The Witch
antagonist · human
The person who put a prince at the bottom of a well and then leaves the story entirely. She gets one sentence, offstage, after the fact.
What they are like
- Kind
- 1/10
- Brave
- 5/10
- Clever
- 9/10
- Honest
- 2/10
- Curious
- 4/10
- Patient
- 8/10
How we meet them
We do not. She is reported, in the past tense, by the man she cursed, in a single sentence, after it is all over.
Personality
Unknowable, because the tale genuinely does not tell you. No reason is given, no bargain is described and no punishment arrives. She is the only character here with no scene and no consequences.
What they want
Not stated anywhere in the tale, which is unusual enough to be worth pointing out.
How they change
None. She appears in a single clause of explanation and is never mentioned again, which is the strangest thing about her.
How they speak
Nothing on the page. Everything attributed to her here is imagined, because the tale gives her no line at all.
How the story treats them
The prince names her once and does not dwell on it. The story is not interested in her, which is very rare for a fairy tale villain and worth noticing.
One surprising thing
The story never explains why she cursed him. Folklorists have pointed out that leaving out the back story makes sense, because the princess is the one actually driving the tale.
If they were real today
She would be the neighbour who does something outrageous, moves away that week, and is never heard from again.
Things they say
- “Down you go.”
- “Somebody will come, eventually.”
Key moments
One sentence, afterwards
The whole of her part in the tale: a witch had put him down that well. No reason, no scene, no return.
The condition she set
Whatever she did, it left exactly one way out, and it required a particular person to be standing at that particular well. The prince waited a very long time for it.
Characters like The Witch
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