#quadling country

[witchesoz]

Oz lore: The Great and Powerful (2)

II) The Land of Oz

Now, what is truly fascinating is that for the release of the movie, Disney published an official map of Oz as it appears in the movie – in fact it is the same map that appears several times in the movie.

However before that, let’s tackle the biggest issue with this movie: is Oz a dream or not?

The movie tries to mix together two conflict canon, the books where Oz is real, and the MGM movie where Oz is a dreamland. As a result… on one side Oz is visibly real, since the Wizard is not knocked on the head in any way, is rather carried there by a magical tornado, and later appears in Dorothy’s story. But on the other side, Dorothy’s story per the MGM movie was a dream, and the Wizard, just like Dorothy, sees in Oz beings and creatures reflecting his reality – the lions, the monkeys, the circus music in the plants, Glinda being a reflection of Wanda, the Little China Girl being the wheelchair girl… too many coincidences for it not to mean something. The result is extremely confusing. But that’s the main trouble with this movie: in terms of Ozian lore, it is infuriating by its desire to take from both canons without fully indulging in any.

Now, to get on to Oz itself…

They kept the idea of Oz being split into several distinct sections, which is nice. The Emerald City is at the center of Oz and has its own, green-colored region. The official map mentions a “Green Lake” nearby, which is not appearing in the movie but is actually a nod to the mysterious lake Baum added on his Oz maps without ever using it in a story. The most interesting twist is that in this version, there are actually four yellow brick roads, each linking the City to a different part of Oz.

In the north, you have the purple-colored Gillikin Country, which appears on the officla map, but is absolutely forgotten in the movie. It is never mentioned, does not appear and doesn’t play any role – the official map doesn’t even has landmarks for it. Since Glinda in this movie is the witch of the South, there is no witchy presence in the North – and even more, on the official map, the Northern Yellow Brick Road is the only one that is not tied or crosses over with the other Yellow roads (ALL the other Yellow Brick Roads are tied together in one big system).

In the South, you have the Quadling Country. It seems to be red-colored, in theory. You see, the thing is that on the official map the colors of the countries are very pale – and the one of the South is so pale it doesn’t seem like it has any color at all. It looks to be the same beige as the paper of the map, until you look really close and note some faded red/pink colors on the borders. The only real noticeable landmark is “Glinda’s Castle”, which is the small bubble-protected kingdom Glinda built in the South during her exile. Because yes, she visibly had enough time to build there a castle – unless it was always there and she merely took over. In the movie, this is where Glinda united her “forces” by gathering people who were oppressed/wronged by the Wicked Witch and knew the truth. Three groups are here: the Quadlings (the simple, rural folks living in the South. Look like humans with strange mustaches/hairdos/outfits – mostly farmers, though others also have jobs such as iron-smiths, sewers, bakers or scarecrow-makers) ; the Tinkerers (old, bearded and bald men with pointy ears, most walking with canes or in wheelchairs, and who are able to build anything – probably a mix of elves makers and the Winkies from the novel) and the Munchkins (who are just like in the MGM movie – interestingly not all the Munchkins joined Glinda’s side, one actually works as the Herald of the Emerald City, but ultimately turns out to be a double agent for Glinda – but it leads the question, if Evanora can spy in Glinda’s protected kingdom, how come she did not realize her own city herald was a spy?).

At one point we also see a bunch of wild mountains located at the border between the South and… the Munchkin realm, let’s call that. The mountains there are shaped like giant animals (one is a stone lion, another a titanic elephant) and they have on them strange sights such as flowers made of crystals/gems.

And then… the East and the West. Oh boy. That’s the mess.

You see, they inverted the East and the West. Which isn’t wrong in itself, because this is a nod to the real Oz maps: the first Oz maps in the books had confused the directions, putting East on the left and West on the right, resulting in an ongoing debate over whether the directions are inverted in Oz or not. HOWEVER… the mistake the movie And this precise map made is that they did not invert the directions on the map, East is still on the right as in our world’s maps. Not, they inverted the directions when it comes to the people. The Winkies are put in the East and the Munchkins in the West. Which doesn’t make any sense since for example Evanora goes to rule over the Munchkins and become the Wicked Witch of the East… in the West, according to the official map (which is the same map used in the movie).

Anyway.

The Yellow Land of the Winkies (normally in the West, but on the map and the movie in the East) is actually where the Wizard begins his journey. His balloon falls in “The Winkie Peaks”, in the North-East, right next to Ugabu (another book nod). The Winkie Peaks is a set of twisted canyons and weird mountains – they are covered in snow in their highest and most northern parts, which then melt into waterfalls, rivers and lakes. This area is filled with strange sights: butterfly looking like flowers ; giants plants ; reeds making music ; and “water fairies”, small mischievous sprites who love to bite people. This is also where the Wizard meets Theodora – and this actually is never explained. Why is she so far away from Oz? And why is she in an area FILLED WITH WATER?

They then go into what the map calls the “Enchanted Forest”, which looks mostly like a regular forest. Except that it is filled with lions. This is also where they meet Finley, a small winged monkey with a bellhop outfit, who just escaped after his master’s house was destroyed by the Wicked Witch winged baboons. Here is something else that never got explained: what exactly is Finley? He looks a lot like the winged monkeys the Wicked Witch uses in the MGM movie. But in this continuity, the Wicked Witches use flying baboons. And while Finley has similarities to them (a winged ape with human clothes), he also doesn’t look like them AT ALL – he can speak where they cannot, he is gentle and kind where they are brutal and cruel, and he has feathered wings where they have bat wings.

Finally, in the movie they leave the Winkie Country by using the Yellow Brick Road, which leads them through a patch of blue flowers. And here is actually another interesting confusion: in the movie, it is implied that each gate of Oz has in front of it a patch of flowers tied to the land it faces. The eastern gate has blue flowers; the western gate has yellow flowers, and the southern gate has red flowers – the deadly poppies. Which would make sense… if they hadn’t switched the two countries. So, while the blue flowers face the East, according to the map they face the yellow Winkie Country. Same with the yellow flowers in front of the blue Munchkin Country. In fact, it seems that in the movie the East with the Peaks and the Enchanted Forest, was supposed to be the Munchkin Land of the MGM movie – after all the Enchanted Forest is the one of the MGM movie where they meet the Lion, the Tin Man and the talking apple trees. But the official map put them in the Winkie section.

