List of Oz characters

This is a list of characters in the Oz books of L. Frank Baum, Ruth Plumly Thompson, John R. Neill, Jack Snow, Rachel Cosgrove Payes, Eloise Jarvis McGraw and Lauren McGraw, Dick Martin, Eric Shanower, and Sherwood Smith. Characters from Gregory Maguire's Wicked are not included, as his works, among others such as the work of March Laumer, are considered "heretical" in Baum scholarship. (The term "heretical" was first applied to these books by Dr. Stephen J. Teller of Pittsburg State University in the Winter 1988 issue of The Baum Bugle and appears regularly in Oz fandom.)

Many of the characters in the Oz universe are thought to hold allegorical significance to political and social issues of Baum's day, such as the Populist movement, the gold standard, industrialization, and woman's rights.

Abatha

Abatha (Good Witch of the East) is the title character in Eric Shanower's graphic novel, The Blue Witch of Oz. She fell under a spell during a custody battle with her brother-in-law over custody of her son.

Allen McGudgey

Allen McGudgey is the protagonist of Merry Go Round in Oz. He is a small boy raised by an adoptive family of large boys who mistreat him before he escapes to Oz on Merry Go Round, a living Merry Go Round horse.

Army of Oogaboo

The Army of Oogaboo appears in the book Tik-Tok of Oz. It consists of General Jo Apple, General Jo Bunn, General Jo Cone, General Jo Clock, Colonel Jo Plum, Colonel Jo Egg, Colonel Jo Banjo, Colonel Jo Cheese, Major Jo Nail, Major Jo Cake, Major Jo Ham, Major Jo Stockings, Captain Jo Sandwich, Captain Jo Padlock, Captain Jo Sundae, Captain Jo Buttons, and Private Jo Files. After Private Files resigns, Tik-Tok is made a private in the army.

Aunt Em and Uncle Henry

Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are Dorothy Gale's aunt and uncle. They live a hardscrabble life on a farm in Kansas. After they are facing foreclosure on their farm, they permanently move to Oz in The Emerald City of Oz and take jobs in the Emerald City.

Belfaygor of Bourne

Belfaygor of Bourne, of the Land of the Barons in the Quadling Country, is a major character in Ruth Plumly Thompson's Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz.[1]

He is in love with Shirley Sunshine, but because of a magic spell poorly cast by his Miserable Mesmerizer when he asked for a beard for his wedding day, his beard grows at such a rapid rate that he must carry scissors to constantly cut it. This causes severe problems when sleeping, and when he is locked in a prison cell with Peter Brown, Jack Pumpkinhead, and Snif the Iffin, all except Jack get a close-call as his beard grows in the night, filling so much of the cell that it makes it difficult to breathe.

Belfaygor's curse is often brought up in discussions of the inconsistencies about aging and death in the Land of Oz, as it indicates that mitosis continues to exist in Oz.

The beard disappears when he is caught and released from the pirate sack Peter found in The Gnome King of Oz, after which he vows never to grow one again.

Bell-snickle

Bell-snickle is the major villain of The Scalawagons of Oz. He is described as being like a blue-green buckwheat cake, and is proud to be a mystery. He interferes with the flabber-gas that operates the Scalawagons, sending them out of control. After his defeat, Jenny Jump used him as a rubber stamp in her shop.

Betsy Bobbin

Betsy Bobbin is a character whose first book appearance is in Tik-Tok of Oz (she was introduced in the 1913 stage production The Tik-Tok Man of Oz). Here she teams up with Shaggy Man and together they go to the Nome King's Caverns. In later books, she, Dorothy and Trot are constant companions and allies of Ozma. Although created as a new character, Betsy has a great deal in common with Dorothy. For example, Dorothy, who is from Kansas, washed up onto the shores of Ev with a chicken named Billina, and Betsy, who is from Oklahoma, arrives in a similar manner with a mule named Hank. Both girls are headstrong and courageous.

Betsy is usually shown as having blonde or light-brown hair, though in some illustrations it could be interpreted as red or brunette and, in The Lost Princess of Oz is said to be one year older than Dorothy Gale. Based on Trot's age (10) in The Giant Horse of Oz, she would be 12, if one accepts Ruth Plumly Thompson as an authority, as Baum said that Trot was a year younger than Dorothy. Strangely, more than one of the Oz books start or end with the people of Oz celebrating Betsy's birthday, though it has been claimed as being both in the spring (in Thompson's The Hungry Tiger of Oz) and on Halloween (in Bill Campbell and Irwin Terry's Masquerade in Oz--Campbell has acknowledged that had forgotten the spring reference in the former), although the weather in Oz is generally consistent with being in the Northern Hemisphere. Betsy is also the protagonist of Ruth Plumly Thompson's The Hungry Tiger of Oz.

Billina

Billina is Dorothy's pet hen in the book Ozma of Oz. In that book, she saves the citizens of Oz from being turned into objects by the Nome King. She is quite talkative, and is portrayed in later books as being the matriarch of a large colony of chicks.

Boq

Boq is a minor character in the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, depicted as a Munchkin who offers Dorothy shelter. Boq plays a much larger role in the Wicked books and musical. In Wicked, Boq is a Munchkin who attends Shiz University with Elphaba and Galinda. In the musical adaptation of Wicked (but not in Baum's or Maguire's books), Boq becomes the Tin Woodman.

Button-bright

Button-Bright, AKA Saladin Paracelsus de Lambertine Evagne von Smith, is a character in the Road to Oz and several other Oz books. He is the first American boy to emigrate to Oz. He is often the main character in subplots that center around him getting lost and being found again. Buttonbright is also a character in the book Sky Island.

