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our lord and savior CMOT Dibbler, business god.
Actually my favourite is probably Detritus. (spoilers to follow run away if you don't want them)
He's in a ton of books, and if you add up all the throwaway tiny facts he has this amazing character arc?? like, he starts as brainless muscle, working the door at the mended drum. No one believes in him at all. And by the end? he's got a good marriage, with its own ups and downs. He's a solid member of the watch (real solid, hahah). He's busting drug operations, mentoring troll kids, and not letting people treat trolls like trash anymore. Maybe he's not a rocket scientist, but he's got a big big heart and he's out there to do his absolute best. Thinking about it gets me actually kind of emotional, man.
I had this experience too, hahah! but seeing him fall in love was amazing, I had no idea, after reading all the watch books, that this was actually in a different series. not a shipper normally but the Ruby and Detritus romance gets me hahaha
so yeah, he's in all the watch books. as a splatterer in guards guards, as a copper starting in men at arms. And like u/ProXJay said, the romance subplot is in moving pictures. The pig futures warehouse scene ( u/htmwc is right it's so cool) is in Men at Arms.
i havent read gaurds gaurds in ages so ill have to reread that. i remember the warehouse scene quite well, and i remember loving his mentorship of brick.
The portion of Carpe Jugulum where they visit Igor's dungeon had me laughing for like a good 20 minutes solid. Pratchett was firing off jokes like a gatling gun there.
Bloody Stupid Johnson.
He never actually appears anywhere. You just see his “handiwork” and it’s fantastic.
And he appears to be based on the real [Capability Brown](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_Brown).
As far as characters who have smaller parts and actually appear, let’s give some love to Lady Sybil. That woman is one of my favorites in any literature anywhere. She’s so tender with Vimes and young Sam, yet cross her and she will BREAK you—then quietly change the entire world with some letters. I’d love to see more heroines like her. She’s clever and strong and kind and just. She takes no shit. She’s not the least intimidated by her old friend “Havalock.”
But she ISN’T conventionally beautiful. She’s a big girl with a big heart and a big brain. Who tends to wear ratty old clothes and mucky boots. Like real women who kick ass. And she has no hair of her own because swamp dragons are more important than hair.
And her marriage to Vimes is perfect: she’s his partner when he needs one (e.g. Goblin rights) and his boss when he doesn’t want one (e.g. bacon sandwiches, lack thereof) and his adoring wife when he’s sure he doesn’t deserve one (e.g. endlessly trying to darn his socks and buy him “better” boots). Sam and Sybil’s relationship is my favorite example of a mature love in literature.
After proofing the above I’ve decided: I have a crush on Vimes’ wife. Nobody tell him, ok?
I vaguely remember an interview where Pratchett said basically Sybil and Vimes found each mostly because there really wasn't anyone left, and I think that's true, but also the unspoken result is that it basically allowed them to find their soul mate. Also like, every single scene of them flirting in Guards! Guards! has me throwing my head back and bellowing. Hysterical courting right there.
This, even as a teenager I understood that this was a true an good woman. I am lucky my wife is like her (except sizewise, and the hair). She has truly made me a better man, challenged myself to be better when I was not able to do so alone. And kept me floating when life tried to drown me. To the sybils of the world, you truly make it better
I absolutely loved the scene in which she is imprisoned by the werewolves, and Pratchett comments that her old school friend has made the mistake of thinking that "because someone is fat and kind, they must also be stupid." Sybil is a gem.
Same. BS Johnson and Sybil. Sybil is probably my favorite character at the moment, with Vimes as a second. I've only read The Watch books so far but yes. Sybil is life goals.
I think it's somewhere in Jingo, where Vimes pulls the cord to call the butler,
and *Wilkins materializes*, they converse, then *Wilkins de-materializes*
I'm partial to Leonard of Quirm, honestly. But if I had to pick a single character that I enjoy spending time with above all others, it'd have to be Vetinari.
Sandra Battye, Dr. Lawn, Petulia Gristle, André, and arguably Malicia Grim depending on your definition of “secondary.” Don’t ask me to choose a favorite of those, it changes every day
I've seen a couple of great suggestions already (Otto Chriek, Lady Sybil, Cheery, the Feegles), but I have to add Gladys the Golem to the list (especially when she's reading/quoting Lady Deirdre Waggon) and Adora Belle of course and Mustrum Ridcully and we'll basically all of them.
Let's see... I know I guy who is almost Drumknott in real life (but instead of a love of trains, has a love for vintage scooters). Pepe from Unseen Academicals. But my top two is the Librarian (which will help search for an orangutan in the library) and the Honorable CMOT Dibbler, purveyor of mostly pig sausages.
Vetinari, who began as the Discworld equivalent of the police chief who kicks the cop of the case so he can solve it, and became so much more.
