Granny Weatherwax

Esmerelda Weatherwax (usually called Granny Weatherwax) is a witch and member of the Lancre coven.

Granny Weatherwax is the Crone, though the triple nature of the coven is always referred to as "the maiden, the mother and... the other one". In fact it has been suggested she embodies all three, but the Crone is the most obvious. Much to her annoyance, Granny Weatherwax still has perfect skin, pure-black hair and all her teeth.

Granny Weatherwax is the most powerful witch in the Ramtops, but powerful witches rarely do magic. While she can cast some extremely impressive spells if pushed, much of her power comes from headology, a sort of folk-psychology which can be summed up as "if people think you're a witch, you might as well be one". For instance, Granny could, if she wished, curse people. However it is simpler for her to say she's cursed them, and let them assume she's responsible for the next bit of bad luck that happens to befall them; given her reputation this tends to cause such people to flee the country entirely.

Granny Weatherwax's reputation even extends to beyond species barriers--the trolls of the Ramtops call her Aoograha hoa ("She Who Must be Avoided") and the dwarf name for her, Ke'ez'rek d'b'duz, translates to "Go Around the Other Side of the Mountain".

She has a near-unshakeable belief in her own abilities, which has thus far proved accurate, and an extreme distrust of stories. She was intended by nature to be a "wicked witch", but at an early age realised she had to be "the good one" to balance her sister, Lilith (Lily).

Ironically Lily, who became a fairy godmother, was convinced she was the good one, because she gave people what she thought they wanted. Granny Weatherwax gives people what she knows they need.

Knowing what is Right is the bedrock of Granny Weatherwax and it is this that keeps her from using her considerable psychic and occult abilities. She knows what's Right. This, of course, has not stopped her from becoming increasingly powerful, to the point where she even managed to resist the fatal embrace of a vampire's bite and instead cause her assailant to become weaker from within.

Granny Weatherwax is NOT the grandaughter of Black Aliss (real name: Aliss Demurrage), who is responsible for any number of witcheries in fairy tales, such as putting a castle to sleep and getting pushed in a stove by naughty kids. It does seem that her teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher was Black Aliss. ("I learned my craft from Nanny Gripes, who learned it from Goody Heggety, who got it from Nanna Plumb, who was taught it by Black Aliss..." - says Granny Weatherwax. She is the grandaughter of Alison Weatherwax, a witch about whom little is known, including when or if she died.