#knowing that in doing so glinda has given up everything

[mastersofunlocking]

AND IF I SAID GELPHIE WHAT THEN HUH

[myfairkatiecat]

only homophobes prefer fiyeraba to gelphie

ok that's not even true

Fine, you want to know what I love so much about Fiyeraba? I'll tell you.

Knowing Elphaba changes both Fiyero and Galinda. They're never the same again. Fiyero embraces that. He doesn't want to go back to not caring because he loves caring about her no matter how frustrating and difficult and painful it is. He's willing to run away for her through the entirety of act 2 and does it as soon as he's given the chance.

Glinda changes too, but she hangs onto her old dreams. She's so sure she can make herself happy with the things she used to want, even if she isn't happy she'll get there, she couldn't be happier, even if it isn't true YET it WILL BE because she will MAKE IT SO...

That's the difference. Both of them are never the same again for having known Elphaba, and both of them love her, but Fiyero is the one who makes the sacrifice. He's the one who embraces it. Glinda wants to, deep down, and her tragedy is as much her own fault as any other events of the musical.

She and Elphaba sing For Good, of course. Glinda acknowledges the change in the end and is a better person for it. But not before she loses everything and everyone that really matters to her. That's her tragedy and I could scream and cry about it all day.

Fiyero runs off with her. Maybe it's a rash choice, but it's the one he knows he has to make. He can't do the whole "life is painless for the brainless" thing anymore so he embraces the pain because even if love hurts, he's willing to let it hurt if it means experiencing all the joy that comes with love.

That's why fiyeraba > gelphie for me. And don't get me wrong, I ADORE Glinda. She's probably my favorite character, because I relate to her in a lot of ways (me too, Glinda. I would cause my own tragedy in that situation too) and her story is aafgjsdfkgjsdfhgkjshkjfgsf i could lose my mind over it. But as a ship? Fiyeraba. That's where the romance is at. He's the one who deserves her, not because he's a better person than Glinda, but because he's willing to act on having become a better person, while Glinda clings to the threads of a dream that will never be fulfilled, because she'll never be the person she was when she dreamed it up.

[deeplyshalllow]

Glinda gets what she deserves at the end of Wicked

I don’t necessarily mean this in an all negative light either, Glinda’s ending is bittersweet – sad, but hopeful. But she does not deserve an all out happy ending at the end of the musical.

I don’t know if I’m gonna be crucified for this, but here goes.

Glinda in Act 2 is a key part of a fascist regime. She doesn’t just live in it, she isn’t forced to take part in it and she’s not working as a double agent (like Fiyero). She knows what they are doing to the Animals (which includes separating infants from their mothers and putting them in cages, and making Animals so afraid they literally forget how to speak), she knows and loves people it is hurting and yet she continues to actively promote it.

(I won’t point out the connections to real world situations, but I’m sure you guys can all think of examples and think of how you feel about people who are active participants in helping such regimes.)

We see she knows all this too. We see she excuses it for her ego and the power:

Glinda: Do you think I like to hear them say those awful things about her? I hate it!

Fiyero: Then what are we doing here? Let's go, let's get out of here!

Glinda: We can't leave now, not when people are looking to us to raise their spirits.

Fiyero: You can't leave, because you can't resist this. And that is the truth.

Glinda: Maybe I can't. Is that so wrong? Who could?

Elphaba: No, of course you never! You're too busy telling everyone how wonderful everything is!

Glinda: I'm a public figure, now. People expect me to...

Elphaba: Lie?

Glinda: Be encouraging!

And if one could possibly argue (weakly) that, given she’s not actually doing any of the regime’s actual violence, just keeping people’s hopes up she’s not as bad as those who are, she gets worse:

Morrible: Well, we'll just flush her out and force her to show herself.

Wizard: But how?

Glinda: Her sister

Morrible: What? What did she say?

Glinda: Use her sister. Spread a rumour. Make her think her sister is in trouble and she will fly to her side... and you'll have her.

Even if one argues that Glinda is somehow not clever enough to realise that they’ll end up killing Nessa, she sure as hell knows it will get Elphaba captured. And there’s no way that Elphaba being captured won’t lead to the execution of her best friend. Yes, she’s heartbroken, yes, she might not have said this when emotions weren’t running high, but it doesn’t make her terrible words less deadly (and bear in mind Elphaba hadn’t even done anything to hurt Glinda! It was Fiyero who chose to go with her).

Glinda only really starts realising what she has done in March of the Witch hunters, when Nessa is dead, Fiyero is tortured and presumed dead and Elphaba has descended into madness – all because of her own action. And, kudos to her, this is when she decides to change, she immediately goes to Elphaba and tries to warn her about the Witch Hunters, apologises and ultimately Elphaba trusts her with the Grimmorie and to continue her legacy (which she immediately does by overthrowing the Wizard). She has started down the track to good but she still has a long way to go.

I am not the first, nor will I be the last to point this out but “Goodness knows the wicked’s lives are lonely, goodness knows the wicked die alone”, sung by Glinda,is clearly not about Elphaba. Elphaba was not wicked, nor did she die alone (literally Dorothy was in the room and metaphorically Glinda supported and loved her). Glinda is singing about herself, Glinda knows she has been wicked, Glinda knows that it is her own actions that have lead to the “death” of her friends.

So what Glinda is left with is a chance to do good. A chance to live up to her name and make up for what she’s done. A chance to use what she’s most talented at, making people like her, to continue the legacy of her best friend. Despite everything, Elphaba does trust her, if she didn’t she wouldn’t have left her with this responsibility.

Glinda: Fellow Ozians, friends, we have been through a frightening time. There will be other times and other things that frighten us. But if you let me, I'd like to try to help. I'd like to try to be... Glinda the Good.

This is why she is going to “try” to be Glinda the Good, because she hasn’t been good yet. She has learnt a lot of very hard lessons through the narrative, been dragged kicking and screaming out of her selfishness, ego and giving into her worst impulses and is grateful for a chance to repent. And honestly, I’m sure she will suceed.

And one last thing:

Elphaba: I only wish...

Fiyero: What?

Elphaba: Glinda could know that we're alive.

Fiyero: She can't know, not if we want to be safe. No one can ever know.

I know a lot of people take ire with this line. But Fiyero, always the best strategist of the group, is right. The last time Glinda was trusted with important information it led to a death and two more people nearly dying. She has not earned that trust yet.

But, remember, Glinda isn’t stupid, Glinda is in a position where she’s going to have to think more and more. Glinda has presumably seen her roommate get wet before, she saw Fiyero’s reaction to the rumour, no matter how much searching happens Fiyero’s body never turns up, how long is it really going to take for her to connect the dots? Sure “Glinda can never know” for sure, but she sure as hell can be comforted by the fact she’s almost certain her best friend did not melt from a bucket of water.