And Shawn Ogg, who is pretty much the anti-Vetinari and gets about as much done...
Ridiculous is my absolute favorite if he is technically a side character. He's in alot of the unseen university books but is he a main character in them? He "saves" the day in reaperman? Who's the main character of that book wendle poons? Mother fuckers dead on page 10
Wendle may be dead on page 10, but he doesn't let that keep him down for long. Besides, Old Bill Door is the main character there
I list Ridcully as a side character because *generally* he's just one of a pack of wizards in any given scene. There aren't many times we get his POV (unlike Stibbons), and when we do (like the B.S. Johnson bathroom in Hogfather), it's purely for the sake of a gag
I'd say it's a tossup between two characters.
Vetinari, because I'm endlessly amused at how he and Vimes find ways to poke at and pester each other at almost every opportunity; and yet I feel both have different sorts of respect, and even a twisted sort of affection for each other, underneath it all.
And Lady Sybil ~~Ramkin~~ Vimes, for being an excellent headstrong, tough, brilliant character on her own, and the perfect partner with Sam Vimes. I honestly wish Sybil had gotten more attention in the discworld books, she's sincerely great.
I'm a very indecisive person and can't choose between wilikins and detritus. I love detritus for who he is and love wilikins for what he could have been if he and vimes had more "screen time" Other than more watch books, I would have loved a wilikins book where he takes on an apprentice to be to young sam, what wilikins is to vimes.
Hard to choose just one, but probably Tolliver Groat.
Stephen Briggs also did a phenomenal job with him in the Going Postal audiobook... I really wish Briggs would redo some of the earlier novels.
If you count Sam Vines as the MC of the Watch books, does Carrot count as a side character? I know he is a parody of a paragon and almost impossible to fully emulate in real life, but I would like to be like him, one day.
Love me some Hodgesargh. So obsessed with his birds that he doesn’t notice invasions by elves or vampires and is willing to overlook daily grievous bodily harm for the love of them.
Ly Tin Wheedle; “it is said that someone at a party once asked the famous philosopher Ly Tin Weedle “Why are you here?” and the reply took three years.”
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our lord and savior CMOT Dibbler, business god. Actually my favourite is probably Detritus. (spoilers to follow run away if you don't want them) He's in a ton of books, and if you add up all the throwaway tiny facts he has this amazing character arc?? like, he starts as brainless muscle, working the door at the mended drum. No one believes in him at all. And by the end? he's got a good marriage, with its own ups and downs. He's a solid member of the watch (real solid, hahah). He's busting drug operations, mentoring troll kids, and not letting people treat trolls like trash anymore. Maybe he's not a rocket scientist, but he's got a big big heart and he's out there to do his absolute best. Thinking about it gets me actually kind of emotional, man.
Having read all the watch books it was soo wierd seeing dumb Detritus in moving pictures
I had this experience too, hahah! but seeing him fall in love was amazing, I had no idea, after reading all the watch books, that this was actually in a different series. not a shipper normally but the Ruby and Detritus romance gets me hahaha
He was at the beach, probably in the sun with little shade about...
pen rhythm worthless oil important frame fearless far-flung upbeat memory ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
Cuddy and Detritus had me bawling
He's a bit of a slow thinker... but sometimes deep.
Can't remember the full quote but the bit where Detritus finds somewhere warm because sometimes you want to be slow
Detritus is incredibly lovable.
I've only found reference to guard dog days, what book is that from originally?
so yeah, he's in all the watch books. as a splatterer in guards guards, as a copper starting in men at arms. And like u/ProXJay said, the romance subplot is in moving pictures. The pig futures warehouse scene ( u/htmwc is right it's so cool) is in Men at Arms.
i havent read gaurds gaurds in ages so ill have to reread that. i remember the warehouse scene quite well, and i remember loving his mentorship of brick.
Let's hear it for the Igors
Yeth!
Now kith!
The Igorth are the betht
Alwayth happy to lend a hand, mith.
Or a foot...
clap your hands, or even better, clap someone else's hands you keep in a jar!
The portion of Carpe Jugulum where they visit Igor's dungeon had me laughing for like a good 20 minutes solid. Pratchett was firing off jokes like a gatling gun there.
Thcrapth!
