Land of Oz/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Note: Characters are listed by order of the Oz book in which they first appear, but each character listing includes their later appearances as well. So, for instance, if you've only read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, be aware that all the character listings will contain spoilers for later books.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Dorothy Gale

Formerly a Kansas farmgirl and now a princess of Oz. She destroyed two wicked witches on her first trip to Oz, and has had many adventures since. She eventually moved to Oz for good, and lives there still. Over time, her Uncle Henry, Aunt Em, dog Toto, and cat Eureka all came to live in Oz as well.

Scarecrow

Former ruler of Oz, he is still well beloved by the citizens and a trusted advisor to Princess Ozma. He helped Dorothy on her first adventure, hoping to receive a brain. He got it, and his wisdom has been most helpful in thinking through many problems. After the Wizard stepped down, he left Scarecrow in his place to rule as King of Oz. However, he was overthrown by General Jinjur and her Army of Revolt. He helped topple Jinjur's rule with the help of Tip and Glinda's army. King Scarecrow graciously stepped down when Princess Ozma was discovered. Now he serves as Ozma's most trusted adviser.

The Tin Woodsman, AKA Nicollo "Nick" Chopper

He was an ordinary Munchkin woodchopper who, having angered the Wicked Witch of the East, accidentally chopped parts of himself off when the witch enchanted his ax. Fortunately he had a friend who was a skilled tinsmith, who was able to replace each part with tin, until there was nothing left of Nick Chopper but tin. He joined Dorothy looking for a new heart. He is one of the kindest men in Oz, and after the Wicked Witch of the West was killed, her Winkie slaves chose him to be their new Emperor. He is a steadfast servant of Princess Ozma.

  • An Axe to Grind: He doesn't just chop wood with that thing.
  • Artificial Limbs
  • Bruiser with a Soft Center: He's probably the party's best fighter, and didn't so much as flinch when he killed off a wildcat (to save a mouse), pack of wolves (to protect his companions), or flock of humongous jackdaws (again, protecting his friends). But he cried himself rusted over accidentally crushing a bug, and his determination to get a heart was so he could return to his girlfriend and be a proper husband. Didn't work out for him on that front, though
  • Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Subverted; he just thought he couldn't feel without biological parts.
  • Demoted to Extra: Despite being one of the iconic Oz characters and a major character in Baum's books, he's delegated to very minor roles (and often doesn't appear at all) once Ruth Plumly Thompson takes over the series.
  • Determinator: As much of his character as being a sweetheart. He was so determined to earn enough money to support his fiancee that he didn't stop working, even after losing his limbs to the cursed axe. If there's a situation where the axe has to come out, he does not stop unless all the threats are missing their heads or he is literally too damaged to move.
  • Everything but the Girl: He becomes a hero of Oz, ruler of Winkie Country, and close friends with the Princesses, but it turns out his girlfriend left him while he was rusted.
  • Family-Unfriendly Violence
  • The Heart: In spite of his insistence that he doesn't have one.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: With Scarecrow.
  • Hollywood Cyborg: A curious blend of man, magic and replacement parts.
  • Iconic Characters: He's first in a long line of cybernetic beings that question their humanity.
  • It Was with You All Along
  • Non-Human Sidekick
  • Older Sidekick
  • Steven Ulysses Perhero: Look at his name again.
  • Tin Man: Trope Namer.
  • Weapon of Choice: Axe
  • We Can Rebuild Him: In his case, it was a slow and (maybe) painful process.

The Cowardly Lion

He came with Dorothy to the Emerald City looking for courage, and the Wizard helped him acquire it. He is loyal and brave, and often acts as a bodyguard for Ozma on state occasions, or to Dorothy when she's out on adventures. But he's the first to admit that he's still scared sometimes.

  • Battle Butler
  • The Big Guy
  • Cowardly Lion: The Trope Namer
  • Cowardly Sidekick
  • Deadpan Snarker: At least in the books. For someone so cowardly he sure can be sarcastic when the mood hits him.
  • Family-Unfriendly Violence
  • Gentle Giant
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: With the Hungry Tiger, at least in Baum's books, starting with Ozma of Oz.
  • Iconic Characters
  • It Was with You All Along
  • Non-Human Sidekick
  • Older Sidekick
  • Status Quo Is God: A weird version of this happens with him in later Oz books. While the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodsman both keep the gifts given to them by the Wizard (and indeed seldom pass up an opportunity to brag about them) the Lion returns to being a self-admitted coward in his subsequent appearances. This goes unexplained for several books, until The Cowardly Lion of Oz, where the Lion simply mentions that the courage the wizard gave him has "worn off."
    • Which makes perfect sense when you think about it. The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodsman both received tangible, lasting placebos and were still in the possession of their "magnificent brains" and "kind heart" in later books -- but the Lion simply drank an unidentified liquid, and didn't have the same kind of physical reminder. No wonder he alone slipped back into his previous behavior.
  • Talking Animal: The Oz books are filled with them, but the Cowardly Lion was the first (unless you count Toto, who doesn't begin talking until much later anyway).

Toto

Dorothy's faithful dog who travels with her in the many adventures in the Land of Oz. Toto is a small, black dog with long silky hair.

  • Non-Human Sidekick
  • The Quiet One
  • Talking Animal: He really can, since all animals in Oz can talk. He just chooses not to. This isn't revealed until Tik-Tok of Oz, when Dorothy finally realizes that he has the ability to talk and gets him to admit it. (He'd occasionally speak after that, but mostly he didn't.)
  • Team Pet

The Wizard, AKA O.Z. Diggs

"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible. Who are you, and why do you seek me?"

