Lynessa is the witch who follows Toto into Kansas, demands him back, and brings Dorothy's home into Oz when she doesn't get her way. That opening tells you quite a lot about how…

Lynessa is the witch who follows Toto into Kansas, demands him back, and brings Dorothy's home into Oz when she doesn't get her way. That opening tells you quite a lot about how she deals with resistance. Someone refuses her, and she is willing to uproot that person's whole life in response. Her treatment of Nicholas follows the same pattern. She can punish somebody by changing what they are, and the consequences of that punishment continue working for her afterward. His wish to become human again gives her side leverage over him. She also understands that Dorothy's concern for her friends can be used against her. Having a hostage can accomplish something that a direct attack might not. The scepter is what she wants, and she is prepared to use the people around Dorothy to get it. There is a combination of personal cruelty and ambition running through her actions. She wants control over Oz, but she also expects obedience from the individuals she considers beneath her. Thora, Nicholas, Dorothy, and the people living under her forces all encounter some version of that expectation. Her army makes the threat visible on a much larger scale. You can see the siege equipment and the creatures massed against the city. But the manipulation has been happening long before that army arrives. The danger to Dorothy's group has been developing inside it as well as coming at it from outside.