One of the best reasons to read Terry Pratchett is to experience his characters. One of my favorites is Carrot, the 2 meter tall adopted dwarf who debuts in GUARDS, GUARDS.
Carrot starts out as a naive young man who has to be told he's adopted by his dwarf parents. Rescued long ago when bandits attacked a cart near the mine, he's been clueless even though his dwarf name means 'Head-Banger.' His parents innocently send him to wicked Ankh-Morpork to become a watchman. Carrot has read all the "Laws and Ordinances of Ankh-Morpork" and is ready to enforce every one. For example, he actually arrests the head of the Thieves' Guild for thieving. But he quickly learns it's legally established, the better to collect taxes from, and protects the citizenry from filching for a small sum per annum. His sergeant saves him from disaster when he approaches the Patrician, supreme ruler of the city, about a vehicle violation.
He's appalled by the vicious world of dwarf bars, wades into the fighting, reminds them in Dwarfish them to think of their mothers, and brings the battlers to tears. Carrot also shares dwarfish tendencies to think literally, and doesn't understand metaphor. Woe betide the evil-doer when Captain Vimes finally tells Carrot to throw the book at him.
By the end of the book Carrot is rallying his cowardly NCO superiors to risk advances towards the dragon. He's strangely persuasive for one so young. It seems that everyone wants to follow Carrot. Maybe it has something to do with his crown-shaped birthmark, or the non-magical, but very powerful, sword he carries...
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