Editing Guards! Guards!

{{Short description|1989 Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox book
| name         = Guards! Guards!
| image        = Guards-Guards-cover.jpg
| image_size    =
| caption= First edition
| author       = [[Terry Pratchett]]
| illustrator  = 
| cover_artist = [[Josh Kirby]]
| language     = English
| series       = {{ubl|''[[Discworld]]''|8th novel – 1st City Watch story}}
| subject      = {{ubl|Cop novels, [[Film Noir]], [[show dog]] (dragon) breeding, [[nobility]]/[[monarchy]], [[Secret society|secret societies]], ''[[The Hobbit]]'', particularly Smaug|'''Characters:'''|[[Samuel Vimes]], [[Fred Colon]], [[Nobby Nobbs]], [[Carrot Ironfoundersson]], [[Havelock Vetinari]], [[Sybil Ramkin]]|'''Locations:'''|[[Ankh-Morpork]]}}
| genre        = [[Fantasy]]
| publisher    = [[Gollancz Books|Gollancz]]
| pub_date     = 1989
| pages        = 
| awards       = Came 69th in the [[Big Read]]<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100_2.shtml BBC - The Big Read - Top 100 Books] April 2003, Retrieved 2009-05-9</ref>
| isbn         = 0-575-04606-6
| preceded_by  = [[Pyramids (novel)|Pyramids]]
| followed_by  = [[Eric (novel)|Eric]]
}}
'''''Guards! Guards!''''' is a [[fantasy novel]] by British writer [[Terry Pratchett]], the eighth in the ''[[Discworld]]'' series,  first published in 1989.<ref>Fantastic Fiction [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/terry-pratchett/guards-guards.htm Guards! Guards! (Discworld, book 8) Terry Pratchett] Retrieved 2009-05-9</ref> It is the first novel about the [[Ankh-Morpork City Watch]]. The first [[Discworld (computer game)|''Discworld'' point-and-click adventure game]] borrowed heavily from the plot of ''Guards! Guards!''<ref name = "discgame">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1088093 BBC - h2g2 - Terry Pratchett's Discworld - the Computer Game] Retrieved 2009-05-9</ref>

==Plot==
A secret [[monastic order]] plots to overthrow the [[Havelock Vetinari|Patrician]] of [[Ankh-Morpork]] and install a [[puppet monarch]] under the control of the Order. They summon a [[dragon]] to terrorise the city and plan to have the puppet "slay" the dragon and claim to be the lost heir of the defunct royal house.

The Night Watch, which is generally seen as both corrupt and incompetent, starts to change with the arrival of idealistic new recruit [[Ankh-Morpork City Watch#Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson|Carrot Ironfoundersson]], a human orphan raised by dwarfish parents. When the [[Unseen University#Librarian|Librarian]] of the [[Unseen University]] (an [[orangutan]]) reports a book of magic stolen, Vimes links the theft to the dragon's appearances. The Watch's investigation makes the acquaintance of [[Sam Vimes#Lady Sybil|Lady Sybil Ramkin]], who breeds small swamp dragons, and gives an underdeveloped dragon named Errol to the Watch as a [[mascot]].

At first, the plot works flawlessly. The Patrician is ousted in favor of the new king, but the banished dragon returns and makes itself king, demanding [[gold]] and [[virgin]] [[sacrifice]]s, and prepares to wage war against Ankh-Morpork's neighbours for the further acquisition of both (which the citizenry generally seem to approve of).

Vimes confronts his old childhood friend, the Patrician's Secretary Lupine Wonse, having figured out that he is the Supreme Grand Master, and responsible for the dragon's appearance. Vimes is imprisoned in the same cell as the Patrician. Vimes escapes with the help of the Librarian and runs to rescue Sybil, chosen as the first sacrificed maiden. After the remaining Watch fail to kill the king through a 'million-to-one chance' arrowshot, Errol fights it, and knocks it from the sky. The assembled crowd closes in to kill the king, and Sybil pleads for the dragon's life. Carrot arrests it, but Errol lets it escape. The dragon is in fact female, and the battle between them was a courtship ritual.

