The Wicked Witch of the West is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum as the most significant antagonist in his classic children's novel.
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The most likely historical explanation of Baum making water the Achilles Heel of these bad witches is the long held belief amongst major religions that water, which is used in holy rituals such as Baptisms can effectively purify the soul. Thus, destroying soulless witches. A faithful illustration of the Wicked Witch of West's yellow Winkie castle as described in Baum's book from Interestingly, in Baum's original book of , it is said the Wicked Witch lives in a yellow castle that is beautiful.
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Her home is described as consisting of long hallways carpeted with yellow velvet rugs, yellow silken draperies are placed at the castle windows and attractive yellow antiques and decor decorated nearly every room. It is indeed a luxurious setting instead of being the sinister fortress of medieval darkness shown in the movie. Originally, the Wicked Witch of the West was not related to the Wicked Witch of the East , but leagued together with her, as well as the Wicked Witch of the South and the Wicked Wich of the North known as simply " Mombi ", to conquer the Land of Oz and divide it among themselves in four sections, long before the Wizard arrived, or even Glinda the Good surfaced.
This is recounted in L. Here, the Wicked Witch of the West shows no interest in the death of the Eastern Witch, and all she cares about is obtaining her magical Silver Shoes which will increase her own evil powers. She knows the shoes will help her in her task to successfully win her battles and ruthlessly dominate or enslave more of the Ozians who are forced to work for her and obey her every command. When the Winkies fail her, we are told she "beat them well with a strap. Perhaps she was working on a way to defy the Wizard.
Some Oz fans also have suggested the idea that she cast an anti-rain spell upon the Winkie Country to stop any water to fall near her territory, as the land of the Winkies was a desolate and dry place with a harsh climate during her reign. Denslow 's illustrations for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz depict her as a gaudy old hag with three braided pigtails and an eye-patch. Frank Baum himself specified that she only had one eye, but that it " was as strong and powerful as a telescope ", enabling her to see what was happening in her kingdom from her castle windows, no matter the distance.
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Other Oz illustrators, such as Paul Granger, placed her eye in the center of her forehead, as a cyclops. Usually, she is shown wearing an eye patch, however some illustrations incorrectly show her with two eyes instead of just one. Most of her power resides in the creatures she controls that do her dirty work. She has a pack of hungry, wild wolves, a swarm of black killer bees, a flock of black crows with sharp beaks to peak put the eyes of their targets and an army of male Winkies who are her slaves.
In the book she also possesses the enchanted Golden Cap encrusted with real rubies and diamonds that run across its 24 Karat gold brim. This special cap compelles the creatures called Winged Monkeys of Oz to obey her on three occasions when she speaks the caps incantation. First, the witch commanded the creatures to help her enslave the Winkies and to seize control of the western section of Oz. Second, she made the winged monkeys drive the Wizard out of the Winkie Country, when he became the dominant ruler and even attempted to overthrow her but was unsuccessful.
When Dorothy Gale and her three companions were sent by the Wizard to destroy her, in exchange for their wishes to be granted, the Wicked Witch saw them coming, gradually approaching her castle. Though they were a long distance off, she was very angry to see trespassers on her territory.
So, in defense she immediately attacked the wandering group with her pack of wolves, crows, black bees, and her group of Winkie slaves. Each of these attempts were thwarted, but the protagonists are eventually subdued by the Wicked Witch's third and final permitted use of the Golden Cap. In the book Baum siad that she "destroyed" anyone who had ever attempted to challenge her other than the Wizard.
Yet interestingly, in Baum's book the Wicked Witch could not directly kill Dorothy because the girl was protected by the Good Witch of the North 's magical kiss upon her forehead. She therefore settles for enslaving Dorothy like the rest of the Winkies and tries to force the Cowardly Lion into submission by starving him, though Baum states that Dorothy sneaks him food in the evening during their captivity. Upon seeing the magical Silver Shoes on the girl's feet, the Wicked Witch of the West decided to formulate a plan to successfully steal them from Dorothy and thereby acquire even more power.
The Wicked Witch of the West did not carry a broom in the novel, but rather an umbrella, which she uses on one occasion to strike Dorothy's dog Toto to install fear within the girl. The Umbrella makes a lot more sense than a broomstick because it was also probably used to protect and shield herself against any water attacks. Though no one knows that she is allergic to water. Her nature is a self entitled one and yet somewhat slightly cowardly.
