The Most Tragic 'Wicked' Character Isn't The Witch Of The West
In the morally tangled world of Wicked, Elphaba Thropp, the green-skinned, misunderstood star of the story, always dominates the spotlight. But upon closer examination, her sister Nessarose, who becomes the Wicked Witch of the East, has a more tragic story. Nessarose's life doesn't feature things like displays of magic. Instead, her days are filled with quiet suffering, political ambition, and loss. Her tragedy is rooted in isolation, unreciprocated love, and a hunger for control she could never quite get the hang of.
In the new Wicked films, with the first one now on streamers like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Nessarose is reimagined in ways that highlight her vulnerability and cruelty. Her disability, her need for affection, every decision she makes, and every spell she accidentally miscasts all come from a place of extreme longing. Sadly, her story doesn't end in redemption. It ends in catastrophe. That's why, despite Elphaba's grandeur, Nessarose is the most tragic character in the entire Wicked universe.
The Original Witch Of The East
Long before Wicked gave her a name and a tragic backstory, the Wicked Witch of the East appeared in L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, as a largely symbolic figure. She is dead within the first chapter, crushed by Dorothy's house moments after Dorothy enters Oz. Baum describes her as a tyrant who enslaves the Munchkins, but he never explores her motivations, her past, or her emotional world. Her infamous silver shoes (changed to ruby in the film adaptation) represent power, but Baum never explains how she got them or what they meant to her.
Because Baum's Witch exists only as an obstacle removed by chance, her identity is shaped entirely by the perspectives of others. She is feared by the Munchkins, dismissed by the Good Witch of the North, and forgotten by Dorothy almost immediately. She is a villain without a voice, likened to a blank space defined only by the damage she left behind. That silence becomes a key part of her tragedy because later adaptations recognize the potential that Baum ignored. A woman who held power, but whose reasons for grasping it are never explored.
What is most interesting, especially when compared with her reinvention in Wicked, is how expendable she is in the original story. Baum treats her death as a moment of relief for the Munchkins and a stroke of luck for Dorothy. There is no grief, no reflection, no complexity. In the broader context of Baum's Oz, villains are often caricatures, and the Wicked Witch of the East is the flattest of them all. Yet that emptiness creates the perfect canvas for reinterpretation. Her story is a tragedy precisely because Baum left so many unanswered questions.
Nessarose In Gregory Maguire's Novel
In Gregory Maguire's Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Nessarose Thropp is written with sharper edges and deep sorrow. She is born physically disabled (in the book, without arms), a condition that shapes her worldview and amplifies her reliance on others. Her family treats her with a mixture of reverence and suffocating protection, leading her to internalize a belief that she must earn love through righteousness and obedience.
Maguire's novel deepens the political drama surrounding her. Nessarose's father, a powerful governor, raises her in a strict religious household. Nessarose, convinced that suffering is piety and discipline is love, grows into a leader who believes she alone has the right to enforce moral order. Her enchanted shoes improve her so that she can walk. But more importantly, they symbolize her yearning to be seen as whole, something society has continually denied her.
Her rule over Munchkinland becomes increasingly authoritarian as she tries to control a world that feels perpetually out of reach. Her cruelest decisions arise from her fear of abandonment, of inadequacy, of being unloved. Instead of malicious, Maguire portrays her as an emotionally starved person who confuses control with connection. Her death under Dorothy's house doesn't feel like a plot twist. It's more like tragic inevitability.
Nessarose In 'Wicked' (2024)
In Wicked, Nessarose is introduced with a sort of fragility that makes her different from her sister, Elphaba. Her disability is not just a physical limitation but is a defining part of her whole world. Confined to her chair and overshadowed by the attention her condition demands, Nessarose grows up believing that affection must be earned through perfection and obedience. Her interactions with Boq are among the film's most painful sequences.
Nessarose misinterprets his politeness as affection, clinging to every scrap of kindness he offers. Her early steps toward political authority also take shape. By the end of the first film, her need for stability and devotion pushes her toward decisions that foreshadow her future as the oppressive governor of Munchkinland. Though she is not yet cruel, the seeds of her tragedy are fully planted.
Nessarose In 'Wicked: For Good' (2025)
In Wicked: For Good, Nessarose's tragedy comes sharply into focus as her tentative insecurities solidify into fear-driven authoritarianism. Now serving as the Governor of Munchkinland, she rules with a rigidity that reflects her internal collapse. Her governance is presented not as a lust for power but as a panicked attempt to create order in the only way she believes is possible, through strict control and unwavering obedience.
Her relationship with Boq deteriorates rapidly in this film. And when Boq tries to pull away. Nessarose, terrified of losing the one person she believes she cannot live without, reaches for desperate solutions. But her desperation becomes destructive, and her desire to be loved literally damages the person she loves most.
Why Nessarose Is the More Tragic Sister
While both sisters experience hardship, Nessarose's story is ultimately more tragic because she is denied nearly every form of agency Elphaba manages to claim. Elphaba's suffering pushes her toward self-determination and carves an identity as the Wicked Witch of the West, that defies the roles imposed upon her. Even when she is vilified, she acts with purpose. Her choices are her own, and her story is one she actively shapes.
Nessarose, however, lives in a cage, first metaphorical, then political, and always emotional. Her disability and her suffocating childhood was built on dependence and conditional love. Whereas Elphaba learns to survive without approval, Nessarose is taught that approval is the only thing that makes her life meaningful. So she never learns how to stand on her own terms, and her life becomes a series of painful misunderstandings. While Elphaba becomes a legend, Nessarose becomes collateral damage.