An Omaha, Nebraska sideshowman, ventriloquist, and magician, who came to the Land of Oz by accident in a hot air balloon. He tells Dorothy and her friends they must first kill the Wicked Witch of the West before he will grant the favors they seek from him. After accomplishing this mission, Dorothy discovered him to be a humbug (not a real wizard). After being exposed by Dorothy he finds a way to help the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion get what they desire most, brains, a heart, and courage. He then leaves the Land of Oz the same way he first arrived, by a hot air balloon. After returning to America, the Wizard found his way back to Oz once again, where he was invited to stay and become a real wizard. He has learned much real magic from Glinda the Good, and is now one of Ozma's closest advisers.

Glinda, the Good Witch of South

Ruler of the Quadlings, she is also a powerful sorceress, and one of the most respected citizens of Oz because of her power and knowledge. She is able to keep track of all that goes on through her Great Book of Records, where every event is written down as soon as it happens.

The Wicked Witch of the West

The wicked witch who rules the Winkies from her Yellow Castle. When the Wizard of Oz sends Dorothy and her friends to defeat the witch, she uses the Winged Monkeys to capture them. The witch then tries to get the Silver Shoes away from Dorothy, who throws a bucket of water on the witch, not knowing it will make the witch melt away forever. With the Wicked Witch of the West gone, Dorothy, her friends, and the Winkies are set free.

Locasta/Tattypoo, the Good Witch Of the North

One of the two Good Witches of Oz and ruler of the Gillikin Country, though she's also a good friend to the Munchkins. Appearing as a small old lady with white hair, she only makes a few significant appearances in the books.

  • Baleful Polymorph: Subject to this in Ruth Plumly Thompson's The Giant Horse of Oz, which some fans take as Fanon Discontinuity.
  • Easy Amnesia: Once again, she turns out to suffer from this in The Giant Horse of Oz.
  • I Have Many Names: She didn't get a name in her first appearance in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, though when Baum adapted the story to a stage play, she had a much bigger role and got the name Locasta. In The Giant Horse of Oz, she was named Tattypoo and was later revealed to in reality be the amnesiac Queen Orin. Later authors have varied between using "Tattypoo" and "Locasta".


Winged Monkeys

A band of flying monkeys. Their services can be commanded by the wearer of the Golden Cap.

Jellia Jamb

A constant, if minor, presence in the Palace of the Emerald City, Jellia Jamb is the head of the Palace maids and has served under all the rulers of Oz as they've appeared in the books: first under the Wizard, then the Scarecrow, briefly under Jinjur, and finally under Ozma. She is specifically named as Ozma's favorite servant.

Omby Amby

Also known as the Soldier with the Green Whiskers, he is the only actual soldier in Oz's royal Army (in fact, in later books, he is the entire Royal Army) -- at least until Ozma promotes him to Captain-General and makes him her personal bodyguard. He has a wife named Tollydiggle, who is the Emerald City's official jailer.

  • Depending on the Writer: Few Oz characters vary so much in description as Omby Amby; his personality, name, and even who he is married to is wildly inconsistent with the books. In Baum's books, he is competent and efficient, but rather too soft-hearted to be an effective fighter (he never loads his gun for fear it might accidentally go off and hurt someone), while Thompson portrays him as a pompous coward with bad aim. Also, while his official name is "Omby Amby," some books name him "Wantowin Battles." In one of Baum's books, he is mentioned to have a wife with a fierce temper, but in Jack Snow's books, his wife is revealed to be Tollydiggle the jailer, who most assuredly does not have a fierce temper.
    • Then again, that could just mean that no one's managed to piss off Tollydiggle yet.
  • Gentle Giant: He's consistently described as "very tall" (though one book states that his long beard makes him look taller than he is), and has a very gentle nature.
  • I Have Many Names: Most often he's referred to as "The Soldier with the Green Whiskers," though Baum eventually gave him the name Omby Amby. Ruth Plumly Thompson named him "Wantowin Battles," and this name shows up in a few books after hers as well.
  • Mauve Shirt: Like Jellia Jamb, he's a nameless extra in the first book, but returns to become a recurring supporting character in later books.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: His beard and whiskers are green.

Aunt Em and Uncle Henry

Dorothy's aunt and uncle, who raised her after her parents died. They are poor Kansas farmers marked by a life filled with hardships and little money, but they love their niece very much, and it's Dorothy's concern for them that drives her to return to Kansas time and time again whenever she ends up in Oz. Eventually, after the farm goes bankrupt, Ozma invites them along with Dorothy to take up permanent residence in Oz.

  • Cassandra Truth: They're on the receiving end of one when Dorothy tells them about Oz. Interestingly enough, Aunt Em seems more inclined to believe Dorothy, while Uncle Henry thinks she's been dreaming it all.
  • Deadpan Snarker. Surprisingly, Uncle Henry has a few moments like this.
  • Fish Out of Water: They have bigger problems adjusting to life in Oz than Dorothy does, and it takes a long time for them to adjust to the grandeur of the Emerald City.
  • Funetik Aksent: Same as Dorothy, which makes sense.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: Aunt Em is mentioned in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to have been very pretty in her youth, but a hard life had left her thin, gaunt and gray.
  • Mauve Shirt: They are generally very minor characters in the books, but they remain important simply by being Dorothy's only family.
  • The Stoic: Uncle Henry is pragmatic and serious, seldom showing much emotion -- though there are notable exceptions to this rule.


