Nobby Nobbs

Cecil Wormsborough St. John "Nobby" Nobbs is a fictional character in the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett. He is a corporal in the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, first appearing in the novel Guards! Guards!. Nobbs is described as untidy, smelly, and despite being human, about the same height as a dwarf, and carrying a certificate signed by the Patrician to prove that he's a human being. The text of this note can be read in Feet of Clay (page 270 in... more

Cecil Wormsborough St. John "Nobby" Nobbs is a fictional character in the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett. He is a corporal in the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, first appearing in the novel Guards! Guards!. Nobbs is described as untidy, smelly, and despite being human, about the same height as a dwarf, and carrying a certificate signed by the Patrician to prove that he's a human being. The text of this note can be read in Feet of Clay (page 270 in the UK paperback) and states that on the balance of probability, he is a human being. A running joke is the inability of others to believe this, despite—or even because of—the evidence. In fact, in Hogfather, even Death himself was unable to discern Nobby's species. He always seems to have a cigarette butt about him, normally stowed behind his ear, which has been described as a nicotine graveyard. Cigarettes quickly become butts in his presence, and stay as such for an apparently infinite amount of time. Samuel Vimes is Nobby's commanding... less