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Nessarose Thropp, also known as The Wicked Witch of the East is the overarching antagonist of the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz books by L. Frank Baum.
She is a nefarious, malevolent witch who ruled over the blue country of Munchkinland before being crushed and killed by Dorothy Gale's house.
Biography[]
The Wicked Witch of the West leagued with the Wicked Witch of the West, Mombi the Wicked Witch of the North, and the Wicked Witch of the South to rule all of Oz and later conquered and ruled the blue land of the Munchkin Country with the power of the Silver Shoes.
The Wicked Witch of the East appeared to have a humble dwelling. In Baum's Oz book titled The Tin Woodman of Oz, published in 1918, more of her history is revealed. And instead of a giant castle or fancy mansion, she appears to have a small standard cottage house deep within the Munchkin forest and has one beautiful Munchkin maid named Nimmie Amee who did the housework and cooking. The Munchkin slaves seemed to be a happy folk, as long as they didn't displease the Wicked Witch or make her angry. Basically, you could live happily and peacefully under the reign of the Wicked Witch of the East, as long as you did everything she wanted and kept her satisfied, such as staying out of her way or obeying her orders.
The Wicked Witch of the East was not as powerful as the one in the West but she was far more experienced and educated in the art of Witchcraft. Long ago, after the fall of Oz's mortal King known as Pastoria who disappeared from Oz when the Wizard arrived via hot-air balloon and overthrew him, Oz then tried to overthrow the Wicked Witch of the West. After this he even tried to start a war with the Wicked Witch of the East. Both the Wizard's attempts were unsuccessful, and he was ran out of both quadrants each time, unable to effectively subdue their rulers, and he never tried to challenge either Wicked Witch ever again.
One day, a Munchkin woodman by the name of Nick Chopper had promised the beautiful maid of the Wicked Witch of the East who was also his secret lover, named Nimmie Amee, that he would chop down many trees to build her a pretty, comfortable home, and when the house was finished they would marry and elope by running away together to live happily ever after and away from the all their troubles. Thus, Nimmie Amee would be a servant no more.
The Wicked Witch however, being a cunning creature, happened to eavesdrop on the two lovers making their escape plans. And since the the Wicked Witch was a rather lazy one, she was determined to prevent her servant from leaving her. Among her exceedingly cruel actions was the evil enchantment of Nick Chopper's handy axe which caused him to cut off all the limbs of his own body and eventually turn into the Tin Woodman aka the 'Tin Man'. This caused him to believe he no longer needed a heart with his new hollow tin body, so he never married Nimmie Amee, a belief and choice he would one day deeply regret.
About a year after, the Wicked Witch was searching for some spices and herbs in the fields and meadows in Munchkin Country. As she did, she finally met her tragic end when a cyclone released Dorothy Gale's Kansas farmhouse and let it unexpectedly fall out of the sky within Oz. As it fell, it landed right on top of the Wicked Witch, ultimately crushing her to death and putting an end to her Wickedness once and for all. When Dorothy learns what has happened to the Wicked Witch, to her horror she sees her two feet under the crashed establishment that are also said to be shod in attractive charmed Silver Shoes, that held a mysterious magic inside of them.
In the book, shortly after Dorothy's house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, her body crumbles to dust. She was said to be so old that, just like the Wicked Witch of the West, the blood in her body dried up long ago. Her death was cause for a great feast and lavish banquet all throughout Munchkinland. The day was officially set aside as a national Holiday forevermore. An evening party is specifically held by a rich Munchkin man named Boq, and Dorothy attends this event as an honored guest. (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)[]
In the 1939 MGM Musical movie, The Wizard of Oz, the mean spirited Kansas landowner named Almira Gulch makes a hideous transformation into the Wicked Witch of the East who is briefly seen flying past Dorothy's house when it was being carried to Oz by the cyclone.
The famous sequence of the house dropping from out of the sky after being released by the storm is actually a subjective point of view shot--showing the Wicked Witch's point of view as Dorothy's house crushes her to death, killing her instantly. She is not on screen again except for her feet sticking out from under the house wearing the magic Ruby Slippers that are ultimately passed down to Dorothy, and rightfully so.
Miss Gulch's transformation into the Wicked Witch of the East.
In the film's production, the Silver Shoes from the 1900 book which the movie is loosely based on were changed to "Ruby Slippers" to stand out better for the Technicolor film. Based on the death certificate prop indicating the date that the scene was filmed, she is listed as having died on May 6th, 1938.
