See also: Discworld magic
A major subset of the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett involves the witches of Lancre. They are closely based on witches in British folklore, combined with modern Wicca and a slightly tongue-in-cheek reinterpretation of the Triple Goddess.
Witch magic is very different from the wizard magic taught in the Unseen University, and consists largely of finding the right lever that makes everything else work. Witches rarely do any magic, in fact, relying more on common sense, hard work, and a peculiar brand of psychology known as headology. This can be taken very far - a witch's way of magically setting fire to a log of wood consists of staring at the log until it burns up from pure embarrassment. As a result it is less energy intensive, which means that a witch can do more than a technically equally powerful wizard. However, the same zen-like knowledge that gives them this ability generally discourages them from making a big deal about it, beyond refusing to take wizards seriously.
Unlike wizard magic, which is taught en masse, witch magic is taught on a one-to-one basis by older witches to apprentices. Although magical talent tends to run in families, witches do not teach their daughters, feeling that this would cause a sort of magical inbreeding.
Discworld Voodoo is considered to be an aspect of witch magic, combined with a sort of do-it-yourself religion, relying heavily on the power of belief described below. The most powerful Discworld voodoo-women can deliberately create moderately powerful gods for a specific purpose.
Generally speaking, witches are women and wizards are men. Despite the opinions of wizards and witches on this subject (that systematization comes easier to men and intuition comes easier to women), there appears to be no reason for this beyond cultural bias. There has only ever been one female wizard on the main discworld continent, as described in the events of Equal Rites. The island of Krull on the very Rim of the Disc does not mind female wizards, but no one from the Circle Sea would ever admit they exist.
The role of witches has been defined as "smoothing out life's humps and bumps" and "helping people when life's on the edge", and they take this obligation seriously. They also never ask for anything in return. There are ways and ways of not asking for anything in return, of course. Nanny Ogg, for instance, insists that part of her job is to take the first pint of every brewing and the first cake of every baking, to prevent occult forces using them against people. Both she and Granny Weatherwax tend to emphasize at every possible opportunity that it is considered lucky to have a witch in your house, and that it would be especially lucky if the witch was well-provided for.
The main witches in the books are the Lancre Coven: Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat Garlick and later Agnes Nitt. A sub-series of children's books has introduced a new witch character, Tiffany Aching, who has been gradually tied into the main Witch story line as her series continues.
The Lancre Coven
The Lancre Coven is, as mentioned above, the main group of witches in the Discworld novels, and the ones featured in the novels referred to as "The Witches series".
They began as a parody of the Three Witches in Macbeth, and also as a reworking of the Maiden, Mother and Crone archetypes (the Triple Goddess). It could also be said that they each represent a different stereotype of witches: Granny is the classic fairy tale witch, Nanny the village wise woman and Magrat the modern romantic Wiccan.
It has been explained in the books that three witches are required for a coven. Two witches get on each other's nerves; the third one can get them to make up, so they can all get on the nerves of everyone else. If a coven has more than three members, they all get on each others' nerves. (It is also mentioned that the true collective noun for a group of witches is not "coven", but "argument".)
Esmerelda Weatherwax
Gytha Ogg
Magrat Garlick
Magrat Garlick (pronounced Magg-rat)is the daughter of Simplicity Garlick, granddaughter of Araminta Garlick and niece of Yvonnel Garlick. She was the original Maiden in the Lancre coven, which consisted of herself, Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. She is often described as "a wet hen", generally by Granny Weatherwax. Magrat believes in crystals, folk wisdom, and cycles of nature, and is overall a gentle parody of New Age pagans.
Abilities
Despite appearances, beneath her silver jewelry and heavy eye makeup, Magrat is surprisingly practical. She can defend herself physically when necessary, and is capable of performing impressive feats of real magic (as seen in Wyrd Sisters when Magrat uses her magic to turn the old wooden door into a rising oak - a display that impresses even Granny Weatherwax). Magrat's gentle personality allows her to serve as a mediator between the often-clashing Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, but she does occasionally displays a strong temper herself. In Witches Abroad Magrat was chosen to serve as a Fairy Godmother, but her inability to master the use of the wand (which had a tendency to reset to "pumpkins") prevented her from taking full advantage of the powers associated with this position. Magrat is technically a better doctor than the other two witches, since she actually believes in herbalism while Granny tends to use whatever plant or bottle of coloured water comes to hand as a prop for her headology (in this case the placebo effect), as explained in Lords and Ladies.
