Evelynne Eastwood

Evilynne Eastwood [she/her], but preferably going by Lynne, is the only daughter of the Wicked Witch of the East from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, who passed away when she was only a child. She’s not a fan of conflict, and the destiny conflict is no exception. For this reason, she stands as a Neutral. Knowing her death comes so early, she wants to spend her time spreading compassion and mending the divide between good and wicked.

Personality
Life as a wicked witch is not a simple one. Having wicked witch blood means everyone in Oz is, quite literally, out to get you. Lynne would argue her family one of the most hated in the Land of Oz. Well, she’s not the argumentative type, but surely you understand what I mean. She is a stark contrast to her long line of ancestors, who were much more wicked than Lynne is now. Most Wicked Witches of the East are searching for vengeance for one reason or another. When you’re an Eastwood, you’re practically handed a basket of things to be angry about, from the routine house dropping on specifically your family members or the resentment that just about everyone in Oz shows you. Most of them see their destiny-assigned reigns of terror as the ideal time to take out all their anger. Personally, Lynne would much rather not.

Despite being brought up to put the “Wicked” in “WIcked Witch”, she is now one of the most gentle students at the Royal Academy of Oz. After the passing of her mother at a young age, she started seeing the Munchkins true feelings about her. The people of Munchkinland despised the East Witch legacy, and it was not uncalled for. What was uncalled for was the way they treated Lynne. She was just a small child when the house dropped on her mother, and there was no sympathy shown from the Munchkin people.

She quickly realized that the Munchkin people were treating her unfairly, but it was much harder for her to handle the fact that her own mother, the previous Wicked Witch of the East, was no better. Since then, Lynne has tried to do away with her wicked ways. She wants to treat people kindly, despite what they may think of her or her family. She has seen and felt too much pain to allow herself to subscribe to a destiny that requires her to inflict pain on others.

The Ozian social norm of treating people poorly out of personal vendettas born from the acts of destiny is one all too real for Lynne. She believes most of the hate in Oz is undeserved. People attack others based on their last name instead of their actions, and the last thing Lynne wants to do is take part in that tradition.

Her life will be short-lived, but that won’t stop her from trying to create social change. It’s hard for her sometimes, but she always does her best to respond in a positive manner. That doesn’t sound very challenging, but when most of the comments about you are so bitter, every now and then it seems a spell of a lot easier to give back what you’re receiving. In that way, Lynne does sympathize with her ancestors. But, she doesn’t think acting back with ill intent is still acceptable, even if she is a Wicked Witch.

Payback isn’t what she’s after anyways. She hopes people will want to give back what she’s given them: compassion, caring, and understanding. Lynne is a sweet girl who just wants to give people the acceptance that she doesn’t receive from so many. She is a shoulder to cry on, and always as something nice to say. She always wants to make sure her friends are doing well and will do most anything to make you feel better. Anyone who spends time with her knows she only has the best intentions. Every now and then she slips up and says something hurtful, which Lynne holds far too much guilt for.

With all the good she puts out into the world, it can not shield her from those who don’t want her around. Whether or not she should, Lynne always puts up with them. She smiles and responds politely, simply because she doesn’t want to cause any more conflict. Of course, she doesn’t smile because she’s particularly happy. She is anything but happy hearing nasty things about herself. However, smiling seems to make Lynne’s life a lot easier, and putting up with the pain is, in her opinion, more preferable than provoking anyone. She isn’t looking for a fight anyway.

What she really wants is peace. Peace between Munchkins and the Wicked Witches of the East, peace between Winkies and Wicked Witches of the West, peace between all Ozians, and peace for herself. Lynne finds her life very overwhelming, A lot of the time she doesn’t know how to deal with it all. When it becomes to much, she tends to cry. Even small things tend to provoke her. Lynne is a rather sensitive young witch. Most of her strong emotions tend to come out in the form of tears. Not only sadness, but anger, fear, frustration, and anxiety, too. It’s very rare that one sees her act out or yell. It’s more likely she’s caught crying and tends to shut down. When like this, Lynne doesn’t usually respond and is much harder to talk to.

