Book:Wyrd Sisters

Wyrd Sisters
Cover art by Josh Kirby
Co-author(s)
Illustrator(s)
Publisher	Victor Gollancz
Publication date	November 1988
ISBN	0552134600
Pages	251
RRP
Main characters	Esme Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat Garlick
Series	Witches Series
Annotations	View
Notes	Book #06
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Blurb

Witches are not by their nature gregarious, and they certainly don't have leaders.

Granny Weatherwax was the most highly-regarded of the leaders they didn't have.

But even she found that meddling in royal politics was a lot more difficult than certain playwrights would have you believe ...

Characters

Main characters

• Esme Weatherwax
• Nanny Ogg
• Magrat Garlick
• King Verence
• Leonal Felmet and Lady Felmet
• The Fool
• Tomjon
• Olwyn Vitoller
• Hwel

Minor characters

• Death

Cameos and Mentions

• Goodie Whemper, now dead witch who tutored Magrat
• Former Lancre Kings and Queens
  • Champot
  • Queen Grimnir, the Impaler (1514*1553, 1553*1557, 1557*1562, 1562*1567 and 1568*1573) [note the 57 reference in her 2nd reign], a vampire queen
• Bentzen, ruthlessly efficient killer
• Havelock Vetinari

Locations

• Ramtops
  • Lancre
    • Lancre Castle
      • Long Gallery, gallery of regal portraits
    • The Standing Stone
  • Mad Wolf (mentioned)
  • Razorback (mentioned)

• Ankh-Morpork

• Klatch (mentioned)
• Thespia (mentioned)
• Howondaland (mentioned)
• Hergen (mentioned)
• Sto Plains (mentioned)

Sentient Species

• Dwarfs
• Humans

Supernatural Entities

• Death
• Ghosts
• The Gods (mentioned)

Things/etc Referenced

• Cripple Mister Onion
• Zen, sub-sect of the philosophical system of Sumtin ("something"?)
• The Hedgehog Can Never be Buggered at All, a drinking song w/ anal undertones
• A Wizard's Staff Has A Knob On The End, a drinking song w/ phallic overtones

Roundworld references

• Hamlet and Macbeth, plays by William Shakespeare (both in the main storyline and the play Hwel writes for Felmet)

• Snakes and Ladders, a child's game (aka "Chutes and Ladders")

• Gormenghast, a foreboding fictional castle (also mentioned in Equal Rites)

• Zen, a philosophical system

• The Marx Brothers (one of Hwel's discarded ideas)

• Charlie Chaplin (one of Hwel's discarded ideas)

• Laurel and Hardy (one of Hwel's discarded ideas)

Adaptions

Radio

A 4-part dramatisation was performed for BBC Radio 4, starring Sheila Hancock and Lynda Baron.

Television

Wyrd Sisters from Terry Pratchett's Discworld
ASIN	B00004CV82
IMDB	0159931
First Broadcast	18 May 1997
Broadcast Channel	Channel 4
Director(s)	Jean Flynn
Producer(s)
Writer(s)	{{{writer}}}
Starring	Christopher Lee, Jane Horrocks, June Whitfield
Duration	147 minutes
Episodes	3
Series	Witches Series
Annotations	Annotations for Book:Wyrd Sisters
Notes
Preceded by	Welcome to the Discworld
Followed by	Soul Music
All data relates to the UK home release.

Wyrd Sisters became a six-part animated television adaptation of the book of the same name by Terry Pratchett, produced by Cosgrove Hall, and first broadcast on 18 May 1997. It was the second film adaptation of an entire Discworld novel (following the Welcome to the Discworld short, which was based on a fragment of the novel Reaper Man, and the Soul Music series). The VHS release spanned three tapes.

Cast

• Granny Weatherwax - Annette Crosbie (One Foot in the Grave, Edward the Seventh)
• Nanny Ogg - June Whitfield (Terry and June, Last of the Summer Wine)
• Magrat Garlick - Jane Horrocks (Little Voice, Chicken Run)
• Death - Christopher Lee (The Wicker Man, The Man with the Golden Gun, Lord of the Rings trilogy)
• Lady Felmet - Eleanor Bron (Help!, the voice of BT)
• The Fool / Tomjon - Les Dennis (Family Fortunes)
• Additional Voices - Jimmy Hibbert

Theatre

Wyrd Sisters was the first ever Discworld Novel to be adapted into a stage-play by Stephen Briggs.

External links

Wyrd Sisters Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File

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