Monstrous Regiment characters

Also known as Oliver Perks, Ozzer

Appears from the start

A capable young woman, daughter of an innkeeper in the small, embattled nation of Borogravia. When her brother marches off to war and stops writing home, she cuts off her hair, dresses as a boy, and enlists under the name Oliver to go and find him. Observant, practical, and quick to learn, she sets out to pass as an ordinary male recruit in a country where women are forbidden to serve.

Appears from the start

A vastly experienced, rotund, and fearsome career sergeant of the Borogravian army, scarred and loud, who takes charge of a batch of raw and unpromising recruits. Gruff, profane, and endlessly resourceful, he claims to know every trick of soldiering and is fiercely protective of the young soldiers he calls his own.

Appears from the start

An inexperienced, bookish young officer who has spent his career behind a desk and is finally given command of a squad in the field. Eager for the heroics he has only read about and physically out of his depth, he is well-meaning but ill-suited to real war.

Appears from the start

An aggressive, unpleasant training corporal who bullies the new recruits and clearly relishes the small authority he holds over them during their first days in the army.

Also known as Duchess Annagovia

Appears from the start

The revered, near-sacred ruler of Borogravia, whose portrait hangs in every home and inn and in whose name the endless war is fought. Long unseen in person, she is the focus of her people's patriotic devotion and religious loyalty.

Also known as Commander Vimes

Appears from the start

Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, present in the war zone as an outside authority because the wider world has taken an interest in Borogravia's conflict. Hard-nosed and politically shrewd, he moves through the situation pursuing Ankh-Morpork's concerns rather than any local cause.

Appears from the start

An earnest newspaper editor from Ankh-Morpork, covering Borogravia's war as a correspondent. He is determined to report what is really happening at the front, which does not always suit the authorities on either side.

Appears from the start

A vampire who works as a picture-maker for the Ankh-Morpork newspaper, accompanying William de Worde to the war. He has sworn off blood and captures images with a flash of light that is itself dangerous to his kind.