Halloween SG Choice: Our Favorite Gaming Witches, Warlocks, and Other Purveyors of the Dark Arts

Happy Halloween, folks! Ooh, how scary, how spooky, how sweet and savory! We at Source Gaming are as big fans of Halloween as we are of gaming, so we’ll always have a listicle ready to honor when the two intersect. Some topic, some theme.

This year: witches! Witches and witchy aesthetics are a wonderful part of the Halloween season. So, on this witching hour, here are a few of our favorites. Some of them are classical, some of them are weird, some of them are just extra. We’re happy with the choices we made, so let’s get on with it!

Wolfman Jew: It would be remiss of me to not be upfront about the inspiration for this listicle: Melinoë and Hecate from Hades II. They sometimes rhyme when casting spells, they have a big ole’ pot for incantations, they hang out at the crossroads of the spooky woods, and witchiness is a big part of what distinguishes Mel from the hero of the first Hades. While Zagreus cast magic spells with an easy throw, she makes Binding Circles. Where he had “God Powers,” she gets Hexes from Selene, moon incarnate. She grows nightshade and garlic; she’s even got familiars. If only their mutual plots stuck the landing…

This list would also be woefully incomplete without Vivian, the adorable trans shadow demon from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. What I like about Vivian—beyond being a standout party member even in a game full of standout party members—is that she really brings the witchy aesthetics. She’s got a big cartoon hat, casts fire storms by snapping her fingers, and she’s got a fairytale backstory with meaner, evil sisters. That specific kind of fantasy genre is essentially intruding on the Mario series with Vivian and the Shadow Sirens, which might be the theme of The Thousand-Year Door as a whole.

But if you’re looking for a very different kind of witch, Bayonetta has you covered. She’s a… pole dancing dominatrix with guns strapped to her boots, who weaves her hair into clothes and fists. Incidentally, did you know that the standard vernacular of “pole dancing” uses two words? I just learned it before this got published, because WordPress said that my one word spelling was incorrect! What a world! Anyway, Bayo’s not anything like a typical witch and wrecks the curve of what to expect from the archetype. At the same time, she’s still pretty witchy. For one thing, she’s persecuted by the kind of vaguely Catholic-coded religious institution that shows up in every other Japanese action game. She also sold her soul to a demon, though Madama Butterfly is unique for being pretty chill and supportive. And she transforms into animals. We’ve already talked about familiars, but shapeshifting is a pretty important tool in a magician’s workshed.

FromSoftware has plenty of witches across its series. Dark Souls has the Witch of Izalith and her daughters, most notably Chaos Witch Quelaag. Bloodborne has the Witch of Hemwick, alongside various other witches in its Gothic first half. But it feels like Ranni the Witch is the most memorable, and not just because Elden Ring is their best selling game. Ranni is far more of a character (thanks to being an NPC and not a muttering lunatic of a boss), and the route to her ending involves going through a bunch of otherwise optional areas and fighting some nuts bosses. She also really brings the aesthetic elements to bear, like a big hat, a creepy voice, and the crazy bit of lore that has her embodying a doll.

Delphox was already a pretty witchy Pokémon. The Fire-Psychic starter of Pokémon X & Y combined the tropes of foxes, kitsune, witches, and the mage archetype of Western RPGs to give the science fiction franchise a nice magical coding. It casts most of its Fire attacks by waving a stick as a wand! But in the just-released Pokémon Legends Z-A, things have gotten almost out of hand. In keeping with the “more is more” aesthetic of Mega Evolutions (and to satisfy those of us who’ve wanted all three of the X & Y starters to get one for twelve years), Mega Delphox is super duper witchy. It flies on a broomstick. It has two wands. Its mane has grown to Gandalfian proportions. And much of its fur has changed color, making it look like it’s bursting out of soot. There are other Pokémon that are witches and witch-adjacent creatures—Mismagius, Hattarene, Froslass—but the moment Delphox got its paws on that Mega Stone, the race was run.