Despite her immense power, she avoids face-to-face contact with her enemies, and is frightened of Dorothy at first when she sees the girl is wearing the magic Silver Shoes. She is also afraid of the dark in Baum's original story for reasons never revealed. For that reason, the witch never tried to steal the shoes while Dorothy was sleeping in her chamber cell during the dark night. Despite her fear of water and the dark, the Wicked Witch of the West was one of the most powerful witches in all of Oz.
In ensuing Oz books, her power is described as having been so great that even Glinda the Good Witch of the South secretly feared her at one point. When the witch finally does succeed in getting a hold of one of the shoes by making Dorothy trip over an invisible bar she had placed a few inches above the kitchen floor, she immediately puts the shoe on her own foot, telling Dorothy she now has half of the pairs power.
Wicked (Maguire novel) - Wikipedia
Seeing she had been tricked, Dorothy demanded that the witch give her back the shoe. When the Wicked Witch refused to hand it over, the little girl dashed a bucket of water onto the Wicked Witch in a fit of rage, soaking her from head to foot. To Dorothy's surprise, the water caused the witch to dissolve away like "brown sugar".
Afterwards, Dorothy retrieved her shoe back, as it was the only solid thing left of the woman who had become nothing more than a puddle upon the floor. It is stated in Baum's book that the Wicked Witch of the West was so very old and Wicked that all the blood in her body dried up long before The Wonderful Wizard of Oz takes place. And when she finally comes into contact with water, it burns her skin like acid and she dissolves into a puddle on the floor. Baum described it as " melting away like brown sugar. The feet of the dead Wicked Witch had disappeared entirely and nothing was left but the Silver Shoes.
The Good Witch of the North explains that "She was so old that she dried up quickly in the sun. But when water touched her skin, her old withered body began to break down due to exposure to the H 2 O moisture, as did exposure to sunlight to the one of the East, each cell soaking up the water like a sponge and pulling away from the rest of her body until there was nothing left to pull away from.
However horrible it was; it was a quick death nonetheless, and everyone in Oz could breathe a sigh of relief when her evil reign came to an end and she was finally gone for good. When she appears as the Wicked Witch in Oz named as Angela, her portrayal introduces green boogeyman skin to the character.
Hamilton's characterization is the most iconic and popular version of Oz's main villain. She is an evil, fat, greedy tyrant, similar to the one in the original book. But unlike Baum's Wicked Witch, in the Wiz Evillene believes she is beautiful, even though she actually is very ugly, with terrible taste in clothes. But her Winkie slaves call her beautiful only because they know that's what she wants to hear. In the broadway version she wears elaborate dresses and lives in a dark castle with the Winkies slaving away and is always in a bad mood.
She is killed when Dorothy throws a bucket of water at her, causing her to melt away. In the movie adaptation, her character is slightly more interesting. Here, she lives in an underground castle located in Oz's sewer system where she also runs a sweatshop where her Winkie slaves are forced to work non-stop with no lunch hours or breaks.
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And she sits on a giant, dirty toilet seat she has turned into a throne. In the movie she wakes up at noon to watch over her slaves and will kill anyone who is not working hard. She is dressed in a big red dress with many tacky or gaudy items glued or sewn into it, such as dog toys, antique jewelry and other small, random pieces. Doctor Dillamond's fear that Animal discrimination is becoming widespread appears affirmed when Madame Morrible , the Headmistress of Crage Hall at Shiz University, holds a poetry soiree that becomes a forum for her to spread propaganda against them.
Elphaba is drawn to the Animal rights movement early on; she later becomes Doctor Dillamond's secretary and lab assistant. As she revolts against her father's faith, she develops a deep passion for Dillamond's growing movement against the new government regime. Dillamond becomes something of a mentor for her. He represents everything her father despises, and she forms a bond with him that is closer than to anyone she has previously met.
Elphaba becomes friends with Boq, the son of the Munchkin mayor from her hometown, who has a crush on Galinda. Galinda is a tall Gillikinese and he is a short Munchkinlander, so she rebuffed him. He hopes his friendship with Elphaba will bring him closer to Galinda. But he becomes involved in Elphaba and Doctor Dillamond's cause.
