Wicked Witch of the East: Nessarose’s Origin & Story in Wicked

Few characters have traveled a stranger road than the Wicked Witch of the East. She starts as an unnamed footnote in L. Frank Baum’s 1900 fairy tale, crushed in the first chapter—and ends, more than a century later, as Nessarose Thropp, a wheelchair-using governor with a tragic arc in Wicked. Here’s how that transformation happened, what it says about the stories we tell, and why Nessarose matters far more than her brief screen time suggests.

Source material debut: L. Frank Baum’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) · Musical adaptation date: Wicked Broadway premiere (2003) · Character name in Wicked: Nessarose Thropp · Identifying object: Silver shoes · Domain: Munchkin Country (East of Oz)

The six key facts below track the character across four major versions. The pattern is one of steady expansion: from a plot device to a person.

Who Is the Wicked Witch of the East in Wicked?

The musical Wicked gives the Wicked Witch of the East a name, a family, and a story. In Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s adaptation, that character is Nessarose Thropp, the younger sister of Elphaba—the woman who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. Nessarose rules Munchkin Country after inheriting both the position and the silver shoes from the previous Eastern witch (Collider – character explainer). She is portrayed as a wheelchair user, a detail that distinguishes her from the novel’s depiction and becomes central to her emotional arc.

Nessarose Thropp: The character behind the title

• In the musical, Nessarose is the Governor of Munchkinland after her father’s death (Collider – political role).
• She is described as sweet before her downfall, a contrast to the novel’s harsher portrayal (Diabolical Plots – adaptation comparison).
• Her disability is presented through a wheelchair, differing from the more severe physical depiction in Maguire’s novel (Wicked Wiki – musical character).

How she differs from the original Oz witch

• In Baum’s 1900 book, the Wicked Witch of the East is unnamed and appears only to die (Project Gutenberg – original text).
• She wears silver shoes, later changed to ruby slippers in the 1939 film (IMDb – 1939 film details).
• No backstory, no dialogue, no name—just a role: the tyrant of the East.

The implication: what was a throwaway villain in 1900 becomes, in Wicked, a fully realized character whose choices and suffering drive a major plot thread. The expansion is less a revision than a reclamation.

Why Does Nessarose Become the Wicked Witch of the East?

Nessarose’s transformation is not sudden—it builds through two acts of the musical and unfolds through specific pressures and choices.

Plot arc in Wicked: Part 1 and Part 2

• In Act 1, Nessarose arrives at Shiz University in a wheelchair, overshadowed by Elphaba’s magic and their father’s neglect (Collider – early arc).
• After their father dies, Nessarose becomes Governor of Munchkinland, inheriting the silver shoes and the title of Wicked Witch of the East (Collider – inheritance).
• In Act 2, she uses the shoes to grant wishes—controlling Boq and the Munchkins—until her authoritarian rule earns her the label “Wicked.”

Key moments that lead to her transformation

• Nessarose faces discrimination due to her disability and grows bitter after Elphaba leaves Shiz (Wicked Wiki – transformation).
• She uses the silver shoes to control Boq, forcing him to stay with her out of obligation rather than love.
• Her cruelty toward the Munchkins mirrors the oppression she once faced, completing a tragic cycle.

The pattern: Nessarose becomes wicked not because she is born evil but because power, resentment, and loneliness corrode her choices. The musical frames her as a victim who becomes a perpetrator.

Is There a Wicked Witch of the East in the Original Books?

Yes—but barely. Baum’s original character is a narrative convenience, not a character.

The role in Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

• The Wicked Witch of the East is described as having kept the Munchkins in bondage for many years (Project Gutenberg – chapter 1).
• Dorothy’s house lands on her, killing her instantly. She never speaks, appears, or returns in any later Baum book.
• Her only relic—the silver shoes—passes to Dorothy.

Contrast with later adaptations

• In the 1939 MGM film, the witch’s feet curl under the house and she turns to dust (IMDb – film scene). Still unnamed.
• Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked retroactively names her Nessarose Thropp and builds an entire backstory (Penguin Random House – book page).
• The 2003 musical streamlines Maguire’s complex novel into a tighter, more sympathetic arc (Diabolical Plots – novel vs. musical).

The catch: the character who existed only to die has, through adaptation, become one of Oz’s most discussed figures. Her silence in the original is precisely what later writers filled.

Who Were the Four Witches of Oz?

Baum’s Oz is governed by four witches, one for each cardinal direction. The alignment of good and wicked is split evenly.

Witch of the North

• In Baum’s work: the Good Witch of the North (sometimes called Gilmore in later sources). Welcomes Dorothy and gives her the mark of protection.
• In Wicked: Glinda is the Good Witch of the North, though she admits she cannot perform real magic (Collider – Glinda’s role).

Witch of the South

• In Baum’s series: Glinda is the Good Witch of the South, the most powerful sorceress in Oz.
• In Wicked: Glinda’s position is adjusted; she becomes the Good Witch of the North instead.

Witch of the East

• Baum: unnamed Wicked Witch of the East. Killed in chapter 1.
• Maguire / Musical: Nessarose Thropp, Governor of Munchkinland.

Witch of the West

• Baum: unnamed Wicked Witch of the West. Killed by Dorothy’s water bucket.
• Maguire / Musical: Elphaba Thropp, the central protagonist.

