It seems unusual to me that the Witch would allow a lethal substance anywhere near her castle, which makes me wonder: I would like an answer from the original book series written by L.
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Frank Baum, not the movie adaptations or derivative works e. Oz the Great and Powerful , Wicked. The Witch was too much afraid of the dark to dare go in Dorothy's room at night to take the shoes, and her dread of water was greater than her fear of the dark, so she never came near when Dorothy was bathing. Indeed, the old Witch never touched water, nor ever let water touch her in any way. The girl had to work hard during the day, and often the Witch threatened to beat her with the same old umbrella she always carried in her hand. If you're asking about the book, the odds are decent that she does know that water is harmful to her as she "did not carry a broom in the novel, but rather an umbrella" according to the Oz wiki.
Baum never elaborated on exactly why she was vulnerable, but Mombi is killed the same way in The Lost King of Oz and Singra was afraid enough of water to secure protection from it via a favor from a water nymph, so it seems to be a trait of wicked witches in the setting. There's some speculation on the wiki that their bodies were already used up and therefore were only barely held together by magic.
It is stated in Baum's book that the Wicked Witch of the West was so old and Wicked that all the blood in her body dried up long before The Wonderful Wizard of Oz takes place. And when she fnally comes into contact with water, it burns her skin like acid and she dissolves into a puddle on the floor. Baum described it as "melting away like brown sugar. The feet of the dead Wicked Witch had disappeared entirely and nothing was left but the Silver Shoes.
The Good Witch of the North explains that "She was so old that she dried up quickly in the sun. However in the book she does carry an umbrella, instead of a broom as in the film, a very convenient thing for someone allergic to water, and possibly more than a coincidence, almost as though she didn't want to get wet Once the Witch struck Toto a blow with her umbrella and the brave little dog flew at her and bit her leg in return. The wicked witch of the south Singra in the book The Lost King of Oz is afraid of water killing her, though whether this is because she know it's bad for them or because of what happened to the wicked witch of the West and Mombi is open for speculation.
As the canonicity of Oz is pretty fluid due to so many people putting their spin on things I'm also going to mention the film Oz The Great and Powerful Theodora who becomes the wicked witch knows water is dangerous to her as she is burnt by her own tears, even before becoming wicked.
And a further twist from further along the canonicity scale, in the musical Wicked which I have recently seen for the first time:. The weakness to water is something that has been made up and Elphaba the name of the Wicked Witch in this iteration uses the belief everyone has in this to fake her own death to be with the man she loves. By clicking "Post Your Answer", you acknowledge that you have read our updated terms of service , privacy policy and cookie policy , and that your continued use of the website is subject to these policies.
Home Questions Tags Users Unanswered. Does the Wicked Witch of the West know she can be killed by water? If you ever get the chance, go and see Wicked - it's excellent. This is one of the plot points covered - but I'll say no more here: She shows no interest in the death of the Eastern Witch, and all she cares about is obtaining the Silver Shoes which will increase her power.
Denslow 's illustrations for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz depict her as a paunched old hag with three pigtails and an eye-patch. Frank Baum himself specified that she only had one eye, but that it "was as powerful as a telescope", enabling the witch to see what was happening in her kingdom from her castle windows. Other illustrators, such as Paul Granger, placed her eye in the center of her forehead, as a cyclops.
American Rhetoric: Movie Speech: The Wizard of Oz - The Wicked Witch of the West Death Speech
Usually, she is shown wearing an eye patch, however some illustrations show her with two eyes. Most of her power resides in the creatures she controls. She has a pack of wolves, a swarm of bees, a flock of crows, and an army of Winkies.
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First, the witch commanded the creatures to help her enslave the Winkies and to seize control of the western part of the Land of Oz. Second, she made the winged monkeys drive Oz out of the Winkie Country, when he attempted to overthrow her. When Dorothy Gale and her companions were sent by the Wizard to destroy her, the Witch attacked them with a pack of 40 great wolves, a flock of 40 crows, a swarm of black bees, and a group of Winkie slaves.
