# Is there a Discworld novel in the works?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-discworld-novel-in-the-works/483133
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 26, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-discworld-novel-in-the-works/483133 "2009-01-26T22:28:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-discworld-novel-in-the-works/483133/21 "2009-01-27T23:45:18Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> Vimes isn’t ruthless enough.
It would make the stories more interesting: How will the morally aware Vimes deal with the inevitable requirements of being patrician.
---
### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-discworld-novel-in-the-works/483133/22 "2009-01-28T00:44:40Z")
> [@Lobsang](#):
>
> I always thought Drumknot would be Patrician.
Drumknot is definitely a behind-the-scenes sort of person. He supports the Patrician.
Vimes is definitely ruthless enough, he’s just not cynical enough. I don’t believe I just wrote that. OK, he’s cynical. But he’s not Patrician level cynical. He’s not manipulative nor as twisty-minded.
I’m thinking of the time that the Patrician told Vimes that Vimes thought that there were good people and bad people, where he believed that there were only bad people, but not all of the bad people were on the same side.
I could picture Moist being Patrician with Vimes breathing down his neck. Vimes wouldn’t give Moist the same deference that he gives Vetinari. I think that sort of a contest would evolve between the two. It would be enough to keep Moist’s interest.
I’m just wondering what they’re going to end up doing with that pit full of uber-golems that they have now. A certain person is not going to let them just lay there.
---
### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-discworld-novel-in-the-works/483133/23 "2009-01-28T09:36:55Z")
Vimes is too _good_ to be Patrician. While A-M cops are generally a short step away from criminal\*, Moist is an actual criminal, which, seemingly, is what is needed to keep the city running.
\*(or however far it takes to walk to where Nobby is standing)
---
### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-discworld-novel-in-the-works/483133/24 "2009-01-28T11:19:23Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> The rules of succession to the Patriciate of Ankh-Morpork have never been explained; so far we get the impression it always involves a coup, but that probably is not the case. OTOH, there is no suggestion of any hereditary element, nor of any election process that is not a coup. Perhaps any Patrician who is not a complete disaster has an implicitly acknowledged right to name his successor, like presidents of Mexico during the period of PRI one-party rule.
Actually, it’s implied that the Patrician is elected by the heads of the various guilds, who are also free to dismiss him - as they did at the end of _Jingo_.
Of course, if Vetinari pushed someone as his heir, he’d probably be a sho-in.
But it won’t be Vimes - Vimes is \*not \*going to be Patrician. He’s a copper, and he’s right where he’s supposed to be.
---
### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-discworld-novel-in-the-works/483133/25 "2009-01-28T12:21:09Z")
I doubt there’ll ever be a changing of the guard in the books. When the last Discworld novel is written, Vetinari will still be Patrician.
---
### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-discworld-novel-in-the-works/483133/26 "2009-01-28T12:23:46Z")
Owwww, &#@$ my thumb!
---
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-discworld-novel-in-the-works/483133/27 "2009-01-28T15:00:40Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> I doubt there’ll ever be a changing of the guard in the books. When the last Discworld novel is written, Vetinari will still be Patrician.
Unfortunately, I think you are right.
Besides, Vimes is too much of a cop to ever make a good Patrician. People who enforce laws should never be the ones to make them, and Vimes will _always_ be a cop.
---
### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-discworld-novel-in-the-works/483133/28 "2009-01-30T15:44:51Z")
[I still want more Eskarina!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=400083)
[Pterry hinted at the possibility almost a year ago,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=464304) but I’ve heard nothing since.
---
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-discworld-novel-in-the-works/483133/29 "2009-01-30T15:48:03Z")
If we ever get _Midnight_, we’ll see. Right now, it’s not looking all that likely, unless Terry has it finished and is sitting on it.
---
### Author:  [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-discworld-novel-in-the-works/483133/30 "2010-12-15T21:40:50Z")
OK, zombie thread and all that, but some of you might be interested.
Eskarina Smith does, in fact, return in “I Shall Wear Midnight”. I find “Nation” and “Midnight” well upto Pterry’s standard or even better. Looking forward to “Raising Taxes.”
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-discworld-novel-in-the-works/483133.md?page=1)