[atalana]

so i'm thinking about dancing through life, and that interlude between glinda and elphaba, and specifically how in the movie they make a point to draw the audience attention (the audience who is following glinda's perspective) to elphie's magic books

and it seems like a minorly odd detail to put in there, given how the only relevance they have to elphaba's side of this song is that she has a magic teacher she can ask a favour from, which isn't news to anyone

but glinda specifically looks at those books before she says anything to elphaba, and she also has this look after giving her the hat, like it's a decision she already partially regrets

and i think, as much as glinda does profess to hate elphie at this point in the story, and as much as she seems to be doing this just to get one over on her, i don't think that's the case at all

i think she was partially talked into the prank by her friends, who definitely encourage her to put on her usual the world revolves around me social mask, but i think she justified that decision to herself with the reasoning "well elphaba's my favourite teacher's favourite student, she has everything i want, i should take her down a peg", as the magic books remind her

she clearly already cared about elphie in some form, or she wouldn't have regretted it at all, but she thought that made them even

until elphaba turned the entire thing on its head by freely offering glinda everything she wanted, everything she thought elphaba had been spitefully keeping from her

and that's when she realises she can't actually knock elphaba down a peg, bc there's nowhere lower to go. glinda has everything and elphie has nothing, and elphaba just gave up the one thing she had, because she thought glinda deserved to share it with her

so glinda whose entire life has been about collecting social power, who knows exactly what she has and what it takes to hold onto it, she gives that up at the ozdust too. because elphaba deserves to share it with her

[munsonsmixtapes]

Hey!! Can I submit a Fiyero x fem!reader request where reader has a unique/different sense of style than most students at Shiz do and she’s lowkey kinda self-conscious about it since she’s new and has been judged by people before at her previous school. Galinda, noticing this though, thinks it would be a good idea to help her by taking her under her wing and “Galinda-fying” her. Reader tries to take this in stride, but honestly isn’t sure if it’s working😂 that is, until Fiyero notices reader’s struggles and tries to reassure her that she doesn’t need to do all of “that.” Reader is slightly touched by that sentiment, but reveals the real reason why she’s doing all of this in the first place. Cue in soft Fiyero, they share a lovely, sweet moment + Fiyero being his usual charming self at the end🤭😉

cw: insecurity, hurt/comfort

The second you showed up to Shiz, you knew that you were different from the others. Your style was very unique and people didn’t seem to care for that. You could see the way they would look at you when walking to class, the way you’d try to jazz up your uniform to diversify it, making it not look like everyone else’s.

Fiyero liked that about you. He liked how you were yourself and didn’t care what anybody else thought. He was always flirty with you but not in the way he was with everyone else. He genuinely liked you and was starting to wonder when you’d get the hint that he wanted to go out with you.

Glinda also noticed the attraction between the two of you and didn’t know why she felt the need to help you. She could see what was underneath all of your insecurity, how brightly you shined, and she wanted to make it come through. And she could with a little makeover.

To her surprise, it wasn’t hard to get you to show up to her suite. She told you the truth: that she wanted to give you a makeover, and for some reason, you had agreed. Neither of you knew exactly why, but Glinda wasn’t going to question it. She was just going to take what she was given and roll with it.

Okay, maybe you knew why you were doing it. You’d never tell anyone, but you were doing it to catch Fiyero’s attention. You knew it was silly to change your appearance just to catch someone’s attention, but you didn’t know what else to do. He was right there, just out of reach and being yourself clearly wasn’t working.

What you clearly weren’t getting was that you already had him. He had asked you out multiple times and you had just been so oblivious to it, telling him that you had other things to do. Eventually he got the hint and tried his best to move on even though it wasn’t going to be easy.

“You’re here,” Glinda said as she opened the door. Her eyes were wide in shock, but she quickly shook it off, a bright smile on her face as she pulled you into the room with a lot of force.

“This is going to be so much fun!” She gushed. “Take a seat and we’ll get started.”

Glinda closed the door behind her then made her way over to her vanity where you were sitting. She rested her hands on your shoulders and bent down so that you could also see her in the reflection of her mirror. She smiled at you through it before giving your shoulders a squeeze, standing back up, turning you to face her.

She then pulled something from her bed, opening it to reveal more makeup than you'd ever seen your life. You watched in amazement as dipped a brush into a pretty pink blush before tapping it on your cheeks, nodding to herself once she had put on enough.

She continued to do your makeup as she made conversation with you, genuinely curious about your life before arriving at Shiz. And you told her everything, wondering why you had previously disliked her when she was just trying to be nice to you. Maybe it was because of what you had heard about what had gone on between her and Elphaba.

But she was sweet, and you really didn't care what her motive was for helping you. At least she was helping. And with her help, you were finally going to get Fiyero and the two of you would live happily ever after. Well, you hoped you would.

"What do you think?" She asked as she turned you around to face the mirror. You hardly recognized yourself and you supposed that was the point. The makeup look Glinda had done on you had been nothing like what you had usually done. It was glowy and pink and you didn't want to admit how much you liked it.

"I look-" you cut yourself off, unsure what to say. You moved your head this way and that, captivated by the way the makeup looked on you, wondering if there was a way you could replicate it once you had taken it off for the night.

"Amazing, right?" She asked and you nodded in agreement, deciding that word was good enough to describe what you look like. Afterwards, she gave you some clothes you could borrow and even went as far as accompanying you to class the next day so you'd feel more comfortable about your transformation.

The two of you walked throughout the school arm in arm, your heads held high in your pink and blue uniforms, everyone turning their heads to get a good look at you. Especially Fiyero. Seeing you dressed like that caught him off guard. You were like a clone of Glinda and he didn't like that. He liked you better as yourself and wondered what had inspired you to go through such a transformation.

You were vulnerable and Fiyero thought Glinda had taken advantage of that. She just wanted someone she could use, a minion, and that made him feel sick. He wanted to say something to you but didn't feel like it was his place even though the two of you were friends.

So he watched from afar, distancing himself from you because he was afraid that he would blurt out his real feelings if he got too close. That was the thing about you. You were always able to disarm him, able to make him behave like himself, not the persona he was always putting on for everyone else.

He didn’t like seeing you like that, your personality and mannerisms slowly morphing into Glinda’s right before his eyes and it seemed like no one else cared. Well, that was because no one else loved you the way he did. He loved you. That was quickly becoming more clear as he watched the little things about you that he loved slowly fade away the more time you spent with Glinda.

And the thing was, Glinda was never helping you with malicious intent. She just wanted to help you come out of your shell. She just wanted to help you see your full potential the way she did. And giving you the makeover wasn’t to change you completely, but more just show you that you could be way more that you were. To give you some more confidence than you already had.

You were walking back to your suite after classes and saw Fiyero talking to one of his many friends out of the corner of your eye. You had noticed that he had been distancing himself from you and you wanted to know why, to get to the bottom of it. You wanted to know what you had done.

