An Appendix to the Oz Books

Interior illustrations by John R. Neill

Background art by Daniel Merriam

Appendix A: The Chronology & Continuity of the Oz Series

I. Regarding General Dates in the early Oz Books

II. Regarding Contradictions, Inconsistencies and Lapses in Continuity

III. The Borderlands of Oz Books

IV. Defining Canon and the Expanded Universe: The Famous Forty, Sovereign Sixty, Supreme Seventy-Five & the Deuterocanonical Books

Appendix B: Dating the Early Oz Books

Appendix C: Thompson and the New Chronology

Appendix D: The Ban on Magic in Oz

Appendix E: The History of the Phanfasms

Appendix F: The History of Ruggedo, Roquat and the Nomes/Gnomes of Ev

Appendix G: Names and Relations of the Wicked Witches of Oz

Appendix H: Ozma and Tip: The Switcheroo Spell

Appendix I: The High Kings and Queens of Oz

Appendix J: The Glass Cat

Appendix K: Dr. Nikidik and Dr. Pipt

Appendix L: Rulers of the Winkie Lands

Appendix M: Sky Countries in Nonestica

Appendix N: The Magical Roads of Oz

Appendix O: Tik-Tok's Troublesome Map

Appendix P: Living Dolls in Oz

Appendix Q: Crossovers in Oz

Appendix R: Deadly Desert Inhabitants (and Those Immune to It)

Appendix S: The Royal Palace Layout

Appendix T: The History of Glinda the Good

Appendix U: The History of the Silver Shoes

Appendix V: The Woozy's Origins

Appendix W: Death and Aging in Oz

Appendix A) Chronology and Continuity

Chronology, I’ve learned, is a field that does not lend itself to complete objectivity. Gaps in the narratives and various contradictory events presenting themselves as histories force those of us in this field to one of two evils... One, the chronologer leaves a question mark or blank space where he or she doesn’t have complete facts to verify his claim.  Or two, the chronologer fill in the gaps with the best evidence available, keeping an eye out for more information that might come to light.  Either one presents a wholly unsatisfactory and imperfect body of work, yet, as it can't be avoided, one or both must be employed.

Following the tradition of chronologers of old, I’ve chosen to employ the latter approach as the case warrants it, leaning on the side of investigative deduction and educated guesswork because it makes for the better reading experience.  I never said the job was pretty.  One must be confident in the dates and placements when it’s called to fill in the gaps, yet also modest enough to make changes when necessary.  The goal is ultimately the objective truth of history. 

The following is a very brief listing of notes I took during the compilation of these timelines.  They include some of the reasons behind my decisions to place events in a certain time or place.  It is by no means exhaustive, but rather a quick glimpse into some of my meanderings regarding Oz questions and dilemmas.  Spoilers apply!  Any  comments, email me here:

I. Regarding General Dates

This timeline is more of a ‘Publications Timeline’ than an ‘Events Timeline,’ though elements of the latter are present.  The primary purpose of a publications timeline is to put stories in the order in which they take place and should be read.  Whatever events-based information appears on the timeline is there to help clarify where certain events take place that haven't yet been detailed in story.  

The Royal Timeline of Oz follows on Baum's concept that Oz is real, and that as author of the Oz chronicles, he was not a fiction writer, but a journalist and historian, detailing actual events that have either been told to him by various Ozian personalities, or which were transmitted to him through some other conveyance.  As such, stories almost always take place prior to their publication date.  The minimum time-frame a story can take place is approximately just prior to the writing of the manuscript (not the date of publication, as there must be time for the story to have been transmitted to the writer/historian).  With only one exception, Jack Snow's A Murder in Oz (to be explained in a forthcoming book), no story takes place after it is written, an improbability that would make the author, not an historian, but a prophet. 

II. Regarding Contradictions, Inconsistencies, and Lapses of Continuity

As "The Royal Historian of Oz," Baum (and his successors) recounted actual stories that were told to him by various persons in Oz.  The real-world fact is that L. Frank Baum did not have the luxury of developing his otherworld in private (as Tolkien did with his Middle-Earth stories).  He developed his mythology along the way, and, as a result of clarified conceptions, several lapses in continuity came to exist, which not a few modern writers have since retconned. Retcons are an effective way of fixing incongruities and reasonably explaining what only appear on the surface to be contradictions. Retcons help the ongoing saga feel more authentic and seamless, with less incongruities that take readers out of the story.  Other ways for readers to deal with the reality of contradictions are questions that the reader can ask himself when reading the Oz books:

1. Did the person (s) telling the Royal Historian herself get all their facts straight?  Could they have been mistaken or misled?  Might they have simply forgotten certain details?  Oftentimes when one tells an exciting story she or a friend had, pertinent information is inadvertently left out.  Also, might the one relating the stories be prone to: a) exaggeration, b) omissions, c) confusion, d) deception. 

2. Might the author have unintentionally made mistakes, either forgetting portions of the story, misremembering, or not fully understanding the particulars of what he was told?  This would especially be true if the authors received the stories by means of dreams, visions, or impressions.  Similarly, if the story told was only barely sketched to them, the author may have had to fill in the blanks, so to speak.

3. Might the author herself have deliberately altered the story: a) out of consideration for her audience—excising details and/or toning down elements that might be deemed inappropriate for young readers, b) to appease her publisher, such as when Reilly & Britton persuaded Baum to cut out the entire "Garden of Meats" chapter due to its purportedly gruesome nature, c) to 'spice up' the narrative, such as when as editor at Reilly & Lee re-wrote Neill's The Wonder City of Oz, altering the original story and introducing foreign elements the author didn't know of.

In many cases, what appears to be a continuity-error is in fact a story that hasn't yet been told (or which the reader hasn't yet read), and in other scenarios, readers can internally fix an unfixable contradiction by recognizing that the historian simply got the facts wrong.

III. The Borderlands of Oz Books

Due to the fact that Baum crossed over Oz with his other fantasy-worlds (one of the first, if not the first to do so), the vast majority of his fantasy stories are set in the same universe.  These books and stories have been called "Borderlands" because their locations are literally on the borders of Oz, either on the mainland or somewhere in the Nonestic Ocean, which lies outside the mainland countries of Nonestica. 

In the past, there was some debate as to which of Baum's non-Oz fantasy books constitute "Borderlands of Oz" books.  Ruth Berman, author of "Who's Who in the Borderlands of Oz" admits that "the division between Borderlands and American fantasy titles is somewhat arbitrary," and I'm inclined to agree.  Yet even Berman leaves out three titles that I believe belong in the category: Twinkle and Chubbins, Policeman Bluejay and Animal Fairy Tales.  Policeman Bluejay (the sequel to Twinkle and Chubbins) was a story Baum wanted to subtitle "An Oz Tale," which is a strong indication that he regarded it as occurring in the same universe.  With that in mind, the stories that encompass both American Fairy Tales and Animal Fairy Tales should likewise be considered as taking place in the same universe, as they are fantasy stories, even if they take place in the relatively non-magical outside world.

The Royal Timeline of Oz considers the Borderlands of Oz books to consist of 15 titles in total.  As many of Baum's short stories did not make it into a dedicated collection until The International Wizard of Oz Club published The Collected Short Stories of L. Frank Baum, I consider that book the 11th Borderlands of Oz book, encompassing all of Baum's short stories from American and Animal Fairy Tales, and particularly the ten short stories that were never collected under one cover until the Club's publication.  Even Berman considers many of these short stories part of her Borderlands designation.  Additionally, Thompson had Borderlands stories as well, lest we forget that Pumperdink, the Silver Mountain, Patch and Sun-Top Mountains all come from her non-Oz works, e.g., "The Wizard of Way-Up" stories and other stories she wrote for the Philadelphia Ledger.  Similarly, characters like Bustabo (from Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz) appear in her Sissajig stories and Ogowan appears again in King Kojo (as Oh-Go-Wan).  Thus, I've included the International Wizard of Oz collections, The Wizard of Way-Up and Other Wonders, Sissajig and Other Stories  and King Kojo as Borderlands books as well.  See below for the complete list.

IV. Defining Canon: The Famous Forty, Sovereign Sixty and Supreme Seventy-Five

It must be understood first and foremost that Oz canon is primarily the work of L. Frank Baum.  His developing conception of Oz over the course of his seventeen Oz stories, as well as his development of the otherworld, in which Oz is located, and his non-Oz fantasies (which border Oz geographically and narratively) is rightly first and foremost "true."  While the list of canonical books generally refers to those titles which were officially commissioned by Reilly & Lee (the publisher who held the rights to the books until they went into public domain, or reverted to the Baum Trust), the fact is that Baum's successor Ruth Plumly Thompson had a tendency to jettison many of Baum's progressive themes and concepts in favor of the far more conservative ideas she held.  Thus, in order to consider the original body of published Oz books "canon," one has no choice but to invoke a hierarchy of canon, with Baum on top.  Baum left a lot of room for exploration, but those statements and ideas that contradict his conception of Oz have to be considered as either in error or in need of explanation.  Baum is and must remain at the top of the canonical pyramid.

The complete published books have for many years been generally referred to as the Famous Forty. The problem with this clever designation is that it doesn't accurately represent the number of stories that were written by the original authors.  In fact, it doesn't even count three of Baum's own works.  To reconcile this discrepancy and keep with the concept of "canon" itself, some have given these additional stories the somewhat pejorative sobriquet, "Quasi-Canonical books," or more generously, the "Deuterocanonical Seven," in imitation of the term used by Catholic Bibles to refer to the additional books considered canon, so-called deutero canon, because they were accepted later on.

The Royal Timeline of Oz presents a new, modern view of canon that eschews the pointless limitations of the Famous Forty.  The additional Oz books by Baum, Thompson, Neill, Cosgrove-Payes or the McGraws are not to be considered "quasi" canon or even deuterocanonical, but canon itself.  While deuterocanon is not an inappropriate term by any means, it's a designation best saved for modern works.  Reilly & Britton (later Reilly & Lee) are not the baseline for canon, nor should they be.  Such a demarcation fails to stand up in light of actual scrutiny.  Let's examine that history briefly.

The original publisher of any Oz book was George M. Hill.  With the demise of that company, two of his employees, Reilly & Britton started up their own company and began publishing Baum's Oz (and non-Oz) stories.  When Britton died, the company became Reilly & Lee.  When both men passed, however, a frugal and unimaginative employee named Frank O'Donnell took over, and during his tenure managed to do as little as possible to promote new Oz books, much to the aggravation of then-Royal Historian Ruth Plumly Thompson, who actually stopped writing Oz books on his account.  Content to ride on the company's back catalogue, O'Donnell rarely commissioned new Oz books, and between the years of 1942 and 1946, 1946 and 1949, and 1951 and 1963, no new titles came forth, allowing 19 years in total to go by without an Oz book.  This was a disastrous move, particularly when one considers that the Oz series—prior to his involvement—had been running consecutively and without interruption for 35 years (from 1907-1942)!  Even Baum's death didn't stop the successful  one-Oz-book-a-year tradition!  No, it took a bad businessman with no interest in the series to do that.  Were it not for the 1939 MGM motion-picture The Wizard of Oz, the Oz books would likely have fallen into obscurity.

With this in mind, the idea of "canon" can be understood as needing a radical readjustment.  No publisher, and certainly not Reilly & Lee from the Forties onward should be considered the arbiters of what constitutes canon.  Beginning with the very basic idea that the original authors are the legitimate "Royal Historians of Oz," the stories they wrote, regardless of when they wrote it (or who published it), constitute canon, as imperfect as that canon may seemingly be.

Thanks in no small part to The International Wizard of Oz Club, which sought out and received the legal right to publish new Oz fiction, Oz continued, and in time older stories that hadn't been published by Reilly & Lee were brought forth as "new" works of the original "Royal Historians," which are now available for fans to enjoy.  Thus, even the staunchest purists can see that the International Wizard of Oz Club is an extension of the former publishers.  Additionally, since the works of the Royal Illustrators who become Royal Historians are traditionally considered canon, even if those works are far out there (e.g., The Wonder City of Oz), so too should the works of Dick Martin and Eric Shanower (who illustrated several canonical author's works) be considered canon.  And if the latter is reasonable and true, then so too should the works that Shanower published (e.g., the two Edward Einhorn books).

