- "Bavmorda, who built mountains and toppled kingdoms—destroyed by this old woman with swollen joints and tattered robes. Her greatness humbles me."
- —Fin Raziel, about Ethna, in The Willow Sourcebook
Ethna was an elderly midwife who helped Elora Danan's mother while she was pregnant with Elora Danan.
However a prophecy said that a child will be born with a special birthmark, and this child will defeat the evil and tyrannic Queen Bavmorda. So Bavmorda checked every single child when he/she was born, and planned to destroy him/her if he or she wore the birthmark. When Elora was born, she wore the birthmark, and Bavmorda arrived to destroy her. However Ethna hid Elora on her mother's plead, and managed to escape Bavmorda without her realising. When Bavmorda realised that the child is gone,and figured out that that Ethna took her, she sent her daughter ,Sorsha, General Kael, and her terrible Death Dogs to find her. Ethna and Elora lived together for a long time in the wild, and Ethna loved Elora. However they always had to be cautios of Death Dogs. Once, Ethna was cooking above a fire when two Death Dogs found them. Ethna tried to escape with Elora near a river, but realised there is no escape. So she saved Elora by putting her onto a bunch of plants and mud and pushing her deep into the river so that it could take her away from the dogs. However this brave act was her last ,too- the Death Dogs caught up with her, overcame her and tore her apart.
Behind the scenes
In the 1988 movie Willow, Ethna was played by the English actress Zulema Dene.
Due to censorship, the scene in which Ethna is attacked by a pack of Death Wolves was cut form the UK release of the movie.[2]
Appearances
- Willow (First appearance)
- Willow: A Novel