Witch

Witch was a term with multiple meanings in the Realms, but was most frequently misapplied to any kind of wizard and commonly carried a connotation of evil.

Types of Witch

 * A "witch" could refer to a type of wizard, usually female, who gained instruction in the ways of magic from an extra-planar patron. Those who used this meaning referred to males as "warlocks". In the Feywild, this entity was typically an archfey or the goddess Sehanine Moonbow.
 * For Elminster and those of his generation, "witch" referred to any self-taught herbalist or spellcaster of arcane magic. Such witches usually lived a rural life, in villages or land that bordered wilderness, and mainly concerned themselves with making a living through casting spells applicable to daily life.
 * Bubudow were witches that specialized in the use of medicinal herbs.
 * Mediums, also known as spirit channelers, were witches that specialized in necromancy and communicating with the dead. The entities these witches gained instruction and spells from were spirits.

History
In 1100 DR, the term "witch" began commonly being used in some areas of the Realms as a pejorative for female spellcasters and servitors of hags. Such as in Chessenta, Turmish, and the Vilhon Reach. Such usage would last into the 1300's DR, being especially common among the Bedine of Anauroch.

In the 14 Century DR, one could sometimes find spellsingers being referred to as witches in the Western Heartlands. Around that same time, people in Kara-Tur were occasionally using the term to refer to individual women who were wu-jen.

Notable "Witches"
Notable individuals in the Realms that were referred to by others as witches or had the title of witch included the following:
 * Ayana No-Shui, a powerful female wu-jen that served as the prime counsel of chieftain Shan Khantayan in the 14 century DR.
 * Frost Witches, a group of female wizards that worshiped the winter goddess Auril.
 * Ghutan Dox Ayani, known by others as the "witch of Tsing", was a female wu jen that lived in T'u Lung in the 14 century DR.
 * Green Hag of Lizard Marsh
 * Udi, a powerful female Bawani wu-jen who was decreed an outlaw by the Bavanese.

Trivia

 * Hamadryads were one of many races in the Feywild known to occasionally be granted magic and take on the mantle of a witch.
 * In the North, solitary witches were said to often gravitate towards places where moonglows still operated.
 * Some witches were known to create scarecrows by binding evil spirits or the spirits of demons into them.
 * There was a variety of fungus in the Feywild known as a witchcap.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Shadowdale
 * Shadowdale