New Roles
After a long engagement, Magrat became Queen of Lancre by marrying King Verence II. As of Carpe Jugulum the couple has one daughter, Princess Esmerelda Margaret Note Spelling. This unusual name was the result of Magrat's attempt to correct a mistake made by her own mother, who had intended for Magrat to be named "Margaret" but was unable to spell the name properly when she wrote it down for the priest. In effort to ensure the proper naming of her child, Magrat appended "Note Spelling" in the note she passed to the priest. This back-fired when he read out the complete sentence, and was mortified afterwards, but the deed had been done and no attempt to change it could be made.
Magrat renounces witchcraft shortly before her marriage, partially to prepare for her duties as queen, but mostly out of frustration with the way she is treated by the senior members of the Lancre coven and is supplanted by Agnes Nitt after the events of Maskerade. Her absence from Maskerade seemed to confirm that Magrat had retired from her career as a witch, but after Princess Esmerelda's birth she was forced to assume the Mother role in the coven when Granny Weatherwax decided to temporarily step down during the events of Carpe Jugulum. Nanny was none too pleased with this development, as Magrat being the Mother forced Nanny "to be the… Other One". Despite her new (temporary) role, at the end of the novel, she was asked, and acquiesced, to make tea by Granny Weatherwax, a role usually performed by the Maiden (in this case, Agnes Nitt.
In the Wyrd Sisters animated adaptation, Magrat is voiced by Jane Horrocks.
Agnes Nitt
Following Magrat's marriage to King Verence II, the role of Maiden in the Lancre coven has been reluctantly taken up by Agnes Nitt. Agnes is a sensible young woman who suffers from a self-induced multiple personality disorder. Tired of being seen as just another overweight girl with "a nice personality and good hair", Agnes tried to create a new, more exciting persona for herself. Agnes calls this alter ego Perdita X Dream (where the X stands for person who has a cool and exciting middle name). Perdita is even more romantic than Magrat, although her tastes are more Gothic than New Age.
The Perdita persona leaves Agnes in two minds about everything. The first mind is herself, good-natured and sensible Agnes; the second is dramatic and rebellious Perdita. It is said that inside every fat girl, there is a thin girl waiting to get out (and a lot of chocolate) -- according to Perdita, she is that girl. The Perdita personality usually manifests itself only as part of Agnes's internal dialogue, often in the form of sarcastic remarks. Yet Perdita is capable of taking real action in emergency situations.
This divided personality makes Agnes highly resistant to mental manipulation. Anyone trying to mesmerise or entrance Agnes will find the Perdita personality surfacing as Agnes begins to lose control, and vice versa. When Lancre is overrun by vampires with mind-control powers in Carpe Jugulum, Agnes/Perdita is one of the few people capable of resisting their hypnotic influence.
Agnes first appears in Lords and Ladies as one of the 'cool' new witches, led by Lucy "Diamanda" Tockley. Although she plays a very minor role in this book, Nanny Ogg notices her potential. She senses that Agnes is the only new witch other than Diamanda to have any real Talent.
In Maskerade Agnes becomes a major character for the first time. She leaves Lancre to become an opera singer in Ankh-Morpork, under the stage name 'Perdita X Nitt'. She had meant to say 'Perdita X Dream' but forgot halfway. Agnes possesses an amazing talent for singing. She has a vocal range that extends from a deep bass rumble to a glass-shattering soprano, can sing in harmony with herself, project her voice around a room (and the page), and mimic the voices of others. These remarkable gifts are due to her suppressed magical ability, which Agnes unconsciously used to enhance her innate musical talent.
After joining the opera company, Agnes meets a beautiful but airheaded young singer named Christine (an obvious parody of Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera). Although Agnes is by far the more talented of the two, she finds herself relegated to the chorus while Christine's career benefits from the attention of the mysterious Opera Ghost. Granny and Nanny, having identified Agnes as the best candidate for the third member of the Lancre coven, soon arrive and complicate things further. In the end, Agnes realizes that her practical nature is unsuited the world of opera. She returns to Lancre and became the new Third Witch.
In Carpe Jugulum, the arrangement of the coven had been upset by Granny Weatherwax's sudden departure, although Agnes retained her role of Maiden. She, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick fended off the vampires who threatened to take over Lancre.
Agnes does not appear in Wintersmith, a story which features Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, nor does she show up in Wee Free Men, in which Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg had a cameo. This leads to some speculation as to what had become of the coven. Her role in Wintersmith seems to have been adopted by Miss Tick.
