Wicked Witch of the East

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Wicked Witch of the East
Oz character
The Wicked Witch of the East as pictured in The Tin Woodman of Oz—illustration by John R. Neill (1918)
First appearanceThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)
Created byL. Frank Baum
Portrayed by
In-universe information
Alias
SpeciesHuman (
Munchkin Country
(at time of death)
NationalityOzian of Munchkin descent
The Wizard of Oz as recreated in Disney's The Great Movie Ride
.

The Wicked Witch of the East is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is a crucial character but appears only briefly in Baum's classic children's series of Oz novels, most notably The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).[1]

The Wicked Witch was a middle-aged, malevolent woman who conquered and tyrannized the

1939 film musical) held many mysterious powers and were her precious possession. The Witch is killed when Dorothy Gale
's farmhouse lands on her at the start of the first book. Her body turns to dust, leaving behind the magical shoes to be passed to Dorothy.

The Classic Oz Books

The Wicked Witch of the East was believed to be more powerful than the

Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. She also appeared to be more powerful than Mombi
, the Wicked Witch of the North, as the Good Witch of the North was able to defeat Mombi, but was powerless to overthrow the witch of the east and free the Munchkins.

She was not in any way related to the Wicked Witch of the West (as is made out to be in several adaptions) but was in league together with her, the Wicked Witch of the North, and the Wicked Witch of the South to conquer and divide Oz among themselves in four sections as recounted in Baum's fourth Oz book, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (1908). After the fall of Pastoria, the last mortal King of Oz, the old witch conquered the eastern section of Oz and held the native Munchkins in her bondage for a number of decades.

She had lived in a rather humble dwelling deep within the woods in a cottage located somewhere in Oz's eastern quadrant called

Munchkin Country. She was bribed by an old woman who owned a beautiful Munchkin maid Nimmie Amee, who worked for her as a full-time servant, and happened to fall deeply in love with a local woodsman by the name of Nick Chopper. The woman gave her two sheep and a cow if the witch promised to prevent Nimmie Amee from marrying Nick and in leaving the old woman, the Wicked Witch of the East resolved to enchant Nick Chopper's ax. The curse cast upon it tragically caused him to eventually turn into the Tin Woodman when he hacked all his own limbs off one by one, replacing the parts that were amputated with a hollow tin one, until he was all made of tin from his head to his feet. Once a man of tin with no human heart, Nick Chopper believed he no longer had the proper emotions that were required to love Nimmie Amee — much to the Wicked Witch's satisfaction. A year later, it was while the witch was out in the Munchkin meadows looking for herbs and spices to cast yet another one of her wicked spells, that Dorothy's falling farmhouse unexpectedly descended from the atmosphere and accidentally crushed her to death after it was released by a cyclone from Kansas
:

"Who was she?" asked Dorothy. "She was the Wicked Witch of the East, as I said," answered the little woman. "She has held all the Munchkins in bondage for many years, making them slave for her night and day. Now they are all set free, and are grateful to you for the favor."[citation needed]

She had helped certain Munchkins (such as Nimmie Amee's original mistress and the tinsmith Ku-Klip) with her witchcraft, under certain circumstances (usually at a reasonable cost). Among her exceedingly cruel actions was not just the enchantment of the woodman Nick Chopper's ax, but also Captain Fyter's sword, which caused him to turn into the Tin Soldier.

Adaptations

In most adaptations and references to the Wicked Witch of the East, it is usually in her famous appearance, under a house, with only her feet exposed. Notable recent exceptions are ABC's 2005 television film The Muppets' Wizard of Oz and Disney's 2013 theatrical film Oz the Great and Powerful.

Rachel Weisz as Evanora in Oz the Great and Powerful
  • In the 2013 Disney film
    Good Witch of the South (Michelle Williams) for control of Oz. She originally portrays herself as a Good Witch, and had been an adviser to the former king of Oz, whom she murdered, so that she could be in charge of the Emerald City herself. Evanora deceived Oscar Diggs by framing the King's daughter Glinda for the murder and telling him that Glinda is the Wicked Witch instead of herself, which resulted in Glinda being outlawed from the Emerald City and retreating to the South. Evanora manipulates her sister, who is in love with Oscar Diggs (James Franco), and ends up transforming Theodora into the Wicked Witch (of the West, eventually). Evanora is later fooled and scared by Oscar's illusion tricks and banished from the Emerald City. Before she flees, Evanora encounters Glinda in the throne room and the two witches fight each other in a climatic magic duel. Evanora seems to have an upper hand, but Glinda then crushes Evanora's emerald necklace, the source of her power, and the Wicked Witch's youthful and beautiful appearance quickly turns into that of a hideous old crone, which Glinda believes is a reflection of her true nature. Furious, Evanora tries to attack Glinda, but she is blasted out of the throne room window by Glinda wielding her magic wand. Evanora is then carried away by two of her last surviving flying baboons, but not before swearing a personal revenge on Glinda for foiling her. The emerald necklace that Evanora wears enables her to project her power from her very fingertips in a form that resembles green lightning. The magic shoes that the Witch would ultimately become associated with are not seen or even discussed in this film, nor does she officially become the Wicked Witch of the East during the story, which ends with the Wizard taking over the Emerald City. This is one of the significant differences from L. Frank Baum
    's original books, in which the Wicked Witches of the East and West were already ruling the Munchkin Country and the Winkie Country by the time the Wizard first arrived in Oz.
  • In the comic book series Oz Squad, the Wicked Witch of the East is called Rebecca Eastwitch.
  • In the comic book series Grimm Fairy Tales presents Oz, the Wicked Witch of the East is named Zinna.
  • In the graphic novel adaptation of How the Wizard Came to Oz, the Wicked Witch of the East is named Malvonia.
  • In the TV series Once Upon a Time, there is a Witch of the East (portrayed by Sharon Taylor), but she is not evil and Dorothy's house does not fall on her. The Witches in this series are a benign sisterhood who watch over Oz, but they are eventually overthrown by Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West (portrayed by Rebecca Mader) who was unable to control her jealousy of Dorothy. In this version, the sister of the Wicked Witch of the West is the Evil Queen from the story of Snow White.
  • In the TV series Emerald City, the Witch of the East (portrayed by Florence Kasumba) appears as a guest star. In this version, she was one of the last cardinal witches of Oz, known as the Witch of the East "the Mistress of the Eastern Wood, the Most Merciful and Stern". When Dorothy (Adria Arjona) arrives in Oz, she initially believes that she has killed the Witch of the East when the police car she was in during the initial tornado hit the Witch, but it is later revealed that the Witch survived this incident. She goes on to confront Dorothy and her new companion Lucas, refusing to accept Dorothy's explanation that her appearance was an accident. Faced with the prospect of torture until she gives the Witch the answer she wants despite the fact that she is already telling the truth, Dorothy uses the Witch's current examination of a gun taken from the police car to trick her into pointing the gun at herself and pulling the trigger, blowing a hole through her head. After the witch's death, Dorothy inherits her ruby-encrusted golden gloves, which give her potential access to the Witch's raw magical power even if she lacks control of it. The season finale states that only witches can kill witches, as the Wizard creates new guns to kill the remaining lower-ranking witches and they simply come back to life, but it appears likely that the Witch of the East remains dead as she technically killed herself.
  • The Wicked Witch of the East appears in Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library voiced by Breanna Watkins.
  • In the 2021 novel Oscar Diggs, The Wizard of Oz, the Witch of the East is named Evanora Nessarose Thropp, a combination of the names from
    Wicked
    .

References