#Ankhs

[gothiccharmschool]

Stereotype Technology.

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Ankh: Life Symbol - magazine - Vol. 1, Number 1, Elysium Inc., 1967

[mossycakes]

goths, crosses or ankhs?

[chechula]

I used my friend birthday as an excuse to draw Ankh-Morphork street for their living room ♡

[suspiciously-human-sized-horse]

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS AD

[haltraveler]

I can't remember if I've posted this before but my headcanon for a lot of why Vetinari shifts in his characterization as the Discworld series goes on is that he accidentally made himself the Anthropomorphic Personification of Ankh-Morpork itself. He's painted himself as synonymous with the city for so long that people have actually started to believe it, and that's fundamentally changed him as a result.

He starts out as a greedy, selfish bastard in TCoM because AM is entirely greedy and selfish at the time. There are no characters in that version of the city who actually care about anyone. Criminals go unchecked, the Watch is a corrupt and apathetic wreck, and the University is filled with backstabbing bastards. Then as the series goes on he solidifies into a cynical but selfless man who watches over a flawed city, but one that is improving as people like Carrot, William, and Ridcully start to inject some optimism and genuine moral principles into the mix. He becomes much more energetic and cheerful near the end of the series and I think it's because AM is becoming a more hospitable place with better infrastructure and a lot of good people working to make it better, partly due to Vetinari's own design.

With this in mind, the Havelock that we meet in Night Watch would be the "true" Havelock, uninfluenced by this self-made status as the voice of the city, and his progression through the series becomes a path of returning to that identity by shaping the city to reflect a measure of the idealism he once possessed.

[thesanityclause]

Just a couple of extremely normal every day Ankh-Morpork dogs. Very normal. Nothing exceptional here.

[songthursh]

Someone can "Ah, Vimes" his way out of any situation (c) my wife @stupidlynx

[thyinum]

The Beast

[gothiccharmschool]

And yes, I am always on the hunt for replicas of the bladed ankh from The Hunger. No, not the Alchemy Gothic one, it strayed too far from the original design.

[elliottjpg]

"Boo."

Happy Glorious Twenty-Fifth of May to all who observe.

Like last year, I opted to do a redraw of an old drawing from 2020; a companion piece to my previous drawing, a redraw from 2019. Night Watch is a good context to revisit the past and look at how I've evolved.

Rise up!

[dimity-lawn]

[jowdraws]

I spent a lot of time working out what Vetinari is. Vox Populi and Vox Phantasma - now those are easy. But what is Vetinari the voice of? The voice of the city? not really. He's just the voice of Vetinari, really.

[aeshnacyanea2000]

The river slunk sullenly in the bottom of its bed, like a student around 11 a.m.

-- Terry Pratchett - Men At Arms

[psychuan]

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.

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Libation Dish Depicting Ka-Arms Presenting an Ankh-Sign.

Period: Early Dynastic Period, 1st Dynasty

Date: ca. 3100–2900 B.C.

Place of origin: Egypt

Medium: Greywacke