Meeting with the Wizard at Colwen Grounds

The Meeting with the Wizard at Colwen Grounds is the climactic confrontation between Elphaba and the Wizard of Oz, occurring after Nessarose's funeral. In this tense, private audience, Elphaba attempts to bargain for the freedom of Nor, Fiyero's daughter, in exchange for the Grimmerie, only to learn that Sarima and her family are dead and that the Wizard has kept Nor as a hostage. The meeting shatters Elphaba's last hopes for forgiveness and reveals the Wizard's true nature as a manipulative, otherworldly tyrant who has been orchestrating her life's tragedies for decades.

Background and the Summons

After the memorial service for Nessarose, the Wizard's emissary approached Elphaba with a command: the Wizard himself, traveling under special diplomatic immunity via a Pfenix, would come to Colwen Grounds that evening to offer his condolences to the family. The emissary made it clear that Elphaba was to meet him, and warned her that if she made the visit public, it would "go very hard on your father and your brother. And on you." Elphaba, seeing a chance to use the audience to her own advantage regarding Sarima, the safety of Frex, and the fate of Fiyero, agreed. Before the meeting, she was searched by officers who found the page of the Grimmerie in her pocket; she claimed the Wizard would want to see it, but they confiscated it anyway.

The Confrontation and the Bargain

The Wizard entered the small chamber without disguise, appearing as a plain-looking older man in a high-collared shirt and greatcoat, with a watch and fob hanging from his waistcoat pocket. He was without the theatrical skeleton-and-storm illusion he had used when Elphaba first met him as a schoolgirl. Elphaba refused to sit. The Wizard stated two purposes: to learn her intentions regarding her position as the last Eminence, and to discover where she had obtained the page of the Grimmerie. He revealed that reunification of Munchkinland was already underway, and that he wanted the shoes—which Glinda had given to Dorothy—to prevent them from giving Elphaba ideas. Elphaba declared she had no interest in governing, but then seized the opportunity to bargain: she would tell him where to find the rest of the Grimmerie if he would tell her whether Sarima was still alive and how to negotiate her freedom.

The Revelation of Nor and the Fate of Sarima's Family

The Wizard smiled and waved a hand. Unseen attendants ushered in a young woman in chains—Nor, now sixteen or seventeen years old, her hair cut short, welts visible beneath her patchy tresses, her knees filthy. She would not meet Elphaba's gaze. The Wizard refused to release her, stating she was his "protection" from Elphaba. He then delivered the devastating news: Sarima and her sisters were all dead, killed by some underling with an appetite for bloodshed. Irji, the next in line to be Prince, had been executed by a method called "the Paraffin Necklace," a public affair meant to make a statement. Elphaba's last hopes for forgiveness from Sarima were gone.

The Wizard's True Nature and the Grimmerie's Origin

The Wizard revealed that the page of the Grimmerie came from another world—his world. He claimed he had come to Oz forty years ago as a young man, not to rule, but to find the Grimmerie and return it to its own world. He spoke of Madame Blavatsky locating it in a crystal ball, and of making "appropriate sacrifices and arrangements" to travel here. He dismissed the concept of murder as a word used by the sanctimonious, asserting that because he came from another world, he could not be held accountable to the conventions of a naive civilization. Elphaba, horrified, revised her offer: she would give him the Grimmerie in exchange for Nor. The Wizard refused to bargain, stating he was beyond being bound by words. He then revealed that it was Madame Morrible who had warned him about Elphaba, who had advised him to have her watched, and who had told him about her romance with Fiyero. The Wizard left, saying he would send a messenger before the year was out, and that Nor would remain his defense against Elphaba's anger.

Aftermath and Significance

After the Wizard departed, Elphaba fell to her knees, her fists clenched. She had no intention of surrendering the Grimmerie to such a monster, ever. The meeting shattered any remaining illusions about the Wizard's nature and his role in her life's tragedies. It confirmed that Madame Morrible had been orchestrating events against her for decades, and that the Wizard had been keeping Nor as a hostage to control her. The encounter left Elphaba with nothing but a hardened resolve and a deeper understanding of the evil she was up against.