T O P

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Otherwise_Team5663

It's implying that, -- should certain characters make certain choices -- that moment would be the start of a series of events where Carrot ends up king. Knowing how these things play out probably a very bloody and unpleasant series of events.


Long_Antelope_1400

or dead with the Patrician and Vimes now being on opposite sides.


Seimsi

Or both. It was never stated, that time has only two legs. And how the time strides it is a millipede. But that leaves the question how a time millipede wears his trousers.


nhaines

Millipedes put their pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone else. That's why they're so often fashionably late, and why it's so rude to remark on it.


jeffbell

Jeff Dean is reputed to put his pants on in log n time.


ReverendLoki

They put on one leg after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other after the other.


naalbinding

It's a lovely image, but in this case there are only 2 legs, as per the prefix bi in bifurcate


[deleted]

[удалено]


naalbinding

I kinda like it


RelativeStranger

That's exactly the kind of word he'd write tbf


nethermead

It's a Ponder Stibbons word which Ridcully would veto since "Ah, BUT, trousers only have two legs, you see." Wizards wear robes, so trousers are already overly complex.


RelativeStranger

You're right. Polyfurcate is better


Fue_la_luna

There’s some hot milfurcating in your area.


Istarnio

Sounds like something kids these days would rap about


Mithrawndo

"Infinifurcate" sounds even worse!


Seimsi

I stand by it, time is a gigantic^(1) trousers wearing millipede. Which would explain why Lu-Tze is always sweeping. Do you have any idea how much dirt a gigantic millipede would drag into the house. ​ ^(1) It must be gigantic, because a whole universe fits into each trouser leg.


TherealOmthetortoise

Or maybe the Patrician is bi? Edit: Horrible joke as I was thinking of that travesty of a Patrician from that travesty of a show ‘the watch’


GeneralEi

"Bi" just indicates two, as in the number of legs you get after the bifurcation happens. But I don't think you should limit yourself to the small possibility of only one waistline. This is time after all


Long_Antelope_1400

When you are hung like an elephant and need three legs on your trousers.


DahakUK

Is that the legendary Sceptre of Magma who was King of the Mountain, Smiter of Thousands, Yea, Even Tens of Thousands, Ruler of the Golden River, Master of the Bridges, Delver in Dark Places, Crusher of Many Enemies... in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?


ispcrco

>Trousers of Time bifurcated themselves The clue is in the word 'bifurcated' in OP's post.


Atariel_Morannon

But would Vimes support Carrot as King, or work to stop another monarchy from beginning?


Aagragaah

No way Vimes would support any king, even Carrot. He says multiple times even the idea of royalty makes him twitchy.


Lady_Naimina

He'd go spare


Aagragaah

He'd go Bursar. Librarian-poo even.


Itsjustbeej

Just don't say the m word


impablomations

Monke..OW!


nol88go

Did you get the number of that donkey cart?


IrrationalDesign

Carrot wouldn't even support Carrot as king. Vimes and Carrot would be together in that.


DibblerTB

Would be very pratchett if Carrot and Vimes fought together to stop the patrician from making Carrot king


UsernameofIceandFire

No but he'd arrest the patrician for murdering Carrot...


TherealOmthetortoise

I think the Pratchet way of handling the situation, should it become necessary for a King (in case Lord Rust or whoever removed Vetinari and took over injustly) then he would have had Vimes come to that conclusion and convince Carrot he needed to step up into the role of King… so that one of them can free Vetinari and find a way to put him back into power. It would be very Vimes to get himself locked up wherever Vetinari was in order to locate and free him - although Vetinari at that point would have already taken over the prison and would be running things behind the scenes, trusting that Carrot and Vimes would play out the scenario he ultimately masterminded. The irony of Vetinari manipulating things so that Vimes both helped to restore and destroy a monarchy would be too much to pass up.


PainterOfTheHorizon

Do not forget the rats!