You marched over to him, anger taking over your features as you did so. Fiyero could see you hurrying towards him and wanted to run away like usual, but you seemed to have intention so he stayed there, ready for whatever punishment you were about to give him since he thought he deserved it.

But you only got a few feet before your ankle twisted, sending you to the floor, your books scattering across it as you did so. Before he could think about what he was doing, Fiyero rushed to you, resting his hand on your back as he looked at you, worry written all over his face.

“Are you okay?” He asked and you nodded before turning away, wiping away the tears that were trailing down your cheeks.

“I’m fine, Fiyero,” you told him as you quickly got up from the floor, dusting yourself off. You went to reach for your books, but he had already gotten them into a stack, holding them out to you.

“Your knee’s all scratched up,” he told you and you looked down to see that he was right, blood trickling down your leg from the wound.

“Please let me patch you up.”

“Fine,” you rolled your eyes and Fiyero was quick to scoop you up into his arms before carrying you to his suite.

The two of you were quiet the entire way there, even as he sat you down on his bed. You watched him rifle through his belongings before producing a first aid kit.

You didn’t know why he was helping you when he seemed so upset with you, but you weren’t going to deny it. Anything to be close to him, anything to get him to speak to you again.

You didn’t realize how much you missed him until he was right there within reach. And now you wanted to pull him into your arms and never let him.

He sat on the bed and wordlessly put your leg into his lap, opening up an alcohol wipe and getting rid of all of the blood and anything else that could have gotten into your wound.

“You know, you wouldn’t have fallen if you hadn’t worn those ridiculous shoes,” he grumbled as he put some antibacterial ointment on the wound before covering it with a bandaid.

This was the first time Fiyero had spoken to you like that so it caught you off guard. Now it all made sense, why he had been distancing himself from you. You wished he had just been honest with you instead of ignoring you.

“If you don’t like the way I look then just say that,” you snapped and he pushed your leg off of his lap. He stood up from the bed stood in front of you, bending down so you could see his face.

“I don’t like the way you look.” His words sounded like poison, stinging you in every way possible. You knew it was true, but hearing the words come from his mouth hurt even worse.

His face then softened as he knelt in front of you, taking your hands. He looked apologetic and he was quick to wipe away the tears that were now streaming down your face.

“I liked you better the way you were. I’m sorry for ignoring you and I’m sorry for being so cruel. I just hated that you felt the need to change yourself.”

“I did it for you,” you told him, looking down at your lap, but he grabbed hold of your face, forcing you to look him in the eye?

“What?” He genuinely seemed shocked when you thought it was obvious. Maybe your advances hadn’t been as clear as you had originally thought.

“It was for you, Fiyero,” you repeated. “I just wanted you to like me.”

“I do like you, y/n,” he said. “So much. Why do you think I asked you out so many times?”

“You didn’t.”

“I most certainly did. I asked you to get coffee many times and even went as far as inviting you to dinner a couple of times.”

Oh, now you felt stupid. You replayed all of the scenarios in your head and sure enough, you had been reading it all wrong. Fiyero did like you and he liked you a lot.

“I-I didn’t know that. I-I would love to go to dinner with you, Fiyero.”

“It’s a date,” he smiled before pulling you in for a sweet kiss. “Make sure to wear that cardigan I like,” he winked, going in for another before helping you to your feet.

The two of you lingered at the door, sharing kiss after kiss until you finally left to go get ready, making sure to wear the cardigan that Fiyero was referring to. The entire time you got ready, you couldn’t help but smile to yourself, making a mental note to thank Glinda. She was the whole reason why the two of you had gotten together, after all.

[eurydicees]

re what they are saying about fiyero on twitter - gosh there is too much stuff. they talk about how uninteresting he is, how his presence has no effect on the leads, how he shouldn’t be elphaba’s endgame and doesnt deserve to be, how they want to delete him from the plot (somewhere along those line), how they want to block anyone making any fiyeraba or fiyero tweets or content and much, much, MUCH more like i genuinely do not understand the obsession?

i of course get not liking him, thats normal about any character lol but the way they just cannot shut up about how they dislike him is so….. like really no one is challenging your gelphie content 😭 we really are not interested to challenge your ship. you really dont need to focus on this guy 24/7 but ig you do you i hope they remain sane amidst all the apparent misery lol

well. you know. disappointed by not surprised. a partial fiyero ted talk under the cut. sorry.

it's like. it's just so frustrating to write him off as uninteresting and as having no effect on either elphaba (or glinda). like guys why is the media literacy not happening right now. also how the fuck would you delete him from the plot???? guys his plan is literally how elphaba escapes dorothy. he's the one who saves her from the gale force, TWICE. he literally sacrifices himself for her escape and its his sacrifice that makes her spiral into "wickedness" during no good deed.

also, fiyero is elphaba's endgame in part because he does what glinda cannot bring herself to do. WHICH IS SO VITAL TO THE ENDING. fiyero is the one who makes all of the sacrifices for elphaba that glinda refused, and he both pays the price for it and reaps the reward of it.

glinda and elphaba have a profound effect on each other, obviously, but it's not like fiyero is left unchanged by elphaba. i dont get where this idea that fiyero and elphaba have no dynamic because like??? that's just not true?????

fiyero goes from refusing to confront the difficulties of life to choosing the more difficult path for the sake of morality and loyalty and love because of elphaba (which is also really interesting given how he's, like, kind of a casualty of war in the book more than he is an actual rebel....mostly fiyero's book to musical adapation is #Rough but that's a cool parallel i hadn't noticed before).

glinda begins to see the flaws in the wizard's society, but she actively chooses to be a part of the system anyway. and she regrets it. that's the whole thing abt thank goodness!!!

fiyero, on the other hand, begins to see the flaws in this society and he chooses elphaba--and the life of rebellion that she's chosen--over everything that glinda admits to being unable to resist.

and GOD. guys that's so interesting. HES SO INTERESTING!!! how are you not interested by all of this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wicked is such a cool study on morality and what the "right" thing to do in such a world is, and what it means to make the decision to do the right thing vs the comfortable thing. fiyero chooses to follow elphaba and he pays the price, but he also doesn't regret it. glinda chooses the "safe" option--but in the end, even if she chooses good then, she's entirely alone in it all.

and that's SO INTERESTING!!!!!!!!! god. whatever. twitter just doesn't get him like you and me get him, anon.

just. it's totally fine to dislike him! i'm not refuting people's right to dislike him. the nature of fictional characters is that sometimes people will dislike them. like that's fine.

but being incapable of shutting up about how much you hate a character just...it stops being "harmlessly disliking a fictional character" and starts being "you are insufferable to talk to." like sorry you're so miserable about fiyeraba but i'm gonna be over here just having fun because that's what fandom is supposed to be about :)

(also, just a major issue with breaking this movie up into two films released a year apart is that any movie-only fans just don't get the point of fiyero's character. it's kind of devastating. ik not all of the people saying that stuff are movie-only but man. the people who are...im BEGGING you to give him a chance in part 2. literally BEGGING you. fiyero is such a good character. he has so many good moments. let the green girl go lives in my head rent free and if they cut that i'll riot.)

tldr; fiyero is SO neat and twitter is just full of cowards.