Cap’n Bill

Cap’n Bill Weedles first appears in the Scarecrow of Oz, and several books after that. He is a former sea captain with a wooden leg

Cayke

Cayke, or Cayke the Cookie Cook as she is also called, is a character who appears in the book The Lost Princess of Oz (1917).[2] She is a Yip, a resident of a remote plateau in Oz; she is noted for the delicious cookies she bakes in her diamond-studded gold dishpan. Cayke knows that the dishpan has magic powers; she admits to the Frogman that without it she is a poor cook, and her cookies are "pretty poor stuff and no better than any woman could make who does not own [her] diamond-studded gold dishpan." However, she has no idea that her magic dishpan can carry its occupants anywhere they desire to go. Ugu the shoemaker steals Cayke's dishpan and uses it to kidnap Ozma and steal all the magic in the Land of Oz.

When Cayke discovers her dishpan has gone missing, she is greatly distressed, and causes quite a fuss by wailing and screaming. After the Frogman, who is thought to be extremely wise by all of the Yips, tells her that the dishpan has been stolen by someone outside of the country of the Yips, she leaves the plateau where the Yips live and travels the general land of Oz to find it. This trip makes her the first Yip to leave the plateau. Though the Frogman joins her, she was prepared to go alone, showing her courage and determination. Cayke is a relatively simple woman, but she is honest except with the truth will hurt someone's feelings. and seems to be generally good natured, if a little ill-tempered at times.

According to Cayke, the diamond-studded gold dishpan has been passed down in her family, from her mother and all of her grandmothers since the beginning of time; but its origin is never disclosed.

Cayke makes a brief appearance in Jeff Freedman's 1994 novel The Magic Dishpan of Oz (her dishpan plays a much greater role there).[3]

Chiss

Chiss is a four-legged fictional creature in The Patchwork Girl of Oz.[4] Chiss resembles a porcupine the size of a ten-bushel basket and has the ability to shoot its quills from its body. It apparently does not have the ability to grow new quills, as it must gather up its quills and put them back in its body after firing them. In the Oz book, Chiss threw its quills at Ojo the Lucky and his party, but Scraps the Patchwork Girl shielded the group from the quills. As punishment, the group took Chiss's quills with them so that the creature could not attack anyone again.[5]

Chopfyt

Chopfyt is a character in The Tin Woodman of Oz His name is a portmanteau of Nick Chopper and Fyter the tin soldier, as he was made from the limbs of Fyter and the Tin Woodman, including Fyter's head, and secured with magic glue. He eventually marries the Tin Man's love interest Nimmie Amee.

Queen Coo-ee-oh

Queen Coo-ee-oh was the Queen of the Skeezers in Glinda of Oz.[6] Shortly after she is introduced, as an arrogant girl of about fifteen or sixteen, who proclaims herself the only Krumbic witch in the world, for she invented the art, the Su Dic of the Flatheads attacks her island kingdom, and she leads the defense aboard a submarine that opens into a boat. There a bucket of enchanted water is dumped upon her, and she becomes a vain, diamond-eyed swan with no memory of her magical abilities.

Her sudden transformation leaves her domed city stranded beneath the waters of the lake, as only she knew the spell. The Krumbic witchcraft proves to be a hybrid of dark arts mixed with magic learned from the Three Adepts at Magic who used to rule the Flatheads, while the three magic spells to operating the city are identified as the parts of her name.

Cowardly Lion

The Cowardly Lion is one of Dorothy Gale's first companions in Oz, joining Dorothy's journey to the Wizard in search of courage. At the end of the book, he becomes King of the Beasts in the Quadling Forest, though this is rarely brought up in later book. In later books, he appears in minor roles as Ozma's bodyguard and beast of burden, along with the Hungry Tiger. In The Cowardly Lion of Oz, a lion collector seeks to capture him, while he seeks to restore his store of courage.

Dorothy Gale

Dorothy Gale is the main character in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and several other of the Oz books. She is depicted as being a young girl from Kansas. After returning to Kansas via the ruby slippers (or silver shoes), she returns to Oz several more times before settling there in The Emerald City of Oz.

Ervic

Ervic is a major character in Glinda of Oz. Displaying "courage, cleverness, and ingenuity,"[7] Ervic is often considered one of Baum's strongest male characters (as the author's male characters often tend to be ineffectual).

When Queen Coo-ee-oh launches her submarine attack on the Flatheads, Ervic is one of the young men in her flagship. The Flatheads quickly dispatch with Coo-ee-oh, as they simply wanted revenge on her personally, but as she is the only one who knows the magic to get back to the submerged city, the young men sit in the boat, unsure what to do. Ervic is approached by the Three Adepts at Magic who are stranded in the form of fish. They wish him to catch them in a bucket and to follow their instructions, and that if he does so, he will save himself, his city, and his companions. They help him get the boat to shore and have him carry the bucket to Reera the Red. Reera is a beautiful young woman who practices Yookoohoo (transformation-only) magic for her own amusement. Reera is interested by his impertinence with her, and very shrewdly manipulates her into restoring the Adepts to human form, taking quite a bit of time and waiting for her to ask permission to transform them several times. The Adepts are able to assist the raising of the city, and with Coo-ee-oh gone, Lady Aurex is named Queen of the Skeezers by Princess Ozma, and for his valiance, Aurex names Ervic her Prime Minister.

Eureka

Eureka is a pink (occasionally purple) kitten who appears in several books beginning with Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. She is often portrayed as conniving and deceitful. Eureka makes many appearances in fan fiction.

Evoldo

Evoldo is the late king of the Land of Ev, a monarchy across the Deadly Desert from Oz. He is discussed and pictured in Ozma of Oz, but has died before the adventure takes place.[8] Evoldo was a cruel despot; after purchasing Tik-Tok, the clockwork man, and giving him his name, Evoldo sold his wife and ten children (five boys, five girls) to the Nome King in exchange for a long life. Later, regretting this bargain, he locked Tik-Tok in a stone chamber and committed suicide by jumping into the Nonestic Ocean.