And the deadly poppy fields are even more confusing – while they are supposed to face South, because they are red and are not near the Eastern Yellow Brick Road, the movie and the map explain that the field is actually East, and borders the Enchanted Forest. It is also confusing because in the MGM movie it is implied that the poppy field is a spell cast by the Wicked Witch, but here they are an already existing area everyone in Oz avoids because “one sniff” of the flowers and you fall into an eternal sleep.

As for the Winkies themselves, just like in the MGM movie they are represented as tall soldiers with hooked noses and chins – they are the personal guards of the Wicked Witches. However, contrary to the MGM movie, they do not have green skin, they rather have yellow skins (a nod to how their color is yellow).

And then you have the Eastern – I mean, Western part of Oz, the blue-colored Munchkin country. Only three areas are visited here: the China Country, a nod to the book, a city made of giant china cups and teapots, inhabited by living china figures. The town got entirely destroyed by the flying baboons, because they celebrated the arrival of the Wizard which angered the Wicked Witch, leading to the genocide of the China people, with only the Little China girl surviving (in this canon, glue does not exist in Oz, and thus the China people, once broken, cannot be repaired – until the Wizard arrived, with glue). Later another area of the Munchkin Country is the “Dark Forest” also called the “Haunted Forest”. Where the Enchanted Forest was a green, vibrant, beautiful area, the Haunted Forest is a dark and gloomy place filled with black dead trees, enormous thorns, and also man-eating plants with glowing eyes. In fact, to travel safely there you either have to run very fast, or be a witch whose magic can force the plants and obstacles to push away (such as Glinda does with her wand). The Haunted Forest borders “The Cemetery”, where Glinda’s father was buried. And according to the map, it is basically the only cemetery of all Oz, where the Ozites are all buried.

As you might remember, the haunted forest was originally (MGM canon) in the West of Oz, near the Wicked Witch castle. And here it is in the Munchkin Country, except that the Munchkin is in the West… the same way the Enchanted Forest, in the East-Munchkin land of MGM becomes here part of the East-Winkie land. It is just… so confusing.

This little tour being made, here are a few additional thoughts about this take on Oz:

# The technological level of Oz is… extremely confusing. The Quadlings are shown to own sewing machines, for example, hinting at a somewhat modern Oz. Yet, the Ozites are also confused by things such as glue and music boxes, and ignore what canon powder is.

# The size of Oz is… also confusing, but overall damn is this country small! On one side it takes roughly a full day (one afternoon and one morning) for the Wizard and Theodora to go from the Winkie Peaks, at the Ozian border, to the Emerald City, at the heart of Oz. Yet, the Wizard tells the China Girl her city is “one or two hours” of walk from the Emerald City. Except that, according to the map, the distance China Town-Emerald City is half the length of the distance Theodora and the Wizard crossed to get to the Emerald City…

- - - --

So yeah, in one word: confusing. Here is the map if you ever want to check it, and how... confusing it is:

Oz: The Great and Powerful is definitively NOT a good way to explore Oz geography or society.

[forlornfig]

Reread wicked again. I love the musical with all my heart but the book has something really special to it. It goes against the whole chosen-one trope and instead details the lives of children, students, adults moving through the world while facism rises around them. And like regardless of what their views are- they’re pretty powerless to stop it. They can only experience it.

I understand that this may make the plot seem slow or oddly paced but it’s not really about the hero’s journey, it’s about ordinary people’s lives. Elphaba is NOT the hero, or even the anti-hero. We might agree with her morals over other characters but she actually accomplishes very little. Almost every moral crusade she undertakes fails. She dies as just one of the many symbols of the resistance. The most productive rebellion we hear about comes from the Vinkus allyships and that happens in the background.

Wicked isn’t a book about good saving the day, or about compassion unifying the country.

At the end of the book, Elphaba and Glinda are divided by morals, Fiyero died for a cause he was never that much a part of, and Boq and the others have retreated into the background to protect their own. The wizard leaves yes, but he leaves behind a society in political turmoil. Munchkinland is facing re-annexation, the Vinkus is under attack, the Animals and the Quadlings have been shoved almost out of existence. The wizard can’t even be called the true Villain because his leaving does miraculously turn society back to “good”.

Wicked is about radicalism and facism can very quickly become the norm for a society through a series of tiny and almost ignorable steps for those not directly affected. It’s about waking up and realizing that all of a sudden you can’t remember the last time you saw an Animal walking free through the city.

[blancamz]

There are many towns in Quadling country, and among the most fragile of these towns is that of the Cuttenclips. The people, gardens, buildings, animals, and even the water are made of paper and card; and all of this is protected by a magical wall that keeps both bad weather and clumsy strangers out. Only one resident in the Cuttenclip village is flesh and blood, Miss Cuttenclip herself.

She's a perfectly ordinary Quadling girl, but what makes her special is her artistic flair, especially her skill in making things out of paper. The Good Witch Glinda found her artworks so charming that she gifted Miss Cuttenclip with access to an magical paper and a little plot of land.

So Miss Cuttenclip lives in a house in the town, surrounded by both mundane and magical art supplies, happily making new paper dolls and decor. Otherwise, she doesn't intervene much in her creations' lives, though she sometimes has to intercede when visitors don't obey the sign on the town gate:

[bestworstcase]

So, I was gathering reference for a map making project and when looking at the Vale World of Remnant video got reminded of this map and was curious if you had any thoughts on things:

This was its follow up:

i think about those red settlements all the time. (i have another post about this somewhere but it’s lost in the tumblr abyss. rip.) now, first thing, the placement of these settlements is clearly vibes-based—we know there are no settlements in the menagerian interior and there’s no green markers where the city of vale should be, etc—so their distribution is probably meant to give more of a general sense of where people tend to be in a world populated mainly by grimm, rather than the exact location of specific settlements. in any case, what’s up with quadling country those settlements on the “uninhabited” continent where salem lives?

third data point, from the great war spot:

which implies that battles were fought across the southern peninsula of the “uninhabited” continent during the great war; this does not make sense to me unless there were people there, so my thinking is that these red settlements must have existed at the time and their obliteration occurred during the course of the great war, which tracks with qrow noting many settlements were permanently lost due to the fighting and the grimm.

but that leaves the questions of 1. who were these people, and 2. why hasn’t anyone ever mentioned them?—because if this was an entire kingdom that got annihilated during the great war, you’d think that would merit at least a footnote in the great war episode. the two explanations that i can think of are:

