Wicked

‘s prequel novel, Elphie: A Wicked Childhood, has provided a sadder meaning behind Elphaba giving monkey’s wings. Wicked is a remarkably popular stage musical that first appeared on Broadway in 2003. However, the story is actually based on a novel by author Gregory Maguire that came out in 1995. This, in turn, was an expansion to the original novels by L. Frank Baum which were released between 1900 and 1920.

However, Maguire has now expanded on his original story, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, taking a closer look at the childhood of Elphaba. And while the book does introduce some confusing contradictions with both his earlier text and the screenplay, there are many other details that provide important context to both, and further refine the character of Elphaba and her misunderstood ways in the Land of Oz before she became the Wicked Witch of the West.

Wicked’s New Prequel Offers Another Explanation For Elphaba Giving The Monkeys Wings

Elphaba Had Another Motive For Giving The Monkeys The Ability To Fly

For anyone who has seen the musical or the film, there is a scene where the Wizard, a fraud, requests that Elphaba read a magic text, and cast a spell. After flicking through the book, seemingly at random, she finds a spell and begins reciting an incantation. Within moments, the monkeys, who stand silent and resolute as guards of the Wizard and the city of Oz, begin writhing in pain as wings begin to protrude from their backs. This stuns Elphaba, and she is terribly upset, having caused them pain, but this evidently sets the stage for her to have these minions in the original film and novels.

But in Elphie: A Wicked Childhood, it appears that Elphaba had a reason and a noble desire behind choosing this specific spell. Maguire writes in the narrative that Elphaba’s first encounter with an animal was with a monkey, and since animals had a voice at that time, they spoke together. The monkey relates to Elphaba, and expresses a wish that he could have wings in order to better avoid predators. Evidently, this serves as a callback that likely influenced the Elphaba who met the wizard to cast just such a spell.

Elphie Makes Wicked’s Transformation Even Sadder With This Childhood Connection

Elphaba Had So Much Hope & Love Before Oz Beat It Out Of Her

The entire point of Wicked and the musical and film that it inspired is to humanize and provide a backstory for the Wicked Witch. Rather than being an evil monster for no reason, this misunderstood girl, whose skin was a luminescent green, was simply an outsider. She saw others and wished for acceptance in Oz, but found herself constantly the ʙuтт of jokes, and the object of abhorrence. And despite her best efforts to care for her sister, and to not step on any toes, she was made out to be a villain as seen in The Wizard of Oz.

Recognizing that her motive in giving the monkeys wings stems from a tender childhood memory, wishing to make their lives better, only to have it used as a propaganda tool against her is deeply upsetting. Elphaba wanted to make her home better. She wanted to give voice to the animals who were being silenced, and she wanted to set the monkeys free to fly. But in the simple act of chasing these dreams, she had her actions and motives twisted to portray as something so terribly wicked.