After starting this listicle, I realized that it might be a bit difficult, and to make it easy wrote a small optional list of possibles for people to choose. And yet, at no point did I or anyone else pick Kamek! Us, giant Nintendo fans, didn’t pick Bowser’s top tier Magikoopa! Now, is this because we were largely thinking of female witches and the less cartoony side of video games? I dunno, maybe? But it’s time to fix this omission and honor one of my absolute favorite Mario bad guys. Kamek’s got a magic wand, he flies on a broomstick, he transforms characters into ridiculous NPC Drivers; he even summoned a magic staircase in the movie. In general, the Magikoopa class is great between Kammy Koopa and Kamella, but no one has made me so excited to see as a DLC character in Mario Kart.

And hell, while we’re on this Nintendo train of thought, gotta mention Ashley, the witchiest and meanest employee of WarioWare Inc. She has a witch song! She’s got a put-upon devil as a familiar! But most of all, she has a perfect goth ennui that really distinguishes her as one of the most early-Aughts witches. She hates everything, complains a lot, secretly wishes she liked her mostly chill friends, and probably curses anyone who she sees listen to No Doubt or Third Eye Blind. Ashley rules.

…I do like No Doubt, to be clear.

NantenJex: If we’re talking video game witches, Gruntilda has to be mentioned. Witches are historically antagonists in literature and folk tales and the green faced, black-capped wicked witch of the Wizard of Oz is the archetypical witch design in the public zeitgeist. Gruntilda is THE video game representation of that design, complete with magic broom and cauldron. She changes design in every game but that initial version of her is the most popular to this day and if it wasn’t for the fact that the Banjo-Kazooie series is just non-existent outside of Nintendo callbacks at this point, I reckon she could’ve been one of the most iconic gaming antagonists of all time.

Speaking of Nintendo witches, I’ve always liked Twinrova from the Legend of Zelda series, also known as Koume and Kotake, when separated. As a franchise that’s wrapped in medieval fantasy, the presence of witches and wizards has been a part of the series since its inception, with the Wizzrobe enemy and Old Magic Ladies. While Syrup, and her apprentice/granddaughter Maple are the franchises first, and more explicitly designed, witches, Koume and Kotake were the first antagonistic witches that Link fought, which made these witches far more memorable. It helps that they play a bigger role lore wise, being the duo who raised the series iconic villain Ganondorf and being responsible for his revival as Ganon in the downfall timeline. As Ganondorf’s loyal wings, the two make frequent appearances across the series and cemented themselves positions as deuteragonists across the whole franchise. Any appearance from them is usually met with excitement from fans, and that easily justifies them as a favourite gaming witch.

I’ve spoken of two villainous witches so far, so let’s end this off with a playable witch. When we think of young, cute witches in media, Kiki’s Delivery Service likely comes to mind, and I would argue that the gaming equivalent of her is Cotton, star of the long-running Cotton series. A key title in the ‘cute-em up’ subgenre, Cotton debuted in 1991 in the SEGA arcade game Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams and her most recent game was the remake of Rainbow Cotton, a classic Dreamcast game, on Nintendo Switch. While she may not be as well known as the witches mentioned previously, I think she deserves making an appearance on this list of top gaming witches as one of the original playable witches in gaming.

Hamada: Not gonna lie, witches in games are a bit of a blind spot for me. I can name a few beyond those already mentioned here, but none I’m especially excited to talk about. So, if you don’t mind me breaking from the norm and discussing a game’s take on a non-game character, we’ll have something to work with. Marvel Rivals is crazy addicting, to the point I made a pastime out of reaching Lord status with as many heroes as possible. One of the later characters I reached that goal with was Scarlet Witch, someone I’d argue the shooter does right by. For one, she’s got some of the best visuals in the game, between her cool array of skins and MVP cutscenes. Moreover, her primary fire forgoes aiming, so it’s easy to pick her up and farm for deathmatch wins. That’s where I did most of her Lord grind, sparking all sorts of Wanda hate from my enemies along the way. Granted, her MCU showings post-Endgame did her no favors, but that’s why I’m glad she’s carved out a fun niche for herself in Rivals. Plus, she says “Chaos Control!” every now and then, and I think that’s neat.