#1, the red settlements represent a now-defunct faunus kingdom that is receiving the same treatment in history books that menagerie receives politically in the present—namely, the “four kingdoms… (and menagerie)” thing where the faunus kingdom is not only completely marginalized on the international stage but humans barely even acknowledge that it exists.

this would also make menagerie a much harder kick in the face, if the faunus already had a kingdom—a much larger one, even!—that was razed to the ground, ended up impossible to reclaim from the grimm, and got unceremoniously erased by human historians while the human kingdoms were like “stop complaining, we gave you an island!” about it.

however, i’d think this would be a bit of history blake knew, and there’s an obvious place in V4 for her to have brought it up because she talks about the history of the great war in relation to menagerie!

or,

#2, the red settlements were founded by vacuans displaced by the conquest and occupation of vacuo. this conveniently explains why they’ve never really been explained, if they were separate from vacuo by virtue of not being under mistrali occupation but also still, in a way, considered ‘part’ of vacuo because the people living their were vacuan—the settlements were destroyed or abandoned after the war, sure, but in the end the vacuans who lived there got to go home and have their own kingdom back. i think this is also more in keeping with the decolonial project of the vytal accords, with imperial territories being liberated and so forth. and you still get the whitewashing-history vibe of well, sure these vacuans lost their homes but they got a kingdom in the end so…

<- this would make the vacuo arc the natural place for it to come up in the story proper, because the vacuans would remember even if the rest of the world didn’t.

either way, the fact that the settlements are 1. located on the continent where salem presumably lives, and 2. color-coded red definitely implies some connection between her and them—whether that’s a legitimate connection or just ozma making an assumption that people living in her proximity must secretly be under her thumb remains to be seen, but it’s interesting. i do think it’s quite unlikely that salem herself is the one solely responsible for their obliteration, because the great war episode does show that there was fighting in that region; if she did attack them she did so under the cover of a level of destructive warfare that would have wiped them off the map anyway.

i’m also very interested in the menagerian-lime settlements on anima—it’s always been my assumption that that’s where the WF is headquartered and the idea of faunus-majority settlements in southern anima, protected by menagerie, compels me.

[penguicorns-are-cool]

Dr dillamond gets killed by clock? What other differences does the book have from the musical?

oooooh ok this is a big question

the short answer is basically almost everything but I'll give you the highlights

Elphaba's mom is not cheating Elphaba's Dad is a Quadling guy named Turtleheart who her parents are in a threesome with

the existence of Quadlings. Quadlings are a race of people who live in swamplands. Think of every possible indigenous stereotype and you'll have a good idea of what they're like. They're main character traits are being magical and peaceful to a fault.

After Turtleheart dies Elphaba's family becomes a missionary family (Elphaba's Dad is already a big religious figure so now he's a traveling priest in Quadling lands)

Elphaba is canonically intersex (like she has a micropenis) and was born with very sharp teeth

Also Elphaba has a brother

Nana is the only one in her family who seems to actually love her, she is very into Lurlinism

the four big religions are Lurlinism, Unionism, Pleasure Faith, and Tiktokism

Nessa is born without arms, she can't walk because without arms she can't balance. the red ruby slippers are enchanted to help her balance while she walks later on.

Elphaba works very hard and gets into shiz on her own a year or so before Nessa

Fiyero's character is split into two, Fiyero and Avaric Tenmeadows

Avaric is Boq's roommate and he is the big party boy and is always asking Boq out to the Philosophy club

the one time Boq does go to the Philosophy club he gets chosen in a raffle for a big sex show orgy thing (anyone who gets in the club is in the raffle automatically)

Fiyero is a prince from somewhere in Vinkus country (Vinkus country is in the west and imagine every stereotype about Africa and you'll have a good idea about what it's like) Fiyero has already been betrothed since he was like 9 and doesn't really care for Glinda at all

Dr. Dillamond is the science teacher and is trying to prove that animals can become Animals because for some reason this will be a huge discovery for the pro Animal rights (this is why he's killed)

Madame Morrible has some weird prophecy for Glinda, Nessa, and Elphaba about them all having immense amounts of power and not remembering this at all

Glinda and Elphaba do kiss

Glinda and Elphaba go to Oz for fun one day not to see the Wizard

Elphaba stays behind because she sees how many poor people they are and wants to help

part two starts decades in the future with an affair between Elphaba and Fiyero, like it opens in a sex scene

After this Elphaba goes to some sort of protest thing that goes violent and she gets hit on the head and into a coma for an entire year

She wakes up in a monastery with a child (she doesn't know which kid is hers the nuns never really tell her that she's had a child but when she leaves many years later she's sent off with a child, Liir, and a broom)

She goes to see Fiyero in Vinkus country in Kiamo Ko (where he's the king)

Fiyero is dead she's now living with his widow and her kids

Fiyero's kids are little shitheads who try to kill Liir all the time, except the youngest who's spoiled and her older brothers don't like her either

Liir is somehow protected by the ghost of his father although Elphaba never considers him her child and is a horrible mom to him

Elphaba is still trying to do activism stuff but failing miserably and also the Animals are all being used for slave labor now

She tries to kill Madame Morrible except Madame Morrible was already dead

Nessa is drunk with power after her Dad died

Elphaba finds the grimmerie in Kiamo Ko which is when she starts having any significant amount of magic powers

She gives chistery wings and tries to teach him to speak to continue dillamond's research

she is currently increasingly mentally ill

Her entire family at Kiamo Ko except Liir and Nana (she came in for fun and so Elphaba could care for her) gets killed by the Oz army and the youngest is taken prisoner

Elphaba is now dedicated to getting the youngest daughter released and meeting with the wizard about it

When dorothy comes to kill her she doesn't really want to but when Elphaba tries to give her the broom she accidnetally sets herself on fire and Dorothy throws water on her to put it out

elphaba is deathly allergic to water

there's more but i'm stopping now

[fanartbyherd]

Been doodling.

And I have been doodling the witches from the wizard of Oz.

All of these are Amalgamations of different versions of the witches I have seen mixed with headcannon, and how I intend to draw them for a personal project in the future.

Good witch of the north and west are a lot younger then the original books, but are more in line with the 1930s technicolor film. ( I mean iconic for a reason) as well as their portrayals in the book / musical Wicked.

Wicked witch of the west has a cape that can act as wings and her eyes are bright green in color. Her skin is more of a green tint then outright green. But it’s noticeable. She is also wearing an eyepatch.

