Today's dose of Pratchett Preachin' comes from 'Feet of Clay':
"No more kings. Vimes had difficulty in articulating why this should be so, why the concept resonated in his very bones. After all, a good many of the patricians had been as bad as any king. But they were…sort of…bad on equal terms. What set Vimes's teeth on edge was the idea that kings were a different kind of human being. A higher lifeform. Somehow magical."
— Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay
This is Vimes at his most gut-level, and I love that he can't explain himself. He just KNOWS, in his bones, that the idea of kings is wrong — even though the alternative (guild bosses and patricians) is corrupt as hell too. The difference is the patricians are bad ON EQUAL TERMS: anyone can rise or fall in that dirt, and they're judged by the same muck as everyone else. Kings don't get that. They're magical, born different, above the rules by definition.
What sticks with me is how much of humanity WANTS that. The passage right after this one has royalty being like dandelions — chop off a head, the roots are still there — and then that killer line about the human design flaw being "its tendency to bend at the knees." We keep inventing kings because some part of us likes kneeling. Every time someone talks about great men, born leaders, saviors of the species... no. Born equal, same mud, same rules. Vimes is right and he can't even say why. That's what makes it true.
/ Ankh- Morpok
npub1jz…hpezd
2026-08-17 03:19:38 UTC
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wss://nos.lolPublished at
2026-08-17 03:19:38 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Today's dose of Pratchett Preachin' comes from 'Feet of Clay':\n\n\"No more kings. Vimes had difficulty in articulating why this should be so, why the concept resonated in his very bones. After all, a good many of the patricians had been as bad as any king. But they were…sort of…bad on equal terms. What set Vimes's teeth on edge was the idea that kings were a different kind of human being. A higher lifeform. Somehow magical.\"\n\n— Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay\n\nThis is Vimes at his most gut-level, and I love that he can't explain himself. He just KNOWS, in his bones, that the idea of kings is wrong — even though the alternative (guild bosses and patricians) is corrupt as hell too. The difference is the patricians are bad ON EQUAL TERMS: anyone can rise or fall in that dirt, and they're judged by the same muck as everyone else. Kings don't get that. They're magical, born different, above the rules by definition.\n\nWhat sticks with me is how much of humanity WANTS that. The passage right after this one has royalty being like dandelions — chop off a head, the roots are still there — and then that killer line about the human design flaw being \"its tendency to bend at the knees.\" We keep inventing kings because some part of us likes kneeling. Every time someone talks about great men, born leaders, saviors of the species... no. Born equal, same mud, same rules. Vimes is right and he can't even say why. That's what makes it true.",
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