The Fifth Elephant characters

Also known as Commander Vimes, Duke of Ankh

Appears from the start

Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch and Duke of Ankh, a blunt, working-class copper who dislikes his own title and distrusts diplomacy. Lord Vetinari sends him abroad as an ambassador to the distant, dangerous country of Uberwald, a role he is spectacularly unsuited for and which he treats, at heart, as police work.

Also known as Lady Sybil Ramkin

Appears from the start

Vimes's wife, a large, warm, immensely capable aristocrat and famous breeder of swamp dragons. Well-connected and unflappable, she accompanies Vimes on his diplomatic mission and handles the social side of it far more gracefully than he does.

Also known as Captain Carrot

Appears from the start

A very tall man raised by dwarfs and a captain of the City Watch, honest and literal-minded, with a natural gift for leadership. He is romantically attached to the werewolf Angua.

Also known as Sergeant Angua

Appears from the start

A sergeant of the City Watch and a werewolf, originally from an aristocratic werewolf family in Uberwald that she left behind. Capable and self-controlled, she is uneasy about the prospect of her homeland and her relatives re-entering her life.

Appears from the start

A dwarf member of the Watch who works on forensic detection and who, unusually for a dwarf, openly presents as female. Precise and clever, she travels with Vimes into dwarf country, where such openness is provocative.

Also known as Sergeant Colon, Acting Captain Colon

Appears from the start

A stout, cautious sergeant of the Watch who is left in charge of policing Ankh-Morpork while his superiors are abroad, a responsibility that quickly reveals the limits of his leadership.

Also known as Corporal Nobbs

Appears from the start

A scruffy, opportunistic corporal of the Watch of dubious pedigree, who carries a document certifying that he is human. He remains behind in the city with the skeleton Watch.

Appears from the start

A troll sergeant of the City Watch, hugely strong and slower-witted in the heat, who accompanies Vimes on the journey to Uberwald as bodyguard and muscle.

Appears from the start

A scruffy, disreputable Ankh-Morpork street dog who can talk, a fact he keeps quiet. Cynical and streetwise, he attaches himself to the story as it moves and offers unsolicited canine commentary.

Also known as Rhys Rhysson

Appears from the start

The dwarf about to be crowned ruler of the dwarfs at a grand coronation in Uberwald, a moment of high political tension. The ceremony depends on an ancient dwarf artefact of deep symbolic importance.

Appears from the start

Angua's brother, a powerful and aggressive werewolf of the Uberwald aristocracy who leads his family's clan. Physically imposing and openly contemptuous of weakness, he treats hunting and dominance as sport.

Appears from the start

A servant of the traditional Uberwald type, an Igor: lisping, scarred, endlessly helpful, and a master of surgery and stitchwork. He is assigned to assist Vimes at the embassy.