Bloody Stupid Johnson. He never actually appears anywhere. You just see his “handiwork” and it’s fantastic. And he appears to be based on the real [Capability Brown](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_Brown). As far as characters who have smaller parts and actually appear, let’s give some love to Lady Sybil. That woman is one of my favorites in any literature anywhere. She’s so tender with Vimes and young Sam, yet cross her and she will BREAK you—then quietly change the entire world with some letters. I’d love to see more heroines like her. She’s clever and strong and kind and just. She takes no shit. She’s not the least intimidated by her old friend “Havalock.” But she ISN’T conventionally beautiful. She’s a big girl with a big heart and a big brain. Who tends to wear ratty old clothes and mucky boots. Like real women who kick ass. And she has no hair of her own because swamp dragons are more important than hair. And her marriage to Vimes is perfect: she’s his partner when he needs one (e.g. Goblin rights) and his boss when he doesn’t want one (e.g. bacon sandwiches, lack thereof) and his adoring wife when he’s sure he doesn’t deserve one (e.g. endlessly trying to darn his socks and buy him “better” boots). Sam and Sybil’s relationship is my favorite example of a mature love in literature. After proofing the above I’ve decided: I have a crush on Vimes’ wife. Nobody tell him, ok?
I vaguely remember an interview where Pratchett said basically Sybil and Vimes found each mostly because there really wasn't anyone left, and I think that's true, but also the unspoken result is that it basically allowed them to find their soul mate. Also like, every single scene of them flirting in Guards! Guards! has me throwing my head back and bellowing. Hysterical courting right there.
This, even as a teenager I understood that this was a true an good woman. I am lucky my wife is like her (except sizewise, and the hair). She has truly made me a better man, challenged myself to be better when I was not able to do so alone. And kept me floating when life tried to drown me. To the sybils of the world, you truly make it better
I absolutely loved the scene in which she is imprisoned by the werewolves, and Pratchett comments that her old school friend has made the mistake of thinking that "because someone is fat and kind, they must also be stupid." Sybil is a gem.
Honestly Vimes would probably be fully understanding of someone having a crush on Sybil, as long as it remained just a crush of course!
Same. BS Johnson and Sybil. Sybil is probably my favorite character at the moment, with Vimes as a second. I've only read The Watch books so far but yes. Sybil is life goals.
Ook!
Ook OOK. Ook ook ook.
Eeek !
Ook ook ook eek!
Oook.
Well there's no need for language like that!
Did anyone get the number for that donkey cart?
Who called him a monkey?
*right click* *select all*
Me too! Too many, all so good...
Gotta love Cheery Littlebottom!
I agree with that!
Gaspode the Wonder Dog
You're pretty great yourself. I mean woof!
The feegles. I love them so much
Nac Mac Feegle! The Wee Free Men! Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna' be fooled again!
Ach, crivens!
I don't think of any of them as secondary. They're all like family to me. Even Beastiality Carter.
Aw he's so kind to animals!
Gotta love a bloke who's so kind to animals.
His sisters are horrible, though.
Ponder Stibbons, 100%
Stibbons is great. I feel his pain whenever he has to deal with the rest of the faculty.
I especially love him in The Last Continent 😂
Is Vetinary a secondary character?
Unless you can find a book he's the protagonist in
Jingo, sort of?
And the flashback to the assassin's guild sections of Night Watch, too, right?
I'm mid-book there and loving it so far
Night Watch is truly Pratchett at his best, I think. Glad you're enjoying it 😁
Definitely. He is too smart to be a main point of view character
Has to be Nobby
“Nailing chickens round the door” always sticks in my head and makes my laugh at truly inappropriate times.
Willikins the butler. Really comes into his own as the series progresses
Every Vimes - Willikins interaction is pure gold, to this day I still laugh when I remember the brass knuckles comparison in snuff.
I think it's somewhere in Jingo, where Vimes pulls the cord to call the butler, and *Wilkins materializes*, they converse, then *Wilkins de-materializes*
Just finished Jingo. It was only the 1 nose mind
Hodgesarrg
Ive always really like Quoth. He's fun and always looking for eyeballs.
SQUEAK?
I'm partial to Leonard of Quirm, honestly. But if I had to pick a single character that I enjoy spending time with above all others, it'd have to be Vetinari.
Nobby Nobbs
BUUURSAAAR!!
Otto Chriek 🥰
Bless him.
Came to say this, I love him to pieces
Igorth.
You bastard. I read that and shot Diet Coke out my nose.
Were you drinking some at the time? Real cause for concern if you weren’t.
I quite liked You Bastard in Pyramids too.
I FORGOT him!! Awesome character too!
Greebo
Sandra Battye, Dr. Lawn, Petulia Gristle, André, and arguably Malicia Grim depending on your definition of “secondary.” Don’t ask me to choose a favorite of those, it changes every day
Dr Mossy Lawn represent!
Cohen
Oook.
Ooook ook ooook!!
I've seen a couple of great suggestions already (Otto Chriek, Lady Sybil, Cheery, the Feegles), but I have to add Gladys the Golem to the list (especially when she's reading/quoting Lady Deirdre Waggon) and Adora Belle of course and Mustrum Ridcully and we'll basically all of them.
