Mother South
Mother South wasn't killed in a battle with the Beast Forever, instead one of two things happened 1) the Beast Forever is said to take many forms, including a flood meaning it is possible it took the form of a natural disaster and displaced South in our world or more likely 2) she fled from Oz of her own volition, why? To protect her newborn child from the Beast, of course. Fearing what might happen to her child should she remain with her, South gave up the child to a kindly couple who took her in...and named her Dorothy. This would explain why Dorothy's mother Karen (South) was tracking the tornado, in an attempt to return to Oz and how Dorothy was able to trick East into killing herself: only a witch can kill a witch.
- Dorothy wouldn't have to be a witch to have killed East - she tricked her into committing suicide. Depending on how the laws of "only a witch can kill at witch" work in Oz, even an unintended/ accidental suicide could count. So long as a.) witch is holding the murder weapon and b.) a witch dies, it matters not if the two are the same witch.
- Somewhat confirmed. West discovers that Glinda has been gathering a new generation of witches to her castle, and Mother South was the sole progenitor of every witch in Oz. This indicates that she might not be as dead as everyone thought she was.
Dorothy is the Beast Forever
Whatever happened at the end of the war left the Beast in a weakened state (i.e, a baby) and Mother South deciding to use the storm to flee to our world. That' why Karen was tracking the storm: she too was looking for a 'true sign' that Dorothy's latent apocalyptic powers would resurface. It's also why she told Dorothy to run and get away from the storm, so she wouldn't be swept up back to Oz to lay waste to the land again.
The Witches are infertile
From the Wizard's comments about no more witches being born in Oz as a result of Mother South's death it would seem that the remaining witches, Glinda and West, are unable to birth any witches themselves. While infertility is the most obvious reason it's possible any child of Glinda or West simply wouldn't be witches, simply regular humans, and South was the only progenitor of witches in Oz. But if the latter is true, is Mombi another of South's daughters?
- Considering what little has been revealed about witch abilities, it could be that Mother South was the only one who knew the magic that would bring forth new witches. And since her body was never found, neither Glinda, West nor East could absorb her magic and learn it themselves. As to Mombi, she could just be an ordinary witch instead of a Cardinal one.
- Confirmed. Mother South was the sole progenitor of every witch in Oz.
The Wizard is a fraud.
In the books, the Wizard uses smoke and mirrors to seem powerful, but is really just an ordinary man who's good at running cons. Maybe Mother South is the one who
really defeated the Beast, but died in the process, and he took advantage of her death to steal the credit and make himself ruler. He banned magic because more witches would mean more people who could possibly see through his game. The statues no longer work—because Mother South was the one really commanding them, or because they were a one-shot thing, or because they
never worked and are just a trick—but he's banking on Glinda being unwilling to play that particular game of chicken.
- In the third episode, Anna flat-out says the Wizard is unable to control the statues because their power is locked in the Prison of the Abject. For a second there it looks like he's going to throw her off the tower, and then he locks her in prison, so it would seem she hit a nerve.
- In the fourth episode he admits that Anna is correct and he cannot use the statues.
The Wizard is Dorothy's father
He and Karen somehow came to Oz, got swept up in the war against the Beast Forever. As he became more ruthless in his pursuit to be 'noticed,' Karen either went against him or tried to stop him in some way, which resulted in her being exiled.
- Jossed. The Wizard tells Dorothy that her father was a scientist named Roberto, who worked with her mother and was killed in the accident that transported them to Oz.
Anna is the Beast Forever, or serves as its Dragon
Think about it: she's the newest of Glinda's acolytes to be drafted into the Wizard's service, and yet four episodes in she's already worked her way into being the Wizard's most trusted confidant based on...accurate guessing (of course it would snow, since East is dead and nobody is controlling the weather) and not much else? No, Anna is either the Beast or otherwise serving it (activating the suicide ritual, pretending to be hurt from fiddling with Nimbo's portal), and it's decided to hurt the Wizard especially by manipulating him into trusting its doe-eyed form/servant, perhaps even fall in love with her.
The Wizard is, without his knowledge, the Beast Forever
Anna's prediction is that the Beast will manifest as a being with mind and heart that comes from the sky. There is no denying he has a mind; his care for Anna shows he has a heart; and assuming the Wizard came from Earth as in the original novel, he came from the sky. His actions are also arguably as destructive as the Beast Forever for Oz, destroying magic and its users with impunity.
The Beast Forever is the result of an imbalance brought by visitors between the worlds.
The last time the Beast Forever came, it was immediately after Frank, Karen, and Jane came to Oz. East told them that they couldn't stay because it created problems, but Frank refused. Therefore, his refusal brought the Beast Forever.
Now Dorothy is here, and again the Beast Forever is threatening to arrive. The Beast is actually like an immune system, attacking Oz in its attempt to kill the foreign object (Frank and now Dorothy).
