History Characters / DiscworldCityWatch

* GoodThingYouCanHeal: He tends to lose body parts practically every other scene. He just sews them back on.

* BladeOnAStick: He tends to favor spears and polearms, probably because both weapons allow you to be far away from the person attacking you.

'''Vimes:''' Really? Sergeant Detritus, [[Film/TheItalianJob blow the bloody doors off]]!\\

* UnderdressedForTheOccasion: Played with, in that he does this on purpose - to the extent of throwing his ducal regalia into a convenient canyon in ''Literature/TheFifthElephant''.

* LiteralMinded: At first at least, and later depending on how one views his ObfuscatingStupidity. Carrot's literal mindedness was Vimes remembered all too late about after ordering him to "throw the book" at a criminal that was backed up to a very harsh drop. Not to mention the book was super-heavy, the rules for being in the Watch.

* OutOfFocus: While Vimes was always the real star of the Watch books (see DecoyProtagonist above) Carrot was clearly the {{Deuteragonist}} in the earlier novels. His 'onscreen' role has diminished in more recent stories like ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'' or ''Literature/{{Snuff}}''.

* HappilyMarried: In ''Literature/{{Thud}}'', it’s revealed that he did marry Ruby (which was his reason to join the Watch), and that they are happy but childless, at least until [[spoiler:they adopt Brick.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Does not appear again after ''Literature/MenAtArms'', though his younger self does appear in ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}.'' It's a pretty safe bet to assume that Vimes fired him ASAP after being promoted to Commander.

** In ''Literature/{{Thud}}'', in a rant brought on by frustration of Vimes questioning the good motives of Mr. Shine, Detritus points out that Vimes is bending over backwards to accomodate the dwarf traditionalists and community (though mainly because the alternative is snapping spectacularly) without putting ''nearly'' as much thought into dealing with the troll community, which makes him look quite hypocritical. In addition, he remarks that Carrot's well meaning attempt to describe himself as "the Brothers united" in a bid for peace and harmony between human and dwarf is referencing a creation myth that is actually rather ''offensive'' to trolls (or at least, [[spoiler: the bowdlerised version is. The central conflict of the book is driven by the fact that the ''original'' version of the creation myth had the Dwarf creator god Tak see the cosmic egg he'd hatched the 'brothers' from trying to come to life and was delighted at 'life coming unbidden', saying "all things strive", so formed it into the first Troll as gratitude for the service it had rendered.]]).

** He points out in ''Literature/{{Thud}}'', in a moment of frustration, that Vimes is bending over backwards to accommodate the dwarf traditionalists and community (though mainly because the alternative is snapping spectacularly) without putting ''nearly'' as much thought into his people's thoughts and opinions, and points out that that and things like Carrot's well meaning attempt to describe himself as "the Brothers united" in a bid for peace and harmony between human and dwarf is referencing a creation myth that is actually rather offensive to trolls (or at least, [[spoiler: the bowdlerised version is. The central conflict of the book is driven by the fact that the ''original'' version of the creation myth had the Dwarf creator god Tak see the cosmic egg he'd hatched the 'brothers' from trying to come to life and was delighted at 'life coming unbidden', saying "all things strive", so formed it into the first Troll as gratitude for the service it had rendered.]]).

* LoveYouAndEverybody: Causes some friction with his girlfriend Angua. She's a werewolf with a lot of complicated emotional and physiological baggage, and with his known status as an AllLovingHero, she's insecure about how important she is to him compared to his overall love for the city and everybody else. [[spoiler:Proven very wrong in ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'' when Carrot drops everything and chases after her when she leaves to sort out matters in Uberwald.]]

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Although he doesn't usually have to use his incredible asskicking potential when getting humans and members of other civilised races to see things his way, in ''The Fifth Elephant'' he briefly ''becomes alpha of a pack of wild wolves'' by beating the biggest and strongest of them in a brief fight (he wrestled it to the ground and bit it on the scruff of the neck) then intimidating the rest to make them leave him and Angua alone.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Part of the distress Angua feels about her relationship with Carrot is that her wolf side causes her to behave less like a woman, and more like a pet [[note]] For instance, she looks up whenever Carrot is approaching, even when she can't see him[[/note]]. She doesn’t like it when people point that out to her.

