Character Relationship Map: The Witches

Characters

• Gwen Mayfield (played by Joan Fontaine) — protagonist

  Gwen is an English schoolteacher who returns from Africa after a nervous breakdown caused by an attack by witch-doctors. At the village school, she investigates the danger surrounding Ronnie and Linda...

• Alan Bax (played by Alec McCowen) — supporting

  Alan is a wealthy man who runs the school in Heddaby while wearing a clerical collar for security, despite not being a minister. He supports Ronnie's education, allows Gwen to tutor him, and provides...

• Ronnie Dowsett (played by Martin Stephens) — supporting

  Ronnie is a gifted pupil and Linda's romantic companion. After giving Linda a male doll, he falls into a coma when the doll is found pinned and mutilated. He later recovers but is taken to Wales by hi...

• Linda Rigg (played by Ingrid Boulting) — supporting

  Linda is a schoolgirl who lives with her grandmother, Granny Rigg, and is romantically attached to Ronnie. The adults oppose their relationship, while the coven takes Linda for a ritual sacrifice as a...

• Dowsett (played by John Collin) — supporting

  Dowsett is Ronnie's father and opposes Alan's proposal to fund Ronnie's education at a prep school outside Heddaby. After Ronnie is removed from the village, Dowsett confronts Granny Rigg about the si...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Alan Bax → Ronnie Dowsett (Professional Educational Sponsor) — Alan seeks to advance Ronnie's education.

  Alan proposes to pay for Ronnie's stay at a prep school outside the village because Ronnie is a gifted pupil.

• Ronnie Dowsett → Linda Rigg (Romantic Young Lovers) — Their relationship motivates the adults' opposition and the occult plot.

  The plot describes a romance between Ronnie and Linda. Ronnie gives Linda a male doll as a mate for her female doll to represent them as a couple.

• Gwen Mayfield → Ronnie Dowsett (Professional Teacher And Pupil) — Gwen becomes Ronnie's teacher and private tutor.

  Gwen teaches Ronnie and volunteers to tutor him after Alan proposes sending him to a prep school outside the village.

• Gwen Mayfield → Alan Bax (Professional Employer And Employee) — Alan employs Gwen as the village schoolteacher.

  Alan hires Gwen as a schoolteacher at the school he runs in Heddaby. At the end, Gwen chooses to remain and work as a teacher for Alan.

• Dowsett → Ronnie Dowsett (Family Father) — Dowsett is Ronnie's father and influences his education.

  Ronnie's father opposes Alan's proposal to pay for Ronnie's stay at a prep school outside the village.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Gwen Mayfield → Dowsett (Social Concerned Teacher) — Gwen's concern for Ronnie brings her into contact with his father.

  Gwen investigates Ronnie's condition and asks Ronnie's family about his state after he falls into a coma.

• Dowsett → Alan Bax (Conflict Opposing Parent) — Dowsett resists Alan's educational plan for Ronnie.

  Alan proposes funding Ronnie's education outside Heddaby, but Ronnie's father is against the proposal.

• Gwen Mayfield → Linda Rigg (Alliance Protective Guardian) — Gwen becomes Linda's would-be rescuer.

  Gwen realizes that Linda may be intended as a virgin sacrifice and investigates after learning that the girl has been taken by the witches.

Story Analysis

A traumatized teacher confronts a village's occult conspiracy and disrupts a ritual sacrifice to save a young girl.

Plot Progression

1. A Teacher Enters Heddaby — Gwen returns from Africa and accepts Alan's teaching position in remote Heddaby. She encounters the village's unsettling traditions and the forbidden romance between Ronnie and Linda.
2. The Doll and the Coma — Ronnie gives Linda a male doll, but soon falls into a coma. The pinned and decapitated doll makes Gwen suspect that witchcraft is connected to the children's relationship.
3. Death at the Pond — Ronnie awakens and is taken away, while his father confronts Granny Rigg and is found drowned. Gwen connects the village's hostility with a possible plan to sacrifice Linda.
4. Broken Memory — An injury and an African totem trigger Gwen's second breakdown. Months later, a child's doll restores her memories and sends her back toward Heddaby.
5. The Defiled Sacrifice — Gwen discovers Linda at a ritual in the ruined church. By staining the ritual robe with her own blood, she turns the ceremony against its leader and saves Linda.