Tiffany Aching
A very young witch (16 at her last appearance), Tiffany hails from the chalk downland Rimward of the Ramtops. Her grandmother, Sarah Aching, was a shepherd, and by Ramtop standards was also a witch, although witchcraft was frowned upon on the Chalk, until Tiffany's arrival. Granny Aching was a friend of the Chalk Clan of Nac Mac Feegle, (an army of tiny, blue, rowdy, drunken and vaguely Scottish ne'er-do-wells) and they have befriended Tiffany as the new "hag o' the hills". As Tiffany was their Kelda (Queen) for a short time, the Nac Mac Feegle see her as their responsibility, and there is no time in Tiffany's life since then when they have not (in)discreetly watched her.
Trainee "coven"
Though witches have no leader, Tiffany joined an informal "coven" of peer witches she gathers together for sabbats, of which Annagramma Hawkin acted as the self-appointed "boss" due to her having the tallest hat and the loudest voice.
Annagramma Hawkin
Annagramma Hawkin was introduced in A Hat Full of Sky and is a peer of Tiffany Aching, whom she initially disdains. Trained by Letice Earwig, she can be extremely snobbish and has strong opinions about what a witch should or should not be, much like her mentor. She follows Letice by thinking that Granny Weatherwax just 'messes around' with people's heads, and that, by doing so, makes people think she is great.
During the events of Wintersmith, Annagramma is assigned her own cottage, taking over from the late Miss Treason. Initially, she is badly unprepared for the real demands of being resident witch for a village, and it is revealed that her arrogance may in part be an overreaction to a deep insecurity about dealing with situations she cannot control. However she does assist Tiffany by temporarily dispelling the Wintersmith's physical form with a fireball and ordering her broomstick to carry Tiffany away while he re-formed himself.
She also admitted to Tiffany that, unlike what her behavior might let people think, her family is quite poor, even for Lancre standards, not even having their own cottage (living in a rented one).
Tiffany Aching and others from her peer group assist Annagramma, and it turns out that she is good enough at the part of witchcraft that consists of being confident, bossy and giving people a good show to pick up the rest along the way. It is revealed that Granny Weatherwax had suggested that the cottage be taken over by Tiffany due to the fact that she was too young and Annagramma would be accepted instead (had Granny suggested any other witch, Annagramma would have lost the cottage). She later says, upon learning that Tiffany had been helping Annagramma, that she would have expected nothing less, leading Tiffany to conclude that the whole affair had been a ploy to prove to other witches that Mrs. Earwig's kind of witchcraft didn't work.
Petulia Gristle
Petulia is a young witch who was apprenticed to Goodie Gwinifer "Old Mother" Blackcap, who is good with pigs. She was part of the network of peers gathered by Annagramma Hawkin and a friend of Tiffany Aching's. Generally a kind soul who is thoughtful of others' feelings, she gained new strength at the end of A Hat Full of Sky when bullied too much by Annagramma, due to her tendency of saying "Um" a lot.
By the events of Wintersmith Petulia has gained considerable respect in the Ramtops for her abilities with animals, particularly pigs, which are said to rival those of Granny Weatherwax herself, although what Granny would say on the subject is open to debate. She has become known throughout Lancre as the "pig witch", a term meant in respect, considering that most families in the mountains own a pig. However, Petulia dislikes the way Annagramma refers to her as the 'pig witch', because she feels that there is "too much pig and not enough witch" in Annagramma's description. Despite her disagreements with Annagramma, she agreed to show her a few useful tips on dealing with livestock when Tiffany asked her to.
Dimmity Hubbub
Dimmity is a young witch in apprenticed training, and a member of Annagramma's coven. She appears in A Hat Full of Sky, in which she sets fire to her own hat, and in Wintersmith, she makes a toothache cure explode. Her name is similar to that of Jill Murphy's character Mildred Hubble, although Pratchett says this was not intentional.
Lucy Warbeck
Lucy is a young witch in apprenticed training, and another member of Annagramma's coven. She uses the term "like" a lot. She first appears in Hat Full of Sky, then briefly in Wintersmith, where she is training hard to become a witch-finder. Tiffany Aching asks her to assist the badly-out-of-her-depth Annagramma and she reluctantly agrees to help out. She wears a knife and fork in her hair, because witches believe in sorting out how odd they are early.
