"Wicked" plot holes

I know that I probably deserve to be stoned to death for starting a "Wicked" thread, but here it goes. The other night I was talking to someone about Wicked, and after seeing the show a number of times we realized that there were several aspects of the show that don't make sense to us. Perhaps someone could clear up some of these questions for me...

SPOILERS ahead.

1)When Morrible summoned the tornado did she know that it would pick up a house that would kill Nessa? Since Dorothy's house was located in the "other" world, did Morrible have some interdimensional knowledge that nobody else was privy to?

2) Why exactly does Elphaba kidnap Dorothy? She never showed any huge interest in the shoes, besides having something to remember her sister by. Elphaba didn't need the shoe's power, since she was the one that gave them power in the first place. If the whole point of the play is to show us that Elphaba was really a nice person, having her kidnap a little girl in the last scene makes her come off as kind of a b!tch .

3) Morrible says that Elphaba had her powers because she "was a child of both worlds." How exactly did that give her magic powers?

4) After Glinda tells the Wizard to leave she orders the guards to put Morrible in jail. Why are they suddenly taking orders from Glinda now, when the Wizard and Morrible had previously been in power? It's not like they were in the room to hear Glinda blackmail the Wizard.

In high school whenever I had questions like this about a show, my drama teacher would just say "It's musical theatre, it doesn't have to make sense!" Discuss!

You must have had a terrible drama teacher.

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It's called 'willing suspension of disbelief.' Figure it out. Yes, there are plot holes. Obvious plot holes. However, why shouldn't we question anything else in the show....like, why is Elphaba green?

LoL Suspension of belief doesn't really work for huge gaping plot holes. Suspension of belief, when used properly in the theatrical sense, requires of suspension of belief to go with some expositionary details but then continues in a natural turn of events. It never has plot holes because that is theatrically unsatisfying.

shes green because of the elixer her mother drank while she was prenant with elphaba..the real dad of elphaba is the WIZARD..so that means the WIZARD gave elphabas mother the green elixer

Steven22,

That wasn't even asked, and is obvious in the show.

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"Steven22,

That wasn't even asked, and is obvious in the show."

I think Steven22 was referring to Yankeefan007's post.

Double post.

Updated On: 1/22/07 at 11:53 AM

^ agreed. and I think that's ok too, as long as you appreciate the show for what it is.

OT: let's please not compare a war in which young men and women are fighting every day to protect us - to Wicked plot holes. It is insensitive and a bit rude.

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I must admit that I do loose sleep wondering these Wicked plot holes.

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That's not really a plot hole, it's an inconsistency. Of which the musical is full of.

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"1)When Morrible summoned the tornado did she know that it would pick up a house that would kill Nessa? Since Dorothy's house was located in the "other" world, did Morrible have some interdimensional knowledge that nobody else was privy to?"

You're over thinking it, but yes. Morrible wanted to kill Nessa, to get Elphaba. Remember, when Glinda says to use her sister? To trick her? And Morrible says, "She's too smart for that"? So yes, they use Dorothy to get Elphaba to come back so that they can capture her. As to the "interdimensional knowledge"... I guess it's fair to say that bc the Wizard is from our world, then yes, perhaps she does. But I don't think that's necessarily a "hole" in the plot.

"2) Why exactly does Elphaba kidnap Dorothy? She never showed any huge interest in the shoes, besides having something to remember her sister by. Elphaba didn't need the shoe's power, since she was the one that gave them power in the first place. If the whole point of the play is to show us that Elphaba was really a nice person, having her kidnap a little girl in the last scene makes her come off as kind of a b!tch ."

Have you ever lost a sister AND a father in the same day? I'm not saying I have, (and thank god for that), but I can only imagine the horror and pain a person would go through. Sure, Nessa was a little bitch, and her father hated her, but they were Elphaba's family. It would be enough to drive anyone crazy. She wanted those shoes to remember her family. It may seem irrational, but there are a lot of irrational things people do when they lose people they love. To me, it shows that Elphaba may have been starting to lose it by this point. She has already admitted defeat, (in "No Good Deed") and all she wants are these shoes as a memory. To me, it just develops the slight unraveling of her character.

"3) Morrible says that Elphaba had her powers because she "was a child of both worlds." How exactly did that give her magic powers?"

This IS a plot hole that the author should have foreshadowed at the very least. But it just did. It's an unsuccessful attempt at a "willing suspension of disbelief" which really shouldn't apply to PLOT so much as believing that Elphaba is flying, Glinda is riding in on a bubble, etc, etc. When they apply it to plot, it's really just poor writing and that's exactly what this musical is, unfortunately. (Even though I do LOVE Wicked, I can see that.)

"4) After Glinda tells the Wizard to leave she orders the guards to put Morrible in jail. Why are they suddenly taking orders from Glinda now, when the Wizard and Morrible had previously been in power? It's not like they were in the room to hear Glinda blackmail the Wizard."

Glinda is a huge public figure at this point, so she DOES have some say. Also, Morrible and the Wizard seem to submit to her almost instantaneously. For me, it showed the weakness of the Wizard's character. He realizes that he has done wrong and that he deserves Glinda's sentence, so basically goes along with it. Because he goes along with it, he also allows them to imprison Morrible without really any argument.

"In high school whenever I had questions like this about a show, my drama teacher would just say "It's musical theatre, it doesn't have to make sense!" Discuss!"

Yeah, that's terrible. And a poor excuse for bad writing.

I hope some of my answers helped you!

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Updated On: 1/22/07 at 08:59 PM

bella and holly, thanks for trying to clear up my questions. However, I probably didn't make myself very clear about #2.

I understand that Morrible starts the tornado to kill Nessa. However, the tornado starts on "earth", picks up Dorothy's house and drops it on Nessa. So did Morrible intend to kill Nessa with Dorothy's house, or did it just get picked up along the way?

I know I'm being anal by overanalyzing this small detail, but for some reason it really bugged me the last time I saw the show. Oh well, I guess I should stop thinking about it and pour myself another screwdriver and go to bed.