On second thought, I’ve got one more in mind. If Deltarune’s latest chapters were the Switch 2’s first indie highlight, then Shovel Knight DLC filled that role for its predecessor. I loved playing through all the stories between Breath of the Wild sessions, and while the villainous Enchantress didn’t leave that big an impression at first, things got more interesting as the game quintupled in size. Specter of Torment sees her lording over my beloved Specter Knight, putting everything he loves in jeopardy to keep him in line. You’ll grow to hate her for it, which gives her some much-needed menace! Sure, fights with the spellcaster are commonplace, but a flashback also pits Specter against her un-brainwashed self, furthering his grudge. This is all to say, I think it’s funny how they started cooking with Enchantress in the prequels, even though we know she’s not long for this world. Regardless, I appreciated it, and it’s cool how the platform fighter mode even made her playable. Altogether, Yacht Club did a good job salvaging their first big bad. If nothing else, that pixelated laugh she picked up in SoT did much to cement her as a chilling, abhorrent she-devil!

Cart Boy: It’s potion time! I’ll be honest and admit that I’m still learning about the large, strange Puyo Puyo multiverse, as most of the series never came stateside. But I have seen enough to know that Arle’s bluntly-named frenemy, Witch, is neat. In a series populated with numerous mages and weirdos, it’s kinda refreshing when we face this broomstick-wielding lass. And while her somewhat dark, dreary dress implies a dark power, a genuinely sweet heart seems to beat underneath it: she does her best to help out the amnesiac Marle in a Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 side story, a gesture that sadly goes poorly…

Snazzy: Now, I couldn’t very well let a Halloween article go by without mentioning Castlevania. Before I dive into a specific witch from this franchise, however, I want to take some time to delve into the actual concept of witches in the world of gothic horror that is Castlevania. Witches in the series are simply classified as “female magic users”, and the vast majority of them appear as standard enemies in Dracula’s Castle. The most prominent, and “witchy”, literally fly around on broom sticks and fling spells at whichever Belmont, Dhampire, or heroic witch (I’m getting there!) you happen to be playing as. There are far more than just generic enemy witches in the games, though! I could go on and on about named witches from Castlevania, but suffice it to say that they come in both the “heroic” and “villainous” varieties. The hero witches are usually, but not always, part of a romani clan of mystics (called “Speakers” in the Netflix show but with no such designation in the games). The most prominent of these is, of course, Sypha Belnades. Sypha’s backstory in the games is a bit different than that of the TV show. She is still a powerful witch, and the Belnades (sometimes Fernandez) family make many appearances in the franchise. The big departure is that when she shows up in Castlevania III on the NES / Famicom she is actually an agent of the church. It seems that as a child her family was killed by vampires, and that the church gave her refuge. She is, in a very real sense, an instrument of God. Of course, she also has to go around disguised as a man to avoid being burned at the stake as a witch (a practice the church definitely had a hand in) so, you know, you take the good with the bad. Sypha is a glass cannon in her debut game, and she lays the groundwork for what the majority of the playable Castlevania witches would be like. She has powerful spells as her special abilities, as she is able to pull energy from the planet itself in order to unleash powerful elemental attacks. Her standard attacks, movement, and health are all pretty subpar as a tradeoff. Lorewise she ends up marrying Trevor and the magic strength the Belmonts have, from Juste to Richter, are a gift from her bloodline. So, yeah, Sypha rocks, and I can’t think of a better witch to add to this list.

Now, this list just scratches the surface. The canon of Western RPGs has given us icons like Yennifer, Morrigan, and Shadowheart. Ralsei from Deltarune, Tharja and Hubert from Fire Emblem, and the Black Mage from Final Fantasy are pretty great options, too. Scarlet Witch is far from the only magical superhero who’s jumped into video games. You could even pick Kingdom Hearts’ Yen Sid and Naminé… though, would you want to? Clearly, our selection is incomplete, so why don’t you tell us your favorite witch in the comments? And make sure to have a spooooooooky Halloween!