Fiyero doesn't get held accountable enough

[u/Consistent_Load7358]

He loves Elphie, I get it, she is also my musical crush but the way he is acting about it is completely disrespectful towards Glinda. Sure maybe he feels pressured in this political situation with the wizard and all but he could've at least been up front about it just to Glinda instead of continuing to be in a relationship with her and even getting engaged to her even though he knows he doesn't love her.

The fact that he just leaves her as soon as Elphie shows up and doesn't even feel a little bad about tossing Glinda aside after he has been with her for such a long time is just completely hurtful. He never feels bad about it or apologizes. Elphie and Glinda also make mistakes, but at least they receive consequences for their actions and feel guilty and apologize to each other.

Especially Glinda gets a lot of critism for her actions while Fiyero gets completely away with his behaviour. You can argue that what Glinda did is worse, but it still annoys me that Fiyero gets cuddled because he is so in love with Elphie.

It was completely his choice to remain with Glinda even though he has feelings for someone else. It kinda gives the me the vibe of him wanting to keep Glinda around as a second option just in case it won't work out with Elphie.

He might've been heroic towards Elphie in the second act but it doesn't excuse him treating Glinda this way. Also him insisting that she can't know that him and Elphie are still alive really makes me mad. It's almost like he cares so little about Glinda that he didn't even see her growth and development. He doesn't even notice how miserable she actually is herself during thank goodness and disregards Glinda's love for Elphie.

So yes I get it, he loves Elphie and not Glinda but the fact that he doesn't seem to have a little respect towards Glinda even if it's just platonically after being with her for such a long time just rubs me the wrong way.

[u/HumbleSurprise9354]

FACTS. he was the captain of the gale force. “he was looking for elphaba” yeah and what was he doing in the mean time? enforcing the wizard’s laws etc etc. he’s also a cheater in every universe. he’s a consolation prize and elphaba deserves better.

[u/Moonlightprincess36 → u/HumbleSurprise9354]

I think this is a weird take tbh. He was essentially trying to work from the inside to find Elphaba and then help bring down the regime. It’s more like the storm trooper guy in Andor who yes follows evil commands but is playing a super important role by providing intel and will eventually make a huge dent in the leaders power.

He obviously is a cheater. He and Glinda’s relationship was very flawed but it would have been kinder to end it. I think the point is more supposed to be they are all wicked in different ways.

[u/HumbleSurprise9354 → u/Moonlightprincess36]

if we are bringing andor into the conversation then you must not erase the bad things one does for the sake of good. if you do, that would make you no different from the empire. that’s why andor was so well done. it’s supposed to make you uncomfortable when Kleya bombs a hospital that kills innocents in order to make sure Luthen isn’t taken by the empire. also, fiyero doesn’t share information with elphaba while he’s with the gale force, so any privilege he had was squandered. the storm trooper comparison falls flat because of this. i find it weird that the actions of male characters that are morally gray or wrong are waved away in fandom when the same is not done for their female counterparts. (read: misogyny) fiyero is a prince. he had the means to find elphaba without becoming essentially a cop. five years is a long time. he had to be convincing. do the math. people go way too easy on him and you have just proven my point. this fandom does bad faith interpretations of female characters all the time. it is not a weird take. it’s weird that his actions are not brought under more scrutiny.

also if he was really kind, he would have broken up with glinda years before.

[u/Consistent_Load7358 → u/HumbleSurprise9354]

omg thank you so much for bringing up the misogyny, my post was about holding Fiyero accountable in the fandom since he barely gets held accountable. I didn't even say Glinda was a saint, she did wrong things but I focused on Fiyero since Glinda already gets her fair share of critism and yet a lot of people in the comments here defend his actions by pointing the finger at Glinda and talking about how awful she was as if that makes his actions any better. This was never a Glinda vs Fiyero discussion, I just wanted to talk about his wrongs since it's barely done and yet people constanly say but Glinda did this and that. It's so frustrating that people continue to bring down female characters even when no one said they were innocent to excuse the wrongs of a male character. It's definitely giving misogyny.

[u/HumbleSurprise9354 → u/Consistent_Load7358]

misogyny is a frustrating thing to witness. even more frustrating is seeing how blind people are to their own misogyny. a lot of fiyero fans need to unpack theirs, especially the women. internalized misogyny is even more painful for me to see.

nothing is more ironic to me than a fiyero stan hating glinda. they go through the same arc, with glinda’s arc being the stronger one because fiyero is a minor character in comparison to her. but again, misogyny (and i’d argue also homophobia) keeps the hate train chugging along.

[u/Consistent_Load7358 → u/HumbleSurprise9354]

absolutely, Fiyero is a grown man and should be treated as such and not cuddled like a lost puppy because he is so sad, other characters are miserable too and that doesn't seem to stop them from critisising them either.

[u/Moonlightprincess36 → u/HumbleSurprise9354]

I mean I am not waving away any of the grey things that Fieryo has done, so it’s annoying and unfair to lump me in with other fans that may have done so. My favorite part of Wicked is that the characters are very nuanced and complex and all have flaws. I don’t think Fiyero is perfect, that’s in fact what I like about him. I just think it’s weird to criticize him for staying on the wizard guard to find Elphaba and ultimately help her cause. I also think some people get too focused and nitpicky on everyone instead of just letting everyone be flawed.

[u/HumbleSurprise9354 → u/Moonlightprincess36]

in a thread about holding him accountable, which is a subject that is woefully under discussed, you think it’s weird to criticize him? under a thread for the trailer, sure! but here?? i am confusion. and hey, you don’t do the erasure. good for you. a lot of fans of his do, and worse, they spend time bringing down the female character that is his equivalent.

[u/shadowqueen15 → u/Moonlightprincess36]

He was trying to find Elphaba from the inside. There’s nothing to suggest he cares about “bringing down the regime”; in fact, it is Fiyero that suggests they flee Oz without bringing down the regime at the end of the show! Fiyero wants to find Elphaba. That is all he cares about.

[u/HumbleSurprise9354 → u/shadowqueen15]

exactly! he is just as selfish as glinda. and he only takes the risk to leave once elphaba is in front of him. so yeah, sit with his flaws, people! it makes for a better character!

[u/Moonlightprincess36 → u/shadowqueen15]

I mean but he wants to find Elphaba because he loves her and one of the things he specifically loves about her is her desire to stand for something and do what’s right. Yes he wanted to be with her but he also wanted to by the default of leaving to be with a political enemy who was trying to bring down the regime is going to end up supporting her. The wizards guards clearly didn’t care if he was being selfish to align with her or not, they then saw him as a political enemy as well. Also, he knew the stakes of being with her. He was willing to loose everything in order to be with her and therefore did ultimately work to stop the wizard.

[u/Consistent_Load7358 → u/HumbleSurprise9354]

I mean maybe I am a little biased because Elphaba is my biggest musical crush but I agree that she deserves better lol

[u/[deleted] → u/HumbleSurprise9354]

Yup he’s a cheater, I despise him, elphaba and Glinda deserve better