Other Witches
Other witches featured in the books include:
Sarah 'Granny' Aching
Granny Aching, née Sarah Grizzel, was Tiffany Aching's grandmother, and very good friends with the Chalk Hill clan of the Nac Mac Feegle. To them she was the hag (that is, witch) of the chalk. She died a few years before The Wee Free Men occurs, and, as such, only appears in flashbacks. She was a witch, although she didn't think of herself as one and no one but Tiffany, her granddaughter, ever suspected it. She could be described as 'salt of the earth' as well as the magma that runs beneath it. She was very important in the minds of the people of the Chalk, to the point where they called the thunder "Granny Aching cussin'", the vultures "Granny Aching's chickens", the fluffy little white clouds of summer "Granny Aching's little lambs" and said she cussed the sky blue. Although people laughed when they said these things, part of them was not joking. She was, apparently, a very skilled witch, and, as such, used almost no magic, if any. She was so good a witch that the people she took care of mostly took care of each other (Granny Aching always knew who was short a few favours, and arranged things so that they were soon owed some). She smoked Jolly Sailor tobacco, and had two sheepdogs – Thunder and Lightning.
For every inhabitant of the Chalk, Granny Aching was the Chalk; its best shepherd, its wisest woman and its memory, to the point that even the Chalk's Feegles say of her that she "[told] the hills what they are, every day. She [held] them in her bones. She [held] 'em in her heart". Granny Aching was "as if the green downland had a soul that walked about in old boots and a smocking apron and smoked a foul pipe and dosed sheep with turpentine."
Gammer Beavis
A witch who teaches school over the mountain from Lancre. She takes snuff and does her own shoe repairs, which makes her All Right in Nanny Ogg's book, but has a nasty habit of being reasonable when provoked. Appears in Witches Abroad and the short story "The Sea and Little Fishes."
Gwinifer "Old Mother" Blackcap
Witch stationed in Sidling Without and who is good with pigs, as acknowledged by Esme Weatherwax. She is mentor to Petulia Gristle, good with animals, and is apparently a pig-borer, cow-shouter and all-round veterinary witch. (The terms "pig-borer" and "cow-shouter" are plays on horse whisperer. According to The Discworld Almanak, pig-boring is a humane form of slaughter in which the animal is talked to death.)
Aliss Demurrage
Aliss Demurrage, or Black Aliss as she was known, never appears in the books, being long dead, but she is a part of why Esme Weatherwax is the way she is. Aliss was an incredibly powerful Discworld witch. She knew all the tricks a witch should know, and had mastered the use of stories; Nanny Ogg said she could be running as many as three of them at once. Unfortunately, after a while she was unable to distinguish reality from her stories and started going mad — hence the name Black Aliss (although Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg claim the name arose because she had black teeth and fingernails due to her love of candy). She's the wicked witch mentioned in popular fairy tales, and met her end when she was pushed into the oven of her gingerbread house (à la Hansel and Gretel).
A gingerbread house appeared in The Light Fantastic, whose owner had been shoved into her own oven, however this was a different witch (Goodie Whitlow) who met the same end due to narrative causality.
Aliss trained Nanna Plumb, who trained Goody Heggety, who trained Nanny Gripes, who trained Granny Weatherwax. Esme is as powerful as Aliss was, if not more so, and is concerned constantly with keeping herself in check lest she ends up like Aliss.
Recently, a character by name of Black Alice has been introduced in DC comics, with magic-based abilities; it is not known whether the name is an intentional reference or not.
Old Mother Dismass
A very old witch who has been fortune telling for so long that she is no longer able to keep her mind in the present (as Granny Weatherwax puts it, she has a "detached retina in her second sight"). Her mouth frequently appears out of sync with her words, and her footsteps often sound ten minutes before she actually makes them. A passing reference is made in Wintersmith. Appears in Witches Abroad and "The Sea and Little Fishes."
Mrs Letice Earwig
The wife of a retired wizard and a natural organiser, especially of things that don't really need organising. She (and no one else) pronounces her name "Ah-wij." She wears a great deal of "occult" jewelry that doesn't actually do anything. Granny Weatherwax dislikes Mrs. Earwig, claiming that she reduces witchcraft to "shoppin'". Mrs Earwig isn't actually bad, but is extremely snobbish, has very poor people skills, and tends to assume everyone would really agree with her if they weren't so stupid (so does Granny Weatherwax, of course, but at least she doesn't blame them for being stupid). Annagramma Hawkin is her star (and in fact only) pupil. Her approach to teaching appears to be to trust the folk wisdom of the locals when it comes to practical things like birthing and medicine, and focus on such things as crystals, magic circles and soothing chants to help matters along. She is the chairwoman of the Witch Trials committee and has written a book about "Magick"; the "k" is to distinguish what she considers the True Craft from the everyday stuff Granny Weatherwax et al. do - this in turn is a comedic reference on Pratchett's part to the use of ostentatious variant spellings of the word "magic" (ranging from Alister Crowley's to some Wiccans'). She appears in "The Sea and Little Fishes", A Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith.
