and

"People should be able to afford to live independently if that's what they want."

These two women love each other so much that they change each other for the better in an irreplaceable way. Their love is so strong that they forgive each other for transgressions that would normally tear apart friendships/relationships. But they never get to see each other ever again.

Glinda has to live the rest of her life thinking that Elphaba is dead and that she’s partially responsible for her best friend’s death due to her role in an oppressive regime. But then she topples that regime and spends the rest of her life fulfilling Elphaba’s heart desire by revoking the anti Animal laws and creating a more equal and kinder Oz, all because of Elphaba (and her desire to do goodness). She literally can’t escape Elphaba because everything she does going forward is for her.

Elphaba has to live the rest of her life with the knowledge and guilt about lying to Glinda by faking her own death. She has to live in a abandoned hellscape desert because she knows that if Glinda were to tell the Ozians the truth that they would turn on her and she can’t bare the idea of Glinda getting hurt or dying like rest of the people she loved. She has to allow herself to be the scapegoat in order to protect Glinda and Oz. She can never go home.

Yes it’s that serious.