Each of these attempts were thwarted, but the protagonists are eventually subdued by the Witch's third and final permitted use of the Winged Monkeys. Nevertheless, the old witch cannot kill Dorothy because the girl is protected by the Good Witch of the North 's kiss. She therefore settles for enslaving Dorothy, and tries to force the Cowardly Lion into submission by starving him, though Dorothy sneaks him food. Upon seeing the Silver Shoes on the girl's feet, the Wicked Witch decides to steal them, and thereby acquire even more power.
When she succeeds in acquiring one silver shoe by making Dorothy trip over an invisible bar, the little girl angrily throws a bucket of water onto the Wicked Witch. This causes the old witch to melt away. The Wicked Witch's dryness was enumerated in some clues before this. Furthermore, when Toto had bitten her, she had not bled; her wickedness had dried her up long ago. Frank Baum did not explain precisely why water had this effect on her, nor did he ever imply that all evil witches could be likewise destroyed.
However, the wicked witch Mombi is similarly disposed of in The Lost King of Oz and the wicked witch Singra is clearly afraid of the same fate in the early chapters of The Wicked Witch of Oz. The most likely explanation of Baum making water the Achilles' heel of these witches is the long-held belief amongst major religions that water is effective for purifying the soul and combating evil. The Witch did not carry a broom in the novel, but rather an umbrella , which she uses on one occasion to strike Dorothy's dog Toto.
Despite her immense power, she avoids face-to-face contact with her enemies, and is frightened of Dorothy at first when she sees the girl wearing the Silver Shoes. She is also afraid of the dark in Baum's original story for reasons unknown. For that reason, the Witch never tried to steal the Silver Shoes while Dorothy was sleeping. Despite her fear of water and the dark, the Wicked Witch of the West was one of the most powerful witches in all of Oz.
In ensuing Oz books, her power is described as having been so great that even Glinda the Good Witch of the South feared her. In the film, Momba has an unspecified hold over the Wizard , who promises his crown to anyone who can release him from Momba's power. Momba captures Dorothy and her companions, evoking the events in Baum's original novel, and is destroyed when Dorothy throws a bucket of water over her.
Mombi's likeness and costume in the silent film, His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz is based on Denslow's illustrations of the Wicked Witch of the West. In the version of The Wizard of Oz , Margaret Hamilton plays the Wicked Witch of the West as a green-skinned witch dressed in a long black dress with a black pointed hat. She does not wear an eye-patch like in the novel. This representation of the Wicked Witch has become a standard for what witches resemble and an archetype of human wickedness.
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The movie makes her even more of a primary antagonist , and consequently she appears in the film much earlier and more often , than in Baum's original novel. She demands the Munchkins reveal who killed her sister, not long after Dorothy's arrival in Oz. She is described by Glinda the Good Witch of the North, not the South as in the book, as "worse than the other one". She actively seeks revenge against Dorothy for killing her sister, even though it was "accidental". However, as soon as the Witch is reminded of the ruby slippers , all interest in her sister's death vanishes and all she cares about are obtaining "her" slippers, which will enable her to conquer Oz.
She is more menacing than her literary counterpart, making Dorothy too afraid to ever lose her temper with the Witch. She makes sure that Dorothy knows her power when Dorothy meets the Scarecrow by throwing a ball of fire at them. Before Dorothy and her friends get to the city, the Witch casts a sleeping spell over a field of poppies through which the group must pass. Glinda remotely counteracts the spell with a snowfall. The Wicked Witch then flies on her broom over the Emerald City , demanding that the citizens of the Emerald City surrender Dorothy to her, and the Wizard demands the destruction of the Witch, with her broom as proof, in exchange for granting the wishes of Dorothy and her companions.
Unlike Baum's original depiction, the Wicked Witch sends the Winged Monkeys as the first wave of attack. The Golden Cap is not mentioned but, after the failure of her poppy spell, the Witch does hold and then angrily cast away a costume piece that could be considered the cap It greatly resembles the Cap in depicted in W. Denslow 's original illustrations for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and was mentioned as her "wishing cap" in the original shooting script. She is killed when Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her, in attempt to put out a fire the witch bestowed on the Scarecrow.
