West: I won't help you kill them. No, not me. I've never killed a single witch in my life. Glinda has. Nearly all of them. She sent them to die against the beast forever. And I helped her. I killed them too. I won't help either of you repeat the past.
The Wizard: Glinda hid your mother from you.
West: Yes.
The Wizard: She built an army of witches On secrets and lies.
The Wizard launches an assault on a village as his power is threatened and he enlists West to help. The High Council is disposed of.
Dorothy and Lucas fight to keep Sylvie safe as they journey north to seek Glinda's assistance. Unbeknownst to Lucas, Dorothy has agreed to work with the Wizard to disarm Glinda in exchange for passage back to Kansas.
Suffering from the loss of her father, Langwidere grapples with her new authority as sole sovereign of Ev, and with her relationship with Jack.
Tropes:
- I Control My Minions Through...: Fear. The Wizard explicitly states that he wants his citizens afraid of the witches, but more afraid of him.The Wizard: If Glinda's witches are hiding in Emerald City and my people find out, I'll lose them.?: You may be losing them now. The people are scared.The Wizard: Good, people don't revolt when they're scared. They revolt when they're angry, if they think I've lost control.
- Mercy Kill: The Wizard uses a young witch's out-of-control auto-pyrokinesis to immolate the members of his High Council, exhausting the young girl's magical reserves and putting her in a catatonic state on the brink of death. West breaks her personal vows to never kill another witch in order to put the girl out of her misery.West: You were too young. The Wizard exhausted your magic. It may be more merciful to use this. I break my vow... To ease your suffering. Forgive me. You're free, my child.
- Survivor Guilt: West feels an immense amount of guilt over the death of her sister witches during the last war against the Beast Forever — even more so because she was responsible for drugging them up with opium before Glinda sent them out to fight. The Wizard manipulates her guilt in order to get West to help him detect any witches hidden in the Emerald City, with the promise that West can raise the girls away from Glinda's influence.West: I left her behind. I made her feel safe, and I left her. That's how I killed all my sisters. I took away their fear. I gave them milk of the poppy to make them forget their pain, and then I sent them out to fight. And none returned. Because of me. And now... I've betrayed another.
- Title Drop:
- When Dorothy tells Lucas that she has to return to Kansas, she says it's because "they came first," "they" being her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. (Not that she doesn't offer to bring him and Sylvie home with her - she does.)
- When Glinda kisses Lucas and he regains his memories as Roan, he apologies to Dorothy for turning against her. "They came first," he says, echoing Dorothy's line from earlier and explaining his loyalty to his wife Glinda and her forces.
- Witch Hunt: A literal one occurs as the Wizard commands his Guard to round up every little girl in Emerald City in order to root out any witches among them.
- Wreathed in Flames: Aithne, the young witch discovered in Emerald City, has the ability to set herself and her immediate surroundings on fire when she feels threatened — unfortunately, she doesn't have much control over the magic that sustains her flames.
