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{{Infobox character
'''The Grand High Witch of All The World''' or just '''The Grand High Witch''' is a title given to the leader of all ] according to ]'s ] book '']'', in which she is the main ]. She is described as being "without mercy" and she travels all around the world summoning all the witches of whatever country she is in, giving congratulations or reprimands to them depending on how good she judges them at destroying children. She is said to own a money-making machine that leaves her no problem in travelling wherever she likes, or helping her lesser witches financially if she feels they need some assistance in their quest to eliminate all things juvenile.
| name = The Grand High Witch
| image = GrandHighWitch.jpg
| caption = ] as the Grand High Witch in ]
| first = '']'' (1983)
| creator = ]
| species = ]
| gender = Female
| occupation = ]
| lbl1 = Portrayed by
| data1 = ] (])<br>] (])<br>] (])<br>Amanda Laurence (radio drama)
| alias = Eva Ernst (1990 film) <br> Lilith (2020 film)
| noinfo = yes
}}
The '''Grand High Witch of All the World''', also known as '''Eva Ernst''' and '''Lilith''', is a fictional character and the main ] in the 1983 children's ] novel '']'' by ], as well as the graphic novel and the two film adaptations, in which she was played by ] (]) and ] (]). In the narrative, it is a title given to the all-powerful leader of all the ] on Earth.


''The Witches'' presents The Grand High Witch as a particularly powerful, evil and feared witch who hides her ancient age and hideous appearance behind an attractive disguise, in order to blend in with society, and plots to wipe out all the children in England after summoning the country's witches for the task. The boy protagonist and his grandmother (herself a retired witch-hunter who once searched the world for The Grand High Witch, but could never find her) encounter her by accident in a hotel in England, setting in motion the main plot of the novel.
==Plot==


==Storyline and characterisation==
{{spoiler}}
The Grand High Witch is described as the most powerful and most evil witch in the world, and is the only link between the secret societies of demonic witches that exist in various countries, as they are not allowed to contact each other. The Grand High Witch's headquarters is a great castle in Norway, where she has a magic money-printing machine and lives with large retinue of special assistant witches, tyrannically ruling over all the witches anywhere and plotting ever more harm to children everywhere. The current Grand High Witch, who is unnamed in the book but goes under the alias of Eva Ernst (Miss Eva / Miss Ernst) in the film, is described as "the most evil and appalling woman in the world".
The Grand High Witch appears fairly late in the story, but is mentioned quite early on by the unnamed narrator and protagonist's grandmother who is "a retired witchophile"- by which she means she knows a lot about witches and in her youth travelled around the world looking for them- above all The Grand High Witch, although she admits that she "never came close to succeeding". She warns her grandson to be careful after he sees a witch himself when he is out in the garden, as it is implied (though never asserted) that her own last encounter with a witch attributed to the loss of her missing ]. After falling ill, rather than return to her native ], she and her grandson decide to go on holiday to a nice hotel in ].


In the backstory, the boy protagonist (Luke Eveshim in the 1990 film, Charlie Hansen in the 2020 film) has a grandmother (known as just Grandmamma in the book, and named Helga Eveshim in the 1990 film and Agatha Hansen in the 2020 film) who is the nemesis of The Grand High Witch. The grandmother had once been one of the very best of the witch-hunters and has travelled all over the globe trying to track down the fabled and elusive Grand High Witch, who might be the key to finally defeat her evil kind. The Grand High Witch has a heavy foreign accent and it is implied she's originally from Germany.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzI_ilmQdAQC&pg=PA158|title=Translating Fictional Dialogue for Children and Young People|last=Fischer|first=Martin B.|date=2012|publisher=Frank & Timme GmbH|isbn=9783865964670|language=en}}</ref> As discovered about her at the end of the book, after she is destroyed: "Nobody in the world had the faintest idea who she was except the other witches. Wherever she went, people simply knew her as a nice lady (...) Even in her home district, in the village where she lived, people knew her as a kindly and very wealthy Baroness who gave large sums of money to charity." The original version of character is relatively asexual compared to the highly sexualized portrayal in the film adaptation, as she is described only in terms such as being young and "very pretty".<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Bird|first=Anne-Marie|date=1998|title=Women Behaving Badly: Dahl's Witches Meet the Women of the Eighties|journal=Children's Literature in Education|language=en|volume=29|issue=3|pages=119–129|doi=10.1023/a:1022445204446|s2cid=142682621|issn=0045-6713}}</ref> In the film version she travels with her ], whom she calls Liebchen.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/2806311/villainous-pets-in-movies/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729100452/http://www.mtv.com/news/2806311/villainous-pets-in-movies/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 29, 2016|title=The 9 Most Villainous Pets in Movies|last=Carpenter|first=Cassie|website=MTV News|language=en|access-date=2019-01-26}}</ref>
The young narrator goes with his pet ] to a vacant room in a hotel to try to teach them tricks. He goes behind a screen with his mice, only to find that a meeting is in fact about to take place- and this, when its members all start taking off their wigs to reveal hairless scalps, follows with the realisation that they are in fact all witches and their guest speaker is none other than The Grand High Witch herself.


