The character of Nessarose comes from the musical Wicked, a retelling of the Wizard of Oz (in case you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard of it). She’s a minor character, the younger sister of the main character Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West). She ends up as the ruby slipper-wearing Wicked Witch of the East that Dorothy crushes with her house when she lands in Munchkinland. I love Nessarose because she is such a strong, powerful, tenacious character who is mistreated by everyone close to her, despite coming from a background of wealth and privilege. Unlike Elphaba, she’s not the loud, rebellious sister that viewers are encouraged to see as the badass hero. She’s the quieter sister who tries to follow the rules and do the right thing until she can’t anymore, and receives no positive recognition for her effort. Nessa keeps going and does her duty despite losing the rest of her family and being taught she’s weak. She  tries to find and hold onto love even though she’s been told she’s not worthy of it for her entire life. She may not go about it in the best of ways, but she’s using the methods she was taught by those around her.

As a child, she was taught by her father that her physical body was deformed, ugly and useless, that her only worth was her ability to work and serve her people as her father’s successor. Sure, her face is tragically beautiful, but that’s just enough make people pity her. They never require much from her or ask her what she wants for herself or her life. She’s taught that she’s helpless from birth. It never occurs to her that she isn’t. Her father over-loved her, smothering her, crippling her literally and figuratively before she was even born. Nessa is so taken care of and underestimated that she doesn’t think to even try to use her power, magical or otherwise, rebel, or veer from the path others choose for her.

But in reality, Nessarose is just as powerful and talented as Elphaba, and just as strong willed. Nessa casts her spell on Boq on the first try, translating the spell book on her own, just like Elphaba had with the spell to create flying monkeys’ wings. Elphaba’s magic was triggered early and often as a child by her temper and the frequent slights she suffered, despite the family’s obvious disapproval of her use of her magic. Nessa, on the other hand, was coddled and taught to suppress her power, to be the good sister. She may not have been told outright to avoid exploring her own magical potential, but watching her father’s treatment of Elphaba would have gotten the message across loud and clear. But once Nessa finds something she wants to fight for, she fights.

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