Finally, after many more adventures, Elphaba embraces sorcery, largely after her sister Nessarose, becomes the Wicked Witch of the East, and she finds a book of magic at her late lover's castle. After her sister is killed by Dorothy's house, Elphaba's descent into sorcery is complete. She kills the evil Madame Morrible, which she was unable to do before. However, there is always a question whether she is truly evil or not. She says late in the book, "The real disaster of this inquiry is that it is the nature of evil to be secret'" (Maguire 372)....
Ultimately, she chases Dorothy and her group because she fears the treasured ruby slippers of her sister will end up in the evil Wizard's hands. She thinks, "If the shoes fell into the hands of the Wizard, he would us them to bolster his claim to Munchkinland" (Maguire 377). In the end, then, the Witch dies, but she is still a sympathetic figure, killed in a political game of power and intrigue. She really was not such a bad witch, after all.
References
Maguire, Gregory. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of…