Frogman

The Frogman is a man-sized frog who appears as a character who is first introduced in The Lost Princess of Oz.[9]  He was once an ordinary frog, and his similarity to Professor Woggle-Bug is rather clear, though unlike the Woggle-Bug, he is not thoroughly educated, and is much more interested in dandy fashion.

In 1986, March Laumer made him, with the proper name Frederick Fraukx, the title character of The Frogman of Oz: The Oz Book for 1947, along with a U.S. Navy frogman. The Frogman is a crucial character in Jeff Freedman's 1994 novel The Magic Dishpan of Oz.

Fyter the Tin Soldier

Captain Fyter the Tin Soldier is a character who is first introduced in The Tin Woodman of Oz. After the Tin Woodman left his beloved Nimmie Amee after losing his heart (as he felt he could not love her), Fyter, a member of the Munchkin army, met and fell in love with her when he found her crying over her lost love. Unfortunately, she was a ward to the Wicked Witch of the East, who made Fyter's sword do what the Woodman's axe did and cut off his limbs, which Ku-Klip the tin smith replaced with tin limbs (although Fyter is not bothered by his lack of a heart). Nimmie Amee agreed to marry him, but on the day of their wedding, a storm rose up, and the rain rusted Fyter so badly that he was frozen in place along a little used forest path. There he stood for years until he was discovered by the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, Woot the Wanderer, and Polychrome the Rainbow's Daughter. Once lubricated and restored to life, Fyter accompanies the group of adventurers on their quest to find Nimmie Amee, intending to fulfill his vow of marriage (although he is willing to give her up if she chooses the Woodman over him). When they finally find her, she is happily married to Chopfyt, the assembled and combined "meat" parts of the two men. Finding Nimmie Amee happily married, they return to the Emerald City where Captain Fyter joins the Royal Army of Oz. Eventually, Ozma sends Fyter to keep order among the wild inhabitants of the unknown areas of the Gillikin Country.

Gayelette

Gayelette is a character in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She is a great sorceress and princess who lives in the North (Gillikin Country) of the Land of Oz, and resides in a ruby castle built by her people, the men of whom she considers ugly and stupid, aside from her young husband, Quelala. Some have speculated that Gayelette may be a younger version of the Good Witch of the North. She nurtures and then marries a boy named Quelala. After the winged monkeys pull a prank on Quelala and ruin his velvet wedding suit, Gayellette decides to punish the monkeys with a Golden Cap that will force the monkeys to do the wearer's bidding thrice. Quelala, the first wearer, has the monkeys banished. The entire story of Gayelette and Quelala is told by the current King of the Winged Monkeys, whose grandfather tricked Quelala. The Monkeys do not know how the Wicked Witch of the West acquired the Golden Cap. In spite of Gayelette's harsh treatment of the Winged Monkeys and her judgment of the people, the current King of the Winged Monkeys says that Gayelette's subjects loved her. She used her magic to help the people and was considered wise and good.[10] Gayelette never appears again in a canon Oz book. In Roger S. Baum's Dorothy of Oz, she and Quelala aid Dorothy Gale when Dorothy seeks them out.[11] They did not meet in the first Oz book. The character has never appeared in an adaptation with the exception of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz anime series, but then only in the unedited TV version. The characters also appear in the fan novel, Mira of Oz (2002).[12]

Glass Cat

Bungle, the Glass Cat is a cat made of glass who was brought to life by the Powder of Life in The Patchwork Girl of Oz. She is portrayed as vain and aloof, due to the fact that she has clearly visible pink brains.

Glinda

Glinda is a powerful sorceress who rules the Southern Kingdom of Oz. Glinda first appears in the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy journeys to her to find a way back to Kansas. She owns the Great Book of Records and cast the spell to make Oz invisible to outsiders. Glinda is one of the main characters in her titular book, Glinda of Oz, the last written by Baum. Glinda also is a character in the Wicked books.

Good Witch of the North

The Good Witch of the North, sometimes called Locasta or Tappypoo first appears in the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, when she appears after Dorothy’s house kills the Wicked Witch of the East. She does not figure again into the plot of a novel until The Giant Horse of Oz.

Guardian of the Gates

The Guardian of the Gates is a character in several of the Oz books. He is never known by any other name, but he is depicted as a singular character who lives in a small room, based on its description significantly larger than a standard guardhouse, in the wall of the Emerald City. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz, his function is to tie green spectacles around the heads of all visitors to the Emerald City, on the grounds that the glittering rays of the City would cause blindness. These are locked onto all citizens' and visitors' heads, and the Guardian has the only key.

After The Marvelous Land of Oz, he abandoned the practice, for General Jinjur's Army of Revolt and Tippetariushad all entered the city without damage to their eyes. The spectacles were the idea of the Wizard of Oz to make the city appear greener than it actually is. The Guardian of the Gates appears only occasionally after this book, and his duty becomes significantly lighter.

In The Patchwork Girl of Oz, when Ojo the Lucky reaches the city, he and his companions are taken into the Guardian's room, where the Soldier with the Green Whiskers tells the Guardian of the Gates that he has a note from Ozma that Ojo is to be taken prisoner. So the Guardian of the Gates removes the traditional prison garb, a white robe that completely covers the prisoner, from a closet and places it on Ojo and leaves the Soldier with the Green Whiskers in charge of him.

