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Glinda
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Glinda (or Glinda the Good Witch) is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is the most powerful sorceress of Oz, although a fairy in later books, ruler of the Quadling Country south of the Emerald City, and protector of Princess Ozma.
Literature
Baum's 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz refers to Glinda as the Good Witch of the South. Later books call her a "sorceress" rather than a "witch".
Discussion
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Encyclopedia
Glinda (or Glinda the Good Witch) is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is the most powerful sorceress of Oz, although a fairy in later books, ruler of the Quadling Country south of the Emerald City, and protector of Princess Ozma.
Literature
Baum's 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz refers to Glinda as the Good Witch of the South. Later books call her a "sorceress" rather than a "witch". Baum's writings make clear that he did not view witches as inherently wicked or in league with the Devil, so this change was probably meant to signal that Glinda was even more powerful than a witch.
Another explanation may be that he decided to avoid the negative connotations of "witch"; in Queen Zixi of Ix, he had made Zixi a witch, for which she is shunned by fairies. Again, at the end of The Marvelous Land of Oz, Glinda distinguishes between "respectable sorceresses" who do not perform shapeshifting magic because it is not honest, and "unscrupulous witches" such as Mombi who will do it; this is why Mombi, rather than Glinda, turns Tip back into the form of Ozma.
Glinda is usually described as the most powerful magician in Oz. In The Patchwork Girl of Oz, neither Ozma nor the Wizard can break a spell, but later it is revealed that Glinda can do so. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Soldier with the Green Whiskers describes Glinda as "the most powerful of all the Witches".
In the books, Glinda is depicted as a beautiful young woman with long, rich red hair and blue eyes, wearing a pure white dress. However, it is suggested that she is actually much older than her appearance would suggest, and uses magic to maintain a youthful exterior (a trait which she shares with Zixi, the witch-queen of the Kingdom of Ix). This fact is first alluded to in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, when the Soldier with the Green Whiskers mentions that Glinda "knows how to keep young in spite of the many years she has lived". In a later book, Glinda herself states that she has ruled the Quadling Country ever since she overthrew the Wicked Witch of the South during the period when Ozma's grandfather was king of Oz, a statement that provides further support for this theory.
Besides a vast knowledge of magic, Glinda employs various tools, charms, and instruments in her workshop. The Emerald City of Oz reveals that she owns a Great Book of Records that allows her to track everything that goes on in the world from the instant it happens. Starting with The Road to Oz she trains the formerly humbug Wizard in magic; he becomes a formidable practitioner, but acknowledges that she is more powerful yet. Glinda's magic is most apparent in Glinda of Oz, Baum's last book. In that book, she undoes Queen Coo-ee-oh's transformation of Queen Rora of the Flatheads, in contrast to her statement in The Marvelous Land of Oz.
Glinda lives in a palace near the southern border of the Quadling Country, attended by one hundred beautiful maidens (twenty-five from each country of Oz). She also employs a large army of female soldiers, with which she placed Ozma on the throne of Oz at the end of The Marvelous Land of Oz. Men are not prominent in Glinda's society.
As a ruler, Glinda is strongly protective of her subjects. She creates gated communities for the rabbits of Bunnybury and the paper dolls of Miss Cuttenclip, and later in The Emerald City of Oz seals off all of Oz from the Great Outside World for its security. However, unlike Ozma, Glinda is willing to ignore strife and oppression in remote corners of Oz like Jinxland and the Skeezer territory as long as it does not threaten the Emerald City or innocent outsiders.
Wicked
Novel
In Gregory Maguire's 1995 revisionist novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, she is initially called "Galinda", and (through her mother) is descended from the noble clan of the Arduennas of the Upland. Her character is seen extensively in the first half of the novel, but disappears for most of the second half, compared to her musical countpart. Though originally snobbish and superficial, she is also intelligent enough to be accepted to Shiz University's Crage Hall, where she is forced to share a room with Elphaba. After a long period of mutual loathing, the two girls later become close friends. Galinda drops the first 'a' in her name in the middle of the story, in tribute to Doctor Dillamond, a martyred Goat who teaches at Shiz (Dillamond made the habitual mistake of calling her "Glinda" instead of "Galinda" while they shared a carriage, before her arrival to the University). The Goat's death also prompts Glinda to re-evaluate her life, and she dedicates herself to studying sorcery, at which she proves to be quite skilled. It is stated that she marries Sir Chuffrey in the second half of the novel and they have no children. As in the original Oz books, she is revered as a powerful sorceress, but she claims that her talents are nowhere near as great as the public believes. Maguire follows the 1939 movie in having Glinda ultimately become the Witch of the North, not the South. Glinda also appears in Son of a Witch, Maguire's sequel to Wicked, now widowed from Sir Chuffrey.
