Editing Sam Vimes (section)

==The Watch==
During the first 25 years of his term in the Watch, Vimes rose to Captain of the Night Watch, a position that he attained about ten years prior to the events of ''[[Guards! Guards!]]'', as it dwindled to a tiny stub &ndash; while the power of the Thieves' Guild grew. This insult to Vimes' sense of justice, together with his being naturally knurd (the opposite of being drunk, where one is stripped of all the illusions that make life bearable) and other events (it has been claimed he was "''brung low by a woman''", which is an interpretation of the [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphisation]] of the city, [[Britannia|Morporkia]]), led towards heavy drinking. At this time, he lived in near poverty, giving away almost all of his salary to widows and orphans of watchmen, and spending what was left on alcohol and cheap boots.<ref>Men At Arms, {{ISBN|0552140287}}</ref>

All that changed when [[Carrot Ironfoundersson]] came to the city. A human raised by [[Dwarfs (Discworld)|dwarfs]], Carrot joined the Watch and set out to help the city. Around the same time, a [[European dragon|dragon]] assaulted the city, and the Watch was instrumental in its defeat. The whole series of events forced Vimes to [[Sobriety|sober]]-up long enough to uncover [[Lupine Wonse|who was responsible for summoning the Dragon]], after which the [[#Lady Sybil|changes in his personal life]] led to him coming off of the drink and switching to smoking [[cigar]]s, and occasionally, taking [[Snuff (tobacco)|snuff]].

Vimes, who was about to retire following his marriage to Lady Sybil, was given the resurrected rank of Commander, putting him in charge of the Night Watch and the Day Watch. He also received a [[knight]]hood.

The Watch was given a new headquarters, Pseudopolis Yard (an allusion to the name of the headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police: [[Scotland Yard]]), by Lady Sybil Ramkin (Vimes's soon-to-be wife) after the dragon destroyed their original base at Treacle Mine Road. It had been her childhood home, and in ''[[Thud!]]'' it is revealed that some of her family's possessions are still stored in the attic of the building &ndash; in this instance they retrieved a copy of Methodia Rascal's Koom Valley painting, made by Sybil as a child, after the original is stolen.

As part of an equal-opportunities drive required by the Patrician, the Watch under Vimes eventually took on extra staff in the form of a werewolf, a dwarf and a troll (and later a gargoyle, a gnome, a golem, an Igor, a zombie, and a vampire). They were instrumental in foiling an attempt on the Patrician's life, and were rewarded. The Watch was rapidly revived and became increasingly important in the city.

Vimes took a great interest in the restructuring of the Watch, placing new Watch Houses where they were needed and supervising the creation of both a Watch Academy and a [[forensics]] section. His reform of the City Watch has been so successful that by ''Night Watch'', Vimes-trained policemen are in high demand in cities across the Disc. They are known as ''Sammies'' (which is based on the British terms for police officers, ''[[Bobbies]],'' and the now obsolete ''Peelers'' both after [[Robert Peel]] and possibly on the earlier term "Charleys" for night watchmen, after Charles II during whose reign they were instituted), even to the people who may have never actually heard of Samuel Vimes himself. In his expanding international and diplomatic role, Vimes appreciates the fact that police officers from [[Sto Lat (Discworld)|Sto Lat]] to [[Genua (Discworld)|Genua]] have been trained to salute him, and remain in unofficial contact across the Disc.