bro is it weird i generally have no idea what people think of me?? especially in this community (also i forget it’s a Community i’m just like. it’s the people! who like big small! and i’m just kinda vibing in my own parallel lane i think) ,,,like i’ve seen several people recently refer to me as like an influencer or even casually talk about me without me and i’m like wait the fuck i exist in other people’s minds. like?? wait i’m just some dumbass i’m not. a Figure. who. what. not a vent i’m just perpetually confused always it’s almost funny

𝘗𝘈𝘙𝘈𝘓𝘓𝘌𝘓𝘚  𝘖𝘍  𝘕𝘌𝘚𝘚𝘈𝘙𝘖𝘚𝘌  𝘈𝘕𝘋  𝘎𝘈𝘓𝘐𝘕𝘋𝘈

𝘐𝘕𝘛𝘙𝘖𝘋𝘜𝘊𝘛𝘐𝘖𝘕

     an overlooked theme in wicked is that people are more alike than they seem, but different conditions, paths of life, and decisions can falter these comparisons. an example that viewers often fail to notice is that between galinda upland and nessarose thropp. though the two girls barely interact with one another, their stories and characterization have many parallels and similarities to one another. this essay will recognize and use any form of the musical wicked, which means that any draft of the show ( the current production, the out of town tryout that took place in san francisco, the 2001 workshop, and anything in between ) is fair game. below the cut is a meta, addressing the similarities ( and even a few differences ) between these two characters

𝘚𝘏𝘈𝘙𝘌𝘋 𝘛𝘙𝘈𝘐𝘛𝘚

𝘚𝘌𝘓𝘍𝘐𝘚𝘏𝘕𝘌𝘚𝘚      the first way in which these two characters are similar to one another is that they have the same inherent traits. one example of this is that both galinda and nessa are both very selfish characters. they will change their opinions on a situation and which “side” they are on in an instant when it becomes convenient for them. for galinda, this can be seen when she suddenly feels guilty about all she’s done to elphaba at the ozdust ballroom. this guilt only comes about after madame morrible has informed her that she will be included into the sorcery seminar ( which elphaba had gotten her into ) . thus, she quickly changes her hateful opinions on her roommate because something nice was done for her.      in the case of nessarose, it is when she suddenly changes her opinion on galinda after she persuades boq into asking her to go to the ozdust ballroom with her. she likely had been previously joining in on elphaba’s dislike of galinda, but suddenly turns on her after galinda has done something nice for her and even berates her sister for having been rude before.       additionally, they both seem to only make decisions with themselves in mind. glinda throws a surprise engagement party, withholding the information about it even from fiyero ( who is unaware of the wizard / morrible’s plan for them to be married ) . this is done in her own self interest and to further her own narrative and reputation, and it seems as though she hardly thinks about how fiyero may feel about it. in a similar fashion, to improve her status among ozians, she does nothing to find elphaba or support her, even with fiyero constantly urging her to do so. even when called out about it ( “no, you can’t leave because you can’t resist this.” -fiyero ) , glinda agrees that the reasoning behind her reluctance to clear elphaba’s name or, at the very least, stop the spread of more rumors is because she is finally living the life that she wants to. lastly, when glinda becomes jealous and hurt that elphaba and fiyero have been seeing each other behind her back, she gives information to the wizard / morrible about how to coax her out of hiding ( by using nessa as bait, thus resulting in her death ) .      nessarose does similar things, making decisions with only herself in mind. in general, her decisions during her regime of munchkinland are incredibly selfish. she passes laws that purposely take rights away from the people and forbid them all to leave just to keep boq from leaving her. then, when elphaba shows up and asks for nessa and her father’s help in clearing her name, nessa immediately turns her down because it will further ruin her own dwindling reputation. most noteworthy is when she casts a spell on boq in order for him to fall in love with her, despite having no experience in sorcery and being warned that by pronouncing the words wrong she would likely do damage. she doesn’t listen, however, and is only focused on her own emotions which almost results in boq’s death.