Hilta Goatfounder
A witch who makes her money by selling medicine (says Granny) with names like Tiger Oil, Maiden's Prayer and Husband's Helper. She lives in Ohulan. She was the one who persuaded Granny to fly on a broom and gave Granny her broom. She appears briefly in the book Equal Rites.
Ammeline 'Goodie' Hamstring
Ammeline Hamstring, also known as 'Goodie' Hamstring was a witch from Lancre, the Ramtops. She appeared only in Mort, and was Mort's first "collection" as Death's apprentice. She had a grey cat.
As with all Discworld magical practitioners, she knew in advance when her death would be and again would be personally visited by Death (or had a right to be anyway) so she had time to prepare.
When Mort arrived she was an elderly lady with a hooked nose wearing a grey woolen dress. After Mort cut the line connecting her soul to her body, she realised it was no longer bound by the body's morphic field, and with much more control than most people her soul's form settled into the shape of her "inner self". Her hair unwound itself from its tight bun, changing colour and lengthening, her body straightened up. Wrinkles dwindled and vanished, and her dress turned into something green and clingy.
Rather than go on to an afterlife, she remained at her home, intending her spirit to get thinner and spread through the forest.
Miss Level
A witch for whom the phrase "I've only got one pair of hands" was highly inappropriate, for she had one mind and two bodies. She formerly worked in a circus reading her own mind. The phrase is now only technically accurate, following the death of one body, although she can still use it as a "phantom limb". An intelligent and well-meaning person, she spends much of her time explaining concepts such as bacteria to people who aren't going to believe her. As Tiffany's teacher, she appears in A Hat Full of Sky.
Miss Tick
Perspicacia Tick is a "witch finder", a travelling witch with the responsibility of finding young girls who have the potential to be witches. She makes a living as a teacher, a role which has given her a habit of correcting spelling, grammar and punctuation. Since she often finds herself in areas where witches are unwelcome, she has a spring-operated hat that only grows a point when she wants it to. Thanks to her time as a student at the Quirm College for Young Ladies, which views time in cold water as character-building, she has also mastered the ability to stay underwater for prolonged periods, allowing her to escape punishment from superstitious witch-hunters. To aid her in this endeavor, she is the anonymous author of Magavenatio Obtusis (Witch-hunting for Dumb People), which she generously places in the libraries of various witch-hating villages. It includes such vital information as drowning rather than burning a witch, ensuring that the witch has silver coins in her boots, and is given a nice meal of soup and tea before her ducking. Possibly the reason she must spend so much of her energy avoiding hate and harassment, rather than accepting donations of gratitude as other witches do, is that she is always travelling. Or perhaps it's because she's not very likeable. Miss Tick appears in The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith.
Diamanda Tockley
Her real name is Lucy Tockley, but she thought Diamanda was more witchy. She was born in Lancre, but went away to school, and returned while the Coven were touring the Disc in Witches Abroad. She set up her own coven, insisting that the Wisdom of the Ancients was more significant than anything a lot of old people knew. How much natural witchiness/wisdom she actually had may be illustrated by her willingness to summon elves. At the end of Lords and Ladies, Granny speculated she might have a relationship with the young wizard Ponder Stibbons, but he returned to Unseen University. Still to be decided is how much of a witch she naturally was versus how much magic was given to her by the elf queen.
Eumenides Treason
A venerable witch (she claims to be 113, but is actually 111) who takes on Tiffany Aching as apprentice three months prior to the events of Wintersmith. Miss Treason uses two sticks to walk and is both deaf and blind, but manages to operate perfectly well by simply Borrowing the senses of those around her. All witches specialise in one or another field, and Miss Treason's specialty is Justice (in fact her name refers to the Eumenides of Greek Myth, who came to represent Justice in the later myths). People come to her to settle disputes, and frequently find it very difficult to lie to her. It is said by the villagers that great kings and princes come for miles to ask her advice and seek justice from her. Regarded with awe and no small amount of fear by the local villagers, Miss Treason nevertheless has their great respect. Many eerie stories and rumours circulate about her, which only serve to enhance her image as a force to be reckoned with; Miss Treason started the majority of them herself for precisely that reason. One of the most prevalent is that her heart stopped many years ago and that the watch she carries at her waist is actually a mechanical heart.