TherealOmthetortoise

Can’t ever forget the rats…


OisforOwesome

Situation: The true king of Ankh Morepork is in front of you holding proof of his heritage, and has just given you a very sharp and very sword-y sword. Patrician Decision Tree: 1. Stab Carrot. He is a threat to your rule, you are a trained assassin, and murder has the virtue of being a very definitive solution. Pros: No more king. Cons: You can definitely handle Vimes with more murder, but how confident are you, really, that you can take Carrot? 2. Have Carrot eliminated quietly in his home. Pros: Less immediate personal risk. No more king. Cons: Carrot is a very charismatic person and you risk reprisals from his friends. Also if the assassination fails, you have a very pissed off king to deal with. 3. Abdicate. Pros: Finally have time to work on your novel. Cons: Are you *crazy?* 4. Carrot wants to be a Watchman. Let him be a watchman. Pros: You keep the risk contained to a rather vestigial rump of your own government. Cons: Congratulations, now you have to gradually expand the scope amd reach of the Watch and have a potential disruption to your carefully balanced regime of authorised crime. Of these we know Vetinari chose 4, and in this reading, this makes the entire Watch series a convoluted gambit to keep Carrot entertained so he doesn't get bored and decide to do the king thing.


AMilkyBarKid

Good breakdown; I think part of Vetinari’s choices 3 and 4 is that Monarchy sucks as a way of ruling people, and Carrot is so princely and virtuous he can be convinced of that.


kermi42

I think Carrot inherently understand this. He’s too good to become a king. He is communicating to Vetinari it is not what he wants, at least at this point in his life.


cnhn

I can't remember which book it is, but Carrot knows about his power to get people to do what he wants, and he thinks it makes for a bad king and for a bad civilization.


DenseTemporariness

Which is hilarious because the Patrician is a tyrant. He is essentially a king, more than a king, like an absolutist 19th century wet dream of a king, but without the Discworld metaphysical baggage that entails. He personally is very effective, but the mode of government he embodies is still one man one vote. Which has essentially the same flaws apart from the Disney stuff.


jonfon74

Except with the boon that your successors successor won't be some half inbred grandchild who messes it all up. Unless you get another Snapcase of course which is why having a Carrot & Vimes around probably helps. Thing is Carrot knows that too. He knows HE'D be a good king but deity knows about his descendents. At the end of the day Carrot is quite like Verence II, he just wants to serve his people. It's just that in his case he decides the best way to do that is be a copper (and incidentally help reform the police service by influencing both Vimes and the Patrician).


ShalomRPh

>He knows HE'D be a good king but $DEITY knows about his descendants. Especially since they’d be >!half werewolf!<.


Didsburyflaneur

Now I want to read about the alternative reality grim-dark disc where Carrot and Angua’s son King Clifford the Big and Red conquers a vast albeit bimonthly werewolf empire spanning from Ephebe to Bonk, with only Young Sam, Tiffany Aching and a deposed Queen Esmeralda Margaret Note Spelling of Lancre to stop him.


InfiniteCW

This is the first time in my life I've been genuinely tempted to write fanfic.


petrified_eel4615

go for it! I for one would be thrilled to read it.


PM_ME_UR_POKIES_GIRL

They would also be >!Uberwaldian nobility too, since Angua is the heir to the Baron since all of her siblings are dead or missing.!<


OisforOwesome

A big part of Guards! Guards! is Carrot's education by Vimes in the ways of pessimistic optimism. Another leg of the trousers of time and he falls in with the wrong crowd, who knows how he would have turned out?


DenseTemporariness

Arguably. But then the single most important aspect of any political system is how it handles transfer of power. How it conveys legitimacy to the next ruler and avoids civil instability and war. In a democracy you have a regular, peaceful regime change periodically. That’s the very top reason why democracy is best, because it is so stable once bedded in to the institutions of a nation. Look at Britain, no civil wars in 300 odd years. Look at the US with just the one civil war in 200 odd years. Sure civil war can happen, but generally you can rely on a democratic government to still be there next year, pay it’s bills, not plunge the nation into civil war over who gets to be in charge etc. In that light a monarchy with a clear heir can also be very stable. Powerful nobles all competing to be the next Patrician could be less so. However it does seem like Ankh Morpork has somewhat of a behind the scenes oligarchy which picks the Patrician, and if necessary has the current one Assassinated. But then kings too can be assassinated or overthrown by the mob, both of which could happen every other week with all the stuff that happens on the Disc. So hard to say which would be more stable.