𝘝𝘈𝘕𝘐𝘛𝘠      another trait that galinda and nessarose share is that they both tend to be very vain. they both also openly express this vanity and it becomes very clear that they think very highly of themselves. glinda’s very first line in the show is “it’s good see me, isn’t it?” and while it is played for humor, it isn’t exactly an out of character thing for her to say. she seeks out the admiration of her followers and does not shy away from the attention and praise that she is given by them. similarly, when she arrives at shiz, it is announced that she has a private suite but she assures others that they’ll be allowed to come and visit her whenever they want. the entire number “popular” is a great showcase of how vain galinda truly is, and how openly she is willing to show this about herself, but a line that illustrates it most is when she sings “they were popular. please, it’s all about popular. it’s not about aptitude, it’s the way you’re viewed so it’s very shrewd to be very, very popular like me”. this line proves her vain tendencies because she compares the “best” level of popularity to herself and that demonstrates her high opinion of herself.      nessarose is quite vain as well, even if not as open about it as galinda is. she does, however, still openly express it at times throughout the show. nessa is very much aware that she is pretty, and enjoys having things that are beautiful. constantly, she is portrayed as being more worthy of a daughter than elphaba ( the jeweled shoes, the position as the future governor, etc. ) and this is most definitely believed by her as well, even if she won’t admit it. to a certain extent, nessa does believe that perhaps she deserves some of these things more than her sister does.      additionally, they both have high opinions of themselves in their new roles in ozian society. glinda has become a sort of publicity girl for the wizard, destined to spread goodness in the midst of elphaba’s “terror”. while she does do good, in the perspective of the ozian audience, the actual audience of the show can see that glinda isn’t doing much except ignoring the tension between her and elphaba as well as not addressing her own betrayal to her friends. there is an exchange between the two girls, where glinda says that she is a public figure who has a duty ( which elphaba suggests is to lie ) . glinda gets upset and insists that her job is “to be encouraging”. the outside perspective ( the actual audience in the theatre ) can see that this is a twisted version of what is truly happening, which is caused by glinda’s vain attitude toward abilities.      nessarose has this same phenomenon happen, in which she cannot see how her regime over munchkinland is bad because of how she is blinded by her own vain views. again, the audience is made very aware of this superiority that she feels despite her actual skills not being very great. watching the show, it is very clear that she is not fit for the job and, like glinda, she makes a remark that the audience perceives as funny but it also proves that she is so caught up in herself that she doesn’t see how she can be in the wrong. she says the line “i can’t harbor a fugitive, i’m an unelected official!” and to the audience, it is very clear that the act of being unelected invalidates her status as it’s clear that the munchkins do not want her to be their governor. nessa, however, turns a blind eye and doesn’t see this as a negative thing in the slightest.      with this vanity, however, comes the struggle for the constant need to be seen as perfect by those around them. galinda is instantly regarded ( by most ) as being this model of a person, and many tend to idolize her due to her sheer confidence and appearance. this, of course, leads to her believing this and seeking this attention and praise. the other students follow exactly what she does ( for example, publicly hating on and bullying elphaba for being her roommate ) and only further her belief that she is deserving of this. galinda’s struggle with the need to be perfect comes about when the things that usually come naturally to her have to be worked for, thus shattering that outside image of being “perfect”. when she isn’t accepted into madame morrible’s sorcery seminar, she struggles to understand why. what makes it worse is when morrible points out that galinda is nothing special and isn’t worth her teaching time to even have the seminar that semester. additionally, when fiyero begins to lose interest and become less “perfect” to her she says that it “must be what other people feel like”, thus regarding herself as not being perfect and being very upset over it.      in the same fashion, nessa knows that she is seen as being very pretty by most of the world but still struggles with the idea of having to be absolutely perfect. unlike galinda, she is greeted with unease by her peers due to the way that elphaba has been introduced to them as an overbearing and protective older sister who will stop at nothing to protect nessa. she still though, because of this, struggles with the need to be perfect. nessarose has an understanding that, without elphaba, she would likely be more accepted into better social circles. an example of this is when elphaba shows up to the party at the ozdust ballroom and causes a scene, which embarrasses nessa. her sister is, to her, ruining her one night of happiness and destroying the image of what a “perfect” life would be. another way in which she struggles with perfection is her idea that boq sees her as being less-than-perfect and that it is the reasoning behind why he doesn’t love her back. she says the line “no, it’s me that’s not right” in response to galinda’s suggestion that boq may not be the one for her. her views on their relationship are clouded by what she’s been taught to believe is “perfection” by those around her. she also says the line “anybody who’s as perfect as you deserves a girl who’s right in every way. now behold, finally i’m perfect too” when speaking to boq and expects that to fix their relationship ( which is obviously ruined by her less-than-stellar governing skills ) . this line sums up her struggle with perfection and how she constantly compares herself to others. it is important to note as well that boq, to nessa, isn’t necessarily the perfect match for her since he’s only a common munchkinlander and she is the governor of munchkinland. yet, she sees him as being perfect and wants to be “perfect” for him as well.