As to the books of Sherwood Smith, the Baum Trust has added them to their list of approved authors, and The Royal Timeline of Oz sees no reason not to include them as canonical.  Not counting the Borderlands of Oz books, the canonical books that strictly deal with Oz and events directly impacting Oz amount to 60 and have been here dubbed The Sovereign Sixty.  Together with the Borderlands of Oz books, canon can and should be considered 75 in total, hence The Supreme Seventy-Five.

Appendix B)

Dating the Early Oz Books 

One of the most challenging periods of time for a chronologer of Ozian lore to chronicle may be the earliest stories, starting with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  L. Frank Baum offered very little information as to when his stories takes place, though there is at least one cardinal dates that he goes on to establish.  Unlike the classic fairy tales, in which the tenets of journalism, the famous W’s of Who, What, Where, When, and Why, are irrelevant, Baum established his Oz stories as the history of an otherworld connected to our world.  Unlike the MGM film, Oz is real, not a dream.  Thus, it's rather appropriate, considering that Baum designated himself the Royal Historian of Oz, that modern scholarship, such as found in The Royal Timeline of Oz, the International Wizard of Oz Club and other fan-circles, examine the chronology of this history.  Although Baum never lived long enough to clarify certain questions and mysteries, a century later, fans and authors have figured a few things out, and, with some diligence, we can put together a relatively accurate chronology for the saga.

Where some early chronologers placed the books in or just before the year of publication—a one-book-a-year precedent following Ozma of Oz—internal evidence points to the fact that not a long span of time occurs between the early books, particularly following the second book (The Marvelous Land of Oz).  Additionally, Baum's successor Ruth Plumly Thompson appears to eschew this idea entirely (for more information on this, see Thompson and the New Chronology).

1) Following the general rule above (see Appendix A 1), The Royal Timeline of Oz places Baum's first book (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) in the latter part of 1898.  It may have occurred in the latter part of 1899, and 1897 is not unlikely either.  A case has been made by author Robin Hess for it taking place in 1893 (or 1895).  There are, however, serious arguments against that, not the least of which is that Baum himself told readers that only a "few years" had passed since the events of the first book.  Then, there's the larger issue of Dorothy's age.  While she's certainly older when we see her again in Ozma of Oz, she's certainly not seventeen (which is what she'd be if she was seven in 1893).  To offset this, one would have to place all the books up to The Emerald City of Oz five years earlier, but there are arguments against doing this, which we shall see.

2) The events in W.W. Denslow’s newspaper strip, "Dorothy’s Christmas Tree," which demonstrates that Dorothy spent Christmas in Oz, establishes when approximately the events of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz occurred.  This accords with Baum's view, which notes that her second house was well under construction by the time she returned.  The Day-to-Day Chronology of Oz indicates that Dorothy was in Oz for 52 days, which with the information from the story above, reveals that this was from November 12, 1989 to January 2, 1899. (See here for more information)

3) The date of the events chronicled in Baum's newspaper strip stories, Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz are established by The Royal Proclamation, signed by Ozma, as in the "second year of Ozma's reign."  This gives us a cardinal date. These stories are explicitly dated to the month and year of the newspaper they first appeared in, specifically late August and September 1904, which is confirmed by the fact that the Ozian visitors are said to have first arrived in the United States in late August 1904. 

Some would say that this would give a later date for The Marvelous Land of Oz, except for an additional bit of information that Baum gave readers.  His 1904 Ozmapolitan (an in-universe newspaper) lists the year 1904 as the "THIRD period, reign of Ozma," with a "period" established as meaning a year.  Rather than a contradiction, Baum may have considered the common interregnum period for rulers in which there is a span of time between the time a ruler is appointed king or queen, and the coronation, which represents the official inauguration.  These two indications when considered together indicate a cardinal date for the year of The Marvelous Land of Oz.  Ozma is Princess-Designate, or Princess-in-waiting (which is akin to President-Elect) in 1901 when she's first disenchanted at the end of the latter book, and although she is regarded as the rightful ruler, she remains Princess Designate until her inauguration (as indicated in the 1965 Ozmapolitan) as taking place in July of 1902.  Thus, the periods designated in the 1904 Ozmapolitan can be understood as the following: the FIRST period is Ozma's inauguration, which begins in July 1902; the SECOND period is 1903.  The THIRD period covers the events of the Queer Visitors strip in 1904.  The first year of Ozma's reign runs from July 1902 to July 1903.  The second year runs from July 1903 to July 1904, and is when Ozma issues her Royal Proclamation. 

With this information, a much more accurate chronology can be ascertained for later stories.

5) It was initially believed that Ozma of Oz must occur when Dorothy is out of school and able to take a vacation with Uncle Henry to Australia, but evidence shows this is not the case.  Dorothy does not return to Kansas until after the events of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, so these books take place in rapid succession, with only a short time in between them.  This was not a vacation, however, but a trip taken on behalf of her uncle's failing health.  There are only two times in the year such a trip might have been made, the summer (June to September) or the winter (January to April).  The latter is indicated by the burial dates of Jack Pumpkinhead's spoiled heads in The Road to Oz, another clue Baum left which gives chronological evidence that there is a year and ten months between the time of The Marvelous Land of Oz and The Road to Oz. 

Dorothy was away for over three months  It is uncertain exactly how long she'd been in the ship before the storm overtook her, though ship-journeys at that time would have taken around two months, give or take a week based on the ship.  The events of Ozma of Oz take place over the course of a week (see the Oz Chronology), after which Dorothy stays in the Emerald City another "few weeks" until she decides to leave, so between three weeks and a month pass in Oz before Dorothy decides to go to Australia.  As per David Hulan's calculations based on the type of ship they'd traveled, and noted in Eureka in Oz, the journey from Kansas to Australia took Henry over two months. 

The best time for a farmer to get away (and Uncle Henry doesn't have a lot of animals, so his operation is small enough for Aunt Em and "the hired men" to do the important tasks) is in the winter, and most likely after the holidays (which he'd want to spend with Em since he wouldn't be seeing her for some time).  This also is the ideal time for poorer folk to travel as the fares would be lower after the holidays.

The first month (onboard the ship) heading to Australia would begin in mid-January.  We know that when she checks the Magic Picture, weeks later, Henry is settled in Australia, which indicates that she was aboard the ship almost to the end of its voyage, and arrived in Ev in early March.  The events of Ozma of Oz take place over the course of a week, but it is said that Dorothy spends "several weeks" in Oz.  So, she likely goes to her uncle in Sydney, Australia at the end of March, where she spends five days.  She adopts Eureka, and they take the trip to San Francisco, which was likely a three-week trip.  Dorothy notes (in Eureka in Oz) that it's a much faster steamer ship and more expensive, and likely took around 23 or so days, even with the stopover at Honolulu (see Transpacific Steam: The Story of Steam Navigation from the Pacific Coast of North America to the Far East and the Antipodes, 1867-1941, by E. Mowbray Tate; Corwall Books, 1986).  She then spent some time with Miss Maud and Miss Amelia (in "The Road Built in Hope") and another week at her friend Polly's house in San Francisco before she boards the train to meet with her uncle at Bill Hugson's farm, bringing her to the end of April. 

In Ozma of Oz, Dorothy says she's never heard of Ozma before. So, this story must be set prior to the Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz newspaper strips, as the official proclamation and the Ozmapolitan make it clear that Dorothy's plea to Ozma was the reason Ozma allowed the Scarecrow and others visit the U.S. in the first place.  Queer Visitors has to be after the events of that book and Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, which takes place shortly after (and before Dorothy returns to Kansas).

There are some retcons needed for this arrangement to work.  In "Dorothy's Letter" (which has greetings to Ozma), reprinted in the first issue of the Ozmapolitan, Dorothy says that she's looking forward to seeing the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman again, and meeting the Wogglebug, Jack Pumpkinhead and Sawhorse.  The meeting of the latter two occurred in Ozma of Oz, and the former in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (earlier, actually, as Dorothy spent a "few weeks" in Oz, and The Enchanted Apples of Oz shows that they're in the same room).  A retcon has to be twofold, because in the Queer Visitors strip, Jack Pumpkinhead asks who Dorothy and Toto are.  Yet, Jack met Dorothy at the end of Ozma of Oz.  That fix comes from Baum himself who says that Jack's head was "overripe" at the time, so the reader can simply say that Jack momentarily forgot (he had also just been knocked over).

The second fix is more elaborate as it involves saying that there was a printing error (or editorial emendation) in the letter in the Ozmapolitan, so that instead of "I know I would love Jack Pumpkinhead and his Sawhorse," it originally had to have read "I know I love Jack Pumpkinhead and his Sawhorse." That still leaves the issue of the Wogglebug.  For these reasons, some may choose to view Dorothy's letter as apocryphal, but seeing as it was recorded by Baum, I'd argue for a plausible retcon.

As to the visit itself, it must have been while Aunt Em and Uncle Henry were away (at the bank, getting supplies, etc.) as they won't believe in the existence of Oz until they arrive there in The Emerald City of Oz.  Late summer is indicated for the visit of several Ozian personalities to the North American continent, a visit that lasted late August 1904 to until early January 1905. 

6) This next one is easier... Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz must occur a short time after Ozma of Oz because Dorothy has just departed with Uncle Henry from Australia for California on their way back to Kansas.  Baum says dawn was breaking as the train pulled in at 5 AM.  This only happens in California twice a year, in April, and again in early September.  For the reasons noted above, April fits best chronologically.  As regards the issue of the earthquake, some like to equate it with the San Francisco quake of 1906.  While that might seem feasible, there are some noteworthy variances with the real-world account and the one detailed in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.  The earthquake that swallows Dorothy and magically transports her to the underworld of the Nonestican continent appears to have been a different and earlier one.

Here also would be a good place to discuss the matter of the change in instructions given to Dorothy from Ozma. At the end of Ozma of Oz, Ozma tells Dorothy that she will check in on her every Saturday morning, and if Dorothy makes a certain sign, Ozma will transport her back to Oz.  However, in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz the instructions are changed and Dorothy says that Ozma checks in on her every day at 4:00.  It's possible that while Dorothy was in Australia with Uncle Henry, she paid an untold visit to Ozma one Saturday morning, after which Ozma changed the instructions.  Another answer to this solution might be that Ozma gave Dorothy both instructions.  She would check in on her every day at 4:00 (which would allow time for Dorothy to have returned home from school) and every Saturday morning.  Incidentally, Dorothy Haas, author of two Random House Oz books (Dorothy and the Seven Leaf Clover and Dorothy and Old King Crow), appears to have deemed this the case as she utilizes both circumstances for each of her books.

7)  It seems unlikely that Ozma would have celebrated her first birthday without Dorothy, but there is good reason to place Dorothy's next return to Oz—The Road to Oz—in the following year to celebrate Ozma’s birthday on August 21st, 1903, and it's certainly possible that Ozma didn't celebrate her birthday until that year.  In any case, Baum's chronology of Jack's heads demonstrates how long a span of time has occurred from The Marvelous Land of Oz to The Road to Oz, which is a year and ten months. 

8) With Dorothy’s final visit to Oz in The Emerald City of Oz, she becomes a permanent resident.  Regarding her age, there is nothing but indirect and inconclusive evidence.  Based on her characterization and adventures, it has been argued that Dorothy would have been no younger than six in the first book, which ends in early 1900.  Later, we learn that she is younger than Ozma and between the ages of Trot and Betsy Bobbin, and likely no older than twelve or thirteen.  If Jack Snow's account in "A Murder in Oz" can be dated to the time it was written, purportedly 1955, then Dorothy would have been technically "sixty-three" in that year, indicating that she was born in 1892 and stopped aging in The Emerald City of Oz when she made Oz her permanent residence.

9) Chronology does not get easier after this point.  Two of Baum's Oz stories were originally composed earlier for different formats, e.g., Tik-Tok of Oz was based on the 1909 stage production The Tik-Tok Man of Oz.  Additionally, Rinkitink in Oz was originally the 1905 story King Rinkitink, with very little changed in the story, save for turning Roquat into Kaliko and tacking on Oz characters at the end. Also, the appearance of Trot forces the story to take place after The Scarecrow in Oz, which forced an unnatural compression of events. This has all been rectified by the release of the new book King Rinkitink, which restores Baum's original conception and eliminates the later emendations (including Trot). This places Rinkitink in Oz/King Rinkitink prior to 1905, yet after Ozma of Oz, and allows the stories published before it to settle into their proper years afterwards. 

