Wicked by Gregory Maguire - Recaptains

The basics

Title: Wicked

Author: Gregory Maguire

Series: The Wicked Years #1

- Wicked (1995)
- Son of a Witch (2005)
- A Lion Among Men (2008)
- Out of Oz (2011)

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Goodreads Summary:

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil? Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

Here is a spoiler summary of what happened in Wicked by Gregory Maguire to help refresh your memory before you read the sequels or watch the new movie. If you need help remembering what happened in Wickedthen you’re in the right place.

What happened in Wicked?

• Prologue: The Wicked Witch of the West witnesses the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Lion telling a little girl that the witch is a bunch of things that she isn’t. I’m not going to repeat them here because they’re really quite mean.
• Melena is heavily pregnant with her and her husband’s first child. Her husband, Frex, hopes Melena doesn’t give birth soon because he has important work things to do. Melena isn’t happy with the way Frex is prioritising things.
• Frex needs to go away for work, leaving a woman to look after Melena.
• Frex is warned by a cousin that the Clock of the Time Dragon carries sin and chaos. It stopped in a nearby town and pointed at three people during a puppet show. The townspeople turned against these people and the daughter Letta disappeared.
• The Clock arrives in town. There’s a puppet show that tells the story of a man who hid gems and riches while preaching about living a simple life. The puppet that looks like Frex gets stabbed, and Frex is assaulted. A woman hides him in her cellar.
• Melena goes into labour while a mob is searching for her. Melena gives birth inside the Clock. The baby comes out green. It also bites off the midwife’s finger.
• The baby is named Elphaba.
• Frex thinks Elphaba’s skin is green because of something to do with the devil. Melena admits that she might have had affairs, although she isn’t sure. She says one man who was passing through town gave her a bottle of something green, some sort of elixir.
• Melena tries to bleach Elphaba’s skin to a normal colour.
• Frex tries to perform an exorcism on Elphaba.
• Over the years, Melena turns to alcohol. A man shows up while Frex is away. His name is Turtle Heart, a Quadling of a lower class to Melena’s family. He plays with Elphaba a bit and then he and Melena sleep together.
• Frex returns and asks Turtle Heart about his religion, but Turtle Heart doesn’t understand the question.
• Nanny discusses Melena’s affair, and Melena admits that she loves Turtle Heart.
• Melena sends Elphaba to day care.
• Melena asks Turtle Heart why he left his home and he tells her there were horrors there. Elphaba’s first word is “horrors”.
• Turtle Heart reveals that he plans to go to the Emerald City to negotiate a better life for the Quadlings.
• Melena becomes pregnant, and isn’t sure who the father is.
• Galinda hops on a train to Shiz and meets a goat called Doctor Dillamond, who is a professor at the university. He asks Galinda about her thoughts on animal rights, because there’s a new law being put through to ban animals from riding on trains. Galinda isn’t interested in this conversation.
• Galinda meets Madame Morrible, the headmistress of the university.
• Galinda is made to live in a dorm, which is not what she was expecting. She argues, and is only given one roommate.
• Madame Morrible introduces Galinda to Elphaba. Galinda isn’t sure what to think of Elphaba’s green skin but she really admires her hair.
• The other girls start to spread rumours about Elphaba and her family.
• Elphaba and Galinda discuss Elphaba’s family a little, and Elphaba tells Galinda about her father.
• Madame Morrible hosts a poetry night and invites the boys from a nearby university. The poem states that animals should be seen and not heard.
• A man called Boq from Munchkinland introduces himself to Elphaba. He knew her when he was a child.
• Madame Morrible encourages Galinda to study sorcery in order to move out of the dorm she shares with Elphaba, especially because Elphaba’s sister will join the university next year and Galinda will want to avoid her.
• Boq goes looking for Galinda but bumps into Elphaba instead. Elphaba teases him.
• Galinda shoots Boq down when he admits he likes her.
• Boq reads a pamphlet from the Emerald City which talks about the animal uprisings and other tensions.
• Elphaba and Boq chat about Galinda, and also Doctor Dillamond. 
• Boq helps Elphaba look for some documents that will help her study more about animals.