The Grand High Witch first appears in person as a mysterious and seemingly wealthy woman who arrives with a group of distinguished ladies for an annual convention of the ironically named RSPCC (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, reminiscent of the real-life ]). In her disguise, she is dressed entirely in black and with a "look of serpents" and "brilliant snake's eyes".<ref name=":1" /> However, soon the protagonist boy finds out that the RSPCC is really a coven of English witches, and the society's chairwoman is revealed as the frightening Grand High Witch herself. Removing her synthetic face, she reveals that she is really an extremely old and hideous hag. All the other witches are terrified of her immense power, ruthlessness and boundless cruelty. She is portrayed as having overtly supernatural powers. In previous meetings, The Grand High Witch made it a custom to casually murder at least one of her minion witches simply to keep the others fearful of her, and now she does it by incinerating a timid English witch for speaking out of turn. She has already tortured and killed thousands of children around the world, and in the book she also keeps three of them just recently turned into frogs in her room, intending for them to be eaten alive by seagulls. Now she plans to give the witches of England her newest invention, the "Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker" to distribute and turn all children in the country into mice so they can be exterminated by their own parents.
The Grand High Witch within this story is noted for being particularly intolerant and demanding. She claims to want all children in "Inkland" to be eliminated by the time of her next visit to the country the following year. When one brave (or foolish) witch points out the impossibility of such a thing, The Grand High Witch tauntingly versifies her impertinence and uselessness and promptly burns her to oblivion with ] that jumps from her ]- a technique of execution that the narrator's grandmother explains is known in the witches' community as "getting fried".


In the 1990 film of ''The Witches'', The Grand High Witch is a tall, mysterious, attractive, snobbish, foreign aristocrat, a glamorously and provocatively<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/27465764|title=Witches, bitches and femmes fatales: Viewing the female grotesque in children's film|last=Mallan|first=Kerry M.|year=2000}}</ref> dressed ] type with heavily made-up appearance, full of dominating and predatory "vamp" sexuality.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pS8dBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA144|title=Roald Dahl|last1=Alston|first1=Ann|last2=Butler|first2=Catherine|date=2012-11-01|publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education|isbn=9781137285041|language=en}}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Here, she attracts attention of men, including the character of Mr. Jenkins who unsuccessfully flirts with her right in front of his wife (unaware that she has just turned his son into a mouse), and acts in erotic and seductive ways even when tauntingly interacting with children; she is sexually sadistic, even deriving such an excitement and pleasure from hurting children in particular, that she is actually shown as having an orgasmic experience.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=15uwCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA220|title=Films of Nicholas Roeg: Myth and Mind|last=Izod|first=John|date=1992-06-18|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781349114689|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://avclub.com/the-witches-found-the-right-level-of-intensity-for-kids-1798250707|title=The Witches found the right level of intensity for kids' horror|last=Vlastelica|first=Ryan|work=AV Club|access-date=2018-07-11|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://casagrandepl.newspaperarchive.com/casa-grande-dispatch/1990-10-25/page-7/|title=Casa Grande Dispatch Newspaper Archives {{!}} Oct 25, 1990, p. 7|website=casagrandepl.newspaperarchive.com|language=en|access-date=2018-07-11|archive-date=2020-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101155236/https://casagrandepl.newspaperarchive.com/casa-grande-dispatch/1990-10-25/page-7/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The other witches fear and adore her, often praising her intelligence. Haughty, cunning, dramatic, impatient, and volatile, she does not care how her commands are carried out, just so long as they are obeyed. She has an assistant named Miss Irvine, who eventually walks out on her after becoming tired of her incompetent behavior, ultimately becoming good. One witch with whom she is shown to be actually friendly with is "the Woman in Black", who attempted to kill Luke earlier in the story and is given a larger role in the film.
The Grand High Witch then goes on to explain that elimination of children will be easily done if all the witches set up a trade as ] owners. (One witch interprates this as meaning she wants the children to be poisoned and she looks as though she is about to "get fried" as well, but curiously she does not.) The Grand High Witch then recites to them ingredients of a potion that will turn anyone who consumes it into a mouse- a creature detested by so many that parents and teachers alike would be sure to exterminate them on sight. The witches (and the narrator) then witness a young boy, ], enter the room, whom the Grand High Witch fed a ] bar with potion in it the day before, which has been so timed that he will turn into a mouse after just a few seconds in the room- which is precisely what happens.