[into-fiction]

post canon snippet

The problem is, Glinda doesn't know if she can forgive her. Even if it was arguably the right thing, the brave thing, the good thing to do- she doesn't know if she'll ever fully forgive her for it.

Because Glinda has thought it through. She's explored every option. She's come to every conclusion.

She has systematically worked her way through every possible explanation from most to least outlandish. She was ready to accept even the most wild and outrageous of theories, if only it meant that she didn't have to accept the truth.

That being, of course, that Elphaba had simply....left. She had left. She had left Kiamo Ko. And she had left Glinda.

When it came down to it, that was really the only explanation.

And Glinda....Glinda can't accept it. She just can't.

Because if she accepts it, that makes it true. And if it's true, then Glinda doesn't know if she can forgive her. And she wants to. She wants to so badly. She wants nothing more than to take Elphaba in her arms and tell her everything is forgiven.

But every time she thinks about it, she remembers why she can't do that. Why Elphaba isn't here. It twists and turns and folds in on itself, the unending hurt circling the everlasting love. And Glinda just can't do it.

Because what it really boils down to is this: Glinda had been ready. She had been willing. She had been wanting to give up absolutely everything. She would've followed Elphaba anywhere. She would've given Elphaba anything.

Glinda had made her choice, and she'd chosen Elphaba.

So how is she supposed to accept that, in the end, Elphaba had not chosen her?

[makiruz]

Okay, Part 2 of my Liir fanfic

Part 1 here

Edit: Part 3! What about Boq?

Okay, when we left off Elphaba has faked her death and given birth to Liir, Glinda is passing him off as her son with Fiyero, and Fiyero is a scarecrow. Okay he's also keeping his true identity secret from everyone, including Glinda and Liir; I haven't come up with a reason why he didn't tell Glinda who he was when Liir was born, but he did realize Liir being the son of Glinda the Good and the late great Prince Fiyero Tigelaar is better for the boy

Oh, also before continuing, I forgot to mention is part 1 that before Liir was born and Fiyero realized Elphaba isn't actually dead; Glinda tried to get Elphaba's hat from the Scarecrow to give back to Elphie, but he would not separate from it, he hold onto the thing like his life depended on it

Okay, moving on: The Scarecrow becomes a part of Young Liir Tigelaar's life (although he does have the tendency to disappear for months at the time), and as ridiculous as it sounds he grows to see the creature as something of a father figure; he will learn the irony of this when his daughter is born.

So Liir has a daughter. His It's Complicated Candle (not to be confused with Liir's true love Trism bon Cavalish, who apparently trains dragons? Neat) has a daughter they name Oziandra or "Rain" for short; so expectedly Rain is born is green, which worries and confuses her parents. Again stealing from this fic Glinda is forced to tell Liir the truth about his parentage the so called "Wicked Witch of the West"

To say Liir is upset to realize his entire life is a lie is an understatement, and then it get better! Scarecrow, who has made a point to be there for Liir his whole life, comes to meet Liir new daughter; Liir tells Scarecrow that Rain is "special", the scarecrow gasp softly when he looks at the little girl and immediately softens and carefully strokes her face as he did Liir himself so many years ago, Liir is honestly relieved Scarecrow took in Rain's condition so well, and has no idea what's coming, because Glinda is also here.

Now I want to say Glinda always suspected, but she didn't; she had an idea in the back of her mind, an idea she never followed up on because it's too painful and honestly kinda ridiculous, but it's an idea that lives in her head. The idea comes up every once in a while, specially when she sees Scarecrow telling Liir stories about the Vinkus and teaching him about life; now watching Scarecrow with Liir newborn daughter the idea starts to creep back, and then the being says something, it's only a whisper meant for the baby alone but Glinda hears it anyway: "You looks just like you're grandmother" he says. The idea hits Glinda full force and she looks at the Scarecrow, really looks at him for the first time ever, and she's mad

Fiyero knows he's in trouble the moment he sees Glinda's face; "YOU!" she doesn't shout which makes it worse, "Glinda" he tries, backing away from the crib in a placating gesture, she ignores him "All this years and You, You. It's YOU", and she hits him with her wand with all her strength, "yeah, I probably deserve that" he says "yes you do" and hits him again, and again, and again

Liir has no idea what's happening; Scarecrow is trying to back away from his mother being like "Glinda please, not in front of the baby"; while she ignores him and just whacks him with her wand. Scarecrow is like "I'm sorry" and Glinda is like "You should be! I can't believe it! All these years! I mourned you, for years I mourned you! And you were here! Playing dumb while I was raising your son!" Wait what? "It's not that simple Glinda!" she smacks him in the head for that one, seriously what; so he's like "what the hell is happening?" Which makes Scarecrow turn to him worried but Glinda asures him she told him everything, "everything I knew, at least" and hits him again "are you done?" "No" and Glinda hits Fiyero one more time and then puts her wand against his face and goes "You. Explain. Now" So Scarecrow looks at Liir and goes "Yes, I am your father" and proceeds to explain how he became a scarecrow, and Liir who was still reeling from learning the Wicked Witch of the West is his birth mother and not actually wicked is now learning that the sentient scarecrow that he's come to see as a father figure is his actual father, what the hell

And Liir asks the obvious question: Why? "Look at me, I'm just a bag of hay with no brains, Glinda presented you to Oz as the son of two of the most important people in the Land, this is much safer for you" "But you could've come forward as yourself, tell Oz the Witch cursed you like she cursed Boq" "Participate in the slandering of your mother you mean. I can't do that; Elphaba suffered so much, I can't do that to her" Glinda does ask why he didn't tell her, but I don't have an answer yet, Fiyero does, I don't; let's just say all of Liir's parents made some questionable choices

And oh yeah, also Fiyero asks Glinda if she knows where Elphaba is, but she says that she doesn't; but remember how Scarecrow had the tendency to disappear for months at the time? Glinda is hit with a realization, "you've been looking for her!"

