Witch hat
| [ witch hat | |
|---|---|
| Appearance | wide-brimmed conical hat |
| Slot | helm |
| Base size | medium |
| AC | 0 |
| DR | 0 |
| MC | 2 |
| Magical item? | yes |
| Properties |
|
| Base price | 80 zm |
| Default weight | 4 |
| Base material | cloth |
A witch hat is a type of magical helm that appears in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack. It has a base material of cloth, and appears as a wide-brimmed conical hat when unidentified.
Generation
Witch hats are not randomly generated, though they can be wished for or found in bones.
Witches, apprentice witches, coven leaders, and the Good Neighbor are always generated with witch hats. Lilitu have a 1⁄6 chance of being generated with a cursed +4 witch hat.
Description
While worn, a witch hat grants 0 base AC, 0 DR and MC2, and wearing or removing a witch hat takes 1 action. As a wide-brimmed hat, wearing it grants protection from the acid rain monster spell.
Origin
Pointed hats have been a form of headgear for a wide range of cultures throughout history—conical hats of this type are known to have existed as early as the Bronze Age in the Middle East, Eurasia, and Central Europe, and are recorded in ancient Egypt.
A witch hat is a style of pointed hat worn by witches in popular culture depictions, characterized by a conical crown and a wide brim. The origins of the witch hat as displayed today are disputed:
- One theory is that the image arose from an antisemitic edict issues by the Fourth Council of the Lateran issued in 1215, which declared that all Jews must wear identifying headgear, a pointed cap known as a Judenhut; potentially, this style of hat then became associated with black magic, Satan-worship and other acts of which the Jews were accused.
- A similar theory posits that the image of the archetypal witch hat was born from anti-Quaker prejudice. Although the hats traditionally worn by Quakers themselves were not pointed, Quaker caps were a focus of cultural controversy, and it is conceivable that the Puritan backlash against Quakers in the mid-18th century contributed to hats becoming part of the iconography of the demonic.
- Yet another hypothesis proposes that witch hats originated as "alewife hats"—distinctive headgear worn by women who home-brewed beer for sale. According to this suggestion, these hats gained negative connotations when the brewing industry, dominated by men, accused alewives of selling diluted or tainted beer. In combination with the general suspicion that women with knowledge of herbology were working in an occult domain, the alewife hat could have become associated with witchcraft.
L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz featured illustrations that portrayed the Wicked Witch of the West sporting a tall, conical hat: this fashion accessory was carried over for the 1939 film adaptation, in which the Wicked Witch was played by character actress Margaret Hamilton, and has since become an iconic feature of witches in popular and modern media. Depending upon the material the hat is made from, the crown may regularly be observed in a flexed, bent or crumpled condition.
