the invisible line, and taken out irrevocable rough justice on a cornered criminal. Note that the junior, subordinate, copper takes the lead in both situations.

External links

Men at Arms Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File

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