About
Some Information About Granny Weatherwax
Esmerelda Weatherwax is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of books.
She was given the name Esmeralda by her parents, she is usually known as 'Granny Weatherwax' professionally, although she's not a grandmother or a mother, and she is known as 'Esme' to her friends. The trolls of the Ramtops call her Aaoograha hoa ('She Who Must Be Avoided') and the dwarf name for her, K'ez'rek d'b'duz, means 'Go Around the Other Side of the Mountain.'
Granny Weatherwax is a witch. In fact, Granny is the most powerful witch in the Ramtops, if not in the entire Discworld. She is reckoned to be more powerful than Black Aliss, the most well-known legendary witch on the Discworld.
Esmeralda Weatherwax is strong-willed, self-assured, intelligent, and good at heart.
Esmeralda Weatherwax is a tallish thin woman with white hair. She has no warts and all her own teeth, which disappoints her as she thinks it's inappropriate for a witch to look handsome. She usually wears black clothes for practicality. Her clothes seem to be affected by her very determined mental state, as in Witches Abroad, when she gets drenched in a river on her travels but 'dries out quick.' When she goes out and about, she wears a tall pointy black hat and a black cloak, which doubles as a blanket for her goats when she's at home. For transport, she has a flying broomstick, the only one on the Discworld that requires bump-starting.
Esmeralda Weatherwax lives in a witch's cottage in a clearing in the forest. She has a herb garden with a life of its own, and latterly a small white kitten that was given to her by junior witch Tiffany Aching. She refers to the kitten as 'You!' but she seems to be quite fond of 'You!' since sometimes 'You!' sleeps on Granny's head under her hat.
Esmeralda Weatherwax has many talents. She can 'borrow' the mind of an animal and use this method to travel about and view and learn without moving her body. She practices 'headology' which is a sort of incredibly practical psychology. And she practices witchcraft, which she describes as 'power from the ground.'
Esmeralda Weatherwax is a major character in seven of the Discworld novels and a background character in more. Like another of Terry Pratchett's recurring characters, Sam Vimes of the City Watch, Esmeralda Weatherwax is a good person but not a wholly innocent one. A lot of her power, like Sam's, comes from deep self-knowledge allied with broad experience. Esmeralda Weatherwax is a woman who would be capable (like Sam) of a lot of evil if she wasn't (like Sam) living by a strong moral code. She strikes me as one of those people who make a good friend but a bad enemy.
She's inspirational. It's a rare fictional character who makes one think in a crisis: What Would Granny Weatherwax Do?
Quotes Regarding Granny Weatherwax
From Wyrd Sisters:
"'Tis not right, a woman going into such places by herself." Granny nodded. She thoroughly approved of such sentiments so long as there was, of course, no suggestion that they applied to her.
Witches are not by nature gregarious, at least with other witches, and they certainly don't have leaders. Granny Weatherwax was the most highly regarded of the leaders they didn't have.
She had never mastered the talent for apologizing, but she appreciated it in other people.
From Witches Abroad:
Granny Weatherwax... had walked nightly without fear in the bandit-haunted forests of the mountains all her life in the certain knowledge that the darkness held nothing more terrible than she was.
Granny Weatherwax disapproved of magic for domestic purposes, but she was annoyed. She also wanted her tea. She threw a couple of logs into the fireplace and glared at them until they burst into flame out of sheer embarrassment.
From Lords and Ladies:
"Blessings be upon this house," said Granny Weatherwax. In much the same tone of voice have people said, 'Eat hot lead, Kincaid.'
".......you stupid man!"
"I do happen to be king, you know," said Verence reproachfully.
"You stupid king, your majesty."
"Thank you."
Links
Wikipedia entry
Terry Pratchett's website. He's fantastic.
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