The Marvelous Land of Oz

Princess Ozma Tippetarius of Oz

The daughter of the former King of Oz, Pastoria, and the rightful ruler of Oz, she was discovered and restored to her throne, where she has ruled ever since. Her subjects love and trust her, and she is good and kind to them in return.

Jack Pumpkinhead

Jack was made by Tip from wood he cut from the forest and shaped into the arms, legs, and body, and a head he carved from a pumpkin much like a jack-o'lantern would appear. From Mombi's chest he took some old clothes for Jack; purple trousers, a red shirt, a pink vest with white polka dots, and stockings, to which he added a pair of his shoes. Jack was brought to life by Mombi when she sprinkled the Powder of Life on him. Once alive, Jack proved to a very agreeable but rather simple-minded person. After Ozma was restored, Jack settled down in a house carved from a giant pumpkin just outside the Emerald City to grow vegetables (he needs to replace his head every so often, you see), but still gets mixed up in new adventures from time to time.

The Sawhorse

Like Jack Pumpkinhead, the Sawhorse was given life by Mombi's Powder of Life, though in the case of the Sawhorse Tip called him to life to serve as a riding animal on his and Jack's trip to the Emerald City. Being made entirely of wood (and "shod" with gold, to keep his wooden hooves from wearing out), he's both faster and more durable than any normal horse and in subsequent books is generally seen pulling Ozma's carriage.

  • Automaton Horse: Justified and often Lampshaded in-verse, as he is specifically mentioned to be not only faster than a normal horse but also completely tireless, utterly fearless, very compliant, and of course needing no extra care or even food. He even has no problem crossing large bodies of water, since he's made of wood and floats quite well. Might count as a Mechanical Horse, but only if you use the term loosely. Definitely a Horse of a Different Color, though.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally, especially towards Jack Pumpkinhead.
  • The Stoic: Insult him, threaten him, leave him standing by the road for days, send him into mortal peril -- he never minds and is never fazed.
  • What Measure Is A Non-Flesh Animal?: Of all the creatures in Oz that are inanimate objects brought to life, the Sawhorse is really the only one who has this trope brought up more than a couple of times; for some reason he's the one most often told that he isn't a real animal and has no business being alive. He himself invokes the trope by agreeing with them, only pointing out in his defense that he never asked to be brought to life, so the blame doesn't lie with him. (Unlike the Gump, though, he never expresses any sort of wish for his life to end -- perhaps because, unlike the Gump, he doesn't remember any previous life.)


Mr. H. M. Woggle-Bug, T.E.

A Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug who has been Thoroughly Educated, both thanks to Professor Nowitall. He is rather flat, with a glistening dark brown back and a striped light brown and white front. His nose ends in a curling antenna and his ears look like minature curling pig tails. Thanks to the kindness of a tailor whose life he saved, the Wogglebug wears a swallow-tail coat that is dark blue with a yellow silk lining and a flower in the button hole, a white vest, fawn colored knickers, and a top hat. The Woggle-Bug has a fondness for making puns, and can be a bit overbearing in trying to impress others with his Thoroughly Educated status. After he helped restore Ozma, she founded Oz's first university and appointed him dean.

  • Breakout Character: He was considered this for a while after The Marvelous Land of Oz came out, having large roles in side projects such as the comic strip Queer Visitors from the Land of Oz and quite a bit of merchandise devoted solely to him -- there were Woggle-Bug postcards, Woggle-Bug buttons, a Woggle-Bug song, a Woggle-Bug board game and a book starring him called, imaginatively enough, The Woggle-Bug Book, which was closely tied to (and meant to promote) the stage musical The Woggle-Bug, which was loosely based on The Marvelous Land of Oz. The musical, however, bombed, and that was pretty much the end of the Woggle-Bug's superstardom. He'd have drastically reduced roles in the following books.
    • Also, interestingly enough, in those subsequent appearances he became even more pompous and conceited than before, to the point where none of the other characters liked him much.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies
  • Delusions of Eloquence
  • Hurricane of Puns
  • Insufferable Genius
  • Intellectual Animal
  • Non-Human Sidekick
  • Older Sidekick
  • The Professor
  • Refugee From TV Land: The Wogglebug is one of the first examples of a character projected upon a screen who then escapes from the screen.
  • Talking Animal

The Gump

"The last thing I remember distinctly is walking through the forest and hearing a loud noise. Something probably killed me then, and it certainly ought to have been the end of me. Yet here I am, alive again, with four monstrous wings and a body which I venture to say would make any respectable animal or fowl weep with shame to own. What does it all mean? Am I a Gump, or am I a juggernaut?"

Originally the Gump was a mounted head over the mantle in the great hallway of the Royal Palace in the Emerald City. It has antlers like an elk, but it's up-turned nose and billy goat chin whiskers give it an air of absurdity. The Tin Woodman uses the Gump as a head along with two large sofas for a body, four palm leaves for wings, an a broom for a tail to fashion a means to escape the Army of Revolt. Tip then applies the last of the Powder of Life to bring bring this strange creation to life. Thus the Gump becomes an unlikely aerial transport for Tip and his friends in their escape from Jinjur and the Army of Revolt. After tranquility and order is finally restored to the Emerald City, the parts of this strange flying machine are returned to their original function, with the Gump returning to its place over the mantle, where he sometimes strikes up conversations with shocked visitors.

Mombi

Tip: "She is a terrible old woman!"

An old woman who secretly engages in the practice of magic. Although she has developed many powers, she is not simply a witch, but more of a sorceress. Her best magic involves the creation of very realistic illusions. She uses these powers in an attempt by rebels to retain control of the Emerald City and to foil Glinda the Good's move to restore the rightful heir to the throne of Oz.