Anyway, what comes next is fuzzy, I'm thinking the revisiting of history happens in this era (you know, how the Battle of Wounded Knee became know as the Massacre of Wounded Knee); but for now Elphaba enters the scene. She had been using her magic to keep tabs on Liir (and like Glinda she has no idea why the Scarecrow cares so much about her son, but also like Glinda she's not about to question it); so when Liir's daughter of born Elphaba comes back to Oz to see her, in the dark of the night while everyone sleeps, spooky! The moment Elphaba sees Rain she breaks, No! She passed her curse to an innocent child! How could she? Meanwhile Fiyero doesn't sleep so he's around keeping guard and hears a person crying in Rain's room; he goes there and it's shocked to see a figure on the baby's crib, a figure in black, a familiar figure in black; "Elphaba?" he calls out and Elphaba freaks, no one was supposed to be here, she runs. Fiyero has been looking for Elphaba for 24 years, he's not about to miss this opportunity, he runs after her; "Elphaba wait" she ignores him, "Fae, please I've looked for so long!" Elphaba stops in her tracks, "What did you call me?" "Fae, it's me, I've been looking for you, please" Elphaba looks at the scarecrow long and hard, it's insane, but also makes so much sense, she even knew he mourned her death "Yero?" "Fae"

And I ran out of ideas; Liir will meet his birth mother in the morning I guess. This guy just had his whole world turned upside down; and I totally forgot the cartoon scene where we see the story Liir was sold of the fairy tale romance of Fiyero and Glinda, contrasted with reality of her hitting him with her wand (I'm not sure if it's in character for Glinda, but it is funny)

[lily-onher-grave]

anyway wicked movie round three thoughts

i tried to pay more attention to musical motifs this time around and there are so many gut punches i was sitting there going oh fuck this over and over again. i can't wait to spend the next five years watching music analyses of this soundtrack i swear to god

i won't talk about sad glinda and the effigy again but i will talk about how glinda doesn't even look scared once she says elphaba was her friend. she's so immediately lost in the memories and her wistful smile as we start the flashback is e v e r y t h i n g

if you think ariana and cynthia crying through the entire press tour is ridiculous wait 'til you hear about me crying at the damn fish during the transition to shiz. it's just so magical okay! and glinda is so excited! and it makes me think of how hard book glinda worked to get to shiz, and idk man i just got swept away by the wonder and charm of a magic university alright god

idk how popular/unpopular an opinion this is but i have such a soft spot for dear old shiz and i love that how it plays in the dormitories, it's so sweet

also i finally noticed the time dragon clock this time around

(also fine yes bowen yang's pfannee is the perfect crope/tibbett when he's not being a mean girl. fuck i miss crope and tibbett)

((i need bookverse ideas so i can write crope and tibbett again))

i love the touch of glinda being like no, no way to pfannee and shenshen about the hat but then when elphaba shows up glinda specifically looks down at her sorcery books before deciding to give it to her. i love that silent tipping point in her decision

at the ozdust glinda says it's her heart's desire to become a sorcerer. elphaba giving glinda her heart's desire the way the wizard is supposed to (and not just now, but presumably i part two as well when she gives her the grimmerie)

the poppy in nessa's hair the day elphaba brings a bouquet to class for dr dillamond (fiyero and glinda have flowers on their desks too which is just so sweet)

((also i do love glinda and elphaba arguing about the way dillamond says glinda as they walk to their seats. it's so silly it's so real. i would watch 3 hours of shiz shenanigans i swear))

when jeff goldblum walked out from behind the wizard's head a woman in the theater went "oh!" and tbh it was the perfect little addition to that scene. give that random theatergoer an oscar

if elphaba had said her heart's desire was to not be green i think the wizard would have pulled out a non-green doll and given it to her and that would've been the scene

hey do you guys think they're gonna change the lyrics of wonderful in part two to address the fact that glinda is the one who chose the yellow brick road?

(my other theory about part two right now is that the opening is going to be very different. i really just dont' think you can open a movie with thank goodness and have it hit. idk what they'll do but there needs to be some sort of buffer)

also i think this movie has made me a fan of sentimental man. it's just so charming! like elphaba, i am not immune to a sweet little number about home and family and a sense of belonging

it's been said before but the betrayal scene in the palace truly is everything. elphaba is so hurt by it all. morrible's actions really do sting in this one (and michelle yeoh, hoooly hell, the switch from warm headmistress to intimidating head sorceress is so good)

idk man. it's just nice to know that i'll never be over this movie i think. after spending like 8 years building up unrealistic expectations about it i was still surprised and amazed and tbh 2024 has been so freaking disappointing, it's nice to know that this one thing was as close to perfect as it could have been (imo)

[moghedien]

Nice mention of how different Elphaba and Glinda parting ways is from the book compared to the musical. Someone said that book Elphaba would eat musical Elphaba for breakfast and now that I’ve finally experienced the musical (well, at least the first part thanks to the movie) I agree. Book Elphaba chooses for Glinda while musical Elphaba gives Glinda a choice.

To be fair, I’m pretty sure all of the book characters would eat their musical counterparts for breakfast. They live in a much harsher world and go through much harder things. Elphaba is just much more obvious because she’s the main character and is like “well time to be a terrorist” in the book lol

but also the fact that they live in a harsher world is part of why I think book Glinda would have gone with Elphaba if given the option. Her going from Galinda to Glinda is much more meaningful to her character in the book and much more of an intentional choice, at least partially from her being traumatized by the murders and intrigue going on at Shiz. It was a sign of her willingness to do something, at the very least

Basically I think that post-Galinda Glinda would have gone with Elphaba, even if she was reluctant to be as involved in whatever Elphaba was going to do next, and her life would have gone very differently if she had. Im not sure how much she’d really want to, but she’d go with Elphaba if she’d been allowed to, because Elphaba was the only one strong enough to deal with everyone and everything in her eyes. But she’s left behind and is almost passive about it and so just passively gets swept up in Oz politics in a vague way that doesn’t really do anything for anyone because unlike Elphaba she’s not strong enough to do anything so she does nothing (in her eyes at least). She feels like Elphaba told her she can’t do anything by leaving her, so she doesn’t try.

Musical Glinda not going when given a choice does make sense, given shes not been through quite as much intrigue and isn’t in as harsh a world. Especially since the musical makes a point to show how much she feels she has to be fixated on appearances. Not appearing as the bad guy is important and even if she knows it’s wrong that Elphaba is “the bad guy,” it’s not how you’re supposed to do things. She hasn’t had that shocked out of her, and (based on lyrics from act 2 song that I won’t spoil) it’s a much more gradual process of realizing how bad things are and how she’s complicit in it. Musical Glinda does actively make a choice and that makes her more complicit imo in what’s going on, whereas book Glinda just sort of gets shuffled along in life once Elphaba is gone from it. Musical Glinda almost wants to be passive but realizes she isn’t and I think the guilt hits her more tbh

[thegratefulsouth]

Alright I have just finished Season 1 of TWD DD and I have thoughts and questions and feelings. And energy!

I am very new to this fandom, and while I've done some searches in places, I'll still just apologise in advance for being repetitive and missing stuff. I will miss stuff every time.

I'll get Laurent out of the way, and even though it's all connected for me, the rest is Caryl.

#1 So Laurent. I have questions about his ability to see into the future. He was convinced Daryl would survive the Gladiator battle, he knew they'd all end up back together. Is this a real thing? Is it coincidence in faith? The drawing I don't care about, I'm not sure how involved he is with the manipulations, but he should definitely be able to feel that this is happening with Isabelle, given his empathic nature. So in that case, does he sense there is a reason to go along with her ways, for a future purpose we don't know about yet.

