Doctor Dillamond

Infobox character
colour = green
name = Doctor Dillamond
portrayer = William Youmans


caption = Doctor Dillamond with Elphaba
first = "Wicked" (1995)
last = "Wicked" (1995)
cause = Killed
nickname =
alias =
species = Goat
gender = male
age = unknown
born = unknown
death =
occupation = Teacher at Shiz
title =
parents =
siblings =
spouse =
children =
relatives =
residence = Possibly Shiz
creator = Gregory Maguire

Doctor Dillon Dillamond is a character in author Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel "". The character also appears in the Broadway musical and West End theatre musical "Wicked" which is based on Maguire's novel. In both versions, Doctor Dillamond is a Goat who has the ability to speak and interact with humans. He is a professor at Shiz University. Because he is the only Animal professor at Shiz ("Animals" starting with a capital letter, like "Goat", are sentient beings), he is subjected to discrimination from his students and colleagues. However, Elphaba (the future Wicked Witch of the West) takes a liking to him. Doctor Dillamond causes the character of Galinda to change her name to simply "Glinda," because he can not pronounce the first syllable.

Novel

In Maguire's novel, Doctor Dillamond is a Life Science teacher at Shiz. He was once widely revered for his knowledge and experience, but at the time of the novel the Wizard is putting forth a series of laws which restrict the rights of Animals, and these have greatly diminished the Doctor's influence. Doctor Dillamond is assisted by Elphaba and a Munchkin named Boq in researching and conducting some controversial experiments to discover the biological differences between humans, animals and sentient Animals, with the hope of proving that, since humans and Animals are the same, the Wizard's Banns have no scientific basis. Eventually, another character, Ama Clutch finds him dead in his office, his throat having been slit. Ama Clutch later claims that the Goat was murdered by Grommetik, the mechanical servant of headmistress Madame Morrible. However, this statement is never conclusively proven. Morrible claims that Dillamond fell on a broken magnifying lens, and that Grommetik, finding him lying on the ground, had merely been checking for a pulse when Ama Clutch arrived. Elphaba remains certain that Dillamond was murdered, and continues his experiments later in life.

Musical

In the musical adaptation of Maguire's work, Doctor Dillamond teaches History as opposed to Life Science. He is the unfortunate victim of the The Wizard's attempts at controlling the Animal population - especially those that he fears might be teaching subversive or anti-Wizard material. Arrested and removed from his position at Shiz University, Dillamond is transformed into a regular, non-speaking, non-communicating goat. This confirms his earlier worries expressed in the song "Something Bad," in which he tells Elphaba about rumors of Animals losing their powers of speech.

When Elphaba discovers Dillamond as a prisoner that can no longer speak, she turns against the Wizard, an enormous step in her transformation into the Wicked Witch of the West.

Glinda says during the show she will continue Elphaba's work. This may imply that Doctor Dillamond could be turned back to normal.

The character of Doctor Dillamond was originally played on Broadway by William Youmans, on tour and in Los Angeles by Timothy Britten Parker, in Chicago by Steven Skybell, and in London's West End by Martin Ball. In the German original cast, he is portrayed by Michael Günther.