General Jinjur

Commander of the Army of Revolt. After successfully capturing the Emerald City, she summoned Mombi to help defend it against counterattack by former King Scarecrow and Emperor Tin Woodman. Ultimately she had to deal with Glinda the Good in her drive to restore the throne to its rightful heir. Jinjur was defeated and resigned herself to settling down with a nice Munchkin farmer, but she makes it clear that she wears the pants in the family.

Army of Revolt

General Jinjur: "What man would oppose a girl, or dare to harm her? And there is not an ugly face in my entire Army."

An army of girls from all over the Land of Oz that Jinjur assembled to conquer the Emerald City, depose King Scarecrow, and run the government to suit themselves. They looted the city upon its capture, picking out the emeralds and other jewels which decorated the streets and buildings. Their uniforms include a green sash around the waist and a skirt in four colors; blue, yellow, red, and purple representing the four countries of Oz. Each of the four companies of girls wear their skirts so that the color of their country are to the front. Their weapons are two long, glittering knitting-needles stuck through the knot of their hair at the back of their head.


Ozma of Oz

Billina

A spunky, talkative chicken, Billina was originally named Bill because, she tells Dorothy, "no one could tell whether I was going to be a hen or a rooster." Dorothy insists on changing the hen's name to a feminine form. Billina endures several scares with the Kansas farm girl before they defeat the Nome King as only a hen can. At the end of the novel, Billina settles in the Emerald City.

Tik-Tok

"Extra-Responsive, Thought-Creating, Perfect-Talking Mechanical Man ...Thinks, Speaks, Acts, and Does Everything but Live."

Tik-Tok is an incredible copper mechanical man. He has a wind-up clock mechanism for thinking, speaking, walking, and other movements. He was made by Smith & Tinker at their Works in Evna. He was purchased by King Evoldo and named Tik-Tok because of the sound he makes when wound up. Dorothy finds him in the rock chamber where he had been placed by Evoldo. He proves to be quite invaluable to her in the challenges she faces in this adventure which carries them deep into the Nome King's underground domains. Tik-Tok becomes an honored member of Ozma's retinue in the Emerald City, joining in many other adventures in the Land of Oz.

  • And I Must Scream: Tik-tok has mechanisms for thought, speech, and action. At one point "action" and "speech" ran down and Tik-Tok had nothing to do but stand still and think and think until slowly, gradually, his thoughts ran down to nothing.
  • Battle Butler
  • Can Not Tell a Lie: "Tik-Tok has spoken truly, for his machinery will not allow him to lie, nor will it allow his thoughts to think falsely. Therefore, these people are not our enemies"
  • Clockwork Creature
  • Iconic Characters
  • Literal-Minded: "How shall we go to the Nome King's cavern, Tik-Tok?" "We might crawl, or jump, or roll o-ver and o-ver un-til we get there; but the best way is to walk."
  • Non-Human Sidekick
  • Robo Speak: The oldest version of this trope.
  • Robot Buddy: Tik-Tok was around before the term "robot" was coined.
  • Robot Names
  • The Spock
  • "Three Laws"-Compliant: Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics was partly inspired by the interaction between Tik-Tok and Dorothy in Ozma of Oz.
  • Tin Man: Although it's mentioned that Tik-Tok isn't alive and has no capacity for emotion, he's capable of becoming bored, has a great deal of self-assurance and pride (to the point of vanity), and even a bit of snarkiness. So there's something going on in there.

The Hungry Tiger

The Hungry Tiger is a good friend of the Cowardly Lion who left the forest and joined the Lion because he realized that he did not fit in. As his name implies, the Tiger is always hungry and lusts longingly to devour the many tender creatures that he encounters, but he has a powerful conscience and is so driven by his sense of right and wrong that he cannot bring himself to eat any of them -- and so he stays hungry all the time. With the Lion, he is one of Ozma's bodyguards.

The Nome King

"Now, the Nome King had never tried to be good, so he was very bad indeed."

Although the Wicked Witch of the West is the most famous of Oz's villains (thanks to the popular 1939 film), the Nome King is the closest the book series has to a primary Big Bad. He appears again and again to cause trouble for the Land of Oz. He's described as looking like an demented Santa Claus. Originally his name was Roquat the Red, but in The Emerald City of Oz he was reformed after a dunking in the Water of Oblivion; he soon returned to his evil ways, but forgot his name, and started calling himself Ruggedo.

Kaliko

The Nome King's Chief Steward.