In the original book's chapter The Triumph, The Grand High Witch's own magic is used against her and her followers during their public banquet at the hotel's ballroom, when they are all transformed into brown mice by a massive overdose of Formula 86. It is said that each and every witch has been "smashed and bashed and chopped up into little pieces" by the hotel employees, and that The Grand High Witch was chopped up into pieces by the head chef. In the film, they begin turning into mice with black-and-white fur, except for the fuming Grand High Witch, who is last to be affected as she resists the effects due to her sheer power. She recognizes Helga and attempts to ] her "old adversary" (having perhaps encountered Helga when she was attempting to track down The Grand High Witch), but then Bruno (a boy turned into a mouse) finds the courage to leap onto her cleavage and bite her, which breaks her concentration and she too begins to painfully transform - in her case into a large, nasty, hairless ]. A panic and utter chaos ensues, and the hotel staff members begin to violently take on what they think is a sudden infestation, unknowingly massacring the helpless mice-witches as they run around squeaking. "Her Grandness" herself, in her rodent form and now left without any sort of power whatsoever except still being able to talk even after the overdose, is spotted by Luke, who tells his grandmother not to "let her get away". Frantically pleading "get away from me", she is trapped under a glass water pitcher by Helga, who asks the hotel manager Mr. Stringer to dispose for her of this "especially infectious one". The Grand High Witch ends up unceremoniously executed when she is sliced in half with a meat cleaver in her rat form, finally ending Helga's long conflict, and with the witch population of England now wiped out.
The witches, satisfied that they will indeed meet their leader's demands to destroy all children in England, are just about to leave when one of the witches then picks up the scent of the narrator of the story. They catch him, pour some more potion down his throat, and leave him to scamper away. Bruno Jenkins and himself then find their way back to his grandmother's room. The narrator descends, via some of his grandmother's knitting, into The Grand High Witch's room (which is right below his own), steals a small bottle of the same potion fed to him and Bruno, and then afterwards takes it into the hotel's kitchen. After hearing that all the witches are having ], he pours the entire bottle into the saucepan in which it is being made. All the witches, including The Grand High Witch, are transformed into mice and instantly chopped to pieces by the cooks. The narrator and his grandmother decide to move into the castle she resided in when not travelling around the world to give meetings in order to find out the names and addresses of all the other witches in the world. They then make a pact to feed the same potion to the next Grand High Witch, and afterwards travel around the world in order to deliver it to all the witches they can find.


The book ends with the protagonists planning to destroy The Grand High Witch's retainers and conquer her castle, and then use its various magical resources to systematically hunt down the unsuspecting witches of every country and rid the world of them forever. In the ending to the 1990 film, the now-good Miss Irvine arrives to reverse the mouse transformation from Luke and restore him to human form. Luke and Helga are planning to get rid of all the evil witches with the money, address, and resources that Luke stole from The Grand High Witch.
{{end spoiler}}


In the ], the role of The Grand High Witch was expanded where she was responsible for turning the grandmother's friend Alice Blue into a chicken by giving her chocolate with a magic potion that did the job. In addition, she is depicted with one ] on each foot and elongating arms. When she is turned into a rat, The Grand High Witch is trapped in an ice bucket by the grandmother. Before the grandmother and the children leave the room, the grandmother takes the Grand High Witch's trunk full of money and releases her cat Hades from its cage. As they close the door, Hades attacks and kills her.
==Personal characteristics==
Like all witches within the story, the Grand High Witch inevitably will have no toes, no hair, claws instead of fingernails, blue saliva, a small but terrifying flame in the middle of her eyes and slightly larger-than-average nostrils. The Grand High Witch that the narrator encounters, however, also has a face that looks as though it has been "pickled in vinegar" and is worm-eaten and so disguises it with a very realistic mask. She also has a very gutteral accent (hence her pronunciation of England as "Inkland") that gives her "difficulty" in pronouncing the leters "R" ("rrr") and "W" ("v"). Besides frying witches with her eyes, another personal eccentricity of hers is that she has several frogs living with her in her hotel room that the narrator overhears her (when he is in there stealing her potion), threatening to throw outside to be eaten by ]- although it is implied that they, like him, were children once upon a time that she transformed with some other form of potion.


==Behind the scenes==
==Quotes==
As part of the publicity for '']'', Lucy Dahl, the daughter of the author ], was interviewed about her father's books. She discussed ''The Witches'' at length, citing The Grand High Witch was inspired by her stepmother. Her stepmother's personality was not the factor, but it was her social status and look. Lucy also seriously stated she was not entirely sure witches were fiction, saying, "There's this older lady, a neighbor. If witches are real, she's one of them."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je0EFeqrduA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/je0EFeqrduA |archive-date=2021-12-14 |url-status=live|title=Matilda Book Club June Hangout: The Witches|date=18 June 2013 |publisher=You Tube interview}}{{cbignore}}</ref>


