Cattery Spunge (almost always referred to as Nanny) is a character of The Wicked Years. She has worked for the Thropp family for years as she has nannied Melena Thropp and Melena's children, Elphaba, Nessarose, and Shell.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of The West[]
Nanny was apparently the nanny of Melena Thropp and taught her many things as a child. After Elphaba was born, Melena and Frexspar call on Nanny to help them raise Elphaba, and she often visits them. She is a devout worshiper of Lurline, which puts her in conflict with Frex. At Melena's request, she secures medicine (from Yackle) to prevent her second child from being born with green skin. After Nessarose's birth, she joins the family in Quadling Country, where she becomes a surrogate mother to the Thropp children after Melena dies. She becomes Nessarose's primary caretaker and lavishes her with affection.
When Ama Clutch is incapacitated, she takes up the role of Glinda and Elphaba's chaperone, bringing Nessarose with her. After Elphaba's flight from Shiz, she continues as Nessarose's caretaker until Nessarose gains the power to walk up right with no support, at which point Nanny leaves and makes her home with Elphaba at Kiamo Ko, a place she would remain for the rest of her life.
Son of a Witch[]
She and Liir have a brief conversation after he returns to Kiamo Ko to visit after deserting the military. It is revealed that she is being cared for by Chistery, the other flying monkeys, and brought food by local Arjiki peasants from Red Windmill. She is becoming very senile in the mind and the castle is in a bad condition, until Liir sets the castle right before leaving again. Nanny is visited again by Liir at the end of the novel, and is asked about Yackle.
A Lion Among Men[]
In a flashback, a middle-aged Nanny visits Yackle in the Emerald City to find something to prevent Melena Thropp from giving birth to a green child again (her first being Elphaba). Yackle provides Nanny with pills, however, the strange magic pills instead causes Nessarose, Melena's second child, to be born without arms and hardly able to support herself.
Nanny also gives Yackle the bottle of Miracle Elixir (which Melena was given by the Wizard), and Yackle predicts to Nanny that Melena's daughters will change the history of Oz.
Out of Oz[]
She is seen for the final time in the last book. She has a brief conversation with Rain, who she confuses for Elphaba. Nanny also refuses to tell Rain the truth about Elphaba’s death, stating that it’s not her business. Along with Chistery, Nanny tells Rain that she is the one who is meant to save everything, also granting her ownership of Kiamo Ko. By the end of the book, she speaks to Chistery and claims to have seen Elphaba on the stairs, though this was most likely Rain, who inherited her grandmother's green skin.
Personality[]
At the beginning of Wicked, she is described as being gossipy, unabashed, wise and colloquial. By the end of the book, she has aged to the point where she is very senile; she often eats things that are not food and doesn't notice when dangerous situations are around her. She is, however, still vital well into her eighties. Her attitude reflects this, as she is stoic, speaks her mind, and holds to somewhat inflammatory 'Lurlinistic' pagan beliefs. However, she regains enough mental strength to prevent Liir from seeing Elphaba's dead body, though she sinks back into her senility afterwards. In the sequels, she wanders in and out of senility, usually when others are addressing her.
She is also the only one to have witnessed the aftermath of Elphaba's death but refuses to reveal the truth.