Elphaba Thropp (also known as the the Wicked Witch of the West) is the titular main protagonist of the 1995 fantasy novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and the 2003 Broadway musical adaptation Wicked.
She is portrayed by Cynthia Erivo in the 2024 film adaptation, who also played the Blue Fairy in the live-action remake of Disney's Pinocchio.
Character Conception
Elphaba was created by Gregory Maguire for his novel. The book chronicles her life and how she became the Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and 1939 MGM musical film version, The Wizard of Oz. Her appearance is based on Margaret Hamilton's portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West from the 1939 film.
Appearance
Elphaba has fluorescent green skin, black hair, and brown eyes. She also has razor sharp fangs similar to a dragon and a pointy chin. She also wears a black dress with a cloak and a black witch's hat.
Biography
Elphaba was born to Melena and The Wizard Oz. She was conceived after The Wizard gave Melena a green-colored drug which made her drowsy. The Wizard then raped her and she became pregnant with Elphaba. Because of the green drug, Elphaba was born with sharp fangs, fluorescent green skin, and an allergy to water. Melena and her husband Frexspar later had Nessarose. Nessarose was born with pink skin and without arms. Frex favored Nessarose over Elphaba, which had caused Elphaba to resent her.
As a young adult, Elphaba had attended Shiz University with Nessarose and Galinda Upland; who would become Glinda the Good. Elphaba later became best friends; with Galinda and a munchkin named Boq. She meets Fiyero, the Crown Prince of the Vinkus from the Winkie Country in the Western part of Oz, who later falls in love with her. It is also at this time that Elphaba meets Madame Morrible, a witch and the head of Crage Hall, the part of the university open to women and begins to hate her as Madame Morrible sent her Tik Tok robot to kill Docotor Dillamond, an anthropomorphic goat teacher. After meeting the Wizard, she becomes increasingly angered with the tyrannical and anti-sentient-animal policies the Wizard's regime has enforced.
Dropping out of Shiz, she moves into the Emerald City and meets up with Fiyero and they formed a relationship, despite Fiyero having married and being a family man. Fiyero is eventually killed by the Wizard's secret police after disregarding Elphaba's instructions to stay away from Corn Exchange where she is taking part in an operation for the resistance. Severely traumatized by her lover's murder, Elphaba makes her way to a nearby nunnery where she lapses into a stupor for a year.
While in this state, Elphaba gives birth to her and Fiyero's son, Liir. Later, she visits Fiyero's wife, Sarima, seeking forgiveness for her part in Fiyero's death. Sarima welcomes her and allows her to live at Fiyero's castle of Kiamo Ko in the Winkie Country. While living at Kiamo Ko, Elphaba discovers a spellbook called the Grimmerie in the attic of the castle. Using the limited amount of information that she can decipher from the cryptic book, she begins to practice witchcraft, becoming a witch in the process. The Wizard's Gale Forcers eventually capture Sarima and her family. Because Sarima can no longer provide the forgiveness she wants and Elphaba is left discontented before descending into madness.
After Nessarose is crushed by Dorothy Gale's house, Elphaba attends her sister's funeral, where she meets with Glinda, who is now a witch and known as the Good Witch of the North. The two are initially happy to be reunited, but it soon turned sour when Elphaba learns that Glinda has given Nessarose's shoes to Dorothy. Angered, Elphaba ends their friendship for good.
Sometime after returning to Kiamo Ko, Elphaba finds out that Dorothy, a lion, scarecrow, tin man, and her dog Toto are heading to Kiamo Ko. When the friends are almost at the castle, Elphaba, having convinced herself that Fiyero had survived and was now masquerading as the Scarecrow/his spirit is possessing the scarecrow she sends her dog named Killyjoy out to lead the friends to the castle. Dorothy and her friends misunderstand the group of dogs as attacking them and the Tin Woodman kills them. The Scarecrow somehow kills the crows Elphaba sends next. Elphaba then sends her bees, which are killed as well. With these failed attempts, Elphaba is forced to believe the Scarecrow is not Fiyero and is merely a sentient scarecrow.
When Dorothy arrives, she tells Elphaba that she has been sent to kill her by the Wizard and bring back the Grimmerie, but she herself came to apologize for killing her sister and asks Elphaba if she can use her magic to send her home as she knows Elphaba's status as a witch. However, this only infuriated Elphaba, who waves her now-burning broom in the air and accidentally sets her skirt on fire. Dorothy then throws a bucket of water on her to save her, not knowing of Elphaba's allergy. The water ultimately kills her, in; which she melted her away, leaving behind the green drug. Dorothy then returns to the Wizard; with it, causing the latter to realize that; Elphaba is his daughter. Rumors abound through Oz about what had happened to Dorothy; with a few actually believing that; she had returned to Kansas. The Wizard then leaves Oz forever and commits suicide. The book ends; with the implication that; Elphaba will return to life someday.
Trivia
- Elphaba's name is a pun on L. Frank Baum's name.
- In the musical and 2024 film, Elphaba's mother conceived her in a consensual affair with a traveling salesman, with her green complexion caused by a liquid narcotic her mother drank as an aphrodisiac and to get high.
- It was also implied that the drug may have given or at least enhanced Elphaba's magical power and talent.
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