Gillikin Country

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The Gillikin Country is the northern division of L. Frank Baum's land of Oz. It is distinguished by the color purple worn by most of the local inhabitants as well as the color of their surroundings.

Like all of the countries of Oz, the Gillikin Country contains various unusual sights and places. Among them are:

from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:

  • the forest of the Winged Monkeys, creatures that obey whoever wears the enchanted Golden Cap
  • the palace of the Good Witch of the North

from The Land of Oz:

  • the house of Mombi, a witch whom the Wizard hired to transform and keep hidden Ozma, the rightful ruler of Oz

from The Tin Woodman of Oz:

  • the village of Loonville, whose balloon-like inhabitants warn strangers to stay away from their clearing (the Loons can also become too puffed-up)
  • Yoop Castle, where a female giant witch lived and ruled her valley
  • Dragons living beneath the earth's surface, allowed to come out once every 100 years in search of food

from Glinda of Oz:

  • giant purple spiders that catch travelers in their webs and make them their servants
  • Mist Maidens, fairies who live in a fog bank
  • Flatheads, people living on a mountaintop whose heads are flat and, until the end of the book, must carry their brains in a can in their pockets
  • Skeezers, once friends and now rivals of the Flatheads who live within a glass city in the middle of a lake
  • Reera the Red, a witch preferring her privacy who specializes in transformations


In Gregory Maguire's revisionist Oz novels Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and Son of a Witch, the Gillikin country is portrayed as more prosperous and industrially developed than other regions of Oz, and home of Shiz University. Galinda hails from Gillikin, as do (according to some) the ruling Ozma family. Gillikinese people are distinguishable by their prominent foreheads and slightly gapped front teeth. They often have heads of curling blond hair, and are believed to be temperamental by non-Gillikinese.


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