Theodora the Wicked Witch of the West is the secondary antagonist of Disney's 2013 fantasy film Oz the Great and Powerful. A witch to be feared, she is Evanora's sister. With her natural gaze, she truly believes that Oscar Diggs is the great and powerful wizard they've been waiting for to bring them peace and has positioned herself as an outcast to the Emerald City.
Background[]
Physical appearance[]
Before her transformation, Theodora was a very beautiful witch with fair olive skin, hazel eyes, and long dark brown hair. She wore a ruby jacket and a wide-brimmed hat, while her attire was a white button-down shirt with black leather pants and boots. As the Wicked Witch of the West, she has green skin, a pointy nose, long black fingernails, and a black dress. Her previous hat was turned inside out to become a witch's hat.
Powers and abilities[]
As a powerful witch, Theodora possesses numerous magical powers, and like Evanora and Glinda, her powers animate from a special source: a ring set with a red ruby, which glows whenever she uses magic. Magical powers Theodora possessed were:
- Pyrokinesis: Theodora has the ability to create and manipulate fire at will, which serves as her primary means of offense, and was shown to be triggered by strong emotions, such as anger. She uses the ability to conjure flaming balls of fire in her hands and launch them at those who oppose her. She could also conjure fireballs in both hands and combine them for a deadlier strike.
- Telekinesis: Theodora has the ability to move objects with her mind, which she displayed by levitating Oscar and making him dance in the air.
- Flight: Theodora has the ability to levitate herself above the ground and fly in the air. Though she could fly by herself, after being turned into a Wicked Witch, she was shown to prefer to use the corrupted broom that she stole from a Quadling farmer, which leaves a trail of black smoke behind her when she flies it.
- Superhuman Strength: As a Wicked Witch, Theodora possesses superhuman physical strength, which she displayed when clawing a marble table in the Emerald City, leaving deep gouges.
Appearances[]
Oz the Great and Powerful[]
Not much is known about Theodora's past, except that she and her older sister, Evanora, grew up in Oz's royal court. Despite her beauty and kindness, she spent most of her life alone. It is implied that this was due to people fearing her for being a witch, and the destructive nature of her magic.
Theodora amazed by Oscar's magic tricks
Theodora first appears when Oscar Diggs first lands in Oz. After seeing him perform a simple magic trick, she becomes convinced that he is to the focus of the king's prophecy, which foretells that a great and powerful wizard by the name of Oz would descend from the sky, save the land, and become their new king. Unfortunately, they are discovered by a winged baboon, one of the Wicked Witch's minions. Oscar manages to distract it with one of his doves and they escape. After setting up camp for the night, Theodora tells Oscar that the Wicked Witch, Glinda, murdered the king of Oz, who was also a wizard, and she admits that she is also a witch, but a good witch. Oscar follows his womanizing ways and gives her a music box and a romantic waltz. Having never been shown such kind gestures from a stranger, she falls in love with Oscar, whereas he rebuffs such commitment. On the road to the Emerald City, they come across Finley, a winged monkey trapped in vines. Wishing to see Oscar in action, Theodora asks him to free the creature. Unfortunately, a lion appears and tries to pounce on Oscar. Fearing for his life, he creates a smokescreen to scare it off. Finley pledges a life debt to Oscar while Theodora watched in amazement.
Arriving at the Emerald City, Oscar and Theodora make their way to the throne room in the palace. Theodora's sister, Evanora appears, seemingly gracious that the wizard has come to help them stop the Wicked Witch's reign of terror, then calls Knuck to escort Oscar to his room. After Oscar leaves, Evanora scolds Theodora for bringing a stranger to the Emerald City. Theodora tries to defend her choice, believing that Oscar is really the wizard who will save them, but Evanora insists that Oscar is an imposter, and takes it upon herself to see if he is who he claims to be.
The next day, Theodora searches for Oscar, unaware that he already left to defeat the Wicked Witch. She goes to ask Evanora if she knows the wizard's whereabouts, and sees her spying on Oscar and Glinda through her crystal ball. Sensing a chance to turn Theodora against Oscar, Evanora magically conjures a music box identical to the one that Oscar gave Theodora, and lies that Oscar seduced her the previous night, and suggests that he intends to do the same to Glinda. Hearing this, Theodora is utterly heartbroken, which rapidly turns to rage.
As the two sisters continue to watch Oscar's journey, Theodora became further devastated at Oscar's "betrayal." Playing on her sister's desire to be freed from her pain, Evanora offers her a green apple that will make her heart impenetrable. Theodora immediately takes a bite from it, but afterwards she realizes that Evanora was the Wicked Witch all along. However, she is too late to stop her, as the apple's curse takes effect, and causes all of the goodness in her heart to die. With her repressed darker nature being let loose, Theodora transforms into a purely evil version of herself. Her nose becomes crooked due to falling on it, while her skin turns green as a residual effect of the potion. Pleased, but in shock of her sister's new hideous appearance, Evanora tells her she can cast an enchantment to to make her look like her old self. However, Theodora refuses as she embraces her new look as the Wicked Witch of the West.
