Witch

A Witch or Sorceress is a woman who practices witchcraft, unlike a wizard who is a man that practices wizardry, however, both are similar terms.

Description

“	All it takes is one bad apple to disgrace a whole tree. I come from a very long line of witches and I've only ever heard of one witch who eats children-but thanks to the story 'Hansel and Gretel', the whole world thinks all of us live in gingerbread houses and lure innocent youths to their deaths.	”
	— Hagetta about the reputation and stereotypes of witches

Most of the witches lived in the Dwarf Forests. They had a monthly meeting at midnight of the full moon, which was said to usually be "uneventful" and low in attendance. The witches used to meet at a tavern called the Witches' Brew at Dead Man's Creek, but the tavern was destroyed by Alex. The witches still met at the same place after that. Gargoylia lead those meetings until she was killed by Morina.

Hagetta explained to the twins that not all witches were ugly or indeed evil, they just have a bad reputation. While most weren't necessarily evil, most practiced dark magic and they believed it was a fundamental aspect of being a "true" witch, an example of this was some of the witches from the Ravencrest School of Witchcraft who were shown not to be evil but still practiced dark magic. Witches often looked down with disgust at witches who practiced white magic like Hagetta as they believed they weren't true witches.

It is explained that not all witches are necessarily female, as Lucy Goose is half a witch on her father's side which indicates that male witches exist.

Physical Description

“	Dark magic was known for leaving a mark on those who partook of it, and each woman's appearance had been affected differently. Some witches had warts, enlarged noses, decaying flesh, or eyeballs that hung out of their sockets. Others had been transformed past the point of appearing human and resembled other species. They had hooves and horns, tails and feathers; some even had snouts and beaks.	”
	— The affects of dark magic

Most witches were humanoid; a hint at their origins. Dark magic effected each witch differently. A common mark was early old age, wrinkles, warts, long, hooked noses and sometimes a hunchback; just like the modern depiction of fairy tale witches. Other witches showed signs of decay like rotting flesh and eyeballs which hung from their eye sockets. A few witches gained the characteristics of animals or nature. Arboris had a skin of bark and twigs for hair, Charcoaline's skin glowed with fire and her body, along with Gargoylia's was made of rocks held together by her kind's magic. Tarantulene gained extra limbs like a spider while Serpentina had scales instead of skin and reptilian physiology. The degree of a witch's mark can vary from sorceress to sorceress. The The Sea Witch had the most severe appearance as half her body wasn't human at all and was instead the body of a crustacean. Not even witchcraft could completely rid a witch of her mark, like Morina. While the beauty witch changed her warty grotesqueness to great beauty, it seemed she could not hide her horns.

White magic may have had the opposite effect though it was unknown if Hagetta was always beautiful and her magic left a mark of beauty on her or if she was naturally attractive.

Powers and Abilities

Like fairies, witches had their own form of magic called witchcraft. Most believed that the practice of dark magic was a fundamental part of a witch's culture so witchcraft consisted mostly of black magic. Their magic came in many forms and the strength of their magic varied among individuals. There were weak witches whose powers weren't strong enough to break in or out of Pinocchio Prison though their powers may still be strong enough if they were in danger. Morina was described as the most powerful witch in the world but even she feared and respected the Sea Witch and the Snow Queen, implying that they were stronger.

Witchcraft came in many forms such as jinxes, hexes, potions, and curses, these were also called the fundamentals of witchcraft. A lot of their spells utilized items like knives, potions and flying broomsticks. It could be very powerful as Hagatha was able to use magic to safely cut out the heart of the Evil Queen and allow her to remain alive without it. Hagetta used similar magic to cut a fragment of Bo Peep's heart without harming her, an impossible feat for science. Not all witchcraft required such rituals. Morina cast a whirlwind spell to search her shop in less than a second and the Gingerbread House Witch could shift from an ugly hag to a more monstrous form to take down her prey. The Sea Witch showed similar power by growing in size. Not all witchcraft came from nothing, potions were a prime example as they required ingredients. Morina's entire craft sadly required the youth and life of children to be made.

Witches could be born with gifts and powers that most witches lacked. Some witches had the power of foresight; such as the Snow Queen and the Three Witches. Others, like Morina, use a crystal ball or other artifacts to see the future. A witch's mark can also grant her abilities related to their corrupted form like Serpentina ability to regenerate her arms and legs like a lizard's tail, Tarantulene's webs, Charcoaline's fire powers and the Sea Witch's gills.

History

Not much is known about the history of the witches; only that it was decided in the Happily Ever After Assembly that they are forbidden to enter the Fairy Kingdom. It was possible that witches were once human like Hagetta who looked perfectly ordinary. Their use of dark magic forever leaving a mark on their appearance. Their bad relationship with ordinary humans and magical creatures seemed to have made them into their own faction, sisterhood or species.

Events

The Twins' Encounter With the Gingerbread Witch

The Gingerbread House Witch tried to lure the twins into her house but Conner thought of a trick to get away. The deceased witch Hagatha was mentioned in Mr Bailey's travel journal.

Finding the Parts for the Wand of Wonderment

The twins visit two witches in the second book in order to acquire all parts of the Wand of Wonderment; the Snow Queen and the The Sea Witch. Later, Hagatha is mentioned and features as an apparition.

The Three Witches and Hagetta

At the start of the third book, the Three Witches crash Alex' inauguration ball and give a prophecy. Hagetta heals the twins and Lester when they are injured.

Monthly Meetings and the Witches

At the start of Beyond the Kingdoms, the monthly meeting of the witches attracts more witches than usual, because they want to discuss who is responsible for the kidnapping of 24 children from the kingdoms. They are afraid that the people of the Land of Stories will blame the witches and start a witch hunt. Hagetta suggests working together to find whoever took the children. Several other witches disagree, feeling that would betray their 'sisterhood'. The Masked Man tries to rally them for his army by claiming the fairies are trying to inspire the kingdoms to start a witch-extermination. The witches reject him, and Morina warns the witches that this will have dire consequences for them. The Snow Queen and the Sea Witch then arrive and reveal that they have been working together to curse Ezmia and use her as a weapon to take over the Land of Stories and the Otherworld, and when Ezmia was defeated by Alex, they shifted their focus on her and tried to curse Alex. Their curse wasn't strong enough and they ask the other witches to join them.

Cursing Alex

The Snow Queen, the Sea Witch, Morina and the rest of the witches combine their magic making the curse extremely powerful, they pour it into a jar and decide to send Morina to the other world. Since of all the witches she is the only one that looks more human .After using the pan flute to open a portal to the Otherworld, Morina crosses the portal, covers her horns so no one sees her troll features and locates Alex at Saint Andrew's hospital where he curses her by throwing the cursed dust, causing Alex to come under the control of the witches.

Behind the Scenes

• The word "witch" may be a substitute to the word "b****" in the Land of Stories, as suggested by Goldilocks when she called the Huntress a "son of a witch" in The Wishing Spell.