Vimes has also managed to evade, beat off and ' kill ' ( at least, temporarily disable ) werewolves ( in The Fifth Elephant ), part of a pack of werewolves in " the game "; a werewolf tradition of chasing a human back to civilization that humans did not often win, during a version organized by Angua's brother Wolfgang ; Wolfgang insists that the werewolves would just have " nasty headaches later on.

Vimes catches up with 71-hour Ahmed and has, by this time, figured out that Ahmed is a fellow policeman.

Arriving at Gebra they discover that Carrot has convinced the two armies to get together and play a game of football ( he has an inflatable football in his backpack for just such an emergency ), Vimes is preparing to arrest the Klatchian Prince and Lord Rust for various breaches of the peace ( such as being prepared for war ) and 71-hour Ahmed is supporting him.

Sam Vimes is informed that Vetinari has been " reminded " that the old rank of Commander was the same as the old rank of Duke.

In the end, Vetinari has recovered completely, Dorfl is sworn in as a watchman, Vimes gets a pay rise, and the watch house gets a new dart board.

While no detailed description of his physical appearance shows up in any of the Discworld novels, Pratchett says in the companion work, The Art of Discworld, that he has always imagined Vimes as a younger, slightly bulkier version of British actor Pete Postlethwaite.

It has been suggested that Sam's father was a watchman in Jingo and he is a descendant of Suffer-Not-Injustice " Old Stoneface " Vimes, the Watch Commander who instigated the rebellion against, and subsequently beheaded, Lorenzo the Kind, the last king of the city ; a sadistic torturer described as " very fond of children.

For three centuries afterwards, the memory of " Old Stoneface " has lived on in infamy and, as his descendant, Vimes has frequently endured suspicious mutterings from the aristocracy.

It is mentioned in Men at Arms that Vimes has been in the Watch for 25 years, making him 41 at the time of that novel.

This insult to Vimes ' sense of justice, together with his being naturally knurd and other events, ( it has been claimed he was " brung low by a woman ", which is an interpretation of the anthropomorphisation of the city, Morporkia ), led towards heavy drinking.

Vimes is all-but-shocked at Vetinari's disturbingly cynical ( and probably disturbingly accurate ) view of the world, he in turn has been called " the most cynical bastard that ever walked under the sun " ( in Going Postal ).

Vimes has once been described as a speciesist, though only from an " old school " mindset.

In addition, Vimes ' office at Pseudopolis Yard has " everything that his ingenuity could devise ", including sharp ornamental railings, " which are pretty, and make the house look nice, but are, above all, spiky.

Though he sometimes has to call in a plasterer when Vimes is particularly angry, Vetinari doesn't worry about it — a sign that he intentionally angers Vimes so as to goad him into a desired action.

It has also been noted that, in personality and mental setup, Vimes bears some similarity to Granny Weatherwax.

On rare occasions, Sam Vimes has been described as completely happy, even if it's only for a brief period ; such occasions include alone time with his wife, the birth of his son, and whenever a case has reached a satisfactory conclusion.

Despite having competent subordinates, including Captains Carrot and Angua, and Sergeant Detritus, Vimes finds it difficult to delegate, and is frustrated by the fact that the growth of the Watch has left him with less and less time for actual policing.

Recently, Vimes has seen involvement with:

Terry Pratchett has commented that Vimes has made setting a story in Ankh-Morpork very difficult as it is almost impossible to create a story involving any sort of crime or politics without it rapidly becoming a Watch book.

His mother would go on to tell young Sam that his father was ' run down by a cart when he was crossing the street ': He privately reckons later that his father was a drunk: Vimes had never known his father.

Indeed, he fled the offer at a dead run, all the time terrified Vimes would " go spare ".

Nothing is known of Istanzia, although it is a state big enough to send an Ambassador to Ankh-Morpork for Commander Vimes to frighten: when in The Fifth Elephant the Istanzian forces were reported to be making repeated armed incursions across the Slipnir river, Vimes's offer to arrange for the Istanzian Ambassador to "... go home in an ambulance " resulted in the Istanzian forces pulling back so far that they were "... nearly in the next country.

In Snuff, as Vimes and Willikins go for walk in the countryside, they " navigate their way around the ha-ha, keep their distance from the ho-ho and completely ignore the he-he.