For the 1990 film adaptation, ] and the costume designer ] originally brought a different dress for Huston's role as The Grand High Witch, but the director ] rejected it as "not sexy". Huston recalled: "That was the first time I'd imagined that this horrible creature in a children's movie should have sex appeal. It simply had not occurred to me. But of course, Nic was absolutely right. His vision was diabolical and dark and brilliantly funny. If a witch was to be at the center of this plot, she needed to be sexy to hold the eye."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E04RCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA199|title=Watch Me: A Memoir|last=Huston|first=Anjelica|date=2015-07-07|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781476760360|language=en}}</ref> The character's monstrous version was prepared by ]: "The prosthetics for Miss Ernst's transformation to The Grand High Witch were extensive. The various features—contact lenses, full facial mask, hump, withered collarbone, and hands—took over six hours to apply and almost as much time to remove at the end of the day."<ref name=":0" /> Nonetheless, it has remained one of her favorite roles.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/theres-nothing-better-than-making-children-scream-20131125-2y4n6.html|title=There's nothing better than making children scream|date=2013-11-29|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en|access-date=2018-10-22}}</ref>
"Who spoke?... It vos you vos it not?"
"A stupid vitch who answers back/
Must burn until her bones are black!/
...
A stupid vitch vithout a brrain/
Must sizzle in the fierry flame!/
...
An idiotic vitch like you/
Must burn upon the barbecue!/
...
A vitch who dares to say I'm wrrrong/
Vill not be vith us verry long!/
...
I hope no vun else vill make me crross today."


In 2018, it was announced that ] would star as The Grand High Witch in the ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://comicbook.com/horror/news/anne-hathaway-the-witches-robert-zemeckis/|title=Anne Hathaway Offered Role in 'The Witches.' Reboot|website=Comic Book|date=6 December 2018 |language=en|access-date=2019-01-26}}</ref> The film itself garnered mixed reviews from critics.<ref>{{Citation|title=The Witches|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-witches|access-date=2020-12-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Roeper|first=Richard|date=2020-10-21|title='Roald Dahl's The Witches': Too scary for children, too bland for adults|url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/movies-and-tv/2020/10/21/21525184/witches-review-roald-dahl-anne-hathaway-octavia-spencer-robert-zemeckis|access-date=2020-12-03|website=Chicago Sun-Times|language=en}}</ref>
"Childrren are rrrevolting!"


