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Wives

The Wives.
Foreground, left to right: Toast the Knowing, The Splendid Angharad, and Capable.
Background, left to right: The Dag and Cheedo the Fragile.

Immortan Joe's Wives (also referred to as the "Five Wives" and some times the "Five Wives of the Citadel") were a group of five "Breeders" belonging to Immortan Joe. They appeared in Mad Max: Fury Road.

Summary

Immortan Joe has five wives. They are all beautiful women with no externally visible mutations or cancerous growths, which are all-too-common among the population of the Citadel. This makes them perfect stock for breeding healthy children. Joe keeps them locked away in the 'biodome', behind a re-purposed bank vault door inside The Citadel. They wear fang-lined chastity belts held closed by padlocks.

Character conception

In very early stages of writing Mad Max: Fury Road, there was a concept of many wives, not necessarily five, who all belonged to Immortan Joe. That number of women was eventually reduced to five, each of them was described with a single word representing a core value each character would be built upon. And so, the original character outlines for the wives were as follows:[1]

  • "Leader" - The Splendid Angharad
  • "Funny" - The Dag
  • "Brainy" - Toast the Knowing
  • "Fragile" - Cheedo the Fragile
  • "Seductive" - Capable

The Five Wives

History

The Five Wives were hand picked by Immortan Joe, most likely from the crowds of The Wretched, much like War Pups and other valuable people. Those healthy women were kept in the 'biodome' inside The Citadel where they would be educated by Miss Giddy and introduced to the works of the old world, but predominantly used as breeding stock for Immortan Joe. The warlord, desperate for having a healthy heir, would routinely rape the women and make sure they would deliver healthy babies for him. In most cases those attempts were futile until Angharad became pregnant with his child.[2]

Before the events of the film, it is revealed that Imperator Furiosa was assigned to protect the Five Wives from Rictus Erectus. Over time, Furiosa changed her attitude towards the Wives from disregard to compassion and ultimately decided to include them in her escape plan. Under cover of a supposed supply run to Gas Town and the Bullet Farm, she smuggled the wives in the storage tank of her War Rig. Along the highway to Gas Town, she went off-road and started heading east. Immortan Joe, furious after finding out his most precious 'property' was taken from him, decides to go on an all-out chase across the wasteland to return what was stolen from him....

Trivia

Riley Keough, who plays the red-headed wife Capable, is married to Ben Smith-Petersen, who was Coma-Doof Warrior's stunt double.[3]

The Dag uses vulgar Australian slang throughout the movie, puzzling those unfamiliar with Oceanic Englishes. When she says "schlanger" with a hiss, she's insulting Max - and another time, Immortan Joe - by referring to them as "dicks".

Toast the Knowing is the only wife who knows how to maintain and use guns.

Videos

Mad_Max_Fury_Road_-_"Wives"_Featurette_HD

Mad Max Fury Road - "Wives" Featurette HD

Gallery

References

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