The empathic thing:

Episode 1, he says to Daryl "You're homesick. I see it in your eyes. I feel things. In my stomach. I feel your sadness." Episode 5, he tells Madame Genet that she isn't angry; her heart is broken.

He can distinguish sadness between heartbreak and homesickness- these are very specific feelings. Are there more examples? Not sure when I'll be able to watch it back. Is this significant? Is there a point to this? Is he going to make the match? Is he going to be overwhelmed by Carol's grief and guilt, though hopefully she'll just be happy and relieved when he meets her (hopefully!!).

"Daryl why don't you just kiss Carol like she wants you to?"

What are the rules around this? I don't know how it works.

#2 Second up! The boats. Is there any evidence that any of the boats have any significance? I know they probably just make sense with the location and the storyline, etc. But when Laurent cuts the boat loose, Daryl is losing his most immediate TANGIBLE lifeline to Carol and that is because a BOAT has drifted. A boat.

Okay, and also, I was thinking about this on my long drive to work this morning and I swear to the husks of dust on my Jim Shore Dorothy and Glinda figurine, Spotify threw THIS song I've never heard before at me. Yes, PIRATE song. Pirate song by mehro. But dear god the lyrics.

"Are you ready to let me in?"

"I've been trying to believe what I said is what I need."

This is such a haunting, beautiful song. I'm so thrilled to discover this artist. I'm not immune to dissolving into a puddle on the side of the road when I hear a new song that spins me out. I feel things so intensely. I'm going to do a post just for this song. This song is Caryl to me.

#3 Daryl's longing for Carol in a ramble:

I like the connection between Daryl saying "I have family back home," and Carol in the teaser clip saying Daryl is the only family she has left. It feels like a string, tying them together. Feels like they're on the same damn boat. Emotionally.

I just want to touch on the name dropping Who Are Your Friends scene with Laurent. Even though I have no idea whether this scene is supposed to have any significance or if it's just supposed to be a simple moment of connection for these two. Regardless, it is significant. Every second beyond about a week just is. So to touch on Laurent again, I'm just wondering is it possible that Daryl's a little guarded here, because he knows the kid's intuitive? Does he feel like he needs to be more careful with his emotions? He's already elevated. But he says Connie's name really easily. It's easy for him to say her name and I think that says a lot. He's trying to connect with the kid, so of course Judith and RJ pop up. Daryl got himself started, and there's a very slight gap, while he's thinking before he offers up Ezekiel. That's where he should say Rosita but she's gone, or Aaron (but too much missage? Their bond), Michonne's not there! Oh, Ezekiel! They were starting to get along? They had a hug and everything? I don't know. I like the link between Connie and Ezekiel though. Anyway Daryl has to say Carol because she is his heartbeat, so he manages to get that out and then he stops. No more names.

Laurent says they sound nice and is Daryl's response a little defensive? Even though Laurent's just a kid, he's a little intense. Daryl says, "Yeah, how do you know?"

I think that's interesting. Like he's shared as much as he's comfortable sharing and then he wants to bundle his family back up again. It's painful to talk about Carol because he misses her and he promised her and she cried when he left and she is his soulmate. She's a little too precious and valuable to be spoken about by someone who hasn't even met her.

Alrighty now I need to go find some gifs for that song post.

[bestworstcase]

So, Taiyangs arc will end with him acknowledging that he was not the best father and husband/partner. Then, to and reestablish a healthy relationship with all parties involved in as much as he can.

Im just wondering how Taiyang will get there. We haven't seen his reaction to the news that Yang and Ruby "died" yet. So that could be his turning point.

But if it isn't, I don't know what could be a bigger wake-up call than your kids died and you weren't there to help. Yang and Ruby's wagon trip to find their mother part two, perhaps?

(Could everything that Yang and Ruby have done so far be considered wagon trip part two?)

if he’s been trying to like power of love coax summer back to the Good Side this whole time then summer um

not wavering after salem razes vale

would certainly be a wake-up call, i think. of the "oh. laughs nervously. i’m in danger" kind—not that i think summer particularly wants to hurt him and salem is obviously disinclined to kill summer’s friends/family (<- "you disappoint me" after tyrian claims to have killed qrow, "he might be on our list of people we’d very much like dead" says watts but salem conspicuously hasn’t lifted a finger to try making that happen even when she assassinated qrow’s. entire mistrali spy network. etc) but Tai Won’t Know That. and of course cinder is both a wild card and the limit of salem’s tolerance in that if it came to a choice between cinder and ruby or yang i think salem would pancake summer’s girls without blinking.

even before that he’d also—given that global comms are down—be learning about ruby and yangs apparent deaths from salem, whether directly or indirectly through summer. and that’s fun.

in general i think as soon as salem Turns Up at beacon with cinder and two relics in hand then whatever wishful thinking situation is going on with tai and summer is probably gonna crumble real fucking fast. bc like… it’s one thing to tell himself summer is just brainwashed or misguided or too afraid to leave while salem is a distant abstract monster somewhere Out There, quite another to do it while salem is Here and summer’s like looking back and forth between salem and cinder and going oh you want to raze vale to force the sword into play? sure ok i’ll get my axe about it.

i won’t entirely Rule Out the possibility that summer might betray salem at this juncture strictly on the basis of the ozian allusion (glinda and jinjur are opposed in the book, mombi’s illusory rose, etc) BUT i don’t think it’s very likely given rwby’s narrative setup and the truth-is-hard-to-come-by storyteller themes 🤔 this is a version of the story where glinda is not Universally Beloved and jinjur is her general; if we read the god of light as mombi, then summer’s silver eyes—incorrectly supposed to be a gift from light—are intuitively the illusory rose and i think it makes more sense to anticipate the deception/illusion to be this idea everyone has of the Heroic Martyred Paragon. glinda’s the one who sees through the illusion and reveals the truth. etc.

it’s also—laughs helplessly—congruent with the wonderland (musical) stuff they did in v9 with ruby as the child-looking-for-her-lost-mother mirror image. perfect writer/perfect mother/perfect wife -> perfect huntress/perfect mother/perfect wife. it um. well im rotating it in my mind all the time. the lost mother is the hatter. get it?