  • Anti-Villain: In Rinkitink in Oz, where he's at his most villainous, he still comes off as a lot nicer than Ruggedo/Roquat. (He isn't a villain at all in Tik-Tok of Oz, where he becomes the new King, but apparently later books required a villainous Nome King anyway. Some of the later authors may have forgotten that there were, in fact, differences between his personality and Ruggedo's.)
  • Ascended Extra: Goes from an unnamed character in this book- who exists mainly so that Billina can overhear an argument between him and the Nome King- to a reoccurring supporting character, to the new Nome King in Tik-Tok of Oz.
  • Beleaguered Assistant / Hypercompetent Sidekick: Fluctuates between the two- most of the time he's the latter, but definitely the former by Tik-Tok of Oz.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: While he never invents anything, one short story had him reassembling a smashed Tik-Tok- implied to be just about impossible due to how complicated the machinery was- for fun. (This trait of his is never mentioned elsewhere.)
  • The Good Chancellor: Runs the Nome King's kingdom very well, and is stated to be better liked than the monarch.
  • Improbable Hairstyle: Even more so than his boss, if you go by the illustrations. Part of it goes down to his shoulders, while the rest goes up in a great big tuft.
  • No Name Given: Not actually named in this book, but the Kaliko who appears later acts enough like the original Chief Steward that they're probably the same character.
  • Offered the Crown: In Tik-Tok of Oz, when Ruggedo is deposed by Quox. He accepts.
  • Pet the Dog: In Tik-Tok, he rescues Betsy from being thrown into the Slimy Cave. (While being in the Slimy Cave would probably have not been too bad on its own, Ruggedo was in the process of throwing a huge tantrum, turning people into musical instruments and calling for torturers. Since Betsy was a Tagalong Kid, Kaliko presumably thought that she was safer waiting out the situation in his house.) This functions to set him up as a good replacement King later in the book, since his role before that point consisted of following his boss's orders and advising him against foolishness.
  • Servile Snarker
  • Ultimate Job Security: Gets away with calling his extremely short-tempered monarch an idiot, more than once, because the Nome King can't find a competent replacement. For comparision, the Nome King "throws away" his generals at the drop of a hat- but he while threatens Kaliko periodically, he keeps him as his steward for as long as he remains the king.


Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

Eureka

She is Dorothy's white kitten, and accompanies Dorothy in a great adventure in the Land of Oz. In later adventures, after Dorothy has returned permanently to the Land of Oz, Eureka inexplicably becomes the Pink Kitten -- except in Glinda of Oz, where she just as inexplicably has become the Purple Kitten. The cause of this color change is one of the mysteries of Oz.[1]

  • Cats Are Mean: L. Frank Baum even apologizes for her lack of good behavior in the foreword to Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, adding that "perhaps she wasn't brought up properly."
    • This gets taken Up to Eleven at the end when she is accused of eating one of the now-sentient, talking piglets near the end of the novel. She refuses to defend herself and treats the trial for her life like a clown show. It turns out that she had intended to, but an accident robbed her of the chance. As a result, her execution is stayed (she knew she could clear her name at any point, but let the show go on because she was amused by it), but she is shunned by the other residents of Oz and begs to be taken home. As noted above, that doesn't last.
  • Carnivore Confusion: Explicitly avoided with Eureka: she eats living things every chance she gets and revels in it. This forms a major plot point at the end (see Cats Are Mean, above).
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Fearless Fool: Since she has nine lives, she's not afraid of anything, even when she should be.
  • Meaningful Name: Dorothy certainly intended it to be one. Since she found the kitten by chance, she named it "Eureka" because Uncle Henry had taught her that this means "I have found it."
  • Non-Human Sidekick
  • Talking Animal
  • Team Pet

Zebediah "Zeb" Hugson

A distant cousin of Dorothy's (his uncle is married to Aunt Em's sister) who works and lives on his uncle Bill's ranch, Hugson's Ranch, in California. Along with his uncle's horse, Jim, he ends up unwillingly accompanying Dorothy on her third journey to Oz.

  • Cowardly Sidekick: Of all the people (and cats, horses and pigs) who end up on the journey, Jim is the only one who's genuinely scared of the dangers they find themselves in, and is close to freaking out several times.
  • Embarrassing First Name: He doesn't really like being called "Zebediah" and prefers going by his nickname, "Zeb."
  • Only Sane Man: Has traces of this, especially in his own eyes, and spends some time early in the book pointing out how wrong the strange adventures he's encountered are, or how unnatural it is that animals can talk. He becomes more accepting of such things as the book goes on, but in the end he's still glad to leave Oz, telling the others that he really doesn't belong in a fairy country.
  • Put on a Bus: He only appears in one book, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, after which he returns back home to his uncle's ranch and is barely even mentioned again.

Jim

One of the horses on Hugson's Ranch; he was born in Kentucky and in his youth he was a proud and undefeated race-horse. In his later years, he pulled a cab in Chicago, before finally retiring to Hugson's Ranch in California. He accompanies Jim and Dorothy on their trip to Oz.

  • Break the Haughty: Being a previously-undefeated race-horse, he's pretty arrogant and conceited, and this only gets worse when he learns he's the only actual horse in Oz. Losing a race to the Sawhorse, however, pretty much punctures his illusions about being unbeatable, and he is further cowed when he loses his temper and kicks the Sawhorse, and the Cowardly Lion and Hungry Tiger make it very clear to him that they don't like it when their friends are kicked around. In the end, Jim becomes one of the only animals in the Oz books who begs to leave the place because he can't stand being an just an ordinary horse in a fairy country.
  • I Just Want to Be Special: Invoked after he loses the race with the Sawhorse and realizes that in a fairy world a normal horse like him Can't Catch Up, so he wants to go back to California, where he is special.
  • Put on a Bus: Along with Zeb, he returns to California and is never seen in the series again.
  • Talking Animal: Like all animals, he gains the ability to talk when entering a fairy land.

Road to Oz

Shaggy Man

"Don't you love me?"

A kindly old wanderer, dressed all in rags. His basic philosophy of life centers on love and an aversion to money and material possessions. His one possession of value is the Love Magnet. He first meets Dorothy on her Uncle Henry's farm in Kansas. They become lost and have a series of adventures, culminating at a grand birthday party for Ozma in the Emerald City of Oz. In later stories we learn that the Shaggy Man becomes a full time resident of Oz, where Ozma appoints him Governor of the Royal Storehouses.

