Princess Ozma
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Princess Ozma is a fictional character in the Land of Oz universe created by L. Frank Baum. She appears in every book of the series except the "The Wizard of Oz" (1900).
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[edit] The Classic Books
The daughter of the former King of Oz, King Pastoria, Ozma was given to the witch Mombi by the Wizard of Oz, who worried she would someday challenge his illegitimate rule as Oz's defacto dictator. Mombi transformed the infant Ozma into a boy and called him Tip (short for Tippetarius). Ozma, in the form of Tip, was raised as a boy and had no memory of ever having been a girl. As Tip, Ozma created Jack Pumpkinhead. In The Marvelous Land of Oz, Glinda the good witch forced Mombi to transform the boy Tip back into Ozma, and she was installed as Oz's ruler (although many realms within Oz were and remain unaware of her authority).
Baum was not inclined to worry about things like continuity between his books, however, and so Ozma changed frequently. In her initial appearance, she was described as a cherubic little girl with red-gold hair; however, all subsequent appearances of the Princess show her as dark-haired. According to The Tin Woodman of Oz, Princess Ozma appears to be fourteen or fifteen years old, and thus several years older than Dorothy. But Ozma's origins changed even more than her appearance, and The Shaggy Man of Oz (written by Jack Snow, long after Baum's death) explains that she is several hundred years old, and was one of a band of fairies who waited on Queen Lurline, who left her behind to rule Oz.
John R. Neill, the illustrator of Baum's Oz series, established the characteristic look of Ozma, strongly influenced by Charles Dana Gibson's 'Gibson girl' and by the beauties in the Art Nouveau poster art of Alphonse Mucha. Neill drew many pictures of Ozma between 1904, when she first appeared in The Marvelous Land of Oz, and his death in 1943, and during those years her image developed and changed. The illustration shown here is from Rinkitink in Oz, 1916: about halfway through Ozma's gradual transformation from an angelic child to a spitfire glamour-girl. One of Baum's granddaughters was named Frances Ozma Baum (later Mantele), to whom Baum dedicated The Lost Princess of Oz. She was usually known by her middle name, though she also developed the nickname "Scraps" in childhood.
As ruler of Oz, Ozma frequently encounters difficulties in trying to reign as monarch. The story featuring her the least is "The Lost Princess of Oz," in which she has been enchanted, and Dorothy Gale forms a search party with the rest of the famous Oz characters, learning the uses of the Magic Belt, and using its powers to eventually free Ozma.
According to the timeline of The Road to Oz, Ozma's birthday falls on the 21st day of the month of August.
[edit] Modern Works
In Gregory Maguire's revisionist Oz novels Wicked and Son of a Witch, "Ozma" is the hereditary title of the Queens of Oz. According to Nanny and other believers in Lurlinism, the Fairy Queen left her daughter Ozma to rule the country in her absence. According to Lurlinist belief, the various rulers named "Ozma" were - more or less - reincarnations of the same being; Ozma "bears herself again and again like a phoenix."
By contrast, according to Elphaba's father Frexspar (and presumably other Unionists as well as the more secular citizens of Oz), the Ozmas are a hereditary dynasty of Gillikinese origin. There were, as Frex said, "three hundred years of very different Ozmas," including:
- Ozma the Mendacious. A dedicated maunt (Unionist nun), she lowered rulings in a bucket from the topmost chamber in a cloister
- Ozma the Bilious. so called because of her chronic digestive troubles. Ozma the Bilious died of an "accident" involving rat poison, leaving her husband Pastoria to rule until their infant daughter Ozma Tippetarius reached adulthood.
[edit] Film
In a 1913 film created by Baum's film company, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Ozma, played by Jessie May Walsh, appears briefly to preside over Ojo's trial. Shirley Temple portrayed her in a 1960 television production, in which she was merely disguised as Tip (in fact, not too different from Baum's 1905 musical, The Woggle-Bug), only with her memory wiped, after already serving as Oz's ruler for many years. She appears briefly in Barry Mahon's The Wonderful Land of Oz, portrayed by Joy Webb. Christopher Passi cameoed as Ozma after portraying Tip for the duration of a filmed stage version of The Marvelous Land of Oz by Thomas W. Olson, Gary Briggle, and Richard Dworsky in 1981 by The Children's Theatre Company and School of Minneapolis. Sometime later, Ozma was portrayed by Emma Ridley in 1985's Return to Oz which was based loosely on the books Ozma of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz. In Ozu no Mahotsukai, Ozma's transformation into Tip was so thorough that, despite bearing almost no physical resemblance whatever to Tip, she is a tomboy throughout the entirety of the series. In The Oz Kids, Andrea (Shay Astar), Glinda's ambivalent daughter, bases her fashion, but little else, on Ozma, who never appeared in the series.
Several fans have pointed out similarities in the appearance of Princess Leia from the Star Wars films to Ozma, in particular Leia's draped white costume and symmetrical hair design reminiscent of the flowers that typically adorn Ozma's crown.
[edit] Ozma as a Romantic Heroine
Speculation of Ozma having a love life has stirred the fan community for years. In unofficial works after the 90s, Ozma apparently became engaged to a man named Milo Starling in the "Umbrella Man of Oz" trilogy. The character, while oddly religious for Oz, was well received amongst Oz fandom. Another story in which Ozma acquires a boyfriend is the "Dan in Oz" series by David Hardenbrook, which stars a young and lovable computer geek named Dan Maryk. A third series is in the works by Mike Conway, featuring a shape-changing warrior named Orryn who marries Ozma. This series has stirred some controversy in that Ozma cheats on her husband with a man named Harper in this story, which many claims would be "out of character" for her. Some fans also hold to the view that Ozma may not be interested in males at all, based on hints given in the novels of a very close relationship between Ozma and Dorothy (not to mention Ozma having once been a boy). For example, chapter 17 of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz contains the following: "Just then the girlish Ruler of Oz opened the door and greeted Dorothy with a good-morning kiss. The little Princess seemed fresh and rosy and in good spirits." Jack Snow, Melody Grandy, and Scott Andrew Hutchins have all made divergent attempts to bring Tip back alongside Ozma.
[edit] Present Day
Ozma is still the full-time ruler of Oz according to most Oz fans. In The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles#1 comic book, Ozma's whereabouts were unknown, as of January 2006.
[edit] See also
| Preceded by: The Scarecrow |
Monarch of Oz | Succeeded by: Incumbent? |