Mombi is Mother South, or a Fragment of Mother South's Power
Mombi is shown to be able to perform some degree of magic - both to make the potions that disguised Tip's gender and to create a nigh impassable thicket of brambles outside their home. Additionally, the
Finger-Twitching Revival she got at the end of episode 2 indicates that she isn't dead, despite Lucas stabbing her and then delivering a ridiculous amount of cranial trauma. She revived the same way Mistress East did after Dorothy ran her over, because (say it with me)
only a witch can kill a witch. Now, there aren't supposed to be any magic users around Oz (besides the Cardinal witches) because anyone who practices magic gets sent to the Prison of the Abject - so how is it Mombi hasn't been caught yet? Mombi must be a powerful witch who's casting a concealment spell on herself, so that her magic can't be detected. Who are the most powerful witches in Oz? Cardinal witches. What Cardinal witch hasn't made an appearance yet? Mother South.
Mistress West has mentioned that Mother South's body was never found after the last war with the Beast Forever. Episode 6 reveals that just prior to Dorothy's appearance in Oz, Lucas was transporting a wagon full of very young witches. Mistress West draws the conclusion that Mother South is still alive and is the one creating the new witches. But what if that's only partially true? What if during the conflict with the Beast Forever, Mother South was split into several less powerful fragments? This could have happened accidentally, as a result of a spell backfiring or some magic used by the Beast Forever. Or it could have been a deliberate move on Mother South's part if she realized the danger that the Wizard posed to the magic users of Oz - if she split herself up and was presumed dead by the Wizard, she could build her new army of witches in secrecy while simultaneously raising the next ruler of Oz (King Pastoria's daughter Ozma) to have a friendlier policy towards magic users. (And also as a boy - we don't know how the line of succession works outside of the Kingdom of Ev, where Princess Langwidere inherited the crown the moment her father died. It could be that King Pastoria's line passes down the crown patrilineally.) That way if the Mombi fragment was found out, the witch-creating fragment would still be around to carry out her plans (and vice versa). It's possible that she split her powers among a number of fragments, depending on how many backup plans she set in motion.
The Beast Forever is the New Wizard of Oz
In
episode 3, we learn that the Beast Forever is capable of using magic when he forces three of Mistress West's girls to commit a ritual that ends in their magical suicide. We also learn that Frank Morgan, the "Wizard" of Oz, is a human from Dorothy's world with no magical abilities. It seems like the only magic users in Oz are women. (Note that women who get caught using magic end up in the Prison of the Abject - along with a single flayed man seen caught up in a dead tree at the center of the prison.) By the end of
episode 10, Frank the fake "Wizard" of Oz is dead and the Beast Forever is back in action - not as a tsunami, or any other force of nature, but as the flayed man from the Prison of the Abject (now a monstrous-but-still-humanoid creature). What if the Beast Forever dethrones Tip/ Ozma and installs himself as a
Sorcerous Overlord: an actual Wizard of Oz.
Cardinal Witches Can Fuse, and Glinda & Mistress West Were About to Fuse Before the Return of the Beast Forever
When Mistress West offered Glinda her hand at the end of
episode 10, she did so saying "Now we can both advise the new queen, just as we did her father. Magic and reason can rule Oz side by side once again. Take my hand." When Glinda rebukes her, Mistress West is undeterred, and again she says: "Take my hands. Let us become what we were meant to be. To each other, to Oz."
Now, "let us become what we were meant to be" and "to each other" could be an invitation to make amends. The entire series has built up the fact that their relationship isn't so great- Glinda kept the secret of Mother South's survival and the existence of a new generation of witches from Mistress West, and her distaste of West's drug-and-debauchery-filled lifestyle is apparent. So this might just be a plea for them to reconcile as sisters so that they can better perform their duties as advisers to the ruler, or what they "were meant to be... to Oz."
But what if it's more than that? When they performed the funeral rites for Mistress East in episode 2, they linked hands as they chanted at the beginning of the ceremony. Glinda's acolytes linked hands as they stood witnessed, as did West's girls. This was probably to facilitate the combination of their magics, in order to draw the spells out of East's body. If they can combine their magic by holding hands, what's to say they can't combine their magic by merging their physical bodies? When West asked Glinda to take her hands, she was asking Glinda to fuse with her, to create a harmonious blend of their personalities, magics, and intelligences. Imagine it: two of the most powerful magic users in Oz combining to become the single most powerful magic user in Oz, and this magic user showing deference to the newly minted Benevolent Mage Ruler that Tip/Ozma was angling to become. The perfect adviser, enforcer, and proof of Tip/ Ozma's claim to the throne. But Glinda and West were interrupted by the return of the Beast Forever.
Sylvie will create the Nome King
The winged man appearing in the finale has been confirmed to be Roquat the Red, the original name of the Nome King. The Nomes were beings made of rock with the Nome King as their King. Sylvie's abilities have already proved important to the plot with Glinda using her power to destroy the Eternal Warrior. What if during an altercation with Roquat Sylvie attempt to use her power on him but it doesn't work correctly or entirely causing Roquat to be turned to stone but not die, hence the Nome King.
Dorothy's father is the Beast Forever
What if, after being defeated, the Beast Forever inhabited her father's body, realizing there is a connection between him and the Wizard.The skinless man is said to have been in the Prison of the Abject longer then the rest, maybe the Wizard put him into the prison thinking it was necromancy, not Knowing it was the Beast.They did describe the next incarnation as coming from the sky, similar to Dorothy (which is why the Wizard initially think it's her)
