Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings! Today’s post is a countdown of my five favorite witchy characters from 90s films and television, as I wanted to have some nostalgic fun. I will only be including one character from each intellectual property, or else this would be an insanely long list, so I only chose my favorite from that particular show or film! Without further ado, here’s the list!
Number 5: Sabrina Spellman from Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996)
~The titular teenage witch is one of the most iconic witchy characters of all time, and that alone makes her deserve a place on this list. While the character was introduced in the 60s, the character as portrayed by Melissa Joan Hart is how most of us remember Sabrina from when we were growing up! Although I also adore the portrayal of Sabrina from the Netflix series, there is something so nostalgic about this 90s iteration of the character!
Number 4: Willow Rosenberg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)
~Willow is a character whose witchcraft journey really leads to so much of her development in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She is arguably the most powerful character in the whole series, which firmly gives her this space on this list of iconic 90s witch characters! Who can forget how much she helped defeat many a big bad by giving a magical boost to the Slayer? One thing that makes me sad, is that she always deserved better when it came to her love life, as relationships always seemed to end tragically for our beloved witch!
Number 3: Sarah Bailey fromThe Craft (1996)
~Sarah is the main character in The Craft who had moved and changed schools at the beginning of the film. She quickly ends up falling in with a group of three other girls, whom everyone in the school called witches. It is not long before Sarah is actively practicing magick, and each girl has to face the consequences for misusing her powers, in a great lesson on how to properly manage her magickal abilities! Sarah also learns that she is the only one amongst her friends that is a natural-born witch, making her, in many ways, the most powerful of them. She is also the only one to learn to manage her powers properly and be able to retain them by the end! Her ability to truly grow and willingness to not bend to the will of the group amid peer pressure is why I love her best out of the four! She served as a great lesson that if your friends are worth it, they will accept your choices to not give in to peer pressure and if they do not accept your decisions, then you are better off without those particular friends! That lesson is important for high schoolers to learn at some point, making this film a great formative one for teenagers in general, not just those with witchy interests.
Number 2: Sarah Sanderson from Hocus Pocus (1993)
~My favorite Sanderson sister has always been Sarah because she is the fun-loving and free-spirited one, so I found her most relatable personally! I also really love her song, Come Little Children, as it is such a haunting and creepy lullaby. She is down-to-earth and goofy while also being seductive, which makes for a lot of silly fun! Hocus Pocus was really the first big 90s witchy film, coming out in 1993 and being a Halloween staple ever since. The Sandersons may have been portrayed as evil witches, but they were still fun and found many people rooting for them. That desire to root for them was proved as not entirely unfounded in the sequel, where we get to see more of their backstory and how they may have done evil things, but they still value their familial bonds! That served to give them a bit of villainous redemption, although it was mostly Winifred that needed the redemption, as Sarah and Mary were kinder and just desired to make their sister happy, even in the original!
Number 1: Phoebe Halliwell from Charmed (1998) & Gillian Owens from Practical Magic (1998)
~It’s a tie, as I could not choose just one when it came to my two favorite 90s witch characters. I am sure having them at the top of the list is not really that surprising to regular readers here. Phoebe from Charmed and Gillian from Practical Magic are actually characters that have quite a bit in common, both being seen as the free-spirited and even aimless youngest sister in a family of witches at the beginning of their story. Both also have great character arcs in which they greatly grow and develop, but never lose that spark of fun-loving and free-spirited attitudes that are part of their personalities! They are also both the characters that I most related to in my two favorite witchy media properties of all time, which is likely why they have always been my favorites!
~I hope that you have enjoyed this countdown. Who is your favorite witchy character from the 90s? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services! I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon! Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/