Who Dies in 'Wicked'?

Wondering who dies in the Wicked movie, if anyone? Here's what we know.

Wicked is about defying gravity, but what about defying death? A number of characters perish in Gregory Maguire's revisionist spinoff book series based on L. Frank Baum's 1900 iconic children's book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

However, not all the characters who die in Maguire's books fare so tragically in the Broadway musical of the same name, which the 2024 film and its forthcoming 2025 sequel, Wicked Part Two, are adaptations of.

READ MORE: Who Is the Real Villain in Wicked?

Of course, there's no telling how the big screen adaptation, including Part One and Part Two, will differentiate from both the book series and the Broadway musical.

Below, here are the main characters who die in the stage musical as well as the books.

***Warning: major spoilers for Wicked, below***

Nessarose

The spoiled younger sister of Elphaba and eventual Wicked Witch of the East, Nessarose is crushed to death in Act II of the musical (and therefore likely Wicked Part Two, out in 2025) when a tornado conjured by Madame Morrible drops Dorothy Gale's Kansas farmhouse on top of her in Munchkinland.

This tragic event kicks off Elphaba's conflict with Dorothy, who wears Nessarose's enchanted slippers given to her by Glinda following Nessarose's death.

Elphaba (book death only)

It's no secret that the Wicked Witch of the West dies at the accidental hands of Dorothy after being melted by a bucket of water in her castle. At least, that's according to 1939's The Wizard of Oz.

Elphaba's fate is no different in Maguire's book, as she melts away when Dorothy tosses a bucket of water at her after the witch accidentally lights herself on fire.

However, Elphaba doesn't die in the musical adaptation. Instead, she fakes her death by falling through a trapdoor when Dorothy splashes her, and she later re-emerges to flee Oz forever with her lover, Fiyero.

Fiyero (book death only)

Elphaba's love interest Fiyero dies in the book when The Wizard's secret police, the Gale Force, brutalize him for his support of the fugitive Elphaba following Nessarose's death.

However, Fiyero's fate is thankfully much less gruesome in the musical, as he not only lives but even reunites with Elphaba after being accidentally turned into The Scarecrow by a spell gone wrong.

Dr. Dillamond (book death only)

In the book, Dr. Dillamond, a goat and professor at Shiz University who Elphaba bonds with, is cruelly assassinated as part of The Wizard's oppressive campaign against the sentient Animals of Oz.

In the musical, however, Dr. Dillamond lives. However, he is arrested and removed from his role at Shiz. During his imprisonment, he goes insane and loses his ability to speak, a plot point that drives Elphaba to reject The Wizard completely and transform into the rebellious Wicked Witch of the West.