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| “ | Careful with that, dear. I'd hate for you to start something you can't stop. | „ |
| ~ Holda the Witch. |
Holda is the main antagonist of the 2020 dark fantasy horror film Gretel and Hansel, directed by Oz Perkins and released under Orion Pictures. She is an incarnation of the The Witch from the original Hansel and Gretel fairy tale written by the Brothers Gimm.
She was portrayed by Alice Krige (who also portrayed Christabella in Silent Hill, Morgana Le Fay in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Mary Brady in Sleepwalkers, the Borg Queen in the Star Trek universe, and Gillian Booth in Law & Order: Criminal Intent) in her elderly form, and by Jessica De Gouw in her younger form, who also portrayed the Huntress on Arrowverse.
Biography
Years ago before the events of the film, Holda was an ordinary woman who had a few children. One, in particular, was a young girl in a pink cap. When she was stricken by an illness, Holda's husband sought an enchantress to cure her.
The enchantress does so, but at the cost of her getting dark powers. The powers gave her the ability to look into the future. After many villagers sought her for her premonitions, the girl shortly starts killing them, including her father whom she enticed into placing a hot metallic rod in his mouth. Enraged, Holda attempted to abandon her in the woods, but she still lingered in her mind.
When she realized that she also had some leaning towards black magic, her daughter offered to share her powers with her if she were to give in to the darkness. She complies by killing and eating her other children. From there, she takes the form of an elderly woman to lure abandoned children into her house with enchanted body parts disguised as food, after which she kills and eats them to empower her witchcraft.
Upon meeting Gretel and Hansel, she allows the two to work for her in return for their stay and somehow senses Gretel's powers deciding to make her an apprentice. She takes some of Hansel's hair and entices him. Slowly, he becomes suspicious of her true intentions before seemingly disappearing. After Gretel failed to poison her, Holda takes her to a room downstairs of the house where she reveals her younger form and binds Gretel's hands to a table before hypnotizing Hansel into climbing a ladder into a fire pit.
Holda meets her end when Gretel uses her powers to propel a staff towards her. Holda gets pressed against the wall by the staff and is subsequently decapitated by it. Her body is then burned by the flames of the fire pit.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Witchcraft: Holda has a great knowledge and understanding of spells, potions, and other topics related to magic.
- Telekinesis: Holda is capable of manipulating objects or people without physically touching them.
- Pyrokinesis: Holda is able to create and manipulate fire.
- Protection Spell: She can place protection spells in her house to keep someone from going in or out.
- Transfiguration/Shapeshifter: Holda is able to spin human remains into food and changing the physical aspect of herself from a young lady to an old woman.
Gallery
_02.jpg "Enchantress (Gretel & Hansel) 02.jpg (113 KB)")
In Lore
Holda was originally an entity worshiped in Germanic culture as a goddess. She was matron of household activities, protecting women who were housewives and valuing those who worked hard; cleaning, weaving, cooking and carrying out their responsibilities. Holda is known for teaching, inspiring, and rewarding hard work, but she also punishes those people who are lazy. She manifests herself in two appearances, as an elderly and frail lady, or as a young and shining lady. She became known in several cultures around the world as the leader of witches. Eventually, the Brothers Grimm recorded a story of Holda called Frau Holle. In this tale, a widow had two daughters, one who worked hard and one who was lazy.
The hard-working daughter ends up getting lost in the forest and finds Holda's house. There she works, cleans the house and shows herself to be very helpful, and in return, Holda gives her a very abundant life, until the day the girl misses her old home, and because she was very helpful, Holda allows her to leave with gold. The girls' mother then sends her lazy daughter to Holda's house, but unlike her sister, she doesn't do anything Holda asks, so she is kicked out and returns home covered in tar. The story says that the tar never left her body, especially her hands, which were all stained black so that she would never forget that she ran away from her responsibilities.
During the film, many triangle-shaped symbols appear that represent the Triad, the three faces of woman; Maiden, Mother, and Crone. When Gretel arrives at Holda's house, she looks through the glass in the door, referencing the Eye of Providence/the all-seeing eye.
External Links
- Holda on the Pure Evil Wiki
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