==Reception==
"Who dares to trrrespass?"
The initial depictions of the Grand High Witch were overall very well received for various reasons, having remained a highly popular and memorable character in both the original novel<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35625455|title=Heroines fight off heroes in book poll|date=2016-02-22|work=BBC News|access-date=2018-07-11|language=en-GB}} <br> {{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/jan/03/emerald-fennell-top-10-villainesses|title=Emerald Fennell's top 10 villainesses|last=Fennell|first=Emerald|date=2013-01-03|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-07-11}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2013/jun/15/10-best-roald-dahl-characters|title=The 10 best Roald Dahl characters – in pictures|last=Kellaway|first=Kate|date=2013-06-15|work=The Guardian|access-date=2018-07-11|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/books/727077/Scary-children-book-characters-Wizard-of-Oz-Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang-Cruella-De-Vil|title=Wicked Witch of the West voted scariest character from children's books|date=2016-10-31|work=Express.co.uk|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en}}</ref> and in the 1990 film adaptation<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/ppqdwm/vice-movie-club-witches|title=VICE Movie Club - "The Witches"|date=2011-09-21|work=Vice|access-date=2018-07-11|language=en-au}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://eu.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/movies/2016/08/09/best-childrens-fantasy-films/86160392/|title=Top 10 children's fantasy films|work=azcentral|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en}} <br> {{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/actor-musician-and-presenter-zindzi-okenyo-on-taking-risks-and-self-care-20180216-h0w7zu.html|title=Actor, musician and presenter Zindzi Okenyo on taking risks and self care|last=Kembrey|first=Melanie|date=2018-02-26|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en|access-date=2018-10-22}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2013/02/10-memorable-movie-witches-249308/|title=10 Memorable Movie Witches|last=Taylor|first=Drew|date=2013-02-14|work=IndieWire|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en-US}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.anglotopia.net/british-entertainment/british-movies/brit-movies-one-anglophiles-take-witches-film-review/|title=Brit Movies: One Anglophile's Take on The Witches: A film review|work=Anglotopia.net|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en-US}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/best-roald-dahl-movies|title=Ranking the Movies Inspired by Roald Dahl, From Worst to Best|last=McGrath|first=Justine|work=Teen Vogue|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en}} <br> {{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/20/roald-dahl-down-under-australians-name-their-favourite-books-whats-yours|title=Roald Dahl down under: Aussies name their favourite books – what's yours?|last=Spring|first=Alexandra|date=2015-08-20|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-10-22}} <br> {{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/halloween-favorites-for-l_b_8418986|title=Halloween Favorites for LGBT Movie Nights|last=Baume|first=Matt|date=2015-10-29|website=Huffington Post|language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-22}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/movie-adaptations-of-roald-dahl-books|title=Movie adaptations of Roald Dahl books|date=2016-08-17|work=The Straits Times|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en}} <br> {{Cite web|url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3434752/1990s-witches-scariest-childrens-horror-film-ever-made/|title=Why 1990's 'The Witches' is the Scariest Children's Horror Film Ever Made - Bloody Disgusting|website=bloody-disgusting.com|date=28 April 2017 |language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-22}} <br> {{Cite news|url=http://www.theweek.co.uk/88376/every-roald-dahl-film-adaptation-ranked|title=Every Roald Dahl film adaptation, ranked|work=The Week UK|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en}}</ref> (as one of the best movie witches<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://metro.co.uk/2013/03/05/oz-great-powerful-which-witch-best-witch-movies-3813240/|title=Oz the Great and Powerful: Which witch is the best witch in the movies?|date=2013-03-05|work=Metro|access-date=2018-07-11|language=en-GB}} <br> {{Cite web|url=http://www.syfy.co.uk/news/happy-halloween-here-are-14-terrifying-witches-from-the-movies|title=Happy Halloween! Here are 14 terrifying witches from the movies {{!}} SYFY UK|website=www.syfy.co.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-07-11|archive-date=2018-07-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711191110/http://www.syfy.co.uk/news/happy-halloween-here-are-14-terrifying-witches-from-the-movies|url-status=dead}} <br> {{Cite web|url=http://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3379984/the-scariest-witches-ever-put-on-film/|title=8 of the Scariest Witches Ever Put On Film! - Bloody Disgusting|website=bloody-disgusting.com|date=18 February 2016|language=en-US|access-date=2018-07-11}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/film/the-ten-best-movie-witches|title=The ten best movie witches|work=Time Out London|access-date=2018-07-11|language=en}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://people.com/babies/pop-cultures-20-top-witches/|title=VIDEO: The Witch Most Likely To ... Celebrating Pop Culture's Superlative Spellcasters|work=PEOPLE.com|access-date=2018-07-11|language=en}} <br> {{Cite news|url=http://www.redbrick.me/top-5-witches/|title=Top 5: Witches {{!}} Redbrick|last=Sheppard|first=Alice|date=2014-10-31|work=Redbrick|access-date=2018-07-11|language=en-GB}} <br> {{Cite web|url=https://www.themarysue.com/10-badass-witches/|title=10 Badass Witches To Remind You The Witching Hour is Coming|website=www.themarysue.com|date=10 October 2017|language=en|access-date=2018-07-11}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://culturess.com/2017/10/31/20-best-film-witches-time/2/|title=20 best film witches of all time|date=2017-10-31|work=Culturess|access-date=2018-07-11|language=en-US}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertainment/article/Spellbinding-on-screen-Cinema-s-best-witches-6598476.php|title=Spellbinding on screen: Cinema's best witches|date=2015-10-29|work=HoustonChronicle.com|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en-US}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/season-witch-memorable-spell-casters-651784/1-anjelica-huston-as-miss-eva-ernst-the-witches|title=Season of the Witch: Memorable Spell-Casters From 17 Movies and TV Shows|work=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en}} <br> {{Cite news|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1968900/scariest-movie-witches/|title=The 17 Most Terrifying Witches In Movie History|work=MTV News|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en|archive-date=2018-10-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023034741/http://www.mtv.com/news/1968900/scariest-movie-witches/|url-status=dead}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.femalefirst.co.uk/movies/most-memorable-movie-witches-886911.html|title=Most Memorable Movie Witches|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.bustle.com/articles/119696-the-17-best-dressed-witches-in-pop-culture-for-all-our-spookspiration-photos|title=17 Of The Most Fabulously Best Dressed Witches|last=Mina|first=Courtney|work=Bustle|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en}} <br> {{Cite web|url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3505385/13-scariest-movie-witches/|title=The 13 Scariest Movie Witches! - Bloody Disgusting|website=bloody-disgusting.com|date=28 June 2018|language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-22}} <br> {{Cite news|url=http://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2015/10/best-witches-in-movies/|title=Best Witches In Movies - We Are Movie Geeks|date=2015-10-20|work=We Are Movie Geeks|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en-US}}</ref> or in other aspects).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vogue.co.uk/gallery/beautiful-baddies|title=Beautiful Baddies: The Ultimate Female Villains|last=Hutchings|first=Lucy|website=www.vogue.co.uk|access-date=2018-07-11}} <br> {{Cite news|url=http://www.awardscircuit.com/2015/06/12/ten-greatest-movie-villains-time-kristen-lopez/|title=Ten Greatest Movie Villains of All Time (Kristen Lopez)|last=Davis|first=Clayton|date=2015-06-12|work=AwardsCircuit|access-date=2018-07-11|language=en-US|archive-date=2018-07-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711193816/http://www.awardscircuit.com/2015/06/12/ten-greatest-movie-villains-time-kristen-lopez/|url-status=dead}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2014/10/the-18-most-terrifying-horror-villains-in-film-and-tv-68501/|title=The 18 Most Terrifying Horror Villains in Film and TV|date=2014-10-30|work=Indiewire|access-date=2018-07-11|language=en-US}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.gamesradar.com/50-greatest-fantasy-movie-characters/3/|title=50 Greatest Fantasy Movie Characters|work=gamesradar|access-date=2018-07-11|language=EN-US}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/the-17-creepiest-jim-henson-characters-that-ever-crawled-into-your-nightmares|title=The 17 creepiest Jim Henson characters that ever crawled into your nightmares|last=Rayne|first=Elizabeth|date=2017-12-30|work=Syfy|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en|archive-date=2020-10-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031151627/https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/the-17-creepiest-jim-henson-characters-that-ever-crawled-into-your-nightmares|url-status=dead}}</ref> Anjelica Huston's ], over-the-top portrayal in the film was also acclaimed by reviewers at the time,<ref>{{Citation|title=The Witches|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_witches|language=en|website=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=2018-07-11}}. <br> {{Cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-witches-1990|title=The Witches Movie Review & Film Summary (1990) {{!}} Roger Ebert|last=Ebert|first=Roger|website=www.rogerebert.com|language=en|access-date=2018-10-22}} <br> {{Cite web|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/witches-review/|title=The Witches|last=Nathan|first=Ian|website=Empire|language=en|access-date=2018-10-22|date=January 2000}} <br> {{Cite web|url=http://www.filmvault.com/filmvault/austin/w/witchesthe1.html|title=The Witches . Austin Chronicle . 11-02-98|website=www.filmvault.com|access-date=2018-10-22}} <br> {{Cite web|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19900824&slug=1089520|title=Entertainment & the Arts {{!}} Strong Brew -- 'The Witches' Is A Delightful Mix Of Wickedness And Magic {{!}} Seattle Times Newspaper|website=Seattle Times|access-date=2018-10-22}} <br> {{Cite news|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1990-08-28/features/9002110049_1_witches-luke-jasen-fisher|title='Witches' Brews Up A Caldron Of Fun|work=tribunedigital-sunsentinel|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en|archive-date=2018-10-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022232853/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1990-08-28/features/9002110049_1_witches-luke-jasen-fisher|url-status=dead}} <br> {{Cite news|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1990/0824/lff24.html|title=FREEZE FRAMES|date=1990-08-24|work=Christian Science Monitor|access-date=2018-10-22|issn=0882-7729}} <br> {{Cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-witches/review/2030119487/|title=The Witches {{!}} TV Guide|website=TV Guide|language=en|access-date=2018-10-22}}</ref> earning her awards from the ] and the ]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/nicolasroegfilmb0000salw|url-access=registration|title=Nicolas Roeg, Film by Film|last=Salwolke|first=Scott|date=1993|publisher=McFarland & Co.|isbn=9780899508818|language=en}}</ref> among other wins and nominations.

