Monday, February 20, 2012

Fiyero

I've already profiled Elphaba, Glinda, Nessarose, and Liir. The Wicked Witch's boyfriend has not yet been accounted for.

In the beloved musical version of Wicked, Fiyero (pronounced "fee-YEH-roh") Tiggular is the handsome popular guy. He is a prince of Winkie and attends Shiz University with Elphaba and Glinda. He almost immediately becomes Glinda's boyfriend, but gradually falls in love with Elphaba. Thanks to her, he starts thinking that there is more to life than having fun. Later, he becomes engaged to Glinda, but runs away with Elphaba when she reappears. When the two are ambushed by palace gaurds, Fiyero allows Elphaba to escape, and the gaurds torchure Fiyero...well, I guess I shouldn't give away the ending.

In the book by Gregory Maguire, Fiyero Tigelaar is quite different. First of all, he is not conventionally handsome. His dark skin is covered with blue diamond shapped tattoos, which immediately marks him as an outsider like Elphaba (the creators of the musical didn't think the tattoos would translate well on stage). He is still a prince, but he is a prince of the Arjiki tribe. When we meet him, he is unhappily betroved to Sarima, and they eventually have three children together. Fiyero and Elphaba have little interaction during their years at Shiz University. He begins an affair with Elphaba while she is a revolutionary years later. This union creates their son Liir. It is mentioned that he used to have a crush on Glinda, but they are never together. Most of Fiyero's character in the play is actually more like Avaric in the books. Avaric isn't a particularly important character, but he is carefree and a bit snooty.

Gregory Maguire has stated that Fiyero's name comes from the word "furious," which I find very strange. Anger doesn't seem to be a big part of Fiyero's personality. It is much more a part of Elphaba's personality. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

You know, Hollywood is taking its sweet time with the Wicked movie. Now they are saying that it's going to come out in 2014, but who knows. I also heard a television miniseries based on the book was coming out, but that rumor was posted a long time ago. Wicked is a phenominally successful play and novel with a huge cult following, so I highly doubt that they are never going to capitalize on it somehow. When that happens, Fiyero is no longer going to be a name that only diehard fans will know. Who knows what will happen to these names in the feature?

Naming a son Fiyero would be like naming a son Atreyu. They're both lovely names, and I know there are people out there that name their sons Atreyu, but it's a diehard fan name. You must really, really love the Wicked world in order to use it.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_(musical)
http://wicked.wikia.com/wiki/Fiyero_Tigelaar

Image Credit:
Found via http://pinterest.com

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