Feeling witchy? This video is for you! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most fascinating magical women from the worlds of myth.
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00:00-"Like Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga, the witch. They tell stories to children."
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most fascinating magical women from the worlds of myth.
00:15We'll be excluding characters created for specific literature,
00:19so the weird sisters from William Shakespeare's Macbeth will be saved for another day.
00:23-"Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Clums." -"Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor."
00:32-"All hail Macbeth, who shall be king hereafter."
00:36Number 10. Lohi.
00:38Hailing from Finnish mythology, Lohi is a classically wicked witch,
00:42the queen of an otherworldly northern realm known as Pohjola.
00:46Along with casting enchantments, she's also able to shapeshift.
00:50Lohi is a principal villain of the Kalevala, a compilation of Finnish folklore,
00:54battling the hero Väinämöinen for control of the Sampo, a mystical device that's said to grant untold riches.
01:00In the epic Finnish poem The Kalevala, Lohi is the antagonist of the heroes Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, and Lemminkainen.
01:09She may actually be one and the same as Loviatar, a goddess of death and disease.
01:14The major difference then between Lohi and Loviatar is that Loviatar's name only occurs in spells associated with diseases,
01:22while Lohi's name also occurs in epic or narrative songs.
01:25The witch has infiltrated various other mediums, from the music of heavy metal band Amorphis,
01:30to video games such as the Final Fantasy franchise.
01:38Number 9. The Bell Witch.
01:40This week, we pay a visit to a small town in Tennessee, which was plagued by a spirit so vengeful
01:46that it was the first in US history to receive blame for an actual recorded death.
01:50The legend of the Bell Witch has persisted for two centuries, since it first emerged in the early 1800s.
01:57Back in Tennessee, I saw a family haunted by an entity.
02:05Tee-hee-hee!
02:07The story recounts an alleged haunting that tormented the Bell family while they were living in rural Tennessee.
02:13The Bell Witch, also known as Old Kate Batts' witch, was a malevolent being that behaved similarly to a poltergeist,
02:19even physically attacking the family in their home.
02:22A mysterious girl dressed in green was reportedly seen on the property, as were strange animals that appeared and disappeared.
02:28The patriarch of the Bell family, a farmer named John, was supposedly fatally poisoned by the witch.
02:34She was even said to have disturbed mourners by breaking out into drinking songs.
02:39As the mourners prepare to leave the funeral, a voice suddenly breaks the silence.
02:42It's the witch, laughing and singing.
02:44Her long-stated goal of killing John Bell finally accomplished.
02:47After John's death, the witch disappears, but not before telling the family that she will be back in seven years.
02:54Darling, you have no idea what's possible.
02:57This infamous Norse witch is one of the villains of the Germanic Wölsunga saga.
03:02Grimhild, or Grimhildr as she's sometimes known, appears in several other sagas,
03:07where she is also portrayed as alluring, but duplicitous and evil.
03:11In the Wölsunga saga, she is a queen who uses a magic potion to make the hero Sigurd forget he married his wife Grimhildr.
03:18Her aim is to have both marry her own children.
03:21In another saga, Grimhild is a queen who poisons her husband and curses her stepdaughter and step-granddaughter.
03:26The tears in his eyes...
03:37In most depictions, she receives a fatal comeuppance in the form of fire or stoning.
03:50There are many examples of folktales designed to keep children away from deep and dangerous bodies of water.
03:55Jenny Greenteeth was one such creature, a hideous river hag who preyed on children and the elderly,
04:01whisking them away beneath the waves.
04:07Her name comes from Grindylow, a supernatural creature popular in the folklore of Lancashire, England.
04:17The waterlogged witch served as the visual inspiration for the infamous Meg Mucklebones in Ridley Scott's film Legend.
04:23With her green skin, sharp teeth and long dripping wet hair, she made for a frightful sight, one destined to haunt nightmares.
04:41There's a lot of overlap in mythology between magic users and deities, with some figures doubling as both depending on the story.
04:54Ceredwen is known from her origins in Welsh mythology as an enchantress,
04:58although more modern interpretations have expanded her legacy to incorporate patronage of poetry and the arts.
05:04Legend has it that Ceredwen had an ugly son, whom she sought to make wise with a potion,
05:09but servant boy Gwion Bach, who stirred her cauldron, accidentally drank the crucial first drops.
05:24As she pursued him, both changed in various forms, until she ultimately ate him,
05:30then became pregnant and gave birth to him in the form of the bard Taliesin.