• Doctor Dillamond is killed.
• The previous night, Ama Clutch spotted some unrest in Dillamond’s lab and went to investigate. She was then hospitalised, and her brain doesn’t seem quite right.
• Galinda starts allowing people to call her Glinda, because that’s what Dillamond called her.
• Boq meets Nanny and Nessarose at the station.
• Elphaba tells Glinda about Nessarose, who was born without arms on the night Turtle Heart was sacrificed. Glinda worries that her friendship with Elphaba will change with the arrival of Nessarose.
• Glinda struggles with sorcery.
• A new classmate, a Winkie named Fiyero, arrives. He’s a prince from his home country.
• A professor brings a lion cub to class. Elphaba is annoyed that it has been separated from its mother. The cub runs away from the professor and Elphaba and Glinda try to help it.
• Elphaba’s father tries to return the Ozma Regent to power.
• Frex sends Nessarose some glittering red shoes.
• Fiyero shares that he is married to someone already but he doesn’t know the girl and they won’t be together for years.
• Ama Clutch is dying. Before she does, she tells Elphaba and Glinda that Madame Morrible’s tiktok killed Doctor Dillamond and it wasn’t an accident like Morrible is pretending.
• Morrible is trying to find women who can fight for the Wizard and bring everyone together.
• Elphaba convinces Glinda to go to the Emerald City with her to meet the Wizard. They notice there are no Animals in the City.
• They meet the Wizard and tell him about the murder of Dillamond, but the Wizard dismisses it.
• Glinda returns to Shiz but Elphaba doesn’t want to go back. They part ways.
• Several years later, Fiyero is married with children. He bumps into Elphaba at Saint Glinda’s Square, but Elphaba pretends not to recognise him. He follows her as she sneaks away, and she invites him home. 
• The two talk, and Elphaba tells him she didn’t contact any friends or fellow students in order to keep her loved ones safe.
• The two continue to meet up when they can. They eventually fall in love.
• Boq is now married and living in Munchkinland.
• Fiyreo tells Elphaba that Quadling has been taking over by armies and its people are being evicted. Elphaba’s father has fled.
• A Gale Force agent enters a cafe when Fiyero is there. The agent hits a cub. Fiyero wonders why the Animals don’t fight back.
• Elphaba tells Fiyero a little about her secret work. She works in a cell of four people and their mission is to kill the Wizard.
• Fiyero runs into Glinda and her husband. Glinda asks about Elphaba but Fiyero says he hasn’t seen her. He doesn’t tell Elphaba about this encounter.
• Elphaba tries to take out Morrible, but Elphaba is forced to abandon her mission.
• Fiyero is killed by Gale Force while waiting for Elphaba to return to her home.
• Elphaba goes to the Church of Saint Glinda for sanctuary. She sleeps there for the night, then the night turns into seven years…
• Seven years later, Elphaba is leaving the convent. She travels with a boy called Liir. Their caravan comes across a bunch of Scrows, who have an Elephant Goddess with them.
• Elphaba tells the Goddess about her plan to speak with Fiyero’s widow, Sarima, and make amends. The Elephant gifts Elphaba three crows to use for communication. The Elephant tells Elphaba she should disguise herself as a witch for safety.
• Elphaba adopts a snow monkey baby.
• Elphaba finally reaches Sarima and goes to apologise for getting Fiyero killed. Sarima doesn’t want to hear it. Sarima lets Elphaba live with her for the winter.
• Fiyero’s body has never been found.
• Sarima thought Giyero was having an affair with Glinda, and thinks that Glinda’s husband killed him.
• Elphaba teaches Chistery her language.
• Sarima’s children bully Liir and shut him in the basement well.
• Nanny has been looking for Elphaba all this time. She shows up at Sarima’s place. She moves in. She tells Elphaba that her sister is now the Eminent Thropp and is able to walk using her ruby slippers.
• Chistery finds Liir dead in the well, but Elphaba is able to revive him. She kills Manek for being a bully.
• Elphaba and the others stay with Sarima for another year. 
• Liir tells Elphaba that the fish in the well said Fiyero is his father. Elphaba can’t remember much about her time at the convent, but thinks she may have given birth to Liir there.
• Nor, Sarima’s daughter, bumps into some soldiers and lets them accompany her home. They work for the Wizard, so Sarima invites them to stay.
• Nor flies on Elphaba’s broom, which Elphaba struggles to control.
