Esmeralda Windwind

Windwax is a surname widespread in the Ovcepikskiy mountains. Many members of this family have magic abilities. From this family, at least two of the most powerful witches came from the disc: the famous Alison Windowax and Esmeralda herself, as well as the arkkantsler of the Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork Halder Windwax. Esmeralda's elder sister, Lily Windwax, also had strong magical powers and was Cinderella's Goddess Fairy.

Esmeralda Windwax - a tall, slim woman with gray hair, usually wears them in a tight bun. She has a beautiful complexion and, despite the passion for sweet cookies, has retained all her teeth. The eyes of the mother are bright blue and the eyes are piercing. Esmeralda's nose is somewhat long. She usually wears a faded black dress with a battered hem, heavy worn shoes and a hand-made hat. She has a broomstick of a dwarf job, so old that in order to take off on her, you need to get a good run.

Esmeralda Windwax lives in Lancre in a place called Bad Ass ( English Bad Ass ). Mother is her witch's “title,” almost all the people of Lankra, except her friend Gita Yagg, who calls her Esme, refer to her like this.

She was never married, but it is known that in her youth she had a romantic relationship with the current arkkantsler of the Invisible University Probably Ridcully .

Mother, like all village witches, "oversees" several surrounding villages. However, she considers her full possession of the whole kingdom of Lancre, as well as the places in which she has to go.

Mother Windwax is unshakably confident in her abilities. As she herself says: “I would never be who I am if I thought I could lose.” At the same time, according to Gita Yagg, it has a rather limited magic power, which is more than compensated by hard work. Having all the makings of an “evil” witch, she nevertheless became “good” in spite of nature. She "always tries to stand facing the light." To some extent, she was forced to become “good” in order to balance her older sister Lily, who became a classic villain.

Mother Windwax gives people what they really need. Communicating with people, she speaks exactly what they are capable of perceiving, and does not try to explain how things really are. For example, when the village witch, Miss Level explained to the peasants that it was impossible to dig a restroom near the wells because of microscopic creatures that fell into drinking water and caused diseases, her words did not make any impression on the villagers. But as soon as Mother Vetrovosk said that the smells attracted evil goblins that poison the water, and after half an hour a few people began to dig new pits for latrines as far as possible from the well.

Mother Windwax is respected and feared, but few love it. She is a witch for “hard” cases - when pain is too strong, when it is necessary to make a difficult choice between life and death, when all hopes are lost. Her steel will and sharp mind can cope with almost any misfortune - with the magic of mirrors, with elves, vampires, and even with Death himself.

It also has a very strong internal "beacon" - if it wants to be noticeable, then this signal manifests itself so loudly that it echoes from the surrounding mountains. When Mother Windwax enters the forest, wolves and bears run out from the other side. But if mother wants to be invisible, she merges with the background and people just forget about her presence.

In most books, mother is the unofficial head of a small coven made up of three witches. The second is Gita Jagg , the third is Magrath Chesnogk . The adventures of these three ladies are described in the books of the “Witch Cycle”: “Prophetic Sisters,” “Witches Abroad,” and “Ladies and Gentlemen.” In the novels “Masquerade” and “Carpe Jugulum. Grab by the throat ”as the third (sometimes fourth) witch stands Agnes Nitt.

Dies in the last book of the series, The Shepherd 's Crown .

Despite the fact that at present mother is the most powerful witch on the Disk, she rarely uses magic . Instead of magic, she prefers “headache” - in some way, common sense, which allows people to be inspired with what they need to believe for the success of any enterprise.

Of all kinds of magic, it is strongest in “borrowing” —the ability to move one's consciousness into a strange mind, for example, a bird or an animal. Using alien eyes and ears, mother is able to monitor what is happening at a great distance from her home. Mother can even "borrow" a whole hive of bees, which is a sign of superior skill - as far as is known, not a single witch succeeded.

Mother Windwax despises the magic done by an explicit, demonstrative way - with the help of amulets, magic wands, magic circles and so on. So, she uses an ink saucer instead of a crystal ball when she wants to see distant places. She does not like the magic of wizards, which she contemptuously calls "gimetry."

