Woodward

**Woodward** (ウッドワード, *Uddowādo*?) was one of the Nine Olde Witches who founded Luna Nova Magical Academy, as well as the mentor of Shiny Chariot. Her spirit resides in the Arcturus Forest, a sacred forest that young witches aren't able to enter, and the Blue Moon Abyss as well, which is a secret location only accessible during the night of a blue moon.

## Appearance

In her true form, Woodward's spirit is a beautiful woman with pale skin, long teal hair and green eyes. She wears a dark green dress adorned with plants and long sleeves along with a wide wooden skirt next to a tiara composed of leaves and flowers. The tiara has two grill-horns on the top part.

In her appearance before Akko, she takes the form of a huge, monstrous creature composed of branches, with a feminine face similar to her actual face.

## Personality

Woodward is known for her great wisdom. It is rumored that she knows all things of the past, present, and future. In reality, she is not omniscient and there are questions she does not have answers for, but they cannot be answered by anyone else. When she first appears to Akko, Woodward tries to force her into giving up her ambitions and past. In actuality, she was testing Akko in order to see if she is worthy enough to wield the Shiny Rod, and continues to show these traits in order to test her.

Despite her reputation as a revered figure with great power and wisdom in magical world, Woodward's time as a spirit had since negatively affected her capacity as both such and mentor to Ursula/Chariot and Croix, something the two discovered in harshest way possible; though well-intentioned from the beginning owing to her genuine smile upon seeing her former protégés mended their relationship and worked together to save the world, the ancient witch proved to be more emotionally distant and perhaps jaded than she let on. This could be seen through comparing her method in guiding wielders of Shiny Rod with that of Ursula/Chariot to the point of one may consider them foil to one another; whereas Ursula takes Akko's well-being into consideration and gives more subtle hints in her journey in addition of willing to help those who had little to no things to do with the quest, Woodward prefers to use cryptic leads and trickery as well as ignoring people who barely involved, even if said person needs her most. This in turn, explained why Croix ended up descend into villainy with no one comforting and guiding her in her own part in the quest for Grand Triskellion as well as Ursula/Chariot's very failure in the first place — an outcome contrasting Akko and Diana's own when they were thrusted into similar situation and more successful. To make matter worse, Woodward even went so far abandoned Chariot and Croix at the mercy of the then out-of-control Noir Rod, costing not only their ties but also endangered their lives even if it means to pave the way for Akko and co. to appear on their side and subsequently leading Akko to unlock the Final Word of Arcturus, something even Ursula won't resort to do no matter what. Even if her actions also meant for greater good, she failed to realize that she made too many sacrifices that not worth the cause behind them. Overall, Woodward is a wise figure whose cryptic and detached nature made her not the best role model for her protégés, but not necessarily the worst either.

## Plot

### Background

Woodward was originally one of the Nine Olde Witches and helped seal away the Grand Triskellion. She was also the original owner of the Shiny Rod. She was seeing as a mentor figure in the Nine Olde Witches.

Upon the creation of Luna Nova Academy in the 5th century, Woodward guided the 100 first students of Luna Nova in the way to restore te prestige of witchcraft. Upon the destruction of Luna Nova during the Witch Hunts, Woodward, along with the great witch Jennifer take the task of reconstruct the academy in the Golden Age of Magic.

After eventually passed away, Woodward's spirit resides at the Blue Moon Abyss and the Arcturus Forest, something which made possible through attaining sufficiently immense magic in life.

In the past, Chariot and Croix entered the Arcturus Forest in hopes of Croix getting the Shiny Rod but instead, Chariot ended up getting the rod. Woodward's spirit then tasked Chariot to search for the Seven Words and release the Grand Triskellion. After several years, Chariot failed to open the Grand Triskellion and after damaging the moon's surface with the Shiny Arc, she lost possession of the Shiny Rod, and it returned back to the Arcturus Forest.

### TV Series

#### Blue Moon

Woodward makes her debut as the blue moon spirit, who is said to be omnipresent and resides in the Blue Moon Abyss, an area only accessible during the night of a blue moon. After Akko makes it to the bottom of the abyss, Woodward, disguised as a monstrous spirit, appears before Akko. Woodward asks what she wants, and Akko questions if she can ever become like Chariot. Woodward's disguise states that it is not happening, yet she can give Akko the bright future, at the cost of all her past memories and friends. Akko, however, isn't willing to forget all her past memories and friends in change for being exactly like Chariot. Woodward's disguise commands Akko to leave, telling her that she will never be like Chariot. Akko, accepting the fact that she can't be Chariot but still can be a great witch, revives the second lost word and transforms the Shiny Rod into an axe, and uses it to damage Woodward's disguise, which reveals her actual spirit, and makes appear a vision of the future strike of the fairies, war in the country, and the dark shape of Croix. Akko passes out on the ground before Ursula, who is revealed to be Chariot, comes in and greets her mentor. Woodward and Chariot have a discussion about how Akko passed her trial and revived the second lost word. Before disappearing, Woodward states that Chariot must guide Akko to unseal the Grand Triskellion. A drawing of her also appears in the manuscrit about the Grand Triskellion Diana's reading in the Luna Nova Archives.

#### What You Will

She controls the magical mirror that transforms Akko's appearance to that of Diana's, and then briefly appears inside the mirror, as three leaves representing the first three Words of Arcturus flutter at the bottom of the mirror's base.

