History Literature / Wicked

The book has been expanded into a series entitled ''The Wicked Years'', with three sequels, revolving around Elphaba's possible son Liir and the Cowardly Lion, respectively. The 4th and final book was released November 11, 2011.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Several, but Crope and Tibbett are the biggest. Also Glinda and Elphaba to some extent (see LesYay)

* RapeIsLove: subverted, Liir is very distraught over losing his virginity while in a coma to a maunt who is now pregnant. But he stays with her out of obligation, although neither seem to really care much for each other.
* RapeIsOkayWhenItsFemaleOnMale: Again, mostly certainly subverted.

** More like strawberry blonde, with respect to the MGM Musical, in all fairness.

* LesYay: Fairly prevalent in the book, particularly on Galinda's side. Note the part where she catches her breath as she realises how beautiful Elphaba is, and that their relationship seems to have been the most meaningful one in Galinda's life. Arguable interpretation. Although she does dwell on how nervous Elphie makes her feel, and remembers sharing a bed with her. It should be noted that the only thing Glinda could remember about the Emerald City trip was that they shared a bed.
** Plus they have that incredibly emotional goodbye at the train station where they actually DO kiss - twice! - and where Elphaba's parting words to Glinda are "Hold out my sweet...Hold out if you can." And that part in the epilogue where Glinda literally feels Elphaba's death (despite not knowing exactly why she is suddenly so upset).
** And let's not forget the understated sequence where Glinda literally swoons into Elphaba's arms and Glinda thinks that Elphaba being so close makes her want to purr (seriously). At which point Elphaba tells her to resist followed by "Not here," and "I love you too much." Is that even subtext anymore, or have we hit text?
** The LesYay carries over into Son of a Witch, when Glinda flips out when she sees Liir has Elphaba's cape and refers to her as 'My Elphie.'
** Elphaba's granddaughter gets in on it too, when her semi-romantic interest Tip is revealed to be [[spoiler: Ozma Tipperarius]].

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: The book is much saucier than the musical. In Gregory Maguire's world, [[EveryoneIsBi everybody is bisexual]] until proven otherwise.
** To say nothing of the violence, occultism, and Elphaba being a domestic terrorist.

*** Elphaba's granddaughter gets in on it too, when her semi-romantic interest Tip is revealed to be [[spoiler: Ozma Tipperarius]].

*** Elphaba's granddaughter gets in on it too, when her semi-romantic interest Tip is revealed to be [[spoiler Ozma Tipperarius]].

---> '''Yackle''': A comedian. [[IGotBetter I come back from the very gates of death]] to be interviewed by a vaudeville wannabe. ''[[spoiler:Bert Lahr got his start in vaudeville.]]''

Things change, however, when Professor Dillamond, their TalkingAnimal teacher, is found dead, soon after Animal hate speech started being promoted by faculty members. Galinda changes her name to Glinda in honor of him. And the two become close compatriots. Elphaba rescues a Lion cub brought in by his replacement, and gains a passion for fighting for Animal rights. Elphaba goes to the Emerald City to speak to the wizard of this, and her life changes forever. Events push the two friends along their paths towards becoming the Good Witch of the North and the Wicked Witch of the West.

* FanFic: ''Wicked'' appears to be more of a fan fiction of ''The Wizard of Oz'' books and movies as a whole. It even includes the old standby cliches of "the villain is much better than you thought" and "a character of the writer's own gender is created out of whole cloth and gets to sleep with a main character". It says something that the book (and musical) retain quality and fame in spite of this.

The book has been expanded into a series entitled ''The Wicked Years'', now with two sequels, revolving around Elphaba's possible son Liir and the Cowardly Lion, respectively. The 4th book, entitled Out Of Oz and supposedly about [[spoiler: Elphaba's granddaughter Rain]], is expected out on November 11th.

* FilkSong: Hannah Fury has made a few of them.

*** Imagine what she'd do if she ever saw [[spoiler: Liirs daughter!]]

* FanFic: ''Wicked'' appears to be more of a fan fiction of ''The Wizard of Oz'' books and movies as a whole. It even includes the old standby cliches of "the villain is much better than you thought" and "a character of the write's own gender is created out of whole cloth and gets to sleep with a main character". It says something that the book (and musical) retain quality and fame in spite of this.

* FanFic: ''Wicked'' appears to be more of a fan fiction of ''The Wizard of Oz'' books and movies as a whole.

Elphaba was born with green skin after her mother [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean had an encounter]] with a travelling businessman. Her mother gives birth to an armless child, Nessarose, and then later [[DeathByChildbirth dies giving birth]] to Elphaba's third sibling, her brother, Shell.

** At one point in time, Fiyero thinks that one of his tattoos has rubbed off on Elphaba [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean ...down there]]. Which means he has tattoos there as well. Fiyero is attractive, yes, but still: TMI...

A novel by Gregory Maguire, [[Theatre/{{Wicked}} and later a musical]], Wicked is the story of Elphaba, who will one day become the Wicked Witch of the West. Yes, ''[[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz that ]]''[[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz Wicked Witch]].

** Wait -- 'losing his virginity'? Didn't he sleep with Trism in their room at the inn, way before Candle?
*** No, that's long after. However, I would note that while Candle is generally cool towards Liir, Liir does care for her, and in fact had contemplated having sex with her before he found out he already had. Also amusing is his reaction to having no memory of the event, which is essentially, "Typical."