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Liir
Dorothy Gale is a young girl from Kansas who arrives in Oz when a tornado carries her farmhouse into Munchkinland, killing Nessarose, the Wicked Witch of the East. Cheerful and polite but quite naïve, she has little grasp of the political tensions surrounding her arrival or the symbolic weight others assign to her. She travels with a Lion, a Tin Woodman, and a Scarecrow, inheriting Nessarose’s enchanted sparkling shoes—a “gift” from Glinda—that make her the target of Elphaba’s relentless pursuit at the end of the novel. Though central to a chain of events that ultimately ends Elphaba’s life, Dorothy’s actions are never malicious; she is merely a pawn, used by the Wizard for larger purposes she cannot see. In the novel’s climax, she inadvertently kills Elphaba while trying to save her from a fire. This secures her place in Oz’s history as the girl who “saved” them from the Wicked Witch of the West—though this is far from the truth.
Dorothy Gale Quotes in Wicked
The Wicked quotes below are all either spoken by Dorothy Gale or refer to Dorothy Gale. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Prologue: On the Yellow Brick Road Quotes
“She’s a despot. A dangerous tyrant,” said the Lion with conviction.
[...] “I hear she’s a champion of home rule for the so-called Winkies.”
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12. City of Emeralds Quotes
He grabbed her hand, and looked up into her face, which just for a second had fallen open. What he saw there made him chill and hot flash, in dizzying simultaneity, with the shape and scale of its need.
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14. The Jasper Gates of Kiamo Ko Quotes
“And there the wicked old Witch stayed, for a good long time.”
“Did she ever come out?” asked Nor, doing her line from an almost hypnagogic state.
“Not yet,” said Sarima, kissing and biting her daughter on the wrist, which made them both giggle, and then lights out.
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16. The Murder and Its Afterlife Quotes
Elphaba, who had endured Sarima’s refusal to forgive, now begged by a gibbering child for the same mercy always denied her? How could you give such a thing out of your own hollowness?
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But she sat up half the night and lit a candle in a window, for reasons she couldn’t articulate. The moon passed overhead in its path from the Vinkus, and she felt its accusatory spotlight, and moved back from the tall windows.
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Dorothy Gale Character Timeline in Wicked
The timeline below shows where the character Dorothy Gale appears in Wicked. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue: On the Yellow Brick Road
...the West follows a Lion, a Tin Woodman, a Scarecrow, and a young girl named Dorothy as they travel down Oz’s Yellow Brick Road. When the group stops to rest under...
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As the Wicked Witch of the West continues eavesdropping, Dorothy unexpectedly expresses sympathy for what the Witch’s life has supposedly become and for the recent...
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16. The Murder and Its Afterlife
...falls on her head as she leaves a chapel. The surviving girl inside the house, Dorothy, is hailed as a saint, while Munchkinlanders joke about and celebrate Nessa’s death.
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...there was no blood when Nessa died, likely making it painless. She also mentions meeting Dorothy, a child from a strange place called Kansas, and sent her off to the Emerald...
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Glinda then shares that before Dorothy left Munchkinland, she gave her Nessa’s sparkling shoes as a form of protection. Elphaba is...
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While searching for Dorothy, Elphaba is led to Boq and Milla’s home, where Dorothy had recently stayed. Boq is...
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...killed Madame Morrible. Frightened, Boq and Milla arm themselves and beg her not to harm Dorothy. Elphaba leaves quickly on her broomstick, flying high above the clouds. For a moment, she...
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...father realized that some wrongs can’t be absolved. Seeing her younger self reminds her of Dorothy—a child still clinging to the belief that the world might be kind, that an afterlife...
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...Windmill, the village below Kiamo Ko that the Wizard’s men now occupy. He reports that Dorothy and her companions have met with the Wizard. The Tin Woodman, named Nick Chopper, asked...
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...to the barracks and tearfully tells Elphaba that a soldier made a vile remark about Dorothy: he suggested raping her when she arrives. The Commander responded by castrating the man and...
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Elphaba’s mind begins to wander as Dorothy and her companions draw closer. She wonders if Nick Chopper is the same man whose...
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When, watching through a telescope, Liir reports that Dorothy’s group has reached Red Windmill, Elphaba prepares to stop them, retrieve Nessa’s shoes, and reunite...
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Elphaba decides to change her approach, realizing that frightening Dorothy and her friends won’t help her get Nessa’s shoes. She resolves to ask Dorothy for...
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When Chistery and his companions deliver a shaken Dorothy and Lion to Kiamo Ko, Liir and Nanny greet them warmly. Then Elphaba appears, and...
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Alone with Dorothy, Elphaba demands Nessa’s shoes, but Dorothy insists she can’t remove them; they seem to be...
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...lights a candle during a sleepless night; and in the Emerald City, the Wizard sees Dorothy’s arrival as a sign that his reign in Oz is ending. The death of the...
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Before Dorothy leaves Oz, she presents the Wizard with proof that she had been to visit the...
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