The Watch
For the TV series, see The Watch.
The Ankh-Morpork City Watch - usually just referred to as "the Watch" - are the police force of Ankh-Morpork. Originally divided into a separate Day and Night Watch, they are eventually unified and greatly expanded under the leadership of Sam Vimes, who is repeatedly promoted and decorated by the Patrician. They are the protagonists of the Watch sub-series of Discworld novels, though the later books focus primarily on Vimes and his family.
Books
The Watch series of books comprises eight novels and one short story:
- Guards! Guards!
- “Theatre of Cruelty”
- Men at Arms
- Feet of Clay
- Jingo
- The Fifth Elephant
- Night Watch (mostly Vimes)
- Thud!
- Snuff (mostly Vimes)
In addition, members of the Watch appear in many later Discworld novels, especially those set in Ankh-Morpork. These include Soul Music, Maskerade, Hogfather, The Truth, The Last Hero, Monstrous Regiment, Going Postal, Making Money, I Shall Wear Midnight, Unseen Academicals and Raising Steam.
Members of the Watch
The Watch grows significantly in size during the books, though the core cast remains largely the same.
Main Characters
Since most of them get promoted across the course of the books, we’ll just give their names here.
- Sam Vimes
- Fred Colon
- Nobby Nobbs
- Carrot Ironfoundersson
- Angua von Überwald
- Cherry Littlebottom
Major Supporting Characters
There are many more members of the Watch; we’ve tried to list only those who play a significant supporting role in one or more books.
- Detritus
- Cuddy
- Visit-the-Infidel-with-Explanatory-Pamphlets (aka “Washpot”)
- Dorfl
- Reg Shoe
- André
- Wee Mad Arthur
- Buggy Swires
- Igor
- Sally von Humpeding
- A. E. Pessimal
- Bluejohn
Television series
While none of the Watch books have been adapted for the screen, they inspired the BBC America series The Watch, which primarily draws its story from Guards! Guards! and Night Watch, but also borrows liberally from other books, notably The Fifth Elephant and Thud!. Watch characters also appear in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather and Soul Music.
External links
- Ankh-Morpork City Watch at the L-Space wiki
- Ankh-Morpork City Watch on Wikipedia