Greetings all! Welcome back to our celebration of A Lion Among Men. In our final reflection post, we will showcase some familiar characters that make a return in this book. This post will be a quick one since it is a few very well-known characters. Dorothy makes a return in this book as it retells how Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion met and what he was doing before they came across each other in Munchkinland Forest, known in this saga as Wend Fallows. Dorothy was first introduced in the first book; but makes her return in this book again. Check out this page for information on Dorothy in Maguire's Oz. Along with Dorothy, the Tin Man also returns for this book. The Tin Man does not seem to like the Cowardly Lion as first and vice versa, he does not like the Tin Man either. However, they end up having some respect for each other in the end. In the musical, Boq becomes the Tin Man after giving up his broken heart. Among the previous two, the Scarecrow rounds out the fabulous four as he is also present here as the Lion joins the trio. There is no illustration from the book; however, in the musical, Fiyero, who becomes the Scarecrow after Elphaba turns him into one, is hung in the Corn Basket (see above). In the Wicked books, the connection between Fiyero and the Scarecrow is a mere quote in the book that says: "Nothing had yet suggested to her that the Scarecrow wasn't a man in disguise. She would not need forgiveness if Fiyero had not died!". (Maguire, 1995). So, that's all; nothing big at all. Well, that closes out another Wicked celebration for this year. What was your favorite part of this year's festivities? Let me know in the comment below.
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15 Years later and this book is still amazing. I listened to an audiobook version of this book earlier this year and it was just so enjoyable as the person who read it brought the lion and Yackle to life in such a true way. With that in mind, our celebration continues as we continue to highlight different places of this book that make a comeback in this book. Moving through the story and before meeting the Ghullim tribe and Mahlama H'aekeem, we get to visit an old stomping ground from the first book. Brrr stops in the university town of Shiz, where he stays just South of the campus in an apartment complex called Ampleton Quarters. He stays here for a little over a year or two where he lived the socialite life. Also, as I mentioned in the last post, it is where he ran into Avaric. What do you think of Brrr's living situation in Ampleton Quarters? Let me know in the comments below. Another place that we get to visit is the Cloister of St. Glinda, which we have seen twice before in the previous two books. Once when Elphaba stops there before going to Kiamo Ko and then again when Liir ends up there after being attacked by dragons. In this book, Brrr is doing some investigative journalism for Emperor Shell regarding Elphaba's connection to Madame Morrible. In searching through Morrible's records, the name Yackle was found, which is why Brrr ends up here. He spends most of the book reflecting on his past along with Yackle doing the same. Speaking of Yackle and her past, we learn quite a big secret from her past. Much of the book details out what Yackle had been doing in the background of Elphaba's story like what she was doing in Shiz and the Emerald City all while Elphaba was there too. An even bigger reveal is that we find out, in this book, that she is the spirit of the Grimmerie and when she comes to an epiphany at the end of the book, she ends up going back into the Grimmerie. After this reveal, it makes you wonder, was Elphaba the one who released her to someone else? Guess you will have to read the book to find out!
As we continue through our 15-year anniversary celebration of A Lion Among Men, we look at different elements that made their initial (or return) appearance in this novel. In this post, we are looking at the return of some obscure characters from previous books. First up, we see the return of Elphaba's cat, Grimalkin or "Malky" for short. In the original novel, he had a very Eureka vibe; however, when he returns in this novel, he gives very Bungle vibes. He even gets a new name, Shadowpuppet, which was adopted by Brrr. Other characters that make a return in this book are Mister Boss, a dwarf who runs the Clock of the Time Dragon. He first appeared very briefly in the first book when he was standing next to Yackle outside of the Philosophy Club. Additionally, one of Liir's half-sister makes a return appearance. At the end of the second book, it is never revealed as to where Nor ended up as Liar is still on a quest to find her; however, in this book, we discover that Nor has ended up as one of the crew on this mechanical and magical prediction device. Another character that makes his return is Margreaves Avaric Tenmeadows. He was first introduced as one of Boq's dormitory friends. He was part of the "charmed circle" of Elphaba's friends. In this book, he runs into Brrr near Shiz University, incredibly drunk I might add. When Avaric runs into Brrr, he recognizes him as the little cub from Professor Nikidik's class. It is revealed in more detail in this book that Brrr was taken by Dr. Nikkidik from Gillikin Forest after his mom was killed by hunters (as seen below). Well, that will do it for this week. Until next time, when we showcase more unique attributes of A Lion Among Men in our 15-year anniversary celebration.
