Kiamo Ko is a castle located on the peak of Knobblehead Pike in the Vinkus. The fortress is the home of Arjiki tribe chieftains: the Tigelaar clan, and later the home of Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West. It is a location that is featured in the novels, as well as the musical production and its respective film adaptation.
Kiamo Ko is where Elphaba has her final stand-off with Dorothy.
In the novels[]
During the time of the Ozma Regent, Kiamo Ko housed the old office of Public Works - Water Works headquarters. It is through ambush and occupation, that Marillot Tigelaar has the castle converted into his chieftain seat and Arjiki tribal stronghold. This changed the previous Arjiki lifestyle of moving every year in the Thousand Year Grasslands to that primarily now only being during the spring and summer seasons so the Tigelaar's can have a more settled autumn and winter at Kiamo Ko.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West[]
Kiamo Ko serves as the home of the Tigelaar family: Fiyero, his wife Sarima, their kids Irji, Manek, and Nor, and his sister-in-laws. Years after Fiyero died, Elphaba Thropp arrives here on a caravan accompanied with a mysterious boy named Liir; later, Nanny arrives to stay with the two. Elphaba stays with the family in the castle until they are arrested and killed by Commander Cherrystone's Gale Force; thereafter, Elphaba lives a hermit lifestyle alone with Liir and Nanny in the castle. During this time, she begins to be known as the "Wicked Witch of the West", as she begins to study magic from the Grimmerie almost obsessively until her ultimate demise by the hands of Dorothy Gale.
Son of a Witch[]
Ever since Elphaba was killed and Liir left with Dorothy, Nanny has been living alone in the castle under the care of Chistery, the other flying monkeys, and local Arjiki peasants from the local village of Red Windmill who bring her food. Nanny is seen in the castle when Liir returns to Kiamo Ko, and the two have a conversation. She is becoming very senile in the mind and the castle is in a bad condition, until Liir sets the castle right before leaving again.
Out of Oz[]
In Out of Oz, the castle is still being lived in by Nanny and she has a brief conversation with Rain, who she confuses for Elphaba because of her dementia. It is also during this time that Chistery grants ownership of Kiamo Ko to Rain.
Winged monkeys[]
- Chistery Nikko, first and leader of the winged monkeys, familiar of Elphaba.
- Thilma, one of four who travelled from Oz to Maracoor to rescue Rain. Most intelligent of the winged monkeys, save for Chistery.
- Tiotro, one of four who travelled from Oz to Maracoor to rescue Rain.
- Faro, one of four who travelled from Oz to Maracoor to rescue Rain.
- Finistro, one of four who travelled from Oz to Maracoor to rescue Rain.
- Agitor, an aging winged monkey. His wings limped and he had a look that was cruel and keen.
- Jixiana, an aging winged monkey with heavy-lidded eyes and wings that looked plagued with muscle fatigue. The wife of Chistery.
In the musical[]
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Kiamo Ko as seen on the map in the musical
In the musical, Fiyero does not have a wife or children, and Kiamo Ko is described as simply his “family's castle”, but it’s abandoned as the family has never lived there; they live in another castle elsewhere. He and Elphaba plan to go there to escape the Wizard's guards. Only she is able to go, and she takes shelter there, holding Dorothy captive in the tower. It is there where Elphaba fakes her death, and hides under a trapdoor, waiting until she is reunited with Fiyero, and they leave together, to start a new life out of Oz.
Notes and trivia[]
- In The Wizard of Oz (1939), the Wicked Witch lives in a castle with an army and the winged monkeys. The novel Wicked establishes that the place was not actually hers: she was rather a visitor who had settled in there with Nanny, Liir and her pets before its real, previous dwellers (which were the Winkie royalty) were either kidnapped or murdered.