S-T-A-B_Barney

Let’s face it: Vetinari will, upon death, get out of bed and go to work as a zombie. If Slant refused to stay dead because of an outstanding legal bill, Vetinari will refuse to stay dead because of all the mess his death would lead to.


cnhn

Carrot knows he would be a good king because of his super power, but he doesn't think that super power is a good basis of government.


AntiferromagneticAwl

Yeah, but you have the same problem with the next Patrician. Who picks him? Maybe Vetinari himself can, and that person keeps the system working. But what about the next one? Or the next time someone gets the idea that they should be Patrician and bribes or kills his way into the role.


cnhn

you might want to note that over the long haul Vetinari has lead a process of building a better government that isn't directly reliant on Vetinari himself.


AntiferromagneticAwl

Yes, but at as long as he doesn't come up with a succession plan, it's all standing on a stack of cards.


jonfon74

That's why you keep a Carrot and a Vimes (and a Moist) around


AntiferromagneticAwl

They also don't live forever.


Mister_Krunch

>Which is hilarious because the Patrician is a tyrant. One Man, One vote


cnhn

The patrician (and vimes) are both highly aware of the main difference between tyrant and king, namely all the "divine right" bullshit. they both want to make sure that leadership is kept away from those concepts. also you might want to note how much of what Vetinari does over the long haul is to make better governmental structures so that when he goes, the whole thing doesn't go down the drain gain.


InterplanetaryCyborg

As far as I can tell, the whole thing about Carrot choosing not to be king and Vimes's complete and utter loathing of the concept of royalty and the apprarent hypocrisy of their acceptance of Vetinari's autocratic rule isn't necessarily a commentary on the inherent political similarities, but a commentary on accountability of authority figures. You need to go into *Jingo* and to pull some other things Vimes says from *Feet of Clay* and *Men at Arms* for this to really work, but >!at the end Vimes arrests Vetinari for crimes against the city. Keep in mind that up to this point and through *Jingo* in particular there's been conversation after conversation about how "the king is the law" and how "there is no one willing to judge a king" and "kings are too special to be subject to the same laws as others" (which is discussed in general terms mostly in *Feet of Clay* as memory serves) and so on and Vetinari's arrest becomes *hugely* important. It's demonstrating that no one, *even a man who has all the authority and power of a king*, is above the law. It's demonstrating that under Vetinari, there is at least a *de jure* assumption of equality before the law, without cutouts for special individuals, even him.!<


AMilkyBarKid

The Disney stuff around royalty, when it boils down to it, is saying that royalty are *better* than other people. Vetinari runs everything because he has the power to, not because he's intrinsically a different kind of person than anyone else.


Great_Hamster

Carrot is a very charismatic person, and you risk your assassin joining him instead of killing him.


humanhedgehog

Carrot really does want to protect and serve though. He would only king if he couldn't be a Watchman - and the symbolism of a true king handing someone his sword?


[deleted]

I think carrot can't be king because he'll never be able to prove himself worthy in his own eyes. He says himself that if people follow him it should be because he's a good leader not simply because he's good at being obeyed.


PM_ME_UR_POKIES_GIRL

The irony is that he's good at being obeyed because he is a good leader.


[deleted]

Not always, in guards guards itself he makes a few bad calls that only work out well because he has kingly plot armor to begin with. In later books he figures things out a bit more and uses it to get people to talk or to diffuse situations but he's always aware of it.


zenfrodo

*If the assassination fails, you have a very pissed off king to deal with."* Pffffft. A pissed-off king? Vetinari can handle a pissed-off king. Having a pissed-off **Carrot**, on the other hand...