Theodora as the Wicked Witch of the West
As her first act, the Witch of the West flies to Glinda's refuge in Quadling Country and easily breaks through Glinda's barrier. She confronts Glinda and Oscar, the latter being unable to recognize her. Reminding Oscar of the time they spent together, Oscar realizes the Witch is Theodora, however the Witch of the West then uses her magic to make Oscar dance in the air like a puppet, telling Oscar that he is the cause of her wickedness. Glinda tries to reason that this isn't her but Evanora's influence, but the Witch scoffs at this, and says that she'll come back with the armies of the Emerald City. Oscar tries to get through her as well, but the Witch coldly states that the citizen's faith in their "wizard" will amount to nothing. As a taunt to Oscar's earlier comment of how witches ride broomsticks to fly, she steals one of the Quadlings' brooms, and then flies away, cackling.
With war approaching from Glinda's resistance, Evanora and the Witch of the West prepare their armies against the coming invasion. Announcing that they will drive away the enemy, Evanora is suddenly interrupted by Theodora, who states there will be no mercy, only slaughter, as she demonstrates her much more cruel personality to a surprised Evanora. When the resistance finally attacks, Evanora and Theodora watch invaders coming through the Poppy Fields. Evanora calls out for the winged baboons to attack, but realizes too late that it is a trap composed of false scarecrow soldiers that puts most of the baboons to sleep, despite their attempts to escape. However, two baboons manage to avoid this and capture the nearby Glinda, bringing her to Evanora.
As Glinda is taunted by Evanora, Theodora witnesses Oscar stealing treasures from the Emerald City vaults and seemingly flies away with it in a hot air balloon. She arrives in the town square and announces the cowardice and betrayal of the Wizard, showing the balloon flying nearby. She shoots it down with a fireball, causing it to ignite and fall to the city square in fire and smoke. As she and Evanora are about to finish Glinda, a giant projection of Oscar's head, cast from a nearby carriage, appears in the smoke. He addresses himself as the true Wizard of Oz. The wicked sisters try to attack the head, only to have no effect. In response, Oscar sets off multiple illusions to scare the witches and convince them of his power.
Seeing the Wizard's might and uprising from the citizens, Theodora attempts to do what Evanora couldn't and kill Glinda. However, as she is distracted, China Girl hands Glinda her wand, and she is able to escape her chains. Surprised and angered by the disappearance of Glinda, Theodora once again attempts to attack the Wizard, only to have her attacks seemingly turned back on her. Realizing she is apparently unable to harm the Wizard, Theodora takes her broomstick, flying off and vowing to return. As she leaves, Oscar states that he knows her evilness was not her doing, and if she can ever find the good in her heart again, she will be welcomed back. The Wicked Witch of the West roars out her defiance at Oscar before flying off to the west, leaving Oscar saddened.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Her new appearance is like what Oscar thought witches should look like (sans the warts).
- When Oscar describes to Theodora of what witches look like, the warts, the skin, the nose, and the broom when ironically the modern description of the popular style of Wicked Witch which is based off the 1939 MGM film. It came out first based that, yet Oscar uses that same description in Oz the Great and Powerful.
- Since Disney didn't buy the rights to the 1939 MGM film, they couldn't use the version of the Wicked Witch of the West featured in it. Therefore, many changes were made, such as her green skin; they ended up using a different shade called theostein, but they couldn't use the witch's trademark chin wart.
- Theodora's ruby red, black, and white clothes made her a strong contender for the Wicked Witch of the East because those were the colors we see on the Wicked Witch of the East's legs and feet in the 1939 MGM film.
- In early Disney Infinity concept art, you can see that Theodora was originally going to be a playable character for the game.
- Theodora's black pointed hat is actually the same item as the her red hat. If the viewer watches carefully after she changes to green, it can be seen that she grabs her red hat and flips it around. It turned black and pointy.
- Before her transformation, Theodora was the Good Witch of the North, explaining the absence of a fourth witch.
- Kunis' role was ironically foreshadowed in That 70's Show season 4's "Tornado Prom" as Kunis' character Jackie Burkhart, angry at being voted Snow Queen runner-up, played Dorothy in a Wizard of Oz-themed dream. She subconsciously assigns roles to the gang, which they all comment on:
- Eric's a flying monkey
- Donna's the Wicked Witch of the East
- Kelso's the Scarecrow (no brains)
- Hyde's the Tinman (no heart)
- Fez is the Cowardly Lion (no courage).
See also[]
- Zelena
- Miss Piggy (portrayed the role in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz)
- Heinz Doofenshmirtz (portrayed the Wicked Witch of the West in the Phineas and Ferb episode "Wizard of Odd")
- Pete (portrayed the Wicked Witch of the West in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode "The Wizard of Dizz")
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