Grandmother Willow

Grandmother Willow is a speaking willow tree from the film Pocahontas. She is the grandmother of Pocahontas and a very wise and comical character, similar to Rafiki from the previous Disney film The Lion King. She is voiced by actress Linda Hunt in both films.

Pocahontas
In the first film Pocahontas goes to Grandmother Willow telling her about her father wanting her to marry a serious warrior named Kocoum and how she had a dream about a spinning arrow that spins faster and faster until suddenly it stops. Grandmother Willow tells Pocahontas that the spinning arrow is pointing her down her path and that in order to find her path she must listen to the spirits of the wind (Listen With Your Heart). When Pocahontas hears the wind it tells her something is coming and when Pocahontas climbs up on Grandmother Willow she tells Grandmother Willow that she sees strange clouds (which are actually the sails of the Susan Content ship carrying John Smith and the settlers). Later on when John Smith first meets Pocahontas he asks her what her name is and at first she doesn't know until she listens with her heart (Listen With Your Heart-Reprise) and tells him her name is Pocahontas. Later when Pocahontas brings John Smith to the woods Grandmother Willow surprises him when she comes to life but after she tells Smith that he has a good soul and he's handsome too Smith likes her. Then two of Smith's settlers Ben and Lon come into the forrest looking for Smith but before they can spot him Grandmother Willow manages to trip them over with her branch and smack them in the butts with her vines. After Smith leaves Pocahontas asks Grandmother Willow if she thinks that he's the one the spinning arrow was pointing to to which Grandmother Willow thinks so. Later that night Pocahontas and John Smith both meet at Grandmother Willow's and tell eachother about the war that's fixing to happen between their people. Pocahontas tells Smith to come with her to talk to her father but Smith rejects until Grandmother Willow tells him that the right path sometimes the right path isn't the easist one and that only when the fighting stops can Pocahontas and Smith be together to which Smith agrees to go talk with Pocahontas' father and the two share a kiss with happiness. Then Kocoum appears and tries to kill Smith but another one of Smith's settler friends named Thomas comes and shoots Kocoum who dies. Smith takes the blame for Kocoum's death and is ordered to die at dawn. When Pocahontas tells Grandmother Willow the sad news Grandmother Willow tells her she has to stop them but Pocahontas says she can't and that she's followed the wrong path until her friend Meeko the racoon shows her John Smith's compass which has a spinning arrow on it and is the arrow from Pocahontas' dream and that it was pointing at Smith all along. Grandmother Willow tells Pocahontas to let the spirits of the Earth Guide her and to follow her path to which Pocahontas does and saves John Smith from being killed. But John Smith is later wounded by a gunshot from greedy Govenor Ratcliffe and must return to London if he is to survive. Pocahontas gives him some stuff from Grandmother Willow's bark which will help with the pain.

Pocahontas ll: Journey to a New World
In the second movie Pocahontas visits Grandmother Willow and tells her she's concered about crossing the salt waters and bringing to peace between the settlers and her people. Grandmother Willow tells Pocahontas to Listen to the spirit within again but when Pocahontas tries it doesn't work with the sound from the forest animals making too much noise. Later when Pocahontas is in London when she sees the trees she sings Grandmother Willow would just love these trees. Later when John Smith and John Rolfe over whether Pocahontas should stay in London or go back home Pocahontas goes into the woods alone and takes Grandmother Willow's advice again and listens to the spirit within again and decides to return home.