Glinda Arduenna Upland (2024)

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This article is about the character from the series of novels. You may be looking for the musical character of the same name.

Well I wouldn't know an evil thing if it fell on me.
— Glinda[src]

Glinda the Good, Lady Chuffrey, née Glinda Arduenna of the Uplands (formerly referred to as Galinda), is a major character in the 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and its sequels Son of a Witch, and Out of Oz by author Gregory Maguire.

As in the original Oz books, she is revered as a powerful sorceress, however, Maguire follows the 1939 movie in having Glinda ultimately become the Good Witch of the North, not the South like her original Baum counterpart.

History

Introduced in Wicked, Galinda Arduenna is a beautiful Gillikinese girl of middle-range social position from the market town of Frottica in the Pertha Hills of Gillikin, the northern province of Oz. She is the daughter of Highmuster Arduenna and Larena Upland; through her mother, she is descended from the noble clan of Upland, her one claim to wealth growing up.

Life at Shiz

Initially she is snobby, superficial, and obsessed with appearing to be high-class enough, due to the fact she's only partially noble. However, despite her inner insecurities she is also intelligent enough to be accepted to Shiz University's Crage Hall, where she is forced to share a room with another student due to her chaperone, Ama Clutch, being temporarily delayed. To Galinda's surprise, the roommate, whose name is Elphaba Thropp, is a green skinned girl with a great apathy towards beauty, fashion and social standing; the complete opposite of Galinda.

At first, Galinda tries to ignore Elphaba and pretends she is not her roommate by not giving her the time of day to be properly acquainted. So instead she quickly makes friends with a group of girls (Pfanne, Shenshen, and Milla)on campus who enjoy partaking in the same interest and hobbies which allows Galinda to have an active social life and quickly become extremely popular among her fellow peers. At one point, Boq, a Munchkinlander student from Briscoe Hall, forms a crush on her, eventually falling in love, but she rejects him due to differences in appearances and social status, though she does agree to be friends with him which Boq accepts. Eventually, she and Elphaba seem to have a rather begrudging companionship, though she still resents the latter and is shocked when she appears at her vacation home due to a snarky prank by Pfanne.

It is not until Shiz University's own Dr. Dillamond, a Goat who she'd met on the way to Shiz and had been rather rude towards, is tragically killed and Ama Clutch becoming incapacitated from witnessing it that Galinda realizes how self-centered and shallow she had been. She truly allows Elphaba to finally become her friend by looking past her flaws and seeing her as an equal for the first time. To mark this new change, she changes her name to Glinda, which the old Goat had mistakenly called her. In her second year, she takes up sorcery as her major and begins to slowly excel at it, being able to cure Ama Clutch's condition, though she unfortunately could not save her Ama's life. At Clutch's funeral, Glinda is called, along with Elphaba and the latter's religious and crippled little sister, Nessarose, to meet with Madame Morrible in her office where the three of them are offered a chance of becoming an “Adept of Magic”, who would work as a behind-the-scenes minister for the Ozian government system controlled by the Wizard of Oz. Though a secret spell is put on her so she does not remember this conversation until Morrible wishes her to. After this, Glinda accompanies Elphaba to Oz's imperial capital, the Emerald City, to finally meet the Wizard who is praised for being "wonderful." Though it turns out to be a disappointing meeting and not much gets done. Afterwards, while preparing to head back to Crage Hall, Glinda is shocked when Elphaba says she's leaving Shiz, so Glinda returns alone, not to see Elphaba again for many years.

After Glinda returns to school, she seems to take on a sisterly role to Nessarose in Elphaba's absence. She would later complete her sorcery degree, graduate from Shiz, and marry an older Paltos baron named Sir Chuffrey, giving her the style of Lady and as well as a great deal of wealth and prominence among the social circles of the Emerald City. She also becomes famous for her philanthropy, where her generous donations while working in tangent with her husband's business deals around Oz earns her the moniker “Glinda the Good” as it is said that wherever he does business, she does good. When asked if she has children, Glinda replies Chuffrey is "dry as a baked walnut," implying that he is infertile, but it is obvious that Glinda did not marry for love.

At one point, she casts a spell over the newly appointed Eminent Thropp, Nessarose's beautiful silver shoes which inadvertently allows her to walk without any help or assistance.

The Matter of Dorothy

When Nessarose is accidentally killed by an adolescent girl named Dorothy Gale, who had fallen out of the sky while aloft in a farmhouse that ended up crash-landing on the witch in the heart of Munchkinland after being caught in cyclone from another universe, Glinda was first on the scene, having been visiting an orphanage in a nearby town when the storm hit. She quickly commandeered a Pfenix who flew her to spot before most of the Munchkinlander locals had figured out what had hit them. There Glinda would give Dorothy Nessarose's beautiful silver shoes and cast a protection spell upon them, and to get the girl out of the way from impending political troubles in Munchkinland, Glinda sends Dorothy and her dog Toto on the yellow brick road, ultimately leading them to the Emerald City to seek the Wizard. It is there where Glinda hopes that he'll help the lost girl, not realizing that she just contributed to Elphaba's upcoming downfall.

A week later, Glinda meets Elphaba again before Nessarose's funeral at Colwen Grounds, but after telling her what happened, she is chastised by self-stylised Wicked Witch of the West for giving Dorothy the silver shoes, which apparently had been promised to her by Nessarose herself. Although Glinda tries to convince Elphaba that her intentions were not out of spite and tries to talk her out of going after Dorothy, the witch refuses to listen to reason and storms off. The two of them would later see each other only once after their fight, but instead of talking, Elphaba only silently walks past Glinda, even after the Good Witch calls out her name, attempting to mend their relationship, but to no avail. The two women would never see nor speak to one another ever again, as not long after this Elphaba herself would also die at the hands of Dorothy.