I have backstory for all of them that is a horrid amalgamation of several different cannons fused together. I might share that at some other time.

Glinda the good witch of the south is black and beautiful, based on the illustrations from a tabletop rpg I have. I also sort of just imagine her as black. She’s the most powerful of the witches to my understanding of the source material. But she had some sort of agreement with the other witches that dose not let her interfere most of the time.

Witch of the east is wearing a Munchkin hat, and the silver slippers (with ruby red ribbons). Originally I started coloring the bells yellow and gold, but then I realized they should probably be silver like the shoes. I tried to fix it but ended up with this odd brass color. I’ll correct it in the future.

I was really tempted at making the wicked witch of the east a redhead. But I decided against it.

Now all witches wear white. It’s the color of witches but as rulers of their respective countries in the land of Oz their clothes also reflect the color of the country they rule over.

Gilligens=purple

Vinkus=yellow

Quadling=red

Munchkin =blue

I’ll probably share the other doodles I have at some later date. For now I will happily share these.

(Also if you are drawing wizard of oz fanart feel free to use these designs!)

[the-nosy-neighbor]

Welcome Home and Oz

In researching for those posts, I was reading about Nick Chopper becoming emperor of the Western province (Winkies, yeah, idk).  I went to read about the Winkies, and guess what I found?

This is the Oz national Flag.  There is some confusion about east and west in the fandom due to some early maps being reversed, but the map is understood to be like so:  Winkies on the West, Gilliken to the North, Munchkins to the East, Quadlings to the South.  The capital is in the middle.  We have our same color scheme to consider, so west is blue, north is purple, east is yellow, red is south and Emerald City is green.

Edit: i guess i should state that i think if looks like a WH envelope.

Obviously, Dorothy comes in to the east, and the first book extends from the far edge of the eastern region to the Wicked Witch of the West’s stronghold to the west. 

There are many, many books in the series, so lots happens and lots is learned about Oz throughout the series, with additional authors participating after Baum’s death.  There are 40 books considered canon, and if you haven’t seen the movie Return to Oz (oh, hey, there is some Henson involvement there), brace yourself. 

Also, The Wiz is probably the best version out there. 

As much as I love the Muppets, I wouldn’t watch that one.  I have probably only seen it once.

But beyond the flag, and the information I posted earlier about Tin Man and Scarecrow, there isn't much to explore. I researched the colors and the regions they represent and didn't find what the map might have to do with anything.

When I was doing my casting of the Welcome Home characters in the Wizard of Oz universe, I had:

Frank—Tin Man

Eddie—scarecrow

Poppy—Cowardly Lion

Sally—Wicked Witch of the West

Wally—Dorothy

Home—Toto

Howdy—The Wizard

Julie—Glinda

I think that was what I chose.  It all makes sense to me, but there isn’t really anything linking them to the flag necessarily. 

The Tin Man is from Munchkin Country

Scarecrow is also from Munchkin Country. 

The Lion is from Munchkin Country as well. 

The WWW is from Winkie Country.  Dorothy and Toto aren’t from there (which could be a potential clue)

The Wizard is also from Kansas and parts beyond, as he is a traveling salesman

Glinda is from the south, Quadling Country.  She is also the true ruler of Oz is disguise! 

If you guys see a link I haven't considered, please let me know.

[utapri-translations-uuuu]

Dreaming of OZ - Synopsis, Characters & Glossary

Translator's notes can be found throughout the text and are marked with an asterisk.

Do not retranslate/repost without permission.

Everyone has the magic to make dreams come true

"Now, here is a story about two strangers, The Scarecrow, The Tin Woodman, and The Cowardly Lion.

The story of their future begins."

Synopsis of the story

Theo and Terry are boys who live in rural Kansas. They were bored with their mundane lives and felt life had lost its purpose.

Just as they were wishing they could escape from the monotonous gray days, they were caught up in a massive tornado and whisked away to the Land of Oz.

In order to return to Kansas, the two decide to visit the Wizard of Oz, who rules over the Emerald City.

Along the way they meet Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Lion, and embark on a journey to make *Theo and Terry's wishes come true……

[Note: there is no mention in the Japanese text about it being only Theo and Terry's wishes, in fact, each character has a wish.]

Characters

Eiji Otori as Theo

A kindhearted and quiet boy. He used to live in the city, but due to his family's circumstances, he was taken in by his aunt and uncle.

Nagi Mikado as Terry

A boy who lives in Kansas. He is Theo’s best and only friend. He’s tired of living in the country and longs for the city.

Van Kiryuin as Scarecrow

Built in a field in Munchkin Country. He wishes to have a brain that can think for itself to turn his life around.

Kira Sumeragi as Tin Woodman

Made entirely of tin, he has lost his heart. He was rusted and immobile until Theo helped him.

Yamato Hyuga as Lion

A cowardly lion. He struggles with the difference between his image and that of the "King of Beasts". He joins the journey in search of courage.

Eiichi Otori as Oz

A great wizard who reigns over the Emerald City. He *is rarely granted an audience, and his true identity is shrouded in mystery.

[Note: In my opinion, they meant: "He rarely grants an audience", according to the Japanese text.]

Shion Amakusa as Glinda

The Good Wizard of the South, Quadling Country. He possesses mighty magical powers and watches over the group's journey.

Glossary

Kansas

A state with a thriving cattle industry located in the center of the United States. It’s also known as part of “America’s Great Plains” because of its flat terrain.

Munchkin

A country where nature is abundant and everything you see is blue. The Wicked Witch of the East ruled over the area, but peace was restored when Theo accidentally defeated her.

Silver shoes

Magic shoes worn by the Wicked Witch of the East. Theo, having accidentally defeated the witch, accepts them as a reward and sets off on his journey.

Red poppy

It’s a dangerous flower with the power to make you drowsy when you inhale its fragrance, and if you continue to inhale it, you will remain permanently asleep.

Emerald City

The city where the Wizard of Oz resides, everything is emerald green. The view is beautiful but artificial, and the population looks busy at work.

Emerald green spectacles

It’s necessary to wear these spectacles when entering Emerald City to avoid getting blinded by its brightness.

Quadling

The country where Glinda, the Good Wizard of the South, resides. It is very prosperous and full of happiness, and here the buildings are painted bright red.