Her cottage has all the hallmarks of a bad witch (skulls, spider-webs, etc.)--all of which are fake, bought from Boffo's, a joke shop in Ankh-Morpork, but which only serve to reinforce the impression that she gives others - many of her previous apprentices found the whole thing far too creepy and left, often within a day. One of the most disturbing things about Miss Treason's cottage is that everything in it is black, from the floor to the rafters. While Tiffany is her apprentice, she has to paint her cheeses with black wax so that they fit in with the theme.
Miss Treason dies of old age during the events of Wintersmith, but as she, like all witches, knows the date and time of her death, was able to enjoy her funeral ceremony the day before. Mindful of her image to the end, she used the presence of many of the local residents at her actual death to give them one last show, walking in to her grave surrounded by the villagers she has helped and guided for so many years. Tiffany later half-jests continued visits by people to her grave may turn her into a goddess figure. This later comes to pass as, when Tiffany returns to the cottage, she sees that the villagers have been leaving pleas for help on and around Miss Treason's grave, in the hope that she can help them from the beyond. Her cottage passed to Annagramma Hawkin, who, after a decidedly shaky start, has begun to fulfil her role properly, with assistance from Tiffany and the Boffo's catalogue.
Alison Weatherwax
Esme Weatherwax's grandmother, and a very powerful witch. Weatherwaxes have strong magic lines in their genes, as evidenced by a distant cousin also being a wizard and archancellor of Unseen University. First mentioned in The Discworld Companion which says little about her except that her death has not been recorded. Alison is later mentioned in Carpe Jugulum, in which the rumours that she has "gone to the bad" prove unfounded. She had in fact killed the old vampire count Magpyr at one point by cutting off his head and driving a stake through his heart, the count rises again years later and remembers her with affection and admiration. Not the same as Aliss Demurrage.
Erzulie Gogol
Mrs Gogol is a practitioner of voodoo living in Genua. She assists the Lancre coven in getting rid of the Duc and getting Ella (who is hinted to be Mrs Gogol's daughter) into her rightful place on the throne. She has a black cockrel named Legba, which is able to frighten Nanny Ogg's tom Greebo. She resurrected Baron Saturday, Ella's father and a victim of Lilith de Tempscire's, as a zombie. She appears in Witches Abroad.
Fairy godmothers
Fairy godmothers are something of a cross between a witch and a wizard. A fairy godmother is a woman, likely always a witch to start with, who, probably through a bequest, acquires a magical responsibility over the life of a single individual. This individual is usually someone with a severe case of destiny, such as an orphaned girl of royal blood. Like wizards, fairy godmothers use a magically imbued rod (in this case a wand, rather than a staff) to produce wizz-bang effects like turning pumpkins into coaches. However, fairy godmothering is probably another aspect of witchcraft, relying heavily on narrative causality.
Desiderata Hollow
A fairy godmother who appears in Witches Abroad, although she dies very early on. Her career meant she travelled a lot, although she was based in Lancre. She was friends with Magrat, since no-one else in the area liked foreign food, and bequeathed her wand to her.
Lily Weatherwax
The sister of Granny Weatherwax, featured in Witches Abroad. When Esme was still a child, Lily left Lancre, following rows with her family, and possibly some sort of scandal, and changed her name to Lady Lilith de Tempscire (fr. temps cire, "weather wax"). She became a fairy godmother and "turned to the bad", although she remained convinced she was the good one. She became heavily involved with narrative magic and using mirrors to boost her power, eventually becoming the power behind the throne of Genua. She looks very much like Esme, only younger (she is actually older). She failed to "find herself" at the end of Witches Abroad, and has not been seen since.
Other media
In the 1995 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Wyrd Sisters the witches were played by:
- Granny Weatherwax - Sheila Hancock
- Nanny Ogg - Lynda Baron
- Magrat Garlick - Deborah Berlin
In the 1997 Cosgrove Hall animation of Wyrd Sisters the witches were voiced by:
- Granny Weatherwax - Annette Crosbie
- Nanny Ogg - June Whitfield
- Magrat Garlick - Jane Horrocks
See also
Discworld MUD Witches
References
External links
