Grandmother

The **Grandmother** (also referred to as **"Grandmamma"** by the Boy) is an elderly Norwegian woman and a retired witchophile. She has a high amount of knowledge about real-life witches. Unlike most adults, she is aware that witches exist and knows of their intentions to wipe out all the children in the world. The Grandmother spent her life searching for the Grand High Witch alongside other witchophiles but never found her.

## Biography

### Early life and career

Nothing is known about the Grandmother's childhood except for the fact that she was born in Norway. At some point, she had an unlucky encounter with a witch, which presumably is the reason for her missing a thumb. She recalled the experience as "horrible". As a child, the Grandmother knew five children who were taken by witches; Ranghild (who was taken away by a mysterious lady with white gloves), Solveg (who was trapped in a painting after eating an apple given to her), Birgit (who turned into a chicken), Harald (who was turned into a statue) and finally Leif (who was turned into a porpoise).

The Grandmother was among the few adults who knew and believed that witches were real. She dedicated her life to fighting them and became a witchophile. The Grandmother and many other witchophiles spent many years trying to locate the Grand High Witch but never found her.

At some point, the Grandmother had a daughter, who grew up to give birth a son.

### Later life

Every summer and winter, the Grandmother's daughter took her son and husband to visit the Grandmother in Norway. The Grandmother was very close with her grandson. Soon after her grandson's seventh birthday, both of his parents died in a car crash, which he survived. This made the Grandmother the legal guardian of the boy.

In order to help herself and the boy get out of their grief, the Grandmother began telling him stories every night. Some of these included stories about witches, how to spot them and also about the Grand High Witch herself. As part of the boy's father's will, the Grandmother and the boy had to move back to England, where he had been born and raised. The Grandmother warned the boy to remain alert, because English witches were notorious for being the "most vicious in the whole world".

### Return to England

Not long after returning to England, the boy encountered a witch while in his treehouse. Luckily for him, the Grandmother called him in for his dinner, prompting the witch to quickly leave. Shortly before the summer holidays, the Grandmother fell very ill with pneumonia. Because of this, a doctor and nurse had to take care of her while a lady named Mrs Springs looked after the boy. Just over two weeks later, the Grandmother made a fully recovery but the doctor advised her not to go forward with her planned holiday to Norway and instead recommended that her and the boy went to a seaside hotel in the south coast of England.

Much to the dismay of the boy and the Grandmother, they booked a hotel in Bournemouth named Hotel Magnificent. Around this time, the Grandmother gifted the boy two mice: William and Mary. However, the hotel manager, Mr Stringer disliked the idea of having mice in his hotel. The Grandmother lied to him, telling him that she saw rats going into the hotel kitchen. Mr Stringer agreed that the boy could have them, but they had to remain in the room.

### Encounter with Witches

Later in the day, the boy took his mice into the hotel ballroom so he could train them in secret. However, he soon found himself secretly spying on the Grand High Witch's meeting with all of her English subordinates. Coincidentally, the English witches were holding their annual meeting in the same hotel. The boy was soon found out and turned into a mouse by the Grand High Witch. Luckily, the transformed child retained his mentality, personality and even his voice. After tracking down Bruno, another child turned into a mouse, the transformed boy returned to his Grandmother's hotel room and told her what he had learned.

He suggested turning the tables on the witches by slipping the potion into their evening meal. He also informs her that the Grand High Witch is staying in the hotel directly beneath them. The Grandmother put the transformed mouse-boy into a knitted sock and lowered him onto the Grand High Witch's balcony. With some difficulty, he managed to get his hands on a bottle of the mouse potion from the Grand High Witch's room. Shortly before dinner, the Grandmother tried to return Bruno to his parents, but the attempt failed due to Mrs Jenkins' fear of mice.

At dinner, the mouse-boy was able to put the potion into the witches' soup. Within minutes, the Grand High Witch and her English subordinates had all been turned into mice and were killed by the hotel staff. After returning home, the boy and his Grandmother devised a plan to rid the world of witches. Impersonating the chief of police of Norway on the telephone, she discovered that the Grand High Witch was living in a castle in that country. They decided to travel to the Grand High Witch's Norwegian castle, and use the potion to change her successor and assistants into mice, then release cats to destroy them. Using the Grand High Witch's money-making machine and information on witches in various countries, they will try to eradicate them everywhere. The grandmother reveals that, as a mouse, the boy will probably only live for about another nine years, but the boy does not mind, as he does not want to outlive his grandmother (she reveals that she is also likely to live for only nine more years), as he would hate to have anyone else look after him.

It is unknown if their plan succeeded.

## Personality

The Grandmother is a mysterious, brave and somewhat comedic woman, who could be optimistic no matter how much suffering she had. She is very protective of her beloved grandson. Her grandson acknowledged that she was a very truthful person. She is very headstrong and dislikes being told what to do. For example. she refused to stop smoking even after the doctor advised her to on medical grounds.

## Appearance

The Grandmother was an elderly lady over the age of eighty. She has fair skin and grey hair. The Grandmother has a missing thumb due to an encounter with witches.

## Adaptations

### 1990 movie

* *Main article: Helga Eveshim*

In the 1990 movie, the Grandmother is given the name "**Helga Eveshim**". Her role remains largely the same except that it is confirmed that the witch she encountered as a child was actually the Grand High Witch. In addition, her grandson becomes a human at the end again. She is portrayed by Mai Zetterling.

### 2020 movie

* *Main article: Agatha Hansen*

In the 2020 adaptation, the Grandmother is named Agatha Hansen and is portrayed by Octavia Spencer. Agatha's role as a witchophile is largely increased in this movie. In addition, she is no longer Norwegian and instead American.

## Appearances

* The Witches (novel)
* The Witches (1990 movie)
* The Witches (2020 movie)
* The Witches: The Graphic Novel