Land of Oz facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Oz
The official map of Oz and its neighbouring kingdoms. The regions beyond Oz's surrounding deserts were introduced after the first Oz book.
Flag of Oz
Oz books location
Other name(s)	Land of Oz
Created by	L. Frank Baum
Genre	Fantasy
Type	Fairy country
Ruler	Princess Ozma
Ethnic group(s)	Munchkins, Winkies, Quadlings, Gillikins
Notable locations	Emerald City (capital), Munchkin Country, Gillikin Country, Quadling Country, Winkie Country, Yellow brick road, Deadly Desert
Population	1,000,000,000
First appearance	The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Anthem	"The Oz Spangled Banner"
Language	English
Currency	none

The Land of Oz is a magical country first introduced in the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow.

Oz consists of four vast quadrants, the Gillikin Country in the north, Quadling Country in the south, Munchkin Country in the east, and Winkie Country in the west. Each province has its own ruler, but the realm itself has always been ruled by a single monarch. After The Marvelous Land of Oz, this monarch is Princess Ozma.

Originally, Baum did not intend for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to have any sequels, but it achieved greater popularity than any of the other fairylands he created, including the land of Merryland in Baum's children's novel Dot and Tot in Merryland, written a year later. Due to Oz's worldwide success, Baum decided to return to it four years after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published. For the next two decades, he described and expanded upon the land in the Oz Books, a series which introduced many fictional characters and creatures. Baum intended to end the series with the sixth Oz book The Emerald City of Oz (1910), in which Oz is forever sealed off and made invisible to the outside world, but this did not sit well with fans, and he quickly abandoned the idea, writing eight more successful Oz books, and even naming himself the "Royal Historian of Oz."

In all, Baum wrote fourteen best-selling children's books about Oz and its enchanted inhabitants, as well as a spin-off series of six early readers. After his death in 1919, author Ruth Plumly Thompson, illustrator John R. Neill (who had previously collaborated with Baum on his Oz books) and several other writers and artists continued the series. There are now over 50 novels based upon Baum's original Oz saga.

Baum characterized Oz as a real place, unlike MGM's 1939 musical movie adaptation, which presents it as a dream of lead character Dorothy Gale. According to the Oz books, it is a hidden fairyland cut off from the rest of the world by the Deadly Desert.

The canonical demonym for Oz is "Ozite". The term appears in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Road to Oz, and The Emerald City of Oz. Elsewhere in the canon, "Ozmie" is also used. In the animated 1974 semi-sequel to the MGM film, Journey Back to Oz, "Ozonian" is used. The term "Ozian" appears in the script for the Royal Shakespeare Company's stage adaptation of the MGM movie and in the modern work Wicked. "Ozmite" was used in Reilly & Lee marketing in the 1920s, which has suggested to some critics that "Ozmie" may have been a typographical error.

Characteristics

Oz is, in the first book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, distinguished from Dorothy's native Kansas by not being civilized; this explains why Kansas does not have witches and wizards, while Oz does. In the third book, Ozma of Oz, Oz is described as a "fairy country", new terminology that remained to explain its wonders.

Geography

The Land of Oz

The Land of Oz; note that the map is a mirror image of "actual" locations, but that the compass rose shows east on the right-hand side.

Oz is roughly rectangular in shape, and divided along the diagonals into four countries: Munchkin Country (but commonly referred to as 'Munchkinland' in adaptations) in the East, Winkie Country in the West (sometimes West and East are reversed on maps of Oz, see West and East below), Gillikin Country in the North, and Quadling Country in the South. In the center of Oz, where the diagonals cross, is the fabled Emerald City, capital of the land of Oz and seat to the monarch of Oz, Princess Ozma.

The regions have a color scheme: blue for Munchkins, yellow for Winkies, red for Quadlings, green for the Emerald City, and (in works after the first) purple for the Gillikins, which region was also not named in the first book. (This contrasts with Kansas; Baum, describing it, used "gray" nine times in four paragraphs.) In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, this is merely the favorite color, used for clothing and other man-made objects, and having some influence on their choice of crops, but the basic colors of the world are natural colors. The effect is less consistent in later works. In The Marvelous Land of Oz, the book states that everything in the land of the Gillikins is purple, including the plants and mud, and a character can see that he is leaving when the grass turns from purple to green, but it also describes pumpkins as orange and corn as green in that land. Baum, indeed, never used the color scheme consistently; in many books, he alluded to the colors to orient the characters and readers to their location, and then did not refer to it again. His most common technique was to depict the man-made articles and flowers as the color of the country, leaving leaves, grass, and fruit their natural colors.

Most of these regions are settled with prosperous and contented people. However, this naturally is lacking in scope for plot. Numerous pockets throughout the Land of Oz are cut off from the main culture, for geographic or cultural reasons. Many have never heard of Ozma, making it impossible for them to acknowledge her as their rightful queen. These regions are concentrated around the edges of the country, and constitute the main settings for books that are set entirely within Oz. The Lost Princess of Oz, for instance, is set entirely in rough country in Winkie Country, between two settled areas. In Glinda of Oz, Ozma speaks of her duty to discover all these stray corners of Oz.

In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a yellow brick road leads from the lands of the Munchkins to the Emerald City. Other such roads featured in other works: one from Gillikin Country in The Marvelous Land of Oz, and a second one from Munchkin Land in The Patchwork Girl of Oz.