The film also portrays the Wicked Witch of the East as being the sister of the green skinned Wicked Witch of the West, a relationship neither stated nor implied in Baum's books nor its sequels. The famous sequence of the house dropping from the cyclone is actually a subjective point of view shot, showing the Witch's view as Dorothy Gale's house crushes her to death and freeing the Munchkins from her tyranny, for which her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West seeks revenge on Dorothy.
Many fans speculate that the witch Miss Gulch transforms into during the tornado sequence is in fact the Wicked Witch of the East. This witch's glimmering shoes appear similar to the ruby slippers, and her black-and-white striped socks are also visible.
Modern works[]
In Alexander Melentyevich Volkov's The Wizard of the Emerald City, The Witch's name is Gingema. Like in the 1939 movie, the two Wicked Witches are sisters. The book begins with her summoning a magical hurricane to destroy all humanity (since people, in her opinion, exterminate her food).
However, Villina learns of her schemes and changes the spell to only affect one house (her magic book told her it was always empty during storms) and drop it on Gingema's head. Unlike in Baum's books, while being the formal ruler of the Munchkins, she interfered little in their lives and only demanded that people collect food for her. Since her food was snakes, leeches, spiders, and other similarly disgusting creatures which the Munchkins were afraid of, that was nevertheless a heavy burden for them.
In the movie and Broadway musical The Wiz, The Wicked Witch of the East is named Evamene and terrorizes the Munchkins. She is the sister of Evillene the Wicked Witch of the West.
Wicked[]
- Main article: Nessarose Thropp
Oz the Great and Powerful[]
- Main article: Evanora
Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz[]
The Wicked Witch of the East in Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz.
In Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the East is the unseen antagonist of season one and two, serving as the overreaching antagonist of season three of the series, yet, one of the three main antagonists (alongside her sister and her niece Wilhelmina) in the two-part episode, Battle for the Silver Slippers.
She was voiced by Tom Kenny.
In the episode Return of the Silver Slippers, it appears that the ruby and silver slippers were made by the Magic Cobbler for Glinda and Ozma. The ruby slippers became a part of Glinda and help made her magic strong. But the one time she remove them, the Wicked Witch of the East stole them and corrupted their power, beginning a reign of terror in Oz.
In Munchkinland, she starts to torture her slaves, the Munchkins. But just when she looked up the sky, Dorothy's house falls on her, killing her instantly.
In the Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz episode Battle for the Silver Slippers, when the Wicked Witch of the West follows Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion to the Silver Fortress, she opens a door to the Underworld and released the spirit of her sister, the Wicked Witch of the East. Her spirit is able to take physical form, though, she is still dead since the house incident, but the silver slippers keeps her spirit in the living world as long as the Witch of the West wears them. She wants her ruby slippers back because of her special connection with them, once she wears them again, she'll be fully back to life and together, the Wicked Witches will rule Oz and she will get her revenge on Dorothy for dropping her house on her and took her slippers.
After Glinda, the Wizard, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion runs off to get help, the Wicked Witches and their niece Wilhelmina took over Emerald City. Dorothy almost surrenders the ruby slippers to the Witches since all of her friends came back with all of the people in Oz including the Nome King who is helping Dorothy for now. The Wicked Witches outsmarted all of Dorothy's friends and chases Dorothy.
Dorothy uses gumdrops to get the silver slippers off West's feet, and the Wicked Witch of the East's physical form returned to her ghostly form, and fades away back to the Underworld, where she belongs. After the battle was over, the Wicked Witch of the West vows revenge on Dorothy and all of her friends for destroying her sister again.
Muppets[]
- Main article: Wicked Witch of the East (Muppets)
Other Appearances[]
- The Wizard of Oz (1939): Margaret Hamilton
- Wicked (2003): Michelle Federer as Nessarose
- The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005): Miss Piggy
- Oz: The Great and Powerful (2013): Rachel Weisz as Evanora
- Wicked Flying Monkeys (2015): silent cameo
- Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz (2017): Tom Kenny
Trivia[]
- The Wicked Witch of the East is commonly regarded as one of the best examples of the posthumous antagonists in fiction, as while she's dead by the time the story takes place, her sister takes over the role of main antagonist to avenge her death.
External Links[]
- Wicked Witch of the East on Wikipedia
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 Villains
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