Witch of the Waste

The Witch of the Waste is the central villain in the award-winning young adult fantasy novel Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. She is an old love interest of Howl who places a curse on him after he rejects her. Little is known about her background other than the fact that she is one of the most powerful magicians in Ingary and has been banished to the western Waste by the king after threatening his young daughter. Sophie inadvertently offends the Witch at their first meeting, although the Witch thinks Sophie is actually her younger sister, Lettie, and is transformed into an old woman as a result. Later when tensions begin to rise in Ingary the king orders Howl to seek out and defeat the witch.

In the novel, she is in the same boat as Howl. She has given her heart to a fire demon. It is for this reason that Howl and Calcifer want to break their contract, so they do not end up like the Witch of the Waste.

She is voiced by Lauren Bacall in the film adaptation where she is depicted as an old, brutish woman rather than the beautiful witch she is in the novel. Wizard Sullizan plants flowers in the Waste. The idea is later reanforced by Howl. He tells Sophie the Witch doesn't like the idea because she sees herself as "A single solitary orchid blooming in the Waste. Pathetic really." The Witch is over 100 years old and like Howl is fickle about her appearance. She is vain and heartless.