The Witch Rewritten: Terry Pratchett’s Answer to the Portrayal of Witches in Fantasy

This thesis explores the power of stories and how they influence the perception and status of witches in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. The folklore, mythology, and history here on Earth is mirrored in the reality of the Discworld. Narrative structures are an elemental force in the Discworld where if a story is told often enough it becomes a fact of existence. The witch centered novels were Pratchett’s response to the deeply ingrained prejudice in the consensus fantasy universe. He analyzed the different perceptions of witches and wizards and restated their purpose and the purpose of magic in the Discworld. Pratchett showed how assigned gender roles between witches and wizards were arbitrary with Esk in Equal Rites and Geoffrey in The Shepherd’s Crown. According to Pratchett the role of fantasy was not to reinforce stereotypes but to show the familiar from a new angle. He explored the connection between language, power, and magic and took inspiration from Shakespeare, the witch trials of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the Mother Goddess from Neopaganism. The triple Goddess has three aspects: the maiden, the mother, and the crone. The five main witches; Magrat, Agnes, Nanny, Granny, and Tiffany, take on various aspects of the Goddess, some stable and other transitionary. Pratchett twisted their narratives away from the various stereotypes of witches into a new kind of witch. By understanding the power of stories and narrative force witches are able to take control of their narratives. The wicked old witch figure of an outsider and villain is rewritten as a wise woman and righteous caretaker who is a central part of her community. Tiffany Aching is the ultimate rewriting of the witch as she shifts the perception of witches in her community into a more positive figure and rewrites the lore of magical gender roles