History Characters / DiscworldWitches

* WitchClassic: Zigzagged. Despite adamantly refusing to let herself become the WickedWitch, she still believes in using the classic pointy hat, cloak and all-black gear, because A: that cements her as being a ''Witch'', and B: it strengthens her Headology. That said, she subverts the look in that she lacks the "hideous crone" aspect -- in fact, it's noted that if one looks past her age and her stern features, she's actually quite good looking. She's got striking blue eyes, doesn't have a single wart or blemish, still has all her teeth, is relatively wrinkle-free, and her hair is neat and healthy (if iron grey in colour). Even her feet, despite her wearing hulking hobnailed boots, are described as immaculately cared for and completely free of corns, callouses, or even overly long toenails.

* BookDumb: Her relationship with reading is described as being 'combative', and she sees words written by dead people as tangentially associated to necromancy. She considers writing instructions on how to administer to be the most difficult part of brewing potions. Then there is the card she hangs around her neck whenever she goes Borrowing that reads "I ATE'NT DEAD" (later "I STILL ATE'NT DEAD", and "I IS PROBLY DEAD")

* PowerTrio: It's essential. One witch on her own is likely to start cackling. Two witches are an argument waiting to happen. Three witches allow the first two witches to overcome their differences, and happen to ''someone else''.
** TheHecateSisters: The three distinct phases of witchery are the Maiden, the Mother and... the ''Other One'', since calling a witch "The Crone" is just begging for DisproportionateRetribution.

* GoodWithNumbers: The complement to her WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma is that she is also 'keenly numerate' - certainly, she's much better with numbers than most expect, and figures out Goatberger is shortchanging Nanny Ogg on the profits of her book with a few basic calculations and [[spoiler: Salzella's embezzlement]] after barely five minutes of skimming the account books in ''Maskerade''. She's also a skilled card player, after years of being fleeced by Old Mother Dismass and the detached retina of her second sight - she easily beats a group of card sharks that had just preyed on Nanny Ogg (with the judicious use of just enough magis to stop them from cheating) in ''Witches Abroad''.

* WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma: Despite the abundance of witches, they don't have [[IncrediblyLamePun spelling]] in the mountains, with Granny herself being described as 'grudgingly literate'. However, the complement to that is that she is also 'keenly numerate' - certainly, she's much better with numbers than most expect, and figures out Goatberger is shortchanging Nanny Ogg on the profits of her book with a few basic calculations and [[spoiler: Salzella's embezzlement]] after barely five minutes of skimming the account books in ''Maskerade''. She's also a skilled card player, after years of being fleeced by Old Mother Dismass and the detached retina of her second sight - she easily beats a group of card sharks that had just preyed on Nanny Ogg (with the judicious use of just enough magis to stop them from cheating) in ''Witches Abroad''.

* WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma: Despite the abundance of witches, they don't have [[IncrediblyLamePun spelling]] in the mountains, with Granny herself being described as 'grudgingly literate'. However, the complement to that is that she is also 'keenly numerate' - certainly, she's much better with numbers than most expect, and figures out Goatberger is shortchanging Nanny Ogg on the profits of her book with a few basic calculations and [[spoiler: Salzella's embezzlement]] after barely five minutes of skimming the account books in ''Maskerade''.

* WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma: Despite the abundance of witches, they don't have [[IncrediblyLamePun spelling]] in the mountains, with Granny herself being described as 'grudgingly literate'. However, the complement to that is that she is also 'keenly numerate' - certainly, she's much better with numbers than most expect, and figures out [[spoiler: Salzella's embezzlement]] after barely five minutes of skimming the account books in ''Maskerade''.

* BookDumb: Her relationship with reading is described as being 'combative', and she sees words written by dead people as tangentially associated to necromancy. Then there is the card she hangs around her neck whenever she goes Borrowing that reads "I ATE'NT DEAD" (later "I STILL ATE'NT DEAD", and "I IS PROBLY DEAD")

* [[SelfMadeWitch SelfMadeMan]]: While she does have exceptional magical ability, she majorly gets by on her own wit and cunning.

* PayEvilUntoEvil: Greebo is unpleasant and vicious, and can also be relied upon to go off 'like a Claymore Mine' on whatever villain is within range.

* IWasQuiteALooker: She may be a wrinkly, implicitly somewhat portly old lady now, but in her youth she was a very attractive (and ''very'' sexually liberated) woman. The "Mona Ogg" suggests she and Leonard of Quirm were very taken with each other, for instance. She held onto it enough that she had at least one child in her late 40s/early 50s (thanks to the events of ''Literature/WyrdSisters'', time got a little wobbly up around Lancre).

