Esmerelda "Esme" Weatherwax (also Granny Weatherwax or Mistress Weatherwax) is a fictional character from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. She is a witch and member of the Lancre coven. She is the self-appointed guardian of her small country, and frequently defends it against supernatural powers. She is one of the Discworld series's main protagonists, having major roles in seven novels.
She is a very powerful witch, and is reckoned to be more powerful than the most well-known witch on the Discworld, Black Aliss. Granny says in Lords and Ladies that she "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". The witches of the Lancre coven reflect the roles of Maiden, Mother, and Crone, with Granny being most associated with the Crone (tactfully referred to as "the other one").
Due to her prowess, Granny Weatherwax is first among equals of the Ramtops witches: "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." In Wyrd Sisters, the ghost of the King of Lancre addresses her as "Doyenne of Witches" ("Senior Lady of Witches"). Granny Weatherwax's reputation extends to other species: the Trolls of the Ramtops call her "Aaoograha hoa" ("She Who Must Be Avoided"; mentioned in Maskerade), the Dwarf call her "K'ez'rek d'b'duz" ("Go Around the Other Side of the Mountain"; also mentioned in Maskerade), and the Nac Mac Feegle call her "The Hag O' Hags" ("The High Witch").
Family and Background
According to Witches Abroad, Esmerelda "Esme" (later "Granny") Weatherwax is the younger of two daughters. Her father was a hunter who taught her that "a bad hunter chases, a good hunter waits" (Lords and Ladies). Little is revealed about her mother except that she had a long illness and Esme nursed her until her death.
Magical ability runs in the Weatherwax family; a distant cousin, the wizard Galder Weatherwax, is Archchancellor of Unseen University at the time of The Light Fantastic. When Esme was a child, her older sister Lily began misusing magic and behaving in a "wanton" and "wilful" manner. Lily left home as a teenager and never returned to Lancre.
By the time Esme reached her teens, she was determined to become a witch. She occasionally struggles with temptation to become a "wicked witch", but also feels obligated to be "the good one" to balance her sister. In Lords and Ladies she reveals that she was not chosen as an apprentice by an established witch, but "camped on old Nanny Gripes' garden until she promised to tell me everything she knew. Hah. That took her a week I had the afternoons free... No chose..."). As a young woman, Esme was involved in a summer-long romance with student wizard Mustrum Ridcully, but ultimately they were both committed to their respective paths of witchcraft and wizardry. She was also acquainted with Gytha Ogg, who is about the same age, although their friendship does not develop until they are older. Esme eventually became the witch for village of Bad Ass and the Kingdom of Lancre as a whole.
Granny, as she comes to be known, is in her 70s or 80s during the events of Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade and Carpe Jugulum. She dies quietly at home at the beginning of the final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown. When Death comes for her, he tells her that her candle will continue to flicker long after her passing and that she has left the world in a better condition than it was when she entered it. Author Neil Gaiman, a friend of Pratchett's, has said that Pratchett died before writing a scene he had intended for the ending of The Shepherd's Crown. According to Gaiman, this would have revealed that Granny's spirit had lingered to watch over her young successor Tiffany Aching, and that when she did finally depart with Death it was on her own terms.
Appearance
Granny Weatherwax has striking blue eyes and a penetrating gaze, a hooked nose, and a determined set to her jaw. In Equal Rites she is described as "handsome", having an excellent complexion, no warts, and all her teeth, although it is implied she finds this a bit inappropriate for a witch. Granny is thin, mentioning in Lords and Ladies that she weighs , and is described as being taller than Nanny Ogg and Magrat.