Appendix C)

Thompson and the New Chronology:

Ruth Plumly Thompson utilized an intricate chronology that eschews the idea that events in her stories accord with the publication dates (this was true of Baum's stories, as well, though his chronology—absent of dates and years—was far less explicit), which means that any accurate timeline of her stories has to discard the general rule that's been commonly employed, which dates the Oz books in accordance with the year of publication (generally by placing it a year earlier, as I had originally done). To distinguish this system from this traditional chronology, I've dubbed it the New Chronology.

Most of these dates are based around the internal chronology present in The Giant Horse of Oz, which predicates the need for a certain date that has to be coordinated with The Marvelous Land of Oz.  The dates are also much earlier than their publication dates, as they follow on this book's evidence as well as the necessary restructuring of Baum's books, which take place much earlier than their publication dates due to the fact that two of them were written much earlier (Tik-Tok of Oz in 1909 and Rinkitink in Oz in 1905).

• Kabumpo in Oz gives an explicit starting date of two years from the time of The Magic of Oz (which is based on how long the Nome King has been living underneath the palace).

• The Yellow Knight of Oz gives us a span of years for The Royal Book of Oz, as Tuzzle of Samandra says the Comfortable Camel was missing for "ten long years." As the Royal Book must be placed in 1910 due to Thompson's chronology in The Giant Horse of Oz, this gives us a 1920 date.  Note that the reference to Lindy (Charles Lindbergh), who was made famous when he made a nonstop flight from Long Island to Paris in 1927, is made by the author who wrote the book in 1929, and not by a character.

• The Lost King of Oz is dated two years prior to The Giant Horse of Oz. 

• Thompson's eighth Oz book, The Giant Horse of Oz presents an internal chronology that necessitates the placement of it earlier that the preceding titles, as this story can take place no later than 1912 due to Orin's chronology, which dictates Mombi being deposed by the Good Witch of the North twenty years prior before the Wizard handed Tip over to her.  In Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz, it is stated that Tip lived with Mombi for nine years prior to being disenchanted.  As that takes place in 1901, we can deduce that Ozma/Tip came to Mombi in 1892.  This is the latest year in which Mombi can have been defeated by Orin, the Good Witch of the North, and kicked out of her hut, otherwise, the Good Witch would have discovered Tip living with Mombi when she surprised her.  20 years from 1892 brings us to 1912 as the year in which The Giant Horse of Oz must take place. This dating helps establish a cardinal date around which others can be set.

• In The Gnome King of Oz, Ruggedo explicitly states that it's been five years since he was left exiled and stranded at the end of Kabumpo in Oz. As that story is dated at 1910, this gives The Gnome King of Oz a date of 1915, which places it out of publication date order, but safely within the chronology of the ongoing narrative.

• In Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz, protagonist Peter Brown twice reflects that two years have passed since the events of The Gnome King of Oz (page 19 in the hardcover, page 3 in the Del Rey softcover), his first time in Oz.  Peter's age is nine when he first visits Oz (in The Gnome King of Oz), and is 11 in Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz.  That places this book in 1917.

• Pirates in Oz has contradictory dating, as the text notes that it's been five years since Peter Brown silenced Ruggedo (at the end of The Gnome King of Oz), yet Peter himself states that he's only 11, placing the events of this book two years after The Gnome King of Oz, but after Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz (as the events of that story are referenced).  The Royal Timeline of Oz gives precedence to the characters own words and views the other date as an authorial/editorial error.

• The Purple Prince of Oz has no indication of year, save that it must take place over a year after the events of Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz.  Because the events of The Wishing Horse of Oz and The Silver Princess in Oz must take place at a certain date, and this book is established as taking place six years prior to the latter, its 1920 date is based on these.  This also places it out of publication order, but as with The Gnome King of Oz, it is still safely within the parameters of the ongoing narrative in Thompson's books.

• Speedy in Oz is set at over two years after the events of The Yellow Knight of Oz (When Speedy returns home, his uncle is already building a second rocket-ship; in Speedy in Oz, it's said that he'd worked on it for two years and stopped just prior to their vacation in Yellowstone, from where Speedy returns to Oz again), which places it in 1921.

• Captain Salt in Oz is set a few days short of four years after the events of Pirates in Oz, giving it an explicit date of summer 1921.  It is also out of publication order, necessarily so, as Thompson indicates that the events of The Wishing Horse of Oz must take place afterwards.

• The Wishing Horse of Oz tells the story of the anniversary celebration of either the Wizard's or Dorothy's "discovery" of Oz, celebrating either his 50th year or Dorothy's 25th.  As evidence appears to favor the latter, it is set in 1923.

• Prince Randy, the protagonist of The Purple Prince of Oz states that he's ten years old in that book. When he returns in The Silver Princess in Oz, he's sixteen.  The Silver Princess in Oz is dated to three years after the events of The Wishing Horse of Oz, establishing a 1926 date for Silver Princess, and a 1920 date for The Purple Prince of Oz.

• Ozoplaning with the Wizard in Oz, in which Dorothy's very first trip to Oz is celebrated, can be dated to 1933, the 35th anniversary of Dorothy's journey to Oz, based on the Guardian of the Gate's declaration that he's not abandoned his post in 40 years.  The Emerald City was first established in 1892, 41 years prior (see the notes for Oz and the Three Witches.)

• Although published earlier than Ozoplaning with the Wizard in Oz, Handy Mandy in Oz's cardinal year of 1935 was established in the deuterocanonical work The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz: Book 1: The Disenchanted Princess in Oz.

1909 The Royal Book of Oz

1910 Kabumpo in Oz          

1910 Grampa in Oz            

1910 The Lost King of Oz

1911 The Hungry Tiger of Oz 

1912 The Cowardly Lion of Oz

1912 The Giant Horse of Oz

1915 The Gnome King of Oz  

1917 Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz

1917 Pirates in Oz

1919 The Yellow Knight of Oz

1920 The Purple Prince of Oz

1920 Ojo in Oz

1921 Speedy in Oz

1921 Captain Salt in Oz

1923 The Wishing Horse of Oz

1926 The Silver Princess in Oz

1933 Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz

1935 Handy Mandy in Oz

Appendix D)

The Ban on Magic

The ban on practicing magic has been a progressive effort on the part of Ozma, anxious to protect her citizens from the harmful effects that might result even from the accidental use of magic. Over a period of 87 years, Oz has gone from the hard-line stance, prohibiting all magic, except that of Ozma, Glinda and the Wizard (also the Good Witch of the North) to a liberal stance that allows all but the misuse of magic for evil ends, or even just for frivolous matters.

The following timeline shows the primary four stories that establishes a change in the law regarding the use of magic, allowing the reader a better understanding of Ozma's progressive nature, as well as a means of dating stories based on the current status of the law in that work.

1905: Prior to The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Ozma bans the practice of magic in Oz, fearful that its use will result in disaster and harm for Oz and its citizens. Only Glinda, the Wizard and herself are excluded.  While not a magic-practitioner, Dorothy is allowed to use the Magic Belt.  The Hollyhock Dolls of Oz reveals that The Good Witch of the North goes into retirement until Ozma gives her an exemption, and urges her out of retirement later in the year.  Ozma agrees to look into the law, recognizing that it is restrictive, but nothing further comes of this until about sixty years later.

1964: Paul Dana's The Law of Oz and Other Stories pictures the end of the absolutist approach, the one in which only Ozma, Glinda and the Wizard can practice any kind of magic. From this point forward, Ozma allows the Yookoohoos to behave in the way that is natural to their beings.  Despite this exception, the law stands that Ozma, Glinda and the Wizard are the sole practitioners of magic.

1982: Due to the events of An Ozian Odyssey, Ozma now allows individuals to petition for a license to practice magic in Oz.  This makes way for Maggie, the next Good Witch of the North, Zim the Flying Sorcerer and others to practice magic legally. Melody Grandy's Seven Blue Mountains of Oz: Book 2

1999: Finally, Edward Einhorn's The Living House of Oz brings the law into sharp focus as Mordra, a witch from a parallel Oziverse, is put on trial for practicing magic, an event that ends up seeing the law itself tried and removed entirely. From this point forward, the ban on the practice of magic is lifted, but the misuse of magic is instead banned, which includes frivolous and trivial uses of magic.

Appendix E)

The History of the Phanfasms

Image by Jaun Raza, from The Magic Umbrella of Oz

• Long before man, the Erbs came to be. A cruel and violent race of evil spirits, they resent the Immortals and mortals who came to inhabit the Earth, believing that it belonged to them. The Erbs, later known as the Mimics due to their shapeshifting abilities, were imprisoned within Mount Illuso (The Emerald City of Oz; The Magical Mimics of Oz; The Ancient Dawn of Oz (forthcoming))—Prehistory

• The evil fairy Enilrul curses Oz, a spell that her sister Lurline changes. The deserts become deadly—1227 (The Witch Queen of Oz)

• From around the world, mischievous children are lured by a being called the Piper, who has been possessed by the power of the Pan-Pipes (The Law of Oz and Other Stories, The Magic Umbrella of Oz), one of several enchanted objects left behind by the Mimics for this very purpose (The Ancient Dawn of Oz (forthcoming)).  A group of artists are also lured to Mt. Phantastico (The Living House of Oz).  In exchange for immense power, they become the Phanfasms, and are mysteriously drawn to Mt. Phantastico, nearby to Mt. Illuso, to build a civilization that will one day conquer the surrounding fairylands and release the curse upon the Mimics. (The Law of Oz and Other Stories, The Magic Umbrella of Oz)—Several thousand years in the past.

• Gehanus Maledictus, the very first First and Foremost Phanfasm is betrayed by his inner council and led to the desert of Ama in the continent of Tarara, where he is buried alive with a ring of power granted him by the Piper.  Polimodellano, who was led to "discover" Mt. Phantastico, takes his place as First and Foremost. (The Royal Explorers of Oz quadrilogy)

• Lurline enchants Oz and the fairy Ozana is sent to guard Mt. Illuso and ensure that the Mimics can never leave the mountain. (The Magical Mimics of Oz)—1742

• The Phanfasms team up with the Nomes to enter Oz from the underground, though their real plan is to destroy the Nomes, their allies, and all of Oz. (The Emerald City of Oz)—1905

• They are repelled and forced to drink of the Waters of Oblivion which takes away their memory. (The Emerald City of Oz)—1905

• To take advantage of their memory loss, a good fairy sends an emissary, Fionna Freckles, a former doll come to life, to rule and cultivate good traits among the Phanfasms.  She is joined by Mordra, a witch from a parallel Oz, who along with her husband Phanfarillo—the son of the prior First and Foremost—aids in this endeavor. This works for a time as the old leaders are deposed and a new civilization is built up of Phanfasms who use their powers for creative (rather than destructive) endeavors. (Fionna Freckles, the First and Foremost, The Living House of Oz)— 1907

• Time passes and the wicked thoughts and ways of the Phanfasms begin to reassert itself, particularly for those in power led by the former First and Foremost—(possibly around 1944)

• Fionna departs, and in her absence, the former First and Foremost turns to evil once again (lured back by another Phanfasm or a Mimic that had come to Oz in 1944), and with him the old guard return and bully themselves back into power.  Any Phanfasm who will not resume their former ways is killed or imprisoned.  Phanfarillo is imprisoned and then transformed.  During this period Mordra becomes pregnant with Buddy and returns to Oz. (The Living House of Oz)

• The Phanfasms fight amongst themselves, leading to a civil war which destroys much of their former civilization. The survivors are destroyed or depart, and with that, the power of the Piper is diminished. (The Law of Oz and Other Stories, The Magic Umbrella of Oz)— 1963

• Jandilay, an outcast from the start, is the last remaining Phanfasm on Mt. Phantastico, and believes himself the last of the Phanfasms.  He aids Button Bright in learning his true heritage and ceases being a Phanfasm, leaving the Piper bereft, and in search of new prey.  Allied with Mrs. Yoop, he attempts to escape to the Outside World. (The Law of Oz and Other Stories, The Magic Umbrella of Oz)—1964