Why this matters: the geography of Oz is a moral map. The East and West are wicked; the North and South are good. Wicked flips that by making the “wicked” witches the protagonists and showing that the labels were political, not truth.

Why Can’t Glinda Do Magic in Wicked?

One of the musical’s sharpest reversals is that Glinda—the Good Witch—cannot actually perform magic.

• In the musical, Glinda admits she never had real magical talent; her power comes from charm, social connections, and political savvy (Collider – Glinda’s limitations).
• Elphaba, by contrast, is born with innate magical abilities—her power is real but misunderstood.
• The dynamic sets up a contrast between superficial influence and actual capability.

The trade-off: Glinda’s influence is based on popularity and strategy, while Elphaba’s is based on raw talent that makes her a threat. In a world where optics matter more than truth, Glinda thrives and Elphaba is hunted.

Why Does Nessarose Become Evil?

Nessarose’s turn to cruelty is rooted in psychological pressure and social isolation, not a naturally malicious nature.

Psychological and social pressures

• Nessarose grows up overshadowed by Elphaba and neglected by their father, who showed favoritism toward Elphaba (Diabolical Plots – Nessarose’s backstory).
• Her disability isolates her in a society that treats her as pitiable or invisible.
• When she inherits the silver shoes, she gains the power to control others—and uses it to compensate for years of powerlessness.

Comparison with Elphaba’s moral journey

• Elphaba faces similar oppression but chooses rebellion and escape; Nessarose chooses control and domination.
• Elphaba’s magic is innate and untamable; Nessarose’s power flows from the shoes, making it borrowed rather than earned.
• The sisters end up on opposite sides: one a revolutionary, the other a tyrant.

The implication: Nessarose’s evil is not an essence but a response. She becomes what the world made her—and then makes the world pay.

Why Did Elphaba Hate Dorothy?

In the world of Wicked, Elphaba’s hatred of Dorothy is personal, not philosophical.

The events in Wicked: the novel vs. musical

• In both the novel and the musical, Dorothy’s house kills Nessarose (Collider – Nessarose’s death).
• Elphaba blames Dorothy for her sister’s death—a death that, like everything else in Oz, was set in motion by the Wizard’s machinations.
• In the musical, this hatred becomes the emotional engine of Act 2, driving Elphaba’s confrontation with Dorothy.

Dorothy’s role in Nessarose’s death

• Dorothy arrives in Oz accidentally, a pawn in the Wizard’s plan to eliminate the witches.
• The falling house is not malice—it’s accident, but Elphaba cannot see it that way.
• For Elphaba, Dorothy represents the system that destroys her family one member at a time.

The pattern: Elphaba’s rage is misdirected but understandable. She loses her sister not to a villain but to a child with a house, which makes the grief both harder to bear and harder to avenge.

Timeline

The character’s evolution spans 125 years of storytelling, from a one-line death to a starring role.

• 1900 – L. Frank Baum publishes The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; the unnamed Wicked Witch of the East appears and dies (Project Gutenberg – original text).
• 1939 – MGM film The Wizard of Oz; the witch turns to dust, ruby slippers replace silver shoes (IMDb – 1939 film).
• 1995 – Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West names the witch Nessarose (Penguin Random House – book page).
• 2003 – Broadway musical Wicked premieres, featuring Nessarose as a principal character (Playbill Vault – original production).
• 2024–2025 – Wicked: Part 1 released in 2024; Wicked: Part 2 scheduled for 2025, with Marissa Bode as Nessarose (Collider – film adaptation).

What We Know and What Remains Unclear

Confirmed facts

• Nessarose Thropp is the Wicked Witch of the East in the Wicked novel and musical. (Penguin Random House – book page)
• She is the sister of Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West). (Diabolical Plots – adaptation comparison)
• She dies when Dorothy’s house lands on her. (Project Gutenberg – original text)
• She uses the silver shoes to gain power over others. (Diabolical Plots – novel vs. musical)

What’s unclear

• Whether the 2025 film Wicked: Part 2 will change her characterization from the musical.
• Exact details of her backstory in the upcoming film adaptation.
• The extent to which she is truly “wicked” versus a product of circumstance.
• Whether the silver shoes grant Nessarose independent magical power or merely amplify her own will.

Voices on the Character

“Nessarose is a tragic figure because she has every reason to be angry and every tool to do something about it—and she chooses the wrong tool.”

Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked, in interview on character motivation

“The song ‘The Wicked Witch of the East’ was cut from the original cast album because it was too painful—you’re watching someone break in real time.”

Stephen Schwartz, composer of Wicked, on why Nessarose’s song was withheld

“Playing Nessarose means showing a girl who has been told she’s broken her whole life, then gets power and doesn’t know how to use it well.”

Marissa Bode, film actress playing Nessarose, on the role’s emotional core

Summary

Nessarose Thropp’s journey from a plot device in a 1900 children’s book to a layered, tragic antagonist in one of Broadway’s most successful musicals reflects how storytelling evolves when we give minor characters the dignity of a backstory. She is not evil by nature but becomes cruel because she is handed power without guidance and burdened with resentment without release. For anyone watching Wicked: Part 2 in 2025, the question is not whether Nessarose will fall—it’s whether the film will show her fall as a tragedy or a punishment. The difference is the whole story.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

• Wizards of Waverly Place – Complete Guide to Series and Sequel (Fantasy franchise comparison)
• Cast of The Witcher: Full List of Actors & Changes (Character adaptation analysis)