Fantasy with Friends – hosted by Pages Unbound – poses questions each Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works.
I love a witchy fantasy – witches can be such interesting characters in the right hands, and so different, especially when we look at subgenres. So I’m very excited to dive into this one! Just to note, too, I’ll be widening this a touch from ‘pure’ fantasy – witches can crop up in other genres in different ways, but I think largely when they do appear, it pulls whatever book it is that little bit towards fantasy, so I still think it counts!
Fantasy with Friends
W/C 27th July
Witches in Fantasy
What are some interesting witches in fantasy? Is there a certain portrayal of a character that makes them a “witch” vs. a “sorceress” or other magic worker, in your opinion?
I’m going to start with the absolute blueprint for the way witches often appear in fantasy (if not looking to subvert witches as such!). The witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. They are such central figures to the story, issuing the ‘prophecy’ that sends Macbeth on his journey. We see it reflected wonderfully and satirically in Prachett’s Discworld series, specifically with the Witches series and the character of Granny Weatherwax and seen most clearly in Wyrd Sisters, where the witches end up meddling in royal politics.
Switching over to horror for a moment, one of my favourite witches is from Thomas Olde Heuvelt’s Hex. I read the English translation of this, and Heuvelt crafted a localised, American-based version for it. The witch here is absolutely terrifying – ever present and haunting the town of Black Spring, with her eyes and mouth sewn shut. I read this one so, so long ago, but this particular witch is always the first to spring to mind when I think of witches, and if you like horror, this is a must read.
I find I also really enjoy when witches are present in the real world – in Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance, you can often find them using their powers while they check their mobiles. I love the witches in The Ex-Hex and that whole series, Juno Dawson handles them brilliantly in Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, and Becoming Crone is a delightful book of an older woman who discovers she’s secretly a witch. Similarly, you have one of my favourite books – The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches! I find these interesting because it’s usually an old, long passed down form of magic, and I love the contrast between the mundanity of modern life against the use of magic, and witches dealing with very contemporary problems while also dealing with something much bigger and more magical.
I think to be a ‘witch’, a character has to conform to particular tropes – not that they have to be green skinned and wear a big black hat (though it is always an option!), but there should be something about them we can recognise as ‘witch’, without always being told. Of course, the type of witch is also dependent on the worldbuilding and type of story. A witch in horror is likely a villain, powerful, creepy, antagonising – or could be a source of knowledge, a force against the evil. In fantasy – including sisters Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance – a witch often uses a particular type of magic, maybe connected more deeply to nature.
A lot of the other terms for magic worker/users are very gendered – what do you picture first if you imagine a wizard, sorcerer or warlock? More and more, ‘witch’ has tilted towards the gender neutral (and, it’s important to remember, during historic witch trials it wasn’t just women accused!), which I really like. I’ve seen attempts to make wizard more ‘feminine’ with ‘wizardess’, which (imho) doesn’t work. Sorceress, on the other hand, does, and as for warlock…well. So, all too often, the designation of witch feels gendered, and pairing it with the others – as in women are witches, men are wizards/warlocks – often feels flimsy, as opposed to just having male and female witches.
I think as much as witches are wide-ranging, the other type of magic workers aren’t – they all conjure up specific images, and I don’t think you could convey sorcerer/sorceress with a character wearing simple, work-with-the-earth, nature/outdoors type clothes, growing herbs in her garden in a remote woods. Sorcerer feels more akin to living in a large stronghold, working magic by candlelight and sneering at mere mortals.
Not to say those archetypes can’t be subverted, but if they are, well, they need to be done really, really well! Now, I’ve rambled enough – I would love to hear about your favourite book witches, the ones who live rent free in your head, the ones you wish had even more books so you can spend more time with them!
Unwrapping Words 