Vetinari is successfully poisoned, making him severely ill. To implement this, the cabal orders the golems' newly made king, Meshugah, to make poisoned candles and have them delivered to the palace. They enroll the help of a priest and dwarf bread baker to write the sacred instructions and bake the clay, respectively Meshugah, the 'king' golem, is initially sent to work in a candle factory, and later murders the priest and baker who took part in his creation.Īround the same time, a cabal of Ankh-Morpork's guild leaders seeks to gradually depose the Patrician, replace him with Nobby Nobbs as the new king and rule the city through him. They fashion a golem from their own clay and place in his head instructions that would fulfill their hopes: 'Bring peace to the world', 'Treat everyone fairly' and so on.

Twelve of the city golems, clay creatures forced to obey the written instructions placed inside their heads, decide to create a 'king' golem. Gerhardt Sock (butcher): 'futurus meus est in visceris' - 'my future is in the entrails' Plot Vetinari: 'si non confectus non reficiat' - 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' a southern USA expression.Įdward St John de Nobbes: 'capite omnia' - 'take it all' Rudolph Potts (baker): 'quod subigo farinam' - 'because I knead the dough' Thieves' Guild: 'acutus id verberat' - 'whip it quick' which is a reference to the song by Devo 'Whip it'. In the centre of the crest is the number 177, Vimes' own badge number. Vimes family: 'protego et servio' - 'I protect and serve'.

The mottoes and crests of the various guilds and families are:Īssassins Guild: 'nil mortifice sine lucre' - 'no killing without payment' The script used to represent a golem's writing in the book is a corrupted form of the Hebrew alphabet made to appear as roman letters, possibly a reference to golems' origins in Jewish mythology.

And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.' Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. The title is a figure of speech from the Bible (Daniel 2:33-45) used to indicate a weakness or a hidden flaw in the character of a greatly admired or respected person: The story follows the members of The Watch, as they attempt to solve murders apparently committed by a golem, as well as the unusual poisoning of the Patrician. Feet of Clay is the nineteenth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, and a parody of detective novels.

Feet of clay discworld