Oz is completely surrounded on all four sides by a desert which insulates the citizens of the Land of Oz from discovery and invasion. In the first two books, this is merely a natural desert, with only its extent making it dangerous to the traveler, but in The Road to Oz, it is said to turn anyone who touches it to sand. Indeed, in The Marvelous Land of Oz, Mombi tries to escape through it and Glinda chases her over the sands. Still, it is the dividing land between the magic of Oz and the outside world, and the Winged Monkeys can not obey Dorothy's command to carry her home because it would take them outside the lands of Oz. In Ozma of Oz, it has become a magical desert called the Deadly Desert with life-destroying sands and noxious fumes, a feature that remained constant through the rest of the series, although no actual destruction is depicted in the Oz books, unlike in the film Return to Oz. The desert has nonetheless been breached numerous times, both by children from our world (mostly harmless), by the Wizard of Oz himself, and by more sinister characters, such as the Nome King, who attempted to conquer Oz. After such an attempt in The Emerald City of Oz, the book ends with Glinda creating a barrier of invisibility around the Land of Oz, for further protection. This was, indeed, an earnest effort on Baum's part to end the series, but the insistence of readers meant the continuation of the series, and therefore the discovery of many ways for people to pass through this barrier as well as over the sands. Despite this continual evasion, the barrier itself remained; nowhere in any Oz book did Baum hint that the inhabitants were even considering removing the magical barrier.

West and East

The first known map of Oz was a glass slide used in Baum's Fairylogue and Radio-Play traveling show, showing the blue land of the Munchkins in the east and the yellow land of the Winkies in the west. These directions are confirmed by the text of all of Baum's Oz books, especially the first, in which the Wicked Witch of the East rules over the Munchkins, and the Wicked Witch of the West rules over the Winkies.

Like traditional western maps, the Fairylogue and Radio-Play map showed the west on the left, and the east on the right. However, the first map of Oz to appear in an Oz book had those directions reversed, and the compass rose adjusted accordingly. It is believed that this is a result of Baum copying the map from the wrong side of the glass slide, effectively getting a mirror image of his intended map. When he realized he was copying the slide backward, he reversed the compass rose to make the directions correct. However, an editor at Reilly and Lee reversed the compass rose, thinking he was fixing an error, and resulting in further confusion. Most notably, this confused Ruth Plumly Thompson, who frequently reversed directions in her own Oz books as a result.

Another speculation stems from the original conception of Oz, which at first appeared to be situated in an American desert. If Baum thought of the country of the Munchkins as the nearest region to him, it would have been in the east while he lived in Chicago, but when he moved to California, it would have been in the west.

Modern maps of Oz are almost universally drawn with the Winkies in the west and the Munchkins in the east, although west and east often appear reversed. Many Oz fans believe this is the correct orientation, perhaps as a result of Glinda's spell, which has the effect of confusing most standard compasses; perhaps resembling its similarity to the world Alice found through the looking glass in which everything was a mirror image, or perhaps just reflecting the alien nature of Oz. In Robert A. Heinlein's book The Number of the Beast he posits that Oz is on a retrograde planet, meaning that it spins in the opposite direction of Earth so that the sun seems to rise on one's left as one faces north. March Laumer's The Magic Mirror of Oz attributes the changes to a character named Till Orangespiegel attempting to turn the Land of Oz orange.

Location

Oz, like all of Baum's fantasy countries, was presented as existing as part of the real world, albeit protected from civilization by natural barriers. Indeed, in the first books, nothing indicated that it was not hidden in the deserts of the United States. It gradually acquired neighboring magical countries, often from works of Baum's that had been independent, as Ix from Queen Zixi of Ix, and Mo from The Magical Monarch of Mo. The first of these is Ev, introduced in Ozma of Oz.

Oz and surrounding countries, on the map from Tik-Tok of Oz (The directional indicator in the map's corner shows North and South correctly, but it flips East to the left, and West to the right).

In Tik-Tok of Oz, Baum included maps in the endpapers which definitively situated Oz on a continent with its neighboring countries. Oz is the largest country on the continent unofficially known as Nonestica (this name was proposed by Robert R. Pattrick for the whole of the countries surrounding Oz; Pattrick proposed "Ozeria" for the whole continent, but that name is generally unused in fan discussions), which also includes the countries of Ev, Ix, and Mo, which has also been known as Phunniland, among others. Nonestica is, according to the map, in the Nonestic Ocean. A fair amount of evidence in the books points to this continent as being envisioned as somewhere in the southern Pacific Ocean. At the opening of Ozma of Oz, Dorothy Gale is sailing to Australia with her Uncle Henry when she is washed overboard (in a chicken coop, with Billina the yellow hen), and lands on the shore of Ev—a rare instance in which an outsider reaches the Oz landmass through non-magical (or apparently non-magical) means. Palm trees grow outside the Royal Palace in the Emerald City, and horses are not native to Oz, both points of consistency with a South-Pacific location; illustrations and descriptions of round-shaped and domed Ozite houses suggest a non-Western architecture. Conversely, Oz has technological, architectural, and urban elements typical of Europe and North America around the turn of the twentieth century; but this may involve cultural input from unusual external sources (see History below). Ruth Plumly Thompson asserts in her first Oz book, The Royal Book of Oz, that the language of Oz is English, which also suggests European or American influence.

An argument against the South Pacific is that the seasons in Oz are shown as the same seasons in the United States at the same time. In addition, in The Wishing Horse of Oz, Pigasus follows the North Star when he flies to Thunder Mountain, which could only be done in the Northern Hemisphere.

