I Shall Wear Midnight: Difference between revisions

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Tiffany is now pretty much a full fledged witch, with all the responsibilities that go with it; such as helping birth babies, cutting the toe nails of old ladies, and saving Mr. Petty from a lynch mob, no matter how much he might deserve the rough music.

But people are hardly grateful; here on the Chalk, where witches are not exactly popular, there's a marked decrease in gratitude and a major increase in malice, in spite and in irrational accusation. Even Roland (now the new Baron, since his father's finally shuffled off this mortal...disc) is growing suspicious of her, helped to no end by the mother of his fiancee. And all are having poison drip, drip, ''dripped'' into their ears and minds by something very old, very dark and very, very angry.

 

 

Not if Tiffany can help it, though.

 

* [[Abusive Parents|Abusive Parent]]: Mr. Petty

* [[Achievements in Ignorance]]: According to Tiffany, the trick {{spoiler|Letitia}} used should never have worked. Only the latter's firm belief in what she was doing allowed it to function. {{spoiler|That and the influence of a malevolent dark power that came through a book in her library.}}

** "Least said, soonest mended" keeps cropping up, too.

** "Poison goes where poison's welcome."

** This is sometimes stated as being every few centuries, and in other places it is said to have happened a few times in living memory. The older witches do think Tiffany's encounter with the Wintersmith drew the Cunning Man back this time, presumably sooner than expected after {{spoiler|Granny Weatherwax (of course!)}} defeated him the last time. As it turns out, the Cunning Man's return was hastened by {{spoiler|both Tiffany's kiss with the Wintersmith and Letitia's hex}}.

* [[Author Avatar]]: The old Baron, in a way.

* [[Berserk Button]]: Don't go near the Feegle mound with anything metal larger than a knife if you want to keep your limbs.

* [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]]: The nurse, Miss Spruce. Also the cook {{spoiler|while possessed by the Cunning Man}}.

* [[Book Ends]]: The Scouring faire.

* [[Bungled Suicide]]: Mr. Petty.

* [[Burn the Witch]]

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: It's Pratchett, so there are a number of them. One particularly subtle one is the revelation that Daft Wullie carries matches and sometimes uses them to start fires at ''really'' inappropriate moments (such as when high up in the air on a broomstick). You think it's just another example of Daft Wullie being [[The Fool|Daft Wullie]], but at the climax of the books, his fondness for matches play a small, but vital, role.

* [[Continuity Nod]]:

* [[Cool Old Guy]]: the Baron, even on his deathbed.

* [[The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much]]

"They took a shovel to a Feegle mound, miss." }}

* [[Cultured Badass]]: Wee Mad Arthur likes ballet, opera, art galleries, and fighting the Nac Mac Feegle six at a time. {{spoiler|And winning.}}

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Tiffany, especially when she's pushed.

'''Tiffany:''' "It looks to me as if you are, Brian, but you be the judge." }}

* [[Deep-Fried Whatever]]: Amongst the Nac Mac Feegles' good points is the invention of the deep-fried stoat.

* [[Dumb Blonde]]: Letitia {{spoiler|subverts it.}}

* [[Exact Words]]: Tiffany really does {{spoiler|marry Roland. [[My Own Private I Do|To Letitia]].}}

* [[Foreshadowing]]: Tiffany's hygiene trick.

** The Baron's memory of burning the stubble.

** Petty to Tiffany: "What are you going to do when the music comes for ''you'', eh?"

* [[Generation Xerox]]: It turns out that <s>Granny Aching</s> Sarah Grizzel and the Baron had much the same (non) relationship as Tiffany and Roland.

* [[Genius Ditz]]: Amber and {{spoiler|Letitia}}.

* [[Good Is Not Dumb]]: Preston.

* [[Hate Plague]]: The Cunning Man's ''modus operandi''.

* [[Hidden Depths]]: Amber and Letitia. And the Duchess, and Mr Petty... almost every antagonist in this book turns out to at least have a [[Freudian Excuse]].

* [[Humanoid Abomination]]: The Cunning Man.

* [[I Was Just Passing Through]]: Rob Anyboy's excuse for helping Tiffany out. Not a straight example since they aren't rivals, however she had told him repeatedly to stop following her around.

'''Rob Anybody:''' "Would you no' mind adding the words drunk and disorderly? We wouldnae want to be sold short here." }}

* [[Irony]]: 'Cunning Man' is actually a fairly old term for a 'wise man', in essence a type of male not-quite witch.

** Also it should be noted that the second time Tiffany saved his life, it was by {{spoiler|cutting him down after he tried to hang himself.}} The circumstances convinced Tiffany of his remorse, which is probably the primary reason he's allowed to stay in the community.