Button-Bright

"Don't know"

A little boy who accompanies Dorothy and the Shaggy Man on their adventures in the Land of Oz. They find him lost on the road while they are hunting for Butterfield. He has blue eyes, pretty curls, a chubby round face, and always wears a sailor suit. Button-Bright appears to be 2 or 3 years younger than Dorothy. To almost every question his answer is "Don`t know," or similar words. In later appearances he is older and more verbose, but has gained a knack for getting lost. In the adventure recounted in Sky Island, we learn he comes from Philadelphia and his real name is Saladin Paracelsus de Lambertine Evagne von Smith.

Polychrome, the Rainbow's daughter

The sweetest and merriest, but most reckless of the Rainbow's daughters. She wears soft flowing robes that look like cobwebs and are tinted violet, rose, topaz, olive, azure, and white, and her hair is like spun gold. She slides off her father's Rainbow and falls to the ground, becomes lost, and joins Dorothy and her friends in their search for the Emerald City. In a later adventure she becomes trapped on earth for the second time when the Rainbow returns to the sky without her. She joins Betsy Bobbin and her friends in their quest to rescue the Shaggy Man's brother. Polychrome's uncle is the Rain King.

  • Aesop Amnesia: You'd think she'd have learned her lesson about staying on the Rainbow after the first time she got stranded, but no. Then again, every time she has gotten stranded on Earth she's ended up on all sorts of adventures and made many great friends, so maybe she really doesn't mind.
    • Weirdly enough, in Tik-tok of Oz she does seem to suffer from some kind of amnesia, since she has completely forgotten the Shaggy Man, whom she met in The Road to Oz. This is never explained by the narrative, but may simply be an unintentional carry-over from the stage play the book was based on.
  • Baleful Polymorph: In The Tin Woodsman of Oz, she is turned into a canary bird by Mrs. Yoop.
  • Crossover: Along with Button-Bright, she is one of two established Oz characters who appear in the non-Oz book Sky Island.
  • Cute Witch
  • Fairy Companion
  • Fish Out of Water: In her first appearance she is completely out of her element and doesn't cope too well with being stuck on the ground. In later appearances she's more experienced and better able to cope.
  • Guest Star Party Member: On several occasions.
  • Improbable Hairstyle
  • In-Series Nickname: Dorothy and Betsy call her "Polly."
  • Meaningful Name: Her name is Greek for "multi colored" as opposed to Monochrome
  • Mood Swinger: She's usually the happiest, most cheerful person around, laughing and dancing about without a care -- but when she's lost, lonely or upset, she'll cry loudly and declare herself "the most miserable girl in the world." Only to be all smiles again when someone shows her any amount of kindness.
  • Non-Human Sidekick
  • Took a Level in Badass: With each chronological appearance in Baum's books she becomes more useful and competent. In her first appearance in The Road to Oz she's a helpless Fish Out of Water, but in her second appearance in Sky Island, when we for the first time see her in her true element, it becomes clear just how smart and competent she really is. In later Oz books she becomes a lot more confident and powerful even on the ground.
    • Interestingly enough, in her first appearance, in The Road to Oz. she tells Dorothy that she doesn't know any kind of magic, because "we who live on the rainbow among the fleecy clouds have no use for magic." However, in Tin Woodsman of Oz, she has become a rather accomplished magic-user and, despite spending much of the book stuck in the form of a canary, performs several helpful magics. Possibly, she began learning magic in anticipation that she might get stuck on the ground again.


The Patchwork Girl of Oz

Ojo the (Un)Lucky

"I'm Ojo the Unlucky," replied the boy. "I might have known I would fail in anything I tried to do."

A poor Munchkin boy who lives with his uncle Unc Nunkie in the Northern part of Oz, and is first thought to be a common Munchkin, but in later books is revealed to be the lost prince of Seebania. He's the primary protagonist of The Patchwork Girl of Oz and the later Ojo in Oz.

  • Catch Phrase: Whenever something goes wrong, Ojo will state that the reason for the misfortune is that "I'm Ojo the Unlucky."
  • Mood Swinger: A mild case, but still.
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Tin Woodsman believes Ojo's "The Unlucky" nickname to be this and changes it to "Ojo the Lucky," which he is known as in all subsequent books.

Bungle The Glass Cat

"You made me pretty--very pretty, indeed--and I love to watch my pink brains roll around when they're working, and to see my precious red heart beat."

Bungle's body is made entirely of clear glass, with a blood-red ruby stone in her chest for a heart, two emeralds for eyes, and several bright pink marbles in her head for brains. She was made and brought to life by Dr. Pipt and his Powder of Life, for the specific purpose of catching mice for his wife. But the Glass Cat turned out to be exceptionally vain, and unwilling to do any work.

Scraps, the Patchwork Girl

"Horrid?" she replied. "Why, I'm thoroughly delightful. I'm an Original, if you please, and therefore incomparable. Of all the comic, absurd, rare and amusing creatures the world contains, I must be the supreme freak... But I'm glad--I'm awfully glad!--that I'm just what I am, and nothing else."

A living doll given "too many marbles", she's eccentric (read: insane) even by Ozian standards, yet is quite friendly. She has an enduring crush on the Scarecrow.

The Woozy

"My eyes can flash fire, and I have a ferocious growl -- that is sometimes."

A strange, yet friendly creature made up of only squares and flat surfaces, and who therefore prides himself on "being square." He's good-natured and helpful, but insists that he can be very ferocious when angry, fire flashes from his eyes, and he has the most terrifying growl of any animal. The part about the fire turns out to be true, the part about the roar turns out to be very, very false.

