As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
Fridge Brilliance
- Some of the ramifications of the witches moving Lancre in time makes sense in later stories:
- Mustrum Ridcully commented that she hadn't changed a bit, so maybe appearing 15 years younger than expected helped.
- Discworld magic also "doesn't keep you young, but you stay old for longer." Fifteen years might not leave much of a mark on a witch who's already old.
- Some Discworld fans took an inconsistency in Cohen the Barbarian's stated age and proposed a fanon that the short story "Troll Bridge" took place within the bounds of Lancre during the night when the kingdom was brought forward 15 years. Since Chert the troll lumber merchant gets mentioned again in Witches Abroad this isn't even that contrived.
- Of course, Terry Pratchett had eventually written Thief of Time, to explain away the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey nature of Discworld chronology. It all makes a twisted sort of sense that the progression of time is inconsistent between places.
- Discworld also tends to take physics and exaggerate somewhat (such as the oft-mentioned relative slowness of light); time does move at somewhat different rates at different elevations. And Lancre is much higher up than Ankh Morpork.
- It's fairly obvious that the plot is based on that of Macbeth, but only those who know the background of the play (or read about it later) know that Macbeth is also like that: in Real Life, the historical Macbeth is usually considered to be the good guy and Shakespeare wrote the play in order to appeal to King James VI and I, who was the descendant of King Duncan.
- It may even be considered to be based on "Richard III". Shakespeare portrayed Richard III as a tyrant to justify Elizabeth I's grandfather Henry VII overthrowing them. Similarly King Verence is portrayed as an Evil Cripple.
- Granny points out that none of Nanny Ogg’s children has any magical capacity. If the Ogg family had any magical powers passed down – the eighth child of an eighth child, as per Discworld law – the resulting witch/wizard could have been on a power level that could decimate the Disc, similar to the Sourcerer or maybe greater. So maybe it’s a good thing Nanny Ogg’s kids didn’t go that route.
- We don't know whether or not magic is always genetic or how passing it down works. Could even be that it's patrilineal—in which case, she can have as many kids as she wants, because as long as the sons don't marry anyone magical, there's no threat there. I think it may also have been implied that Nanny Ogg deliberately makes sure not to pass down the magic, most likely for just this reason.
- When Magrat points out that part of time-travel magic plan is stirring around people’s perceptions, Granny Weatherwax responds, “It all is.” Magic involves altering reality, and reality is defined by people’s understanding of the fixed rules of existence. The difference between headology and real magic is that the former requires less power and simply understanding and adjusting peoples’ viewpoints, rather than expending power on actually altering reality itself.
- And Granny's understanding of shifting perspectives makes sense given her history with her sister. And if one notes, her particular Rogues Gallery consisting of villains who appear to act for the better of people.
- Tomjon chooses to renounce the throne for a variety of reasons:
- First and most obviously, he’s got the choice to do so. He doesn’t have to be king if he doesn’t want it, and since there was another candidate for the throne he could easily walk away.
- Secondly, he’s a child of two fathers, a king and a playwright. A playwright has more power with words than a king, and can play more roles. Besides, he doesn’t know his birthfather as well as Vitoller, so naturally he’ll stay with Vitoller.
- he’s likely as Genre Savvy as Granny is, and knowing that the job of king means risking assassination he’s not going to risk his hide with such a job.
- The Duke is fascinated with power, but also terrified by ghosts. At the end, he becomes a ghost, and loves it because it's finally him doing the haunting.
- Magrat compares the witches' expedient approach towards magic with the analogy of taking a vow not to swim until you find yourself in deep water. The analogy used works because of its pragmatism, but also because it doesn't ignore the honor: the vow to not swim isn't useless because it keeps you from swimming frivolously.
- Each gift each witch gives to Tomjon reflects their personality:
- Magrat's kind nature gives him an easygoing nature that quickly earns him friends.
- Nanny Ogg's social nature gives him a good memory to keep track of events.
- Granny Weatherwax's determination gives him the freedom to be himself, whoever that may be.
- The animated series makes it more obvious. While Magrat is the only one to be official about it, they all give him gifts in their own way.
- Magrat's being "He will make friends easily".
- Nanny Ogg drunkenly gifts him with a good memory after forgetting the lines of her song with "A good memory is what he should have, he'll always remember the words".
- Granny Weatherwax gifts by exclaiming "Let him be whoever he thinks he is"
- Hwel gets stuck on the Marx Brothers pastiche he's writing because he can't think of anything for the Harpo Expy to say. The Roundworld solution to that issue, silent gags, can't be used because at the company's home, Ankh-Morpork, Lord Vetinari had mimes thrown into the scorpion pit (as read in Feet of Clay).
- Amongst the Witches' Rogues Gallery, Lord and Lady Felmet stand out as being the only characters Granny Weatherwax couldn't defeat. When she stares each of them down at separate occasions, they hold their own against her. This can count as Early Instalment Weirdness since it's the sixth Discworld novel, but note that Granny specifically fights against villains carrying delusions of righteousness. As the Felmets embody the Aristocrats Are Evil trope, with Lady Felmet especially being a Lady Macbeth in all but name, Granny Weatherwax can't fight against tropes that are honest and unrepentant about what they are. It takes two other parties to stop them each: the Fool stands up to the Duke, who then gets himself killed, and Nanny Ogg knocks out his wife, who is later cornered and slaughtered by wild animals.
- In fact, in this adventure the Witches don't defy or subvert destiny, they merely speed it up to enable the royal heir to take back his throne. They only get stuck when Tomjon refuses the throne, which they then sort out thanks to Magrat discovering the Fool's (supposed) royal connection.
- The gifts the witches give Tomjon are, though they don't realise it, absolutely perfect for an actor: he's charismatic ("he will make friends easily"), knows his lines ("he'll always remember the words") and utterly convincing in any role ("let him be whoever he thinks he is").
