Doctor Dillamond
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Doctor Dillamond is a character in author Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. The character also appears in the Broadway musical and West End theatre musical Wicked which is based on Maguire's novel.
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, he is subjected to discrimination from his students and colleagues. However, Elphaba (the future Wicked Witch of the West) takes a liking to him. In the novel, he is assisted by Elphaba and a munchkin named Boq in researching and conducting some controversial experiments. Eventually, Doctor Dillamond is found dead in his office by Ama Clutch, presumably killed by Grommetik, who is Madame Morrible's mechanical servant. This is never proven, though, so no retribution is taken for his apparent murder (although Ama Clutch, Glinda's nanny, may have seen the murder or not, it is not directly stated). Doctor Dillamond is also credited for causing Galinda to change her name to simply "Glinda," because he could not pronounce the first syllable.
In the musical adaptation of Maguire's work, Doctor Dillamond 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, he is transformed into a regular, non-speaking, non-communicating goat, presumably by the Wizard's officials. It is Elphaba's discovery of this horrible act by the Wizard on assumption that seals her transformation into the Wicked Witch of the West, promising to forever fight the Wizard for this deed.
Doctor Dillamond sings the song "Something Bad" in the musical Wicked, in which he reveals to Elphaba how "something bad" is happening to the Animals of Oz, and that they are somehow forgetting how to speak. The character was originally played on Broadway by William Youmans, and in London's West End by Martin Ball.
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