Source plot synopsis — includes the ending
William de Worde, black sheep of an influential Ankh-Morpork family, scrapes out a living as a scribe producing stock letters-to-home and a gossipy newsletter for foreign notables. After a team of dwarves arrive in Ankh-Morpork to start a printing business using moveable type, De Worde and the dwarves establish The Ankh-Morpork Times, later employing Sacharissa Cripslock and Otto, a black-ribbon vampire and iconographer. The Guild of Engravers aim to halt the 'non-guild' activities of the Times by cutting off their paper supplies and establishing The Ankh-Morpork Inquirer, a loss-making tabloid filled with fabricated stories.
The wealthy and powerful (but anonymous) Committee to Unelect the Patrician plot to depose Lord Vetinari. They hire Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip, a pair of mercenaries known as the New Firm, to frame Vetinari and replace him with a puppet. Pin and Tulip manage to catch off-guard the normally impassible Patrician with Charlie, a witless Pseudopolitan Vetinari look-alike coerced into helping them. The plan goes awry when Vetinari's clerk Drumknott returns in the middle of the scene and the New Firm is forced to stab him and render Vetinari unconscious; their efforts are hampered by Lord Vetinari's terrier, Wuffles, who bites Mr. Pin and escapes, becoming the sole witness to the crime.
After William ill-advisedly advertises a reward for information leading to Wuffles' recovery, the New Firm, disguised as Omnian clergy, attempt to gather information about Wuffles from the Times but are frightened off by Otto's experimental dark-light 'obscurograph' technology (which unpredictably produces images of the past, the future or what is "really there"). Realizing that the job is much harder than their employers had initially suggested, the New Firm decides to skip town. They extort from their employers' zombie lawyer Mr. Slant their promised payment and a big "bonus" in jewels, using compromising voice recordings captured with a dis-organiser Mk II.
An anonymous tipster named "Deep Bone" helps William find Wuffles and "translate" his testimony, giving William the last pieces of the puzzle. Sacharissa accidentally discovers the New Firm's hideout in the de Worde family townhouse and is captured. The New Firm head back to the Times offices hoping to exchange her for Wuffles and silence all witnesses. In the ensuing struggle the Times offices catch fire. William and the others escape while Pin and Tulip hide in the cellar. Pin, driven insane due to the dark-light visions of the New Firm's deceased victims, kills Tulip to steal his potato (which he believed would allow him to reincarnate after death) and uses him as a raft against molten lead. Escaping from the cellars, he attacks William but is impaled on William's memo spike. William retrieves the jewels and the dis-organiser, and discovers Wuffles's bitemark on Tulip's leg. Blackmailing the Inquirer's staff, the crew borrow one of their presses to get the exposé printed.
The story clears Lord Vetinari's name before the Guild-controlled Patrician can seize power but the populace of Ankh-Morpork seem ambivalent to the news. From the recordings on the dis-organiser, William discovers that his father Lord de Worde, an ardent speciesist opposed to Vetinari's tolerance of non-human residents in the city, is the mastermind behind the Committee. He decides to confront him. A tense argument, blackmail with the threat of exposure, a fortune in jewels, and threats from Otto fail to intimidate Lord de Worde into returning to his self-imposed exile as William demands. However, after learning that his machinations nearly killed his own son, Lord de Worde admits defeat and walks away. William manages to blackmail Slant into providing his services pro bono to get him released from Watch custody and to resolve his dispute with the Engravers' Guild.
William is ambivalent about the new role of the free press but resolves that someone must tell the public the truth about what goes on in the city, even if the public is disinterested. The Times comes to be recognized, if not exactly welcomed, by the powers that be in the city, and William and Sacharissa make plans to expand even further. It is revealed that the regretful Tulip and the relieved Pin have been reincarnated as a woodworm and a potato, respectively.
The wealthy and powerful (but anonymous) Committee to Unelect the Patrician plot to depose Lord Vetinari. They hire Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip, a pair of mercenaries known as the New Firm, to frame Vetinari and replace him with a puppet. Pin and Tulip manage to catch off-guard the normally impassible Patrician with Charlie, a witless Pseudopolitan Vetinari look-alike coerced into helping them. The plan goes awry when Vetinari's clerk Drumknott returns in the middle of the scene and the New Firm is forced to stab him and render Vetinari unconscious; their efforts are hampered by Lord Vetinari's terrier, Wuffles, who bites Mr. Pin and escapes, becoming the sole witness to the crime.
After William ill-advisedly advertises a reward for information leading to Wuffles' recovery, the New Firm, disguised as Omnian clergy, attempt to gather information about Wuffles from the Times but are frightened off by Otto's experimental dark-light 'obscurograph' technology (which unpredictably produces images of the past, the future or what is "really there"). Realizing that the job is much harder than their employers had initially suggested, the New Firm decides to skip town. They extort from their employers' zombie lawyer Mr. Slant their promised payment and a big "bonus" in jewels, using compromising voice recordings captured with a dis-organiser Mk II.
An anonymous tipster named "Deep Bone" helps William find Wuffles and "translate" his testimony, giving William the last pieces of the puzzle. Sacharissa accidentally discovers the New Firm's hideout in the de Worde family townhouse and is captured. The New Firm head back to the Times offices hoping to exchange her for Wuffles and silence all witnesses. In the ensuing struggle the Times offices catch fire. William and the others escape while Pin and Tulip hide in the cellar. Pin, driven insane due to the dark-light visions of the New Firm's deceased victims, kills Tulip to steal his potato (which he believed would allow him to reincarnate after death) and uses him as a raft against molten lead. Escaping from the cellars, he attacks William but is impaled on William's memo spike. William retrieves the jewels and the dis-organiser, and discovers Wuffles's bitemark on Tulip's leg. Blackmailing the Inquirer's staff, the crew borrow one of their presses to get the exposé printed.
The story clears Lord Vetinari's name before the Guild-controlled Patrician can seize power but the populace of Ankh-Morpork seem ambivalent to the news. From the recordings on the dis-organiser, William discovers that his father Lord de Worde, an ardent speciesist opposed to Vetinari's tolerance of non-human residents in the city, is the mastermind behind the Committee. He decides to confront him. A tense argument, blackmail with the threat of exposure, a fortune in jewels, and threats from Otto fail to intimidate Lord de Worde into returning to his self-imposed exile as William demands. However, after learning that his machinations nearly killed his own son, Lord de Worde admits defeat and walks away. William manages to blackmail Slant into providing his services pro bono to get him released from Watch custody and to resolve his dispute with the Engravers' Guild.
William is ambivalent about the new role of the free press but resolves that someone must tell the public the truth about what goes on in the city, even if the public is disinterested. The Times comes to be recognized, if not exactly welcomed, by the powers that be in the city, and William and Sacharissa make plans to expand even further. It is revealed that the regretful Tulip and the relieved Pin have been reincarnated as a woodworm and a potato, respectively.
Sources and content license
Source and revision history ↗ · Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, The Truth (novel). Section headings and formatting adjusted. · Content license