• The remnant of good Phanfasms who had earlier been saved by Ozana and Fionna, and given back their hearts, return in great numbers and begin to rebuild Mt. Phantastico so that it becomes an even more beautiful city than before. (The Living House of Oz) The evil Phanfasms, however, have entered Mt. Illuso, where they learn their part in the larger Erb plot against the fairylands. (The Ancient Dawn of Oz (forthcoming))

• When Ruggedo, Bungle and two children enter Mt. Phantastico, the Phanfasm remnant pretend to be frightening in order to scare the untrustworthy Nome away, and when Bungle asks the First and Foremost to send them away, he gladly obliges. (Ruggedo in Oz)

• Polimodellano, who earlier departed Mt. Phantastico for Ama to await the inevitable appearance of the ring, at last gains his quarry when Samuel Salt and Dorcas of Ogowan uncover the tomb of Gehanus Maledictus.  Disguised as a parrot, he steals the ring from Captain Salt. (The Royal Explorers of Oz quadrilogy)—1995

• Under the command of Polimodellano, the First and Foremost, the evil Phanfasms depart Mt. Illuso. (The Ancient Dawn of Oz, forthcoming))—1995

• Led by him, the Phanfasms head back to the rebuilt city in Mt. Phantastico and wrest back control. The reformed Phanfasms don't fight back this time, but don't follow the First and Foremost either, and are thus imprisoned.  Evil Phanfasms begin to steal precious gems and diamonds from other places, redecorating Mt. Phantastico with them. (The Living House of Oz)—1998

• Phanfasms attempt to conquer the Nome Kingdom during the time Rik is temporarily king. Their attempt is thwarted by Kaliko. (Trouble Under Oz)—1999

• Mordra returns to Mt. Phantastico where the First and Foremost makes her a ruthless deal. (The Living House of Oz)—1999

• The Phanfasms invade the Emerald City. Buddy's origin is exposed, his father disenchanted, and the First and Foremost and the invading Phanfasm army is sent back to Mt. Phantastico. (The Living House of Oz)—1999

Appendix F)

The History of Ruggedo, Roquat and the Nomes/Gnomes of Ev

Spoilers apply!!

Following the end of Reilly & Lee's stewardship of the Oz books, the history of Ruggedo often gets confusing due to the fact that the he's brought back in a number of later stories. The Royal Timeline of Oz has sought to correct this by putting together a narrative that fits within the overall chronology as defined on the primary Oz Timeline.  Those stories which don't appear to fit are found in the Parallel Histories section.

• 917: Roquat the Nome is born [this is based on a literal understanding of the statement in Pirates in Oz that Ruggedo is a thousand years old; this may or may not be accurate] to two warring underground fairy races, a Thill princess named Yenoh and a Ghorn prince named Yetsan Cavernonko (The Mysterious Chronicles of Oz and Ruggedo in Oz). Nathan M. DeHoff has suggested that the two are subsets of gnomes, the Thills being politically altruistic while the Ghorns are militaristic. Roquat has two brothers, Ruggedo and Fumaro  ("How I Spent My Winter Invasion" and Cory in Oz).  Their father proves to be a corrupting source for them. The reigning Gnome King at this time might be Goldemar (from Zauberlinda the Wise Witch), or his son, Prince Kuno.  (And in the 1907 story The Jewelled Toad, by Isabella Johnstone and illustrated by W.W. Denslow, there is an unnamed Fire King of Gnomeland.) It's unknown how Roquat comes to power, but once he does he deals with two warring races in (or near) his dominion, the goblins and trolls, by transforming them into nomes. This would explain how Roquat is both a gnome and a Nome King. Since there are no further mentions of Thills or Ghorns, it appears that Roquat united the factions under him (likely by force), though the influence of the benevolent Thills continued to manifest, as shown in King Rinkitink. If the Thills were a female race of gnomes, they might be the proper name of the Fire Fairies introduced in Bucketheads in Oz.

   

  Additionally, there are several Gnome offshoots that readers are introduced to in Oz. 

   

  • There are the "gnomes" of The Wonder City of Oz, who are unlike Baum (or Thompson's) Nomes, but may be an offshoot;

  • The Rock Nomes of The Witch Queen of Oz, who were cursed by Enilrul, but whose origins appear to have been gnomish;

  • The Tree Nomes of "Jimmy Bulber in Oz," in Oziana 1974, who are akin to the Rock Nomes;

  • The Gold Panners, of The Hidden Prince of Oz, who are Gnomes/Nomes who get their gold from creeks instead of the ground;

  • The Delves of Queen Delva from The Purple Prince of Oz, who are identified in "A Princess in Oz" (Oziana 1995) as rock fairies related to gnomes, who dig for silver.

  • The kindhearted Knarls, who are gardeners and distant cousins of Nomes, from Margaret Berg's The Reading Tree of Oz.

  • The Fire Fairies, introduced in Bucketheads in Oz, which are female Nomes who tend the furnaces and prepare meals.  They are different from the Nomewives, who look like their male counterparts and purportedly perform other wifely duties.

  • The Enchanted Gnome of Oz reveals that Goblins are cousins of Gnomes, as first indicated in The Mysterious Chronicles of Oz.

   

• 1893: Ruggedo plots his first Oz invasion, targeting Glinda.  A local Quadling sorceress, Hermoza, overhears the plot and informs Glinda, who turns Ruggedo and his Nomes into lizards. (Noted in Cory in Oz)

• 1900: Ruggedo somehow escapes escapes his lizard enchantment and curses Hermoza and her family. (Cory in Oz)

• 1902: Ozma of Oz: It all begins when Roquat the Nome King imprisons the Royal Family of Ev, who Ozma seeks to restore. Ozma is successful, thanks to Billina and her eggs, which Nomes fear, and Dorothy takes his Magic Belt, which causes no small amount of consternation for old Roquat.

• 1905: The Emerald City of Oz: The Nome King Roquat's first invasion attempt of Oz calls together the forces of Whimsies, Growlywogs and the evil Phanfasms, who tunnel under Oz to attack the Emerald City unawares. Roquat's efforts end with him losing his memories after drinking water from the Fountain of Oblivion for the first time.

• 1905: "Evrob and the Nomes" (Oziana 2004): After Prince Evrob decides to stay with the Nomes, Dorothy who misunderstands the Great Book of Records heads to the Nome Kingdom to rescue him, and inadvertently reminds the Nome King that he once had a Magic Belt.  The change to the name Ruggedo is here for the first time explained.

• 1905: "Mission Impozible: The Emerald Grasshopper" (Oziana 1991): In order to make peace between the kingdoms, Ozma plans a surprise birthday party for the Nome King, which doesn't quite go as planned.

• 1905: "Tik-Tok and the Nome King of Oz" (Little Wizard Stories of Oz): Now on "peaceful" terms, the Wizard sends Tik-Tok to the Nome King to get his parts repaired.  The Nome King, in a rage, breaks Tik-Tok, but repents it, ordering him thrown away.  After Kaliko repairs him in secret, the Nome King thinks he's a ghost come to haunt him.

• 1905: "Ruggedo and the School of Magic": Ruggedo, angered still by the loss of his Belt, embarks upon a course of magic at the Evian University of Magic, where the Wizard of Oz is also studying. 

• 1905: King Rinkitink (Based on the original idea that led to Rinkitink in Oz): Ruggedo is still the Nome King.

• 1905: Tik-Tok of Oz: Betsy, Hank, the Shaggy Man, Ozga, Polychrome, Queen and her army descend into the Nome King's caverns to rescue the Shaggy Man's brother taken captive by the Nome King, now named Ruggedo.  He sends them through the Hollow Tube to the Land of An where the dragon Quox takes them back with orders from Tititi-Hoochoo, exiling Ruggedo from his underground realm, and robbing him of his magic.  Kaliko is made Nome King in his place, but he allows Ruggedo back underground with the promise that he'll behave himself.

• 1908: The Witch Queen of Oz: Ruggedo and Kaliko play chess in Ruggedo's private apartment.

• 1908: "Alliance of the Elementals": Bored and ever resentful at his fall from grace, Ruggedo summons a fire elemental to wreak havoc on the peace talks between the Ozites and Nomes, ending in his being banished from the dominion of the Nomes.

• 1908: The Magic of Oz: The former metal monarch is wandering Ev when he meets Kiki Aru, who has powerful magic.  The two transform into animal forms in an attempt to stir up rebellion in the Forest of Gugu against Oz.  When the Wizard arrives, however, Kiki panics, leading to their eventual capture.  Ozma makes Ruggedo drink a cup of water from the Waters of Oblivion (this would be the second time he does so, according to the idea that Roquat and Ruggedo are the same person; see 1992 for the idea that they're actually brothers, in which case this would be the first time for Ruggedo) and has him settle in Oz.

• 1908: "Much Ado About Kiki Aru" (Oziana 1986): A week after Ruggedo drinks from the Waters of Oblivion, he meets Wag, and soon begins to get his memory back and plot revenge.  It can be assumed that the single cup of water was not enough, or that Wag jogged his memory.

• 1910: Kabumpo in Oz: Living underneath the palace two years after the events of The Magic of Oz, Ruggedo recalls his former history, and discovers a box of mixed magic that grows him into a giant so large he carries the palace on his head. After being shrunk, he's exiled to Runaway Island.

• 1915: The Gnome King of Oz: Peter Brown frees Ruggedo from Runaway Island, after which he attempts to conquer Oz again. Peter hits him with the Silence Stone, and Ruggedo again drinks the Water of Oblivion.  This represents either the second or third time he's done so (see 1992).

• 1917: Pirates in Oz: Two years later, in the Kingdom of Menankypoo, the effects of the Silence Stone are removed, and Ruggedo (who has his memory back), Clocker, and the titular pirates attempt to conquer Oz.  This time he's turned into a stone water jug.

• 1923: Kaliko suspects that his Chief Steward/Chamberlain Guph is plotting to overthrow him. He replaces him with another nome. (The Emerald City Mirror #41-48 and The Wishing Horse of Oz).

• 1935: Handy Mandy in Oz: The Wizard Wutz breaks Ruggedo's enchantment and the two attempt to take over Oz.  Himself the Elf turns the Nome King, Ruggedo (and the Wizard Wutz) into a cactus.

• 1935: "Sherlock Holmes in Oz" (Oziana 1971): When Kaliko grows frustrated with ruling, he longs to have Ruggedo back on the throne, and Ozma grants his wish, allowing him to bring the cactus back to the Nome Kingdom.  It doesn't last. 

• Ruggedo appears to have returned to the Emerald City in the form of a cactus

• 1941: The Raggedys in Oz: The cactus form of Ruggedo is disenchanted by Percy the Rat.  Ak the Immortal later sends Ruggedo back to the Nome Kingdom with a stern warning.

• 1941: A Refugee in Oz: Ruling the Nome Kingdom again, Ruggedo is at his cruelest here, as he not only abducts the Madou people, but attempts to destroy the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman.  Upon defeat, Ruggedo is walled in with eggs by order of Kaliko.  How he escapes is unknown, but he was eventually returned to his cactus state, possibly by Ozma who wouldn't have wanted even him to remain in a state of torture.

• 1942: The Medicine Man of Oz: Ruggedo is disenchanted from his cactus form by Captain Bluster of Windairy.  With the Wizard's stolen wishing pills, Ruggedo proceeds to get back the Magic Belt and use it take over Oz. Herby the titular Medicine Man puts in motion a plan to turn him into liquid, bottling him until Ozma pours him out unto the ground.

• Ruggedo appears to have re-formed and reconstituted underground where he is turned back into a cactus.

• 1942: Ruggedo of Ev: Forthcoming: Ruggedo escapes his enchantment and terrorizes the Oz people.

• 1982: The Enchanted Gnome of Oz: Ruggedo's cactus has been making noise for 40 years and driving the Goblin King, who lives underground, crazy.  To alleviate his suffering, two Goblin children steal the cactus and bring it to him, but the Black Goblin, the Mischief Magician, recognizes it's Ruggedo and disenchants him. By story's end, Ruggedo is frozen in ice and sent to Igloo City in Ev as an ice sculpture.

• 1984: In A Wonderful Journey in Oz, the ice statue of Ruggedo is given to Ozma. A servant puts him in Ozma's safe, where he lands atop the Magic Belt and makes a wish to get out; by that story's end, he's returned to the Nome Kingdom, where Kaliko is king.

• 1984: By the time of Cory in Oz, Ruggedo is a wanderer in Ev.