Throne Ministry

In Son of a Witch it is revealed that after the Wizard's departure, leaving Glinda to deal with Dorothy and her companions, she would cast yet another spell on Nessarose's beautiful silver shoes, a spell that allowed the girl and her dog to return back to where they came from by clicking the heels of the shoes together three times. Glinda would also grant Brrr a namory, styling him "Sir Brrr, Lord Low Plenipotentiary of Traum".

Later, some time after Dorothy has left, Glinda is tragically widowed from her husband, Sir Chuffrey, and is chosen by the provisional government to be Oz’s new, albeit temporary, Throne Minister, a position she holds for six months. Her job, according to The Scarecrow, is to "clean up" the affairs left by the Wizard and it is implied that after this is complete, she would be expected to resign in favour of a new Throne Minister, which would ultimately be the Scarecrow himself.

Overall, Glinda’s brief tenure as Throne Minister is thought to be a misguided one, as what most she accomplished was establishing libraries and other foundations wherever she planted her jeweled scepter. However, under her command, The Animal Adverse laws are revoked, but to little effect as most Animals remain skeptical of their chances of being reintegrated back into Ozian society and refuse to leave from Munchkinland, where they have taken refuge.

When Liir comes for a visit to request her help in finding Nor, she does not believe him and has a breakdown in front of him, even smashing a glass china doll on a nearby knick-knack table, speaking about the treachery of her position and the people around her. She also throws Elphaba's broom into the fireplace in a fury, but upon seeing that, despite the fire, the broom would not burn, thus making it bewitched, Glinda realises that Liir must be a confidant of Elphaba's and she personally directs him to Commander Cherrystone and Shell Thropp, who lead him into Southstairs prison in hope that Nor would be there.

Years later, Glinda travels to The Cloister of St. Glinda in the Shale Shallows to give a donation to the mauntery.

Calling Winter Upon Water

At the start of Out of Oz, Glinda is living at her country estate of Mockbeggar Hall on the borders of Munchkinland and the Emerald City. Years before, she had taken in Rain, the daughter of Liir, in order to protect her identity from the forces of the Emperor Shell Thropp; Glinda has Rain act as her broom girl and chambermaid. Her estate is located near Lake Restwater, putting her on the forefront of the Oz-Munchkinland civil war, as the lake's water is a chief resource both sides are fighting for. Because of this, Glinda is put under house arrest and her home is commandeered by General Cherrystone and most of her staff is dismissed, save for a few to attend on her needs: her lady in waiting, Miss Murth, her chef, Ig, and her butler, Puggles. Among them is young Rain, whom Cherrystone begins teaching to read.

When the company of the Clock of the Time Dragon come to Mockbeggar Hall, Glinda authorizes a performance of the Clock, however, the prophetic performance upsets Cherrystone and his men who, in retaliation, have Glinda's chef drowned. The crew of the Clock also gifts Glinda the Grimmerie, which she is able to conceal from prying eyes with a spell from within as the performance of the Clock causes even greater restrictions in her household. Cherrystone's soldiers garrisoned at Mockbeggar also begin taking over the barns for their own purposes, and by using Rain as a spy, Glinda attempts to discover what they are up to, but with little success. At last it is revealed that Cherrystone has been creating boats, pulled by dragons, to be shipped across the Restwater Lake to decimate the Munchkinlander forces.

To prevent Cherrystone from launching his invasion of Munchkinland using the dragon-pulled boats, and with Rain's help, Glinda uses a spell entitled To Call Winter Upon Water to freeze the ships in the middle of the lake. With her under even greater suspicion, Glinda sends Rain off with Brrr, Ilianora, the dwarf Mister Boss, and the rest of the company of the Clock of the Time Dragon for protection, much to the dwarf's chagrin. Glinda decides to stay behind, as to look after her remaining household, including Puggles, who had earlier been injured in a scuffle with Cherrystone's men.

Post-Civil War

Glinda reappears towards the end of the book where she has a brief conversation with Rain, where she explains she is being sent to Southstairs for her actions at Mockbeggar Hall, though Brrr, who has been appointed Throne Minister, later explains that she'll be freed as soon as it is advisable to do so. And indeed, Glinda is freed, but by an unknown individual. Her ultimate fate, as well as the identity of the unnamed person who frees her, is left open to the imagination of the reader.

Personality

Throughout the first novel Glinda undergoes major character development: As “Galinda”, she starts off as a rather vapid and shallow person, but after meeting Elphaba, along with Dr. Dillamond's death, she realises there's much more important things to worry about besides boys and popularity.

Glinda also subverts the token dumb-blonde stereotype, as though she initially seems like an air-headed blonde, she's smarter than she lets on.

Trivia

  • According to the family tree in A Lion Among Men, her mother is Larena Upland and her father is Highmuster Arduenna.
  • Glinda most likely was named after Saint Glinda from the Unionist religion and namesake of the Cloister of St. Glinda.
  • Though the first book claims she is an Arduenna through her mother. the family tree in the third book claims her mother is an Upland and her father is an Arduenna.
  • In L. Frank Baum's original novel Glinda was the Good witch of the South, not North.
    • Unlike in L. Frank Baum's classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900, and it's subsequent sequels, the portrayal of Glinda in Maguire's books stray further away from Baum's original character who was the ruler of the southern quadrant of Oz called Quadling Country. In the Wicked Years, her character and appearance is based more upon the classic 1939 MGM musical film's envisionment of Glinda portrayed by the late actress Billie Burke from The Wizard of Oz, by remaining the beautiful and bright Good Witch of the North, instead of the all-knowing and wise "Amazon Goddess" of the South.
  • Glinda’s favourite books are A Girl’s First Guide to Coquettery and The Little Mercenary: A Novel of Manners.

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