[[folder: Greebo]]

* ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest: Shares this with [[UltimateBlacksmith Jason Ogg]], as she notes at one point - the cost of being the best is that you have to ''be'' the best (which in this case, means undertaking any task set to you, not matter how insane).

* TheGoodKing: Played with. He is more considerate of ruling people and is smarter at ruling than most other kings of Lancre, in the end he's still just one of the many kings of Lancre and so no one really pays heed to him until the berserker incident in ''Carpe Jugulum''.

* DarkandTroubledPast: He had an abusive childhood at the hands of a perfectionist jester grandfather, and then he was sent for training at the Fools' Guild, which he absolutely loathed.

* ACupAngst: Is noted to have a very small bust ("two peas on an ironing board" are the exact words used), and is rather insecure about this prior to marrying Verence - a boost in her self-esteem, plus the steely effect of becoming a MamaBear in ''Carpe Jugulum'' mean she's much more self-confident (and becoming.

* WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma: Despite the abundance of witches, they don't have [[IncrediblyLamePun spelling]] in the mountains, with Granny herself being described as 'grudgingly literate'. However, the complement to that is that she is also 'keenly numerate' - certainly, she's much better with numbers than most expect.

* WitchSpecies: Not quite, as Discworld magic doesn't really work on this principle, but Nanny Ogg notes that all the Weatherwaxes are good at magic, even the men. And when she says 'good', she means that of the three Weatherwaxes we've met, there's been Galder Weatherwax, a distant cousin who was Arch-Chancellor of the Unseen University in ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'' (i.e. back in the days of KlingonPromotion), Lily Weatherwax, Granny's older sister who was the [[ManBehindTheMan Fairy-Godmother Behind The Throne]] and supreme ruler of Genua for over a decade, and Granny herself, who's widely acknowledged as the most powerful witch on the Disc, and personally defeated Lily.

* BrilliantButLazy: Has a natural knack for witchcraft and magic, and Terry said she probably is (or could be) more powerful than Granny Weatherwax, but she tends to eschew hard work and usually goes for the quickest, easiest solution -- which often turns out to be "get someone else to do the entire job for me." As she says in "The Sea And Little Fishes", she's the one with "natural talent" for witchcraft. Granny has almost no talent (or at least, less), she just [[TheDeterminator works it harder than hell.]]

* UsefulNotes/{{Dyslexia}}: Dyscalcula to be specific, its brought up in ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'', luckly she has Esme to help her.
* EvilMatriarch: Played With. She's very loving (and controlling) with her children and grandchildren. Her poor, poor daughters-in-law, however, certainly think so, and with good reason. Nanny Ogg sees their primary purpose in life as being to keep her content by cleaning her house -- and she's ''very'' demanding about that -- and providing her with all the food and drink she asks for.

** The short story ''The Sea And The Little Fishes'' directly states that of the two, Nanny is the more naturally talented witch and probably has more raw power (or could have, if she'd worked at it), but is still less formidable because she doesn't work as hard as Granny (who was less talented - though still pretty damn talented, in the vein of the other two Weatherwaxes who've turned up - but worked at it). Her highly developed ability to get along with people does make her the better witch in most everyday situations (for example she is [[NotHyperbole the best midwife in the entire history of the world]]), and both recognize that they are strongest as a team.

** That said, the discrepancy could be because of the time-shift during ''Literature/WyrdSisters'', which Shawn knows about, but the Wizards probably don't. Of course, since she's had three husbands, plus who knows how many other liaisons...

* ACupAngst: Is noted to have a very small bust ("two peas on an ironing board" are the exact words used), and is rather insecure about this.

* HiddenDepths: She's a very powerful witch once she gets past her tendency towards impracticality (see what she did to the oak door in ''Wyrd Sisters'') and she's capable of being remarkably dangerous when put in a corner. She's also got skill with herbs and medicine that even Granny (who primarily uses her own brand of psychology) acknowledges as some of the best in the mountains. The narration explicitly notes in ''Lords and Ladies'' that while Granny's awareness/exploitation of the placebo effect makes her by far the better witch, Magrat's meticulous approach to medicine makes her a much better doctor.

