History ComicBook / Witch

%%* ElementalPowers: Duh. Five girls gain magical powers [[ElementalPersonalities based on their personalities]], becoming {{Magical Girl Warrior}}s. The entire franchise is build on that.

* EducationMama: Taranee's mother, a judge, is this in the comics, always reminding her on her duties and education. She also tends to be pretty judgmental toward anything and anyone breaking the school routine of her daughter.

* ElementalPowers: Duh. Five girls gain magical powers [[ElementalPersonalities based on their personalities]], becoming {{Magical Girl Warrior}}s. The entire franchise is build on that.

%%* EducationMama: Taranee's mother, a judge, is this in the comics.%%How?

%%* ElementalPowers: Duh.

* EducationMama: Taranee's mother, a judge, is this in the comics.
* ElementalPowers: Duh.
* EmbarrassingNickname: Please stop calling Cornelia "Corny".

%%* DarkMagicalGirl: Elyon.

* DarkMagicalGirl: Elyon.

Lene Kaaberbøl also released four ''W.I.T.C.H.'' novels in ''The Broken Orb'' series:

Kaaberbøl also released four ''W.I.T.C.H.'' novels in ''The Broken Orb'' series:

Multiple novels taking place within the ''W.I.T.C.H.'' universe have also been written by various Scandinavian writers, with only five of these novels[[note]]those being Danish author Lene Kaaberbøl's ''W.I.T.C.H. Adventures'' books[[/note]] gaining [[NoExportForYou translation and release outside the region]].

* RealityEnsues: A sobering one; Cornelia falls for the rebel leader Caleb in her Guardian guise, which makes her look like an eighteen-year-old. They develop sparks, which quickly are put on hold after [[spoiler:Phobos reveals that Caleb was one of his plant advisors and reverts him to a plant]]. Despite her heartbreak, Cornelia resolves to [[spoiler:save Caleb when receiving a power boost]]. That should solve all the problems, after their mutual hardship? [[spoiler:No; Caleb finds out that Cornelia is a minor, and {{Squick}}s at the thought of dating a kid. He breaks up with her and while he has sparks for Elyon, [[ThisIsWrongOnSoManyLevels it's established as being a really bad thing]] especially when Cornelia finds out. To make matters worse, the Oracle points out that their relationship would have foundered regardless because they live in two different worlds; Cornelia would never forget her home, and Caleb would get arrested due to lacking papers and being a figure of interest in the Elyon case]].

* ByThePowerOfGreyskull: Implied to not be necessary, but used anyway. Sometimes Will calls upon every element, sometimes every guardian calls her own. In a variation, while "Earth", "Fire", "Air" and "Water" have been always called, in the first issues, Will said whatever was on her mind (Energy, Heart, etc.) one time, she ended up just saying her own [[http://a.imageshack.us/img321/476/willelement16th.jpg name]]. Of course, in English, her name [[MeaningfulName takes on a whole new meaning]] [[HeroicWillpower when you think about it]].

* ArtEvolution: A subdued example and most prominent in the final 20 or so issues, but over the years the drawning style and colouring still changed slightly, with various characters gaining altered models over time, too. Ironically, covers remained the more consistent, ''but'' were drawn in a different style than the comics itself.

* {{Animesque}}: Given by the frequent use of emoticon faces, large eyes, and even [[SweatDrop Sweat Drop]]s.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Lillian to Cornelia and Christopher to Irma. Peter adores Taranee, though.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: No, Taranee isn't an African name. Hay isn't a Chinese name, either. (though it's possible that the writers got it mixed up with the name "Hui" - not to be confused with the term for Chinese Muslims - which means "intelligent", "bright". Or ''heilin'' which means "black collar".)

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Will's father. He manages to be almost as despicable as some of the magical villains.

* CloningBlues: Early on the girls learn how to make Astral Drops, clones of themselves with their exact personalities and memories, to take their places while going on missions. That is, all of them except of Will who's distracted by Taranee's earlier capture. She ends up with a clone who's basically a blank state. At the beginning this only leads to some HilarityEnsues... [[spoiler: then the clones starts developing their own personalities.]] When they start using the astral drops for non-guardian things [[spoiler: all the astral drops band together and try to live without the originals to varying degrees of success. In the end the oracle grants them their own lives and they get to live independently. This also means WITCH can't use astral drops any more.]]