Greetings all! Here we are again this week ready to discuss three more elements that are introduced in this enjoyable book. Once you get into the book, you are given a more detailed and biographical explanation of the mystery character, Yackle. Even though this character is introduced in Maguire's first book casually; we do not get the detail of why she is part of Elphaba's story like we do in this book. In the third book, we get more of her story like how she was born, what she has been doing since the first book, how she is relevant to Elphaba's story, and what happens at the end of her story. Above is a representation of Yackle as she was born into Oz from A Lion Among Men. In one of Brrr's memories, he makes his way to a region called the Glikkus. Notably, this region is where the Emeralds are mined for the Emerald City. Here, Brrr ended up in the middle of the feud between the Glikkuns and the Trolls, two groups of Ozians that apparently were at odds (just like everyone else in Oz). As to be expected, it did not fare well for Brrr; however, what I find notable is the way that each group is described. They sound very similar to what Baum might have called the Nomes in his story. Even though this region is connected to Oz unlike the Nome's Kingdom, they mine the Emeralds and other gemstones, which is what the Nomes did too. They also are very bulky and look rigid like rock edges. Whether that was the intent, I do find the parallels quite fascinating. Let me know what you think about this obscure group of people that live in this area between Munchkinland and Gillikin. After Brrr left the Glikkus, he went south along the Madeleines and ended up at the Camp of the Ghullim's (see map below). Here, he meets another notable character, who is introduced in this book as the ivory, striped tiger, Muhlama H'aekeem. This princess of of the Ghullim tribe shares a couple similarities with the Hungry Tiger. Aside from it being a tiger, it bonds with the Cowardly Lion while he stays in the tribe's camp, as did the Hungry Tiger in Baum's stories. It also shares a connection with the Kalidah in that it is a hybrid of a tiger and spice leopard and their camp is in the Munchkin Country forest, which is where the protagonists in Baum's story ran into the amalgamated beasts. That closes out another week of celebratory reflections. Come back next week when we discuss and learn about three more unique elements to this book. Until next time, I'll be seeing you somewhere in the Oz-verse.
15 year ago, the third installment in Gregory Maguire's Wicked saga, A Lion Among Men, was released. So, for this year's Wicked Day celebrations, we will be looking at 15 notable aspects that make this book unique and collaborative to Ozian lore. First up, let us take a look at the book trailer (see above) and how the author, Gregory Maguire, explains the book. If you have not had a chance to read it, this book is available in physical copy, e-book, and audiobook. It is a truly good story about how the Cowardly Lion fits into the Wicked-verse. In the first Wicked book, we are introduced to a baby cub in Dr. Dillamond's life sciences classroom. After Dr. Dillamond had been killed, the classes continued as if nothing had happened. His class was assigned a new teacher, Dr. Nikidik, who brought in a baby lion cub to experiment on and named him Brrr because he shivered. This lion cub was later discovered to be the Cowardly Lion and that name stuck with him throughout his life. Elphaba helped the cup escape and released him into the Gillikin Forest. In the third book, the Cowardly Lion discusses his life with Yackle and what he remembers about his life. Additionally, Elphaba's pet cat, Grimalkin, a.k.a. "Malky", has become attached to the Cowardly Lion, who has renamed the invisible, glass-like cat, "Shadowpuppet". Speaking of the Gillikin Forest, this book is the first mention of this fascinating and exciting forest. There is so much that happens here from Brrr meeting a soldier named Jemmsy to the forgetful Northern bears to the Ozmists, the ghosts of Oz. The journey that the lion has in this wooded area of Northern Oz brings light the growth and development of our trembling protagonist. Above you can see a map of Gillikin Forest and its relation to the town of Shiz. Another element to note is how many editions came out and that would be 53. Check out more editions here. There are also some notable reviews about the book that were released from various sources including this one here by MuggleNet, a HP-themed website who does book reviews outside of the magical world of HP. Well, that will end this week's celebrations of this third Wicked book. Come back next week when we discover more notable and fascinating elements that are introduced in this book.
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