  • Berserk Button: Parodied. The word "Krizzle-Kroo" sends him into a rage, because he has no idea what it means.
  • Big Eater: And how. His favorite food is honey-bees
  • Frickin' Laser Beams: Fire-beams, actually, but close enough.
  • Non-Human Sidekick
  • Sealed Good in a Can: Was trapped in an enclosure with a fence too tall for him to jump over, and didn't think to break out himself until Ojo and pals came along.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Honey bees. He got into quite a bit of trouble with the Munchkin beekeepers because of this.

Tik-Tok of Oz

Betsy Bobbin

"How could anyone be safe when she's going about sixty miles a minute?"

A little girl who was shipwrecked along with her donkey, Hank, Betsy is another American country girl left to wander. She's more or less another Dorothy, and Princess Dorothy takes a great interest in her welfare.

  • Country Mouse
  • The Everyman
  • Expy: Originally, she was this for Dorothy. Tik-Tok of Oz began as a stage musical, and to avoid arguments over stage rights, Betsy Bobbin and Hank were created specifically to take the place of Dorothy and Toto.
  • The Generic Girl: As Dorothy's Suspiciously Similar Substitute, Betsy never developed an identity of her own, and is an extremely minor character in the rest of Baum's books. Ruth Plumly Thompson used her as a main character in a couple of books, but she never really grew out of her Generic Girl status.
  • Plucky Girl
  • Tagalong Kid: The main difference between Dorothy and Betsy is that Betsy plays this trope straight.

Hank

Betsy's trusty companion; for most of the book he's just a normal mule, but he of course becomes a Talking Animal once in Oz.

  • Demoted to Extra: Almost immediately. He quickly becomes less important once Betsy gets some companions she can actually talk to, and in subsequent books he barely appears at all -- other than the occasional, very brief, passing mention.
  • Expy: For Toto, originally.
  • Non-Human Sidekick
  • Talking Animal: Once he's in Oz, anyway.

Queen Ann Soforth

"I won't!" cried Ann; "I won't sweep the floor. It is beneath my dignity."

Queen of Oogaboo, a tiny kingdom within the greater Oz, Ann is bored of her quiet life, where all she really does is watch over her kingdom and fight with her sister, Salye. While Anne is 'old enough to make jelly,' it's explained that she's only Queen since her father wandered off, and her mother followed him, leaving Ann to 'rule.' As a result, she's convinced that the world outside of Oogaboo is infinitely more interesting and worth ruling over. She orders the men of Oogaboo to form an army, with only one, Jo Files, agreeing to be the lone Private. While she doesn't want to shed any blood (she might faint at the sight, after all), she determines to conquer the rest of Oz, knowing that Ozma doesn't even keep a Private Soldier anymore. What she doesn't know is that Glinda's been paying attention to her book of records, and magically diverted the mountain pass that leads from Oogaboo into the rest of Oz, instead dropping Ann and her army out in the desert...

Jo Files

"I have read in my books that it is always the private soldiers who do the fighting, for no officer is ever brave enough to face the foe. Also, it stands to reason that your officers must have some one to command and to issue their orders to; therefore I'll be the one. I long to slash and slay the enemy and become a hero."

The sole private of Queen Ann's army, Jo Files is intelligent, well-read and brave -- which is why he declines to be an officer like the others. For all his talk about battle and conquest, though, he's a polite and friendly person who always apologizes if he thinks he's hurt someone, and when commanded to conquer pretty young ladies, he immediately resigns from the army because that would be "impolite." He grows very close to Princess Ozga over the course of the story.

  • Genius Ditz: He has tons of book-smarts and is probably the most intelligent man in Oogaboo, though perhaps not so much in the common sense department.
  • Honor Before Reason: He has his moments where he follows this, though in the long run Reason tends to win out.
  • Interspecies Romance: With Princess Ozga.

The Rose Princess, Ozga

Princess of the Rose Kingdom. When the Shaggy Man, Betsy, and Hank find themselves in a large Greenhouse that is also a sovereign Rose Kingdom, they demand the right to appeal to the local monarch. Only one rose from the royal bush is anywhere near blooming, and when they pick her, the Rose Princess is immediately banished, because no one wants a female monarch. Even if she is Princess Ozma's cousin.

The Rose Princess tags along on the rest journey, as when she left the Rose Kingdom, she also changed from a fairy to a 'mortal maid.' She becomes firm friends with both Polychrome and Jo Files, Queen Ann's Private.

Quox

"I'm in disgrace just now, you know, and the only way to redeem my good name is to obey the orders of the Jinjin. If he makes me a beast of burden, it is only a part of my punishment, and I must bear it like a dragon."

A young dragon in the service of the fairies, as punishment for being disrespectful towards his elders. He takes it in good humor, though, serving as a beast of burden for the party for parts of the book and even comes to their rescue at a crucial moment.


The Scarecrow of Oz

Mayre "Trot" Griffiths

Mayre Griffiths, known to her friends as "Trot," was (together with her constant companion Cap'n Bill) originally the main character of the two non-Oz books The Sea Fairies and Sky Island, which L. Frank Baum wrote as an attempts to get away from the Oz (even though Sky Island also featured Button-Bright and Polychrome in large roles), but was eventually brought over to the Oz series proper in The Scarecrow of Oz. Trot is a little girl who is said to have been marked by fairies with invisible mystic signs when she was born, which may account for her tendency to constantly get into magical adventures.