Vimes arrests Wonse, as he tries to summon another dragon, telling Carrot to "throw the book at him". Wonse falls to his death after the very literal Carrot hits him with a thrown copy of ''Laws and Ordinances of Ankh-Morpork''.

The Patrician is reinstated as ruler of Ankh-Morpork, and offers the Watch anything they want as a reward. They ask only for a modest pay raise, a new tea kettle, and a dartboard.  However, since the Watch's original station house was destroyed by the dragon, Lady Ramkin donates her childhood home at Pseudopolis Yard to serve as the new one.  She also proposes marriage to Vimes, who, much to his own surprise, accepts.

==Characters==
===The Watch===
*[[Samuel Vimes]]
*[[Fred Colon]]
*[[Nobby Nobbs]]
*[[Carrot Ironfoundersson]]
===Other===
*[[Havelock Vetinari]], the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork
*Lupine Wonse
*The Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night
*Sybil Ramkin
*Errol

==Reception==
[[John Clute]] in 1990 wrote that the book's serious topics risked damaging the Discworld's comedic potential: "Pratchett writes with something like genius", and particularly faulted Lord Vetinari's monologue on the nature of [[evil]] (which Clute described as [[Realpolitik]] and [[Weltschmerz]]): although he conceded that the monologue had been skilfully written, and he felt that it "has all the ring of another sphere of discourse" and "comes close to shattering the comic pulse of the Discworld".<ref name=Clute>[https://books.google.com/books?id=DI-PDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT120 Guards, Unicorns, Zool], by [[John Clute]], originally published in ''[[Interzone (magazine)|Interzone]]'' January/February 1990; archived in ''Look at the Evidence: Essays and Reviews''; published 2016 by [[Orion Publishing Group]]</ref>

''[[National Public Radio|NPR]]'' described ''Guards! Guards!'' as a "solid entryway" to the Discworld novels.<ref name=NPR>[https://www.npr.org/2015/03/16/393358428/theres-no-wrong-place-to-start-reading-pratchett There's No Wrong Place To Start Reading Pratchett], by Tasha Robinson, at [[National Public Radio]]; published March 16, 2015; retrieved September 29, 2017</ref>

==Adaptations==
The novel has been adapted as:
* a six-episode serial on [[BBC Radio 4]] (23 November  - 28 December  1992) dramatised by Michael Butt and starring [[John Wood (English actor)|John Wood]] (Vimes), [[Melvyn Hayes]] (Nobby), [[Robert Gwilym]] (Carrot), [[Crawford Logan]] (Vetinari), [[Helen Atkinson-Wood]] (Lady Ramkin), [[Brett Usher]] (Supreme Grand Master), and [[Martin Jarvis (actor)|Martin Jarvis]] (narrator).<ref>The L-Space Web [http://www.lspace.org/fandom/events/radio/guards-guards.html Events: Radio: Guards Guards] Retrieved 2009-05-9</ref>
* a stage play for the amateur stage scripted by [[Stephen Briggs]] (1993) (script later published in book form 1997).<ref name = "doollee">Doollee - The Playwrights Database [http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsB/briggs-stephen.html Stephen Briggs - complete guide to the Playwright, Plays, Theatres, Agent] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607123630/http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsB/briggs-stephen.html |date=7 June 2011 }} Retrieved 2009-05-9</ref>
* a professional stage play scripted by [[Geoffrey Cush]] and starring [[Paul Darrow]] (1998).<ref>The L-Space Web [http://www.lspace.org/fandom/events/plays/guardsguards/1998/spring-uktour.html Plays: Guards! Guards!: 1998] Retrieved 2009-05-9</ref>
* a "Big Comic" ([[Graphic novel]]) drawn by [[Graham Higgins]] and based on Briggs' script (2000).
* an audio play presented live at Dragon*Con in 2001, adapted by David Benedict and performed by the ARTC (Atlanta Radio Theatre Company).<ref>[http://artcpodcast.org/index.php?post_id=250563 ARTC's Podcast] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109085919/http://artcpodcast.org/index.php?post_id=250563 |date=9 November 2007 }} Retrieved 2009-05-9</ref>  In appreciation, the ARTC made a donation to the Orangutan Foundation International.<ref>[http://artcpodcast.org/index.php?post_id=252595 ARTC's Podcast] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109085929/http://artcpodcast.org/index.php?post_id=252595 |date=9 November 2007 }} Retrieved 2009-05-9</ref>
* a [[Discworld (video game)|video game]] loosely based on the plot of the book, with [[Rincewind]] substituted for [[Sam Vimes]].<ref name = "discgame"/>
* a Board Game - officially launched at [[Titancon]], Belfast 24 September 2011 by Backspindle Games (Designers: Leonard Boyd & David Brashaw) in conjunction with Z-Man Games, USA. The game includes 90 Discworld character illustrations drawn by Stephen Player and respective text quotes from over twenty Discworld novels.