• Nessarose leads a coup against the Wizard. Munchkinland declares its independence.
• Elphaba flies to Colwen Grounds and reunites with her father. He’s disappointed to learn that his daughter is a witch.
• Elphaba finds that her sister is also a witch, and has been treating Animals badly.
• Elphaba tries to set the Animals free but they have nowhere to go.
• Frex suggests that Elphaba becomes Nessa’s advisor.
• Frex suggests that Nessa could be Turtle Heart’s child.
• Elphaba returns to Sarima’s house. She finds the house mostly empty, with only Nanny and Chistery still present. The soldiers took Sarima and the children. Liir also disappeared shortly after.
• Oz is hit by a tornado. Nessa gets crushed by a house.
• A girl called Dorothy lands in Oz.
• Elphaba is now the Eminent Thropp.
• Elphaba returns to Colwen Grounds, She meets with Frex and they discuss hatred, love, and Nessa.
• The townspeople destroy the Colwen Grounds estate.
• Glinda shows up and reunites with Elphaba. Glinda is now married and is enjoying a good career as a sorceress. They discuss Dorothy, who Glinda insists is quite innocent and lost.
• Glinda admits that she sent Dorothy off with the ruby slippers, which Elphaba does not approve of because she wanted the shoes after Nessa died. Elphaba decides to go hunting for the shoes, because she doesn’t want the Wizard to get them, and that’s who Dorothy is heading towards.
• The Wizard sends an emissary to ask Elphaba for a meeting. Elphaba agrees in order to get answers.
• Elphaba meets with the Wizard and realises he’s just a little man. He doesn’t want Elphaba to get the ruby slippers and take over Munchkinland.
• The Wizard admits that he left Nor alive but the rest of Samira’s family were executed. Elphaba accuses him of murder but he doesn’t care.
• Elphaba tries to exchange the Grimmerie for Nor because the Wizard clearly wants it. The Wizard refuses.
• The Wizard admits that Morrible turns Fiyero and Elphaba in.
• Elphaba travels along the Yellow Brick Road in search of Dorothy. The locals seem charmed and try to protect her.
• Elphaba goes to Boq’s house, and Boq says Dorothy stayed with him and his wife for a bit. Milla is worried Elphaba will execute Dorothy.
• Elphaba plans to kill Madame Morrible. She finds her in her bed and crushes her skull.
• Elphaba tells Avaric what she has done but he’s not too worried. He invites Elphaba over for dinner.
• Elphaba goes to find the dwarf that Avaric says has the Clock. The dwarf tells Elphaba she’s not a curse, but a gift. He uses the Clock to show Elphaba her history. Elphaba finds out that she is the Wizard’s daughter.
• Elphaba returns to Munchkinland and visits Boq. Boq is shocked that Elphaba could do such a thing. Boq begs her not to harm Dorothy.
• Elphaba leaves in search of Dorothy. A man reveals that he met Dorothy on her way to see the Wizard. 
• Elphaba returns home. 
• Elphaba uses her looking glass to study Dorothy. Dorothy reminds her of herself at that age.
• A few weeks later, Liir comes home with a rumour about the Wizard meeting Dorothy. Dorothy asked to go home. The Wizard said he would grant their wishes if they kill Elphaba. 
• Liir is upset because his soldier friends joked about killing Dorothy’s friends. A young friend of Liir’s was castrated when overheard and left to die. 
• Elphaba kills the guy herself to put him out of his misery.
• Elphaba figures that the Lion is an Animal and that the Tin Man is some sort of tiktok who wants to be human. She thinks that the Scarecrow is Fiyero. (He’s not.)
• Elphaba sees banners raised and assumes they’re for Dorothy’s arrival. Elphaba sets up her defences. She sends out crows to attack and bees to push them away
• Every animal Elphaba sends to Dorothy gets killed.
• Elphaba sends Chistery to fetch Dorothy and the Lion.
• Elphaba tells Chistery to bring Toto to the well
• Elphaba demands that Dorothy return her sister’s shoes. Dorothy can’t get the shoes off and thinks that Glinda put a spell on the shoes. Elphaba demands to know why Dorothy intends to kill her. Dorothy says she doesn’t want to kill Elphaba and in fact wants to apologise for killing her sister. 
• Elphaba accidentally ignites her clothes with the fire from her broom. Dorothy isn’t aware that Elphaba is allergic to water and chucks a bucket over her to put out the flames.
• Elphaba dies.
• Dorothy returns to the Emerald City. She gives the Wizard an elixir that she found in Elphaba’s room. This is the bottle that the Wizard gave to a woman on his travels, revealing that Elphaba is his daughter.

That’s what happened in Wicked! Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!