Inspiration

Baum's creation of the Emerald City may have been inspired by the White City of the World Columbian Exposition, which he visited frequently. Its quick building, in less than a year, may have been an element in the quick construction of the Emerald City in the first book.

Schematically, Oz is much like the United States, with the Emerald City taking the place of Chicago: to the East, mixed forest and farmland; to the West, treeless plains and fields of wheat; to the South, warmth and lush growth, and red earth.

Ruth Plumly Thompson took a different direction with her Oz books, introducing European elements such as the title character of The Yellow Knight of Oz, a knight straight out of Arthurian Legend.

Witches and wizards

The Wicked Witch of the West melts, from the William Wallace Denslow illustration in the first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

At the time of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the lands in the North, South, East, and West of Oz are each ruled by a Witch. The Witches of the North and South are good, while the Witches of the East and West are wicked. Glinda (the Good Witch of the South) is later revealed to be the most powerful of the four, although later Oz books reveal that the Wicked Witch of the West was so powerful, even Glinda feared her. After Dorothy's house crushes the Wicked Witch of the East, thereby liberating the Munchkins from bondage, the Good Witch of the North tells Dorothy that she (the Witch of the North) is not as powerful as the Wicked Witch of the East had been, or she would have freed the Munchkins herself.

During the first scene in Oz in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Good Witch of the North (Locasta or Tattypoo) explains to Dorothy that Oz still has witches and wizards, not being civilized, and goes on to explain that witches and wizards can be both good and evil, unlike the evil witches that Dorothy had been told of. That book contained only the four witches (besides the humbug wizard), but despite Ozma's prohibition on magic, many more magicians feature in later works.

Baum tended to capitalize the word "Witch" when referring to the Witches of the North, South, East, or West but did not do so when referring to witches in general. For example, in the aforementioned first scene of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Locasta (or Tattypoo) thanks Dorothy for killing the "Wicked Witch of the East", and introduces herself as "the Witch of the North", with the word "Witch" capitalized in both cases. However, when she goes on to tell Dorothy that "I [the Witch of the North] am a good witch, and the people love me", the word "witch" is not capitalized.

White is the traditional color of witches in Oz. The Good Witch of the North wears a pointed white hat and a white gown decorated with stars, while Glinda, the Good Witch of the South (called a "sorceress" in later books), wears a pure white dress. Dorothy is taken for a witch not only because she had killed the Wicked Witch of the East, but because her dress is blue and white checked.

Ozma, once on the throne, prohibits the use of magic by anyone other than Glinda the Good, the Wizard of Oz, and herself – as, earlier, the Good Witch of the North had prohibited magic by any other witch in her domains. The illicit use of magic is a frequent feature of villains in later works in the series, appearing in The Scarecrow of Oz, Rinkitink in Oz, The Lost Princess of Oz, The Tin Woodman of Oz, and The Magic of Oz.

Animals

There are different kinds of animals living in Oz. According to Baum, all animals in Oz have the ability to speak because it is a "fairy" kingdom. When asked by his readers why Dorothy's dog Toto did not speak, Baum insisted that he had the ability to, but did not choose to speak, but he finally does so in Tik-Tok of Oz.

Among the many animals in Oz are:

• A-B-Sea Serpent – A 200 feet (61 m) long sea serpent that is composed of alphabet blocks.
• Chiss – An evil porcupine spirit that can launch his quills.
• Choggenmugger - Thick, hard scales cover its body. It has wide jaws, sharp teeth. A dragon-eater that ate all dragons, serpents, and crocodiles on the Regos Island to extinction.
• Comfortable Camel – A bactrian camel from outside of Oz, who found his way into Oz, along with the Doubtful Dromedary, and they joined Dorothy Gale's party to find the Scarecrow. He almost always feels comfortable during his eventful journey.
• Cowardly Lion – The Cowardly Lion is one of Dorothy Gale's friends.
• Crab – A crab ended up in an argument with a Zebra to determine if the world had more water, or more land
• Doubtful Dromedary – A dromedary from outside of Oz, who found his way into Oz, along with the Comfortable Camel, and they joined Dorothy Gale's party to find the Scarecrow. He doubts nearly everything that anyone says.
• Dragons – Dragons are the toughest creatures in the Land of Oz and its neighboring countries. The ones in Gillikin Country live underground and are allowed to come out once every 100 years in search of food.
• Field Mice – The Tin Man once saved the Queen of the Field Mice from a wildcat. Her kind later helps Dorothy and her friends get out of a deadly poppy field. The mice also reappear in the Marvelous Land of Oz to help the Scarecrow on his quest to reclaim his throne from General Jinjur, by hiding inside his clothes and jumping out to scare Jinjur's guards.
• Foolish Owl – The Foolish Owl lives in Munchkin Country. She and the Wise Donkey are public advisers.
• Giant Purple Spiders – A race of spiders in Gillikin Country that catch travelers in their webs and make them their servants.
• Glass Cat – A glass sculpture brought to life by the Powder of Life.
• Gump – Gumps are common creatures in the Land of Oz. They are elk-like creatures with wide-spreading antlers, caprine whiskers, and a turned-up nose.
• Hippocampus – A race of half-horse half-fish aquatic creatures that live in Lake Orizon within Munchkin Country. The lake monster Quiberon once ate them into extinction. After Quiberon was turned to stone by the Wizard of Oz, he used his magic to reconstitute the bones of the Hippocampuses, causing their species to live once more.
• Hip-po-gy-raf – A Hip-po-gy-raf lives in Munchkin Country west of Mount Munch. It appears to be a combination of a hippopotamus and a giraffe.
• Hungry Tiger – The Hungry Tiger is the Cowardly Lion's best friend.
• Jackdaws – A bunch of Jackdaws live in Quadling Country.
• Kabumpo – The elegant elephant of Pumperdink.
• Kalidahs – The Kalidahs have the head and back legs of a tiger and the arms, torso, and feet of a bear. Their claws are known to rip a lion in half.
• Kangaroo – A mittens-wearing kangaroo lives near the village of Fuddlecumjig.
• Lonesome Duck – The Lonesome Duck is the only duck in the Land of Oz.
• Orks – Orks are unusual flying animals that have the blended characteristics of a common ostrich and a parrot.
• Rak – A terrible beast with a horrible appetite and a bad disposition. It is said to be bigger than 100 men and can eat any living thing.
• Rattlesnake – A rattlesnake serves as a companion of the A-B-Sea Serpent.
• Squirrel King – The King of the Squirrels that live in Winkie Country.
• Stork – A stork once helped Dorothy and her companions rescue Scarecrow.
• Unicorns – A group of unicorns that live at Unicorners within Munchkin Country.
• Winged Monkeys – Monkeys with bird wings. They obey the owner of the Golden Cap that summons them three times.
• Wise Donkey – The Wise Donkey was a former citizen of the Land of Mo who often advised the King of Mo. He now lives in Munchkin Country with the Foolish Owl.
• Zebra – A Zebra ended up in an argument with a Crab to determine if there was either more water in the world or more land.