05:35You are nameless!
05:40Nameless!
05:43Formless!
05:48Granddaughter of Helios, princess of Colchis, powerful sorceress and somewhere in the grey area between girlboss and supervillain,
05:54this enchantress from Greek myth was the granddaughter of the sun god Helios and a priestess of the goddess Hecate.
06:00She features most prominently in the myth of Jason and his search for the Golden Fleece.
06:16The sorceress assists the captain of the Argo in his quest, and even marries Jason after his adventures.
06:21The union ends in tragedy, however, when Jason seeks another bride, and Medea is exiled.
06:27She kills her own sons, as well as Jason's new wife, forever severing her ties with the disloyal hero.
06:34Medea, princess of Colchis and priestess of the witch goddess Hecate, had fallen in love with the challenger.
06:41She intended to protect her beloved from her father's tricks at any cost.
06:48Number 4. The Befana
06:50I must tell you that I, La Befana, have been bringing the gifts down the chimneys of the Bambini
06:57long before old Saint Nick was even a twinkle in his mama's eye.
07:02One of the great things about holiday traditions is how they differ throughout the world.
07:06After all, one might not immediately associate a witch with yuletide gift giving, but that is exactly the point behind Italy's La Befana.
07:14This old witch takes a position similar to that of Santa Claus, delivering presents to good little children,
07:19and lumps of coal for those who've been naughty.
07:22Ah, see it is a coal.
07:24What's the matter, you don't remember the time I brought you coal when you was a little?
07:28The Befana is further associated with the Christian tale of Jesus Christ and her association with the three magi.
07:34The legend asserts that the Befana actually housed and fed the magi while they were en route to the birth site.
07:39As a result, her yearly visits are said to symbolize the Befana's endless search for the infant Christ.
07:51Circe! Be careful, she's...
07:53Yeah, I've read the Odyssey.
07:54Some mythical figures straddle the line between enchantress and goddess, and Circe is a perfect example.
08:00The daughter of the sun god Helios and water nymph Perse,
08:03Circe is a powerful enchantress and minor deity who had a habit of transforming her enemies into animals or even monsters.
08:10Turned into a pig!
08:16You really guess none of your games, huh?
08:18It is the truth, I swear it! This is the island of a witch, a sorceress!
08:22Travelers know to fear her, thanks to her role in Homer's famed epic The Odyssey,
08:27where she turned most of Odysseus' crew into pigs.
08:30She's also a goddess closely associated with herbalism and potions,
08:34to the point where her transformation of men into animals was sometimes seen as a metaphor for drunkenness.
08:40Circe had turned all the visitors into pigs, and with her staff, she led them into the pigsty.
08:48The king is nowhere to be found.
08:49I want him dead!
08:51We've lost...
08:57Merlin isn't the only magician in Arthurian legend.
08:59Not by a long shot.
09:01There's reason to believe that Morgan le Fay originated in Welsh folklore,
09:05before appearing on the pages of Arthurian romance.
09:08She's often portrayed as Merlin's apprentice and King Arthur's sister, with a shifting moral compass.
09:14Don't you know me, Lord Merlin?
09:16Morgana of Cornwall.
09:20You have your father's eye.
09:22In some stories, she's a benevolent healer,
09:25while in many others, she's fascinated with dark magic and works against Arthur's rule in Camelot.
09:31These latter depictions have cemented her as an unpredictable and chaotic sorceress,
09:35whose ambition and subterfuge make her a formidable antagonist.
09:48Youth is so wasted on the young.
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10:18Don't you look lovely?
10:19There's a historical duality in how this witch from Slavic mythology has been portrayed.
10:24There's no middle ground.
10:26Baba Yaga is either a villain who kidnaps children for supper,
10:29or a humorous satirization of Peter the Great's wife Catherine I.
10:33Fantasy and fiction have largely favored the former,
10:36focusing upon Baba Yaga's infamous domicile deep in the forest,
10:40a hut that stands on chicken legs.
10:42In some stories, she flies around on a broom,
10:45but in others, her preferred vehicle is a mortar,
10:48occasionally she's described in triplicate as a trio of sisters.
11:02Any way you slice it,
11:03Baba Yaga is one of the standout witch figures from the fascinating world of myth.
11:08What's your favorite cinematic representation of a witch?
11:11Let us know in the comments.
11:16Did you enjoy this video?
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