• 1984: Ruggedo deceives Thirsty Towell the Third, a million-airdale, who gives the nome a small fortune to import giraffes with which to build a dog park in Oz. ("Dorothy and the Great Mystery," from The Emerald City Mirror #16)

• 1991: Ruggedo returns to the Nome Kingdom, where feigning remorse, Kaliko lets him settle in.  Soon enough Ruggedo recruits Guph and an army of Nomes to help usurp the throne from Kaliko (an event that transpires behind the scenes in The Red Jinn in Ev), transforming Kaliko into an ornament and taking back the throne. 

• 1991: The Emerald City Mirror: Ruggedo takes his armies to invades Oz yet again. He's soon defeated. In the story "How I Spent My Winter Invasion," Eureka discovers the original Roquat, who was trapped in an unused portion of Ozma's Palace for years! While he gets training on how to be good, his brother Ruggedo explains how he was away during the invasion (in The Emerald City of Oz) and then made king when he returned. This discovery explains some of the previously conflicting stories that came about over the years, and allows most of them to occur, as there are now two former Nome Kings, and the Roquat/Ruggedo names, despite belonging to two different brothers, become interchangeable due to the fact that Ruggedo was thought to be Roquat, while Roquat could be confused as Ruggedo. By story's end, Ruggedo is imprisoned for a time, likely with Tollydiggle. He apparently became a wanderer in Oz after this period. Roquat is likely sent back to Ev. Ozma likely instructs her counselors not to spread word of the fact that there are two former Nome Kings about.

• 1992: Outsiders From Oz: The former Nome King, Roquat, surfaces again.  It appears that he's been given water from the Fountain of Oblivion because he's unaware of who or what he is when he's found by Ozma wandering in an underground tunnel he helped Scowleyow dig.  His kind side is on display here, as he assists the adventurers in their journey.

• 1993: Dr. Angelina Bean in Oz: Wandering the Gillikin Country, Ruggedo finds his perfect ally in the bossy doll Angie, and is reformed once and for all! He becomes king of the Quadling town Bringemin (formerly Keepumout).

• 1999: Borrowing suggestions to conquer Oz that were published as a lark in The Emerald City Mirror, Roquat gathers rebel nomes to help him build a jeweled boat, with which he travels to Oz. Roquat here has regained his memory of magic abilities. Despite them, he fails once again to conquer Oz. It is uncertain what Glinda does with him by story's end, but given the next story, it appears she has him settle in Oz as was the case with his brother.

• 2002: Ruggedo in Oz: After years of living in a cave in the Gillikin Country, searching for the Pillar of Truth, Ruggedo (who is actually Roquat) regains his memory.  Although considered reformed, when he meets two children, he sets off on a new adventure to reclaim the Magic Belt.  He later touches eggs and would otherwise be destroyed save for being in Oz.  To alleviate this, he is made an ambassador of Oz, allowing him to return to Ev.

Appendix G) 

Names and Relations of the Wicked Witches of Oz

Note: The following names and relations are mainly based on established works and some which have not yet been published.

History: From 1744 to 1871, a Wicked Witch ruled in at least two of the four quadrants of Oz.  For over 125 years, the Compass Witches dominated and terrorized Oz, and yet they could never take full control due to the prevailing forces that ruled at the capital in Ozmara/Morrow, the Good Witch in the South, and the Good Witch in the North. 

The weakest link of the confederacy of Compass Witches was always the Wicked Witch of the South, of which there were three in succession, each dangerous in her own right, but each succumbing to the power of Glinda the Good Witch of the South.  It began with the defeat of Singra in 1831, then her belligerent sister Angra in 1842, and finally the Jinxland witch Blinkie some time around or before 1871.  That date also marked both the biggest win and final blow for the confederacy. 

Mombi had at last managed to defeat the royal family at Morrow.  Kings Ozroar, Pastoria I and II, grandfather, father and son, all done away with, even down to their meddling wives and prime ministers, all who might possibly pose a threat.  The capital was free to rule.  But which of the Witches would rule it? 

That contested question would never be answered as Mombi was suddenly defeated in her own territory by a mere Tah-Tipuu, Locasta, the so-called Good Witch of the North (though only for a time, as Mombi's power would return over a decade later to exact revenge).  And one blow followed another.  Before the East and West Witches could take over Morrow and rule Oz, a Wizard dropped out of the sky.  Not only were they unable to defeat him, a task that would've proved simple had they still had the combined power of all four witches, but the Wizard brought with him hope!  The people rallied around this new and mysterious savior from above.  By the time Lady Malvonia and Lady Morella were able to destroy the capital at Morrow (Ozmara) once and for all in 1892, it was a moot point.  The Wizard had built and moved into a new walled capital in the central greenlands called The Emerald City, Mombi was once again defeated by a Good Witch in the North (and this one of her own making!), and the child of the Fairy Queen, prophesied to rule Oz, was missing! 

It was clear that there were other forces at work.  But the witches were nothing if not tenacious, and they bided their time.  Six years would pass before they would be ready to make their move on the Emerald City and its sham wizard.  And then, as the day approached, an even greater threat came from the sky, the witch killer herself, Dorothy Gale.  Within a single month, 21 days to be exact, the two most powerful dark forces in Oz would be swept away by a mere six year old girl without power, wealth, or name.  The niece of poor farmers, Dorothy of Kansas would usher in the Golden Age of Oz, ruled by the benevolent powers of the Fairy Ozma, the sorceress Glinda, and a mortal humbug, Oscar Diggs.  These three would ensure that the peoples of the land would remain in love, peace, and prosperity.

Primary Witch Siblings

Wicked Witch of the West:

Family name: Mordra. Court name: Lady Morella, the Wise Woman of the West.  Called Bastinda by some of the Winkies in secret (from bastinado/bastonada: to beat with a stick, staff or cudgel; caning). Accidentally melted by Dorothy. (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)  She returned briefly in the body of the Witch Queen Enilrul. (The Witch Queen of Oz).  As with her sister, this witch has been assigned several names in spin-off fiction and films, including Bastinda (from Alexander Volkov's Magic Land series), Evillene (from the musical and film The Wiz), Allidap (from the Wiz Kids of Oz teacher Padilla), Elphaba (from the book and musical Wicked), and Theodora (from the 2013 film Oz the Great and Powerful), and others.  A story in Oziana 2013, "Witches of the West," implies that these are false names used and sold by the witch for power, though it seems unlikely that any of these names would have actually been known in Oz, let alone used, but they may be placeholders for the actual names she gathered and sold.  A good version of Mordra appeared in Oz from a parallel Oz universe created when Ozma went back in time with Tempus in Paradox in Oz.  This benevolent Mordra now lives in Oz with her son Buddy (The Living House of Oz) in Oz.

Wicked Witch of the East:

Family name: Malva. Court name: Lady Malvonia, the Wise Woman of the East.  Called Gingema or Gingemma (which simply means witch) by some of the Munchkins.  A glimpse into her early life and rule can be found in The Magic Umbrella of Oz.  She is the elder of the two sisters, and the vainer of the two.  She owned the Silver Shoes that had once belonged to the dark fairy Enilrul.  She was put asleep for a time (in part due to the time-traveling exploits of Button Bright and Ojo), after which Princess Ava, another witch─and a relative─replaced her (if any aspects of Ages of Oz is to be believed and accepted as historical).  When Dorothy came to Oz, she was crushed by Uncle Henry's house carried by a tornado to Oz (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz).  She returned briefly due to Father Goose's magic pen (Father Goose in Oz), and then again in the body of the Witch Queen Enilrul. (The Witch Queen of Oz)  As with her sister, this witch has been assigned several names in spin-off fiction and films, including Evvamene (from the musical and Evermean from the film The Wiz), Nessarose (from the book and musical Wicked), and Evanora (from the 2013 film Oz the Great and Powerful).  The Oziana 2013, "Witches of the West," implies that these are false names used and sold by the witch for power.  Yet, as with her sister, it seems highly unlikely that names invented for movies and musicals have any relevance to what took place in the historical Oz, but these may be placeholders for the actual names she gathered and sold. 

Unknown Witch of the North: Birth name: Nemain. Familial nickname: Feah.  Murdered in the distant past by her sisters. Nimmie Aimee is her daughter, but this is known to few. Little else is known about her, though rumors abound that she yet lives in secret in the Dangerous Passages in the northwestern corner of Oz (forthcoming in The Wizards of Silver and Gold in Oz and In Flesh of Burnished Tin)

Magician Brother: Birth name: Unknown.  Called Sir Wiley Gyle.  Appeared in 1901 in The Speckled Rose of Oz.  Defeated by the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Lion, and made a prisoner.  Whereabouts unknown.  Little is known of this brother of the Wicked Witches, or even whether his claim are even true (though they're not improbable). 

Secondary Witch Sisters (and cousins of the Primary Witches)

1st Wicked Witch of the South: Possible birth name: Sinnian. Chosen name: Singra. Put to sleep by Glinda in 1831. Arises again in 1931. (The Wicked Witch of Oz).  Singra was neither as powerful or vicious as her sister, and although she could read a spellbook and put together the ingredients to create magical objects and formulae, she appears to have depended on her cousins, the Wicked Witches of the East and West, for most of her power.  Although named Wicked Witch of the South, she never ruled the southern quadrant, something she always longed to.  While it appears she came to power before Glinda ruled the South, Glinda served as the Royal Sorceress to the Quadling King Jandor IV prior to becoming ruler of the south.  Singra did succeed in driving out King Jandor and the Royal Family, but this only led to Glinda's taking over rule.  In either case, her abilities were never quite strong enough to defeat those in power.  She appears to have been some years younger than Angra.

2nd Wicked Witch of the South: Possible birth name: Anann. Chosen name: Angra. Put to sleep by Glinda in 1842. Defeated in 1942. (The Enchanted Apples of Oz).  Angra was a powerful and violent witch who when she was reawakened nearly defeated Ozma herself.  The period of time in which she reigned over the southern Quadling country is yet untold in story, but it was a likely a dark age for that quadrant.

No Relation

1st Wicked Witch of the North: Information forthcoming.  Long before Mombi, a truly evil witch ruled the north, who was defeated at the hands of a young girl. Forthcoming information in A Missionary's Daughter in Oz.

2nd Wicked Witch of the North:

Birth name: Bina. Adopted name: Mombi. Defeated by Locasta, the Good Witch of the North in 1871.  Then in 1892, she's defeated by Queen Orin, who she inadvertently made Good Witch of the North when she switched her with Locasta (The Giant Horse of Oz and the forthcoming "Tommy Kwikstep and the Magpie").  She came back into her powers soon after.  The most effective of the witches, having abducted Ozma's grandfather King Oz, her father Pastoria II, and grandfather Ozroar (aka. King Oz Andahan the Roarer), as well as the King of the Munchkins.  Purported to have been executed by water in 1913 (The Lost King of Oz), it was later  revealed that she is a Yookoohoo and could not be destroyed by such means.  Ozma spared her life and gave her the Water of Oblivion to drink instead (Oziana #38 "Executive Decisions").  Mombi's memory returned during the events of Bucketheads in Oz, and she abducted Ozma and Glinda.  Her goal, in that instance, was to exile the youth of Oz, some of whom had bullied her in years past.  She was later rendered harmless again by the keepers of the Mys-Tree, who likely gave her water from the Fountain of Oblivion.

3d Wicked Witch of the South:

Birth name: Unknown. Known name: Blinkie. Defeated some time in the late 1800s by Glinda; she attempted to assert power again in 1901 when she conjured the Sand Serpent (The Amber Flute of Oz), but escaped to Jinxland, where her other three sisters resided, Bilkie, Bikkie and Bittie.  She had a fourth sister, Bleakie, who put aside the practice of dark magic and went with a wizard outside of Oz to do good in other lands ("Reddy and Willing: The Adventures of Jair in Oz").  Blinkie worked as a minor witch, but caused trouble when she froze the heart of Princess Gloria.  She was later shrunk and robbed of magic (The Scarecrow of Oz and The Gardener's Boy of Oz). Even though she knew of Mombi, had considered her a hero when she was in her youth, and likely worked together as Compass Witches in 1870-71, Blinkie didn't actually get to meet Mombi until they joined forces in The Ork in Oz.