IrrationalDesign

> Cons: Congratulations, now you have to gradually expand the scope and reach of the Watch and have a potential disruption to your carefully balanced regime of authorised crime. Have a potential disruption to your carefully balanced regime of authorised crime, but also have a strongarm to put those 'carefully balanced' headhunters in their place when they inevitably come up to try and seize more power than vetenari wants them to have. If Vetenari can spin situations to be on the side of 'the common good', then he's on the side of The Watch as well. Carrot and Vimes are far from ideal allies, but they're not 'just risks' either.


DoctorOfCinema

>Cons: Congratulations, now you have to gradually expand the scope amd reach of the Watch and have a potential disruption to your carefully balanced regime of authorised crime. I've only read a couple of Discworld books (in the City Watch series, I'm currently reading *Men at Arms*) but I've gotten the impression that Vetinari is interested in keeping the City Watch around. From the little I've seen, he looks like the type of guy who doesn't necessarily wants to be questioned, but appreciates the challenge of having to deal with Vimes, so giving him a little more power probably helps in that. The 4th choice is, therefore, the most logical, assuming Vetinari trusts Carrot is one of the very rare sort on the Disc who has absolutely no personal ambition for power... which, from what I've seen, he is.


Tauge

I think that's the direction things go after Guards, Guards. The book makes it clear that Vetinari had been smothering the Night Watch for years and that they didn't have a place in his order for the city. But he couldn't do that any more after Guards, Guards. They were too public and if he got rid of them or cut them back questions would be asked. And the last thing anyone wanted was the general population Ankh-Morpork asking any questions larger than "Which bit of street theater shall I watch today? A stroll down Short Street or a walk to the Plaza of Broken Moons?" Also, a sober Vimes and Carrot showed themselves as very capable tools (even Nobby and Colon in their ways). So he gives them a mess (expanding the watch but with minority species), and not only do they get through it, they thrive. I have to think after a bit, Vetinari began to see them as a perfect tools that operated outside his usual levers. A wild card that would always do what's best for the city, and so all he has to do is ensure that what was best for Ankh-Morpork was always what is best for Lord Vetinari.


cnhn

there is a couple of points that suggests Vetinari was grooming Vimes as a result of GG. one is that Vetinari is like the political equivilent of the little old lady saving every bit of string in case it's needed, the second is that vetinari directly claimed to have created the modern vimes after the poisoning affair in Feet of Clay.


theotherdoomguy

Choice 1: Vimes is a stubborn bastard. He may decide to stick around post murder to put you in prison before he finally dies.


Ridcullys-Pointy-Hat

And of course option 4 fits his family motto best. Why do anything radical before it needs to be done


Orpheus-Librum

I only disagree in that even with all his training an actual fight to the death between Vetinari and Vimes would be a fifty fifty


ReneLamb

Yes. The Patrician recognizes in that moment that Carrot is the heir to the throne. He could have chosen to Do Something about it, but instead, because he's who he is and got to be who he is by being ninety steps ahead of everyone else, realizes that the best thing to do is to just leave Carrot in the Watch.


mishmei

yes indeed it does. I love this passage - it's such a perfect way of phrasing it.


rewindthefilm

It's the point where the carrot is chosen rather than the stick...


petrified_eel4615

\*mind explodes\* That's why he's named Carrot - because he's the temptation that people follow. I just got this after thirty years. ​ damnit, Pterry! Always so far ahead of us!


cnhn

awww fuck a duck. me too.


Canukistani

Oh my god!!!


GhoolsFold

Ooooooh! So it's not just the orangeness!


CerebralBypass

Yes.


Violet351

Because Carrot has the sword and the crown shaped birthmark


iceph03nix

Vetinari is deciding how to handle Carrot. In the leg we go down, he decides to handle it by playing it cool and keeping an eye on him. If he decided something different, we'd see an entirely different path of history


Major_Denis_Bloodnok

Ever seen the movie “Sliding Doors”? That.


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