| Mildred Hubble | |
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Species |
Witch |
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Gender |
Female |
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Hair Colour |
Dark Brown |
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Eye Colour |
Brown |
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Family |
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Occupation |
Student Witch |
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Actress |
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Mildred "Millie" Hubble is a witch, and a student af Cackle's Academy. She is a good-hearted, but bungling young witch-in-training, who never seems to get anything right. She is friends with Maud Moonshine and Enid Nightshade and has a strong rivalry with Ethel Hallow and Drusilla Paddock. It is Miss Hardbroom who calls Mildred ‘The Worst Witch’
Biography
Early Life
Mildred comes from a non-witch family and passed her entrance test to Cackle's mostly on account of her abundant imagination and her story about a three-headed giant, which greatly impressed the headmistress, Miss Cackle.[1]
Mildred’s parents, though non-magical, seem supportive of their daughter becoming a witch. According to the Telemovie, Mildred’s mother always wanted to be a witch, but she didn't have ‘the gift’.
Cackle’s Academy
On her first day at the Academy, Mildred broke her broomstick after crashing into some dustbins. She meets Maud Moonshine, Who becomes her best friend, when Maud rushed over to Mildred after she crashed her broomstick. When it comes time for the presentation of the kittens, Mildred is given a tabby cat instead of a normal black cat. Tabby, as Mildred calls him, is hopeless at flying on a broomstick, but very affectionate and cuddly.
Mildred with the Snails
On her first Halloween at Cackle's, Mildred saves the school from Agatha Cackle (Miss Cackle's twin sister) and her coven by turning them into snails. At the start of the next term, a new girl, Enid Nightshade, arrives at Cackle's, and after a series of misadventures, Enid becomes Mildred and Maud's new best friend.
At the end of Mildred’s first year, Agatha Cackle tries to take over the Academy again, but is foiled by Mildred, who puffifies, for which she earns a raise in her final grade from C-- to A+.
In her second year, Mildred is turned into a frog by Ethel Hallow after insulting her family. While she’s a frog, Mildred discovers Algernon Rowan-Webb, a Wizard who was turned into a frog years ago. Mildred saves Algernon from a life as a frog, and in return Algernon invites Mildred and her class to spend a week at his seaside home. Next Term, Mildred is given a normal black cat, Ebony, to replace Tabby, but she disobeys orders and brings Tabby with her to Algernon’s home at Grim Cove. She also discovers a legendary treasure chest on Cat's Head Rock. In the end, Mildred is allowed to keep Tabby.
Mildred with Tabby at the seaside
At the of Mildred’s second year, the Academy is nearly sold, leading to Mildred having her first ever conversation with Miss Hardbroom that doesn't involve her being in trouble. That night she calls all the students together and lets them know what's going on, and they manage to save the school.[2]
In her third year, Mildred once again saves the academy from the evil plots of Agatha Cackle who had sneaked into the school disguised as "Miss Granite". In the summer term, her holiday project is stolen by the treacherous and sneaky Ethel Hallow, who also gets her banned from Miss Mould's art lessons after being falsely accused of turning her pot into five rattlesnakes. However, Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom soon learn that Ethel was wrong after Mildred rescues her talking tortoise from a pine tree after Drusilla Paddock hid him there under Ethel's orders.
Mildred with Einstein the tortise
Mildred also discovers that she is a talented artist, and she has the ability to bring her drawings to life.[3] At the end of her third year, Mildred becomes Head Girl of the Academy.[4]
In her fourth year, Mildred is made Lantern Monitor. She sees a shooting star and makes a wish, which comes true when she finds a stray dog while on her lantern round. Mildred names the dog Star, and trains him to ride on her broomstick. At the same time, Cackle’s Academy enters a competition which to win a swimming pool; they compete against Pentangle's Academy and Moonridge High School. Each school must put on an act, and three judges will choose the winner; Cackle’s act is a broomstick ballet.