[hero-of-the-twlight]

Got a chance to watch the new trailer for Wicked. Right now I love that you can see some blue clothing, flags, and buildings in Munchkin Country. That's is something right out of the original " Wonderful Wizard of Oz" novel. Where all the major lands in Oz are color coded. Munchkin Country being blue, Quadling Country is red, Gillikin Country is purple, and Winkie Country is yellow.

That is also the reason why the Yellow Brick Road is yellow. Its a road from Munchkin Country to Winkie County /w the Emerald City being at the center. Meaning yes; the Red Brick Road leads to Quadling Country being the home land of Glinda the Good Witch of the South!

[gliyerabaa]

Elphie, Nessa, and Shell headcanons?? + Glinda if you please :)

full disclaimer: I do not know enough about shell. my interpretation of him is based almost entirely off of fics. I also don't nearly think about the Thropp siblings enough, so thank you for this ask-- it's helping me to expand my fandom horizons :)

the Thropp siblings, despite their differences in philosophies and ideals, are incredibly close and would probably die for each other

Elphaba has massive Eldest Sibling energy, and kind of fell into that role of 'second parent' especially after Melena died. With Frex out on his missions, she kind of became the parent of Nessa and Shell

Living in Quadling Country was miserable for Elphaba. The swampy environment and humid climate was miserable for her water allergy. Nessa often went on missionary work with their father once she was old enough, but Elphaba still had to take care of Shell, who loved nothing more than to play in the mud and run out into the swamps where he knew Elphaba could not follow

Once at Shiz, Elphaba and Nessa grew a lot closer, despite their differences. They were finally able to actually connect as people and have proper social lives without the looming shadow of their father over them. Do they bicker about ideological differences? absolutely. are they still deeply devoted to each other as sisters? of COURSE.

gonna talk about Glinda because I can't not talk about her. After Elphaba left, I like to think that Glinda and Nessa grew a lot closer. Glinda, who had never been particularly religious, started going to services with Nessa. Nessa would pray to the Unnamed God, and Glinda would pray to Saint Aelphaba. They were brought together by their shared love for Elphaba and wanted nothing more than her safe return.

[gay-ghostwriter]

What the FUCK is a Quadling?

Quadlings are one of the four races of Oz. Munchkins, Quadlings, Winkies and Gillikin. Those are also the names of their countries

Wicked the movie and play never puts any importance on it, but in the books Oz was very racist against the Quadlings

They have bright red skin and live in houses made of red bricks, where they spend most of their time drinking, making art and having sex

They're also vaguely Native American coded, but I could be completely wrong, I only read the book once

[just-some-guy-at-shiz]

So being turned into tin is kind of panic worthy. That’s valid. But eventually Boq stops freaking out and pulls himself together and figures that if this is life now he might as well be practical about it. Plus he got caught in the rain while he was still busy Having A Crisis and he doesn’t know if he should be concerned about the bits of rust that are already starting to appear but at the very least it’s annoying and he doesn’t know how to get rid of it properly. So he finds some metalsmith, probably in Quadling or Gillikin country ‘cause he was looking to cross the border anyway. Oz lore says he’d have the best luck in Winkie country with their tinsmiths, but frankly that’s too far of a walk, especially given that the rust is starting to make joint movement a pain.

Anyway. Point being that he walks into some guy’s metalworking workshop or storefront or whatever, and once again he tries to be straightforward but is interrupted before he can explain himself properly.

“What incredible armor! The craftsmanship is so intricate! And the faceplate moves as you speak??”

“Yeah, there’s actually a reason for that—“

“I must examine it more closely. May I remove your helmet?”

“UM-“

And the guy just goes and pulls Boq’s head off. RUDE.

Boq: You… You just decapitated me! >:O

Guy: [looking between the hollow “armor” and the head that’s still talking] [gasps] A demon! A spirit!

Boq: YOU DECAPITATED ME!

Guy: [thrusts Boq’s head back into his arms] [terrified wail]

Boq: This is TERRIBLE customer service!

Guy: What do you want with me, spirit of metal? Do you seek vengeance with me??

Boq: Oh I’m gonna seek vengeance all right if you don’t RE-CAPITATE me RIGHT NOW.

Guy: [hastily shoves Boq’s head back on him] Are you a benevolent ghost, or a wicked devil?

Boq: I was a paying customer until about 60 seconds ago.

Guy: …?

Boq: [rolls his eyes] I’m a restless soul from beyond the grave, possessing the armor I wore in life, and you are the only one who can satisfy my unfinished business and send my spirit to eternal peace by removing the decades of rust that time has piled upon my neglected armor. And also by giving me instructions on how to get rid of rust in case my soul gets restless again and wants to just take care of the problem myself next time. I will pay you with not haunting you for the rest of your life.

Boq: And can you see if my head is meant to come off like that, because that’s… concerning.

[powerpolyculeshowdown]

Canon Polycule Showdown

(vote for your favorite! check the description if you don't know them)

[ID: 1. Art of Camille, Nyra and Dendro from the Muted webcomic. 2. Cover for the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. /end ID]

Meet the contestants!

Camille/Nyra/Dendro

Status: Canon

Description: Camille meets Nyra shortly before summoning Dendro (a demon) and she starts having feelings for both of them. Both Nyra and Dendro recognize that Camille is in love with them both and also have some of their own bonding moments. Once, caught up in the moment, Nyra refers to her and Dendro as Camille's girlfriends. They discuss both being with Camille in a relationship, and the three end up together.

Turtle Heart/Melena/Frex

Status: Canon (past) 

Description: After the birth of Elphaba, with her green skin and sharp teeth and alarming manner, Turtle Heart, a quadling and a glassblower, happens upon their homestead on his way to the Emerald City to petition Ozma on behalf of the Quadling Country, and instead he stays. He becomes involved with Melena with Frex's involvement unclear, but Frex later states to Elphaba that they both were in love and in a relationship with him, but Turtle Heart was killed on the day that Nessarose, who might or might not biologically be Turtle Heart's daughter (and who Frex regards emotionally as such), is born.

[torto-isemusings]

So, I have another Jeevan headcanon: at first I thought the four sound categories could represent tiers on the Indian caste system(minus Untouchables), with Green(Princess Jeevan and Co.) being Kshatryia, Orange being Sudra, and either Red being Brahmin and Blue being Vaishya or vice versa(I hadn't decided that yet)

But(more below)

It seems that String here is supposed to be a prince, putting him in the same caste as Jeevan and her brothers

There are other inconsistencies that disprove this theory, like Siffle(who's based on a soldier) being the the same caste as Citar and Guit(who seem to be preists, given their connection to gods).

