Wicked (novel)/Fridge

• A lot of the stuff in the book doesn't make a lot of sense (to me, at least); 1. Was Elphaba raped? Fiyero remarks that their first time together wasn't her first and she has a mark down there... 2. Does Elphaba try to kill herself after Fiyero died? Did she know he was going to die? Before he goes back to her hidey-hole thing, she starts crying and then disappears. And then she looks like she's slit her wrists... 3. Why was Fiyero killed off? I mean in-universe reasons... 4.And why couldn't Fiyero make up his mind about whether or not he was in love with Elphaba? Clearly he doesn't love his real wife, at several points in time he decides/comes to the realization that he is in love with her (and it's pretty clear she's in love with him), and in the musical he is...so why is he so wishy-washy about it in the book?
  • 1. She wasn't raped. It's implied that she was a hemaphrodite when she was born. 2. No, she went into a coma from depression and, no, she had warned him to stay away from the hideout. 3. He was involved with a domestic terrorist. 4. The only other woman he's had a serious relationship with was an arranged marriage, he didn't love her. So he's not sure what he feels. It hadn't been that long when he died. Love's confusing.
    • Thanks. I find it hard, in this book, to tell what is a metaphor and what is really happening...
  • 1. Not being a virgin is hardly the same thing as being raped. 4. She's a domestic terrorist. Fiyero is, understandably enough, unsure how he feels about that.
• The Tin Man in the book. The original Oz books were whimsical/fairy tale-ish enough that the idea of some tinsmith in the middle of nowhere being good enough to build fully functioning tin prostheses to turn someone into an Ozian Cyberman was perfectly acceptable, but Wicked doesn't have this excuse. Is he a tiktok construct? Was this unnamed tinsmith a sorcerer of some sort? How does he work?
  • Why does Wicked not have this excuse? It's still Oz. Oz full of talking animals, witches, magic shoes, and flying broom sticks. It's the same world, just told in a very different way. Magical whimsical tin smiths are still a viable option.
    • Apparently, this Tin Man has the same origin as in the book (probably because it was already tragic). As a man, he fell in love with a young woman, but the Wicked Witch of the East enchanted his axe to cut off his limbs, one by one. Somehow, he managed to replace each piece of him with tin each time. In fact, the only real difference is in "Wicked", it's revealed the mother of the Tin Man's lover commissioned Nessarose to enchant the axe.
  • On a related note, the Scarecrow in the book. In the original Oz books, he was always alive, perfectly content being brainless and immobile. But what's his place in the Wicked series? Are all scarecrows alive in that Oz? Was that Scarecrow a special case? Was he even a real Scarecrow?