Nor
Nor is the youngest child of Fiyero and Sarima, the Dowager Princess of the Arjiki tribe, and the sister of Irji and Manek. She grows up in the isolated mountain stronghold of Kiamo Ko, a place of cold stone, fierce winters, and the constant, watchful presence of her mother's five unmarried sisters. From her first appearance, Nor is marked by a vivid inner life and a yearning for connection that the adults around her fail to satisfy. She is described as a long-legged, thumb-sucking nine-year-old who "befriended stones and candles and blades of grass that grew against all logic in the cracks of the coping stones around the windows." Her speech retains a childish lisp—she says "wunning in the wain" for "running in the rain"—and she seeks physical comfort from her mother, rubbing her thumb over Sarima's nipple as if it were "a small pet." This need for affection and wonder sets her apart from her brothers and makes her the most receptive to the mysteries that surround the Witch in the tower.
Life at Kiamo Ko and the Arrival of the Witch
Nor's childhood at Kiamo Ko is one of constrained freedom and casual cruelty. She is the only girl among three children, and her brothers, particularly the sadistic Manek, dominate the household's play. When Elphaba, known only as "Auntie Guest," arrives at the castle, Nor is immediately curious. She is present when the children spy on Elphaba trying to teach the snow monkey Chistery to speak, a scene that fills Nor with delight and wonder. She is also the one who, during a game of hide-and-seek, discovers that Elphaba's broom is genuinely magical. When she takes it to clean the soldiers' barracks, the broom "lunged a little toward her" and then carried her out the window, an experience that leaves her "weeping and shivering" but also profoundly changed. This event marks a turning point: the world, she realizes, is more magical than she had ever imagined, and that magic seems lodged inside her. Yet her discovery is met not with guidance but with Elphaba's harsh reprimand: "Stay away from those men... They'll hurt you as soon as spit at you. Stay away from them, I say. And stay away from me!"
The Soldiers and the Kidnapping
Nor's vulnerability is exploited by the arrival of Commander Cherrystone and his company of soldiers, who are ostensibly conducting a survey but are in fact a reconnaissance force for the Wizard. Nor, starved for attention and approval, begins to hang around the men's dormitory, polishing their buttons, bringing them flowers, and serving them fruit. One young soldier encourages her to pop orange segments into his mouth, and he "sucked the juice from her fingers, to the mingled enjoyment and envy of the others." This dangerous flirtation is a cry for the affection she lacks at home. When Elphaba leaves Kiamo Ko for a brief visit to Colwen Grounds, the soldiers seize the opportunity. They claim they need to "escort the entire family" to their base camp for their own protection. Nor, who had been sneaking around looking for the broom, may have inadvertently revealed Elphaba's absence. The sisters put up a fierce but futile resistance—Three slams a sharpening stone on Cherrystone's hand, breaking every bone in his wrist—but the soldiers prevail. Nor, along with her mother Sarima, her brothers Irji and Manek, and her aunts, is taken away in chains.
Imprisonment and Transformation
Nor's fate after the kidnapping is the most harrowing of the family's. Years later, when Elphaba meets the Wizard at Colwen Grounds to bargain for information, he reveals Nor's condition as a demonstration of his power. She is brought into the room as a "young woman crouching" in chains, her hair cut short, welts visible beneath her patchy tresses. The chains are sewn into the collar of her tunic and run through her clothes to her ankles, keeping her bent over. She tosses her head "as if listening to music" but will not meet Elphaba's gaze. The Wizard coldly refuses to release her, stating, "She is my protection from you, you see." He admits that Sarima and her sisters are dead, and that Irji was executed by a method called "the Paraffin Necklace," a public affair meant to make a statement. Nor, however, is kept alive as a slave, a living shield against Elphaba's anger. The Wizard's final, chilling words to Elphaba are: "I will keep my young slave-girl at my side. For she is my defense against your anger." Nor, once a girl who believed the world was magic, has been reduced to a broken, chained political prisoner, her innocence destroyed by the very forces of tyranny Elphaba has spent her life fighting.
Thematic Significance
Nor's story arc is a devastating counterpoint to the novel's central themes of innocence, power, and the failure of protection. She is a child who, like Dorothy, believes in magic and seeks connection, but unlike Dorothy, she is failed by every adult in her life. Her mother Sarima is emotionally withdrawn after Fiyero's death; her brother Manek is a bully; and Elphaba, the only figure of power in the castle, rebuffs her attempts at closeness with harsh words. Nor's kidnapping and enslavement are the direct result of Elphaba's absence and the Wizard's calculated cruelty. She becomes a living symbol of the cost of political struggle, a child sacrificed to the machinations of power. Her fate haunts Elphaba, who is unable to save her, and serves as a reminder that the innocent are often the first to suffer in a world governed by tyranny and indifference. Nor's story is not one of redemption or rescue, but of loss—a girl who believed in magic and was destroyed by the reality of evil.