On the morning of the competition, Mildred has an altercation with Ethel which results in the ballet costumes being destroyed, but Maud and Enid have an idea: They suggest that Mildred and Star could perform their broomstick tricks, as a replacement for the ballet. The judges consider the act unusual, but declare Mildred and Star as the winners! Miss Cackle says she was impressed by Mildred's performance, and allows her to keep Star, and to use him as her Broomstick Companion; she is allowed to keep Tabby as well.[5]
Weirdsister College
After several years at Miss Cackle's Academy, Mildred's artistic talent- she can bring drawings to life- gains her admission to Weirdsister College, a magical University in Cambridge, where she seems to improve in her skills as well as meet up with Ethel again; the two eventually learn to get on better. Mildred also makes a new friend, Cas Crowfeather. Early on, she cuts off her plaits after being cheated on by Nick Hobbes and Cas remarked them as being child-like.
Mildred with Ethel and Cas at Weirdsister
Dr Starfinder is impressedwith Mildred’s talent, and determines to make use of her in his experiments, but when they mess with her beloved cat Tabby, she refuses to help any more.
She gets a job at the local cafe Misery's and falls for Ben Stemson, a non-magical boy whose mum owns the cafe. However, he doesn't like the idea of magic, and this nearly splits them up, but when she chooses him over Hobbes, he is won over. At the end of her first year at Weirdsister, Mildred helps save the college and the world from imploding.[6]
Later Life
Mildred becomes an accomplished and successful witch, and is seen escorting her younger cousin Henrietta on her first day at Cackle's Academy. Mildred learns to Materialize like Miss Hardbroom.[7] Jill Murphy Says: “I would say that she decides that she doesn’t want to do anything witchy at all, so she works in an animal shelter, and now and then she does magic things that nobody realises. Perhaps you’ve even met her without realising.”[8]
Mildred with her cousin Hettie
Physical Appearance
Mildred is tall and thin and has long, waist-length, dark brown hair which she wears in two messy pigtails. She is tall and gangly, with long, straggly dark plaits, and frequently fails to tie her bootlaces.
In The Worst Witch Saves the Day, Mildred has what Miss Hardbroom calls "a bad hair day", after borrowing Maud's styling brush and getting her hair tangled in it. Ethel chops off the styling brush but then cuts off all of Mildred's hair to hide it. In a false attempt at kindness, Ethel gave Mildred a hair-growth potion which, unfortunately, makes Mildred's hair grow so long and so fast that it practically engulfs the whole school.
When she arrives at Weirdsister, Mildred still has her pigtails and dorky dress sense; She cuts her hair and Cas takes her out to buy some new clothes.
Personality and Traits
Creating havoc wherever she goes, mixing up spells and potions, Mildred is a walking disaster area, frequently destroying the potion lab and often on the brink of bringing utter peril upon the school. Yet, with the help of her good friends Maud, Enid, Jadu and Ruby she manages to prevent disaster just in time.
She means well and tries very hard, but she is adventurous and impulsive, meaning she often gets into trouble with her teachers - most notably with Miss Hardbroom, who prefers zealous, hardworking pupils like Ethel Hallow. But as she has this knack of saving the teachers, the pupils and sometimes the whole academy from utter destruction, she always escapes getting expelled.
Mildred Flying
Even on her first day at Weirdsister she is getting herself into trouble. She is the last one to arrive, and on a broomstick too (not really sensible since Cambridge is populated with a lot of non-magical people). She gets a telling off by the Beetle. At Weirdsister, Mildred is still very trusting and naive, and as soon as she gets to Weirdsister she realises that she needs to grow up when Nick Hobbes and Ethel take advantage of her. Mildred has very little self-confidence and is afraid of heights and the dark.
Although her Mathematics and Science skills leave much to be desired, Mildred is tenacious and channels her creative energy into her quest to become an accomplished witch.