One of the subjects Lynne gets the most worked up about is losing those she holds dear. Her mother’s death happened when she was very young, and she’s not sure she can handle going through another death. The off chance of going through it again scares her immensely. She knows it’s a bit annoying, but she’s very cautious because of this. Lynne is always reminding her friends to be wary of what is dangerous. While the prospect of death unnerves her greatly, people can leave her life in other ways. When someone is too reckless, dangerous, or causes her too much anxiety, she tends to push them away without even realizing. Most of the time she worries too much to make amends with them but hopes to tell them what they meant to her before destiny rolls around.

Even with all the things that Lynne struggles with, her most redeeming quality is her genuine care for others. What she wants most in the world is for everyone to feel they belong. She may do good out of disdain for the treatment she is given, but what pleases her most is doing right with others and giving people a sense of comfort and kindness. Lynne doesn’t know it now, but she’s going to make big changes in the minds of the people she wants acceptance from the most, and for the better.

Appearance
Her most notable trait is her black and white hair. Naturally, it’s black, but Lynne uses the magic she’s practiced to add the big white streaks. Lots of people assume she bleaches it, but to keep that up… well, I don’t think she’d even have much hair left. But, that’s where the magic hair-styling ends, so the waves are natural. Her eyes are a bright blue above her long nose. Most people noticed she quite regularly has a tinge of worry to her demeanor.

Lynne admires both grunge and goth fashion but is also sure to keep a sense of punctuality and gentleness to her wardrobe. She usually dresses in black and dark grey and loves the look of sheer fabrics. Poppy designs are always found in her clothes, as well as thick black and white stripes. Lynne likes to throw in a dash of red as well, to match the Ruby Slippers she’s inherited.

Alliance
The most important part of Lynne’s destiny is being crushed by the Gale family house, as sad as it sounds. Even more, she has absolutely no control over this event. All she knows is that it’s going to come. I don’t know about other legacies, but she doesn’t even get the privilege of choosing whether or not to act on her destiny. The house will crush her regardless, so Lynne remains Neutral in this destiny debate because neither a Royal or Rebel Label would change her outcome.

Even if she could choose, Lynne thinks it’d be best to stay out of it as a whole. People seem to find plenty of reasons to insult her regardless of her stance on destiny, and Lynne wishes nothing more but to keep those insults to a minimum. She doesn’t like conflict, and that’s exactly what this destiny debacle is: a conflict. Lynne would much rather sit on the sidelines. It’s much more peaceful there.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Full Story: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’’''
 * ''Main Article: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

While her legacy is brief, a lot of people seem to have no trouble remembering it. Lynne is destined to rule with an iron fist (and a pair of magic Silver Shoes) over Munchkin Land. The Munchkins’ favorite part, unfortunately, is the part where the East Witch gets crushed under Dorothy’s incoming house.

Name

 * Pronunciation: EE-vil-un EEST-wood

Her first name, Evilynne, is a pun on the name Evelynne, with the word “Evil” sprinkled in. It means “life” and “wished for,” which aren’t words commonly associated with her, but she’d like it if they were. Most people associate the “evil” part much more with her, sadly. It’s commonplace already to think Lynne is wicked. She doesn’t think the name is doing her any good. That’s why she usually just goes by Lynne.

As for her last name, it’s pretty straightforward. Lynne is an East Witch, after all, so she’s an Eastwood. Munchkin Land is rather forested, so it makes sense. Her mom used to say that our ancestors thought going with “Eastwitch” outright was too predictable, so they went with Eastwood instead.

Trivia

 * Lynne can speak a little Chinese, specifically in the Gan dialect. She picked this up from her mother when she was younger.
 * Her mother was fluent in both English and Gan Chinese.
 * The white poppy motifs in her design are a nod to the poppies that cause Dorothy to fall asleep during her journey to the Emerald City in ‘’’The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’’’.
 * White poppies also represent remembrance of the dead, symbolizing that Lynne is still mourning and coping with the death of her mother.
 * Additionally, white poppies act as a symbol of peace, which ties into Lynne’s desire to create peace in Oz.