So that led me to this idea: what if the four sound types were not four castes in one kingdom, but four kingdoms in and of themselves? Think of it like the Land of Oz(the original book version), as seen in this vintage board game.

In the North is Gillikin Country(purple), East is Munchkin Country(blue), South is Quadling Country(red), and West is Winkie Country(yellow). In the Center, governing them all is the green Emerald City.

The land of Jeevan could be similarly constructed, with the Green Kingdom, Red Kingdom, Orange Kingdom, and Blue Kingdom all in one land. The groups of sounds don't all have to be royal families, so long as they have one ruler among them, like String for Red Kingdom.

I'll add more if I think of anything else.

[bijoupreciieux]

galinda upland is from gillikin country in the north but she winds up becoming the ruling sorceress over the quadling country of the south. as a young woman she is indeed shallow, vain, and is a sore loser. used to getting everything her way. it is a shock to her when the outcast at shiz university quickly proves to be far more skilled with magic than her. and infuriating when she is chosen for a special / elite class with madam morrible over her.

the contrast between glinda in her youth vs her as adult is night and day. one would never guess that she was late bloomer with her magic or that she was a selfish mean girl stereotype.

[ from wikipedia page on baum novel glinda ] Glinda lives in a palace near the Northern border of the Quadling Country, attended by fifty beautiful maidens from each country of Oz. She also employs a large army of female soldiers, with which she takes on General Jinjur's Army of Revolt, who had conquered the Emerald City in The Marvelous Land of Oz. Men are not prominent in Glinda's court. Glinda is strongly protective of her subjects in the South. She creates walled gated communities for the rabbits of Bunnybury and the paper dolls of Miss Cuttenclip, showing a personal interest in the concerns of not only the humanoid Quadlings, but also the other inhabitants of her jurisdiction.

some echoes of her old self remain however, her love for beauty apparent in her beautiful gowns and the overall visually appealing aesthetic of her kingdom. not only is her palace is a marvel to behold but the country itself. rivaling even the beauty of the emerald city itself. i adore Glinda’s look in the 1939 film so here are some edits of ar.iana in the classic pink bubble dress! this is meant to be a dress of hers when she is older it is not meant to replace the “bubble dress” in w.icked 2024.

i will incorporate more elements of ari@na’s portrayal when i see the film but for now my portrayal is heavily baum books influenced with bits of wicked canon.

[bestworstcase]

& since i’m on the subject of allusions tonight:

let’s talk about rwby’s actual oz allusions

so, generally speaking, the fandom—understandably perplexed by how tangential or even superficial rwby’s reference to the wizard of oz appears to be—takes the oz allusions in one of two ways: either, 1. the core ozian characters are deconstructions of the correlating oz character [the scarecrow drinks, the tin man throws his heart away, etc.] or 2. the oz allusions are a deliberate red herring intended to misdirect attention from the deeper or truer allusion to whatever, whence the g.u.n. theory or the bastardized norse myth madlibbing and so forth; or on occasion both at once.

the first camp has a lot of interesting things to say that i would probably find persuasive were it not for the fact that they also keep wrestling unsatisfyingly with the persistent questions of:

1. who is dorothy?

2. what about raven and summer and tai? (oh my)

3. how do the ozma/wizard/tip and ozma/ozpin/oscar trifectas fit together?

and the answers to all of these questions are in fact pretty straightforward...

...the trick is just that rwby isn’t alluding to the wizard of oz.

for the uninitiated there are a lot of oz books. there are-- there are so many oz books. fortunately for my sanity however rwby appears to be focusing primarily on one, the marvelous land of oz, which occurs not too very long after the wizard’s departure from oz at the end of the wonderful wizard of oz.

now, i will say up front that you are going to look at this list and immediately go “wait. what?” but just... trust me, ok? here we go.

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? god of light → mombi* ozma → ozma/tippetarius ozpin → the wizard oscar → jack pumpkinhead glynda → good witch of the ✨north✨ [NOT GLINDA] theodore  → dorothy gale lionheart → the soldier with the green whiskers ironwood → nick chopper [the tin woodman] qrow  → the scarecrow raven  → the woggle-bug taiyang → the cowardly lion [provisionally**] maria → the sawhorse summer rose → general jinjur and, last but not least, salem → glinda the good [TRUST. ME.]

*the god of darkness is sir not appearing in this book, but if rwby does what i think it will re: theodore, i’d place my bets on the nome king.

**taiyang is an unknown quantity in that i don’t think his primary role in the narrative has revealed itself yet; he might alternatively turn out to be the gump or the queen of the field mice. my money is on the lion, though, because the lion is also sir not appearing in this book but, like dorothy, appears in the next as a member of ozma’s retinue.

MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ ANY% NO GLITCH—

long story short, in the before times the land of oz was ruled by a king named pastoria who took up with the fairy-queen lurline and had a baby, ozma, rightful heir to the ozian throne; shortly thereafter, oscar diggs crash landed in oz, deposed pastoria, disappeared the infant princess by giving her to mombi, sorceress of the north, and became ✨the wizard✨. ...some... amount of time later, dorothy crash lands in oz, yellow brick road, silver slippers, smashes one witch and melts another, yada yada, the wizard sails off back to omaha in his hot air balloon, CUE MARVELOUS LAND; the starting positions are thus:

the scarecrow sits on the throne of oz in the emerald city, having been appointed to rule in the wizard’s stead on account of being Very Wise.

winkie country, liberated from the tyranny of the wicked witch of the west, is now the domain of the tin woodman.

dorothy is back in kansas where everything is grey and sandy and horrible.

the lion is...somewhere, presumably doing king-of-the-forest things.

glinda the good is occupied with research [trying to find out what the wizard did with ozma] in her home in quadling country, to the south.