(<- "get it?" i say about smth that will basically only make sense to me bfrgscbk sorry you’ll just have to trust me on this one)

[irregodless]

popular is actually a very important song to the themes in wicked. even the wizard confirms them

glinda tells elphaba that political figures and social influencers arent those who are the most qualified, theyre the ones who are most accepted. ol oscar echoes this later by telling elphaba history is just the perspective of the favorable. whether or not youre regarded as a protector or a tyrant has everything to do with your pr and who ends up coming out on top

in fact he even goes so far as to say yeah we all know even our celebrated leaders are kinda shit BUT we choose not to acknowledge it. because its easier that way. which is how oz functions at a whole which plays into how maguire played with how it was viewed in the book. the wizard of oz is a magical fantastical place! because dorothy is a child. because the ozians want to show off their best. maguire notes how even the emerald city was filled with slums and ghettos. but are you going to show that to a visitor? is a child from kansas going to know how to pick out vagrants or prostitutes? the wizard of oz was created to be enjoyed by children and so maguire writes the land to, by its leaders, be callow and immature even in its handling of mature issues. its part of why you get such silly wacky fantasy names in a story about. well. A Lot.

oh hes a winkie from the western vinkus isnt that so silly >w<!! We Are Committing Eugenics Against Animals

glinda points this out to elphaba. by having a visceral emotional reaction she has ruined her cause. i dont think even in the books she had any sympathizers that werent Animals. but she needs more than the side of the oppressed to make cause. glinda would have been her best pr manager. elphaba COULD have swallowed her pride and played along with the wizard. i mean after all she has actual magic and he only has parlor tricks. but thats not in her character and is arguably a fatal character flaw of hers

that is until you consider glinda. glinda sympathizes with elphaba at least to some extent. and we see her gain great success... but she still only holds up the status quo. would elphaba have been able to slip out of the political trappings to actually reform oz from the inside? or would the background players like morrible who are also in control subdued her

glinda certainly didnt end up changing anyones minds. not even when she tried to make people have empathy for elphaba by explaining how she had a family and childhood like anyone elses. of course... ephabas family having religious and political Eminence probably didnt help the lower classes who elphaba should have been able to appeal to easily view her favorably

"its not about aptitude, its the way youre viewed" well elphaba already knows how shes viewed. shes so keenly aware she has an entire speech she starts ranting off the minute she introduces herself to anyone. she doesnt want to play along with this game of optics because shes been losing it her whole life and has been victimized by it

she idolized the wizard. she viewed the wizard as the way to absolve how shes perceived. but when she sees the man behind the curtain she doesnt want that anymore. she CANT want it anymore as she says. now that she cant rely on oscar... shes given up on the concept that anyone could make her be viewed favorably. and so she takes the road that makes HER happy. its not the most effective one and its not the comfortable one but its the one that doesnt jeopardize her morals and values and doesnt keep her grounded

she died a villain who couldnt do much for her cause beyond terrorism and being an antaognistic force for the wizard who otherwise would have faced no pushback but she died being true to herself and not changing herself like how everyone in oz wanted her to

and yet did she actually not achieve anything? the world needs a scapegoat, after all. oscar said so himself. elphaba didnt stop the cruelty against animals completely, but she gave oz a new player to target their hate against. and in this way she also manages to undermine oscars power if only slightly

to quote twisted which itself was inspired by wicked:

What remains of a man when that man is dead and gone? Only memories and stories of his deeds will linger on, but if a man's accomplishments aren't in the tale they tell, are the deeds that go unheralded his legacy as well? [...] The question then is whether 'tis nobler in the mind to be well-liked but ineffectual, or moral but maligned? I'll never be the hero all the citizens adore, but if I hide to save my life, what has my life been for?

[apomaro-mellow]

Wicked thoughts: spoilers

Preface - my exposure going in is having read a couple chapters like 10 years ago, amvs with Popular and Loathing, and watching part of a performance of the opening number on youtube

this felt like cinema right out the gate and i love it

they're doin big ensemble set pieces im in

hmm, not to be that person but i don't feel good about the fact you can see ariana grande's bones.

AND an expositional song that covers everything and goes on for like 10 minutes? are we back? it feels like we're back

so far, im not mad about the color. Yeah it's not technicolor, but it still looks good. gonna get back to you about the lighting tho

It's only now, getting to see this on the big screen that i realize elphaba has microbraids and first, yes! but also magic must exist in this world i don't know how anybody has any patience to install those ^-^"

once again i am happy that this feels like a musical musical

I was not expecting Michelle Yeoh

random, but i love glinda's shoes in every single scene. they look vintage 30s/40s, which makes sense and also that is my favorite style of heel

gonna be totally honest I completely forgot there was supposed to be a "male lead" in this movie and idk who he is

i was gonna say he doesn't really do it for me but he slid across a table and i got to see the peach and im warmin' up to him.

that circular/ladder bookcase set looks so fricken cool and im glad it wasn't just for a single shot

idk if this is an unpopular thought or not, but I don't think glinda was completely mean for trying to foist buck onto nessarose. how long does a girl gotta be not interested for you to take a hint?

as im writing this, im wondering if that ballroom scene would go really well with HSM A Night to Remember?

why am i getting teary eyed at a girl dancing by herself?

there's a shot of grande from the side with her arm out and i gotta say again, i don't feel good about how thin she looks

OKAY I just remembered his name is JOnathan Bailey and call me Barbara Howard the way I kept getting this man confused with Jonathan Majors

What's going on with the Animals is genuinely horrifying

I too am wondering why Fiyero wasn't effected by the poppies

Emotional cheating after becoming friends is crazy work tho

that lil balloon the wizard sent with the animals feels like a microaggression somehow

the moment they get to the emerald city feels like the best place to say the melanin was POPPIN in the ensemble!

I can't claim to be a fan of Wicked but seeing Chenoweth and Menzel cameo in such perfect roles got me misty eyed I love when folks are given recognition like that

this whole movie was good but from the time they meet the wizard all the way up to the end I was enraptured

Perfect ending to the movie (and I imagine this is where the intermission would have been?) leaves you on that emotional high and ready for more while still feeling satisfied.

[thegaissilent]

About my main verse Glinda

Hi. This will be a little summary of some headcanons and things about my Glinda while mixing book and movie/musical! This will be the version you will be interacting with but I can also write fully book version upon request! >:3

Regarding her backstory:

She grew up in the Upper Uplands, as we know, however, like book Glinda, her family was not the richest of the country. She is still very rich, but her family's status compared to the other Upland families is actually the lowest.

Thus she grew up in a very competitive environment, where her family was constantly looked down upon. That's how she learned to be mean, but also that if she gave people what they wanted, she would get what she wanted and everybody won :)

She also learned that if she ostracized other people, they would not focus on excluding her.

She's always had a good relationship with her parents and they've always given her everything she wanted. The Upland State is a big farm with all kinds of animals, a garden, and they also produce vegetables. Galinda has a mare named Princess, she is brown with white markings (like Rain from Spirit!). She got her when she was about 7 and this was her companion pet growing up.

(For those unfamiliar with the books: talking Animals will always be capitalized, thus, Princess is a regular horse, not a Horse, she doesn't talk like Fiyero's Horse in the movie).

Despite Oz being a very queer-friendly place, rich society still sucks with the pressure for everyone to have heirs and whatnot, thus, lesbian hetcomp Galinda is born! :)

Also why she latches onto Fiyero from day one, he is "perfect". And a prince. The exact kind of guy someone like her should be with (ignore this if writing bookverse instead of booksical, but the comphet remains).

