Page 1 of Out of Oz (The Wicked Years 4)

THE WICKED YEARS

A Note to Readers

Our story so far:

Wicked begins with the birth of a green-skinned child, Elphaba Thropp—later known as the Wicked Witch of the West—and portrays her unlikely college friendship with Galinda Upland and her romance with Fiyero Tigelaar. The arriviste Wizard of Oz consolidates his power in the Emerald City and throughout Oz. Under the governance of the Wicked Witch of the East, Nessarose Thropp, Munchkinland secedes from Loyal Oz. The novel closes with the Matter of Dorothy, when Elphaba is thirty-eight and her son, Liir Thropp, is fourteen.

Son of a Witch tells the story of Liir’s life, revealed in flashbacks, while Elphaba’s brother Shell strengthens his position in the Emerald City, particularly against Munchkinland. Orphaned at fourteen, without guidance or patronage, Liir stumbles into the military, leads a raid against Quadlings, and goes AWOL, eventually heading a protest against his uncle Shell, now the Emperor of Oz. Son of a Witch concludes with the arrival of a child—a green-skinned daughter—born to Liir and Candle, a Quadling. Liir is about twenty-four.

A Lion Among Men refers to the Cowardly Lion, known as Brrr. His story is told alternately with that of the ancient oracle, Yackle. Brrr muses on his part in the Matter of Dorothy, his rise and fall in society, and his plea-bargaining with Emerald City magistrates to avoid a prison sentence. Hunting for the mysterious oracle Yackle, he locates the lost Grimmerie in the bargain. At novel’s end, a skirmish between rabble-rousing Munchkinlanders and the Emerald City military threatens to ignite into full-scale civil war. Caught in the crosshairs, Brrr escapes with the troupe that accompanies the Clock of the Time Dragon.

Out of Oz begins a few months after the close of A Lion Among Men.

Charting the Wicked Years Chronologically

“Oh, as to time, well, no one in Oz ticks off tocks very systematically.” Each dot or upstroke represents a year … more or less.

WICKED

OUT OF OZ

The story begins six months after the end of A LION AMONG MEN.

Liir is about 30; Rain is 7 or 8, give or take.

Maps

THE CITY OF SHIZ, GILLIKIN

THE EMERALD CITY

Significant Families of Oz

Key

= marriage (~) romance sans wedlock

THE HOUSE OF OZMA

—The Emerald City—

THE THROPPS OF MUNCHKINLAND

—Colwen Grounds in Munchkinland—

THE UPLANDS OF GILLIKIN

—Frottica in northwest Gillikin—

THE TIGELAARS, ARJIKI CHIEFTAINS OF THE VINKUS

—Kiamo Ko on the slopes of Knobblehead Pike, the Great Kells of the Vinkus—

A Brief Outline of the Throne Ministers of Oz

Augmented with notes about selected incidents of interest to students of modern history.

THE OZMA YEARS

• The matrilineal House of Ozma established.

The Ozma line descends from a Gillikinese clan. The Ozma line claims legitimacy through a purported divine relationship with Lurlina, fabled creatrix of Oz. Depending on the argument, historians recognize between forty and fifty legitimate Ozmas and their regents.

• The last Ozma, Ozma Tippetarius, is born of Ozma the Bilious.

Ozma the Bilious expires through an accident involving rat poisoning in the risotto. Her consort, Pastorius, becomes Ozma Regent during the minority of Ozma Tippetarius.

• Pastorius rules over central Oz.

The Ozma Regent renames the hamlet known as Nubbly Meadows, near the ancient burial ground of Open Tombs, as the Emerald City (EC). Declares the EC as the capital of united Oz.

• The Great Drought begins.

• By balloon, Oscar Zoroaster Diggs arrives in the Emerald City.

Diggs successfully mounts a Palace coup d’état. Pastorius is murdered, and the infant Ozma Tippetarius disappears. She is presumed slain, perhaps in Southstairs P

rison (built over the Open Tombs), though an evergreen rumor claims she lies enchanted in a cave awaiting her return at Oz’s darkest hour. Diggs becomes known as the Wizard of Oz.

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