Anne Hathway's enactment of the character in the 2020 reboot of ] was met with widespread criticism from disability campaigners. They condemned the three fingered depiction of the character, a choice they feared would have a negative impact on children with limb differences. Warner Bros professed they were "deeply saddened"<ref name="Kemp">{{Cite web |last=Kemp |first=Ella |date=2020-11-04 |title='The Witches': Warner Bros. "regrets any offence caused" to disabled community |url=https://www.nme.com/news/film/the-witches-warner-bros-regrets-any-offence-caused-to-disabled-community-2809010 |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=NME |language=en-GB}}</ref> at the news that Robert Zemeckis' film had upset people with disabilities, "it was never the intention for viewers to feel that the fantastical, non-human creatures were meant to represent them."<ref name="Kemp"/> Hathaway apologised for the negative representation of those with limb differences later the same week via an ] post on 5 November 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anne Hathaway on Instagram: "I have recently learned that many people with limb differences, especially children, are in pain because of the portrayal of the Grand High Witch in The Witches. Let me begin by saying I do my best to be sensitive to the feelings and experiences of others not out of some scrambling PC fear, but because not hurting others seems like a basic level of decency we should all be striving for. As someone who really believes in inclusivity and really, really detests cruelty, I owe you all an apology for the pain caused. I am sorry. I did not connect limb difference with the GHW when the look of the character was brought to me; if I had, I assure you this never would have happened. I particularly want to say I'm sorry to kids with limb differences: now that I know better I promise I'll do better. And I owe a special apology to everyone who loves you as fiercely as I love my own kids: I'm sorry I let your family down. If you aren't already familiar, please check out the @Lucky_Fin_Project (video above) and the #NotAWitch hashtag to get a more inclusive and necessary perspective on limb difference." |url=https://www.instagram.com/tv/CHOGW7JlpRv/ |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=Instagram |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

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Latest revision as of 05:14, 17 December 2024

Fictional character
The Grand High Witch
Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch in the 1990 film
First appearanceThe Witches (1983)
Created byRoald Dahl
Portrayed byAnjelica Huston (1990 film)
Anne Hathaway (2020 film)
Tora Augestad (opera)
Amanda Laurence (radio drama)
AliasEva Ernst (1990 film)
Lilith (2020 film)
SpeciesDemon
GenderFemale
OccupationWitch

The Grand High Witch of All the World, also known as Eva Ernst and Lilith, is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1983 children's dark fantasy novel The Witches by Roald Dahl, as well as the graphic novel and the two film adaptations, in which she was played by Anjelica Huston (in 1990) and Anne Hathaway (in 2020). In the narrative, it is a title given to the all-powerful leader of all the witches on Earth.