In John R. Neill's Oz books, the Guardian of the Gates and the Soldier with the Green Whiskers are frequently shown as friends, but the subsequent books of Jack Snow give the duty to Omby Amby (the Soldier's name), and there is no entry for the Guardian of the Gates in Snow's Who's Who in Oz. In Neill's The Scalawagons of Oz, the Guardian mentions a desire to visit his cousin, Oompa, which may explain, in-universe, why Omby Amby is fulfilling that function. Further confusion is created in the MGM movie, in which both roles are played by Frank Morgan, and publicity referred to the Guardian's equivalent as "the Doorman" and the Soldier's equivalent as "the Guard". No other Guardian of the Gates is described in any of Baum's books, aside from a stout woman who takes over the function during Jinjur's rule. In The Marvelous Land of Oz musical, in which the role was originated by Steve Huke, the Guardian is conflated with the man interviewed doing housework, and he also claims to have a wife and ten children, a claim not made by anyone in the book.

The Guardian of the Gates had his own eponymous song, written in bass clef, in The Wizard of Oz musical extravaganza, by Baum and composer Paul Tietjens, but it was cut after only two performances and never made it to Broadway, although the sheet music was published for consumer use.

The Gump

The Gump is a character who makes two canonical appearances in The Marvelous Land of Oz and Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.[13]

Gumps appear to be common animals in the land of Oz. They resemble large deer, most accurately moose-like creatures, but with caprine whiskers. Specifically The Gump is actually just the head of one of these creatures mounted on a plaque, with two sofas for a body, palm tree limbs for wings, and a broom for a tail. This was all tied together with clothes line. After his construction, the Gump was brought to life using the Powder of Life. He was later disassembled, at his own request, and remained only a head for the remainder of the series. The Gump is one of two creatures who were once living and then brought back to life by the Powder of Life, the other was a blue bear skin rug owned by a woman named Dinah.

The Gump appears in both major stage adaptations of The Marvelous Land of Oz, The Woggle-Bug (1905) and The Marvelous Land of Oz (1981). The Gump appears in the movie Return to Oz (1985) but looking much more like a green-furred moose in the film with non-palmate antlers, that quips "I should have quit while I was a head" during the escape flight from Mombi's castle. He also appears in The Wonderful Land of Oz (1969), voiced by an unbilled Ray Menard, the production designer of the film.

Sir Hokus of Pokes

Sir Hokus of Pokes is a character who is first introduced in The Royal Book of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson. His name is a reference to hocus pocus. He is an elderly knight in the vein of Don Quijote. Sir Hokus was discovered in the kingdom of Pokes, where he had been snoring for several centuries. Pokes is a small, sleepy (literally) kingdom by the road in Winkie Country, by the Winkie River. After joining Dorothy on an adventure, Sir Hokus returns with her to live at the Palace in the Emerald City. In later books he accompanies the main characters on several quests, and has a particularly significant adventure in The Yellow Knight of Oz and marries Princess Marygolden of Corabia. In that book, we learn that his current state is the result of magic of the Sultan of Samandra, a kingdom between Corumbia and Corabia where animals cannot speak. His favorite steed, the Comfortable Camel is immediately stuck dumb upon entering it. At the end of the novel, he becomes the younger Corum, Prince of Corumbia, the Yellow Knight of Oz, struck with the pit of a magic date that turns his silver armor golden and transforms him into a young, blond-haired man. Although Sir Hokus's disenchantment changed his appearance significantly, after his initial identification as Corum, he was referred to as Sir Hokus for the rest of the book.[14] He does, however, receive a new steed, Stampedro, whom Speedy frees from enchantment and who facilitates Hokus's restoration.

In later adventures he tends to be back to his old self, such as in The Scalawagons of Oz, when he play fights a two-headed Dragonette. Even Thompson showed him as his implicitly old self and referred to him as Sir Hokus in a brief appearance in the Emerald City in Yankee in Oz (1972).

Hungry Tiger

The Hungry Tiger is a large, ferocious beast. Like his companion the Cowardly Lion, he serves as Ozma's bodyguard and beast of burden. He is always very, very hungry, and always professes a desire to eat a fat baby, which he never gets around to doing. In The Hungry Tiger of Oz, he is hired as a prison guard to eat prisoners, but he cannot do it.

Jack Pumpkinhead

Jack Pumpkinhead first appears in The Marvelous Land of Oz, when Mombi animates a stick figure with a pumpkin for a head using the Powder of Life. Jack is Tip’s companion for the rest of the book, and appears in several books thereafter, including a titular appearance in Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz

Jellia Jamb

Jellia Jamb is the head maid of the Emerald City palace. She first appears in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and is first named in The Marvelous Land of Oz, where she is tricked by Mombi

Jenny Jump

Jenny Jump is a character who is from New Jersey and is half human, half fairy. She appears in John R. Neill’s Oz books.

Jinjur

Jinjur is the head of an army of ladies that overthrows the Emerald City and installs her as ruler of Oz in The Marvelous Land of Oz. She also appears in several other Oz books.

Jim the Cab-Horse

Jim the Cab-Horse is a character in 'Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. He was originally charged with taking Dorothy home from the train station. He is depicted as an emaciated steed. Later in the book, Jim loses a race to the Saw-horse.

Jinnicky the Red Jinn

Jinnicky the Red Jinn is a character who frequently appears in Ruth Plumly Thompson’s Oz books. He is depicted as a character who owns a lot of slaves and has his red body enclosed in a ginger jar.

John Dough

John Dough is a name of several gingerbread men who appeared throughout literature, including in The Road to Oz, Baum’s 1906 novel John Dough and the Cherub , and perhaps in Baum’s never-finished fifteenth Oz book.

Johnny Dooit

Johnny Dooit is a fictional "handyman" appearing in The Road to Oz.[15] He is a little old man with a long beard who is friends with the Shaggy Man. His appearance in the novel is less than one chapter, in which he creates a Sand Boat to allow the Shaggy Man and his friends, Dorothy Gale, Button-Bright, and Polychrome to cross the Deadly Desert into the Land of Oz.[16] Johnny has a tool chest from which he can pull out nearly any equipment he needs. At Ozma's birthday party, he builds an aircraft out of contents of the trunk, puts the trunk inside, and flies away as an entertainment while getting himself to the next place he is needed, as he loves to work and keep busy.[17]

In spite of Johnny's brief appearance in the Oz series, appearing in no subsequent books, he was later used as a fairly important supporting character in Caliber Comics' Oz, although Bill Bryan's artwork made him appear much younger, and he lacked facial hair. He was frequently turned to for his engineering know-how. He is also the main character in Chris Dulabone's Do It for Oz![18]

Kabumpo

Kabumpo is an elephant who appears in several of the Ruth Plumly Thompson Oz books, including a titular role in Kabumpo in Oz.

