#Nanny Ogg

[sator-the-wanderer]

For the Discworld designs series, the witches of Lancre

[chechula]

Granny Wheatherwax and Nanny Ogg on the street of Ankh-Morphork, commission for Becky ♥

[cephalopod-celabrator]

Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax of Discworld are the iconic old lady duo of all time, for many reasons. One of those reasons being that Nanny Ogg has had sex with countless men both within and outside marriage, and is still bragging about it as an old lady. And at the same time, Granny Weatherwax is explicitly a virgin (and possibly asexual) for all of her life and is proud of it. And that was both of their choices, and neither of them regret a thing. Sure, they make snide remarks at each other about it, but they make snide remarks at each other about everything. And as an extra bonus Magrat only sleeps with one man after she marries him and that is also considered perfectly alright. That's not even going into the fact that Nanny Ogg is both maternal and horny, that Granny Weatherwax is handsome but was never pretty, and that Magrat is idealistic and femme but also filled with violent rage. I just love them so much.

[dark-lord-tom-returns]

So I'm reading Witches Abroad and the first time we see Granny use magic is in Desiderata's cottage. Desiderata (deceased) was a big proponent of everyday magic. She was also quite blind. So when Granny and Nanny check on her cottage and definitely are not looking for her wand, there are no matches for the fireplace.

Granny doesn't like everyday magic. She says so. She even tells Nanny that if they found the wand she wouldn't use it, emphatically. She doesn't like the habit. But she's annoyed and wants her tea and needs a fire for that. So she uses magic.

But then she sees the mirror. And the face looking back isn't hers but Lilith's. Heres a quote about Granny:

"Very few people in the world had more self-control than Granny Weatherwax. It was as rigid as a bar of cast iron. And about as flexible."

And she smashes the mirror immediately and without hesitation.

Now we don't know who Lilith is to Granny at this point but upon reread this is a particularly interesting passage. By the end of the book we know Lilith is "the bad witch" and because she is Granny "had to be the good one".

Granny hates the fact she has to be the good one. She knows that if she was the bad one she'd be the most terrifying witch the Disc has ever seen. But she has to be the good one. That's her responsibility since Lilith turned out bad. She has to be good and she has to be responsible, especially since she has the power to be so evil and do so much damage if she ever lost control.

And I think that's why Granny smashes the mirror right then. She was annoyed at the lack of matches, she wanted tea, she used magic to get it. And that's not responsible witchcraft in her mind. So when she find Lilith looking at her through the mirror, she sees the person that forced her to have that self control. That made Granny Weatherwax a good witch when she wanted to be the bad one. And that hurt her.

This is also interesting when you consider Sam Vimes relationship with alcohol. Vimes used alcohol as a way to deal with a feeling of helplessness and lack of control. That addiction numbed the emotional pain and he had to be so careful in later books not to fall back into that habit.

Granny is the opposite. Her power is, maybe not addictive, but something she takes immense pride in. She wants to use it, she became the most powerful witch (not the most talented, that's Nanny) through hard work and dedication. But she can't use it because that wouldn't be responsible. Because everytime she uses it, it becomes a little easier to justify using a little more until she's using it for everything. Or anything. And she can't because she has to be the good one.

How much self control must that take? Granny spent her entire life becoming the best at what she does. Decades of mastering her craft and when she reaches the top she had to essentially stop. To put it aside and only use it in the most responsible way possible because if she slips, it's a long long way to the bottom.

Cast iron indeed.

[bakedbakermom]

"Magrat says a [witch's] broomstick is one of them sexual metaphor things."*

*Although this is a phallusy.

god fucking dammit terry

[winter2468]

Terry Pratchett is amazing at writing women, this isn't a new thing to say. But I was having a think about how he wrote women, and tried to think up what common thread there was between his woman characters (especially because with most authors, especially male authors, you tend to be able to tell the author's 'type' by the way they write woman love interests).

At first I couldn't think of anything, because Pterry wrote such a diverse range of personalities, ages, jobs, body types etc.

And then it hit me. The one prevailing thread in all the Pratchett books I've read so far: Pterry's woman characters are just so opinionated. And I love that.

[asparklethatisblue]

“The Hedgehog Can Never Be Buggered at All!”

Nanny Ogg terrorising the neighbourhood with her bath and song session

[navybird]

I don't need men written by women I need grandmas written by Terry Pratchett

[iconuk01]

40th Anniversary Discworld stamps, art by Paul Kidby

[aeshnacyanea2000]

‘Gytha Ogg, you wouldn’t be a witch if you couldn’t jump to conclusions, right?’ Nanny nodded. ‘Oh, yes.’ There was no shame in it. Sometimes there wasn’t time to do anything else but take a flying leap. Sometimes you had to trust to experience and intuition and general awareness and take a running jump. Nanny herself could clear quite a tall conclusion from a standing start.

-- Terry Pratchett - Maskerade

[wil4x]

It's finally done! My favorite witch coven!

The wyrd sisters

Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlic!

[chechula]

Discworld witches for dear Ari ♥ Female characters are one reason why I love Discworld so much♥ Thanks, mister Pratchett for them, for writing just regular girls and ladies doing weird fantasy stuff ♥

[cephalopod-celabrator]

I think it's really funny that reading the discworld witch books (at least the ones that are Weatherwax+Ogg+Magrat), Granny immediately seems like the scariest one by far. She seems like a terrifying force of nature accompanied by a jovial old grandma and an insecure young woman. But as the series progress, the times when Granny holds back and Nanny and Magrat jovially engage in brutal physical violence add up. Now I'm not saying you *shouldn't* be scared of Granny, I'm just saying that she has a rather strong conscience in her way, whereas Magrat and Nanny will both sucker punch you, kick you between the legs and happily step over your groaning body. Granny is to be feared, but Nanny doesn't fight fair and Magrat will kill a motherfucker. Terry Pratchett really knew how to write female characters.

[scarecloud69]

Pratchett really made women like this huh

Men of dicsworld & original

[iseutz]

Teen Magrat, complete with excessive kajal and mystical jewelry, finally completes my "Young Witches of Lancre" series.

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[zakalwe-the-ninth]

“Stand before your god, bow before your king, and kneel before your man. Recipe for a happy life, that is,” said Nanny, to the world in general.

Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

Pratchett quotes that go sailing merrily over your head as a child and then make you snort on an adult reread.