* ComicBookTime: Over ten years since the series started, and the girls don't appear to have aged at all and are still in the same school. Occasionally there is evidence to suggest events taking place during a certain season, such as summer holidays, but it's debatable how much time has actually passed. It's hard to say just how much time ''is'' passing - considering at least a few mundane days of WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld seem to happen.

** Lionel Cook's job. Depending on the issue, he's either a lawyer, a psychologist or a fireman.

* DragonsUpTheYinYang: The Lins. Magical? Check. (well, Yan Lin and Hay Lin, anyway.) Chinese? Check. Recurring dragon motif? Check.

* ElementalPowers

* FacialMarkings: The oracle (in the short lived manga) and Caleb in the comic both have these.

* FishOutOfWater: Subverted with [[SixthRanger Orube]]. She's sophisticated enough to realize that tv sets are machines, not magic, but she still needed to be explained that romantic melodrama movies aren't RealLife.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Cornelia with plants and Will with animals... and appliances.

* GoodWitchVersusBadWitch

* GreenAesop: One of the more recent issues, Green Truth.

* InTouchWithHisFeminineSide: Matt, Eric, Nigel, and Stephen.
* KilledOffForReal: Let's be clear, the WITCH are nice girls, but if you are the BigBad and they have to unleash AllYourColorsCombined, they don't care whether you will be depowered or killed. The Oracle never forbid them to kill. Expect a lot of RedemptionEqualsDeath, too. [[DeaderThanDead Phobos got his soul disintegrated]], as the Guardians didn't want to take chances and were ''furious'' for what he had just done (particularly Will, who had been subjected to a MindRape).
** Also happens to a few of the supporting characters. One of Taranee's first teachers of dancing dies of cancer at a young age, Will's pet gets killed by a passing car, etc.

* LegacyCharacter: The Guardians of Kandraker[[spoiler: and even the title of Oracle.]]

** Orube can't cook due to lack of familiarity with Earth ingredients and cooking implements (the first time she cooked she set the kitchen on fire) and clumsiness outside the ways of a warrior. While she's slowly getting better, she still has a long way to go – she once set''[[EpicFail pasta water on fire]]''!)

** We know there were guardians before W.i.t.c.h., including one group with Hay Lin's grandmother. But we never find out what they fought against. (The portals open every 1000 years, and Phobos and Elyon are humans, so it's very unlikely they fought against them, or that they are thousands of years old.)

* OneSteveLimit:

* RememberTheNewGuy: At least once a saga.

** [[spoiler: And now we have Nihila.]]

* SexierAlterEgo - The titular ''Comicbook/{{WITCH}}'' are fairly average (albeit skinny) teenagers in their normal form. When transformed however, they are changed to look much more... adult. Lampshaded on more than one occasion. BreastExpansion is present is the comic book, but not as prevalent as in the series.

** Hay Lin has a little Franchise/SailorMoon on her monitor, along with a monster that kinda looks like Godzilla. Irma has plenty of Disney paraphernalia, including a [[Franchise/TheLittleMermaid Little Mermaid]]. In the Dark Mother Saga, [[spoiler: [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers they combine their powers]] to create a powerful being to defeat her]]

* {{Stripperiffic}}: All of the outfits that the girls get when they transform count, but Hay Lin's outfit takes the cake.

* TrulySingleParent: Caleb is a Murmurer. The closest thing he has to a father is ''Phobos''. [[note]] Since his human form was literally created by Elyon, you could, technically, say she is his mother. [[/note]]
* UnPerson: Happens to Cornelia in one comic after Endarno [[spoiler:possessed by Phobos]] releases some sort of magical butterfly, only the other W.I.T.C.H. girls were able to remember her. The butterfly eventually transforms into a crystal-like clone of Cornelia and shows her visions of her past, and then Cornelia destroys it.