* StoutStrength: Perdita, when in control of the body in ''Carpe Jugulum'', demonstrates that Agnes is actually extremely strong but is afraid of using her muscles. As is observed in ''Maskerade'', she's got the typical build for Lancre womanhood, which includes the ability to carry a pig under each arm.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Normally Verence is a bit of an inoffensive wimp (probably because being an inoffensive wimp was largely what kept him alive before he became King), but he eventually stands up to Duke Felmet and reveals that he saw him [Felmet] murder the old King, despite knowing that Felmet will probably kill him for it. He also attacks one of Felmet's guards who was pulling the IHaveYouNowMyPretty routine on Magrat. And then, after he becomes King, just watch what happens when the Pictsies give him some of their brew...

* TheGoodKing: Played with. He is more considerate of ruling people and is smarter at ruling than most other kings of Lancre, in the end he's still just one of the many kings of Lancre and so no one really pays heed to him.

* BadassAbnormal: Despite, for the most part, being a large and vicious house cat, he'll happily maul anything he can get his claws into - ''Carpe Jugulum'' mentions that he once brought down an ''elk'', and he successfully ''eats'' a vampire in ''Witches Abroad''. He's also casually mentioned as bringing in "half a wolf" in ''Wintersmith'' in the same manner that an ordinary cat might bring in a dead mouse or, at a stretch, a rabbit, and that bears climb trees when he passes. The only things that scare him are elves, feegles, and You, Granny Weatherwax's cat (who took on certain aspects of her owner's personality early on).

* SexyCatPerson: In human form, he is described as a battle-scarred HellBentForLeather tough guy exuding enough [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys bad-boy sexuality]] to leave any non-lesbian woman who sees him practically catatonic.

* WouldHitAGirl: This has been thoroughly stamped out of Greebo, as a run-in with a vixen with cubs in his early years cost him his eye, he has been 'educated' in not ravishing human women by the witches, Magrat as a mother reminds him of the aforesaid vixen, and You the cat is also doing her part in reinforcing this.

* AllWitchesHaveCats: Averted for several books, as Granny dislikes cats -- then played straight in ''Wintersmith'' and beyond, as Tiffany presents her with a white kitten. So she's now the owner of a white cat named You, as in [[HeyYou "Get down from there, You!" or "Stop that, You!"]] Said cat, perhaps unsurprisingly, takes on certain aspects of her owner's personality, such as using what she has at the right moment for maximum psychological effect - namely, she's the only thing other than elves and feegles that actually scares Greebo.

* FatGirl: She struggles a lot with this trope, particularly in ''Maskerade''. A bit of a {{Deconstruction}}, though, as a large part of her personality is how annoying she finds the stereotype and how hard she works on avoiding it.

** It's also worth bearing in mind that the strategy he concocts for Felmet - discrediting the witches through slander, gossip and a play that casts them in a bad light - provides arguably the most existential threat to the witches they've ever faced. Only the Cunning Man compares, and even then, the Cunning Man is an entity that can be confronted. The Fool's concocted story would have reduced all witches - past, present, and yet to come - to nothing more than mumbling wicked crones, and it came frighteningly close to succeeding. While he came up with it only to avoid Lady Felmet's [[KillEmAll preferred alternative]], it's nevertheless incredibly dangerous.

** It's also worth bearing in mind that the strategy he concocts for Felmet provides arguably the most existential threat to the witches in their entire sequence. Only the Cunning Man compares, and even then, the Cunning Man is an entity that can be confronted. The Fool's concocted story would reduce all witches; past, present, and yet to come, to nothing more than mumbling wicked crones, and it comes frighteningly close to succeeding. While he came up with it to try and prevent Lady Felmet's [[KillEmAll preferred alternative]], it's nevertheless incredibly dangerous.

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: He desperately ''wants'' to be one, and is trying to improve the country through political and social reforms. [[DeconstructiveParody The people of Lancre politely listen to his suggestions and then ignore him and keep doing what they've always done]].

* IAmNotLeftHanded: Granny doesn't use a lot of her power, partly because it's her nature, partly because most problems can be solved by simpler means, partly because if she fears that using her powers too much will drive her evil/insane, and partly because it's much more fun when people under/overestimate her. She is still, however, ''really'' powerful. Like [[RealityWarper reality warpingly]], [[TimeMaster time-bendingly]], [[MoreThanMindControl mind-shatteringly]] powerful, so you don't want to be so big a threat that she decides to cast a devastating spell while making it seem effortless (mostly because she hides the strain until she's out of sight from the audience).

* TheThreeFacesOfEve: The three distinct phases of witchery are The Maiden, The Mother and... The ''Other One'', since calling a witch "The Crone" is just begging for DisproportionateRetribution.