Their friendship is shaken, when Doctor Dillamond is murdered while on the verge of a great discovery about the genetic similarities between humans and Animals. Galinda's chaperone Ama Clutch sees the servant Grommetik kill Dillamond, but she is magicked into a false stupor to keep her quiet. Galinda is wracked with guilt over Ama Clutch's condition. Galinda adopts Dillamond's mispronunciation of her name, Glinda , to memorialize him and throws herself into her studies. Through Madame Morrible's manipulation, Glinda decides to study Sorcery.
Boq's crush on Glinda eventually subsides, and she, Boq, Elphaba become close friends. They also befriend a Vinkus Prince named Fiyero , a quiet boy who is new to Shiz and draws attention by his strange customs and blue diamond tattoos all across his body. Elphaba's sister Nessarose is also called to Shiz, ostensibly to accompany Nanny, who will serve as the new chaperone for Glinda and Elphaba.
Frex sends his favorite child the "back-to-school" gift of a pair of shoes covered with hand-blown glass beads. Meanwhile, Elphaba secretly carries on Dillamond's research. Clutch's condition gradually deteriorates and, when it is clear that she is about to die, Glinda tries to use magic to save her. Clutch tells Glinda that she saw Grommetik kill Dillamond, which he could have done only on the order of Madame Morrible, the puppet of the Wizard of Oz. No one is sent west, to Winkie Country , because few people live there. While Elphaba is reluctant, Glinda believes this is a chance at an aristocratic life.
When they try to discuss the situation with one another, they find they cannot: Unwilling to remain silent, Elphaba decides that something must be done.
However, the Wizard of Oz dismisses their concerns out of hand and Glinda and Elphaba have no legal choice but to return to Shiz. Elphaba stays behind and sends Glinda back alone saying that she cannot see her again. She has decided to take matters into her own hands. Almost five years have passed since Elphaba has seen Glinda , Boq , or any of her other friends from college and she now lives in the Emerald City, secretly involved in the movement to help free the Animals and get rid of the Wizard of Oz.
Fiyero, now a Prince with three children, comes to the Emerald City to settle business with politicians. He encounters Elphaba in front of a shrine to St. Glinda, and though Elphaba at first denies being the girl he once knew from Shiz and evades Fiyero, she eventually gives in when he follows her home. After this, they start to reconnect. He discovers she has started to take up magic, and tells her that Nessa has taken a class in sorcery, Glinda is now a sorceress and that they miss Elphaba. She and Fiyero begin to have an illicit love affair, and he neglects his wife Sarima and his children, Irji, Manek and Nor for his fear of losing her.
The two lovers are at peace, and despite their occasionally conflicting personalities, Elphaba is actually happy with her life for once. Her life changes the night she sets out to finally fulfill her task: Fiyero follows her, but she cannot complete her task due to a group of children interfering with Elphaba's line of fire.
He returns to her apartment to wait for her, where the Gale Force, the Wizard's secret police force who are looking for Elphaba, attack him. He is kidnapped, hauled away and assumed murdered. Elphaba escapes from the City, and takes refuge in a mauntery something like a convent , where she meets an elderly woman named Yackle, formerly the dame of the Philosophy Club and the crone who produced the unsuccessful curing potion for Elphaba's skin condition which resulted in Nessarose's physical ailment.
Yackle takes the now homeless Elphaba, turned mute from grief after Fiyero's murder, under her wing. Having been unconscious for almost a year and mute for six more, Elphaba goes to the Vinkus , where Fiyero was prince, and meets his wife and children. Elphaba brings along a boy named Liir , to whom she claims no relation, and stays at the castle Kiamo Ko for a year and a half or so. She attempts to tell Sarima, Fiyero 's wife, of their affair but Sarima refuses to talk about her late husband.
Elphaba and Liir unexpectedly become a part of Fiyero's family and are joined by Nanny after some time. While staying at the castle Elphaba also discovers a mysterious book of spells that she calls a ' Grimmerie. The Grimmerie is suggested to have been written in English, revealing that one of her ancestors was a human from Earth.