Mildred loves animals; her cat, Tabby, is the only cat in the school that isn’t black (they 'ran out of black ones' when handing out cats). Mildred is nevertheless very fond of him, enjoying cuddling up to him in bed, and even risking expulsion to take him with her on holiday after she is forced to give him up in The Worst Witch All at Sea. She also has three bats in her room, which she has named Winky, Blinky and Nod. Mildred also has a turtle named Einstein, and a dog named Star.
Abilites and Skills
Mildred is creative, and is talented in creative writing and art. While she is hopeless at passing exams smoothly and attending lessions without making major mistakes, Mildred has a distinct talent for drawing and painting - which will finally help her to pass the entrance exams to Weirdsister College in Cambridge. This talent manifests in quite a magic way – she can make her drawings come to life.
Mildred Drawing
Mildred used to take art at her junior school, but her art teacher used to look over her shoulder and criticize her the whole time. She was so nervous that she couldn't start anything until the end of class, and then it was too late.[9]
When Mildred uses magic against Ethel in Cinderella in Boots, her hands and fingers are in the same style as Miss Hardbroom uses to cast spells- pointing with the index finger and little finger. Mildred ends up an accomplished and successful witch, and learns to appear and disappear like Miss Hardbroom. She is first seen to disappear this way in the Weirdsister College episode "The Seventh Sense".
Mildred gradually improves over her years at Cackles, by her third year she can cast non-verbal spells, and she becomes a reasonable flier.
Relationships
She is best friends with Maud Moonshine and Enid Nightshade, and is also friends with Jadu Wali and Ruby Cherrytree. Ethel Hallow, backed up by her sidekick, Drusilla Paddock, takes a disliking to Millie right away. The pair of them tries very hard to
Mildred and Maud
get her thrown out - but as she has this knack of saving the teachers, the pupils and sometimes the whole academy from utter destruction, she always escapes getting expelled. At Weirdsister, Millie discovers that her arch-enemy Ethel is her room-mate, however they eventually manage to settle their differences. At Weirdsister, Mildred also makes friends with Cas Crowfeather.
Mildred with Maud and Enid
Boys in general (including Charlie Blossom and Merlin Langstaff) tend to fancy Mildred - though while at school she never seems to know what to do with them when they fall for her. Even Baz and Gaz are shown to fancy Millie under the influence of a truth potion. At Weirdsister, Millie is attracted to both Nick Hobbes and Ben Stemson, but ends up choosing Ben.
Miss Hardbroom took a particular disliking to Mildred at first sight - It is Miss Hardbroom who gives Mildred the title of "the worst witch in the school." This used to be quite mutual. However, getting acquainted with each other and actually saving each other´s life now and then, both grudgingly had to learn (though not to admit) that each of them has her strong points - which results in a kind of love-hate relationship. Still, Miss Hardbroom relishes in yelling at Mildred and her friends and approving smiles are very thin on the ground with her.
Trivia
- Mildred’s parents’ address can be seen in the episode The Uninvited, on the expulsion letter envelope. See this Image
- Along with Miss Constance Hardbroom and Deirdre Swoop, she is one of only three characters to appear in all three television series.
- Mildred Hubble’s name in other languages:
French: Amandine Malabul
German: Mildred Hoppelt - Mildred Hopping
Dutch: Merel Hobbel - Merel Bump
Latin-American: Mildred Embrollo, In Spanish, "embrollo" means "imbroglio" or "tangle"
Czech: Mildred Virválová
Appearances
- The Worst Witch (Book)
- The Worst Witch Strikes Again
- A Bad Spell For The Worst Witch
- The Worst Witch All At Sea
- The Worst Witch Saves The Day
- The Worst Witch To The Rescue
- The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star
- The Worst Witch (TV Series)
- Weirdsister College (TV Series)
- The New Worst Witch (Give a Witch a Bad Name)
- The Worst Witch (1986 Telemovie)