  • Cheerful Child
  • Constantly Curious: Trot is very curious and thoughtful and tends to ask a lot of questions, perhaps because she has the well-traveled Cap'n Bill as a ready Mr. Exposition, who gives her the opportunity to play The Watson on more than one occasion.
  • Everything's Better with Princesses: Trot is, in the Scarecrow's words "twice a princess" -- like Dorothy, she is made a princess of Oz, and later on is appointed an honorary princess of the Ozure Isles. Due to circumstances, she also had a very brief tenant as Queen of Sky Island, and never officially resigned (though she did leave sensible and competent people to rule in her stead when she left the place).
  • Intergenerational Friendship: With Cap'n Bill, who acts as a father-figure to her.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: She got the nickname "Trot" when she was a toddler learning to walk, because she took so many busy little steps. She grew to prefer her nickname to her real one, so her real name, Mayre, is only mentioned in passing a couple of times. Otherwise both narrative and characters refer to her as "Trot" or sometimes "Tiny Trot."
  • Parental Abandonment: A strange version, possibly even an inversion, as both Trot's parents are alive and well, but simply fade out and are never mentioned again after she moves to Oz.
  • Plucky Girl: Very much in the vein of Dorothy, though unlike Betsy Bobbin, Trot was never an Expy and is different enough to avoid becoming a Suspiciously Similar Substitute.
  • Weirdness Magnet: Even before she gets to Oz, she has several weird and magical adventures quite by accident. This is hinted to be because she was marked by fairies at birth.

"Cap'n" Bill Weedles

A kindly old sailor who had to retire from the sea after he lost his leg in an accident. He is much like a substitute father for Trot while her real father (Cap'n Bill's old first mate) is away at sea, and usually ends up going on adventures with her to keep her safe.

Flipper the Ork

A Mix and Match critter with an ostrich-like body and neck, the head of a parrot, four paddle-shaped wings, and an organic propeller as a tail. To make it even weirder, he's entirely naked, save for topknot of crestfeathers. He's big enough to fly multiple people on his back, and proves invaluable to Capt'n Bill and Trot throughout the novel.

  • Big Damn Heroes: Comes back with no fewer then 50 of his compatriots to rescue the Scarecrow from being burned by King Krewl.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: When Flipper and all his friends show up from Orkland, the first thing they do is absolutely flatten Krewl, his nasty majordomo and his soliders, using their Super Mode (see below).
  • Deadpan Snarker: Loyal as he is to his friends, he has a sarcastic streak wider then his wings.
  • Fantastic Racism: Deeply disdains birds as inferior to himself, but eventually deigns to lead a flock of them to help his friends.
  • Incredible Shrinking Ork: When he accidentally discovers berries that shrink anything that eats them. Comes in very handy when he needs to carry Cap'n Bill and Trot on a particularly long voyage.
  • Noble Savage: Definitely fits into this role, since the Orks disdain technology and consider themselves higher moral beings then the earth-bound humans. Flipper takes pains to point out that the Orks achieved mastery over their land by being in harmony with it and not driving everything else to extinction - they don't even know how to use fire.
  • Non-Human Sidekick: One of many in the series.
  • No Name Given: Only averted when he mentions his name in passing, talking about Orkland. Otherwise, he's simply 'the Ork'.
  • Super Mode: He and the other Orks can call up small tornadoes with their proptails, which they do to blow out the fire threatening the Scarecrow, and flatten Krewl and his soldiers. Individually, he manages to fly himself, Cap'n Bill and Trot out of a vertical shaft, with only his proptail for lift.
  • Ten-Minute Retirement: Before the Scarecrow, Cap'n Bill and Trot go into Jinxland, Flipper leaves the party to return to his homeland and look up his family. However, he returns with most of his clan in tow - just in time to save the Scarecrow.
  • Walking the Earth: Or flying it, in Flipper's case. His wanderlust gets him labeled a Cloudcuckoolander back in Orkland.


Glinda of Oz

The Su-dic (Supreme Dictator)

The ruler of the Flatheads. Although supposedly an elected ruler, he always counts the votes himself and therefore is always "reelected".

Coo-ee-oh

The Queen of the Skeezers and a powerful Krumbic Witch.

  • Baleful Polymorph: Turned the Three Adepts into fishes and the Su-dic's wife into a Golden Pig; eventually, the Su-dic turns her into a Diamond Swan.
  • Big Brother Is Watching: Can hear any conversation on her island.
  • God Save Us From the Queen
  • Magitek: Some of her spells fall into this- particularly, she uses magic to operate her submarines and the retractable bridge between her island and the shore.
  • Meaningful Name: The three syllables of her name are the spoken parts of three of her important spells.
  • Vain Sorceress: She's very vain when first introduced, and even more so after her transformation, although at that point she's no longer a sorceress.

Red Reera

The cottage is the home of a powerful Yookoohoo, named Reera the Red, who assumes all sorts of forms, sometimes changing her form several times in a day, according to her fancy... This strange creature cannot be bribed with treasure, or coaxed through friendship, or won by pity. She has never assisted anyone, or done wrong to anyone, that we know of.

A Yookoohoo- a magical being with great powers of transformation- Red Reera is characterized by her fondness for things other people dislike (such as lizards, huge spiders, and wolves) and her disdain for human company.

  • Bowdlerise / What Could Have Been: In the first draft, she initially appeared as a wired-together skeleton with flaming eyes. This was changed to an ape in a lace apron to avoid scaring any kids.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Can transform herself and her pets into any form she desires. She can do it to others as well, but does not do so without their permission.
  1. ↑ Though in her original appearance in Dorothy and the Wizard In Oz, in the chapter aptly titled The Pink Kitten, Eureka briefly does look take on the appearance of a pink kitten, as the travelers are seeing her under the rays of the six colored suns in the middle of the earth. Other characters appear blue, yellow, green, etc.
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