Sir Samuel Vimes, Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, begins investigating the crime, originally suspecting both a Klatchian named 71-Hour Ahmed and a senior Morporkian peer, Lord Rust, of being involved.

Vimes then recruits the Watch into his own private army regiment, reasoning that, as an official noble, he is entitled to do so by law and by Lord Rust's command, with the group remaining independent as knights legally fall under command of the king or his duly-appointed representatives, neither of which exist in Ankh-Morpork.

As of his latest promotion, his full name and title is ; " His Grace, His Excellency, The Duke of Ankh ; Commander Sir Samuel Vimes ": When serving as Ambassador for Ankh-Morpork, he is also referred to simply as " His Excellency ", and is also nicknamed " Blackboard Monitor Vimes ," and " Vetinari's Terrier " ( or hammer ): According to his wife, Sybil, Vimes is recognised by many as Lord Vetinari's right-hand man.

Later, he fought alongside the remnants of Samuel Vimes ' ( then known as John Keel ) Night Watch against the remnants of the Cable Street Particulars ( colloquially known as the Unmentionables ), the late Lord Winder's secret police.

Currently in his late forties / early fifties ( Sam Vimes noted in Feet of Clay that the Patrician was about the same age as him, and it is shown in Night Watch that he was a student Assassin at the time of the main events of the book, when Vimes was 16 ), Lord Vetinari is tall, thin and dresses all in dusty black, including a black skullcap.

A subsequent conversation with Lord Vetinari reveals that the Patrician alone knows Vimes took Keel's place, also that he fought with Keel's men against Carcer's death squad.

This coincided with the request by Lord Vetinari and the Ankh-Morpork Mission of the Überwald League of Temperance to Commander Sir Samuel Vimes to accept a vampire constable.

In Jingo, Lord Vetinari gives Sam Vimes the title of Duke, something only a King can do, while Carrot is present — Vetinari goes so far as to say that he " had been reminded " that Vimes could have that title.

Lord Vetinari convinces Commander Vimes to interview a vampire applicant to the Ankh-Morpork City Watch.

Vimes finds himself pressured by Lord Vetinari to solve the murder quickly, before inter-species war erupts in Ankh-Morpork.

Meanwhile, Nobby and Sergeant Colon have been recruited by Vetinari and his pet inventor, Leonard of Quirm, on a secret mission of their own, unknown to Vimes.

Since Carrot is, of course, very much not the King of Ankh-Morpork his reminding of Vetinari is all that is required for Vimes to get his new position and rank.

Although widely differing characters, Vimes and Vetinari can be called similar in that they both have very cynical worldviews, but fairly idealistic aims.

" Vimes also reflects on killing a werewolf in Night Watch and Vetinari mentions him killing a werewolf in Thud !.

In fact, when Vimes was temporarily relieved of command in Men At Arms, the fact that Vimes didn't pound the wall led Vetinari to realize that he ' may have gone too far '.

* a 6-episode serial on BBC Radio 4 ( 23 Nov .-28 Dec. 1992 ) dramatised by Michael Butt and starring John Wood ( Vimes ), Melvyn Hayes ( Nobby ), Robert Gwilym ( Carrot ), Crawford Logan ( Vetinari ), Helen Atkinson-Wood ( Lady Ramkin ), Brett Usher ( Supreme Grand Master ), Martin Jarvis ( narrator ).

In essence, this amounts to Carrot Ironfoundersson and Samuel Vimes, respectively the captain and commander of the City Watch, and hence used to keeping Vetinari alive – on the grounds that they would be ' on top of the pile ' if the city collapsed, as the city's rightful heir to the throne and the highest ranking noble respectively.

Ironfoundersson is noted by Vimes to be one of the few people who actually like the Patrician, and Vimes, while adamant that he doesn't, shares the dedication to the city felt by Vetinari and Ironfoundersson.

Whilst one may speculate that while Vetinari basically has a watchmaker's vision of the state, with everything in perfect balance and needing only the occasional drop of fine oil, he is actually pragmatic enough to appreciate that it requires to be kept in trim with a heavy hammer, aka Samuel Vimes.

To date, there are two people in Ankh-Morpork known to have had contracts refused on, and no longer be available for assassination-Lord Vetinari and Commander of the Watch, Samuel Vimes.

In addition, Vetinari mentions receiving only good reports about him from Vimes, though this may be related to the fact that Vimes believes complaints prove that you're doing the job right.