The opposite of Mother is Mrs. Iervig, with whom she has something of a rivalry.

She lives near the village of Evil Back in a traditional witch house. The house is made in the so-called "common-style" - it seems that he got out of the ground, like a mushroom, and was not built. The front door is always locked and the house usually gets through the back.

The house has a small kitchen, lined with stone tiles. There is not even a stove in the huge kitchen hearth, a smoky kettle hangs on the hook above the fire. The fireplace grate, specially made for Mother by the village blacksmith, is decorated with images of hedgehogs. On the mantelpiece are the old clock, inherited by the mother from her mother. In front of the hearth lies a rag rug and a dilapidated rocking-chair stands.

There is very little furniture in the living room - a table and chairs, a dresser that holds a drawer with mother's souvenirs, an old chest and a pair of candlesticks. A cracked mirror hangs on the wall. All things are old, some even look as if they were never new.

A box of souvenirs keeps a bunch of letters (from Zaverna Chudakkuli) and a phoenix feather in a bottle. Mother almost has no personal items. It is known that she had a silver tea set, which, however, was melted to make it a horseshoe for a unicorn (events of the book “ Ladies and Gentlemen ”).

A narrow staircase from the kitchen leads to a small bedroom. The narrow bed is covered with a quilt given to Mother Essarina Smith by the mother (events of the book “ Creators of Spells ”). The plaster on the ceiling cracked and showered. In the room is a wash basin with a jug and a basin.

A garden is laid out around the house, in which various medicinal and not only plants grow. The grass in the garden is very thick and high, and tends to sway with the complete absence of wind. Casual passersby swear that the flowers turn behind them and look after them. In the garden there are also several berry bushes, whose seedlings were presented to the mother by the neighbors - simply out of good intentions. Also, out of good intentions, as is commonly believed, Mother loves to treat with freshly baked bread, dairy products and other gifts from the generous land of Lankra.

Mother breeds goats and keeps several beehives - for the sake of honey, wax and gossip.

Behind the garden is the Matushkina Lavatory, in which the house key hangs on a carnation. On the other carnation the half of the Yearbook hangs.

Mother appears in the following books:

• " Spell Makers ";
• " Prophetic sisters ";
• " Witches abroad ";
• " Ladies and Gentlemen ";
• " Masquerade ";
• “ Carpe Jugulum. Grab the throat ;
• " Little free people ";
• “A hat full of heaven ”;
• " Mr. Winter ";
• " Midnight Dress ";
• "Shepherd's Crown";

and in the story:

• " Sea and fish ."

According to the novel “ Prophetic Sisters ” (born Wyrd Sisters), the studio Cosgrove Hall created the same cartoon for Channel 4.

In an interview with the World of Fiction magazine, artist Paul Kidby, who illustrated the novels of Terry Pratchett, named Mother Windwax among the favorite characters from the “ Flat World ” series, in which he finds the depth and versatility of characters ^[2] .

Vladimir Puziy, a regular contributor to the World of Fiction magazine, compared the main character of Gram Joyce's The Truth of Life to Mother Windwax ^[3] .

In honor of the grandmother Esmeralda Windowax, one of the Dokuwiki releases has been named ^[4] .

• Boris Nevsky. The flattest of the worlds is the Universe and the heroes of Terry Pratchett (Neop.) . "World of Science Fiction" № 5 (January 2004). Archived May 21, 2013.
• Mikhail Nazarenko. The third coil of the Flat world (Undec.) . “The Reality of Fiction” № 1 (2005). Archived on May 21, 2013.
• Granny Weatherwax (Neopr.) . Archived May 21, 2013.
• Discworld Wiki Esmerelda Weatherwax (Unc.) .
• Granny Weatherwax (Neopr.) . IMDb Archived May 21, 2013.
• Tim Martin Terry Pratchett's 10 best Discworld characters (Eng.) . The Daily Telegraph (6 November 2016). The appeal date is April 17, 2017.