Other races

There is a multitude of other races living in the land of Oz, many of which only appear once. Among the known races are:

• The Bun People of Bunbury – The Bun People are made of baked goods.
• The Bunnies of Bunnybury – A race of civilized rabbits.
• The China People – A race of beings that are made of china (porcelain) that live in Quadling Country.
• The Cuttenclips – A race of living paper dolls that live in Quadling Country.
• The Dicks – The topsy-turvy inhabitants of Dicksy Land.
• The Equinots – A race of centaurs.
• The Flatheads – A race of flat-headed humans who carry their brains in cans.
• The Flutterbudgets – A race of people who entertain foolish fears and spend time worrying over nothing.
• The Fuddles – A race of anthropomorphic jigsaw puzzles that live in Fuddlecumjig.
• The Hammerheads – An armless race with extensible necks and hard heads.
• The Hoopers – A race of 10 ft. tall humanoids that live in the Purple Forest of Gillikin Country and can roll into hoops by grabbing their toes with their hands.
• The Hoppers – A race of one-legged people that live inside a mountain in Quadling Country.
• The Horners – A race of strange one-horned people that live inside a mountain in Quadling Country.
• The Hyups – A subspecies of Munchkins that live on Mount Munch.
• The Loons – A race of living balloon people that live in Loonville.
• The Magical Mimics – A race of evil shape-shifting creatures that are a type of Erb that live on Mount Illuso.
• The Middlings - A race of large mud creatures with dry grass hair that live beneath the surface of Munchkin Country.
• The Phanfasms – A magically powerful race of Erb spirits that change their appearance into beasts.
• The Rigmaroles – A race of people that make long deliberate speeches which make use of many words.
• The Scares – A race of grotesque beings that reside in Scare City within Quadling Country.
• The Scooters – A race of people that live on the waters of the Gillikin River. They have long boat-like feet and have sails growing from their wrists to their ribs.
• The Skeezers – A race of anatomically normal humans who are often in conflicts with the Flatheads.
• The Sticks-in-the-Muds – A tribe of mud-covered people on stilts that live in Marsh Land within Winkie Country.
• The Thists – A race of creatures that has diamond-shaped heads and heart-shaped bodies that live in Thi.
• The Tottenhots – A race of small mischievous people who live on the borders of Quadling Country and Winkie Country.
• The Utensians – A race of living utensils that live in Utensia in Quadling Country.
• The Yips – A small community of people that resemble the Hyups.

Outside of them are many other strange races who are often found living in the wilderness of Oz. Despite the overlordship of Ozma, many of the communities live autonomously. Oz has great tolerance for eccentricity and oddness.

Many characters in Oz are animated objects. Such figures as the Glass Cat, the Scarecrow, Jack Pumpkinhead, the Sawhorse, and others are common. Entire regions are the homes of such animated beings. The Dainty China Country is entirely filled with creatures made of china, who would freeze into figurines if removed. The China Princess lives in fear of breaking because she would never be as pretty again, even if repaired.

Many other characters are highly individual, even unique members of a species. Many such people from the outer worlds find refuge in Oz, which is highly tolerant of eccentricity.

Economy and politics

Some political analysts have claimed that Oz is a thinly disguised socialist utopia, though some Baum scholars disagree. Advocates of this theory support it using this quotation from The Emerald City of Oz:

There were no poor people in the land of Oz because there was no such thing as money, and all property of every sort belonged to the Ruler. Each person was given freely by his neighbors whatever he required for his use, which is as much as anyone may reasonably desire. Every one worked half the time and played half the time, and the people enjoyed the work as much as they did the play because it is good to be occupied and to have something to do. There were no cruel overseers set to watch them, and no one to rebuke them or to find fault with them. So each one was proud to do all he could for his friends and neighbors and was glad when they would accept the things he produced.

This is a revision of the original society: in the first two books, the people of Oz lived in a money-based economy. For instance, the people of the Emerald City use "green pennies" as coinage. Money was not abolished in the course of the series, but excised from the conception of Oz. Indeed, in The Magic of Oz, a character from Oz gets into trouble when he goes to Ev because he was unaware of the concept of money. This decision to remove money from Oz may reflect Baum's own financial difficulties in the times when he was writing these books.