==Translations==
*Стражите! Стражите! (Bulgarian)
*''Stráže! Stráže!'' (Czech)
*''Wacht! Wacht!'' (Dutch)
*''Vahid! Vahid!'' (Estonian)
*''Vartijat, hoi!'' (Finnish)
*''Au Guet !'' (French)
*''Wachen! Wachen!'' (German)
*שומרים! שומרים! (Shomrim! Shomrim!) (Hebrew)
*''Őrség! Őrség!'' (Hungarian)
*''A me le guardie!'' (Italian)
*''I lovens navn!'' (In the name of the law) (Norwegian)
*''Straż! Straż!'' (Polish)
*''Guardas! Guardas! '' (Portuguese - Brazil)
*''Gărzi! Gărzi!'' (Romanian)
*Стража! Стража! (Russian)
*''Straža! Straža!'' (Serbian)
*''¡Guardias! ¿Guardias?'' (Spanish)
*''I lagens namn'' (In the name of the law) (Swedish)
*''Muhafızlar! Muhafızlar!'' (Turkish)
*''來人啊!'' (繁體中文)
*''卫兵！卫兵！''(简体中文)
*''Варта! Варта!'' (Ukrainian)
*''Guàrdies, guàrdies!'' (Catalan)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote|Discworld#Guards! Guards!|Guards! Guards!}}
* {{isfdb title|1831}}
* [http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/guards-guards.html Annotations for ''Guards! Guards!'']
* [http://www.lspace.org/books/pqf/guards-guards.html Quotes from ''Guards! Guards!'']
* [http://discworldreadingorder.azurewebsites.net/TheWatch Discworld reading order - The Watch]

{{s-start}}
{{s-other|[[Discworld reading order|Reading order guide]]}}
{{succession box | before = [[Pyramids (novel)|Pyramids]] | title = 8th [[Discworld#Novels|Discworld Novel]]  | years= | after = [[Eric (novel)|<s>Faust</s> Eric]]}}
{{succession box | before = ''None'' | title = 1st [[Ankh-Morpork City Watch|City Watch Story]]  | years=Published in 1989  | after = [[Theatre of Cruelty (Discworld)|Theatre of Cruelty]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Discworld books}}
{{Terry Pratchett}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1989 British novels]]
[[Category:Discworld books]]
[[Category:British comedy novels]]
[[Category:British fantasy novels]]
[[Category:1989 fantasy novels]]
[[Category:British novels adapted into television shows]]
[[Category:Novels adapted into comics]]
[[Category:Novels set in swamps]]
[[Category:Victor Gollancz Ltd books]]
[[Category:Speculative crime and thriller fiction novels]]