Musical Adaptation
In the novel's Broadway musical adaptation Wicked, Glinda (originally played by Kristin Chenoweth) is one of the two female leads as the musical focuses on her friendship with Elphaba (the young woman who becomes the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, originally played by Idina Menzel). In the novel, her role was minor, but in the musical her role was expanded. As in the novel, Glinda is characterized by her popularity and ambition and goes by the name of Galinda Upland (who hails from the Upper Uplands). Glinda is a very bubbly and popular girl. Unlike in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz she has blonde hair instead of red hair. She and Elphaba cross paths while attending Shiz University, and while the two girls dislike each other at first, they eventually become best friends. Galinda enrolls in Madame Morrible's sorcery tutorial, but is precluded from entering when Morrible decides to tutor Elphaba privately. Later, however, Elphaba convinces Madame Morrible to admit Galinda to the sessions. Glinda is rather irritated by Doctor Dillamond's constant mispronunciation of her name (he has difficulty pronouncing the first 'a', and so calls her "Glinda", to which she often responds "It's Galinda. With a 'Ga'"). It is therefore somewhat ironic that she, herself, constantly makes the mistake of addressing Boq, a Munchkin boy who is infatuated with her, as "Bick". As in the novel, Galinda later shortens her name to Glinda (telling the Wizard of Oz that "the 'Ga' is silent" when she introduces herself to him). She does this to mark the firing of Dr. Dillamond, but also in an attempt to impress Fiyero, her love interest. When Elphaba decides to rebel against the Wizard, she offers Glinda the chance to go with her, but Glinda decides to stay behind and realize her opportunities with the Wizard, ultimately sealing her destiny to become "Glinda the Good."
She shares a relationship with Fiyero, but is oblivious to his increasingly strong romantic feelings toward the now vilified Elphaba. When the two eventually run off together, Glinda is left heartbroken and enraged, but later realizes that Fiyero really does love Elphaba. She is present when the Wizard sends witch-hunters to kill Elphaba, and, unable to stand by while her friend is killed, she goes to Kiamo Ko to warn her of the impending danger. Before being supposedly melted by Dorothy, Elphaba makes Glinda promise not to clear her name, and gives her the Grimmerie, a legendary spell book. Glinda tells her that of all the friends she has had, Elphaba is the only one who really mattered, and the two Witches acknowledge that each has been changed by their friendship. Glinda then confronts the Wizard with the revelation that Elphaba was in fact his own daughter, and forces him to leave Oz, before having Madame Morrible arrested, thus exacting long-overdue justice for Elphaba. She announces to the citizens of Oz that she will try to help them recover in the aftermath of the past few years, and that she wishes to truly earn the title of 'Glinda the Good'.