It is unknown which of the three Wicked Witches of the South leagued with the other three to depose King Oz, but it cannot have been Blinkie (as she didn't even meet Mombi until many years later).  Seeing as Angra and Singra are sisters, it seems likely that the one took up the role of the other when the first was deposed, but how long (if any) a gap of time in between is not known.  When both were defeated by Glinda, Blinkie then emerged from Jinxland to fill that vacuum.  She did not last long and was forced to return to Jinxland.  It is possible that other witches also came and went in these roles during certain periods, but as of yet there is no evidence to say either way.

Appendix H)

Ozma and Tip: The Switcheroo Spell

L. Frank Baum left his readers with many unanswered questions, not a few of which have been reconciled by later authors who've examined the text and drawn certain conclusions.  In some cases, however, these fixes (known as retcons) appear to contradict each other, and require a new way of looking at things.  One of these involves the time that Ozma spent with Mombi as the boy Tip.

In Melody Grandy's Seven Blue Mountains of Oz trilogy, it is revealed that Ozma was not just changed into a boy, but switched into a boy's body.  Tip is actually a person, who was himself switched into the body of Ozma at the very same time.  In that story, Tip (then named Dinny) says he was born 28 years earlier.  This is when the switcheroo spell occurred.  According to the internal chronology, this event happened in 1873, two years after the Wizard arrived in Oz in 1871 (see How the Wizard Came to Oz for evidence of that date).   This accords with that is said in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (p. 197), by Ozma who says, “Mombi was still my grandfather’s jailor, and afterward my father’s jailor.  When I was born she transformed me into a boy.”

One seeming problem with this can be found in Hugh Pendexter III's Oz and the Three Witches, as the Wizard doesn't hand baby Ozma to Mombi until his third visit to see her.  This visit occurs after the construction of the Emerald City and its palace, which is 21 years after he arrives in Oz, specifically in 1892, which lines up with another historical point worth considering: Jack Pumpkinhead says that Tip lived with Mombi for nine years.

The final point to consider is that when the Good Witch of the North defeated Mombi and kicked her out of her hut, there is no child with Mombi at the time, else Orin would have taken her into custody (nor could Mombi have hidden him, as Orin stumbled upon Mombi by accident). 

In order to reconcile The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz trilogy with Oz and the Three Witches, one thing must be true: Mombi must have performed the switcheroo spell on Ozma and Tip BEFORE the Wizard gave baby Ozma into her hands.

Oz and the Three Witches makes it clear that Mombi is cunning enough to obey the East and West witches to their faces, while secretly working to her own advantage.  Mombi tells the Wizard that the baby is from a fairy band.  If they discover it's been killed, they will return to rein destruction down on them.  To avoid this, the child must be kept alive.  This would explain why, when given the opportunity to disguise Ozma, she transforms her into a boy, even though the baby is not yet in her custody.  The baby is protected by a deaf, mute nurse, and the Wizard say that he "always thought it was a boy." Once the Wizard discovers that he cannot protect the child well, he hands him over to Mombi to better safeguard her/him (which she does).

Appendix I)

The High Kings and Queens of Oz

Oz history is replete with mention of various kings and queens over the centuries, with some accounts that appear to be confusing or contradictory, but most of which reflect incomplete information.  The following timeline should help to demonstrate the various monarchs and the years they reigned, as revealed in the numerous archives.  This timeline should by no means be seen as exhaustive; as new information comes forward, it will be updated.  It is known that the kings and queens of Oz had fairy blood, yet they themselves were not fairies.  How this came about is yet unknown.  No fairy, except the evil Enilrul, ruled Oz until Ozma's ascension in 1901/2.  The titles given to prior kings were King Oz and Queen Ozma.  This usually preceded their given or chosen names.  In Ozma's case, that was her given name long before coming to Oz, though her memory of that period has only come back to her over the years.

283 AD: Ozroar is born as Andahan in the Blue Land, which is much later to be known as the Munchkin Country.  He is the son of a powerful fairy.  His name Andahan means "Therefore the Dawn," but it can also mean, "Therefore pain," and is said to be the first words uttered by his mother.

622: The Ozian calendar year is established as Year 1 with Oz as a realm of four quadrants. This is the year the continent of Nonestica is moved to its own realm.

1227: Following her sister Queen Enilrul's abdication, Lurline places Andahan on the throne of Oz.  He becomes King Oz Andahan the Roarer, but is later more commonly known as Ozroar the Blue Emperor.  He will rule Oz intermittently for several hundred years.  He has a son in this year, Pastoria, with his wife Queen Oz Ara, who is Ozma's great grandmother.  That it took him 900 years to have a son and heir is told in "Lurline and the First Fairy Queen of Oz."  

1255: Prince Pastoria has a son: Prince Pastoria II.  Pastoria I's wife is Queen Etti of Samandra, later known as Oz-Ette (or Ozette). She would be considered Ozma's grandmother by adoption.

1256: 29 year old Prince Pastoria becomes King Oz Pastoria I.  Pastoria's reign is marred by the curse Enilrul placed on him the very year he ascended the throne, and he becomes known in the next decade as the Mad King.  Ozroar adopts Pastoria II as his own to protect him from his real father.  This protects the boy for nine years.

1265: When King Oz tries to kill Pastoria II, Lurline takes the boy to protect him in Burzee and elsewhere.  In a mad rage, King Oz leaves Oz in search of his son for 500 years.  The former King Ozroar becomes the Blue Emperor of Oz again.

1400: At this point, a new king is crowned, a magician named Ozgood the Magnificent.  He does some good during his time as king, including routing the wooden gargoyles and creating a sand snake to patrol the Deadly Desert.

1489: At this point in time, Queen Ozma Shallina is crowned ruler of Oz.

1733: The Mad King Oz Pastoria I returns to Oz and takes back rule, whether from his father Ozroar or another is unknown.

1742: With the Waters of Oblivion, the Fairy Queen Lurline restores King Oz Pastoria I's sanity.  He abdicates to his now aged son, Prince Pastoria II, who has returned to Oz and marries.  He becomes King Oz Pastoria II.  Lurline enchants Oz and leaves the fairy Ozma, now in the form of a baby, with him and his wife Arabeth Cordia.  Cordia would be considered Ozma's mother by adoption. Ozma will remain an infant for 150 years. Lurline's enchantment wakes up Lady Malvonia, the Wicked Witch of the East.

1743: With the stability of Oz restored, Ozroar establishes himself as ruler of the southern part of the Munchkin Country in Seebania, ending a potential civil war with the northern Munchkin House in Munchkenny, and its king from the Ozure Isles.  The Blue Emperor continues to be popular with the people, but he must several times fight to keep his crown from rivals in Seebania funded by Lady Malvonia, the Wicked Witch of the East.

1871: The four Compass Witches put in motion their plan to conquer Oz.  Mombi abducts the former King Oz Pastoria I.  She then enchants the current King Oz Pastoria II, his wife Arabeth Cordia, and his prime minister Pajuka.  But before any of the witches can take the throne, Oscar Diggs drops out of the sky and is declared the Wizard of Oz and proclaimed ruler.  He is brought to the capital at Morrow and becomes Oz the Great and Terrible.

1882: Ree Ala Bad's father, Tibira, a Chieftain of Shamsbad, wrests control of Seebania from Ozroar.  Later, during a hunt, he shoots and kills Namyl the Gump.

1883: Ozroar takes back Shamsbad and is once again the Blue Emperor of Seebania.

1887: Mombi performs a switcheroo spell, transforming the baby girl Ozma into the baby boy Tippetarius.  It is not known if the Wizard is aware of this, or if the infant's guardian even tells him.  Mombi destroys the northern King of the Munchkins, King Obediah II, along with the capital Munchkenny, leaving Prince Cheeriobed to become king in the Ozure Isles.

1891: A threat or rumor causes King Ozroar to go into hiding from Mombi. His wife Ozara takes over rule.

1892: Not wishing to miss his nephew Prince Pompadore's christening, Ozroar attends the celebration. There Mombi abducts and enchants him; she then does the same to his wife Queen Ozara at her palace in the Winkie Country. Ree Ala Bad's father Tibira exploits this and takes back rule of Seebania.  The East and West Witches destroy Morrow, the capital of Oz.  The Wizard moves into the newly constructed palace in the Emerald City and gives baby Ozma/Tip to Mombi.  The child starts growing at a normal rate.

1898: Oscar Diggs leaves Oz.  With the Wizard gone, the Scarecrow is made King of Oz.

1901: With the help of Mombi, the Scarecrow is deposed by General Jinjur, who briefly takes over rule of Oz.  Princess Ozma is disenchanted by Glinda the Good, and becomes Queen Designate.  King Knotso (Tibira Bad) of Seebania is killed on a hunting trip. The Magician Mooj takes over control of Seebania in the Southern Munchkin Country, but departs for his home in Moojer Mountain.

1902: Princess Ozma is inaugurated. Froom the Fraud takes over rule of the Southern Munchkin Country, claiming to be a relative of the dead king.

Appendix J) The Glass Cat

The Wizard removed Bungle the Glass Cat's pink brains at the end of The Patchwork Girl of Oz and replaced them with clear ones. Yet in every story since then, Bungle is described as having pink brains. 

Perhaps Baum realized that the Wizard's lobotomy wasn't such a great thing, and that without her conceitedness, she wasn't much of a character.  As he never showed the Wizard restoring her original brains, however, it opened up the opportunity for modern historians to tell that tale. 

Turns out it was more involved than it might seem. Oziana 1978's "Beyond the Rainbow" and Oziana 1990's "The Final Fate of the Frogman" confirm that the Wizard indeed gave Bungle back her pink brains, but it wasn't until 2000 and 2004 that readers got a clearer picture of how this came about.

(artwork © Erin Miller)

There are seeming incongruities between two of the three short stories that tell the tale, but put together, they indicate that there were TWO incidents in which the Wizard removed and restored Bungle's brains. 

"Toto and the Truth" (Oz-story Magazine #6), the first event, is set during the concluding narrative of The Patchwork Girl of Oz, and has the Glass Cat request her original brains back, which the Wizard concedes to, and does off-screen.  The onscreen event is depicted in the Oziana 2011 story "Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought, Alone," which reveals that the Wizard physically removed the pink brains (actually marbles) and replaced them with clear ones.  (In Bungle and the Magic Lantern of Oz, Dorothy recalls that Bungle had gotten a little loopy without her original brains, climbing a tree, laughing maniacally, and spraying bubble bath on anyone who passed by.)  At the urging of Scraps, the Wizard restores the pink ones, but it didn't last, as Bungle soon becomes conceited again. This caused the Wizard to magically turn her brains clear this time.  (In the The Magic Carpet of Oz the Wizard says that the Glass Cat herself had requested the change to clear brains, but this doesn't seem quite right and without context, it's hard to ascertain if this request was made under threat or duress). This is confirmed in The Magic Carpet of Oz (the Bungle portion was first published in Oziana 2004 as "A Bungled Kidnapping in Oz"), which is set after The Lost Princess of Oz.  In this story, after the Glass Cat rescues Ozma, she grants her wish to have her brains restored, and the Wizard does so merely by placing a black curtain over her head, and flipping a switch. 

Another mystery, unrelated to the first, emerged regarding the Glass Cat's breakability.  She is concerned about this issue in The Patchwork Girl of Oz, where she's first introduced, though she proves quite hardy in her later adventures.  In Michael O.Riley's "The Ruby Heart," (Oz-story Magazine #5) however, she breaks in two.  Then, years later, she chips again, her ear and some whiskers in Gina Wickwar's The Hidden Prince of Oz, and her whole body in Bungle and the Magic Lantern of Oz.  Yet, Bungle should be relatively indestructible based on the events of Bungle of Oz, in which she makes it clear that she shouldn't break.  It's only when she discovers that Dr. Pipt's Paradox Potion undid that property of the Powder of Life, and she chips her foot, that Ozma sends her to see Dr. Pipt (something Bungle didn't do in "The Ruby Heart" because Pipt wasn't allowed to perform magic at that time).  Why does Bungle think she's indestructible when she's broken in so many prior adventures?  One answer may be that Bungle went to her former guardian, Dr. Pipt, after the last incident, and requested more Powder of Life for the express purpose of strengthening her.  This would explain why she refers to herself as "indestructible" and would have proven effective until she came in contact with the Paradox Potion.

