YMMV / The Land of What Might-Have-Been

• Captain Obvious Reveal: The author refused to definitively answer questions, but by the time the Hellion is revealed to be Dorothy's counterpart in chapter 52, it was reasonably obvious who it had once been by process of elimination if nothing else, with at least one reviewer proclaiming "I Knew It!!" Straightjacketed acknowledged this in the chapter outro notes, admitting the long hiatus gave readers more than enough time to put two and two together.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Dorothy and Elphaba's developing relationship, as the two go from unwilling acquaintances stuck together as the only people they know in a terrifying new world to forming a more genuine friendship with each other. A particular example of this is when they each save each other's lives, as Dorothy sacrifices herself to force the Hellion to save Elphaba from the Hate-Creature before Elphaba leads the team that saves Dorothy from the Hellion. By the time the war is over, at least one of their new allies muses that Dorothy is basically Elphaba's surrogate daughter by this point, and even when Dorothy expresses concern about whether she can return to Kansas after all her recent changes, Elphaba assures the young girl that she'll always have a place with them while she adjusts but expresses the belief that her family in Kansas would be proud of what she's achieved.
  • Basically all of Chapter 70, as Elphaba's trip through other parallel universes leads to her meeting a version of Melena Thropp who gave up the infant Elphaba to keep her safe from Frexspar. Not only is Elphaba able to assure her alternate mother that Elphaba's counterpart is safe, but Melena's situation assures Elphaba that Frexspar's obsessions and paranoia are the real reason her mother died, rather than her existence alone "forcing" Frexspar to make Melena consume milkflowers to try and prevent another green child. Before Elphaba departs, Melena assures Elphaba that her own counterpart truly loved her daughter, citing a particular memory Elphaba shared as proof that "prime" Melena was proud of her daughter's intelligence even at such a young age.