Lord Vetinari is a cool and scary and mysterious character, but he still has just enough ridiculousness about him to make him feel authentically “discworldy,” and I’ve gotta say, I really appreciate that.
Like you have this picture of a dark, cunning, Machiavellian assassin-turned-dictator who keeps his citizens in line through a combination of fear and respect, and who is constantly finding and manipulating the right individuals into doing his secret will while keeping himself ahead of every twist and turn, even when he is in actual immediate mortal peril… but then you read a little further and realize this guy also:
Keeps Leonardo da Vinci in his basement
Advised the rats in his dungeon into and organized coup against the snakes and scorpions
Made mime artistry punishable by torture
Is arch-nemeses with the woman who writes the newspaper crossword puzzles
Reads sheet music because its more “tasteful” than performed music
…And people are still afraid of him.
ExCUSE you, he doesn’t keep Leonardo Da Vinci in his basement
He keeps him in his ATTIC
Y’all are forgetting that he went to assassin school and got a doctorate in dance. I’m, like, 97% sure I didn’t dream that up.
He is also described with this lovely piece of literary art, which is (I think) from Reaper Man:
“Thin, pale, and clad all in dusty black, the Patrician always put Ridcully in mind of a predatory flamingo, if you could find a flamingo that was black and had the patience of a rock.”
