witches abroad
Nov 18th, 2009 by ariellep
The Witches Abroad have a lot in common with other fairy tales and secondary world we have read about and discussed. They save grandmothers, similar to the story of Little Red Riding Hood. They fight off Gollum-like creatures with paddles. They wake up sleeping palaces. They also have an adversary that goes by Lilith. And although one is an extreme version of the other they are similar characters.
The Lilith of Lewis’s world is a greedy prideful woman, and the ancestor of the Pevensie’s enemy the White Witch. She is said, in one story, to have wanted Adam’s beauty for her own. So she jumps him against his will. In this way Adam unwillingly fathers many demons and spirits, called the “plague of humankind”. With Jadis, The White Witch, being among these. Another account has Lilith as Adam’s first wife, but was deemed unsuitable for Eden, so she was sent away. But she came back to visit him every once in a while, after he and Eve had sinned.
This Lilith knows that she is evil, and doesn’t try to go against it. Pratchett’s Lilith, on the other hand seems unconvinced. This Lilith is Granny Weatherwax’s sister who used to go by Lily. While everyone else in her world, including her sister, knows that she has “turned to the bad” she doesn’t believe it. She still thinks that she is a good fairy godmother. Although the rest of the witches see that her greed has led her astray. Lilith goes far too deep into the magic, trying to control it. She even uses mirrors like steroids to boost her powers.
Although one Lilith is an extreme version of the other (Lewis’s Lilith being the ultimate manipulator and bad guy, while Pratchett’s is misguided but still greedy) both are essentially bad. They are greedy and a little power hungry. They want what they should not and eventually must suffer the consequences.