Feet of Clay Discussion **Spoilers**

[cabbagehead]

By this point of his writing Terry already had Arthur changing into a bat (and fearing the owls) and Greebo eating a vampire in bat form. Sally sees the changing into a swarm of bats a disadvantage that only females have to deal with. I bet she'd rather change into mist if that were an option. Looks like the mist option (which I don't remember, sorry) is a talent of the de Magpyrs - they are over-achieving vampires, what with their training to immunize them against religious symbols.

[Sister Jennifer]

As The Mad Collector said.
Here in more detail:

Ars, artis feminine = Art (as in a work of art)
eniti, enitor, enixus sum = to bring forth (enixa because ars is feminine, est because it's thrid person singular); enixus sum/ enixa est is (roughly) present perfect.
candela, ae, f.`= candle (candelam because it is accusative case and eniti is a transitive verb)

Write that out a 100 times, and if it's not done by sunrise I'll cut your ba.... nevermind.

Having a Monty Python moment.

[Who's Wee Dug]

By this point of his writing Terry already had Arthur changing into a bat (and fearing the owls) and Greebo eating a vampire in bat form. Sally sees the changing into a swarm of bats a disadvantage that only females have to deal with. I bet she'd rather change into mist if that were an option. Looks like the mist option (which I don't remember, sorry) is a talent of the de Magpyrs - they are over-achieving vampires, what with their training to immunize them against religious symbols.

I'm listening to Witches Abroad, and Greebo eating a vampire in bat form he had one pinned down and stated it was trying to change shape,is in it to I wonder if it's been duplicated.

[cabbagehead]

Sorry for the confusing wording. Yes, I meant that incident in Witches Abroad. I was listing mentions of transformed vampires in the series before Feet of Clay. Compared to the later mention of Sally transforming into a swarm of bats.

[stripy_tie]

I've just reread FoC. I remember being confused before by the sequence of events during the fight with the white golem, specifically what happed to Carrot. I've had another go at it, but I'm still not clear.


Carry fires the crossbow. Carrot gets the bolt through his left hand. The impact knocks him down. Carrot won't let Angua pull the bolt out because it has a silver point.

Cheri distracts the golem. Angua pulls Carrot out of the way and hauls him to his feet, blood dripping from his hand.

Carrot drew his sword. (Does he still have the arrow through his left hand? Usually you'd want the left to steady the scabbard while you draw with the right, but okay, maybe you can draw one-handed.) The golem knocks the sword away.

Dorfl distracts the white golem. Carrot gets a long metal rod from a stirring tank. (I was initially confused by the phrased "eased himself back down to the grease-crusted floor," as it seemed to mean he lay down. Eventually realised he must have had to climb up to the stirring tank, and was now back standing on the floor.)

As the white golem approaches, "Carrot hopped backwards, steadied himself on a rail, and swung." Why hopped? Does he have a bad leg? First I've heard of it. I think we can assume he has by now got rid of the crossbow bolt through his hand, although it hasn't been mentioned.

Carrot has a plan. We next see him climbing along the overhead gantry. He jumps on to the white golem's back, then off to the floor when Vimes and Detritus arrive. "He landed awkwardly on a sliding heap of candles. His leg buckled under him.." There's that bad leg again. Or did he just get hurt by the slide? Carrot is usually tougher than that. When the white golem comes for him, he "squirms" away and later "struggles up". Suggests to me a leg injury rather than a hand injury.

Carrot and Detritus carry away Dorfl's remains. Okay, maybe Detritus did most of the work. No further mention of injuries.


Maybe I'm just being thick, but it reads to me like a scene that was written in two different versions, and the "merge" wasn't done too carefully. Does anyone else have problems with it, or is it all obvious to everybody but me?

Mary

You're definitely not alone on this one, i had to re-read that fight scene a couple of times because i didn't understand what was going on. It really needed to be taken back to the drawing board and to be re-worded and re-structured. I find this sort of thing does crop up very occasionally in his writing. Thankfully, the rest of the time his prose is very clear and concise.

[Mary Skater]

I find this sort of thing does crop up very occasionally in his writing. Thankfully, the rest of the time his prose is very clear and concise.

Yes, I can live with the occasional inconsistency between books. It happens when ideas get developed in a new direction. But it is a bit irritating in a single fast-moving scene. However, as you say, it's not common.

Mary