Since Oz is ruled by a monarch, benevolent though she may be, Oz is closer in nature to an absolute monarchy than a communist or Marxist state. When she was first introduced, Ozma was the monarch specifically of the Emerald City, but in the description of Ozma of Oz, Oz is presented as a federal state, rather like the German Empire, in monarchies rather than republics: having an overall ruler in Ozma, and individual kings and queens of smaller portions.

The society grew steadily more utopian, in that its peace and prosperity were organized, but from the first book, it was a stupendously wealthy country, in contrast to Kansas's crop failures, droughts, and mortgages—just as it also is colorful to contrast with Kansas's gray. On the other hand, despite the presence of the Emerald City, Oz is an agrarian country, similar to Kansas; the story has been interpreted as a populist parable, and certainly contains many populist themes.

In The Wonder City of Oz, Princess Ozma (called "Queen Ozma" in this book) is seen running for election ("ozlection") to her office as a ruler against Jenny Jump, a half-fairy newcomer from New Jersey. However, this book was not written by Baum, but by John R. Neill, Baum's second successor. Further, the concept of the "ozlection" was not in Neill's manuscript for the book but was added by an editor at Reilly and Lee, the publisher.

At times the rulers of Oz's territories have grander titles than would normally be customary, but this is done mostly for the satisfaction of the incumbents. The ruler of the Winkie Country is the Emperor, the Tin Woodman. The ruler of the Quadling Country is Glinda the Good. The Munchkin Country is ruled by a king, later identified as Cheeriobed, who is revealed to be married to the Good Witch of the North, who, a spell broken, abdicates leadership of the Gillikin Country to Joe King and Queen Hyacinth of Up Town.

The Royal Flag of Oz is based on the map of the Land of Oz; the four colors represent the four countries, and the green star represents the Emerald City.

Defense

Oz is mostly a peaceful land and the idea of subversion is largely unknown to its people. Most military positions are only formal. This has caused many problems, such as in The Marvelous Land of Oz when the Emerald City (which was only guarded by an elderly doorman and one soldier who was the entire Army of Oz at the time) was easily conquered by the Army of Revolt led by General Jinjur. This army was in turn overwhelmed by another army of girls led by Glinda.

Security of Oz is mostly maintained by magic such as Glinda's spell making Oz completely invisible. Oz also has a natural barrier in the form of a desert that surrounds the land: anyone who touches the desert turns to sand. The Nome King has tried to conquer Oz on several occasions. A nominal army once existed, but it had an extremely large officers/privates ratio; other than its commander the Tin Woodman and one private, the portion of it seen in Ozma of Oz was composed entirely of cowardly officers. At the end of the book, it was said that there are three privates all in all, and it is unknown how many—if any—officers were left at home during Ozma's travel to Ev. The private seen in the book named Omby Amby, is later promoted to Captain-General.

In the book The Emerald City of Oz, there are 2 towns called Rigmarole Town and Flutterbudgets that are the defensive settlements of Oz.

In the movie Return to Oz, the mechanical man Tik-Tok is the entire Royal Army of Oz.

Attempts by outsiders to conquer the Land of Oz are frequent, particularly in the Oz books by Ruth Plumly Thompson. But these attempts are always successfully thwarted in the end, usually by Ozma or by forces sympathetic to her.

Characters

Recurring characters in the classic Oz series include:

• Dorothy Gale – A heroic little orphan girl from Kansas. In later Oz books, she eventually moves to Oz permanently after visiting the land several times and having several adventures there. Dorothy ultimately becomes best friends with Princess Ozma who proclaims her as an official princess of Oz.
• Toto – Dorothy's little black dog whom she loves dearly. Toto is a sidekick companion, loyally following his mistress Dorothy on most of her adventures. It is revealed in "Tik-Tok of Oz" that even though Toto is not a fairy dog, he can still talk in Oz, he just chooses not to.
• Princess Ozma – The long-lost child Queen and rightful ruler of Oz. She is the only child of Oz's deceased mortal king, Pastoria who ruled before the Wizard arrived. She is established upon the throne as the true heir shortly after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz takes place.
• Uncle Henry – Dorothy's uncle who is a Kansas farmer and the husband of Aunt Em. He ultimately moves to Oz with Dorothy and Aunt Em when the bank forecloses on his farm.
• Aunt Em – Dorothy's aunt, and the wife of uncle Henry. She ultimately moves to Oz with Dorothy and uncle Henry.
• The Good Witch of the North – The elderly ruler of the northern Gillikins. She is known by Locasta Tattypoo and became the ruler of the Gillikin Country after she overthrew Mombi, the Wicked Witch of the North. She was also the first witch Dorothy encountered upon her first arrival in Oz in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
• The Scarecrow – A living stuffed man of straw who was made in Oz's eastern quadrant called Munchkin Country. He is also a good friend of Dorothy. At the end of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz he became the King of Oz and ruled its imperial capital called the Emerald City after the Wizard left. However, he gladly relinquished the title when Ozma was found.
• The Tin Woodman (a.k.a. Nick Chopper) – An enchanted woodsman made entirely out of tin and is a good friend of Dorothy. He was originally a Munchkin but is the current Emperor of the western Winkies and lives in a tin castle. He became the official ruler of the Winkie Country after the Wicked Witch of the West was destroyed by Dorothy in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
• The Cowardly Lion – The talking lion who is a good friend of Dorothy. At the end of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, he became the King of the Beasts and overcame his cowardly ways. In later Oz books, he becomes best friends with the Hungry Tiger; together they rule Oz's Animal Kingdom and are the royal chariot pullers for Princess Ozma.
• The Wizard (Oscar Diggs) – The former ruler of Oz and the Emerald City before the Scarecrow and Princess Ozma. Originally a skilled circus entertainer and ventriloquist from Omaha, Nebraska, he used his magic tricks to create illusions that made it appear as if he had real powers. Once a humbug, he is now a real wizard after being trained by both Ozma and Glinda, who successfully taught him how to perform honest magic.
• Glinda – The beautiful and wise Good Witch of the South who rules the southern Quadlings in a ruby palace. She became the benevolent sorceress of the Quadling Country after she vanquished the Wicked Witch of the South (although the classic MGM musical movie of 1939 incorrectly portrays her as the Good Witch of the North).
• Guardian of the Gates – The friendly gatekeeper responsible for adorning the visitors who wish to enter Oz's capital with the green-tinted spectacles. He is described as being a very jolly and short man who wears fancy green clothing and has green-tinted skin.
• Soldier with the Green Whiskers – The Captain-General of the Royal Army of Oz who guards the main entrance of the royal palace in the Emerald City. His real name is Omby Amby Wantowin Battles. He is a very tall man who has a very long green beard.
• Jellia Jamb – The young maid who works in the Emerald City's royal palace. She is also known as the "pretty green girl", with pretty green eyes and pretty green hair. Jellia becomes Ozma and Dorothy's favorite servant out of the city's staff administration.
• Jack Pumpkinhead – An enchanted man made out of wooden branches with a carved jack-o-lantern pumpkin for a head. Jack was brought to life with the magic "Powder of Life" potion.
• The Sawhorse – An animated sawhorse who becomes a steed of sorts for Princess Ozma and her friends. He was brought to life with the "Powder of Life".
• H. M. Woggle-Bug, T.E. – An intelligent insect who was magnified into a human-sized bug.
• Jinjur – A former General of the all-female Army of Revolt.
• Billina – A yellow hen and good friend of Dorothy. Upon arriving in Oz, Billina becomes Queen of the chickens.
• Tik-Tok – A mechanical and super-intelligent clockwork robot (one of the first robots in literature).
• The Hungry Tiger – The Cowardly Lion's closest companion besides the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman.
• The Shaggy Man – A homeless but friendly man from "the real world". He ends up living in Oz permanently.
• Button-Bright – A lost little boy of only four- or five-years-old. He is from a wealthy family in Philadelphia but has many adventures in Oz and its neighboring kingdoms.
• Eureka – Dorothy's pink and purple kitten.
• The Patchwork Girl (a.k.a. "Scraps") – A life-size living doll made entirely of a colorful patchwork quilt. She was brought to life with the magic "Powder of Life" potion by a young Munchkin boy named Ojo. Scraps also becomes the love interest of the Scarecrow.
• Ojo – A young boy of Munchkin descent.
• Betsy Bobbin – A girl a year older than Dorothy from Oklahoma who comes to Oz with a talking mule named Hank after being shipwrecked.
• Polychrome – A colorful and ethereal sky fairy and the youngest daughter of the Rainbow.
• Trot – A girl who comes to Oz by accident and who is a year younger than Dorothy.
• Cap'n Bill – An ex-sailor with a wooden leg who visits Oz and is friends with Trot.
• Kabumpo – The Elegant Elephant of Pumperdink.
• Jenny Jump – A 15-year-old girl from New Jersey who became a half-fairy.
• Pastoria – The former mortal King of Oz who ruled long before the Wizard came and is the deceased father of Princess Ozma.
• Mombi – The former Wicked Witch of the North. Mombi once ruled the northern quadrant of Oz until the Good Witch Locasta Tattypoo overthrew her. She also was partially responsible for the mysterious disappearance of Princess Ozma.
• The Nome King – The main villain and antagonist in the Oz books. He is Oz's most threatening enemy who resides in the neighboring Nome Kingdom separated from Oz by the Deadly Desert. The Nome King is always trying to conquer Oz or thinking of ways to overthrow it throughout most of the entire series.

Magic of Oz

Being a fantasy series Oz is rich in magic. In particular, there are many magic items that play an important role in the series.

Silver Shoes/Ruby Slippers

When Dorothy leaves Oz after having several adventures there and befriending many of Oz's natives, she is magically carried over the Deadly Desert by means of the charmed Silver Shoes she had been given shortly after her unexpected arrival when her farmhouse landed on and killed the previous pair's owner, the Wicked Witch of the East. After knocking her heels together three times and wishing to return home, Dorothy is lifted into the air and transported to Kansas. The shoes, however, slip off of Dorothy's feet and are lost forever in the desert. Baum states the silver shoes are never recovered. In the 1939 film, the shoes are changed to Ruby Slippers. When Dorothy clicks her heels together she closes her eyes and says: "There's no place like home". She then wakes up in her bedroom in Kansas believing her experience in Oz to be an elaborate dream.

The silver shoes and ruby slippers are also used in several other versions including Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Here the shoes are constructed as a gift and have a chameleon effect. They are decorated with thousands of glittering glass beads that change colors according to the lighting. They can also appear to be several different colors all at once. The shoes are also lost when Dorothy is teleported back home just like in Baum's novel. The Broadway musical based on Maguire's book further shows that they were all silver, but were changed to ruby red by a spell put upon them by the Witch of the West Elphaba, enabling her sister the Witch of the East Nessarose, who prior had been confined to a wheelchair, to magically walk.

