Tiffany Aching: The Everyday, Solitary Hero

To this day, I have never read Harry Potter.* Or Percy Jackson, or The Lord of The Rings.

I know, shocking.

That just wasn't the kind of literature I loved as a kid. My favorite books were Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Betsy and Tacy, A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, Ballet Shoes, and The Penderwicks: stories of ordinary little girls, who were special in one or two ways, and whose lives revolved around their families and friends, who barely ever traveled out of their hometowns, and certainly didn't do magic. My favorite stories always took place in the past, and I remember being fascinated by the characters' everyday lives. For example, there's a scene in the book Betsy, Tacy, and Tib where Betsy and Tacy learn there is a new girl living down the street and use this newfangled thing called the telephone to say hello to her, and I remember just being so charmed by how they did things. Same goes for embroidery in Little Women and traveling in a covered wagon in the Little House books. I also remember being very interested in the characters' relationships to one another. In The Penderwicks, the sisters all have a particular niche they fill, and they act within that niche. Anne of Green Gables has her best friend Diana.

I simply wasn't interested in hero narratives, books about special chosen ones who had to save the whole planet from destruction. I think they probably stressed me out too much, or I found them unrelatable. After all, my life was primarily occupied with running around the streets of Urbana with my friends, and we never did anything heroic, just everyday things, like the characters in my favorite books.

The one exception to this rule was the book series that remains one of my favorites of all time: the Tiffany Aching books of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, namely The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, I Shall Wear Midnight, and The Shepherds Crown. I first heard them on audiobook on family vacations, when I was still too young to read them alone. It was something I shared with my whole family, especially my older brother. For the benefit of everyone, I'll give a short summary as best as I can.

• In The Wee Free Men, Tiffany Aching is a nine year old girl, who saves the world from the fairy queen with the help of a tiny race of blue men called the Nac Mac Feegle, and is discovered as a witch.
• A Hat Full of Sky follows 10-year-old Tiffany as she completes her first year as an apprentice witch. She has trouble fitting in, and ends up possessed by a creature called the Hiver, who promised she would be popular.
• Wintersmith skips ahead a few years, and now 13-year-old Tiffany accidentally enters a traditional dance and ends up with the god of winter in love with her. He causes an eternal winter because she rejects him. She actually defeats him by kissing him until he melts, which I have some problems with?
• In I Shall Wear Midnight, Tiffany is about 15 and has her own witch's cottage in her hometown. She faces prejudice there, which turns out to be the fault of the Cunning Man, a spirit that inspires hatred. She defeats him by officiating the wedding of her two friends and proving that compassion exists. 
• The last book, The Shepherd's Crown, sees a 17 year old Tiffany with two cottages, one in her hometown, the other was inherited from the most powerful witch on the Disc when she died. Tiffany struggles with burnout and can't keep up with all the work. Tiffany ends up training a young man named Geoffrey as the first male witch, and he takes over one of her houses. Also, the queen of the fairies is back but this time she's powerless and sad, and Tiffany has to show her compassion and defeat the person who usurped her.
• Throughout the series, Tiffany is accompanied by the Feegles, who are about 6 inches tall, blue (covered in blue tattoos) with red hair, constantly drunk, and who have a strong inclination towards fighting. They are absolutely hilarious. 
  
  Tiffany has many friends throughout the series, but the thing that I think really endeared me to her as a character is the fact that she fights all of her enemies alone, and is a total badass. I was also really drawn to Discworld's understanding of magic as an elevated version of everyday life-- witchcraft isn't spell casting, it's delivering babies and cutting old guy's toenails, growing herbs and settling neighborhood disputes. Yes, Tiffany has great power, but it all comes from her ability to tell stories, not from some god given talent, and she's more of a hard worker than anything else. Tiffany is something of a social outcast, but she finds her own way in life and gains respect. I saw myself in her arrogance and pedantry, as well as her work ethic and skill. She's great because the journey she goes on is both epic (involving elves and dragons and gods) and mundane. Every book leads back to a lesson about life, like the importance of being yourself, or not overworking, being open minded, or simply being clever. She doesn't boast, she just makes things happen, and, while she needs support and education, when it comes to the decisive moments, she is the boss and she doesn't rely on others for help. She's self sufficient, everyday, and when she has to fight evil spirits. When I go back and read those books today, I value how Tiffany is strong in solitude, and "speaks for them as has no voices."

*Actually, I think I read books 1-3 when I was like, 7, but I have no recollection of it. Runners up for foundational hero narratives for me were the Time Quintet series by Madeleine L'Engle and the Land of Elyon series by Patrick Carman. The points all pretty much stand.