#### Pohjola's Trial

She appears in this episode during a flashback in Arcturus Forest, talking to Chariot and Croix about the seven lost words and how to revive them.

#### Wagandea

In a flashback, Woodward appears before a young Chariot and Croix. Woodward chooses to give the Shiny Rod to Chariot, much to Croix's disdain, which leads her to scream at Woodward. Woodward ignores Croix, commands Chariot to search and revive the seven lost words, and then disappears.

#### The Road to Arcturus

After Croix unseals the Grand Triskellion, Woodward appears before her. Believing that the stick was not the Grand Triskellion, Croix demands to know where the actual Grand Triskellion is. Woodward reveals that the stick is, in fact, the Grand Triskellion, but Croix believes otherwise and shouts at Woodward, confronting her that if she is just going to keep looking right through her. Croix throws the Grand Triskellion at her and asks her to go away. Woodward listens to Croix and fades away.

#### Tree of Leaves

Woodward starts broadcasting Akko and Diana flying to save the world, tempting everyone to lend their Fuel Spirit and assist the two. She appears again after Akko and Diana release the Grand Triskellion, happily watching as the world-changing magic spread throughout the world.

## Relationships

### Ursula Callistis

Woodward is the mentor of Ursula, whom she knows as Chariot. Ursula admires and respects Woodward as her professor. She taught her that people don't get what they want but what they had put effort through their experiences, a teaching that Ursula would later pass to Akko. Woodward also taught Ursula the second Word of Arcturus, *Phaidoari Afairynghor*. Before disappearing again, she entrusted Ursula to make sure that Akko will fully awaken the rest of the Seven Words of Arcturus in order to break the seal of the Grand Triskellion.

The relationship between Chariot and Woodward took the worst turn in The Road to Arcturus, where it came to light that Woodward's negligence towards Croix was what caused her former best friend to become the bitter person she is now. With the second Quest seemingly failed once more by Chariot and Croix, Woodward's patience has reached its limit that she chose to abandon the two to their fate. Dismayed that her respect towards Woodward was betrayed through the harm Woodward done to her former best friend, Chariot decided to put aside her original quest for Grand Triskellion to protect her loved ones from more harm, even if it bear the consequence of bringing the magical world to an end. It's unknown whether the two later made amends to each other in the end.

### Atsuko Kagari

Despite being chosen by the Shiny Rod, Woodward was incredibly wary of Atsuko, possibly either due to the first failure of the Quest of the Seven Words or she was taken aback by Atsuko's fiery personality or both. However after Atsuko proved herself by gaining the Second Word of Arcturus, Woodward started to treat her the same way she did with Chariot when it came to testing her resolve. Atsuko eventually did surpassed Woodward by helping to mend the relationship between Chariot and Croix and restore magic throughout the world. These actions earned Woodward's respect.

### Croix Meridies

In the past, Croix was eager to obtain the Shiny Rod and release the Grand Triskellion in hopes of becoming the world's greatest witch. When Croix and Chariot arrived at the Arcturus Forest to finally get the Shiny Rod, Woodward only gave the rod to Chariot and tasked her to find the Seven Words after hearing Chariot's dream. This lead to Croix becoming a very bitter person towards both Woodward and Chariot to the point where Croix believes that Woodward made a mistake in choosing Chariot as the wielder of the rod.

The entire reason that Croix wanted to find the Grand Triskellon was to become the greatest witch, but her plans were thwarted by Woodward. This is the reason why, at the end of series, when professor Woodward appears and shows her the true Grand Triskellon, she freaks out because the "word altering" magic she was after wasn't what she thought it would be. However, at that very moment, it became evident that Woodward also proved to be neglectful towards Croix that she allowed her to lost her way as Croix herself pointed out, and left her and Chariot in shame from both what Croix had become and her own part in it.

## Abilities and Equipment

Being one of the Nine Olde Witches, Woodward is an extremely powerful witch, being able to use magic without the help of Sorcerer's Stones and attained enough power in life to be able to return as a ghost to guide and watch over younger generations of magic users while retaining her magical abilities. She is greatly proficient in magical phytokinesis, and is able to broadcast scenes and events into devices such as television and mobile phones. Woodward was the original wielder of the Shiny Rod.

## Trivia

* The moonlit witch's hat resembles her "antlers".
* Mitsuko Horie, Woodward's Japanese voice actress, was in Sailor Moon, where she voiced Sailor Galaxia. She is also notable for being a singer of many anime opening themes such as Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, Ninja Captor and Sailor Moon Crystal.
	+ Horie also voiced the title character Atsuko "Akko" Kagami in the 1988 anime series *Himitsu no Akko-chan*, who Akko Kagari was named after.

## Gallery

*For more images related to Woodward, see the file category:* Category:Images of Woodward*.*
### Official Arts

Woodward and Beatrix as seen in page 7 of *Little Witch Academia Chronicles*Ursula pulls Croix away from Woodward after the latter decorated her antlers like christmas trees by Yusuke Yoshigaki
### TV Series

#### Screenshots

Foreshadowing of Woodward and the Nine Olde Witches.DittoWoodward in the first opening.Picture of Woodward in an ancient book.Woodward's false form.Woodward's form when she appears to Ursula.
### Animated gifs

Woodward seen in a magic mirror.Woodward in her first apparition to Chariot and Croix.Woodward confronting Croix.
## References

1. ↑ Little Witch Academia Chronicles, Chapter 2, page 41
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://twitter.com/TaraSandsVO/status/880804416156123136