The Witch
antagonist · human
Built a house out of food in the middle of a forest full of hungry people, and waited.
What they are like
- Kind
- 1/10
- Brave
- 4/10
- Clever
- 8/10
- Honest
- 1/10
- Curious
- 3/10
- Patient
- 10/10
How we meet them
As a voice, before a face: 'Nibble, nibble, little mouse, who is nibbling at my house?' Then a smile so warm that Gretel steps towards her before she has decided to.
Personality
Warm on the doorstep and businesslike everywhere else. She is not theatrical, she is a person running a system, which is far more unsettling than cackling would be.
What they want
She is patient, she is prepared, and she has been doing this a long time.
How they change
Undone by her own eyesight, her own impatience and a girl she called stupid.
How they speak
Two completely different registers. Sweetness at the door, and short flat instructions once the door is shut. She never explains herself.
How the story treats them
The story is careful never to make her supernatural in any showy way. Her only real power is that she understood how hungry everyone was.
One surprising thing
In this retelling she is shut in her own larder rather than burned. The Grimms' ending is far harsher, and it is one of the details most modern versions quietly change.
If they were real today
She would be whoever designed the thing your child asks for that is free to start and impossible to stop.
Things they say
- “Nibble, nibble, little mouse. Who is nibbling at my house?”
- “You poor things. Look at you. Come in.”
Key moments
Nibble, nibble, little mouse
A voice from the doorway, and then a smile so warm that both children walk into the house on their own feet.
“Nibble, nibble, little mouse. Who is nibbling at my house?”
Much stronger than she looks
In the morning she takes Hansel by the arm and puts him in the stable, and the warmth is simply gone, as though it had been a coat she took off.
Bending down to show her
Out of patience and short of sight, she leans into her own oven to demonstrate, which is the last decision she makes.
Who they know
Characters like The Witch
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