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The Boy
The main character — a little orphaned, English boy of Norwegian descent.
- Adaptational Species Change: Sort of. In the book, he stays as a (sapient) mouse, but in the 1990 movie he turns back into a human.
- Character Narrator: The story is written from his perspective.
- Civilised Animal: In his mouse form, he can talk and is still sapient, but is incapable of walking on his hind legs. When he adjusts to his new life as a mouse, he also does typically human things such as brushing his teeth, albeit scaled down.
- Disappeared Dad: His father died in a car crash.
- Does Not Like Spam: Has stopped liking candy ever since he became a mouse.
- Kid Hero: He puts the witches' mouse-maker into the soup, turning them into mice, then decides to sic cats on them to kill them off. He also plans to do this to all the other countries in the world.
- Missing Mom: His mother died in the same car crash as his father.
- Named by the Adaptation: In the first movie, he is given a name: Luke.
- No Name Given: In the book, he is unnamed.
- The Pig-Pen: Invoked and exploited. He seldom takes a bath, so that witches won't smell him.
Grandmama
The boy's grandmother, who smokes cigars and is a retired "witchophile" (scientist who studies witches). They have an incredibly strong bond, and she adopts him after his parents die.
- Granny Classic: Zigzagged. She knits, loves her grandson, and tells stories, but the stories are scary, she's a retired scientist, and she's sassier than most stereotypical old ladies. In addition, she's the only old lady the boy knows who smokes cigars.
- Interspecies Adoption: Sort of. The boy was human when she became his legal guardian, but then he became a talking mouse and stayed in her custody.
- Needlework Is for Old People: Exploited. She knits, and she lowers the boy down to the Grand High Witch's balcony on her knitting wool.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Downplayed. She doesn't like witches; she hates them, but she does like to talk about them and she did study them in her youth.
- Noodle Incident: Played for drama— she has a missing thumb, and it's never revealed how she lost it, but we know it was so horrible she doesn't want to say and it's implied to have been related to witches, but never actually revealed. Likewise, she has met a witch once as a kid, and it's implied that she removed her thumb, but never stated.
- Unnamed Parent: Is the mother of the boy's also-unnamed mother and is only ever referred to has "Grandmama" or "my grandmother".
- Will Not Tell a Lie: She only ever lies when the boy's life depends on it, because she otherwise considers lying a sin due to her Christianity. This is what tips her grandson off that she's not making the witches up.
Grand High Witch
The leader of all the witches and the most evil witch of all, who wants to turn all the kids in the world into mice.
- Adaptational Badass: In the book, she is turned into a mouse like the others with little fanfare, being treated the same as the others. In the movies, she's strong enough to resist the effects via intense concentration in the 1990 version or she's smart enough to not drink it in time in the 2020 version. In either case, it's make her Big Bad status more apparent as the Final Boss and in both versions, unorthodox methods such as breaking her concentration via Bruno leaping on her to surprise her or the mice forcing her to drink the bottle via trickery.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: In the book, her wig, dress, and gloves are black, but in the 2020 movie, her wig is blonde, her gloves are pink, and her dress is red.
- The Archmage: She is the ruler of all the witches worldwide.
- Bad Boss: She makes it her priority to "fry" (i.e., kill with laser vision) at least one of her inferiors in every meeting, even if nobody did anything wrong.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Inverted. She's the most evil of the witches and also has an incredibly ugly face; so ugly that she must wear a mask. She's quite pretty with the mask on, but when she removes it, it's revealed to be either a rotting face similar to a corpse or an exaggerated version of an aged stereotypical witch face
- Child Hater: Being a witch, she combines this with Fantastic Racism — she hates human children with a passion due to them smelling of dog poop to all witches, and wants them all dead.
- Dark Is Evil: The most evil witch in the world, and in the book, her dress and wig are illustrated as black.
- Didn't Think This Through: She never considered the possibility that those turned into mice by her potion would not only be able to speak but sound just as they did before the Forced Transformation — which is exactly what happens and leads to her defeat.
- The Dreaded: Everyone who knows her fears her. Even her own underlings, upon whom she enforces this trope by killing at least one at every meeting so that they know who’s in charge.