Kalidah

Kalidahs are a fictitious species of animal in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.[19] They are mentioned and featured in the first half of the story when Dorothy Gale and her companions are traveling through the dark forest. A Kalidah is characterized as a ferocious monster having the head of a tiger and the body of a bear.

Other Kalidahs appear in The Magic of Oz, where they bother Trot and Cap'n Bill. In The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Dr. Pipt keeps Kalidahs struck with his Liquid of Petrefaction by the entrance to his house. The creatures play an important part in Eric Shanower's "Gugu and the Kalidahs."[20] Phyllis Ann Karr's short story "The Guardian Dove," published in the 1990 issue of Oziana, provides a detailed treatment of Kalidah culture.[21]

The 1975 stage musical The Wiz includes a musical number "Kalidah Battle," featuring the Kalidah Queen and two of her gang.[22] In the film adaptation of The Wiz, the Kalidahs are two red paper lantern-alike marionettes controlled by the Subway Peddler, the Wicked Witch of the West's henchman. During the attack in the Subway, it's shown that the Kalidahs are able to separate from their strings, become two meters high and chase anyone the Peddler wants. After the Wicked Witch of West is defeated, when her henchmen (the Peddler included) and her slaves turn into Winkies by tearing their costumes and burning them, the Kalidahs may be destroyed in the process.

Kaliko

Kaliko is a nome and lives in the Nome Kingdom, where he is, at least to start off with, the Chief Steward to his sadistic master, the Nome King Roquat the Red.[19] H

Kaliko is first encountered in Ozma of Oz, though he is identified only as the Chief Steward. In the book, Dorothy's pet hen Billina overheard an argument between Kaliko and Roquat, and learned the secret. She was able to set the prisoners free. In The Emerald City of Oz, Roquat the Red plans to attack the Emerald City in revenge for his humiliation; we see Kaliko only very briefly.

The character of Kaliko is in his prime in Tik-Tok of Oz. Kaliko become king after old Ruggedo (whose name was changed from Roquat) was expelled from his kingdom by the Great Jinjin Tititihoochoo for tipping some members of a Rescue Expedition from Oz down a Hollow Tube and straight into the Land of the Fairies, which is under the governorship of Tititihoochoo. Kaliko promises to become a good king and offers to assist in rescuing the Shaggy Man's brother. Ruggedo returns to the Nome Kingdom, and Kaliko takes him in upon Ruggedo's promise to be good.

Kaliko has a brief role in Rinkitink in Oz, where he helps the cruel King Gos and Queen Cor hide the captive rulers of Pingaree from their "wizard" son Prince Inga and his friend Rinkitink of Gilgad. Kaliko is essentially a good-natured person still, but refuses to surrender the prisoners upon Inga's arrival as he feels himself bound to his promise made to Gos and Cor. However, Dorothy and the Wizard arrive from Oz and force Kaliko to give up the prisoners.

Kaliko makes some more appearances in the later Oz books of Ruth Plumly Thompson, where he appears to have changed from a "good" Nome into a cruel Nome who harbors plans to rule Oz for himself, and adds himself to the list of Princess Ozma's enemies. He, like all other Nomes, is afraid of eggs; and once he becomes king, he is a self-confessed "powerful sorcerer."

King Kinda Jolly

King Kinda Jolly of Kimbaloo is a character in The Lost King of Oz. The short and stout king of Kimbaloo, is a jolly little Gillikin in the kingdom known for its button trees and the crops they provide. Kinda Jolly wears a silver crown to match his silver beard, and is married to the sweet little Queen, Rosa Merry. He is leader of the 249 other male citizens of Kimbaloo, and in charge of the button crops. He loves his people dearly and is loved by them. He once hired the witch Mombi as a cook in his palace, against the advice of Hah Hoh, the town laugher of the kingdom, since he took pity on the friendless old woman, and did not know she was in fact a former witch.

Ku-Klip

Ku-Klip is a character who is the originally unnamed tinsmith in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz who provided Nick Chopper with tin prostheses when the latter was cursed to dismember himself by the Wicked Witch of the East because of his love for the servant Nimmie Amee.[23] In The Tin Woodman of Oz, we are introduced to a soldier named Captain Fyter, who met with the same fate due to his interest in Nimmie Amee, and Ku-Klip did the same for him.

After the witch was destroyed by Dorothy Gale's house, Ku-Klip entered the witch's house and took some of her magical devices, including a magic glue. He had thrown Chopper and Fyter's discarded body parts into a barrel, and decided to use this glue (mislabeled "Meat Glue" in John R. Neill's illustrations) to assemble the parts from two men into a man called Chopfyt, but he finds he must substitute a tin arm as well. Nimmie Amee marries the assemblage and appears to be quite happy, but Princess Ozma takes the witch's tools away from the smith so that he cannot create any more unnatural beings. Ku-Klip continues to keep Nick Chopper's flesh head, who finds the Tin Woodman's claim to be him ludicrous, in a cabinet.

Princess Langwidere

Princess Langwidere is a fictional character who appears in Ozma of Oz, the third book in the Oz series.[24] Her name is a pun on the words "languid" and "dear" or "languid air". As depicted in an illustration by John R. Neill, Langwidere's looks are styled on the Gibson girl standard of beauty which was popular at the time of this novel's publication.