A little-known adaptation of the original story made for British television in the mid-90s starring Denise van Outen explained that they had belonged to a visitor from over the rainbow who came to Oz before Dorothy and they were obtained by the Witch when the visitor wished herself home and they fell off her feet on the return trip.

Powder of Life

The Powder of Life is a magic substance from the book series, which first appears in The Marvelous Land of Oz.

It is a magical powder that brings inanimate objects to life. The witch Mombi first obtained it from a "crooked magician." Later in the series, it is revealed that the substance is made by a Dr. Pipt. In order to make the substance, Dr. Pipt had to stir four large cauldrons for six years. Only a few grains of the powder could be made at a time. It is always described as being carried in a pepper box.

In The Marvelous Land of Oz, the Powder of Life was used to bring Jack Pumpkinhead, the Sawhorse, and the Gump to life. The first batch of the powder in Mombi's possession was activated by the following incantation and the action that had to be associated with:

• Raise the left hand, little finger pointing upward, and say: "eWaugh!"
• Raise the right hand, thumb pointing upward, and say: "Teaugh!"
• Raise both hands, with all the fingers and thumbs spread out, and say: "Peaugh!"

In The Road to Oz, Dr. Pipt's sister Dyna activated the Powder of Life with a simple wish that brought the rug of her late blue bear pet to life.

In The Patchwork Girl of Oz it brings the title character to life, also the glass cat and a phonograph.

Mombi's shaker also contained three "wishing pills" fabricated by Dr. Nikidik.

The Powder has been used by Volkov in his series. There, it is produced from a certain plant of such viability that the smallest piece can grow into a plant within a day, on any surface except for solid metal. However, if it is sun-dried on such a surface, it turns into the Powder of Life. No incantation is required to make the powder work. The second book of the series is centered around a man who animates an army of wooden soldiers with the Powder and uses them for conquering the Magic Land.

In Return to Oz, the magic words to bring the inanimate object to life were "WEAUGH, TEAUGH, PEAUGH".

Magic Belt

The Magic Belt is first introduced in Ozma of Oz. Originally the belt belonged to the Nome King, but Dorothy Gale stole it and defeated him. When she leaves Oz, she gives it to Ozma for safekeeping.

In most Oz books, the Magic Belt grants its wearer the ability to transform anyone into any form, and the ability to transport anyone anywhere, and also makes its wearer impervious to harm. In some books, it also grants limited wishes.

In Ozma of Oz, its power is limited: its magic cannot affect objects which are made of wood.

In the non-canonical The Oz Kids animated series, the Magic Belt belonged to Dot.

Magic Picture

In Ozma's boudoir hangs a picture in a radium frame. This picture usually appears to be of pleasant countryside, but when anyone wishes for the picture to show a particular person or place, the scene will display what is wished for. Sometimes the onlooker is able to hear sounds from the scene within the Magic Picture and sometimes an additional device is necessary to transmit sound.

A similar device is present in Volkov's series. There, it is given as a present to the Scarecrow by the Good Witch of the South. It is a box of pink wood with a thick frosted glass screen. The device is password activated and limited in range to the Magic Land (with the exception of deep caverns and certain types of magical interference). The box is shown to be virtually indestructible; it withstood repeated abuse from a villain attempting to use it.

Great Book of Records

Glinda's 'Great Book of Records is introduced in Chapter 29 of The Emerald City of Oz: " 'It is a record of everything that happens,' replied the Sorceress. 'As soon as an event takes place, anywhere in the world, it is immediately found printed in my Magic Book. So when I read its pages I am well informed.' " The Book proves useful in The Scarecrow of Oz and Glinda of Oz; and it recurs in many of the stories of Baum's successors and imitators. For instance, in The Number of the Beast, the Book is shown to cover more than simply Oz. It provided information concerning the "Black Hats" attempting to murder the four protagonists which enabled Glinda to devise a set of magical glasses requested by Hilda Burroughs that enable her to spot a Black Hat no matter how disguised. It is one of the prime magic devices of Oz; villains steal it when they can (as in The Lost Princess of Oz or in Handy Mandy in Oz). Since it covers the planet and not merely Oz, the Book's entries are compressed and sometimes cryptic, and difficult to decipher (as in Paradox in Oz or Queen Ann in Oz).

The book is also featured in the fantasy series Once Upon a Time. Zelena reads the book ignoring Glinda's warning and turns green again because she felt betrayed as it was mentioned in the book that Dorothy would save Oz from a great evil (Zelena thought that evil was her but this was never revealed).

The Love Magnet

A rusty-looking horseshoe magnet that causes everyone to love its owner. It is closely associated with the Shaggy Man. In The Road to Oz, he finds that being loved by everyone can be inconvenient. In Tik-Tok of Oz he reveals that Ozma has modified its powers so that it only works when it is displayed and affects only the feelings of those who see it. It is an essential plot-element in The Shaggy Man of Oz. Ozma keeps it hanging over the gate into the Emerald City so that all who enter will come with love, although this does not always seem to happen.

Magic Fan

The Magic Fan is brought to Oz by Dorothy in The Royal Book of Oz. Several subsequent books mention it. It creates a powerful wind, capable of blowing away an invading army.

Fountain of Oblivion

A fountain in the Emerald City, erected by the witch Glinda to reform a wicked king of Oz in the past. Anyone who drinks from it forgets everything he knows, including his own name. It appears in Baum's The Emerald City of Oz and The Magic of Oz, and also plays an important role in the later contributor stories The Forbidden Fountain of Oz, The Shaggy Man of Oz, The Wicked Witch of Oz, and Paradox in Oz.

