Portal:Discworld/Character of the day/4

Character of the day

Sam Vimes is head of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. His full name and title (after his unwished-for promotion to the aristocracy) is His Grace, The Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes. Other titles include His Excellency, Ambassador for Ankh-Morpork, as well as Blackboard Monitor Vimes (The Fifth Elephant, Thud!). He first appeared in the novel Guards! Guards!. While no detailed description of his physical appearance shows up in any of the Discworld novels, Pratchett says in the companion work, Art of Discworld, that he has always imagined Vimes as British Actor Pete Postlethwaite.

Sam Vimes is the Commander of the City Watch, the burgeoning police force of the Discworld's largest city, Ankh-Morpork. His rise from drink-sodden, hopeless street copper to respected (if unwilling) member of the aristocracy, and the growth and development of the Watch under his command, have together been one of the major threads of the Discworld series. Born into poverty, he is now a highly reluctant member of the nobility; both a knight and a duke, and married to Sybil Ramkin, the richest heiress in the city.