Witches (Discworld)
A major subset of the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett involves the witches of Lancre. Appearing alone in 1987's Equal Rites, 'crone' Esme Weatherwax is joined in Wyrd Sisters by 'mother' Nanny Ogg and 'maiden' Magrat Garlick, and together can be seen as a spoof on the Three Witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth, and a tongue-in-cheek reinterpretation of the Neopagans' Triple Goddess. Granny Weatherwax "especially tends to give voice to the major themes of Pratchett's work."
Overview
Witch magic is very different from the wizard magic taught in the Unseen University, and consists largely of finding clever and efficient ways to achieve the right results, often without using magic at all to do so. In contrast to wizard magic, witch magic relies more on common sense, hard work, and a peculiar brand of psychology known as headology, most commonly employed by Granny Weatherwax, and more commonly used on people.Witch magic is less energy-intensive than wizard magic, which means that a witch can technically do more than an equally-powerful wizard. Also unlike wizards, witches do not make a big deal of their talents and look down on those who employ showy techniques and appearances. Witches unironically acting with melodrama, of which cackling is seen as an early sign, is often an indication of "going to the bad" and becoming a stereotypically wicked witch.
Another later addition to witch skills, established in Maskerade, but first named in the Aching books, is First Sight—seeing what is really there instead of what one hopes to see, expects to see, or what others see—and Second Thoughts—thinking about the way one is thinking.
Though witches rarely use magic, a low-level form of magic employed frequently is a 'shamble', a handmade device or construct used by witches for such uses as detecting or amplifying magic, for protection, or for sending out a spell. The shamble itself is not seen as having magical properties, being instead something to employ magic through, and can only be made from scratch in the moment it is needed and used only once. A shamble, which can consist of any number of things, must contain something living, such as a fresh egg or a small insect.
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. 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, 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", often taking the role of a village midwife, medicine woman and death doula. Witches do not accept payment for their services, but it is understood that witches will accept gifts of food, clean used clothing or old pairs of shoes in return for their help. Despite not receiving traditional payment for their services, there is considered pride in being a witch, and Granny Weatherwax emphasises 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.
Many witches, especially in the Ramtops, have steadings, geographical areas and populations that they are responsible for. It is unclear how steadings are defined; Tiffany has the entire Chalk as a steading, while other witches have only two or three villages. Steadings are not necessarily passed on to the apprentice of the witch who previously watched over the steading. However, steadings have some geographical bearing, as a discussion of the older witches dying off leads reluctantly to discussing a redrawing of territorial boundaries; this appears to be the mutual widening of steadings by the witches due to fewer and fewer young girls becoming witches, necessitating more work being taken on by extant witches.
Witches tend to lead lonely lives; they are generally feared and respected rather than liked, and often perform their duties with little or no thanks from the populace at large. This leads some witches to become resentful of their charges, and to use their power against them. A witch who "goes to the bad" may initially not feel she is doing anything wrong, but will eventually lose it, resulting in abuses of magic that may lead to her own demise. Witches call this "cackling" and, to keep it at bay, they pay regular visits to one another to gossip and take tea, often travelling some considerable distance to do so.
At the climax of events in I Shall Wear Midnight, it is revealed that the local witch, as the witch of that area, also has powers and authority not unlike a Justice of the peace; they are able to perform binding marriage ceremonies, as well as judge and deal out punishment onto the deserving.
The main witches in the books are the Lancre Coven: Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat Garlick and later Agnes Nitt. A sub-series of young adult books introduced a new witch character, Tiffany Aching, who was gradually tied into the main witch storyline as her series continued.
Most fully qualified witches are known by the title of "Mistress". Senior witches, also known as 'Mistress', are known by honorary titles such as "Granny", "Nanny", "Nana", "Goodie/Goody", "Old Mother", etc.
The 'mottos' of Discworld witches include:
- Always facing what one fears
- Having just enough money, never too much, and some string always on one's person
- Even if is not one's fault, it is one's responsibility to deal with
- Witches deal with things, typically taken to mean taking ownership of a situation and finding a solution as best as one can
- Witches typically should not [|stand between two mirrors]
- Avoiding cackling, and sliding into abuses of power
- Avoiding lying, though not necessarily having to be completely honest
- Never wishing, especially on stars
- Opening one's eyes, and then opening them again
Works
- Equal Rites 1987
- Wyrd Sisters 1988
- Witches Abroad 1991
- Lords and Ladies 1992
- Maskerade 1995
- Carpe Jugulum 1998
- The Wee Free Men 2003
- A Hat Full of Sky 2004
- Wintersmith 2006
- I Shall Wear Midnight 2010
- The Shepherd's Crown 2015
Ramtops witches
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. 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 other's nerves.
Esmerelda Weatherwax
Gytha Ogg
Magrat Garlick
Magrat Garlick 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.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. Magrat's gentle personality allows her to serve as a mediator between the often-clashing Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, but she does occasionally display 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 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, as explained in Lords and Ladies.
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 an 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 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.
Magrat makes a brief appearance in I Shall Wear Midnight, alongside her husband Verence as guest to the wedding of Roland de Chumsfanleigh and Letitia Keepsake, and was flown down from Lancre by Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. In The Shepherd's Crown, she is one of the people across the Disc who feels Granny Weatherwax's death when she dies of old age; she and Verence were attending a conference in Genua at the time. It is also revealed that since the events of Carpe Jugulum Magrat and Verence have had two more children.
In the Wyrd Sisters animated adaptation, Magrat is voiced by Jane Horrocks. In the BBC Radio 4 adaptation, she was played by Deborah Berlin.
A fossil species of Mesozoic ginkgo has been named Ginkgoites garlickianus after Magrat Garlick.