When Esme was a child, her older sister Lily began misusing magic and behaving in a "wanton" and "wilful" manner.

In Lords and Ladies she reveals that she was not chosen as an apprentice by an established witch, but "camped on old Nanny Gripes' garden until she promised to tell me everything she knew.

As a young woman, Esme was involved in a summer-long romance with student wizard Mustrum Ridcully, but ultimately they were both committed to their respective paths of witchcraft and wizardry.

According to Gaiman, this would have revealed that Granny's spirit had lingered to watch over her young successor Tiffany Aching, and that when she did finally depart with Death it was on her own terms.

[2] Granny Weatherwax has striking blue eyes and a penetrating gaze, a hooked nose, and a determined set to her jaw.

In Equal Rites she is described as "handsome", having an excellent complexion, no warts, and all her teeth, although it is implied she finds this a bit inappropriate for a witch.

She believes in doing what is right rather than what is easy or even what seems "nice"; she is quietly aware of her social weaknesses and easily leans into the stereotype of an imposing, frightening witch if it suits her purposes.

Granny appreciates practicality and hard work, and distrusts fiction and theater (up to and including many books) because of their powerful influence on people's minds and ability to openly mislead them.

Nanny Ogg has implied that this avoidance of magic specifically prevents Granny from being tempted into becoming a very successful "bad" witch, who seemingly tend to meet with embarrassing, ignoble ends.

In Wyrd Sisters she sends the entire nation of Lancre forward in time fifteen years to allow the lost heir to come of age.

She is a major character in six Discworld novels (Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade and Carpe Jugulum) and the short story The Sea and Little Fishes, and a supporting character in the five Tiffany Aching books (Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, I Shall Wear Midnight, and The Shepherd's Crown).

[5] In the Wyrd Sisters animated adaptation, Granny Weatherwax was voiced by Annette Crosbie and in the BBC Radio 4 dramatisation she was played by Sheila Hancock.