Fantasy with Friends: Witches and Sorceresses

Happy Monday, book pandas! 🐼 I’m excited to be back with another Fantasy with Friends post today.

What is Fantasy with Friends?

Fantasy with Friends is a discussion meme hosted by Briana and Krysta on Pages Unbound. Questions are posed every Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works. The yearly schedule is available on Pages Unbound so you can prepare way in advance! Don’t forget to leave a comment and link on the scheduled day so your post can be linked up. You can also tag @pagesunbound on Twitter and/or Bluesky!

Today’s Fantasy with Friends question:
What are some interesting witches in fantasy? Is there a certain portrayal of a character that makes them a “witch” vs. a “sorceress” or other magic worker, in your opinion?

Even though I think witches have always been a staple in fantasy, I feel like we see them in books even more now, especially with the rise of cosy fantasy and ‘romantasy’. When I first saw this topic, the first witchy characters that came to mind were from these genres: Sera Swan from A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping and Mika Moon from The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, both books by Sangu Mandanna.

When I think of witches I think of many different things but mainly softer magic, herbs, nature, folk magic. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I see witches wielding a weaker form of magic because witches can be powerful too, but my brain has developed this connection for witches to lightness rather than darkness, more healing than harming. I know that’s not true because there are witches that do bad things and cause harm with their magic, but perhaps it’s the witchy releases I’ve been seeing that has influenced my view?

Based on the books I can recall, when witches exist in our non-magical world, they’re usually hiding their magic in plain sight or are part of a secret magical society that must keep their magic a secret from the wider world (like in the two books mentioned earlier and in many cosy fantasies). If we’re talking fantasy settings, there are books where witches are accepted and openly practice magic (like in Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy and A Rival Most Vial by R.K. Ashworth), but writing this post has made me realise that it’s still more common for witches to be persecuted and/or have to hide who they are (like in Crimson Moth/Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli, The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst, and A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness). With witches, there always seems to be a strong community that bands together to help each other out (whether for good or bad).

In contrast, when I think of the word sorceress, it somehow holds a negative connotation for me and I picture characters who are morally gray (like Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty). A sorceress wields incredibly powerful magic that they use to fuel their ambitions, show their power and instill control, and who I feel tend to use their magic for nefarious purposes—but if they use it for good, it’s always to their benefit. A great example of this and the book that immediately came to mind was: A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher. So much evil wrapped in such a ‘pretty’ cover. 💀 Sorceresses also tend to act alone rather than as part of a group or community like witches.

I’m aware that all of the above is a very simplified idea of what witches and sorceresses are, but it’s what came to mind when I thought of the topic. 😅