Thud! 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, dogged copper who rose from the streets. Now a husband and new father, he guards a fixed private rule: whatever the crisis, he goes home at six o'clock every evening to read a picture book to his baby son. He faces a murder investigation that threatens to set the city's dwarfs and trolls at each other's throats.

Also known as Lady Sybil Ramkin

Appears from the start

Vimes's wife, a large, kind, aristocratic dragon-breeder who runs the domestic side of their life. She holds her husband to the promise that he will be home each night for their son's bedtime.

Appears from the start

The infant son of Sam and Sybil Vimes. His nightly bedtime reading is the fixed point around which his father tries to organize an increasingly dangerous case.

Also known as Captain Carrot

Appears from the start

A very tall man raised by dwarfs and a captain of the City Watch, honest, popular, and steady. His dwarf upbringing gives him a foot in both communities as tensions rise, and he is partnered with the werewolf Angua.

Also known as Sergeant Angua

Appears from the start

A sergeant of the City Watch and a werewolf, whose senses make her a formidable investigator. She is wary of, and must work alongside, a newly arrived vampire recruit.

Also known as Lance-Constable Sally

Appears from the start

A vampire who joins the City Watch as a new recruit, having sworn off blood. Poised and competent, her arrival strains her relationship with the werewolf Angua, since vampires and werewolves are traditional enemies.

Appears from the start

A dwarf member of the Watch who handles forensic work and openly presents as female, something conservative dwarfs disapprove of. Her expertise is central to examining the crime scene.

Also known as Sergeant Colon

Appears from the start

A stout, cautious veteran sergeant of the Watch who prefers routine street policing and worries loudly about anything out of the ordinary.

Also known as Corporal Nobbs

Appears from the start

A scruffy, opportunistic corporal of the Watch of uncertain species, who carries paperwork certifying he is human. He blunders through the case with his usual mix of low cunning and bad luck.

Appears from the start

A troll sergeant of the City Watch, enormously strong, whose loyalties are tested as troll-dwarf hostility grows in the city. He remains a steady presence at Vimes's side.

Also known as The Patrician

Appears from the start

The calm, calculating ruler of Ankh-Morpork, who leans on Vimes to keep the peace between dwarfs and trolls before an inflammatory anniversary can ignite the city.

Appears from the start

A militant, traditionalist dwarf leader and rabble-rouser recently arrived in Ankh-Morpork, who preaches deep grievance against trolls from beneath the city. His fate becomes the murder at the heart of the case.