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The Grand High Witch of All The World or just The Grand High Witch is a title given to the leader of all witches on Planet Earth, according to Roald Dahl's 1983 book The Witches. The Grand High Witch is considered to be the main antagonist. She is described as being "without mercy," and she travels around the world summoning all the witches of whatever country she is in, giving congratulations or punishments according to the witches' success in their ultimate mission: destroying children. She teaches them such schemes as trapping children inside paintings, or turning American children into hot dogs so that they will be eaten by their own parents or turning children into slugs so they can be squished likewise by their parents when they are stepped on. She is said to own a counterfeit machine that leaves her no problem in traveling wherever she likes, or helping her lesser witches financially if she feels they need some assistance in their quest to eliminate all things juvenile.

Role in the story

The Grand High Witch within this story is noted for being particularly intolerant and demanding. At a meeting of her followers in a hotel, she claims to desire that all children in England be destroyed in one year; when one brave or foolish witch points out the impossibility of this task, the Grand High Witch tauntingly versifies her minion's impertinence and uselessness and burns her to oblivion by directing magical energy from her eyes; a technique of execution that the narrator's grandmother later explains is known in the witches' community as "getting fried".

The Grand High Witch then explains that elimination of children will be easily accomplished if all the witches set up in trade as sweetshop owners and places a potion in the chocolate that will turn anyone who consumes it into a mouse. This, she says, will convince parents and schoolteachers to kill the children, mistaking them for pests. The witches and the story's narrator, himself a child, then witness a young boy, Bruno Jenkins, enter the room, whereupon he is changed into a mouse to demonstrate the potion's effect.

The witches, satisfied that they will meet their leader's demands to destroy all children in England, are about to leave when one of the witches then picks up the scent of the story's narrator. They catch him, force-feed him the potion, and attempt, when he becomes a mouse, to crush him; but he escapes. The two mice then find their way back to the room occupied by the narrator's grandmother. Later, the narrator steals the potion, infiltrates the hotel's kitchen, and places the potion in the witches' soup. All the witches, including the Grand High Witch, are transformed into mice and instantly are chopped to pieces by the cooks. The narrator and his grandmother thereafter plan to move into the Grand High Witch's castle and use it as a base wherefrom to deliver the potion to all the witches in the world.

Personal characteristics

The Grand High Witch is described as "without mercy", "the most evil woman in creation", "the most evil and appalling woman in the world", and utterly detests children. She is impatient, volatile, aggressive, and tyrannical. She does not care how her commands are carried out as long as they are obeyed. Her "real" name is never mentioned in the book; but in the film, it is given as "Eva Ernst". She resides in a castle in Norway and operates her business mostly from there. She has a money-making machine on which she creates counterfeit money to fund her schemes and journeys to other countries.

Like all witches within the story, the Grand High Witch has no toes, is bald, has talons/claws instead of fingernails, blue saliva, eyes that change the color of their pupils, and slightly larger-than-human nostrils for smelling children, all of which will be concealed from anyone who is not another witch. Strangely, she does not remove her wig, gloves, or shoes during the meeting of the witches in the hotel. Her hideous face is described as "like something rotten" and is disguised by a realistic mask, which she removes during her audience with the witches. She has a somewhat guttural accent (hence her pronunciation of England as "Inkland") that gives her "difficulty" in pronouncing the letters "R" ("rrr") and "W" ("v"). It is most likely she is Norwegian, as the book claims this to be the original homeland of all witches. Her ability to "fry" other witches is implied to be unique only to her and to those who become her successors; similarly, the other witches' deference to her suggests that they are unintelligent and rely on her to create their plans and the magic used to accomplish same.

In The Film

In the film version of the novel, the Grand High Witch is much more terrifying and fearsome than her counterpart in the novel. In the film, she is a tall, attractive woman of breeding with a snide indifference and a scathing wit, whereas in the novel she is a short and timid woman. Also in the film, her true appearance is considerably more monstrous, with a severe hunchback, elongated claws and a long, hooked nose. She has a very short temper and strikes terror into the hearts of her minions. During the climax of the film, after the hero (named 'Luke', and has been turned into a mouse by the Grand High Witch) pours a bottle of her magic formula into the soup the witches are having for their celebratory banquet, the witches begin to transform into mice, spreading chaos throughout the dining room. The Grand High Witch turns into a hideously deformed, snarling mouse and is insulted and condemned by Luke and his grandmother as her evil is coming to an end. The Grand High Witch is finally destroyed when the hotel manager slices her in two with a meat cleaver.

In the film, it is strongly hinted that the Grand High Witch knew the hero's grandmother (called 'Helga' in the film) years ago. The grandmother is missing a thumb from one of her hands and becomes very tense when this injury is mentioned. No explantion is given; but when the Grand High Witch encounters Helga, she refers to her as "an old adversary"; and in the final confrontation, as the Grand High Witch vows that "Next time" things will be different, Helga replies that there will be no next time, and that "this time" it is the Grand High Witch's 'turn'.

The Grand High Witch employs a secretary in the film, named Miss Irvine, who is also a witch. Yet Miss Irvine reveals, after having had enough of the Grand High Witch's appalling mistreatment of her, she "didn't want to be one of them anyway". Perhaps because of this attitude, Miss Irvine does not fear the Grand High Witch as much as the other witches do, if she fears her at all. She is openly sardonic and rebellious to her employer's face, and it is subtley hinted she may try and help the children who become victims of the witches, as she restores Luke and his friend Bruno to their human form at the end of the film. Also when we first meet the Grand High Witch, she taps an image of a girl in a canvas painting, sneers mockingly and walks into an elevator. Miss Irvine prepares to touch the figure, yet is called away by her employer. Moments later, the image of the girl vanishes, implying that the Grand High Witch has murdered her, and that Miss Irvine was trying to reverse the effect before it was too late.

After restoring Luke to his human form, Miss Irvine gleefully shows him her hands, which have changed from clawed to human, as a result of her relinquishing her witch's powers.

Differences between the Book and Film

• In the book, the Grand High Witch is a very short and demure, pretty woman; in the film she is a tall, imposing woman with sharp, gothic characteristics.
• In the book, the Grand High Witch only removes her face mask and leaves everything else in place while addressing the other witches at the meeting. In the movie, she removed her wig, gloves, and shoes as well as her mask.
• In the book the Grand High Witch's transformation into a mouse after ingesting the Formula 86 was immediate, however in the film, she had to be bitten by a previous victim of the potion (Bruno Jenkins) for the formula to be activated.

• Roald Dahl characters
• Fictional con artists
• Fictional dictators
• Fictional murderers
• Fictional Norwegians
• Fictional witches