Dorothy encounters the Princess in the land of Ev, which itself is separated from Oz by the Deadly Desert. After becoming stranded in Ev, Dorothy encounters Tik-Tok the machine man, who informs her that they must go to the royal palace of Ev to gain assistance in finding her way back home.

Along the way they have a run-in with a Wheeler, who informs them that the King of Ev recently committed suicide and the rest of the entire Royal Family of Ev is being held captive by the mysterious Nome King. The Wheeler explains that Princess Langwidere, the late king's niece, was the only living relative of the Royal Family "qualified" enough to assume rule of the kingdom — although this is highly debatable because, as the Princess herself later admits, she only spends 10 minutes of every day actually governing and tending to matters of state, and she would rather spend those 10 minutes admiring her beauty.

Princess Langwidere's most unusual feature is that she has 30 heads that are interchangeable on her neck — instead of changing her clothes every day, she simply changes her head. The heads, which inexplicably stay alive even when not being "worn," are kept in a bejeweled boudoir, and are described as all being very beautiful, running through all combinations of hair and eye colors (except for gray hair and red, tired eyes of course), skin tones, and even noses of different shapes to represent different ethnicities. Langwidere generally spends every waking moment of her life admiring whichever head she's currently wearing in a large mirrored hall, and "changing" heads whenever she wants to adopt a new look.

Princess Langwidere is referenced in Ruth Plumly Thompson's "Grampa in Oz", although her name is misspelled in that book. Except for that one instance, the character never appears in any other Oz books. In the 1985 movie Return to Oz, the character of Princess Mombi is largely based on Princess Langwidere. Langwidere is the principal villain of the 2006 stage musical Enchanted.[25] In the forthcoming 2011 film The Witches of Oz, she will be portrayed by Mia Sara. It is unknown what other actresses will also portray Princess Langwidere after she changes her head.

Lonesome Duck

The Lonesome Duck is a character in The Magic of Oz; he makes brief but gaudy appearances in two of the book's later chapters.[26]

The Lonesome Duck first appears when Cap'n Bill and Trot are trapped on the Magic Isle in the Gillikin Country. He swims "swiftly and gracefully" over to them, astonishing them with his "gorgeously colored plumage". In a brief conversation, the Duck explains why he is lonesome. Though he cannot help free the two protagonists from their entrapment, he makes it slightly easier to bear, by conjuring large magic toadstools for them to sit on. Later, the rescue party searching for Trot and Cap'n Bill almost stumbles over the Lonesome Duck's diamond palace, earning them a stern rebuke from its inhabitant. The text never specifies the Duck's gender; the creature is consistently referred to as "it." Yet the general rule among birds is that the males are gaudier than the females.

Queen Lurline

Queen Lurline is a fairy queen who is mentioned in the Oz backstory as originally enchanting the country. She also appears in Baum’s Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, as well as in the Wicked books.

Mombi

Mombi is a wicked witch of the North who is one of the series’ major antagonists. She first appears The Marvelous Land of Oz, when Tip escapes her power. It is revealed that she helped install the Wizard as ruler of Oz. She makes several more appearances in the Oz books before she is put to death in The Lost King of Oz. Mombi appears in the movie Return to Oz and in later books of the Wicked series.

Munchkins

The Munchkins are a race of little people who wear blue and inhabit the Munchkin Country of Oz.

Nimmie Amee

Nimmie Amee is the Munchkin girl whom the Tin Woodman once loved in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.[27] She was not named until The Tin Woodman of Oz, as Nick Chopper never went to find her after the Wizard gave him a "kind" but not a "loving" heart, until that novel's protagonist, Woot the Wanderer, encouraged him to do so.

In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Tin Woodman tells Dorothy Gale and the Scarecrow that the girl was a servant for an old woman who did not wish her to marry, and so sought the aid of the Wicked Witch of the East to place a spell on him that caused him to cut himself up with his axe while carrying on his livelihood. In The Tin Woodman of Oz, this was retconned, and in Nick's new telling, she was directly enslaved by the Witch herself.

Nimmie Amee was aware of the spell, which occurred gradually, and was not bothered by his condition and still wished to marry him, but he lost interest when he lost his heart. (In Wizard, he lost his heart after his head; in Tin Woodman, he lost his head last and the Witch ran around with it in her arms.) Soon a soldier named Captain Fyter also wooed the girl, and the Witch dealt him the same blow, and he sought help from the same tin smith, Ku-Klip. Fyter's head and parts of Nick and his body were incorporated into Chopfyt, a new person, through the use of magic glue found in the Witch's house. Ku-Klip was unable to find one arm, so he fashioned one out of tin. In this way, Chopfyt reminded her of both the men she loved, and she married him, and Baum presented them as a happy couple at the end of the novel, although Princess Ozma forbade Ku-Klip from ever doing such a thing again.

Nome King

The Nome King (first referred to as Roquat, and later Ruggedo) is the ruler of an underground kingdom of miner-soldiers. He appears in Ozma of Oz and several later books. His evil plans usually involve kidnapping the rulers of Oz or some other kingdom. Even after he is deposed, he continues to make trouble for the inhabitants of Oz.

Ojo the Lucky

Ojo the Lucky is a Munchkin who appears in several Oz books, including The Patchwork Girl of Oz and Ojo in Oz

Ozma

Princess Ozma is the ruler of Oz since the end of the second book, and has appeared in every book except the first. She had been transformed into a young boy named Tip by the witch Mombi earlier in the second book. In many of the books, she is depicted as a fairy princess of fourteen or fifteen years of age, though she was originally portrayed as not a fairy and much younger. She is the title character in Ozma of Oz and The Lost Princess of Oz, and The Road to Oz centers around a journey to her birthday party.

