Griffon's Head

Griffon's Head is a remote, windward mountain peak in the Wend Hardings district of Munchkinland, a landscape of harsh, isolated beauty that serves as a site of spiritual crisis and retreat for Frexspar the Godly.

Geography and Setting

Griffon's Head is located in the mountainous south of Munchkinland, within the district of Wend Hardings. The peak is characterized by its windward slope, which is exposed to the elements. The landscape is described as desolate, with a shepherd's hut providing the only shelter. The area is remote enough that a boy from the inn at Stonespar End had to climb the mountain to deliver a message, and upon seeing Frex, he thought him a wild man, grunting and unkempt.

Frex's Winter Retreat

Following the devastating arrival of the Clock of the Time Dragon in Rush Margins and the subsequent birth of his green daughter, Elphaba, Frexspar the Godly retreated to an abandoned shepherd's hut on the windward slope of Griffon's Head. He spent the entire winter there, engaging in a regimen of prayer and fasting. This period was a form of penance for his perceived failures, both as a minister who had lost his flock to the spectacle of the Clock and as a father who had produced a deformed child. The isolation was also a preparation for something else, something next, though what that might be was unclear to him. He moved deeper inside himself and further outside himself, seeking a new direction for his life.

Narrative Significance

Griffon's Head represents a pivotal moment of withdrawal and self-examination for Frex. His time there is a direct consequence of the twin catastrophes that shattered his confidence: his public humiliation at the hands of the Clock of the Time Dragon and the birth of Elphaba, which he interpreted as a punishment from the Unnamed God. The mountain serves as a physical manifestation of his spiritual exile. It is from this retreat that he is summoned back by Nanny's request to be picked up at Stonespar End, forcing him to re-enter the world and confront his family, including the Quadling glassblower, Turtle Heart, who has become a fixture in his home. The peak thus marks the lowest point of Frex's ministry and the beginning of a slow, uncertain return to his family and his calling.