Samuel Vimes: Encyclopedia II - Samuel Vimes - Character

Samuel Vimes - Character

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 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. If one could sum Sam Vimes up in a single word, it would be "conflicted." An incorruptible idealist with deep beliefs in justice and an abiding love of his city, he is also a committed cynic whose knowledge of human nature constantly reminds him how far off those ideals are. A self-described speciesist (the Disc's equivalent of a racist), he has nonetheless allowed the Watch to become one of the most species-blind employers in the city, and recognises better than most the value of its non-human members. A cushioned member of the indolent classes, he still has an innate dislike of hereditary wealth and a horror of social inequality, which, ironically, may be hereditary (see below). But by far the deepest and most profound conflict within Sam Vimes is that between his virtuous nature and what he calls "the beast"; the dark upwelling of fury in his soul that, if let loose, would drive him to destroy those he hates.

Vimes can be considered similar to the stereotype of a cop on the edge, yet never letting his own "Law" become his own justice become his personal form of justice. He protects himself with the symbol of his own badge. The badge protects himself from becoming the criminal he despises. At least in his own mind.

Vimes's unfortunately firm grip on the Ankh-Morpork psyche and basic human nature led to him spending some years as a drunk (he wasn't rich enough to be considered an alcoholic), and Sergeant Colon speculated that this was because his body didn't produce any "natural" alcohol. He estimated that Vimes was about two drinks below par. This meant that when he hadn't been drinking, he was beyond sober - he was knurd and saw reality, stripped of the fuzziness and mental illusions that most people construct in their minds to get to sleep at night. This horrifying state of mind would cause Vimes to try to balance it out through drinking, but he would get the dosage wrong and end up drunk. Vimes gave up alcohol after his marriage to Sybil Ramkin (largely at her behest, though also in concern for his own health), and now smokes foul-smelling cigars instead.

Terry Pratchett noted the following about Vimes on the Usenet: "Vimes is fundamentally a person. He fears he may be a bad person because he knows what he thinks rather than just what he says and does. He chokes off those little reactions and impulses, but he knows what they are. So he tries to act like a good person, often in situations where the map is unclear."

The many narrative possibilities of this complex character are perhaps the reason why Terry Pratchett has returned to his story more often than any other in the Discworld canon.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Character", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki