Wicked Thoughts

Quinn Takei
Dec 31, 2025
4 min read

Recently, my wife and I went to see Wicked: For Good. This is part two of the movie Wicked, which is a film adaptation of the hit stage musical Wicked, based on the book Wicked. Wicked is sort of a prequel to The Wizard of Oz. As a fellow who enjoys musicals, I did much enjoy Wicked and Wicked: For Good.

[I don't think this article gives any significant spoiler alerts… BUT maybe it does, depending on your knowledge of the musical Wicked…. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.]

Like most of you, I grew up watching The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy was our heroine, just trying to find her way home after her Kansas home was swept up in a tornado and transported to the magical land of Oz. Her quest to get home is truly an epic archetypal tale of the Hero's Journey. (I could go on and on about the Hero's Journey and probably have in the past… but this is an article for another time. Seriously though, the Hero's Journey is an epic story found in some of the best tales ever told. This journey is so profound because ultimately this story lies within us all. This is the story of the journey of personal transformation. Again, a tale for another time…)

Anyway… let's return to the point I am trying to make…

Along Dorthy's quest to get home, she finds friends and, of course, adversaries. The main villain and anti-hero in The Wizard of Oz is the Wicked Witch of the West. The Wizard of Oz certainly portrays her as wicked in every way. She was green, scary, with a pointed black hat, riding a broom, commanding scary flying monkeys, and determined to stop Dorothy, our young heroine.

Growing up knowing the story of the Wizard of Oz. I knew Dorothy was good and Wicked Witch was bad. Dorothy was the heroine, and The Witch was the evil anti-hero and enemy to all that was good and innocent.

Enter spoiler alert...

What if there was more to the story? What if the Wicked Witch (whose name is Elphaba) really wasn't wicked at all? What if Elphaba just had beliefs and motivations that were contrary to what was being told to the residents of Oz?

Wicked is the story of the Wizard of Oz told through the perspective of Elphaba, who later became known as the Wicked Witch. In Wicked, Elphaba, is the heroine and the antihero is the Wizard of Oz. (***This may not be too much of a stretch because in retrospect, we know the Wizard was a con man and a liar posing as a great wizard when really he was just a carnival man who also lost his way and then took advantage of the trusting people of Oz… Interesting how in my psyche I can easily forgive him for his deceit because he was kinda cute and likable. And as I think about it, it is also interesting how my psyche conveniently likes to omit the fact that the Wicked Witch's sister just died when Dorothy's house landed on her and Glenda stole her shoes from her dead body and gave them to Dorothy. Those shoes weren't hers to give. Again, interesting how my psyche is willing to overlook certain realities as long as they serve to advance my already formulated perspective as Dorothy as the heroine.)

But how could we know the Wicked Witch to be so scary and evil from the Wizard of Oz, yet understand her, empathize with her, and even root for her in Wicked? How can Elphaba be both the villain and the hero at the same time? Surely it must be one or the other... right?

Or is it both?

I suppose it is both- depending on our perspective.

I believe no one consciously holds a belief they know to be untrue. We all create our reality based on what we know to be true. Our concept of “truth” is based on what we believe we know. But how do we know what we know?

If we know what we know based on the stories told to us by the man masquerading to be the Wizard of Oz, then Elphaba is indeed wicked. But if we know what we know based on the stories told to us by Elphaba in the story Wicked, Elphaba is not wicked at all. It is more the Wizard and those governing Oz that are the wicked ones.

Wicked did a great job of challenging our preconceived knowledge of the Wicked Witch of the West. Wicked completely flipped the script and forced us to acknowledge that the story we have been told all these decades about who the Wicked Witch just may have been a one-sided propaganda story that we all happily embraced. Wicked further pulled back the curtain on the deceit and lies that were used to keep power in Oz.

We all got stories. We all got our perspectives… which are only OUR perspectives. There are other perspectives and other stories that may be in indirect conflict with our own. While we are often quick to assume our beliefs are “right” and the opposing view is “wrong”, perhaps we should remind ourselves that our truths are based on the stories we believe to be true, not necessarily stories that are true. Those with opposing views have also constructed their truths based on the stories they believe to be true, just as we have.

Perhaps a few important takeaways from these Wicked thoughts are the reminders that truths can change based on our perspective, and there are many perspectives each yielding their own truths. Let's not cling too rigidly to what we think we know to be right and wrong. And hopefully, we can always try to understand the other perspective, because these opposing perspectives may be just as valid as ours.

Article by Quinn Akira Takei, Doctor of Oriental Medicine(NM), Licensed Acupuncturist, Chinese Herbalist, Functional Medicine Practitioner, and Holistic Health & Wellness Coach.