History Fridge / Wicked

* Many actors playing Frexspar (the Governor of Muchkinland) add the twist that the real reason he hates Elphaba's guts isn't because of her green skin...it's because he knows Melena had an affair and passed Elphaba off as his. And because Melena isn't around anymore, he turns all his anger and rage on a child whose only crime was to be born.

* After "As Long As You're Mine," there's a loud shrieking sound Elphaba hears before she sees the house... Is that supposed to be [[spoiler: Nessarose as she's dying?]] Either way, it's chilling.

* The: "You're beautiful." "Don't lie to me." "It's not a lie, it's just looking at something a different way." exchange that is repeated at the end doesn't only sum up Fiyero and Elphaba's relationship. It essentially sums up the main theme of the musical.
* Elphaba makes several [[{{Lampshading}} obvious]] prophetic statements in "The Wizard And I" ("Someday there'll be a celebration throughout all of Oz/That's all to do with me", "I'll be so happy I could melt", "When people see me they will scream"). However, she also makes a ''less'' obvious one at the end of "Defying Gravity": "And nobody in all of Oz/No Wizard that there is or was/Is ever gonna bring me down!" The person who ultimately brings Elphaba down (at least in the eyes of the public) is Dorothy, who is from Kansas and possesses no inherent magical abilities.

* The Wicked Witch of the West's death scene in the original film, with the overwrought "Oh, what a world! What a world!" and all that, makes much more sense if you realize that [[spoiler: Elphaba was deliberately being overdramatic to add weight to her faked death]].

* The final bridge of Defying Gravity (when Elphaba rises over the stage to scare the daylights out of the guards) opens with the lines "So if you care to find me, look to the western sky!" Not only is this a callback to Elphaba's eventual title "Wicked Witch of the West" but it's a clever use of foreshadowing. Where does the sun set? In the west. This is a sign of Elphaba's eventual fate and the fact [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished her declaration of war are going to make things far worse for her]].

* The ending at first seems to just be a basic WriterCopOut, [[spoiler:having Elphie fake her death rather than die to give the ending more positivity]], but it also works well to tie-in with one of the main themes of the story, that those in power will spread lies and spin facts to suit their narrative. In this case [[spoiler:Elphaba's death, and the cause of it, are propaganda that serves as examples of these lies-from-those-in-power. The latter is something that was spread by Oz's regime as part of their 'she's Wicked' smear job, playing off of people's phobias towards her, while the former serves as a cover up story for Glinda's new regime to protect Elphie and bring peace. It ultimately just makes more sense for the show's narrative themes then it would to have simply killed her off, and still leaves the ending on a bittersweet note.]]
* In the opening of the show, Glinda sings the lines "Let us rejoicify that goodness could subdue / The wicked workings of you-know-who! / Isn't it nice to know / That good will conquer evil?" Since everyone is rejoicing over Elphaba's death, the Emerald Citizens (and the audience) assume that the lines refer to the Witch of the West. [[spoiler: But Glinda never names Elphaba at this moment...and she's just come from the Wizard's chamber, where she learned the truth about Oz and Madame Morrible. ''That's'' who the "you-know-who" is in the song: the two lying, scheming, would-be dictators who she just exposed. Glinda the ''Good'' quite literally ''subdued'' two truly wicked individuals! Sneaky.]]

* After "As Long As You're Mine," that loud shrieking sound Elphaba hears before she sees the house... Is that supposed to be [[spoiler: Nessarose as she's dying?]] Either way, it's chilling.

* As "For Good" states, both Elphaba and Glinda have changed each other. Had it not been for that and the strength of their friendship, things would have gone much differently. Elphaba was used to being seen as an abomination, but it was knowing that Glinda was still on her side gave her hope that she could return once she had stopped the Wizards plan. Glinda was used to being well loved, and the character development from seeing how she was hurting Elphaba and could actually do something about it gave her the ability to work from the inside to fix the corruption. Had they not become friends, Elphaba's desire to be accepted would have made her capitulate to the Wizard's wishes from the beginning.

** What's more, when the finale tries to sing the last lyrics of "For Good" ("I have been changed..."), it's swapped with the lyric "No one mourns the '''WICKED'''!!" Put it together, and the last lines of the musical are "I have been changed for ''wicked''." In a fitting roundabout way, it makes an ironic point that Glinda and Elphaba being [[CharacterDevelopment changed]] "for [[TitleDrop WICKED]]" makes them more good than the phonies who were publicly deemed 'good' by Oz [[BitchInSheepsClothing when really they hide dishonest interiors]].

* Sorcery has enough of an intellectual foundation that they actually teach classes on it at Crage, yet somehow the field is still so underpopulated that when the Wizard needs talented mage types to help him rule Oz he sends Madame Morrible to a ''boarding school'' in order to act as his talent scout.

* The Wicked Witch of the East in L. Frank Baum's story, was the reason for the existence of [[spoiler:the Tin Man, using her magic to keep him away from the woman he loved. Guess what happens between [[{{Yandere}} Nessa]] and [[BalefulPolymorph Boq]] in "The Wicked Witch of the East" after he declares his love for Glinda?]]

** What's more, when the finale tries to sing the last lyrics of "For Good" ("I have been changed..."), it's swapped with the lyric "No one mourns the '''WICKED'''!!" In a fitting roundabout way, it makes an ironic point that Glinda and Elphaba being changed "for [[WaxingLyrical WICKED]]" makes them more good than the characters who were publicly deemed 'good' by Oz [[BitchInSheepsClothing when really they hide dishonest interiors]].

* [[spoiler:At the end of the musical, it is revealed that Elphaba and Fiyero faked their deaths. If we assume Elphaba's "melting" played out exactly the way it does in ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', then it makes perfect sense. Elphaba set the Scarecrow on fire expressly to provoke Dorothy into throwing water to put it out, then purposefully stood where the water would splash her too, and the Scarecrow (actually Fiyero) was in on the plan all along.

* [[spoiler:At the end of the musical, it is revealed that Elphaba and Fiyero faked their deaths. In the MGM film, just before the Witch sets fire to the Scarecrow, she gives him a look. In the context of the MGM film, she's relishing the CruelAndUnusualDeath she's about to inflict on the Scarecrow, but in the context of the musical, Elphaba is giving Fiyero a look that says "well, this is it", while trying to make it look as insidious as possible to sell the whole act to everyone else present.]]

* Towards the end of "One Short Day," when Glinda sings, "Two best friends," you can hear a little chime that matches "ev'ry little trait" from "What Is This Feeling?" Shout Out for the win!