Nobby Nobbs

Cecil Wormsborough St. John Nobbs ('Nobby' or Corporal Nobbs) is a corporal in the Ankh-Morpork City Watch.

Nobby Nobbs is the kind of person who joins the army to loot corpses. It is said that there's a field-marshall's baton in every footman's knapsack. Nobby's Army kit generally consists of two warehouses, complete with said batons, other armies' uniforms, golden teeth, other petty valuables and several kilos of boots, some of them still occupied.

Corporal Nobbs is untidy, smelly, shorter than most dwarfs and carries a certificate signed by the Patrician to prove that he's a human being. He always seems to have a cigarette butt about him, normally stowed behind his ear. Cigarettes quickly become butts in his presence, and stay that way for a long time.

Samuel Vimes, Nobby's commanding officer, said that he would trust him with his life, although not with a dollar. He is usually partnered with Sergeant Fred Colon, and the two have formed a strong friendship. Together, they have managed to have many strangely philosophical (or just odd) conversations, including one on whether Death has a first name, or even any friends to call him it.

As a child he was a street urchin, that is, small, prickly, and smelling of fish, and a major source of information for various city notables. He was apparently inspired to join the Watch after meeting with Sergeant-At-Arms John Keel (and according to a wizard, due to time travel, Sam Vimes), who once gave him a spoon.

Nobby was once thought to be the Earl of Ankh, but it was all a charade to make him king. Nobby proved less tractable than the conspirators had expected, turning down a cushy life as figurehead ruler of Ankh-Morpork largely, by his own account, for fear of what Vimes would have to say when he found out. However, there have been suggestions that Nobby may be a real nobleman, due to the amount of family heirlooms he has not mentioned to any other person. On the other hand, the Nobbses have stolen so much stuff over the years that, as Vimes has said, you could probably prove Nobby was the Dowager Duchess of Quirm.

Nobby played a role in the resolution of the "war" between Ankh-Morpork and the empire of Klatch, and in recognition the Patrician gave him a new job in traffic control. He has since been "promoted" to assistant to the Watch Laiason Officer (in other words Fred Colon), a job vague enough to ensure he never has to do anything actually important.

He is possibly related to Corporal Knopf, one half of the town watch in Bad Blintz, Überwald.