Nanny Ogg - Role and Power

Role and Power

Nanny Ogg is far too wise and busy to carry a handbag; she keeps all she needs in her knickers, lifting her skirts to reveal a knickerleg, and extracting whatever is needed at the time. She does, however, carry a string shopping bag (also in her knickers) against emergencies, such as being presented with a loaf or a pie or a dozen buns (probably by a baker who knows that such a gift to a witch ensures reliably good baking).

In the Discworld amongst the duties of a witch are midwifery and laying out the dead. If possible, people call Nanny for the former and Granny for the latter. In effect Nanny and Granny make a perfect team with Granny doing what needs to be done and Nanny bandaging the wounded. Indeed, in Thief of Time, Nanny Ogg is sought through various timeframes as she is/will become the best midwife in the world, perhaps evinced by her statement that she has even served as midwife for entirely non-human species like Trolls.

She has an ambiguous relationship with Count Casanunda, whom she met in Genua. Nanny Ogg is also the muse and center of Leonard of Quirm's masterpiece, the Mona Ogg: her teeth follow you around the room, they say. She briefly took on Tiffany Aching as an apprentice after the death of her previous mentor, Miss Treason.

It was observed in more than one occasion, by Granny Weatherwax, that Nanny Ogg has impressive social skills. She has demonstrated the ability to socialize with all kinds of people within a very little time (Maskerade, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies) which sometimes leaves Granny wondering 'if Gytha has some sort of special magic'.

In the "Art of Discworld," Terry Pratchett notes that he has always believed that Nanny Ogg is the most powerful of the witches, but that she is far too clever to let it be known.