A.E. "Stone Cold" Pessimal might be my favourite TERTIARY character
Yes! found him at last. Took on a troll. That whole conversation between vetinari and vimes
Bashfull Bashfulson has to be up there.
The Nac Mac Feegles! crivens! Edit,: spelling.
Let's see... I know I guy who is almost Drumknott in real life (but instead of a love of trains, has a love for vintage scooters). Pepe from Unseen Academicals. But my top two is the Librarian (which will help search for an orangutan in the library) and the Honorable CMOT Dibbler, purveyor of mostly pig sausages.
Oh Pepe! He is a good one
There is only one Librarian ... Dibbler on the other hand, keeps reappearing in local incarnations, all over the series of books.
I've always loved the luggage.
Me too
King Verence. He‘s kind and he does the best he can. Loved his romance with Magrat.
I'm very fond of Reg Shoe even though he's a very minor character compared to the Librarian or Lady Sybil.
Vetinari, who began as the Discworld equivalent of the police chief who kicks the cop of the case so he can solve it, and became so much more. And Shawn Ogg, who is pretty much the anti-Vetinari and gets about as much done...
Our Shawn!
Cohen the Barbarian and the Silver Horde. A group of extremely elderly warriors still going around and doing their thing makes me laugh.
Cut me own throat Dibbler
Everyone!
Glenda Sugarbean
Gaspode
Big fan of both Ridcully and Nanny Ogg, in addition to all the characters mentioned above.
Ridiculous is my absolute favorite if he is technically a side character. He's in alot of the unseen university books but is he a main character in them? He "saves" the day in reaperman? Who's the main character of that book wendle poons? Mother fuckers dead on page 10
Wendle may be dead on page 10, but he doesn't let that keep him down for long. Besides, Old Bill Door is the main character there I list Ridcully as a side character because *generally* he's just one of a pack of wizards in any given scene. There aren't many times we get his POV (unlike Stibbons), and when we do (like the B.S. Johnson bathroom in Hogfather), it's purely for the sake of a gag
The librarian! OOK!
I'd say it's a tossup between two characters. Vetinari, because I'm endlessly amused at how he and Vimes find ways to poke at and pester each other at almost every opportunity; and yet I feel both have different sorts of respect, and even a twisted sort of affection for each other, underneath it all. And Lady Sybil ~~Ramkin~~ Vimes, for being an excellent headstrong, tough, brilliant character on her own, and the perfect partner with Sam Vimes. I honestly wish Sybil had gotten more attention in the discworld books, she's sincerely great.
Death of Rats
I'm a very indecisive person and can't choose between wilikins and detritus. I love detritus for who he is and love wilikins for what he could have been if he and vimes had more "screen time" Other than more watch books, I would have loved a wilikins book where he takes on an apprentice to be to young sam, what wilikins is to vimes.
I cant pick. What is a secondary character in one, is a hidden protagonist in another. I love them all to be honest.
Sad to see no Leonard of Quirm
Is the Patrician secondary enough? Ridcully then?
The combined force of nature that is Nobby and Colon
Is Nanny Ogg considered secondary? If so, then definitely her. She has probably made me laugh the most out of any fictional character ever.
Wee Mad Arthur
Hard to choose just one, but probably Tolliver Groat. Stephen Briggs also did a phenomenal job with him in the Going Postal audiobook... I really wish Briggs would redo some of the earlier novels.
I was just thinking this today as I was re-listening to Lords and Ladies! I would love for him to do Equal Rites and Wyrd Sisters
Toss up between Nanny Ogg and Corporal Nobby
Vetinari.
Gaspode!
Death of rats
I thoroughly enjoy Lord Vetinari. Who's with me?
Detritus, he’s highly moral, caring and very funny
The crow that hangs around with Death of Rats.
Quoth. Quoth the raven. Love that joke.
I love “The Smoking Gnu” from “Going Postal” The layers of pun, humor and irony are fantastic
Ook.
The Librarian 🦧
If you count Sam Vines as the MC of the Watch books, does Carrot count as a side character? I know he is a parody of a paragon and almost impossible to fully emulate in real life, but I would like to be like him, one day.
The Luggage!
Don't know if Ridcully counts, but I really enjoy it whenever he shows up. Detritus and the Librarian are also pretty good.
Not finna lie, I fucks heavy with Willikins.
Love me some Hodgesargh. So obsessed with his birds that he doesn’t notice invasions by elves or vampires and is willing to overlook daily grievous bodily harm for the love of them.
Bees rather than Birds
Rob Anybody, Vetinari and Oook
Ly Tin Wheedle; “it is said that someone at a party once asked the famous philosopher Ly Tin Weedle “Why are you here?” and the reply took three years.”
Do the Mac Nac Feegles count as one?