Heartwarming / Wicked

"Why, Miss Elphaba, look at you. You're beautiful!"

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
I do believe I have been changed for the better.
And because I knew you,
Because I knew you,
Because I knew you,
I have been changed,
For good!

—Elphaba and Glinda, "For Good".

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

For the books see here.

---

• At the Prologue, as the father shuns the newborn Elphaba, her mother, lying in bed, just keeps reaching her arms out toward her baby, not caring about the baby's supposed deformities.
• Elphaba and Galinda have been changed... For Good.
  • A slight bit of Mood Whiplash, as Glinda gets in a laugh before getting serious;
    Elphaba: You're the only friend I ever had.
    Glinda: And I've had so many friends...but only one that mattered.
• Two moments during "One Short Day";
  • Just before the "Wiz-o-Mania" performance, Elphaba gushes that she always wants to remember what it's like being in the Emerald City where no one points at her green skin as being odd. Glinda smiles and says, "You look positively...emerald!"
  • At the end of the song, when Glinda says they're just "two friends" touring the Emerald City, Elphaba hesitantly adds, "Two good friends". Glinda gently corrects her; "Two best friends".
  • Why does Elphaba invite Glinda to the Emerald City? Because she noticed Glinda being upset that Fiyero wasn't noticing her and wanted to not only experience the Emerald City with her best friend but to cheer her up. Considering where they started in the musical?
• After "As Long as You're Mine" in the musical:
  Elphaba: I wish I could be beautiful. For you.
  Fiyero: Elphaba -
  Elphaba: Don't tell me that I am, you don't have to lie to me.
  Fiyero: It's not lying. It's looking at things another way.
• And the reverse of that. Elphaba's "you're still beautiful."
• Watching the last third of the second act in the Musical, knowing the ending. Knowing what the note Elphaba gets REALLY reads. And what is REALLY driving her subsequent actions. It isn't despair. It is hope that she had long since cast aside.
• A subtle one but think about it: Nessarose's only reaction to Boq's transformation is mild shock at first and then pinning all the blame on Elphaba. How is this heartwarming? Because she could have very easily rejected him. But she doesn't. That's right, Nessa still loves Boq, still wants him to be with her and doesn't think any less of him, even after he's been turned into a subhuman being...and rejected her. That's real love and dedication right there.
• Speaking of Nessa, her reaction when she's able to walk after Elphaba enchants her shoes. The joy on her face is enough to bring grins to the audience.
• "Dancing Through Life". Boq and Nessa. That is all.
  Boq: You know what? Let's dance.
  Nessa: ...What?
  Boq: Let's dance!
  • Followed by Boq pulling Nessa's wheelchair out to the dance floor and dancing around her, like all the other guys are doing with their dates. Even though it really, really doesn't work out for them, it's hard not to smile to see Nessa so happy, and to see her being treated like all the other girls, regardless of her disability.
  • And then when Glinda finally gets the nerve up to dance with Elphaba.
  • Despite the fact Elphaba and Galinda don't get along at this point in the show, Elphaba is so moved by Galinda's persuading Boq to ask Nessa out to the party that she persuades Morrible to let Galinda study magic with her (even threatening to withdraw if Morrible doesn't let Galinda into the class). It's at this moment that Galinda begins to see Elphaba as a person.
  • When Elphaba does her poor approximation of dancing and Fiyero remarks that she certainly doesn't care what anyone thinks.
    Galinda: Of course she does. She just pretends not to.
  • Boq feels guilty for not being honest with Nessa about why he invited her to the party as his date (because Galinda asked him to) and decides to confess to her. Nessa tells him she knows why, "it's because I'm in this chair and you felt sorry for me". Boq, realizing that telling her the truth would crush her, quickly spins it into how "because you are so beautiful!" Granted, it backfires on him later as Nessa turns full Stalker with a Crush. But it does show Boq has a good heart.
• The page image shows the climactic moment of "Popular": Glinda completes her makeover of Elphaba by putting a pink flower in her hair. She exclaims "Pink goes good with green!" which usually gets a laugh, but which clearly isn't just a comment on how the flower looks on Elphaba, but means "You and I go well together." Then she exclaims "Why, Miss Elphaba, look at you. You're beautiful!" and has Elphaba look at herself in a mirror to see it. This is obviously the first time anyone has ever called Elphaba "beautiful," let alone made her actually feel beautiful, and the overwhelmed Elphaba responds by muttering "I have to go" and running out of the room, presumably to cry.
• Depending on the actress, there's a short one with Elphaba and Nessa. After Nessa's father gives her the pretty silver shoes and leaves with cold final "take care of your sister" instructions to Elphaba, Elphaba tries to play the whole sour-grapes "They wouldn't look good on me" but Nessa looks at Elphaba as if to say that it's not true.
• The Held Gaze moment after they rescue the lion cub - especially effective if the Fiyero looks utterly dazed and his voice distracted, like he's staring at the most beautiful art in the world. It must have been the first time in her life that someone looked at Elphaba like that.
• This picture.◊ In case the link dies, it's Mark Seibert (Fiyero) kneeling and tenderly kissing Willemijn Verkaik (Elphaba)'s hand. ^note It was an one-off for a special musical gala, hence the reason Mark is in his Dancing Through Life costume instead of his As Long As You're Mine one. From the same performance: Fiyero leading Elphaba by the hand to the front of the stage, after he saw her sitting alone while he and the ensemble were performing the Dancing Through Life (Tanz durch die Welt) section of the medley.
• How much does Glinda care for Elphaba by the end? She cares for her enough to play all of Oz like a kazoo and obtain supreme power... to basically implement everything Elphaba can't.
• Galinda proving she does have depth, after hearing the story of how Elphaba's father used to feed his wife milk flowers during her second pregnancy, to prevent the second baby from being green, which caused Nessa to be born prematurely and her tiny legs twisted together it left her paralyzed, and their mother dying from childbirth. Elphaba states it's her fault and that it's her biggest secret.
  Galinda: But that was the milk flowers fault, not yours. That may be your secret, Elphaba, but it doesn't make it true.
  • While playing the "This is the biggest secret I've never told anyone" game, Elphaba says "My father hates me." Galinda's resulting gasp is Played for Laughs...but chances are pretty good that her reaction is born out of the idea that she's from a loving (if indulgent) family and the idea that anyone's parent could hate them is foreign. In other words, Galinda is capable of loving and does love.