The Witches presents The Grand High Witch as a particularly powerful, evil and feared witch who hides her ancient age and hideous appearance behind an attractive disguise, in order to blend in with society, and plots to wipe out all the children in England after summoning the country's witches for the task. The boy protagonist and his grandmother (herself a retired witch-hunter who once searched the world for The Grand High Witch, but could never find her) encounter her by accident in a hotel in England, setting in motion the main plot of the novel.

Storyline and characterisation

The Grand High Witch is described as the most powerful and most evil witch in the world, and is the only link between the secret societies of demonic witches that exist in various countries, as they are not allowed to contact each other. The Grand High Witch's headquarters is a great castle in Norway, where she has a magic money-printing machine and lives with large retinue of special assistant witches, tyrannically ruling over all the witches anywhere and plotting ever more harm to children everywhere. The current Grand High Witch, who is unnamed in the book but goes under the alias of Eva Ernst (Miss Eva / Miss Ernst) in the film, is described as "the most evil and appalling woman in the world".

In the backstory, the boy protagonist (Luke Eveshim in the 1990 film, Charlie Hansen in the 2020 film) has a grandmother (known as just Grandmamma in the book, and named Helga Eveshim in the 1990 film and Agatha Hansen in the 2020 film) who is the nemesis of The Grand High Witch. The grandmother had once been one of the very best of the witch-hunters and has travelled all over the globe trying to track down the fabled and elusive Grand High Witch, who might be the key to finally defeat her evil kind. The Grand High Witch has a heavy foreign accent and it is implied she's originally from Germany. As discovered about her at the end of the book, after she is destroyed: "Nobody in the world had the faintest idea who she was except the other witches. Wherever she went, people simply knew her as a nice lady (...) Even in her home district, in the village where she lived, people knew her as a kindly and very wealthy Baroness who gave large sums of money to charity." The original version of character is relatively asexual compared to the highly sexualized portrayal in the film adaptation, as she is described only in terms such as being young and "very pretty". In the film version she travels with her black cat, whom she calls Liebchen.

The Grand High Witch first appears in person as a mysterious and seemingly wealthy woman who arrives with a group of distinguished ladies for an annual convention of the ironically named RSPCC (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, reminiscent of the real-life National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children). In her disguise, she is dressed entirely in black and with a "look of serpents" and "brilliant snake's eyes". However, soon the protagonist boy finds out that the RSPCC is really a coven of English witches, and the society's chairwoman is revealed as the frightening Grand High Witch herself. Removing her synthetic face, she reveals that she is really an extremely old and hideous hag. All the other witches are terrified of her immense power, ruthlessness and boundless cruelty. She is portrayed as having overtly supernatural powers. In previous meetings, The Grand High Witch made it a custom to casually murder at least one of her minion witches simply to keep the others fearful of her, and now she does it by incinerating a timid English witch for speaking out of turn. She has already tortured and killed thousands of children around the world, and in the book she also keeps three of them just recently turned into frogs in her room, intending for them to be eaten alive by seagulls. Now she plans to give the witches of England her newest invention, the "Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker" to distribute and turn all children in the country into mice so they can be exterminated by their own parents.

In the 1990 film of The Witches, The Grand High Witch is a tall, mysterious, attractive, snobbish, foreign aristocrat, a glamorously and provocatively dressed femme fatale type with heavily made-up appearance, full of dominating and predatory "vamp" sexuality. Here, she attracts attention of men, including the character of Mr. Jenkins who unsuccessfully flirts with her right in front of his wife (unaware that she has just turned his son into a mouse), and acts in erotic and seductive ways even when tauntingly interacting with children; she is sexually sadistic, even deriving such an excitement and pleasure from hurting children in particular, that she is actually shown as having an orgasmic experience. The other witches fear and adore her, often praising her intelligence. Haughty, cunning, dramatic, impatient, and volatile, she does not care how her commands are carried out, just so long as they are obeyed. She has an assistant named Miss Irvine, who eventually walks out on her after becoming tired of her incompetent behavior, ultimately becoming good. One witch with whom she is shown to be actually friendly with is "the Woman in Black", who attempted to kill Luke earlier in the story and is given a larger role in the film.

