Editing Sam Vimes (section)

==Background==
Sam Vimes was born in Cockbill Street as the son of Thomas Vimes,<ref name="FOC">''[[Feet of Clay (novel)|Feet of Clay]]'', page 36, {{ISBN|0-575-05900-1}}</ref> (son of Gwilliam Vimes)<ref name="FOC"/> in the poorest area of Ankh-Morpork, so poor that there was little crime, though Sam was part of a street gang (''The Cockbill Street Roaring Lads'') with [[Lupine Wonse]], who later became secretary to [[Lord Vetinari]].

Vimes was educated at a [[dame school]], where he was once blackboard monitor for a whole term, before he had to drop out and concentrate on learning about life out on the streets. It is mentioned in ''[[Jingo (novel)|Jingo]]'' that Sam Vimes' father, Thomas Vimes, had been a [[Watchman (law enforcement)|watchman]] prior to his death. His mother would go on to tell young Sam that his father was 'run down by a cart when he was crossing the street'.<ref name="nightwatch">''[[Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'', page 150, {{ISBN|0-385-60264-2}}</ref> He privately thinks later that his father was a drunk: "Vimes had never known his father.  His mum told him that the man had been run over by a cart, but Vimes suspected that if this were true at all, then it was probably a brewer's cart, which had [[alcoholism|'run him over' a bit at a time for years]]". She raised young Sam on her own, died about twenty years after the events of ''Night Watch'' and is buried in the city's Small Gods Cemetery. In ''[[Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'' Sam remembers that his mother made 'the very best' Distressed Pudding.<ref>''Night Watch'', page 198, {{ISBN|0-385-60264-2}}</ref>

The Vimes family is mentioned as historically being closely linked with the City Watch, with many members serving in it through its history.<ref name="FOC"/> It has been suggested that Sam 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 "[[pedophilia|very fond of children]]." As a consequence, the Vimes family was stripped of its nobility. For three centuries afterwards, the memory of "Old Stoneface" has lived on in infamy and Vimes has frequently endured suspicious mutterings from the aristocracy. Vimes is implied to heavily resemble his ancestor<ref>''[[Feet of Clay (novel)|Feet of Clay]]'', page 37, {{ISBN|0-575-05900-1}}</ref> and they share a nickname: ''Old Stoneface''. ''The Annotated Pratchett File'' notes that Suffer-Not-Injustice Vimes is closely modelled on [[Oliver Cromwell]], and that the name of his supporters, the Ironheads, is a [[portmanteau]] of [[Ironside (cavalry)|Ironsides]] and [[Roundhead]]s, Cromwell's regiment and faction, respectively.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Annotated Pratchett File: Feet of Clay|work=l-space.org|url=http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/feet-of-clay.html|access-date=2007-07-07}}</ref>

Vimes was sixteen when he joined the Watch.<ref name="nightwatch" /> He was part of that section of the Watch which played a large role in the rebellion against [[Homicidal Lord Winder]]. Around this time, he was taught all he knew by [[Serjeant-at-arms|Sergeant-At-Arms]] John Keel, which is where his cynical outlook on life and his firm belief in justice comes from.<ref name="nightwatch" />
In the newest stories, Keel is [[ontological paradox|Vimes himself transported back in time]] by thirty years. As [[Lu-Tze]] explains to Vimes in ''Night Watch'', both pasts are true. Vimes was transported back in time in the company of a criminal named Carcer, whom he was trying to apprehend. Carcer robbed and killed the real John Keel, and Vimes had to replace him in order for his role in history to be fulfilled.

Vimes' age is never explicitly given, and is not always consistent. ''[[Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'' states that Vimes was sixteen years old when he joined the City Watch. ''[[Men at Arms]]'' mentions that Vimes had been in the Watch for 25 years, making him 41 at the time of that novel. The main events of ''Night Watch'', set only a few weeks after Vimes joined the Watch, are stated as occurring more than thirty years prior to the present from which Vimes came, this makes Samuel Vimes at least 46 years old at the time of that book. ''[[Thud!]]'' gives the age of Vimes' son, (also named Sam), born during the climax of ''Night Watch'', as being fourteen months,<ref>''[[Thud!]]'', page 124, {{ISBN|0-385-60867-5}}</ref> which would put Vimes at a minimum of 47 or 48 years old during the events of the book. When Vimes discusses his time as a blackboard monitor,<ref>''[[Thud!]]'', pages 79–80, {{ISBN|0-385-60867-5}}</ref> he thinks about it being "more than 45 years ago" and that he was six years old at the time, putting his age at least 51 years; this is confirmed when he refers to the new vampire officer, age given as 51, as being "not that much younger than him". It is also mentioned in ''Night Watch'', that at the time of the "Glorious Revolution of the Twenty-Fifth of May", both Sam Vimes and Havelock Vetinari were 16 years old, meaning that they are both the same age.