Feet of Clay

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The original working title for this book was Words in the Head.

“Feet of Clay” is a biblical reference. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had a dream in which he saw a statue whose head was made of gold, but lower down the statue the materials got progressively more base, until the feet were “part of iron, part of clay”; the statue was shattered and destroyed by being struck on the feet, its weakest point. Hence, colloquially, the expression “feet of clay” has come to mean that someone regarded as an idol has a hidden weakness.

[frontispiece] The mottoes and crests are mostly explained in the book, but for completeness they are:

Edward St John de Nobbes: “capite omnia” — “take it all”

Gerhardt Sock (butcher): “futurus meus est in visceris” — “my future is in the entrails”

Vetinari: “si non confectus non reficiat” — “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” (a saying popularised by Lyndon B Johnson, though possibly older)

Assassins Guild: “nil mortifice sine lucre” — “no killing without payment”

Rudolph Potts (baker): “quod subigo farinam” — “because I knead the dough”

Thieves’ Guild: “acutus id verberat” — “sharp’s the word”

Vimes family: “protego et servio” — “I protect and serve”. In the centre of the crest is the number 177, which — we learnt in Men at Arms — is Vimes’ own badge number.