- Even Evil Has Standards: While the Grand High Witch makes it a point to "fry" at least one witch at each meeting, she is shown to have some respect for the 'ancient ones' (witches over sixty years old) after their long service to her. During the meeting, she acknowledges that they are too old to acquire ingredients for Formula 86 themselves, and instead provides them with samples of the formula, telling the "ancient ones" that they have served her well for many years and she doesn't want to deprive them of the pleasure of wiping out so many children themselves.
- Everyone Calls Her "Barkeep": Only referred to by her title; her real name remains unknown.
- Evil Is Hammy: Is very loud and dramatic, and wants to kill all children.
- Evil Old Folks: It's heavily implied through her rotting corpse-like in the books/2020 version and the crone looks in the 1990 version that she she is much older than the rest of the witches. She's also the most zealous and sadistic in the pursuit of killing children.
- Fantastic Racism: Combined with Child Hater. She, like all witches, hates human children but in her case, it's so extreme that in the 90s version, she can't even say it more than a few times before she feels nauseous and refers to Luke as it when she wants him found/exterminated and wants to commit genocide on them, but has no problem with adult humans.
- Hoist by Her Own Petard: She (and the other witches) are all transformed into mice by the very potion she hoped to use on children.
- Irrational Hatred: Towards the children of the world, so much that she wants to eradicate all of them.
- Lack of Empathy: Her ultimate goal is to kill all children. While she doesn't hate adult humans the same way, she doesn't care at all if her actions cause their deaths, simply commenting that if any adult consumes the mouse formula then that's just too bad for them.
- Large Ham: Rolls all her "R"s, shouts a lot, and says ranty insults.
- The 2020 and 1990 versions are especially bombastic when in their true forms
- Masking the Deformity: The Grand High Witch of the World has a hideously deformed face that is covered by a beautiful woman mask.
- Nightmare Face: Under her mask is a face best described as a rotting corpse in the original book as well as implied in the 2020 adaptation. In the 1990 version, it's both less yet more nightmarish — an exaggerated version of a stereotypical crone face with an elongated nose and chin that are forced inwards to give the impression she's still a young woman.
- Obviously Evil: Initially averted as she looks like an elegant woman of small stature in the book or statuesque in the movies, but the moment she takes off her mask, the narrator instinctively knows that she must be the Grand High Witch.
- Our Liches Are Different: She may not have a phylactery, but is a very powerful spellcaster, who's described as looking like a rotting corpse in her true form.
- Speech Impediment: Pronounces her "W"s as "V"s.
- Rich Bitch: Exaggerated — she's "absolutely rolling in money" and is rumored to counterfeit money for herself, and she wants all the children in the world dead.
- Ugly All Along: When the Grand High Witch first appears, the Boy notes that she looks youthful and pretty. Then she removes her mask and it is revealed that she has a Nightmare Face underneath.
- Would Hurt a Child: Exaggerated. She wants all human children dead and has no qualms about directly killing them.
Bruno Jenkins
An obnoxious boy who eats a lot. He is the first victim of the Grand High Witch's delayed potion that turns children into mice.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: In the 1990 film. In the book, he's introduced in flashback burning ants with a magnifying glass For the Evulz. This was cut from the 1990 film, and he is also friendly to Luke when they first meet.
- Big Eater: The narrator boy claims that Bruno is eating something almost every time he sees him.
- Bratty Half-Pint: He burns ants with a magnifying glass and has an abrasive attitude, and he's about seven.
- Civilised Animal: Is turned into a sapient, talking, but still mouse-bodied, mouse.
- Fat Bastard: Downplayed for both the "fat" and the "bastard". He's a bit plump, but not obese, and he's mouthy and burns ants with a magnifying glass, but he's still decent deep down.
- Gasshole: Apparently farts so much he "sounds like a brass band" if he overeats.
- No Indoor Voice: Is described as having a loud voice.
- Sweet Tooth: Is shown eating chocolate and candy.
- Uncertain Doom: It's never revealed what happened to Bruno after the demise of the Witches in the hotel. However, there's this discussion:Grandmamma: I wonder what happened to that boy Bruno.