QUOTE, the winged monkeys are now the slaves of glinda the good, who owns the golden cap that commands their services, END QUOTE.

mombi transformed the infant ozma into a boy named tippetarius because, why not, and raised him as her ward on a farm in gillikin country, to the north.

tip is a teenager and he does teenager things like making a life-sized puppet with a jack-o-lantern head to scare mombi with, as one does, and mombi has about had enough of this so she brews up a potion to turn him into a marble statue, as one does, and tip who does not especially want to be turned into a marble statue instead steals a pepper-box full of magic powder that makes things come to life, and runs away with his newly animate bestie/son jack pumpkinhead, AS ONE DOES. subsequently uses the magic powder to make a wooden sawhorse come to life so they don’t have to hoof it all the way to the emerald city.

the sawhorse is born with a limp and the personality of an octogenarian with no fucks left to give and also he periodically goes deaf on account of his ears breaking off, so when i say maria calavera is the sawhorse—

ANYWAY, minor hijinks ensue. jack blithely accepts everything his dear father says without question because his head is a pumpkin and he has been sapient for approximately eight hours, the terrible trio splits up for a bit on account of tippetarius falling off the sawhorse who likes to go real fast, consequently while jack and the sawhorse make it to the emerald city and meet the scarecrow, tip falls behind and crosses paths with general jinjur and her army of revolt.

jinjur is sick of the way things are and the powers that be and is therefore en route, armed with a pair of very glittery very pointy knitting needles and a lot of other girls outfitted in the same, to conquer the emerald city. tip is not about this revolution thing but tags along because he wanted to appeal to the scarecrow for help with the marble statue nonsense anyway; upon arrival jinjur and her army conquer the emerald city in approximately 0.2 seconds on account of the entire royal army being composed of one (1) man, the soldier with the green whiskers who guards the gates but squeals and books it at the first hint of a brandished needle.

tip races to the palace well ahead of the girls, who are busily sacking the city, to warn the scarecrow of the situation and reconvene with the rest of terrible trio, whereafter they and the scarecrow leave the cowardly soldier to his fate and gallop like the dickens to escape the city, heading west to regroup with the tin woodman. jack is now wracked by existential dread on account of the scarecrow having told him that pumpkins rot, meaning he spends the rest of the book worrying about his imminent decay and rapidly dwindling lifespan, this is fine dot jpg.

one unfortunate incident with a river and some drying-out and a nap later, they reach winkie country and rendezvous with *ahem* the magnificent! nickel-plated tin woodman, celebrated! emperor [it wounds his pride to be called only a king] of the winkies, nick chopper. who sweeps the scarecrow up in a hug because of how delighted! he is to see him again, tells jack not to be such a downer about the my-head-is-slowly-inevitably-rotting thing, and whose immediate response upon learning that the emerald city has been conquered is to declare, quote, we do not need an army; we four, with the aid of my gleaming axe, are enough to strike terror into the hearts of the rebels, end quote, also everybody gets tidied up and repaired and the scarecrow’s strutting by the time they disembark again.

somewhat less minor hijinks ensue on account of mombi not being pleased about tip skipping town and attempting to waylay them by means of dazzling, blinding illusions and, when that fails, dramatically altering landscape in hopes of getting them lost. the sawhorse breaks his leg and the group encounters the woggle-bug, who is very large and very keen to impress upon them that he is, having snuck into a schoolroom long ago and listened in on classes for months, thoroughly educated; eventually he was caught by the professor, transformed via magnifying glass into his present size, and subsequently ran away to do woggle-bug things. on his suggestion they fix the sawhorse’s leg by amputating jack’s, because jack is riding anyway owing to his poorly-fitted knees, and using that as a prosthetic for the sawhorse [LAUGHS NERVOUSLY]. from there the woggle-bug swiftly proceeds to earn the whole group’s ire by making an offensive number of puns at their expense. they navigate through four more illusory obstacles [a raging river; a granite cliff; a writhing maze of dancing roads; a wall of fire] with the aid of the queen of the field mice.

on making it to the emerald city they are promptly captured by jinjur, who plans to dismantle everyone except tippetarius on the grounds of their not being human, but is interrupted by the timely arrival of some mice who frighten her out of the room long enough for the gang to escape by constructing a... thing, called the gump, out of a pair of sofas and a stuffed elk-like creature’s head and various other bits and bobs and animated with the final pinch of magic powder. it flies them out of the emerald city and overshoots quadling country by a wide enough margin to crash them into a nest of nasty jackdaws somewhere not in oz, a misadventure which mainly serves to facilitate the discovery of a secret compartment within the now-emptied pepper-box and, inside that, three silver pills that grant a wish when swallowed.

tip tries one to wish the gump repaired, which doesn’t work because it pains him so badly that he instead wishes he’d never taken it; the woggle-bug does the same and succeeds, they fly back home, the pills are lost, and they reach quadling country at last.

the squad attempts to fill glinda in. she already knows everything.

she fills them in on what she’s been up to, presents evidence mombi aided the wizard in his scheme to disappear ozma, and marches with them to reclaim the emerald city, intending to capture mombi and force her to reveal the truth. further illusion-based hijinks ensue of which the most potentially interesting as it pertains to rwby is that mombi transforms herself into a red rose in an effort to escape detection.

glinda sees through the ruse. mombi transforms herself into a griffin and flees, pursued relentlessly by glinda until she collapses from exhaustion in the desert waste beyond the border of oz—whereupon glinda lassos her with a golden thread that stifles her magic, drags her bodily back to the emerald city, and demands that she tell the truth or else die by glinda’s hand. mombi tries to lie, glinda is furious and having none of it, and mombi begrudgingly reveals tip’s true identity, whereupon glinda forces her to undo the curse and then strips her of her magical power forever; tip is restored to her true self, jinjur is swiftly deposed, and peace restored, hooray!, the end.

QUESTIONS!

WHY ARE YOU SO SURE SUMMER IS JINJUR? frankly a decent case could be made for interpreting cinder as the allusion to jinjur instead: jinjur is a wrathful but cunning scullery maid raging against the powers that be, and after all it is cinder who sacks beacon academy—i.e., the emerald city stand-in.

but here’s the thing: after routing the royal army, jinjur installs herself as the queen of oz and rules without interruption for most of the story. she is not ousted from this position until the final chapter. cinder is grievously injured before the battle is even properly ended, returns immediately to salem’s side, and has been a thorn in her side and also the sides of the heroes ever since—meanwhile, all this time, salem has had an unknown lieutenant stationed at beacon, searching for the crown. somebody has been holding that throne, as it were, and we have a certain silver-eyed warrior still unaccounted for.

further, jinjur’s army of revolt makes quite a conspicuous show of being united from every province, and she herself wears the colors of all four; in the event summer turns out to be working for salem of her own accord, which i think likely, her presumable reason is something along the lines of having burnt out and shattered under the pressure of being the ideal huntress, the lone guardian, the blessed warrior—precisely in the same way that we have seen ruby begin to crack under the same—and this, i think, dovetails tidily with the imagery of jinjur’s revolt. a turncoat summer rose who still holds to ozpin’s ideal of strength and peace through unity, who is perhaps reinforcing salem’s numbers at beacon by recruiting the people of vale, is what ozpin asked her to become, turned against him for how she suffered in becoming.

also, look at this flower. common name, malay rose:

it’s not a true rose; it’s etlingera venusta, and it belongs to the ginger family.

sidebar, i don’t think cinder has an ozian allusion except insofar as i suppose she performs the functional role of glinda’s army through her relation to salem. she’s, well, cinderella, and in being cinderella also a symbolic repetition of salem through her rapunzel aspect—cinder echoes the desperately furious girl in the tower, the fairytale heroine trapped by forces beyond her control, not the formidable sorceress who would lay waste to the gods.