Manek, one of Sarima's sons, convinces Liir to hide in a well during a game of hide and seek and leaves him there. Liir nearly dies, and Elphaba's anger at Manek makes an icicle fall on him which penetrates Manek's skull thereby killing him. The experience makes Elphaba realize that she has motherly feelings for Liir, but her newfound warmth is not reciprocated. Liir claims that while in the well a Fish hinted to be Madame Morrible once again told him he was Fiyero's son, confirming suspicions that Liir is the son of Elphaba and Fiyero.
Sarima becomes upset and grieves, and the family starts to fall apart. Elphaba gets a letter from her father Frex, asking her to come help him with Nessarose , who has taken Elphaba's position of Eminent Thropp of Munchkinland. When she arrives, he asks her to help him talk to Nessa, whom Elphaba discovers has become a witch , who she accidentally labels the Wicked Witch of the East.
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During a discussion with Frex, Elphaba learns that there is a very high chance neither she nor Nessarose are the daughters of Frex, leaving Elphaba more hurt than confused after Frex claims that he loves Nessarose more simply because she was the living proof there was a single good thing in the world and that even if she was Turtle Heart's daughter, he loved her even more because of it.
Elphaba leaves after Nessa promises to give Elphaba the infamous silver shoes after she dies Glinda enchanted them to allow her to walk without help. When she returns to Kiamo Ko, she finds everyone gone except Nanny. Nanny explains that the soldiers who were staying in the house took everyone because Nor let slip that Elphaba was not there to protect the household.
The villagers and the previous residents of the house hope that she will rescue them. Elphaba vows to do everything in her power to get the family back. Seven years later, a storm visits Munchkinland, dropping a farmhouse on Nessa, killing her. The farmhouse's passengers are a little girl named Dorothy Gale and her dog, Toto. Glinda, who was nearby, sends Dorothy off with Nessa's shoes for fear of their power igniting a civil war in Munchkinland, as well as to ensure Dorothy's safety.
She sent Dorothy to the Wizard in hopes that he will send her back to Kansas.
Elphaba comes to the funeral for Nessa. Elphaba and Glinda rejoice at seeing each other after more than a decade. The two talk of their titles and catch up. When Glinda tells Elphaba that she gave Nessa's shoes to Dorothy, Elphaba becomes furious with Glinda, as they were rightfully hers. She is then forced into a meeting with the Wizard to bargain for the release of Nor, whom Elphaba is told is the last survivor of Fiyero's family. He reveals, after seeing a ripped page from the Grimmerie that the reason he is in Oz is to acquire the Grimmerie and learn the magic within, citing that only he could read some of its foreign pages.
Elphaba refuses to part with it without Nor. The Wizard, however, refuses to make any agreements. On her way back to Kiamo Ko, Elphaba stops at Shiz to kill Madame Morrible, the task she had been trying to complete the night of Fiyero's murder. She bashes in her skull with her broom; however, it is revealed that Madame Morrible had died only minutes before Elphaba came to murder her.
Regardless, Elphaba decides to claim to have committed the murder and confesses to Avaric, an old schoolmate, so that she will get the credit when the news spreads. She comes upon the Clock of the Time Dragon, which puts on a special show for her: The dwarf running it also found working with Yackle in the Philosophy Club claims to be not of this world, and remarks that Yackle is also not what she seems.
Elphaba, who is drunk at the time, dismisses the scene, simply because she does not wish to believe it as it renders her entire life's work all for nothing. Some time after returning to Kiamo Ko, Elphaba finds out that Dorothy and a few friends are heading to Kiamo Ko, apparently to kill her under the Wizard's orders. When the friends are almost at the castle, Elphaba, having convinced herself that her beloved Fiyero had survived his encounter with the Gale Force and was now masquerading as the Scarecrow , sends her dog Killyjoy out to lead the friends to the castle.
Dorothy and her friends misunderstand the group of dogs howling toward them and the Tin Woodman kills the dogs. The Scarecrow somehow kills the crows Elphaba sends next. Elphaba then sends her bees, which are killed as well, and Elphaba is forced to believe the Scarecrow is what he seems: With all her pets gone, the shock of this revelation only serves to further unhinge her. When Dorothy arrives, she tells Elphaba that the Wizard did indeed send her to kill the witch, but Dorothy herself came to apologize for killing her sister.
Furious that Dorothy is asking for the forgiveness when Elphaba has never received absolution for her own perceived sins, Elphaba waves her now-burning broom in the air and inadvertently sets her skirt on fire.