Appendix K: Dr. Nikidik and Dr. Pipt

For several years, Oz fans pondered who these crooked magicians were, whether they were the same person, different individuals, and if so, what their roles were in Oz history.  Thanks to the diligence of modern historians, this mystery has been satisfactorily solved.

In The Marvelous Land of Oz, there is a Crooked Magician who trades with Mombi for the Powder of Life.  Later in that book, when they discover the Wishing Pills, Tip remembers that Mombi got the Powder of Life from a Dr. Nikidik.  In The Road to Oz, the Crooked Magician is said to be the relative of one Dyna, who after he fell down a precipice and died, brought his Powder of Life home and used it accidentally on a blue bear rug.  A new piece of the puzzle is added in The Patchwork Girl of Oz, when readers are introduced to one Dr. Pipt, the self-proclaimed creator of the Powder of Life, who says he's the only one who makes the Powder of Life, and who is making a new batch because he gave his last one in a trade to Mombi.  Ozma also confirms that the Crooked Magician was Dr. Pipt, who Mombi traded with for the Powder of Life. 

From this, some have concluded that the two crooked magicians are the same man.  However, in The Lost King of Oz, the Wishing Pills are discussed as being the creation of Dr. Nikidik.  This has convinced many that Dr. Pipt was the creator of the Powder of Life, and Dr. Nikidik the creator of the Wishing Pills.

As per Wooglet in Oz, Dagmar in Oz, Bungle and the Magic Lantern of Oz, The Witch Queen of Oz, The Master Crafters of Oz, The Living House of Oz, Bungle in Oz, "The Malevolent Mannequin of Oz," and other sources, Dr. Pipt, the Crooked Magician, and Dr. Nikidik are two different individuals. 

Much of the discrepancy was later uncovered when it was found that due to fear of detection and a desire to remain anonymous, the two men used each other's names as aliases.  Dr. Ozwald Pipt (his first name revealed in Father Goose in Oz) used the name Dr. Nikidik when he presumed he was dead, but took a different course than his former rival.  He is now not only legally producing the Powder of Life in Oz, but is a welcome presence at the palace.

The real Dr. Nikidik (about whom Dyna lied in claiming was dead) had in fact traded with Dr. Pipt earlier (Bungle recalls that he often stole from Dr. Pipt: The Witch Queen of Oz). Nikidik was the de facto inventor of the Wishing Pills.  He initially stopped practicing magic in 1902 when the law was passed, though this may have been a ruse to keep Glinda off his radar while he plotted to resurrect Enilrul, the former Witch-Queen of Oz. During this time he raised their son Nikidik the Younger, who proved less patient than his father.  When that young man summoned Mombi to trick her into teaching him magic, they both got exposed to Youthing Powder and became infants, who were then put in the care of Dr. Nikidik. (Dorothy and the Magic Belt)  In 1907, however, Nikidik was convinced (likely by the magician Braxus) to give up the children (to new citizens who came to Oz) and begin practicing magic again in Taker's Island, at which point he went into exile to Taker's Island with Braxus (Dagmar in Oz).

Dr. Nikidik then secretly snuck back into Oz. As per The Master Crafters of Oz, Dr. Nikidik is revealed to be an ancient, though human mage, the former consort of Enirul, both of whom had once been benevolent forces in Oz ("Lurline and the First Fairy Queen of Oz") before falling into darkness and separating. Enilrul later trapped Dr. Nikidik inside a Magic Box being held by Ozma in the palace.  Ozma eventually freed him and gave him water from the Fountain of Oblivion, after which she exiled him again to Taker's Island (Wooglet in Oz). He appears to be truly reformed at this point, and after helping Oz against an invasion from the rival wizard Braxus, was awarded his magical library and tools, which he can use outside of Oz and back on Taker's Island where he returned to live, though he still visits Oz from time to time (Dagmar in Oz and "The Mystery of the Missing Ozma")

By the time of Bungle of Oz, Dr. Pipt has applied for a magic license and is back to brewing magical formulae, including the Powder of Life and the Paradox Potion.  By the time of The Living House of Oz, Dr. Pipt is no longer straightened (which the Wizard did for him in The Patchwork Girl of Oz), but is back to being crooked (physically speaking).  His wife, Margolette admits that she uses three different names for her husband: his original, Dr. Pipt; his assumed name, Dr. Nikidik; and his newly adopted name, Dr Widget.

Appendix L: Rulers of the Winkie Lands

The history of the Winkie rulers has been shrouded in mystery for a long time, in large part because none of the original Oz authors had an opportunity to delve into the back-story of this realm.  In recent times, however, authors have been exploring the Winkie past, and have uncovered some interesting facts.  Note that some of these come from stories not yet published.

1744: Queen Lana's kingdom of Topaz City flees with Lana's chief suitor, Mr. Tinker, to the moon (The Lost Queen of Oz)
1744: The Wicked Witch of the West enchants Queen Lana and her two children, and destroys Topaz City (The Lost Queen of Oz)
1744: A runner makes his way to King Willinos and Queen Neldra, informing them that the royal family is no more.
1744: King Willinos and Queen Neldra become de facto rulers of the Winkies. ("The Triumph of the Wicked Witch of the West")
1745: The WWW eventually shows up at their doorstep, and enchants or destroys them. ("The Triumph of the Wicked Witch of the West")
1745: A messenger from their kingdom makes his way to Amberly Village.
1745: Princess PieRita, perhaps a niece of Willinos or Neldra, or, possibly, a relative of Queen Lana, is made Queen. (The Astonishing Tale of the Gump of Oz)
1745: The Wicked Witch of the West establishes dominion in this region, threatening death to anyone who would challenge that, and forcing PieRita to abdicate. (The Astonishing Tale of the Gump of Oz)

1899: Despite having held the Wicked Witch at bay in the southern Winkie country that she ruled, Queen Gloma fears Dorothy, the "Witch Killer," and goes into hiding in the Black Forest. (The Wishing Horse of Oz)

1900: Despite being a Munchkin by birth, the Tin Woodman is elected Emperor of the Winkies due to his role in helping defeat the Wicked Witch of the West. (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)

Appendix M: Sky Countries in Nonestica

This will continue to be added as I discover new ones, but as of my current counting, there are eleven sky countries in Nonestica. Each entry is followed by its country or origin, or the country above which it was discovered:

Sky Island (Sky Island): Sky kingdom. Floats above Nonestica

The Cloud Kingdom (Jubulut): The realm of the Cloud Tender, Jubulut, the Cloud Sculptors, and cloud fairies.

Umbrella Island (Speedy in Oz): Mechanically floating island. Originally part of Ev. Can fly anywhere

The Isle of Un (The Cowardly Lion of Oz): A skyle (aka. sky island). Floats above Oz

Cloud Country (The Hungry Tiger of Oz): A cloud realm where Atmos Fere lives. Floats high above Nonestica.

Maribella's skyland (in Grampa of Oz): A cloud realm. Floats above Oz

Anuther Planet (The Silver Princess of Oz): Sky kingdom. Planet is a misnomer. Floats above Oz.

Stratovania (Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz): Sky kingdom. Floats above Oz.

Sky City (The Tired Tailor of Oz): Mechanically floating island. Originally part of Ev. Can fly anywhere.

Cumuland (The Red Jinn in Oz): A cloud realm; floats above Ev, but can travel anywhere.

Kapurta (The Enchanted Island of Oz): A temporary sky island that started out as (and returned to) a Gillikin Country before becoming a sea island and then a sky island for a few days before it was wished back to land.

Appendix N: The Magical Roads of Oz

There are no less than ten sentient or sapient roads or fields in Oz.  Some speak, some follow orders, some just whisk one off to wherever, but all of them are moving, magical pathways in Oz.  One is an entire peninsula.  How they were created is uncertain.  The Wizard of Oz created two, and the Wizard Wam may have enchanted the others aeons ago for the benefit of speedy travel.  The following are listed in order of appearance.

1. An unnamed rolling road in the Winkie country, in The Royal Book of Oz. 

2. The Runaway Road, also in the Winkie country, in Grampa of Oz. 

3. The Winding Road in the Emerald City, in The Hungry Tiger of Oz. 

4. The Wizard's hundred-footed Footpath in the Winkie Country, in The Gnome King of Oz and The Magic Bowls of Oz.

5. The Runaway Country, who becomes the Runaway Island (and then Ruggedo's Island), in The Gnome King of Oz.

6. The Flying Field of The Yellow Knight of Oz, located in the Winkie Country. 

7. The River Road in the Quadling Country, in The Purple Prince of Oz. 

8. The Rolling Road in the Munchkin Country, in Ojo in Oz. 

9. High Way, near the base of Tip Top Mountain, in the Gillikin Country, in The Merry Mountaineer of Oz.

10. The Footbridge was built by the Wizard in the Quadling Country. It spans the Rubber River, escorting travelers north to the Emerald City.  The Merry Mountaineer of Oz

11. The Ozcalator, a moving road created and patented by the Wizard, but first invented by the Wizard Wam. The Winged Monkeys of Oz

Appendix O: Tik-Tok's Troublesome Map

L. Frank Baum's map, included as the endpapers in 1914's Tik-Tok of Oz, might have seemed like a clever and creative idea at the time.  But in much the same way that science-fiction sometimes tries too hard to sound spacey, Baum went too far in fantasizing the map, placing the west in the east, and the east in the west, but designating the east and west of the compass (in the top right corner) in reverse, so that the Munchkin Country, despite being on the wrong side, is still in the East, and the Winkie Country, despite being on the wrong side, was still in the West.  It's clear from his books that the Munchkins are in the east and the Winkies in the West, so this was just a bit of whimsy, but it would go on to cause problems, particularly after he died. 

For some reason, when Reilly & Lee reprinted the book and map, they "corrected" the compass rose, which then made the map incorrect, with the East designation on the right and the West on the left.  This now made it appear as if the Munchkin Country was in the West and the Winkies in the East. Since Ruth Plumly Thompson appears have owned one of these later editions, she went on in her books to create all kinds of directional problems, which publisher Reilly & Lee didn't see or correct. 

For readers, fans and authors looking for a detailed map that contains not only Baum's locations, but locations from all of the countries mentioned in the canonical series, seek out the Martin & Haff map, published by the International Wizard of Oz Club, which goes a long way towards correcting the geographical contradictions that the books make.

Yet it's not perfect either. David Maxine of Hungry Tiger Press is anxious to correct some of the problems that Martin & Haff introduced.  His concept makes sense, though he desire to return to the Baumian whimsy of East/West reverse again.  I'd argue that's fine, so long as there's a version for those who prefer that east is east and west is west. 

Appendix P: The Living Dolls in Oz

With the discovery of a living Scarecrow by Dorothy Gale in 1898, it was soon understand by fans of that magical and mysterious realm that Oz was filled with unusual beings of all kinds, including walking, talking dolls.  Here is a working list of them and the books they appear in. Most are friendly, but not all...

1. Although she turns out to be something else, Peg Amy, the much abused doll of the embittered Ruggedo living under the Emerald City, is the first living doll listed in an Oz book.  In Kabumpo in Oz, Peg Amy and her rabbity friend Wag escape from a suddenly giant Ruggedo and discover adventure and surprises.

2. In his book, Lucky Bucky in Oz, longtime illustrator and third-time Oz author John R. Neill discovered a strange race of half-doll, half-fish called the Dollfins that tried to keep Bucky Jones with them as a forever companion.  With the help of his friend, the whale Davey Jones, he managed to get away from the grubby doll-fish.

3. Raggedy Ann and Andy: From the Raggedy Ann series of books by Johnny Gruelle, Raggedy Ann and Andy were brought into Oz by Ray Powell in 1967, in his manuscript The Raggedys in Oz.  It was reprinted in 1991, but it's second edition from 2006 made it work with existing canon.

4. Shrinkin' Violet: From the 1974 manuscript The Morrises in Oz, by Ruth Morris, it was published in book form by Buckethead Enterprises of Oz in 1993 as The Flying Bus of Oz (though actually titled The Flying Bus in Oz).  Violet turns out to be not quite what she seems, and now lives in Oz under a very different form.

5. Ruth Morris described the adventures of yet a second doll who came to Oz, this time the irrepressible Angelina Bean, who starred in the adventure under her own named Dr. Angelina Bean in Oz, written in 1993, but not published until 2002, it's significant for being the story that shows the Nome Ruggedo's final turn to good, after many years of vanity, cruelty and greed.