* [[Karmic Death]]: {{spoiler|the drunken cook, who fell into the cellar and broke her neck -- right after she called on the earth to swallow Tiffany up. With the Cunning Man's [[Hate Plague]] in effect, no wonder everyone suspected poor Tiffany.}}

* [[Literary Allusion Title]]: To the comic poem '[http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/warning/ Warning]', a.k.a 'When I am an old woman I shall wear purple', by Jenny Joseph.

* [[Little No]]: When Tiffany asks if the Duchess is going to start talking about spinning-wheels next, the Duchess takes her at her word and orders every spinning-wheel in the castle destroyed. [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|Roland]] mentions that his mother had one, and that no-one is to touch it. When she doesn't take the hint...

* [[Mediation Backfire]]: Discussed and [[Defied Trope|defied]] by the Feegles - "Any man who interferes with the arguin' of women is gonnae find himself with both of them jumpin' up and doon on him in a matter of seconds".

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: The transition from the first to second chapters...

* [[Morality Pet]]: Invoked in the Tanty, where they give the truly irredeemable criminals canaries to look after. Macintosh killing his is seen as a true [[Moral Event Horizon]] by all concerned.

* [[My Beloved Smother]]: The Duchess towards Letitia.

* [[My Own Private I Do]]: {{spoiler|Tiffany marries Letitia and Roland in a folk ceremony the night before the official wedding}}.

** In a literal example, it's why Tiffany (reluctantly) adds some of the Feegles' relish to her mutton sandwich, even knowing that it contains snails.

* [[Not a Mask]]: {{spoiler|Mrs. Proust sells stereotypically warty and hideous witch masks and gloves, and appears to be wearing a full set. Then Tiffany realizes that the masks she sells are copies of her own face. }}

* [[Not So Different]]: Tiffany and Letitia get the positive version, as they bond over {{spoiler|their reactions to the fairy-tale book, and the way it seemed to set out their lives based on hair colour.}}

* [[Not What It Looks Like]]: played for drama. Of course the stupid, useless, eavesdropping bigot of a nurse would have to come barging in right after Tiffany's demonstration of how she was taking away the Baron's pain involving magical heat transfer, the fireplace, and a just-heated red-hot poker...

* [[Retcon]]: When Wee Mad Arthur was introduced, he had all the basic characteristics of a Feegle except the criminal tendencies, but was referred to as a gnome, presumably because he showed up before the idea of the Feegles really took form. In this book, it turns out that he was a foundling, raised by a family of gnomes.

* [[Running Gag]]: Broomsticks being towed by a string, continuing from ''Wintersmith'', and the idea of witches "dancing around without your drawers on".

* [[Sex Is Evil and I Am Horny]]: The Cunning Man's origin story.

* [[Ship Sinking]]: Tiffany and Roland. Despite what the last three books [[Implied Love Interest|seemed to be setting up]], it turns out being two outcasts who've been put through hell by fairies isn't ''quite'' enough to build a relationship on.

** She is also a shout out to the Larry Williams song "Short Fat Fanny".

* [[Stop Helping Me!]]: Tiffany tries to get the Feegles to stop, repeatedly. Eventually she hits upon the idea of explaining that it's like a battle which [[This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself|she has to fight for herself.]]

* [[Take That]]: Against those that use the word Ass instead of Arse. This is a belief that Terry has held for a long time but this is the first time it came up in a book.

* [[The Hecate Sisters]]: Tripled, even. Apart from the original witch trio (Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat) turning up at the funeral, there are also three witches that fit the description coming from Ankh-Morpork, and Tiffany, {{spoiler|Amber}} and {{spoiler|Letitia}} seem to make a coven of their own on the Chalk.

* [[The Talk]]: Given to Letitia, first by Tiffany, later by Nanny Ogg to make sure everything got through, and then some.

* [[That Came Out Wrong]]: And Tiffany wasn't even planning to say it in the first place! {{spoiler|She still ends up marrying Roland, though...''to'' Letitia.}}

* [[This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself|This Is Something She's Got To Do Herself]]: While the other witches would help Tiffany with the Cunning Man if she asked them, doing so would be admitting to the whole world that she was too weak to help herself.

* [[The Unchosen One]]: {{spoiler|Tiffany, according to Eskarina: "I said you weren't ''born'' with a talent for witchcraft: it didn't come easily; you worked hard at it because you wanted it. You forced the world to give it to you, no matter the price, and the price is and will always be, high. [ ... ] People say you don't find witchcraft; witchcraft finds you. But you've found it, even if at the time you didn't know what it was you were finding, and you grabbed it by its scrawny neck and made it work for you."}}

* [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]]: Tiffany to Roland

 

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