Witch

From WikiNarnia, the Narnian Encyclopedia

Witches were beings that typically wielded dark magic, usually to be able to possess authority over others and carry out selfish, greedy actions. It is often difficult to define "witch" in Narnia since there are only two ever known about from which to base a description; the term "witch" does not refer to a type of creature or classification of living being, but rather, seems to be a label for any female humanoid magician, dealing largely in black magic. It is possible that "sorceress" is an exact synonym for witch, that witches refer only to sorceresses dealing in dark magic, or that "witch" is simply the name for any female magician, good or evil. Witches lived unusually long lives and often had human-like behaviours and flaws.

The only definitely known species of a witch was, in particular, the White Witch, who was half-jinn, half-giant. The other only known witch, the Emerald Witch, appeared exactly human in appearance, though if she was indeed biologically human remains unconfirmed and somewhat doubtful.

It is widely accepted that, seemingly in the early eras of Narnia, there was a community or at least a small group of witches (whose aims and population size remain uncertain), known through legend as the "Northern Witches." The White Witch was a definite member of this group and the Emerald Witch was assumed by Rilian and his Underland-venturing rescuers to be so as well.