* MsFanservice: Played with. She’s described as very beautiful and buxom, and her [[ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing shapeshifting doesn't include her clothes]], leading to a lot of situations where she's nude. To avoid embarrassment (and, in some cases, wolf bites) on the part of witnesses, she's pretty careful about being out of sight when she reverts back to human.
** It’s noted, however, by herself and others, the shapes between wolf/woman form turn it into FanDisservice. Anyone who witnesses her going from wolf to woman is usually too horrified by the intervening to be titillated by her human form.

* BuxomIsBetter: Part of her general largeness includes this. It's frequently mentioned as being quite impressive and intimidating.

* HotScientist: By dwarf standards, once other dwarfs get over the whole "ha'ak" thing, this seems to be so...

* FormerTeenRebel: Ran with a street gang in his youth that even a hardened streetfighter, like Vimes, he is considered to be a bunch of tough bastards. His WeaponOfChoice was a cap with sharpened pennies sewn into the rim. Is now a butler.

* PoisonousFriend:
** A subversion. Willikins will flagrantly break the law to protect the Ramkin family, and Sam isn't about to press him for details on exactly how certain things came to pass. However, Willikins would never ''ever'' involve Sam in his law-breaking, making sure that Sam can continue to be the good man he is, while he takes out the trash (without his knowledge).
** Of course, he will still offer Vimes his choice of unorthodox weapons when things get gritty.
* OldRetainer: Has been with the Ramkin family since at least events in ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'', starting off working in their household as a boy. This may be retconned a bit as the series progresses; in his earliest possible appearance (as the Ramkin family butler) he is an elderly fragile wreck. However, that butler is never explicitly named, and he's never described older Vimes, and later becomes the Battle Butler described above.

* AFatherToHisMen: He’s very protective, sometimes ''violently'' protective of his fellow coppers. For example, in response to a fundamentalist dwarf calling Cheri a [[ForeignCussWord ha'ak]].
--> ''Above him [[DramaticGunCock there was a clunk]] as Detritus rested the loaded [[{{BFG}} Piecemaker]] on the edge of the coach.''
--> “[[TranquilFury I know dat word he said to her]],” ''he announced to the world''. “[[FantasticSlurs It is not a good word]]. [[ImpliedDeathThreat I do not want to hear dat word again]].”

** It’s noted, however, by herself and others, the shapes between wolf/woman form, turn it into FanDisservice, anyone who witnesses her going from wolf to woman, is usually too horrified by the intervening to be tittilated by her human form.

* {{Tyrannicide}}: [[AwesomeMcCoolName Suffer-not-Injustice]] "Old Stoneface" Vimes, ancestor of the current Vimes, chopped off the King's head after he was sentenced to death by a tribunal for his [[PaedoHunt horrific]] [[ColdBloodedTorture crimes]]. He was the only one with the balls to do it. He was later executed, his body getting the [[AnArmAndALeg Osiris treatment]]. His [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten bad reputation]] was so ''powerful'', his descendants ''many generations later'' are still being bugged about it.

* DorkKnight: he's ''painfully'' decent and, especially at first, rather naive in some ways, but as mentioned above, not someone to mess with.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Subverted. When he is given the power of self-determination, Dorfl chooses to be law-abiding, industrious and helpful.

A native of Omnia, Corporal Visit is the resident ultra-religious member of the watch. He and Dorfl disagree of the existence of God, but this is more of an intellectual dispute than heated rivalry, and he is generally one of the nicest and most moral members of the Watch. Vimes considers him an excellent copper (largely due to his abilities at keeping the peace)

** Even ''Death'' doesn't know what his species is -- responding with a confused delay then tentatively suggesting he is a "male" when he meets him while playing the role of the Hogfather.

** It's implied that Detritus is in fact, extremely intelligent by any standard when in cooler environments. The problem is that such temperatures are rarely achieved in a temperate environment like Ankh-Morpork's, and that his optimal temperature is unfortunately, also at the point where he is about to freeze to death.