The Witches of Appendix N: Andre Norton

 I am now heading into another important entry to the Appendix N. Andre Norton is one of only three women Gygax mentions. We are also getting one of the few books where witches are the key figures. Andre Norton is also notable for playing D&D with Gygax in 1976 and releasing the Greyhawk novel Quag Keep in 1979. 

Norton was a prolific writer and celebrated writer, and it would take much more than this blog post to cover all her contributions to science fiction and fantasy. But do plan to talk about her witches.

Witch World

Witch World is Andre Norton's magnum opus. A series that spans decades of real-world time, generations of in-world time, and even a few authors. 

The first proper series is known as the Estcarp Cycle. This covers the first few books of the Witch World tales. There are a few other books, but these are the five main ones from before 1977 I want to consider.  

• Witch World (1963)
• Web of the Witch World (1964)
• Three Against the Witch World (1965)
• Warlock of the Witch World (1967)
• Sorceress of the Witch World (1968)

The series begins with World War II, as Ex-colonel Simon Tregarth runs for his life. He got into a bit of trouble during the war, and now he needs a way out. Of all things, he finds someone who transports him to another world filled with magic and witches.

Simon meets a witch whose name we don't learn just yet, who introduces him to this world and the land of Estcarp. And to its magic. 

The first two books deal with Simon and his witch wife Jaelithe (I love that name). The next three focus on their witch triplets.

The Witches of Witch World

The Witches of Witch World are not like many of the witches we have seen so far. They are not an old hag in a cottage, nor are they enchantresses who attempt to seduce our hero with equal parts magic and sex appeal. No, these witches are the undisputed rulers of their land; each has a different set of powers, but all are magical in nature: shape changes, sendings, lots of illusion, subtle control, and the like. Simon is very much a "fish out of water" here with his mid-20th-century outlook in a quasi-medieval world. But it turns out that this is what helps him when he and his adoptive land of Estcarp in their battle with the mysterious land of Kolder.

The people of Kolder are also from another world, like Simon, but a different world where they have something more akin to psychic powers to counter the witches' magic. I rather liked this setup, and we see more of it in the second book, Web of the Witch World. The political and magical nature of the witches is then delved into more deeply in the next three books about Simon's and Jaelithe's tripplets, Kyllan, Kemoc, and Kaththea.

The witches themselves are great. Each has its own set of powers, and some are better than others. The cool thing was all the variety of powers.

The Witch Magic vs High Tech / Psychic Powers

One of my favorite parts of the first two books was the whole Witch Magic of Estcarp vs. the High-Tech and Psychic Powers of the Kolder. Like many Appendix N books, there is a bias towards the magical side of the battle. Now I enjoy the Pagan vs. Christianity struggle found in other books and history, but here the witches have a chance of winning. Not a spoiler, since there are so many more books in the series, but the witches win. It is an interesting interplay between Witchcraft and Psychic abilities that reminds me a lot of my own AD&D days, when I was all about the witches and witchcraft, and my high school DM was all about the psychic powers.

The next three books cover the Trigarth children. They represent something new to Estcarp, since the triplets, two boys and one girl, all have magic. Up to this point, only women had magic. The witches want Kaththea, the girl, to train with them to the exclusion of her two brothers, but their magic comes from their link. So they run away and discover more about their world. 

This takes the point of view that magic is inherited. 

These books were fun, but I enjoyed the first two more. The exploration of the parallel worlds, hinted at in the first two books, Earth and the world of Kolder, plays a more central role here, with Kaththea escaping to another world altogether.

The Question of Witches

Witch World is great. It is groundbreaking and pivotal to science fiction and fantasy genres. Andre Norton was even invited to Gary's table to play a game. Note: Quag Keep's protagonists travel to a fantasy world much like Simon Tregarth did in Witch World. 

The question then becomes if Witch World was so important and witches were so different from regular humans, then where are the witches? We even get psionics, the "magic" of Kolder, but not the witchcraft of the witches of Estcarp.

Yes, the magic-user is there as a generic, well, magic-using person. But that is really less than satisfactory, especially since in practice, magic-user was shorthand for wizard.  The witches of Witch World are different. 

Yes, I know this is not the space crack this particular cipher. It is something I do all over the place here. 

The witches of Estcarp are more than just female magic-users. Something I have said about many witches in this series and my own. But it is particularly true about these witches. Obviously, there was still something about that that made them unpalateble to Gygax and the early designers. Though I do know that Frank Mentzer liked witches in general.

I think Witch World is a good example, really. Not of the witch as a class, we have a lot of those in other Appendix N. This is an example that the witch comes with a price. Witches mean covens, structure, and a society. Witch power is socially negotiated.  The Witches of Estcarp demonstrate this with their power and when they work to later keep Jaelithe out and bring Kaththea in. 

Witches live in an ecosystem. I plan to keep exploring that ecosystem.