Patchwork Girl

Scraps, the Patchwork Girl appears in several Oz books beginning with The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Her titular book revolves around her being brought to life, filled with a mixture of character traits, and joining the adventure to find an antidote for petrification. In later books, she is often paired with the Scarecrow.

Phonograph

The Phonograph is a character who appeared in The Patchwork Girl of Oz. It originally belonged to the crooked magician, Dr. Pipt, until it was inadvertently brought to life when it was accidentally sprinkled with the Powder of Life. The Phonograph has a large gold-colored horn, and is screwed to a tall, four-legged table, which it uses for movement.

Once alive, it continued to bother the magician by playing loud and offensive "classical" music, until it was at last forced from his home. t then tried to endear itself to the young Munchkin boy, Ojo, and his friends in much the same way, (first with classical, then jazz), but was finally scared off by the Shaggy Man, who threatened to "scatter its pieces across the country, as a matter of kindness to the people of Oz." The Phonograph has never been seen since.

The Phonograph's name is Victor Columbia Edison, but was dubbed Vic for short, by the Patchwork Girl.

Rak

The Rak is a flying fictional creature from the pages of Tik-Tok of Oz.[28] The Rak is described as a large winged creature with glowing red eyes that can fly in the air, run like a deer and swim like a fish. Inside its body is a glowing furnace of fire which allows the creature to breathe out smoke. Its smoky breath blankets the surrounding area like a thick, black fog with an aroma of salt and pepper. It is bigger than a hundred men and feeds on any living thing. Like most other animals in the land of Oz, the Rak can speak. The Rak's vague descriptions given in the storybook lead one to believe that the Rak is a type of dragon.

In Tik-Tok of Oz, the Rak is briefly encountered by Queen Ann Soforth and her army and wounded by gunfire. Although its jaw, wing and leg are broken by the attack, the Rak does not die, as everything in the land of Oz lives an enchanted life and cannot die.

Scarecrow

The Scarecrow first appears in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, when he joins Dorothy to go to the Wizard in search of brains. When the Wizard leaves Oz, he makes the Scarecrow ruler, a position he holds until the middle of second book. Later, he moves to a corn-shaped house in the Winkie Country. The Scarecrow appears in many of the later books, including The Scarecrow of Oz (where he is the title character) and The Royal Book of Oz (where he researches his ancestry). He was played by Ray Bolger in the 1939 movie.

Smith & Tinker

Smith and Tinker, introduced in Ozma of Oz, are an inventor and an artist who worked out of a shop in the Land of Ev. They created the clockwork man Tik-Tok and sold him to Evoldo. They also created the Giant with the Hammer. Smith, the artist of the duo, painted a picture of a river that was so real that he fell in and drowned. Tinker, the inventor, made a ladder so tall that it reached to the moon. He climbed the ladder to the moon and once there pulled it up so no one could follow him.

The characters reappear in Mister Tinker in Oz and Oz Squad.

Soldier with the Green Whiskers

The Soldier with the Green Whiskers is Oz’s one-man army. He is portrayed as having long green whiskers and carrying an unloaded rifle. He is alternately referred to as Ormy Amby or Wantowin Battles

Tik-Tok

Tik-Tok is a character who appeared in several Oz books, beginning with The Road to Oz. He is a machine man controlled by clockwork, which needs to be wound regularly. Tik-Tok is often considered the first robot to appear in literature.

Tin Woodman

The Tin Woodman first appears in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, joining Dorothy's quest to see the Wizard in order to get a heart. He had originally been a human by the name of Nick Chopper, but gradually his human parts had been replaced with metal ones. After the Wicked Witch of the West is defeated, he becomes Emperor of the Winkies. He appears in many later Oz books, often alongside his friend the Scarecrow. In The Tin Woodman of Oz, he is the title character, and the story centers around him finding his lost love.

Toto

Toto is Dorothy's pet scuffy dog, and appears in most of the books she does, beginning with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Due to his appearance in the 1939 film, he has often been ranked near the top of list of on-screen canine characters.

Ugu the Shoemaker

Ugu the Shoemaker is the villain of The Lost Princess of Oz[29] He was once a shoemaker in Herku, located in the Winkie Country, until he discovered the magic recipes of his ancestors. Thereupon, he decided to become a powerful sorcerer and take possession of the Land of Oz as its ruler. He moved away from Herku and built a Wicker Castle in the west of the Winkie Country. After stealing the Magic Dishpan from Cayke, he used it to steal the Glinda's Magic Book of Records, the Wizard's Black Bag of Magic and, ultimately, he kidnapped Princess Ozma in the process and hid her in the form of an Enchanted Peach Pit. He was finally defeated by Dorothy Gale, who used the Nome King's Magic Belt to transform him into a dove. Realizing how much damage he had done, he only asked to remain a peaceful dove and apologize to Dorothy.

Unc Nunkie

Unc Nunkie is a character from the fictional Oz book series by L. Frank Baum.[30] He first appeared in The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Unc Nunkie is an elderly Munchkin who lived with his nephew, Ojo the Lucky, in the forests in Munchkin Country. Unc Nunkie was known for speaking primarily in one-word, monosyllabic sentences, though he very occasionally made a "long" speech using two words. Locals attributed his laconic nature to concealment of royal blood.

Unc Nunkie was accidentally turned to stone by Dr. Pipt's Liquid of Petrification, resulting in his nephew Ojo going on a quest to find the ingredients needed for the antidote. Ruth Plumly Thompson explored the "royal blood" thread in Ojo in Oz. In Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz, he was the first person captured in Mogodore's invasion whrn he attempted to warn the others of his arrival.

Wicked Witch of the East

The Wicked Witch of the East is a character who is crushed by Dorothy's house in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Prior to this, she ruled over the Munchkins and had possession of the silver shoes. She appears in the book Wicked under the name Nessarose.