𝘈  𝘚𝘛𝘙𝘖𝘕𝘎  𝘋𝘌𝘚𝘐𝘙𝘌  𝘛𝘖  𝘉𝘌  𝘓𝘐𝘒𝘌𝘋      while this may fit in with the last point, it is still necessary to bring up how both galinda and nessa have that feeling that they need to belong and fit in with the rest of their peers. for galinda, this can be seen clearly throughout the song “popular”, in which she explains to elphaba how being liked and viewed as someone amazing will get you further in life than anything else. galinda is a generally likable person, with her bubbly and almost charming personality and though nessarose isn’t as warm or welcoming, she still has that same internal drive that galinda has. she too wants to be a part of the best social circle that the school has to offer, to be invited to dances and go on dates, and to be liked by her peers. it is much harder for her to make friends and be generally regarded as well-liked by the school and society as a whole, but the two of them still share this trait.

𝘗𝘖𝘞𝘌𝘙  𝘏𝘜𝘕𝘎𝘙𝘠      their similarities start out right from the beginning for this trait, seeing as both of them grew up in a home where even as a child they were given a lot of power. presumably, both girls grew up getting everything that they both needed and wanted, which is partially why they both ended up struggling with overusing their power in the future. glinda loses sight of who she truly is while in a position of power and hides behind a façade of benevolence rather than staying loyal to her old life and group of friends. with the newfound power that she has working for the wizard, she drops all old priorities ( including her friendship with elphaba ) for her new ones. glinda doesn’t help elphaba in clearing her name because she enjoys the power that her position gives her. additionally, she uses her power to keep fiyero in a relationship with her and forces a wedding upon him. due to the ozians all seeing her as “good” and the way that her life is being used as a distraction, fiyero is practically obligated to agree to marriage.      nessarose’s situation with being power hungry is undeniably on a much more drastic scale, but alas they still do share the trait that led them to do such things. as the governor, she overuses her power and begins to pass inconsistent and radical laws that begin to take rights away from the munchkins in order to keep one, boq, in a relationship with her by forbidding him to leave. this is an obvious abuse of power, seeing as it seems that she passes them often as a way to perhaps cover up loopholes that boq may have found to get himself out of there. she has obviously let the position get to her head and is overstepping what she should be allowed to do.

𝘚𝘐𝘔𝘐𝘓𝘈𝘙  𝘊𝘏𝘈𝘙𝘈𝘊𝘛𝘌𝘙  𝘈𝘙𝘊𝘚

     when stripped down of any specific events, the two girls have a very similar path within the story of wicked. they fall in love, gain power, use their power to keep the one they love with them ( among other misuses ) , end up being left alone, and have an unhappy ending. galinda falls in love with fiyero and determines in act i that they are going to be married ( even without him knowing ) . while it is played for humor, the audience soon finds out that it wasn’t much of a joke as, after glinda gains power working for the wizard, she does force a wedding onto him. fiyero, however, ends up leaving glinda for elphaba even though she had done her best to keep him by her side. she ends up being alone in the end, with everyone she had known and been friends with now dead, gone, or irreversibly changed.      similarly, nessarose falls in love with boq while at the ozdust ballroom after he calls her beautiful and she believes that he has genuinely asked her out because he is interested in her. it is mentioned in act i that boq “can’t do this anymore” in regards to their relationship, but the audience is soon informed that once nessa took her father’s position as governor she has forced boq to stay by her side. boq eventually does end up leaving, after being transformed into a man made of tin, nessa is left alone, and dies a tragic death.br>     nessarose and glinda are two sides of the same spectrum, with glinda gaining and consolidating her power with love and adoration and nessa doing the same but with fear. glinda forces fiyero to stay by her side by making it into a moral obligation for him. her life, happiness, and personal business ( such as a wedding ) has become a positive distraction for the citizens of oz. if fiyero were to deny a wedding, the hope of the people would be crushed. while they had a common enemy ( elphaba ) , they also all had something to look forward to ( events regarding glinda ) . nessarose, on the other hand, legally makes it so that boq cannot leave her if he doesn’t want to face consequences. she instills fear in the munchkinland with her tyrannical ways of governing and iron fist.      another important part of their stories is that both girls betray elphaba. it often is overlooked as to how glinda betrays elphaba, but this is because it isn’t branded as being as much of a part of her story as it is for nessa. glinda has other parts of her future focused on, whereas a huge focus on nessarose’s story is based on this betrayal of her sister. they do both, however, refuse to help elphaba. glinda did not make a single effort to try and clear the rumors that were going around about her friend and rather focused on herself and taking the position in the wizard’s circle. nessarose ( though she didn’t know the truth ) also refused to help her sister when asked. they had always stuck together and nessa always took what elphaba said to be a fact. the betrayal doesn’t necessarily come when she refuses to help her, but rather when she tells elphaba to “shut up” and refuses to even listen to what she has to say about the Animals.      there is a line in the show that goes, “the wicked die alone”. while the ensemble is singing it in reference to elphaba, there is irony behind the fact that we learn she does not die alone and rather leaves oz with fiyero. glinda and nessa, however, do die alone.