In the original book's chapter The Triumph, The Grand High Witch's own magic is used against her and her followers during their public banquet at the hotel's ballroom, when they are all transformed into brown mice by a massive overdose of Formula 86. It is said that each and every witch has been "smashed and bashed and chopped up into little pieces" by the hotel employees, and that The Grand High Witch was chopped up into pieces by the head chef. In the film, they begin turning into mice with black-and-white fur, except for the fuming Grand High Witch, who is last to be affected as she resists the effects due to her sheer power. She recognizes Helga and attempts to curse her "old adversary" (having perhaps encountered Helga when she was attempting to track down The Grand High Witch), but then Bruno (a boy turned into a mouse) finds the courage to leap onto her cleavage and bite her, which breaks her concentration and she too begins to painfully transform - in her case into a large, nasty, hairless rat. A panic and utter chaos ensues, and the hotel staff members begin to violently take on what they think is a sudden infestation, unknowingly massacring the helpless mice-witches as they run around squeaking. "Her Grandness" herself, in her rodent form and now left without any sort of power whatsoever except still being able to talk even after the overdose, is spotted by Luke, who tells his grandmother not to "let her get away". Frantically pleading "get away from me", she is trapped under a glass water pitcher by Helga, who asks the hotel manager Mr. Stringer to dispose for her of this "especially infectious one". The Grand High Witch ends up unceremoniously executed when she is sliced in half with a meat cleaver in her rat form, finally ending Helga's long conflict, and with the witch population of England now wiped out.

The book ends with the protagonists planning to destroy The Grand High Witch's retainers and conquer her castle, and then use its various magical resources to systematically hunt down the unsuspecting witches of every country and rid the world of them forever. In the ending to the 1990 film, the now-good Miss Irvine arrives to reverse the mouse transformation from Luke and restore him to human form. Luke and Helga are planning to get rid of all the evil witches with the money, address, and resources that Luke stole from The Grand High Witch.

In the 2020 film, the role of The Grand High Witch was expanded where she was responsible for turning the grandmother's friend Alice Blue into a chicken by giving her chocolate with a magic potion that did the job. In addition, she is depicted with one toe on each foot and elongating arms. When she is turned into a rat, The Grand High Witch is trapped in an ice bucket by the grandmother. Before the grandmother and the children leave the room, the grandmother takes the Grand High Witch's trunk full of money and releases her cat Hades from its cage. As they close the door, Hades attacks and kills her.

Behind the scenes

As part of the publicity for Matilda the Musical, Lucy Dahl, the daughter of the author Roald Dahl, was interviewed about her father's books. She discussed The Witches at length, citing The Grand High Witch was inspired by her stepmother. Her stepmother's personality was not the factor, but it was her social status and look. Lucy also seriously stated she was not entirely sure witches were fiction, saying, "There's this older lady, a neighbor. If witches are real, she's one of them."

For the 1990 film adaptation, Anjelica Huston and the costume designer Marit Allen originally brought a different dress for Huston's role as The Grand High Witch, but the director Nicolas Roeg rejected it as "not sexy". Huston recalled: "That was the first time I'd imagined that this horrible creature in a children's movie should have sex appeal. It simply had not occurred to me. But of course, Nic was absolutely right. His vision was diabolical and dark and brilliantly funny. If a witch was to be at the center of this plot, she needed to be sexy to hold the eye." The character's monstrous version was prepared by Jim Henson's Creature Shop: "The prosthetics for Miss Ernst's transformation to The Grand High Witch were extensive. The various features—contact lenses, full facial mask, hump, withered collarbone, and hands—took over six hours to apply and almost as much time to remove at the end of the day." Nonetheless, it has remained one of her favorite roles.

In 2018, it was announced that Anne Hathaway would star as The Grand High Witch in the 2020 film adaptation. The film itself garnered mixed reviews from critics.

Reception

The initial depictions of the Grand High Witch were overall very well received for various reasons, having remained a highly popular and memorable character in both the original novel and in the 1990 film adaptation (as one of the best movie witches or in other aspects). Anjelica Huston's campy, over-the-top portrayal in the film was also acclaimed by reviewers at the time, earning her awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics among other wins and nominations.

Anne Hathway's enactment of the character in the 2020 reboot of The Witches was met with widespread criticism from disability campaigners. They condemned the three fingered depiction of the character, a choice they feared would have a negative impact on children with limb differences. Warner Bros professed they were "deeply saddened" at the news that Robert Zemeckis' film had upset people with disabilities, "it was never the intention for viewers to feel that the fantastical, non-human creatures were meant to represent them." Hathaway apologised for the negative representation of those with limb differences later the same week via an Instagram post on 5 November 2020.

References

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  22. "Anne Hathaway on Instagram: "I have recently learned that many people with limb differences, especially children, are in pain because of the portrayal of the Grand High Witch in The Witches. Let me begin by saying I do my best to be sensitive to the feelings and experiences of others not out of some scrambling PC fear, but because not hurting others seems like a basic level of decency we should all be striving for. As someone who really believes in inclusivity and really, really detests cruelty, I owe you all an apology for the pain caused. I am sorry. I did not connect limb difference with the GHW when the look of the character was brought to me; if I had, I assure you this never would have happened. I particularly want to say I'm sorry to kids with limb differences: now that I know better I promise I'll do better. And I owe a special apology to everyone who loves you as fiercely as I love my own kids: I'm sorry I let your family down. If you aren't already familiar, please check out the @Lucky_Fin_Project (video above) and the #NotAWitch hashtag to get a more inclusive and necessary perspective on limb difference."". Instagram. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
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