Boy: I wouldn't be surprised if his father gave him to the hall-porter to drown in the fire-bucket.
Grandmamma: I'm afraid you may be right.
The poor little thing.- In the 1990 film, the boy is turned back into a human by Grand High Witches’ assistant. As she is leaving, he yells for them to not forget Bruno, pretty much confirming that Bruno was or will be turned back into a human.
- Vocal Dissonance: Once he becomes a mouse, he still speaks with a loud voice.
Tropes That Apply to All Witches In General:
The Witches
- Always Chaotic Evil: In this setting, all witches are monstrous, sadistic child haters who essentially devote their entire lives to tormenting and killing as many children as possible, all because they don't like how they smell. Every time a Grand High Witch dies, another takes up the position of leadership, and the child-killing agenda has seemingly never ceased for hundreds of years, implying that Witches are simply naturally child-hating. While they don't seem to hate adults, they are also no better to them and will mess with them if they have the opportunity. The only aversion is Miss Irvine in the 1990's film adaptation, who undergoes a Heel–Face Turn.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The Grand High Witch is the most powerful of all, and incinerates any witch who dares to question her orders. It's mentioned that every time a Grand High Witch dies, another witch whose presumably just as powerful simply takes her place. It's all but directly told to us that most of the devotion the other witches have to her is through fear.
- Blue-Collar Warlock: They are spellcasting beings who blend in with people, though disguised.
- Humanoid Abomination: The Witches look vaguely like human women who are balding, toeless, and clawed, but they are really demons with blue spit, sharp teeth, magical abilities and a visceral hatred of children.
- Irrational Hatred: Towards the children of the world, because they smell bad to witches. Bizarrely, witches seem to treat children as if they are a separate species from their adult counterparts, and this hatred seems to die as children age. Considering their indifference towards adults, it's unclear whether witches would hate kids this much if they didn't smell so bad to them.
- Glamour Failure: All witches appear as normal women with gloves and hats, but they have telltale signs of not being human if one were to know what to look for:
- All Witches have huge cat-like claws instead of fingernails which they hide with gloves.
- All Witches are bald but wear wigs in public, developing wig rash from the coarse underside of their wigs.
- All Witches have very large, fluted nostrils and a highly developed sense of smell in order to sniff out children. Children smell like dog's droppings to them; if you don't wash very often, you can block the smell. This smell fades when you get older — presumably during puberty.
- All Witches have strange colour-changing pupils. If you get a chance to look at them long enough, you may see fire and ice dance in the center.
- All Witches have squared-off feet without toes; they squeeze their feet into pumps and high heels to conceal this, even though it causes them great discomfort.
- All Witches have blue saliva. If a woman has a faint bluish tint to her teeth, she may be a Witch.
- One-Gender Race: Every witch is female with no exceptions. The book notes that there are monsters that are all male, but that this story isn't about them.
- The Sociopath: This applies to all witches. All of them have a severe Lack of Empathy (which is kind of required to be on board with the whole kid-culling thing), but are also superficially charming and can appear perfectly kind, with the book even specifying that women who seem nice are more likely to be witches purely because they rely on deception. The witches not only want to kill kids, but greatly enjoy their suffering in a perverted sense. Witches don't even seem to be very loyal to each other beyond opportunism; the witches obey the Grand High Witch out of fear rather than loyalty to her cause, and some even appear gleeful when she violently destroys a witch who questions her, while others merely get out of the way to save themselves. The only moment of "kindness" we see is the Grand High Witch providing elderly witches with samples of the potion because they are too old to get the ingredients to make it themselves, but this comes across more as Pragmatic Villainy than anything else.
- Our Witches Are Different: These witches, beyond having the ability to cast spells and make potions, are more closely related to succubi or other demons than traditional witches, namely due to their sadism, biological quirks, and ludicrous hatred of children.
- Would Hurt a Child: Exaggerated to the max. Each and every witch makes it their personal hobby to hex a child at least once every week. The Grand High Witch herself takes it to another level, ordering a total genocide against all children by dooming them to be rodents exterminated by their own parents.
