Something wicked this way comes. Wicked fun, that is. This year we’re celebrating Nerdoween with our first-ever “Nerdist Witch Week.” During the final days of October, we’re paying tribute to those broom flying, spell-casting, potion brewing denizens of the scariest season. And we’re asking you to be a big part of the festivities. You’re going to help us name the best witch in pop culture history. We’re putting 64 of the scariest, most popular, and most infamous witches up against one another March Madness-style on our Twitter.
They’ll face off head-to-head until only one stands—or floats—above the rest.
How Will #NerdistWitchWeek’s Best Pop Culture Witch Bracket Work?
Here’s how to participate in our “Best Witch Bracket.” We have 16 witches—from film, television, video games, literature, folklore, mythology, and more—in each of our four categories. Our ghoulish regions include Good, Evil, Antiheroes, and Covens. You’ll be picking the greatest among kindly witches with good intentions. Evil ministers of magic with hate in their empty hearts. Witches you only want to meet on the right day under the right circumstances. And the most famous groups to ever huddle around a cauldron together, witches we couldn’t imagine separating.
From Samantha Stevens and The Wicked Witch of the West to Melisandra and The Sanderson Sisters, get ready to vote for your favorites. Each category will have its own champion. Then those four will compete for the ultimate title of pop culture’s best witch. And participating in this tournament couldn’t be any easier for you.
Starting on October 11, we’ll open up the voting on Twitter. Just follow us @nerdist, where new polls will appear each day. First, you’ll cut each region in half. Then, starting on Monday, October 18, you’ll turn those final 32 into a final bewitching four.
#NerdistWitchWeek’s Final Four
The final four contenders in each category will headline “Witch Week.” Our grand tribute to one of Halloween’s greatest ghouls starts on October 25 and ends on October 29, when we’ll announce our champion. (Though none of these witches will actually be battling it out, spiritually, our title game will take place in Wichita.)
We worried about insulting any witch, though. Even the good ones. So rather than rank them, they’re listed alphabetically in their category. (We did have a seeding committee initially. But everyone on it mysteriously turned into frogs when they started working on the Evil region.) It doesn’t matter where each witch begins, though. They’ll have to defeat every contender they face if they want to take home the crown. Or, in this case, a brand new pointy hat.
Here are all 64 contenders in the running for pop culture’s best witch. But beware, they will curse anyone who doesn’t vote for them.
GOOD WITCHES
Bonnie Bennett (The Vampire Diaries)
Glinda the Good Witch (The Wizard of Oz)
Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)
Julia Wicker (The Magicians)
Kiki (Kiki’s Delivery Service)
Lafayette Reynolds (True Blood)
Louise Miller (Teen Witch)
Minerva McGonagall (Harry Potter)
Morticia Addams (The Addams Family)
Nanny McPhee (Nanny McPhee)
Nico Minoru (Runaways)
Samantha Stephens (Bewitched)
Serafina Pekkala (His Dark Materials)
Strega Nona (Strega Nona)
Yadriel (Cemetery Boys)
Yennefer of Vengerberg (The Witcher)
EVIL WITCHES
Bellatrix Lestrange (Harry Potter)
Chaos Witch Quelaag (Dark Souls)
Fiona Goode (American Horror Story)
Grand High Witch (The Witches)
Gruntilda Winkybunion (Banjo-Kazooie)
Helena Markos (Suspiria)
Lamia (Stardust)
Minnie Castevet (Rosemary’s Baby)
Shadow Weaver (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)
The Evil Queen/Grimhilde (Snow White/Once Upon A Time)
The Blair Witch (The Blair Witch Project)
The White Witch (The Chronicles of Narnia)
Ursula (The Little Mermaid)
Wicked Witch of the West (The Wizard of Oz)
Xianniang (Mulan)
Yubaba (Spirited Away)
ANTIHEROES
Netflix
Agatha Harkness (Marvel)
Endora (Bewitched)
Maleficent (Disney)
Margo Hanson (The Magicians)
Marie Laveau (American Horror Story)
Melisandre (Game of Thrones)
Morgan le Fay (Folklore)
Mother Talzin (Star Wars)
Prudence Blackwood (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina)
Sabrina Spellman (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Sabrina the Teenage Witch)
Scarlet Witch (Marvel)
The Witch (Into The Woods)
Thomasin (The Witch)
Tia Dalma/Calypso (Pirates of the Caribbean)
Vivienne (Dragon Age)
Willow Rosenberg (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)
COVENS
The WB
The Craft Coven (The Craft)
The Cromwell Witches (Halloweentown)
The Furies (Mythology)
The Gorgons (Mythology)
The Halliwell Sisters (Charmed)
The Nutter Line (Good Omens)
The Owens Witches (Practical Magic)
The Russo Family (Wizards of Waverly Place)
The Sanderson Sisters (Hocus Pocus)
The Secret Circle Coven (The Secret Circle)
The Sons of Ipswich (The Covenant)
The Spellman Sisters (Sabrina The Teenage Witch)
The Twitches Sisters (Twitches)
The Vera Sisters (Charmed Reboot)
The Weird Sisters (Macbeth)
The Witches of Eastwick (The Witches of Eastwick)
You can also get in on the fun before voting starts. Think about who you’d like to see win each region. And who you believe should be the ultimate winner. Then take to your Twitter and share your thoughts with us. We want to hear who your all-time favorite witch in each category is and which witch you’d like to see be named pop culture’s Best Witch Ever. Make sure to use our official hashtag #NerdistWitchWeek when you tweet. We can’t wait to see who you think should win. Will Evil take the crown? Or are two heads better than one? It’s up to you.
If your list matches our final four and grand winner, we’ll have no choice but to assume you are a witch yourself. And that would be wicked cool.
Featured Image: Warner Bros./Netflix/Disney