𝘚𝘠𝘔𝘉𝘖𝘓𝘐𝘚𝘔

     both galinda and nessa are characterized by their romantic interactions with other people. while this isn’t all that they are attributed with, it is one of the main things that people tend to associate with the both of them once the show is over. this is because both of their stories are tragic and, while not explicitly love stories, have that aspect in them for sure. the similarity between their stories here can lead to them sharing symbolism such as hearts ( broken or unbroken ) and both being able to relate to musings and other things as they would be able to represent them both.      additionally, they both can be represented by the color pink. the color pink symbolizes love for oneself and others and is considered to be the “sweet side of red”. as mentioned before, galinda and nessa both have an obvious love for themselves and their stories heavily involve love for others as well. both girls also wear pink when going to the ozdust ballroom ( though galinda originally wore blue ) and nessa later is associated with the color red ( which is just a dark pink ) . 

𝘍𝘙𝘐𝘌𝘕𝘋𝘚𝘏𝘐𝘗

     a question then begs to be answered: why weren’t galinda and nessa friends from the very start, seeing as they have this much in common? it is more than just the fact that they have things in common, truly. the two of them actually would have made fine friends and even a casual companionship between them would have made a lot of sense. nessarose is from a high class family, which would have been very appealing to galinda who, while rich, would likely want to expand her connections. likewise, nessa would be intrigued by galinda because of her popularity and would want to be a part of her social circle.      what sets them apart, however, is their clear distinctions from one another in the eyes of others. it is obvious to all at shiz that they are from different regions of oz ( and it is assumed that the gillikin is considered to be better than rural munchkinland ) . these different places have very different cultures. one of the most noticeable is language. galinda ( and others that are from the gillikin / shiz such as madame morrible ) use a lot of slang, also known as the words that sound “ozian” to an audience ( words such as “disgusticified”, “outnuendo”, etc. ). elphaba, who is from munchkinland, doesn’t say any words like this ( and it’s important to note that elphaba used to say things like “ignorify” [from the out of town tryout] but any lines like that were cut ) . there is a good reason behind this, and that is to illustrate how the different regions in oz speak. nessarose, however, does use words such as “horrendible” and “encouragerize” throughout the show, but likely as a way to appear as if she is from the gillikin and to fit in with the other high society girls who are.      another reason as to why they may not have immediately become friends is because of how obvious it would have been for people to see that galinda was hanging around someone from munchkinland. boq, who is a munchkin, is referred to as being “common” and nothing special. he doesn’t even have a last name, which leads one to believe that munchkinland is simply a very mediocre place to live. while nessarose is different due to her father’s status, it makes sense as to why galinda chooses to hang around pfannee and shenshen instead.      then, of course, there is elphaba who is the outcast of the school which causes nessarose, by extension, to also be seen as something negative. this is also a factor that stunts their friendship from budding, seeing as galinda and elphaba are considered to be rivals and the two girls are on separate teams ( galinda rooting for herself and nessa for elphaba ) .      later, it is assumed that they do become friends in the show. nessarose is invited to glinda’s engagement party far after they’ve left school, which proves that their friendship has lasted, even if it isn’t the most genuine. not to mention that it would only make sense for the two of them to have some sort of bond after both losing elphaba.

𝘊𝘖𝘕𝘊𝘓𝘜𝘚𝘐𝘖𝘕

     in conclusion, there are many similarities between galinda upland and nessarose thropp that are, for the vast majority, ignored by the audiences of wicked. when compared and contrasted, it becomes clear that the two girls have more in common and that, if given similar circumstances, they would have likely thrived together.