Musical Portrayals
Previous
- Kristin Chenoweth (Original Broadway)
- Jennifer Laura Thompson (Former Broadway)
- Christina DeCicco (Former US National Tour)
- Kate Reinders (Original Chicago, Former Broadway)
- Stacie Morgain Lewis (Former Chicago, Former Broadway Standby)
- Erin Mackey (Former Los Angeles, Chicago, Chicago Understudy)
- Kate Fahrner (Former Chicago, Former Chicago Understudy)
- Annaleigh Ashford (Final Chicago, Former Broadway, Former US National Tour Understudy)
- Helen Dallimore (Original London)
- Megan Hilty (Original/Final Los Angeles, Former Broadway, Former US National Tour, Former Broadway Standby)
- Numao Miyuki (Original Tokyo)
- Jana Stelley (Original Stuttgart Alternate)
Current
- Alli Mauzey (Current Broadway, Former Broadway Standby)
- Kendra Kassebaum (Current/Original San Francisco, Former Broadway, Original US National Tour)
- Katie Rose Clarke (Current US National Tour)
- Helene Yorke (Current/Original 2nd US National Tour)
- Dianne Pilkington (Current London, Former London Standby)
- Tomada Asako (Current Tokyo)
- Lucy Scherer (Current/Original Stuttgart)
- Valerie Link (Current Stuttgart Alternate, Original Stuttgart Understudy)
- Lucy Durack (Current/Original Melbourne)
Films
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
In the 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz, Glinda is the Good Witch of the North, not the South. She is played in the film by Billie Burke, and in appearance, she is a hybrid of both characters as described by L. Frank Baum. No one exactly resembling the Good Witch of the North as described in the book appears in the film. Glinda appears in three sequences in the film: the Munchkinland sequence in which she welcomes Dorothy to Oz, gives her the Ruby Slippers, and sends her off on her journey down the yellow brick road to see the Wizard; the scene in the poppy field in which she is only seen in a vignette waving her wand; and the next-to-last sequence of the film, in which she finally tells Dorothy how she can return home. Thus, in the film, she performs the functions of both the Good Witch of the North and the Good Witch of the South as well as the Mouse Queen in the field of poppies.
The MGM film's purpose in combining Glinda and the Good Witch of the North at first seems to be an attempt to simplify the story and reduce the number of characters. In the structure of the film's story, introducing a new character would seem like keeping the audience in too long after the climax. Because the film set up The Wicked Witch of the West early in the story, her death and the Wizard's departure are two climaxes. Thus, introducing Glinda afterwards would be putting off the final (and most important) climax: Dorothy's return to Kansas.
Other films
In The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays (1908), Evelyn Judson played Glinda. She may have been played by Olive Cox in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910). In the latter, she appears in one scene in which enlarges Toto to make him a better protector for Dorothy. She does not appear in any of the productions of The Oz Film Manufacturing Company nor the 1925 silent film.
In The Wonderful Land of Oz, Glinda is played by Hilary Lee Gaess.
In Journey Back to Oz, Risė Stevens provides the voice of "Glinda, the Good Fairy." While numerous essays have illuminated that Glinda's magic is quite unlike that of Baum's fairies, the Wizard does make the claim that she is a fairy one time, in The Lost Princess of Oz.
In The Wizard of Oz (1982), Glinda, looking very young and with long blonde hair, voiced by Wendy Thatcher, claims to be the sister of the Good Witch of the North despite the appearance of quite a large age gap (Baum did always say she is much older than she looks), and appears in the Emerald City in a similar deus ex machina to the MGM film.
In The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, Glinda is the Good Witch of the South and is played by Miss Piggy, as are her sisters the Good Witch of the North and the two Wicked Witches. In keeping with the traditions of Muppet films, she is attracted to the Scarecrow (played by Kermit the Frog), but her role is otherwise unchanged.
In Tin Man (a modern day adaptation of The Wizard of Oz) Glinda is portrayed as the queen of O.Z. under the name Lavender Eyes. She is the mother of DG and Azkadellia, who in this program are the reworkings of Dorothy Gale and The Wicked Witch of the West (though it is also possible that Azkadelia is analogous to the Witch of the East). Azkadellia imprisons Lavender Eyes after it is revealed that only one of her daughters can rule O.Z. She is rescued by DG and it is revealed that Azkadellia has been possessed by an evil Witch who then melts after Lavender Eyes, DG and Azkadellia use their magic to melt the witch.
The new VeggieTales DVD The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's from Big Idea Productions contains Madame Blueberry as Splenda the Sweet but Non-Fattening Fairy replacing both of the two Good Witches.
Musicals
The Wiz
In the Broadway musical The Wiz, Glinda is the Good Witch of the South, as she appears in the Oz books. She appears only once at the end of the musical, but traditionally the same actress who plays Glinda also plays Aunt Em. She is the sister of Addaperle (Miss One), Evilene, and Evermean, the other three witches of Oz. In the film version, she is played by Lena Horne, and she causes the snowstorm that brings Dorothy to Oz.
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