#character! development!

     The first thing I would like to address (if that’s the proper word) is how much I dislike the idea that as soon as they saw each other that they fell in love. I think that this is inaccurate and, honestly, a bit of a gigantic stretch. When Elphaba arrives at Shiz, she is delighted to meet new people but is quickly heartbroken by their prejudiced stares and rude comments to her. This is, undeniably, also done by Galinda. The idea that she bullies Elphaba because she is interested in her romantically is honestly just terrible ; it’s the same thing as telling a little girl that the boy who picks on her just likes her. Throughout the introductory scene at Shiz, Galinda makes jabs at Elphaba while Elphaba stands far away from her (behind Nessarose) and makes fun of the way she speaks with her sister. When Galinda accidentally volunteers to room with Elphaba, it truly is accidental ( though - thankfully - the fandom seems to accept that). This, however, brings us to the next interpretation that I dislike.

     “What Is this Feeling” is not a love song. I genuinely cannot tell if some people in this fandom are joking about this or not. It does, of course, have humor in it of mocking a love song ( “my pulse is rushing”, “my head is reeling”, etc.) but that is clearly done only for satirical purposes! After that, the song is just them picking on each other and hating for the sole reason of hating. One could argue that it is simply them denying their feelings for the other, but that simply is not true! Galinda is clearly spreading these rumors around to her friends and they are making it to the entirety of the student body who teams up against Elphaba simply to bully her. The only person on Elphaba’s side at this moment is Doctor Dillamond and Nessa, while the entire school sees Galinda as some sort of hero. I cannot fathom how people can twist this harmful bullying into love and honestly, it’s disgusting. The two girls obviously are not in love at this point, nor are they even fond of each other. Elphaba makes it clear that the only friend she has there is Nessa, if anyone. 

     To restate, the bullying doesn’t end when the song does. Throughout Doctor Dillamond’s class, Galinda proves herself to be mean again. She tears Elphaba down more and more, almost as if the girl has no emotions (or at least no HUMAN emotions). Galinda bullies Elphaba so much that it makes her not want to do anything, not want to hang out with any of her peers. Keep in mind that at this point in the show, Elphaba and Galinda have not had a proper conversation with one another, which is important. How can they possibly know each other enough to be infatuated? One may argue that their conversations are off-stage and, as valid as this may be, just doesn’t add up. If this was the case, they would not still bicker and hate each other in the later scenes.

     This brings us to “Dancing Through Life”, another song that, despite how people try to twist it, is not where the two of them magically fall in love with one another. Elphaba has been bullied and beat down so much throughout the year that she refuses to attend the ball that Fiyero is hosting, calling it a “cultish social gathering”. One could debate that she only doesn’t want to go because of how Fiyero treated her earlier, but I think this is a stretch. She blames it on people going to “worship” him, but I think her real issue is that Galinda will be there, ready to make the entire school make fun of her. Otherwise, Elphaba would be jumping to go, if not just to accompany Nessarose to keep her safe, especially after she finds that she has a date. But it is so valid that Elphaba doesn’t want to go. She’s seen Boq stand right alongside Galinda when she throws insults her way and won’t go and ruin it for her sister. 

     Once Nessa tells her to do something nice for Galinda instead of hating her, Elphaba decides that this may just work. She can see the world for a moment through Nessa’s more innocent eyes and, even if just for a few moments, thinks that this plan may work and goes to talk to Madame Morrible about including her in the sorcery seminar, which she does. Elphaba rushes to tell Galinda what she has done for her, only to be greeted with a dirty trick. She thinks that the blonde has come around in offering her this hat and that it is now safe for her to attend the party. Elphaba does not, however, go to the party for Galinda. She knows that, even if they are on better terms, that they are friends. When she arrives, however, she just sees that she has fulfilled what she didn’t want to ; Nessa is embarrassed at her sister’s outfit and upset that she had the nerve to surprise her there.

     Elphaba still decides to have the best time she can, taking the floor over to dance on if not only to say “fuck you” to her classmates. They laugh, they point, they make fun - but this time Elphaba doesn’t back down. She doesn’t let it get to her. For the first time, Galinda sees that despite her unnatural green color, she is human and experiences real human emotions. Galinda feels bad for what she has done as all of her actions come rushing back ; getting the school against the poor girl, calling her names - giving her that atrocious hat! Additionally, Madame Morrible had just told her that she was moved to her seminar (what Elphaba had been trying to tell her before). So, she goes to dance with her, perhaps as an apology. But this, still is NOT them falling in love with each other! You cannot, and should not, skip from hatred to infatuation that quickly. It isn’t healthy, and they are not an exception!

     This is the beginning of their friendship. Yes, friendship. Before “Popular”, Galinda is eager to make up with her roommate and offers her simple companionship. She decides they should tell each other a secret. When Elphaba shares her deeply personal secret, Galinda again sees how she is experiencing the same human emotions that everyone does. This scene is their first proper conversation, and it is the beginning of their blooming friendship (and eventually relationship). Galinda doesn’t respect Elphaba when she doesn’t want to talk about the bottle and, to get her way in having Elphaba share a good secret, takes the bottle from her despite how clearly she was uncomfortable and protective of it. Galinda gives Elphaba a makeover and even calls her beautiful, but I still don’t believe this is truly them falling in love. One must pause to realize that the same day they had hated each other! There are a lot of things that still must be resolved and figured out before they can trust each other, not to mention that they are both young. Elphaba leaves during “Popular” because her emotions are too much for her to handle, this is true. However, I don’t see the emotions as being romantic yet. She is just overwhelmed by the sudden change in Galinda, wondering if she is being tricked again as she was just that same day. Elphaba begins to wonder if she or Nessa were right about the girl and her intentions.

     From here, this is a divide over how the rest of the plot advances regarding a preference between Elphaba and Fiyero or Elphaba and Galinda. I think if Elphaba and Galinda fall in love, it happens in the time of the show between the scene with the Lion cub and “One Short Day”, but no sooner than that.

     The last topic I would like to address is why I do not think Gelphie should only be endgame with the proper development of events post-musical. Before you hate me, let me start by saying this does not mean I don’t think they should be together. I do! I just genuinely do not believe that they would be the right person for each other if one only takes into account the events of the musical. Firstly, they have a lot of bad connotations with each other, what with the past bullying and, eventually the stress they caused each other. For Glinda, it’s the emotional stress she went through pretending to dislike Elphaba, the years fighting against her, the pain with what happened with FIyero (even if he was just a companion to her and not a true lover), etc. For Elphaba, it’s that Glinda never tried to help her, left her during “Defying Gravity”, was the reason her sister is dead, never denied the rumors like Fiyero did, etc. They are both stubborn, and I doubt either would bring up these issues to each other, much less actually resolve them. Glinda, throughout the entire musical, does not change until the very end despite knowing what she is doing is wrong. Elphaba doesn’t deserve that. Glinda took advantage of Elphaba’s vulnerability in a friendship for years, catering their relationship to her liking almost the entire time. If the two of them do not address these very prominent issues, their relationship will just slowly deteriorate over their ignored past