Why is eltheba (wicked witch of the west) in Wicked green?

Question

Why is eltheba (wicked witch of the west) in Wicked green?

Answer 1

It's Elphaba. Not Eltheba.

After the author of the original Oz books Lyman Frank Baum= LFB

LFB= Elphaba= El-Fa-Ba

Elphaba is green because before she was born, her mother, Melena, (who wasn't the most faithful of wives) was given a strange 'Elixir' (In the book it's Miracle Elixir, in the show it's Green Elixir) by a stranger with a funny accent. The 'Elixir' then caused the child to be born with unnaturally green skin.

Melena's husband, Frex, never assumed the child wasn't his and many reasons are listed in the book as to why they each think she is green and a girl.

They had been hoping for a very normal looking male so the family title wouldn't have to be continued through the first born daughters.

One of my favorite quotes from the book:

FYI-Nanny was Melena's nursemaid and became Elphaba and Nessarose's as well. Nessarose is Elphaba's little sister, who in the book lacks arms, and in the show is confined to a wheelchair due to being born with deformed legs.

"Perhaps, thought Nanny, little green Elphaba chose her own s*x, and her own color, and to h**l with her parents."

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The question of why Elphaba is allergic to water also relates to her being green I believe.

From an interview with Gregory Maguire, the author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the basis for the Broadway musical Wicked:

Q: Why is Elphaba allergic to water?

GM: That's partly because L. Frank Baum said she was. Why did he think she was? Because witches were often tested in water, so I think he didn't invent that, he borrowed it from history.

Why is she allergic to water in my mind? I think possibly it's because water is, among other things, a life-giving necessity for someone to grow. She's green, she's like a plant, she needs to grow and she's allergic to water because she's been told that as a green-skinned human being she doesn't deserve to grow. So it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.