Magic Dinner Bell

Created by the Red Jinn, it summons a slave named Ginger, who appears bearing a tray full of delicious food when the bell is rung. Besides providing food, the bell also provides a means of escape from danger: anyone who holds onto the slave when he disappears after bringing the food is transported with him to the Red Jinn's castle. There are actually two magic dinner bells, one in the Emerald City and another which the Red Jinn keeps for himself and uses while traveling. The bell is first introduced in Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz and also appears in The Purple Prince of Oz and The Silver Princess in Oz.

Miscellaneous

Death in Oz

In the later Oz books, no one can die. One of the books assures us that while you are in the Land of Oz, you cannot die. Unfortunately, this information comes after characters in the books have been chopped into pieces, melted, and so forth and it is mentioned that you could be transformed into an inanimate object, turned into sand, and buried. Even so, you would still be alive and presumably conscious.

Baum puts it this way in the third chapter of The Emerald City of Oz:

"No disease of any sort was ever known among the Ozites, and so no one ever died unless he met with an accident that prevented him from living."

This passage has been translated by some fans to mean that one ceases to live if one's body is damaged to the extent that it cannot be repaired. However, in Tik-Tok of Oz, Baum suggested that Oz people could go on living after being eaten and digested, and also that Nomes would continue to live after being cut into tiny pieces, which disproves the destruction theory.

Note also the spell which caused this also prevented aging, and took effect on everyone in Oz at the same time; this means that any babies in Oz are eternally babies and that anyone who was at the moment of death is permanently caught there, and so on.

Talking animals

In Oz, animals such as the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger can talk, and all native animals appear to be capable of speech. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West emphasized the difference between Animals and animals. Animals (capitalized) are sentient beings that can talk. Several theories exist as to how animals gained the gift of speech.

The treatment of non-native animals was inconsistent. In the first book, the dog Toto never speaks, although brought to Oz; in The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Dorothy specifies that he cannot speak because he is not a fairy dog. However, in Ozma of Oz, the chicken Billina acquires speech merely by being swept to the lands near Oz, and in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, the same is true of the kitten Eureka and the cab horse Jim when reaching the land of Mangaboos, a similarly magical land. In Tik-Tok of Oz, Baum restored the continuity: Toto can speak, and always could, but never bothered to, because it was unnecessary.

An additional inconsistency is introduced with Tik-Tok of Oz: Hank the Mule cannot speak until reaching the Land of Oz, although he lands on the shore of Ev first, where Billina the chicken gained the ability to speak. This might be because Tik-Tok of Oz was originally a stage play version of Ozma of Oz; Dorothy was replaced by Betsy because he had sold the stage rights for Dorothy, and Billina was replaced by Hank because a mule could more convincingly be played by two people in a costume. Hank probably could not talk because Baum already had two speaking comedy characters, the Shaggy Man and Tik-Tok. Thus Hank would fill a better niche as a visual comedy character, in the tradition of British pantomime. The part of Hank was also an analog to the part of Dorothy's cow Imogene, Toto's replacement on stage in the immensely successful 1903 Broadway version of The Wizard of Oz, a success that Baum sought to duplicate for the rest of his life.

There is one small kingdom in Oz where animals are unable to talk: Corumbia.

Origin of the name Oz

A legend of uncertain validity is that when relating bedtime stories (the earliest form of the Oz books) Baum was asked by his niece, Ramona Baxter Bowden, the name of the magical land. He glanced at a nearby filing cabinet, which had three drawers, labeled A–G, H–N, and O–Z. Thus he named the land Oz. This story was first told in 1903, but his wife always insisted that the part about the filing cabinet was not true. In Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, the name is translated as "great and good". It has also been speculated that Oz was named after the abbreviation for ounce, in the theory that Oz is an allegory for the populist struggle against the illusion (the wizard) of the gold standard.

Others have said that Oz stands for New York, since the letters of the alphabet before O and Z are N and Y respectively. However, this works just as well with Oz standing for Pennsylvania, because the letters following O and Z are P and A (starting again at the beginning of the alphabet).

Several of Baum's fairy stories that take place in the United States were situated on the Ozark Plateau, and the similarity of the name may not be a coincidence.

Oz is a common vernacular contraction of Australia (Australia—Aussie—Aus—Oz). Australia is a large continent predominated by desert regions, with pockets of intense green tropical, sub-tropical and sub-alpine green lands and rainforests. It is quite possible that Baum took the popular nickname of Australia as the national name for his fictional world. Also, note that many fans place Oz in the South Pacific, see Location above. However, according to the Oxford English dictionary, the first references to Australia by this name were made in 1902—after the first book had been published. Nevertheless, spoken references would certainly have been in use before first appearing in print (as noted by Oxford), hence possibly before the writing of the book.

It is also possible that it is based on the "Óg" in Tír na nÓg. While no direct link between the mythology of Oz and the realm of Irish folklore has been conclusively proven, certain similarities, for instance Ogma and Princess Ozma, are compelling.

Legacy

In 2018, "The Lost Art of Oz" project was initiated to locate and catalog the surviving original artwork John R. Neill, W.W. Denslow, Frank Kramer, Richard 'Dirk' Gringhuis and Dick Martin created to illustrate the Oz book series.

Images for kids

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  Continent of Imagination, as mapped by John Drury Clark and John Burton Hatcher