Wicked Witch of the West

The Wicked Witch of the West is the primary villain of the Wizard of Oz book and film. Dorothy and company are sent by the Wizard to defeat her, and she imprisons them before Dorothy kills her with water. Under the name Elphaba, she is the protagonist of the novel and musical Wicked. She is played by Margaret Hamilton in the film.

Wise Donkey

The Wise Donkey is a character from A New Wonderland (The Magical Monarch of Mo) (1899/1903) and The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913). He began life as an ordinary donkey in Phunniland (Mo), but after consuming numerous books, he learned their contents and became a wise advisor to the King. He sometimes acts in his own interests, at least to the extent of making sure his are met when he aids others, such as suggesting an apple for rescuing Nuphsed, which doesn't work, but when he is fed the apple, he gives an answer that does.

Somehow he was able to cross the Deadly Desert that surrounds Oz, and he took up residence with the Foolish Owl. He says he was visiting on the day Oz was cut off from the rest of the world, and was unable to return home. He is seen dusting his house when he is visited by Ojo, Scraps, and Bungle. He believes that someone as wise as he is should find the Foolish Owl unique and amusing. His logic is regarded by Scraps as so askew that she tells Diksey Horner that he sounds like the Wise Donkey.

The Wizard

The Wizard of Oz is the title character of the first book. In that book, the characters journey to him for assistance with their problems. It is later revealed that he is a humbug circus performer named Oscar Dibbs from Omaha, Nebraska; and that he had usurped Ozma's throne with the assistance of Mombi. The Wizard later returns to Oz in the fourth book.

Woozy

The Woozy is a four-legged fictional creature from the pages of The Patchwork Girl of Oz.[31] It is described as being dark blue in color and made up of all squares, flat surfaces and edges. Its head is an exact cube and its body is in the shape of a box twice as long as it is wide and high. All four of the Woozy's legs are four-sided, as is its stubby tail. The Woozy hears via two openings in the upper corners of its head, has a flat nose and a mouth formed by an opening on lower edge of its head. When the Woozy gets angry, it has the ability to flash fire with its eyes. The Woozy lives in the Munchkin country in Oz and survives primarily on a diet of honey bees. The Munchkin farmers who raise the honey bees nearby drive the Woozy into the forest and confine it with a fence. Since the Woozy cannot climb, he cannot not escape his prison. (The Woozy does mention in the text that he can jump very high, but also mentions that he has a ferocious roar, which turns out to be completely untrue).

The creature is entirely hairless except for three stiff, stubby hairs on the end of its tail. Those three hairs were one of five required ingredients to the antidote for the Liquid of Petrification that Ojo, Scraps the Patchwork Girl, and Bungle set out to retrieve in the story. In return for some scraps of bread and cheese that Ojo feeds him, the Woozy agrees to give his hairs to the party. When it becomes clear that the hairs cannot be removed from his tail, Ojo frees the Woozy and allows the creature to accompany the group.

Mrs. Yoop

Mrs. Yoop is a wicked giantess and sorceress in The Tin Woodman of Oz. When she meets the Tin Woodman and his companions, she changes them into animal forms. She transforms Polychrome into a canary, the Tin Woodman into a tin owl, the Scarecrow into a stuffed brown bear, and Woot the Wanderer into a green monkey. She is the estranged wife of the imprisoned Mr. Yoop from The Patchwork Girl of Oz, who has been imprisoned for eating people. Unlike him, Mrs. Yoop transforms rodents into biscuits for her consumption.

She is a Yookoohoo — a special kind of witch, "an Artist of Transformations" whose enchantments are extremely powerful. The other Yookoohoo in the Oz books is Red Reera in Glinda of Oz.

The Tin Woodman of Oz is a rarity in Baum's Oz canon, in that the author's manuscript of the book exists, and reveals the changes that Baum made for the printed version.[32] Baum revised his original to make Mrs. Yoop more sinister; and he originally called Mrs. Yoop a "Whisp" (an otherwise unknown term in the universe of Oz)[33] rather than a Yookoohoo.[34]

Contents
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

References

  1. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 15.
  2. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 32.
  3. ^ Jeff Freedman, The Magic Dishpan of Oz, New York, Emerald City Press, 1994; pp. 85-7.
  4. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 39.
  5. ^ L. Frank Baum, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Britton, 1913; New York, William Morrow and Company, 1995; p. 151-158.
  6. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 44.
  7. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 64.
  8. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 65.
  9. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; pp. 72-3.
  10. ^ The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, ch. 14.
  11. ^ Dorothy of Oz, ch. 11.
  12. ^ Mira of Oz
  13. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 86.
  14. ^ The Yellow Knight of Oz, Chapter 18.
  15. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 112.
  16. ^ The Road to Oz, Chapter 11.
  17. ^ The Road to Oz, Chapter 24.
  18. ^ Tails of the Cowardly Lion and Friends price list
  19. ^ a b Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 116.
  20. ^ Eric Shanower, "Gugu and the Kalidahs," Oz-story Magazine, No. 1 (June 1995), pp. 39-57.
  21. ^ Oz Wiki
  22. ^ Smalls, Charlie; William Ferdinand Brown (1979). The Wiz: adapted from "The wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum. Samuel French, Inc.. p. 38. ISBN 0573680914. http://books.google.com/books?id=M3mq2Eiy_XAC. Retrieved 2010-06-15. 
  23. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; pp. 124-25.
  24. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 127.
  25. ^ [1]
  26. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 129.
  27. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 144.
  28. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 175.
  29. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 225.
  30. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 228.
  31. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 242.
  32. ^ Katharine M. Rogers, L. Frank Baum, Creator of Oz: A Biography, New York, St. Martin's Press, 2002; pp. 227-9.
  33. ^ Martin Gardner, Are Universes Thicker Than Blackberries?, New York, W. W. Norton, 2004; p. 172.
  34. ^ Rogers, p. 229.