BUT SALEM AS GLINDA, THOUGH? REALLY?

while it is clear that rwby’s primary reference is to marvelous land, there are a handful of overt nods to the film adaptation of wizard of oz specifically, in theodore’s ruby gloves and the black-and-white photo of the girl in gingham with the little black dog. naming the good witch of the north glynda as a nod to the film (and pop culture generally) conflating the two is hardly out of the question, and a tidy bit of narrative sleight-of-hand besides.

and, listen. it’s not just enslaving the flying monkeys and it isn’t just serenely running mombi into the ground and forcing her to reveal the truth and undo the harm she did to ozma; it’s also not just that glinda the good plays a critical narrative role following the wizard’s departure and the good witch of the north does not. it’s also that of the pair glinda is the more powerful and more formidable by an order of magnitude, and indeed glinda is said to be ageless, ancient, and perhaps the most powerful sorceress in the land of oz; it’s also that the ozian color-coding checks out in both directions (in glinda’s quadling country, everything is red; and gillikin country is purple); it’s also that glynda goodwitch was faultlessly loyal to a secretive cabal and believed in ozpin, as the good witch of the north believed in the wizard, whereas salem, like glinda the good, knows ozpin for a fraud, despises emerald for her deceptive semblance, and has a keen intuition and a short temper for being lied to.

the only respect in which salem and glinda do not, within the context of rwby’s ozian narrative, almost perfectly align is that salem is an antagonist and glinda is not—but here let me remind you that rwby’s mombi is the god of light, with her deceptive shape-changing and illusions reimagined as defter subterfuge and symbolically intertwined with the blinding of rapunzel’s prince. the god of light poisoned ozma’s ear against salem so well that he persuaded ozma to drink the potion and become the wizard of his own volition, cursed and blind to the true nature of the gods, his mandate, and his lost love.

but tippetarius learns the truth and finds ozma again; rapunzel’s tears heal the ruined eyes of her prince.

where do you think rwby is going with this?

AND LEO LIONHEART, THE LION FAUNUS, ISN’T THE COWARDLY LION?!

he’s the easily-cowed and fully-bearded guardian of the closest thing rwby’s scarecrow has to an emerald city to administer on the wizard’s behalf, and he is in this capacity an army of one because he’s sent every other warrior in the faculty away and sold half the huntsmen in mistral out to salem. salem sends her needling bastard of a henchperson to menace him and lionheart folds like wet cardboard, handing over the keys to the vault without a whisper of resistance. and once the battle for haven is ended, the former allies he stabbed in the back shrug and leave him to his fate at salem’s hands.

leonine faunus or not, the role lionheart plays is precisely that of the soldier with the green whiskers, the solitary and pathetically inept guardian who betrays the scarecrow and his allies out of panicked cowardice.

meanwhile the cowardly lion does not appear in marvelous land at all, but he does figure in ozma of oz—the third book—wherein he professes himself a coward still but acts no less bravely than he ever did, now a loyal member of ozma’s retinue and accompanied by his new friend, the hungry tiger. taiyang, who has either been doing big important secret cult things or else trying to psych himself up to leave his empty nest depression cabin ever since beacon fell and ozpin died, is a much likelier candidate for being the cowardly lion’s true analogue by far.

IS RAVEN JUST THE WOGGLE-BUG BECAUSE SHE’S KNOWLEDGE?

that’s part of it but not the entirety; note that the woggle-bug is not merely intelligent but gleaned all of his knowledge by spying, for no other reason than burning curiosity; note the professor who caught him and irrevocably changed him, for better or for worse, and his hasty escape for fear of being exploited thereafter; note that he is pompous and anxious and performs intelligence far more than he shows it, and note that his often-callous and sometimes-snide commentary is met with such sharp hostility by the others that at one point nick chopper implies a threat to murder him if he makes another pun at a companion’s expense.

and note, finally, that the woggle-bug does not properly enter the narrative until after the protagonists leave winkie country, the province for which atlas is very obviously an analogue. raven played a major role in volume five, of course, one which thoroughly alienated her from the rest of the ozian characters on both sides of the conflict... but then she vanished into the ether without a shred of resolution for anything but the question of whether the relic of knowledge would be retrieved and by whom, and if that isn’t a mere prelude in her character arc i’ll eat somebody’s hat.

and as for what her future role in the story might entail. well. three silver pills that grant you wishes—and one that poisons tip when he tries,  the same one the woggle-bug uses to mend their way home. three silver-eyed warriors ostensibly blessed by the god of light—and one a turncoat poisoned by the unbearable weight of ozpin’s ideals.

we still don’t know what raven knows, or who she learnt it from.

IF THE SILVER WISH PILLS ARE SILVER-EYED WARRIORS THEN, MARIA?

to activate the pills you need to swallow them and then count up to seventeen by two. the sawhorse is the one who solves the riddle, which is to start with half one, double it, and then count up by two from one to seventeen.

...WHAT WAS THAT YOU SAID ABOUT FOUR ILLUSIONS AND A MOUSE?

the ever after may be bleeding wonderland out of every frame—and oh boy is it!—but, look, what is rwby if not a gleeful mishmash of inspirations and in the trailer and preview clip alone we’ve got a helpful mouse and three of the four [twisting, impossible paths? check. impassible cliff? check. walls of fire? check, twice over]. as obstacles go a torrential river crossing is not exactly out of left field in any setting—and then there’s the girl on the beach who’s wearing ozma’s original colors.

to say nothing of how well those four obstacles align so very nicely, symbolically, with ruby (paths), weiss (flood), blake (cliff), and yang (fire).

it’s a little eyebrow-raising if nothing else. something to watch.