Kiamo Ko
Kiamo Ko, the mountain stronghold of the ruling Arjiki clan, stands as a fortress of black stone in the Great Kells of the Vinkus. Originally built as the headquarters of a waterworks project under the Ozma Regent—intended to channel water from the Vinkus River into central Oz during the worst of the droughts—it was taken by siege and storm by Fiyero's father, who made it the seat of the Arjiki princes. The castle rises in steep black angles out of black rock, with conical-roofed towers, battlements, bartizans, a portcullis, and arrow-slit windows that belie its original civic purpose. Below it winds a powerful tributary of the Vinkus River, and the structure itself is built in the general shape of a U, with a central hall and two long narrow wings thrusting forward around a steeply pitched courtyard. When it rains, water churns over the cobbles and slips out under the carved gates of iron oak and jasper panels. The castle is the site of Elphaba's final years, her experiments with the Grimmerie, and her death at Dorothy's hands.
History and Architecture
Kiamo Ko was originally intended as the head of a waterworks, part of the Ozma Regent's plan to build a dam and channel water into the center of Oz during the most threatening droughts. Fiyero's father took this stronghold by siege and storm, converting it into the seat of the Arjiki princes before dying and leaving the clan leadership to his only son. The castle boasts corner turrets and towers built on massive circular salients thrusting upward from the stone of the mountain itself. After the Arjiki clan wrested the building from the waterworks commission, they added toothy crenellations for defense. Despite the reworkings, the plan of the house remains simple: a central hall with two long narrow wings thrusting forward around a steeply pitched yard. The courtyard is charcoal gray, cold and filthy with scraps of hay and bits of leaf flying in the wind. There is a light in the old cobbler's shed, and smoke spinning from the chimney that badly wants repointing—like everything else in this decaying manse. The castle is surrounded by a village of hovels nestled up against its outside walls.
Life at Kiamo Ko
When Elphaba arrives at Kiamo Ko with the Grasstrail Train, she is initially housed in a cobbleshed, but Sarima eventually offers her the southeast tower—a witch's room with bowed walls following the essential form of a tower, with one broad window facing east, away from the wind. The room can be unbarred and opened without blowing everything out into the snowy valleys. Beyond, the Great Kells are a rank of sentinels, purple-black when the winter sun rises over them, draining into blue-white screens as the sun moves overhead, and going golden and ruddy in the late afternoon. There are sometimes rumbling collapses of ice and scree. Elphaba lives there with her familiars: the snow monkey Chistery, the dog Killyjoy, a hive of bees, and three crows given to her by Princess Nastoya. She also brings the boy Liir, who becomes her reluctant ward. The castle is also home to Sarima, her five sisters (called Two through Six), and her three children: Irji, Manek, and Nor. The sisters live in the east wing, claiming the best rooms by right of their unmarriageability, while Sarima has the Solar. The winters are harsh, and the castle is often snowed in, with the trail north closed and no safe haven between Kiamo Ko and the plains.
The Grimmerie and Elphaba's Experiments
In a disused room at the top of a trapezoidal, slanting shaft, Elphaba discovers the Grimmerie, a book of magic that Sarima had received years earlier from an elderly man claiming to be a sorcerer from another world. The book's letters float and rearrange themselves on the page, as if enlivened. Elphaba uses the Grimmerie to conduct experiments, most notably stitching the wings of white-crested male rocs into the back muscles of snow monkeys, perfecting the procedure after years of botched and hideous failures. She also uses the book to try to teach Chistery to speak, coaxing him to say "spirit" as a link to Doctor Dillamond's old work on the universal design among all creatures. The castle's fishwell, a shaft in the basement leading to an underground lake, becomes a site of tragedy when Manek tricks Liir into being lowered into it, nearly drowning him. Liir later claims that a gold carp in the fishwell spoke to him, telling him that Fiyero was his father.
The Fall of Kiamo Ko
While Elphaba is away visiting Colwen Grounds after Nessarose's death, Commander Cherrystone and his soldiers arrive at Kiamo Ko, claiming they need to escort Sarima and her family to their base camp for their own protection. The sisters resist—barricading the dining room, setting fire to the chapel wing, and breaking Cherrystone's wrist with a sharpening stone—but the soldiers prevail. Sarima, her sisters, Irji, and Nor are taken away in chains. Elphaba later learns from the Wizard that Sarima and her sisters are dead, Irji was executed by the Paraffin Necklace, and Nor is kept as a political prisoner. Only Nanny and Liir are left behind. Elphaba remains at Kiamo Ko for seven more years, working on her experiments and waiting for a chance to rescue Sarima's family. The Wizard's reconnaissance army remains camped at an outpost near Red Windmill, keeping her in check. It is at Kiamo Ko that Dorothy and her companions finally arrive, and on the parapet of the castle's tower, Dorothy throws water on Elphaba, causing her to melt away.
