Winged monkeys

"The monkeys caught Dorothy in their arms and flew away with her"—illustration by W. W. Denslow in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

Winged monkeys (often referred to in adaptations and popular culture as flying monkeys) are fictional characters created by American author L. Frank Baum in his classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). The winged monkeys are exactly what the name implies: jungle monkeys with powerful bird-like feathered wings attached to their shoulders which allow them to fly. They are most notable from the famous 1939 musical movie by MGM. Ever since, they have taken their own place in popular culture, regularly referenced in comedic or ironic situations as a source of evil or fear.

Classic Oz media

In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

The winged monkeys started out as free creatures living in the jungles within the Land of Oz. They were a rather carefree bunch, and also very mischievous by nature. One day the King of the winged monkeys, as a prank, tossed a richly dressed man into a deep river, ruining his handsome costume of velvet. The man, whose name was Quelala, was good natured enough and did not mind the prank. But his fiancée Princess Gayelette, was ever so furious because the day the winged monkeys played the prank, was the same day of Quelala and Gayelette's royal wedding. She had ruled Oz's northern quadrant, called the Gillikin Country, and lived in a small palace made of rubies. Princess Gayelette had also practiced real magic and was a sorceress in her own right. As punishment for the winged monkey's prank, she cursed them by making them all the eternal slaves to the Golden Cap she had originally prepared as a wedding present for her beloved betrothed. The cap itself was a very nice one indeed, studded with real sparkling diamonds, and precious blood red rubies that ran entirely around its 24/karat solid gold brim. The curse of the cap allows its possessor to command the winged monkeys exactly three times whenever they speak the cap's magic incantation aloud. Whenever the words were spoken, the winged monkeys had to immediately stop whatever they were doing at that time, and assist their master at once. The curse of the cap is also rumored to have cost Gayelette half her powers to construct.

Quelala used the Golden Cap only once, commanding the winged monkeys to stay away from Gayelette and her kingdom. The winged monkeys did as they told and disappeared for a very long time. Eventually, the cap somehow fell into the hands of the Wicked Witch of the West, who used the cap's charm to compel the winged monkeys and help her to conquer Oz's western quadrant, the Winkie Country and enslave the native Winkies. Next the Wicked Witch used the cap to drive the Wizard of Oz out of her territory when he attempted to overthrow her. Finally, she uses the cap to capture Dorothy Gale and the Cowardly Lion, and telling the winged monkeys to dismember and destroy the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman in the process.

After the Wicked Witch was melted and killed with a bucket of water by Dorothy, she took the Golden Cap to wear, yet was unaware of its purpose. When she eventually learns about the cap's charm, she commanded the winged monkeys to carry her and her companions to the imperial capital, the Emerald City. Then Dorothy asked them to carry her and her pet dog Toto back home to their homeland in Kansas, but the winged monkeys could not leave the magical realm of Oz, thus resulting in her wasting one request of the cap's charm. Dorothy's third and final request was to carry her and her company over the rocky mountains that was inhabited by the very unfriendly creatures called Hammer-Heads, who would not let them pass over their turf.

Dorothy ends up handing the Golden Cap over to Glinda, the beautiful Good Witch of the South who rules Oz's southern quadrant, the Quadling Country. Glinda then ordered the winged monkeys to carry Dorothy's companions back to their new homes in Oz after Dorothy's departure, and then to simply cease to bother people and not play pranks on them anymore. She then gladly gave the winged monkeys the cap as their own, which finally broke the curse and set them free.

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

In the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, the monkeys are apparently intelligent enough to obey commands, but do not speak, though they do in the book. They abduct Dorothy and dismantle the Scarecrow, but do nothing to the Tin Man or the Cowardly Lion, leaving them free to put the Scarecrow back together and rescue Dorothy. There is no mention of any three wishes in the film, suggesting that the monkeys serve the witch unconditionally. Nikko (the head monkey) is shown again after the Witch orders him to throw a basket containing the dog Toto in the river (an order that Dorothy prevents him from carrying out), with the Witch as she angrily throws down the hour glass after the trio rescues Dorothy, and once more after the Witch has been melted. There is only a brief glimpse of the Golden Cap in the film: after Dorothy and the Lion reawake after Glinda breaks the spell on the poppies conjured by the Witch, she is seen watching them in anger in her crystal ball. Nikko hands her the Golden Cap and she utters the "somebody always helps that girl" line, before throwing the cap across the room angrily. The reason for this brief appearance comes from a scene deleted from the final film. In the script, after the Witch conjures up the poppies that put Dorothy, Toto and the Lion to sleep she orders Nikko to fetch the Golden Cap so she can summon the winged monkeys and they can take the Ruby Slippers from the sleeping girl. However, she never gets a chance as the spell is broken before she can. Why the Witch doesn't use the Golden Cap to summon the monkeys when she sends off into the Winkie Forest to capture Dorothy and Toto is unknown. In the film, the cap looks almost identical to the original artwork by Denslow in the book.

They were never included in any of the subsequent Oz books by Baum, although they are mentioned in The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904), where they are said to still be slaves of Glinda, and Alexander Volkov's Oz-based series briefly features them once more (and they are also mentioned once more).

Legacy

See also

References

  1. Carlson, Rik. "The Flying Monkeys of Burlington, Vermont". monkeyswithwings.com. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  2. Ocker, J. W. (November 10, 2008). "Flying Monkeys". OTIS: Odd Things I've Seen. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  3. "Burlington, Vermont - Winged Monkeys". Roadside America.com. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  4. ""A Touch More Evil: Azkadellia's World", ''SciFi Pulse'' video (Atom Films mirror) - November 13, 2007". Atomfilms.com. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  5. Moorcock, Michael (2008). Elric: The Stealer of Souls. New York: Del Rey. pp. 72–74. ISBN 978-0-345-49862-5.
  6. Lavery, David (2014). Joss Whedon, A Creative Portrait: From Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Marvel's The Avengers. London: I.B. Tauris. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-84885-030-9.
  7. Kroq Jock (May 6, 2012). "The Avengers Spoiler Reference Guide *UPDATED*". Celebutopia. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  8. "Relix's scifi.SE question to Captain America's reference".
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