She is AuDHD, but thanks to the environment she grew up in, she learned to mask it very early on. Her entire life has been a performance and masking her neurodivergency is an essential part of that. Her most natural behavior is what we see in "Popular", whether movie or play. Glinda naturally expresses herself by being exaggerated and dramatic and she stims vocally a lot (I will make an entire post on this at some point).

Oh, also! She is actually very smart. One of the few people from the Uplands who got into Shiz (in the books, she is the first woman to do so but since the Oz from the movies is not mysoginy land, we're going with that instead). However, she plays dumb because that makes people bend to her easier.

Obviously, she loves pink. But her other favorite color is blue! She likes pastel tones and soft colors :).

She loves flowers, but her favorites are pink roses. This is especially because there is a big rose bush in the Upland State and her mumsie calls her "my little rose".

Regarding her name change:

I am definitely not a fan of how it is done in the musical. In the book, she actually does care about Doctor Dillamond (and is absolutely shocked since he is actually murdered), so my Glinda's reasoning will either be because of the Goat himself OR because she wants to show Elphaba that she cares. Glinda is not just a dumb character who only cares if a boy likes her or not and this will never be the reason for my Glinda's name change.

***************************************************************

Okay, I talked a lot and if you read all of this, congratulotions! As you can see, it doesn't differ too much from the Glinda we all know and love, but it does make it a bit meatier! :3

Thank you for reading this! 🩷

[eurydicees]

oh dont apologise i loved your essay 😭 and i 100% agree with everything. Theres such a innate theme of choices and consequences in wicked the musical and its so fascinating to me how choices made by all the characters have such profound consequences at the end. And fiyero’s choices are no different in the way they alter the trajectory of multiple characters.

He is really the only one i can think of who sacrifices everything for elphaba and does it all willingly. How do you like elphaba and then dislike the one character who was ready to give up his whole life and everything that came with it for her 😭

Twitter is very binary in that regard honestly, and its such a shame that they miss out on some pretty interesting character analysis about their favourite characters bc they decide to be so rigid and weird about other characters who had an impact on their faves. Couldnt be me lol, making multiple threads about a character you hate. I also think something else is at play here but dont wanna say it publicly lol but given your other responses i think you’d probably agree.

And yes totally agree about dividing the film in two parts - i can only hope the film watchers stick around for part 2 and see fiyero’s whole arc

thanks for the ask! also i wrote another fiyero ted talk. if i were like charles dickens or whoever and i was getting paid by the word to write about fiyero, i could be so goddamn rich btw.

anyways, choices and consequences!!!!! like that's the whole thing!!!!!!! and the way our choices affect and change other people!!!! fiyero isn't an exception to any of that!!!!

you're so right that fiyero is truly the one who makes the ultimate sacrifices for elphaba. like glinda loves elphaba, she absolutely does. but she isn't able to take on the work and life that elphaba chooses in defying gravity.

when it comes to the things that are most important to her, glinda prioritizes comfort and reputation over, like, morality and principle. and the thing about glinda is that she actively makes this choice. she chooses not to go with elphaba. she wants elphaba to succeed, but she's not brave enough to join her. in order for glinda to find the bravery to take up the work elphaba starts, she has to lose everything that actually matters. and she has to be complicit in her own losing of those things.

fiyero loves elphaba to the point of sacrificing all of those things that glinda can't resist. the day with the lion cub, and elphaba's general influence on him, changes fiyero profoundly in a similar way that she affects glinda, but fiyero finds the bravery to act on all of that. the difference is that he doesn't get the choice to go with her until mid-act 2 after wonderful.

in thank goodness, there's that one exchange between fiyero and glinda where they say smth like "you just can't resist all of this" "well who could?" "you know who could, and who has." and he's talking about elphaba, he's talking about how she had all the love she ever wanted at the tip of her fingers when she met the wizard, and she chose to let it go because she saw the ugly parts of the wizard's world. and this exchange is so clearly boiling it down to "elphaba resisted the temptation of being universally/publically loved and glinda did not." which tbh is something so in character for a person who has never had that, and a person who has always had that and thus doesn't want to leave it behind.

ok i was going somewhere with this but i don't remember where. just. fiyero isn't a perfect character. and for SURE the choice to erase gelphie's romantic subtext from the book when adapting it for broadway was an act of homophobia. but if we're just looking at musical canon, fiyero is brave enough to give up everything first to save elphaba, then to go with her, and then to protect her. and so-called elphaba stans don't think that's good enough. which is CRAZY to me.

also like. he's literally not the comphet love interest. sorry you didn't mention that but i keep seeing people throw those words around and like that's not what's happening here guys. elphaba loves him. she sings a whole song about it. multiple, even.

comphet implies that she mistakenly thinks she loves him because society has molded her into believing that's how she should be (fyi if anyone's experiencing that, it's glinda but i digress). elphaba, who notably has never been able to comply to the mold society makes for women, because she's never been pretty white woman enough to be afforded a place in that society? you mean that elphaba?

guys elphaba just...loves him. that's all there is to it. she loves him when she realizes he's more than he thinks he is, more than the airs he puts off. she loves him when she feared he might have changed, she loves him when he proves he did change--for the better. she loves him when he sticks by her, when he chooses her. she loves him when he's a fucking SCARECROW. ("go ahead, touch, i don't mind" "you're still beautiful" lives in my head rent fucking free).

when she has her breakthrough "okay. fuck this world that has never been good to me, if you want me to be wicked, i'll be wicked" moment, it's because she loses fiyero. she gets betrayed by nessa, and she fails dillamond, and she loses fiyero--and it's then that she loses sight of what good she had begun fighting for. it's a love for fiyero that drives most of no good deed (broadway songs of all time btw). like sorry but you dont sing someone's name like that if you don't love them. that's just musical theatre rules. trust me i was a theatre major.

anyways. sorry for that detour. back to the point. twitter treats everything as so black and white which is crazy because this is a revisionist musical about how evil isn't black and white. like?????? whatever. imagine being so bitter about a character you dislike that you want to change fundamental pieces of your favorite character so that he isn't relevant.

look. gelphie is great doomed yuri and i support that so hard. but dont try to tell me fiyero isn't deeply important to elphaba and to understanding elphaba's character. tbh the love triangle here isn't fiyero choosing between glinda and elphaba. it's more like elphaba choosing between glinda and fiyero and what either of them represent to her (glinda and working within the system, or fiyero, and abandoning it).

and hot take maybe but like ultimately--as someone who has never been conventionally accepted, as someone who has been hunted down to be murdered, as someone who has been the victim of a smear campaign and propaganda against her character/intentions, all of which was in part driven by glinda--she was always going to choose fiyero.

i respect gelphie shippers, i do. in another world, maybe one without the wizard, they could've been so happy together. i'm with y'all. but given canon, even if all others fall, i will be the last fiyero defender standing. god i hope movie-only fans watch part 2 and at least learn to RESPECT him. at the bare minimum. please. please. please.