Glinda

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Glinda depicted on the cover of Glinda of Oz

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, ruler of the Quadling Country south of the Emerald City, and protector of Princess Ozma.

[edit] The classic books

Baum's beloved 1900 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".^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

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.^[4]

In the books, Glinda is depicted as a tall young woman with red hair in a clinging white dress.^{[citation needed]}

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.

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 much in evidence 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.

[edit] The 1939 Film

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 resembles Glinda as described by L. Frank Baum. No one 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.

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/cast, but after consideration of how the film was structured, there is no good time to introduce a new character after the Wizard's departure.

[edit] 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 Auntie Em. She is the sister of Addaperle, Evillene, and Evvamene, the other three witches of Oz.

[edit] Wicked

Kristin Chenoweth, a member of the original cast of the Broadway adaptation of Wicked, portrays the role of Galinda Upland during the number "What is this Feeling?" (Photographer: Joan Marcus)

In Gregory Maguire's 1995 revisionist novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Glinda is initially called "Galinda," but she 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 University (Doctor Dillamond made the habitual mistake of calling her "Glinda" instead of "Galinda" in class). Her character is seen extensively in the first half of the novel, but is mostly absent towards the end. It is stated that she marries Sir Chuffrey in the second half of the novel and they have no children. In Son of a Witch, Glinda comes back into the story with her now late husband's riches. 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, serving as a sort of deus ex machina towards the end of the book - a parallel to her role in the 1939 movie.

In the novel's Broadway musical adaptation Wicked, Glinda is one of the two female leads as the musical focuses on the friendship between Glinda and Elphaba (the young woman who becomes the infamous Wicked Witch of the West). In the musical, Glinda is characterized by her popularity and ambition and goes by the name of Galinda Upland (she was often referred to as Galinda Upland because she came from the Upper Uplands). She and Elphaba cross paths while attending Shiz University, and while the two girls dislike each other at first, they eventually become best friends. As in the novel, Galinda shortens her name to Glinda. She does this to mark the passing of Dr. Dillamond, but also in an attempt to impress Fiyero, her love interest. Glinda has a fantastic journey during the show. She leaves behind the Shallow Shiz student part behind for bold and beautiful, Glinda the Good.

In the musical version, the character of Galinda/Glinda has been played by:

• Kristin Chenoweth (Original Broadway)
• Jennifer Laura Thompson
• Megan Hilty (Original/Current Los Angeles)
• Kate Reinders(Original Chicago)
• Kendra Kassebaum (Original US National Tour/Current Broadway)
• Stacie Morgain Lewis (Past Chicago)
• Erin Mackey (Current Chicago)
• Helen Dallimore (Original/Current London)
• Christina DeCicco (Current US National Tour)

[edit] References