* WeirdnessMagnet: Heatherfield. For some reason, all of the interactions between Earth and the other realms seem to happen there.
* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: It sounds like the magical powers of an old lady the girls meet in the "Teach 2b Witch" may fit this trope; she explains that she has the power to turn invisible, but can only do it when it's raining, and the wind has to be blowing from East, and there has to be a full moon, and she has to be wearing red.
* WhatTheHellHero: the Oracle tells the girls off for treating their Astral Drops as if they were the Guardians' slaves.
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Unintentional example: Heatherfield is supposed to be in the US, given the use of the American flag and dollars and the setting being how many Italians would see America, but the way characters act and the setting not being ''that'' American made it rather unclear, with some translations sometimes changing the currency to euros to indicate an European location.
* WhoWouldWantToWatchUs: On the MagiTek world of Nune-Boreal WITCH is so popular they have merchandise, cosplayers and an actual ''movie''; Hay Lin jokes about buying an action figure of herself because it has an [=MP3=] player included. The [[spoiler: costume players]] actually help them defeat the villains of the issue.

* SixthRangerTraitor: Even before the WITCH are revealed to be the chosen ones, the Oracle shows a photograph with the five of them, plus Elyon. When his assistant objects they are six, he answers the sixth will betray them. Elyon performs an FaceHeelTurn soon.

* GenderBender: In the {{anvilicious}} football special, Irma and Vicky decide to dress up as boys so that they can join the football try outs.

In the United States, the comic was initially released as graphic novels underneath Disney's "Hyperion Books" publishing label, with that run covering only the first sixteen issues, ending in the middle of the second story arc. The United Kingdom fared a bit better, seeing the release of everything up to issue seventy-four, but still {{left hanging}} in the middle of the seventh story arc. In October 2017, Creator/YenPress began a new English translation, with the first five story arcs being released as of August 2019. There also exists chapter book {{novelization}}s of the first two story arcs, as well as a short-lived [[ForeignRemake Japanese manga version]] that was serialized in Kadokawa's "Monthly Asuka" magazine (consisting of the original scripts with new artwork by [[Manga/CrescentMoon Haruko Iida]]) that covered the first story arc and was later collected in two tankōbon.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Comes with the ElementalPowers. Green earth, blue/turquoise water, red/orange fire, silver/bluish air and pink energy.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/W-I-T-C-H-Girls.jpg]]

** Hay Lin has a little Franchise/SailorMoon on her monitor, along with a monster that kinda looks like Godzilla. Irma has plenty of Disney paraphernalia, including a [[Disney/TheLittleMermaid Little Mermaid]]. In the Dark Mother Saga, [[spoiler: [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers they combine their powers]] to create a powerful being to defeat her]]

* ComicBookTime: Over ten years since the series started, and the girls don't appear to have aged at all and are still in the same school. Occasionally there is evidence to suggest events taking place during a certain season, such as summer holidays, but it's debatable how much time has actually passed.

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: [[spoiler: Elyon]], immediately lampshaded ("I didn't know any princess"). At the end of the first saga [[spoiler: she becomes queen.]]

* AffectionateNickname: Mariko the Black Queen calls her sister Shinobu "Bu-chan".

** It's also implied to be an ability of the Heart of Kandrakar, but it's never used.
*** Finally used in the penultimate issue of the New Power arc. Also, the Guardians acquire the power to do it at will (instead that as a desperation attack like in the New Power arc) in the final issue.

* CloningBlues: Early on the girls learn how to make Astral Drops, clones of themselves with their exact personalities and memories, to take their places while going on missions. That is, all of them except of Will who's distracted by Taranee's earlier capture. She ends up with a clone who's basically a blank state. At the beginning this only leads to some HilarityEnsues... [[spoiler: then the clones starts developing their own personalities.]]
** When they start using the astral drops for non-guardian things [[spoiler: all the astral drops band together and try to live without the originals to varying degrees of success. In the end the oracle grants them their own lives and they get to live independently. This also means WITCH can't use astral drops any more.]]

An [[WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}} animated adaptation of the comic]] premiered in 2006 on [[Creator/ToonDisney Jetix]] and Creator/{{ABC}} Kids. The series lasted for 52 episodes and covered the events of the first two story arcs, with the second season notably having Creator/GregWeisman of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' fame as showrunner; all tropes concerning that adaptation go there.