In the novel, Dorothy simply throws it on her in a fit of anger. There is no prior mention of the Wicked Witch's vulnerability to water in the movie, save for a split-second before the water actually douses her when she screams "Don't touch that water! After the Wicked Witch of the West is dead, her soldiers are glad to be free of her power, and quote "Hail to Dorothy!
The Wicked Witch is dead! Hamilton's other role in this film is the Witch's Kansas sepia tone counterpart, Miss Almira Gulch, newly created for the film by screenwriter Noel Langley. She is a socialite who owns half the county.
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She arrives on her bicycle at the farm and says to Uncle Henry, "Mr. I'd like to speak with you and your wife right away". Dorothy's dog, Toto, has bitten her, and she wants to have him put to sleep. Miss Gulch does successfully take Toto away in a basket, but Toto escapes unknown to her. Dorothy calls her a "wicked old witch" and thus, Gulch transforms into the Wicked Witch of the West, flying on a broom, during the tornado sequence. On a episode of the American television program, Sesame Street , the Witch, once again played by Hamilton herself, drops her broom and falls onto the street.
In order to get the broom back, she must prove that she can be nice. Everyone is scared of her, except for Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird. After she proves that she is nice, Big Bird is upset when the time comes for her to leave. She reassures him that one day she'll return. The episode was poorly received by parents of frightened young children, and was never aired again. The fate of the footage is unknown, but it can be assumed that it is still stashed away in Sesame Workshop's vault.
Hamilton also played this witch in The Paul Lynde Halloween Special , and reprised her role several times on stage, most notably at the St. Hamilton also appeared as herself on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood three times between and In these appearances, she demonstrated how her costume and acting skills made her appear to be the Witch, and assured her young viewers that there was nothing about her to be feared, because her portrayal in the film was only make-believe.
The story line of the stage adaptation "goes far afield" from the novel. In this version, she is portrayed as a 'good witch', also being the younger sister of Evanora Rachel Weisz , who is at war with Glinda Michelle Williams for control of Oz; she wants nothing more than for peace to come back to their land. She falls in love with Oscar Diggs James Franco , but her feelings for him are one-sided; Theodora wanted to be Oscar's queen when he ruled Oz.
After Oscar goes to meet with Glinda, Evanora tricks Theodora into thinking Oscar had betrayed her, offering her a magic apple that will help her forget her disappointment. Theodora immediately takes a bite from it, but afterwards Evanora reveals that she was the evil Witch all along, however Theodora is too late to realize this.
Before she can do anything, she starts feeling great pain as the apple was tainted with a potion that removes all the good in her heart making her so evil that even her sister fears her. Her skin turns green as a side effect of the potion, while her nose becomes crooked due to her falling on it. Though Evanora offers to cover it up with an enchantment, Theodora embraces her new appearance and helps her sister attempt to kill Glinda, get revenge on Oscar, and take control of Oz. However, she and Evanora are defeated by Oscar's illusions.
Theodora is forced to flee the city on her broom, but she threatens to return.
Wicked Witch of the West
Oscar tells her he knows her wickedness isn't her doing and if she ever finds the goodness within her, she is welcome to return. However, she refuses and flies off to the West, vowing revenge. Zelena visited Rumplestiltskin Robert Carlyle and learned from him how to control her own powerful magic.
But despite Zelena's efforts to create the deadly time portal Emma Swan supposedly the only wielder of light magic powerful enough to oppose her her plans are halted when the Evil Queen masters light magic in time to oppose her although her time-travel spell is completed, it takes effect after her presumed death, transporting Emma and Captain Hook Colin O'Donoghue back to before the original curse was cast. She was later thought to have been killed by Rumpelstiltskin. It was later discovered that Zelena's soul actually went back in time, where she managed to revive herself and assumed Maid Marian 's Christie Laing place after killing her in the past and taking her appearance; to allow the heroes to take her back to the present, where she poses as Marian without Robin Hood Sean Maguire knowing.
This way, she can resume making Regina Mills suffer by complicating her romantic relationship with the believed widower Robin. Zelena also copies the other villains' idea to try to force the Author to write them happy lives at the expense of the heroes.