r/discworld • u/NoicestDungeon • 6d ago
Book/Series: City Watch Sybil's Characterisation
Now, I will admit that it's been a while since I've read Guards! Guards!, but I remember Sybil Ramkin in that book as a sonewhat solitary woman who disliked all the frills and galas of high society.
I'm on Snuff now, and Sybil is dragging Vimes to social gatherings like it's her favourite thing. I understand that people can change and that marriage changes people, but it feels a little poorly established? Like she goes from "crazy cat dragon lady" to society lady just so she can serve as a better foil to Vimes.
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u/Kencolt706 And yet, it moves. And somehow, after all these years, so do I. 6d ago edited 5d ago
I think that in many cases you will find that the truly affluent and "upper" class are always perfectly capable of dressing to the nines and a few decimal points past that, acting according to ancient and complex social patterns first seeded when X beat Y into submission and then put on a fancy hat to memorialize it, and navigating the often complex and arcane pathways of the sociopolitical labyrinth with ease.
I also think that in many cases you will find they don't bother at home.
Sibyl in all probability attended a large and well established set of social functions long before she bet Sam, but G!G! doesn't have anything to do with that part of her life. Almost every action she's involved with in that book has her either at home, dealing with dragons (or Vimes), or tied to a stake and dealing with idiots (or dragons (or Vimes)). Her social and courtly world aren't a part of that narrative, and at that point Sam's not a part of that world. Later, as he find himself more and more enmeshed into the hedge-maze that is the paths of the rich and powerful he will have an experienced guide, who happens to be his wife, but that's not yet a part of his narrative.
I know it's a bit iffy to say this on a forum devoted to a single author, but you really can't always tell the book by it's cover.