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| “ | "Animals should be seen and not heard." | ” |
| — Madame Morrible[src] | ||
Madame Morrible is an antagonist in Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. She was the headmistress of Crage Hall at Shiz University and a secret, behind-the-scenes power broker in Ozian politics involving the Wizard of Oz.
History[]
Wicked[]
Madame Morrible is described as a "fish faced Gillikinese woman" who uses Shiz University to recruit young girls as soldiers and spies for the Wizard, though she does not directly influence him. Madame Morrible believes that Animals (i.e. sentient animals) should be "seen and not heard," which she states at a poetry reading, known as a 'Quell'. She often has a Tik-Tok machine servant called Grommetik to do her bidding and later commands this creature to kill the Goat scientist Doctor Dillamond, which Ama Clutch — the chaperone of Galinda — witnesses.
Following the murder, Ama Clutch loses her grip on reality and begins to talk to inanimate objects as though they are people, a condition which gradually deteriorates until it results in her death. Galinda had previously lied to Madame Morrible by telling her that Ama Clutch was prone to fits of delirium whose symptoms included such hallucinations; since she had told no one else this lie, it is strongly implied that the condition was the result of a spell placed upon Ama Clutch by Morrible to prevent her from revealing the truth about Doctor Dillamond's murder.
At the funeral of Ama Clutch, Madame Morrible suggests to Nessarose, Elphaba, and Glinda that the three become "Adepts" of Quadling Country, Munchkinland and Gillikin respectively. This would grant them political dominion over these regions, but, as Morrible admits, is in fact a way of maintaining the Wizard's authority in the far-flung quadrants of Oz. Only Elphaba is known to have rejected the offer; it is never stated whether Glinda or Nessarose agree, though both later say Morrible was merely being overly dramatic. However each of them do ultimately find themselves in position of authority in a region of Oz: Nessarose inherits her family’s title of Eminent Thropp as well as ultimately becoming the sole Eminence of Munchkinland, Elphaba ends up residing over the Vinkus from the Arjiki castle of Kiamo Ko as the "Wicked Witch of the West", and Glinda comes to be known in high societies of Gillikin and Emerald City as "Glinda the Good".
Later in the novel, Elphaba correctly speculates that Madame Morrible was a sorceress, and may somehow have used magic to influence events to bring the three to power despite their original refusal. This is proven correct, as Morrible successfully immobilizes the three girls with a binding spell while speaking to them of their futures as Adepts, as well as somehow making it impossible for them to discuss the matter afterward. Morrible also claims that her "special talent is to encourage talent", which may support Elphaba's theory as well.
Throughout the novel, Elphaba stands by her belief that Madame Morrible was behind the death of Doctor Dillamond. After leaving Shiz, and while involved in a resistance movement against the Wizard, Elphaba is assigned to assassinate Madame Morrible, who at this time is staying in the Emerald City. However, when the moment to strike occurs, a group of children unexpectedly emerges from a nearby classroom and surrounds Madame Morrible, and Elphaba is forced to abandon her plan to avoid harming innocent bystanders. Fifteen years later, Elphaba travels back to Shiz to finally kill Madame Morrible, now old and bed-ridden. She finds Morrible already dead, having passed away only a few minutes earlier, then bashes her head in with a marble trophy anyway and claims to Avaric and Boq to have murdered the former headmistress herself.
A Lion Among Men[]
Madame Morribe appears briefly in A Lion Among Men during one of Brrr’s flashbacks. She is seen teaching a lecture on the benefit of her impressions on the Animal Adverse laws (or the Animal Courtesy acts) as they pertained to higher education at Shiz University.
| “ | Exceptions are always possible. The Animal who serves our beloved Wizard is accorded all the privileges he so richly deserves. The creature called cowardly by some has had the courage to accept the epithet. Another name for cowardice is the courage of no convictions. A true hero can tolerate being called a coward for one’s country. No? | ” |
| — Madame Morrible in “A Lion Among Men”[src] | ||
