Fishwell

The Fishwell is a deep, dark shaft located in the low-vaulted basement of Kiamo Ko, the mountain stronghold of the Arjiki tribe. It is a source of fish for the castle, with a wooden lid and a simple device with a chain and a stone for shifting the lid sideways. The water level fluctuates, rising with groundwater seepage and melting snow, and the shaft is said by the children to be connected to tunnels leading all the way to hell. The well is a place of both practical necessity and dark legend, a site where the mundane and the supernatural converge.

Physical Description and Location

The Fishwell is situated in a damp, low-vaulted room in the basement of Kiamo Ko, its stone walls beaded with moisture. The well is covered by a wooden lid that can be moved aside with a simple mechanism. A bucket on a rope, operated by a crank and windlass, is used to lower and raise items. The water within is black and reflects light in chips and circles of chilly white light. The well is known to contain fish, including a legendary gold carp that Six once saw, which she thought was a floating brass kettle before it turned and looked at her. The children, Irji, Manek, and Nor, are aware of the well's existence and its lore, with Irji claiming there are tunnels from the basement all the way to hell.

The Near-Drowning of Liir

During a game of hide-and-seek, Manek, the cruel middle child of Sarima, leads the boy Liir to the Fishwell. Manek convinces Liir to hide in the bucket, promising to lower him slowly and stop before he reaches the water. However, Manek lets the rope spool too quickly, causing the bucket to smash against the wall. He then slides the cover fully on, leaving Liir trapped in the dark. Manek abandons Liir to hide elsewhere, and Liir is not found until later, when the snow monkey Chistery's nose wrinkles as he passes the well, and he whines and tugs at the weighted cover. Nor and Irji then lower Chistery in the bucket, and the lurid gleam of light on pale human flesh terrifies them. Liir is pulled up, bloated and seemingly drowned. The sisters and Sarima lay him on the butcher's block, and Nanny works to pump his legs and arms while Sarima presses on his abdomen. Elphaba, desperate, flips through the Grimmerie and wails that she has no personal experience with a soul. Nanny commands Elphaba to put her mouth on Liir's and push air into his lungs. Elphaba does so, and Liir begins to choke and then to breathe, his hand twitching of its own accord. He is wrapped in a blanket and eventually recovers.

The Talking Gold Carp

After his recovery, Liir reveals that while in the Fishwell, he spoke with a fish. He says, "The fish talked to me. I talked to the fish. The goldfish talked to me." The fish told him that Fiyero was his father and that Irji, Manek, and Nor are his brothers and sister. Sarima dismisses this as delusion, but Elphaba is deeply disturbed. She later goes to look in the Fishwell many times at all hours, but the old carp—or Carp—stays out of sight. Elphaba wonders if Madame Morrible has the ability to change her shape and live in the cold darkness to spy on her. Years later, Liir finally catches the golden carp, dead, in the bucket. He asks Elphaba if they will ever be able to tell the family they finally caught it, suggesting the carp's capture is a long-sought goal. Elphaba later threatens to have Chistery dump Dorothy's dog, Toto, into the Fishwell, using the well as a threat of death. The Fishwell remains a constant presence in Kiamo Ko, a source of food, a site of trauma, and a conduit for a mysterious, possibly magical, communication.