West is a cardinal witch, known as the Witch of the West and Mistress of the Western Fields, Vessel of Truth and Solace. She is the madam of a run-down brothel.
West is based entirely on the character of the Wicked Witch of the West from the L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Book.
Information
History
Early life
Twenty years prior to Dorothy Gale's trip to Oz, West saw her sister Glinda, when she and the cardinal witches unsuccessfully attempted to defeat the Beast Forever. They were saved by The Wizard's aid.[1]
Twenty years following the Beast Forever's vanquishing, West was inside her brothel, visited by The Wizard, desperate to find out the source of magic that caused a tornado in the eastern parts, seeing it as the first sign of the Beast Forever's return. West immediately stated that it her magic wasn't the cause of it and then pointlessly exposed the pregnancy of one of the Wizard's servants, who are supposed to be chaste, with one of the wizard's bodyguards.[1]
Some time later, after feeling the death of her eastern sister, West took to the streets of Emerald City to cry in pain. She waited for Glinda as the latter arrived into the city, reminding West of what was required of them in order to absorb their deceased sister's spells. Both witches soon meet with the Wizard in his palace, where he allowed them to use their temple for their sister's funeral while asking for them to recreate the Prison of the Abject their sister once made. However, they claimed that it was impossible.
Later on, during preparations for the funeral, the Wizard arrived and claimed the entire process would be open to public eyes, to remind the people of the city of who witches are. Glinda immediately saw this as an attempt to embarrass them. The ritual started at night and West arrived, high on opium, which angered Glinda, afraid the ritual would go wrong. Under the eyes of the public, the witches started the funeral and West took over, performing a ritualistic dance by taking control over the girls who participated in the funeral. She performed the spell and absorbed East's spells, though in the process, scared away the common-folk of the city through her display of magic, much to the Wizard's satisfaction. She later handed over the spells to Glinda, who then stored them in a jar. Glinda later made a remark to the Wizard of her sister's self-harming practices, clearly blaming him for West's new tendencies. (The Beast Forever/Prison of the Abject)
Following the magical suicide of three women, the Wizard sought council with East, suggesting that it was her magic to blame. West denied any involvement, meanwhile teasing Anna for her mother's past in East's brothel. West admitted her hatred of magic, reminiscing of her helplessness twenty years prior when the Beast Forever laid waste to many witches. (Mistress - New - Mistress)
Powers and Abilities
West, as one of the four cardinal witches, possesses powerful magic and is one of the most powerful witches in Oz, though both her hatred of magic[2] and the prohibition of it in the entire country keeps her from practicing it in any way. For this reason, Glinda assumed that West's tongue and her craft had weakened over time.[1]
However, despite the amount of time she spent not practicing the craft, West was seen to easily be able to adapt to magic in times of need and use it fluently and to great effect, even when high on drugs such as the poppy. Upon her sister's death, West shortly returned to magic in order to extract her deceased sister's spells for Glinda to take. However, before doing so, she performed a ritualistic dance through which she demonstrated great magical abilities, being able to completely assume control over more than a dozen girls participating in the ritual by completely controlling their movements and forcing them to dance in unison. She then ended the ceremony by extracting all of her sister's spells by inhaling them from East's mouth, while also releasing a blast of energy that caused all the windows to combust and stunned all of the girls who participated in the ritual, causing them to shake violently on the ground.[1]
West was also shown as highly perceptive and skilled in clairvoyance, being able to discern Isabel's secret pregnancy immediately after laying eyes on her, despite not even actively practicing witchcraft. She was also able to determine the father of Isabel's unborn child. Afterwards, following East's death, West immediately felt it, despite being miles away, leading her to a breakdown.[1] While at Glinda's orphanage, looking for new girls for her brothel, West used a form of deceptive magic by appearing as another girl from the orphanage to Tip, in order to convince her into accepting her offer to join her brothel. She is also seemingly capable of teleportation, having suddenly appeared in the bathtub and surprising Tip.
Gallery
Promotional images
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Trivia
- West has a much younger appearence than portrayed in the books. (Though it is hinted that she is older than she appears.) In the books, both witches of the East and West are old crones.
- West is not a "Card-Carrying Villain" as usual, but a more troubled individual.
- She owns a brothel, which the Wizard, Frank Morgan was regular too.
- It is implied by Glinda that herslf and West may be the last of their kind left in Oz.
- West is the Mistress of the Western Fields, Vessel of Truth and Solace.
- The Facebook page of Emerald City pictured West as a Tarot card The Moon - a sign of deception.[1]
L. Frank Baum's Version:
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Friedman, Josh, Arnold, Matthew, Doble, Justin, Schulner, David (writers) and Singh, Tarsem (director) (January 6, 2017). "The Beast Forever"/"Prison of the Abject". Emerald City. Season 1. Episodes 1 and 2. NBC.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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