The Wicked Years - The Grimmerie

The Grimmerie

The Grimmerie (a variation on the words 'Grimoire' and 'gramarye') is a fictional book of spells in The Wicked Years universe. In both the original novels and the stage adaptation, the Grimmerie is written in a language that the people of Oz cannot read; in the novels, this is because the book came from Earth and is written in English, whereas in the musical, it is said to be written in the "lost language of spells". The Grimmerie is also the title of a behind-the-scenes book about the musical, published in the year 2005 (ISBN 1-4013-0820-1).

In the novel, the Grimmerie contains information on various supernatural creatures, including angels and an entire section on "Evil Particulars" (i.e. demons), methods of poisoning water and breeding a docile population, as well as diagrams of instruments of torture and weapons which Elphaba considers "too vile to use". It also contains:

• A recipe entitled "Of apples with black skin and white flesh: to fill the stomach with greed unto Death".
• A recipe to overthrow a regime, which suggests spells for various methods of sabotage and assassination.
• Spells for 'unleashing the hidden energies of matter'.
• Spells to tamper with time.
• A spell "On the Administration of Dragons". This page plays an important part in the plot of Son of a Witch, where Shell Thropp, the Emperor Apostle, presents this page to Trism bon Cavalish.
• Spells to encourage flight in originally earth-bound animals
• Various 'marginalia on how to keep awake', which Elphaba combines with home remedies to produce a powerful insomnia potion
• 'A spell to reveal hidden inscription Perhaps even the location of individuals in hiding'. The reverse side of the page on the Administration of Dragons contains the second half of this spell.
• A spell entitled "To Call Winter on Water," used by Glinda to trap war ships advancing on Munchinland in ice, in the beginning of Out of Oz

In the musical, the Grimmerie is a pivotal instrument in Elphaba's magical powers. It contains a variety of incantations, written in a strange language, that allow her to perform various spells throughout the musical; the contents are considerably less gruesome than those of its novel counterpart.