6. In need of wives, Native American Brownies bring to life a young Emily Gale's hollyhock dolls in Phyllis Ann Karr's The Hollyhock Dolls in Oz, an adventure that also looks at an older Em coming to terms with her new life and the Good Witch of the North retiring from her old.

7. Fionna Freckles is another doll who stars in her own adventure, only she doesn't come to Oz, but ends up instead in the land of the Phanfasms.  Fionna Freckles the First and Foremost, by W. Randy Hoffman, details this doll's origins and transformation into the being that helps the Phanfasms, newly returned from the Emerald City after having drunk the Waters of Oblivion, stay on a good course, at least for a time.

8. Poppet is the outspoken ragdoll of Chastity, the first Amish girl to come to Oz in Margaret Berg's The Reading Tree of Oz.

9. "The Malevolent Mannequin in Oz," written by me for the pages of the 2015 Oziana magazine, looks at the darker tradition of talking dolls, this time one that comes into the possession of the witch Mombi, who tells us in her own journal of the circumstances that nearly led to her destruction.

Appendix Q: Crossovers in Oz

An incomplete list at this time, and one that will grow as more information comes forward.  L. Frank Baum was the first to crossover Oz with other fantasy realms when he brought his non-Oz fantasy stories (now known as the Borderlands of Oz stories), into Oz.  Ruth Plumly Thompson continued this tradition and brought in her own fantasy worlds, such as Pumperdink and others.  But Baum also incorporated elements of other authors' fantasy stories, including Edith Ogden Harrison's Prince Silverwings, and Emerson Hough's The King of Gee-Whiz, both of which Baum worked on (for plays) and which have ideas and characters he developed in his own tales.  With the precedent set, later writers continued the tradition, and as a result, several other universes now share the same universe as Oz. This list, however, chronicles crossovers with realms that may or may not exist in the same realm or dimension as the Nonestican one.

• The Cthulhu and Dreamlands Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft, sometimes referred to as the Cthulhu Mythos. "The Eldritch Horror of Oz" (Oziana 1981) and "A Side View of the Nonestic Islands" (Oziana 1987) both directly reference Lovecraftian elements.  A forthcoming work, The Ancient Dawn of Oz, will reconcile Baum's origin mythology (in The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus) with the one developed by Lovecraft and others.

• Middle-Earth: The legendarium of J.R.R. Tolkien, as developed in The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Unfinished Tales, The Book of Lost Tales and the History of Middle-Earth series was first referenced in The Mysterious Chronicles of Oz, which referenced the very same riddle Gollum spoke to Frodo (which is Tolkien's own composition and not a traditional riddle), indicating a common source, as well as orcs, goblins and trolls, the history of which is given a Tolkienian origin in "The Search for Soob: An Oz Tale," "The Orange Ogres of Oz," and "Betsy Bobbin in Yatralia." The Winged Monkeys of Oz also strongly alludes to the birthday customs of Hobbits. Tolkien's dating for his Four Ages are indicated on the main Oz Timeline. He introduces a total of 7,272 years from the start of the 1st Age, when mankind are created, to end of the 4th Age, when Aragorn's son King Eldarion ends his reign (presumably in death) in FO 220. Starting at 7272 BC for the 1st Age, the 2nd age begins 590 years later with Morgoth's defeat in 6682 BC. Interestingly, Tolkien's delineation can be seen as fitting into a biblical framework, likely intentionally given Tolkien's religious beliefs, with the 3d Age ending 122 years after the Flood and sinking of Numenor, which both occur in the same year of 3363 BCE, which itself is close to the chronology of the Deluge given in the Septuagint (an older Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures than the more commonly cited Masoretic text) of 3298 BC. Thus, the 3d Age begins in 3241 BC and ends 3021 years later with the War of the Ring (as seen in The Lord of the Rings) in 221-220 BC. Based on the fact that Tolkien only gave the 4th Age 220 years, that brings the start of the 5th Age at the "0" year (or end of the 1 BC and start of 1 AD).

• Neverland: The first story to bring Neverland into the Ozian universe is Ruth Berman's Oziana 1990 story "In a Season of Calm Weather." In it, Dorothy argues with Wendy and Alice (from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland). Neverland features prominently in the forthcoming novel An Ozian Odyssey.

• Sherlock Holmes: Arthur Conan Doyle's adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Watson, comprising 4 novels and 56 short stories (published between 1887 and 1927), were first incorporated into Oz with Ruth Berman's Oziana 1971 story, "Sherlock Holmes in Oz," and it is a crossover that has continued in several Oz stories, including the "Great Detective" series, starting with the Oziana 1976 story, "The Adventure of the Cat that Did Not Meow in the Night," the Oziana 1978 story, "The Adventure of the Missing Belt," the Oziana 1980 story, "A Study in Orange," and the Oziana 1984 story, "The Mystery of the Missing Ozma."  Chronologically, as of this writing, Barbara Hambly's The Adventure of the Sinister Chinaman, from Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook, is the first of these crossovers, taking place during the time Oscar Diggs returned to the United States after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. As with the continuation of Oz stories post-Baum, Sherlock Holmes has been featured in numerous later stories post-Doyle.  This leaves a question as to what, if any, of the later extra-canonical stories are "true," particularly since Sherlock Holmes has been crossed over into numerous other series.  Some of these are easy to reconcile as existing in the same universe that Nonestica is in (e.g., his crossover with Dracula and Tarzan), others are  a little more challenging to ascertain (e.g., crossovers with War of the Worlds or Doctor Who), and renders this is a question that will be under investigation for some time.  Those universes which already crossover into Oz, such as, for example, the Cthulhu mythos, through Phyllis Ann Karr's "The Eldritch Horror of Oz" (Oziana 1981) and Shadows Over Baker Street, can be accepted as canonical on a story-by-story basis. As per the crossovers listed above, Sherlock Holmes eventually came to live in Oz in 1937 when he was 83.

• Wonderland: A natural fit, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, and Jabberwocky are now events that happened somewhere in the outskirts of Nonestica.  In the case of Alice, there are numerous and conflicting accounts of when Dorothy and she first met, with some that are clearly re-imaginings of both Oz and Wonderland.  Those that stick to Baum and Carroll, such as Ruth Berman's Oziana 1990 story "In a Season of Calm Weather," are currently under investigation. 

• Narnia: C.S. Lewis otherworld was brought in by way of "The Magic Door to Oz," in the March Laumer anthology In Other Lands Than Oz.

• Doctor Doolittle: same as above.

• More to come...

Appendix R: Deadly Desert Inhabitants (and Those Immune to It)

The four deserts surrounding Oz are known collectively as The Deadly Desert, though each has an individual name; there is the Impassable Desert of the north, the Shifting Sands to the East, the Greaty Sandy West in the south, and the Deadly Desert of the west.  They are called The Deadly Desert because their sands are destructive to all living creatures, with several exceptions.  The following is a list of the known creatures who either live in the Deadly Desert, or who can trod its sands without being destroyed:

1. The Sand Serpent, from The Amber Flute of Oz, is a dragon that terrorized the inhabitants of Oz in the 1400s, was put to sleep in the Deadly Desert by Ozgood the Magician, and later awakened by Blinkie, one of the former Wicked Witches of the South. Glinda banished him to the desert, but he was known to rear his head from time to time, such as when he hunted Santa Claus ("Santa Claus in Oz").

2. The Heelers, from The Wonder City of Oz, are the first inhabitants discovered to live in the Deadly Desert (specifically in the Great Sandy Waste, which is south of the Quadling Country).  A spineless, spongelike creature, their biology and culture are difficult to comprehend based on Neill's description of them.

3. The Mifkits of The Scalawagons of Oz are relatives of the Mifkets of John Dough and the Cherub, as well as the Scoodlers of The Road to Oz, and are the second Neill-discovered creature who live on the Deadly Desert.  How is never described.

4. The Madou tribe, of A Refugee in Oz, are short and stately, and live in an oasis on the Deadly Desert.  Their ability to float and create structures upon the sand, and presumably air filters, made this a viable option for this noble and insular folk.

5. The Flame Folk, of The Shaggy Man of Oz, are called the Dwellers of the Desert.  As their bodies are made of fire, this is an appropriate location for them to live.  They also mention the existence of an oasis on the Desert, though they themselves don't live there.  The two known oases are the one the Madou created and lived upon (prior to Ruggedo's destruction of it) and the one the Gypsies live upon, called The Fountains of Romany, in The Forbidden Fountain of Oz.

6. Desert Ponies: From The Enchanted Island of Oz, it is conjectured by some that the "swift desert ponies" that are used by bandits to get the kidnapped camel Humpty across the Deadly Desert are somehow immune to the destructive powers of the desert, and are the same horses that draw the wagons of the Gypsies to the Fountains of Romany, an oasis in the Deadly Desert, mentioned in The Forbidden Fountain of Oz.

7. Sandamanders and Sand Whales (aka. voiptiggs): The composite Sandamanders, of Ruggedo in Oz, have the heads of humans, the bodies of lobsters and the hindquarters of kangaroos.  They live with and are ferried around by their fellow sand whales, the voiptiggs, for whom it is poisonous to be outside the sands of the Deadly Desert for too long.  The Sandamanders don't have this issue, but call the Deadly Desert "The Deserts of the Sands of Life."

8. Mechanical Men: A group of robots was discovered upon the Deadly Desert by the Braided Man, when he and his Wooden Gargoyle friend Gorry crash-landed there in The Braided Man of Oz.  Gorry was able to cast a spell to keep the Braided Man from perishing and which allowed him to remain on the sands for a time, though his shoes began to dissipate.  It is unknown if the Wooden Gargoyles cannot be harmed by the sands, or if Gorry cast a similar spell upon himself.  It is more clear that mechanical beings, likely including Tik-Tok could cross without any problems.

9. Griffins: Although not an inhabitant and based on only one example, it appears that griffins are immune to the destroying powers of the Deadly Desert, as evidenced by Mombi having taken that form when chased by Glinda unto the Shifting Sands, in The Marvelous Land of Oz, and the fact that she does not perish upon it.  Neither Snif or Maybe are known to have attempted a similar feat.

10. Fire Fairies: Female Gnomes/Nomes who tend the furnaces and prepare the meals.  They don't live on the Deadly Desert, but can cross it if they so choose.

11. The Lava Lizard: A giant lizard from Ev that lives in the lava deep in the earth, Roquat once had his Nomes abduct a female of the species, hoping to use her to cross over the Deadly Desert into Oz.  From General Jinjur of Oz.

Appendix S: The Royal Palace Layout

As per author/illustrator Melody Grandy, here is the Emerald City Palace layout: "Here's a pic of the layout of the Emerald City Palace, based on the Famous Forty Oz books, but including a few books written after the Famous Forty. For a palace written about by several different authors, their descriptions of it hang together quite well. This is posted to help out present and future Oz authors who want to keep their Emerald City palace architecture consistent with the rest of the Oz series... the palace is at least 4 stories tall. Also, RPT mentions that Omby Amy has a cottage somewhere in the southeast gardens."

Appendix T: The History of Glinda the Good

There's been a lot of mystery surrounding Glinda the Good's past, which none of the original Royal Historians ever dealt with. Perhaps they were too polite to inquire, or perhaps Glinda was too private to wish to share it with the public. In later years things seem to have loosened up, and we can glean a basic idea of her past from the tidbits that modern Royal Historians have put forward.

Glinda is revealed in Dennis Anfuso's The Winged Monkeys of Oz to be the daughter of the even more mysterious Gayelette, of whom Baum wrote in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:

"There lived here then, away at the North, a beautiful princess, who was also a powerful sorceress. All her magic was used to help the people, and she was never known to hurt anyone who was good. Her name was Gayelette, and she lived in a handsome palace built from great blocks of tourmaline. Everyone loved her, but her greatest sorrow was that she could find no one to love in return, since all the men were much too stupid and ugly to mate with one so beautiful and wise. At last, however, she found a boy who was handsome and manly and wise beyond his years... so she took him to her ruby palace and used all her magic powers to make him as strong and good and lovely as any woman could wish. When he grew to manhood, Quelala, as he was called, was said to be the best and wisest man in all the land."

Gaylette is clearly an unusual woman who takes matters into her own hand! Anfuso's same story notes that Glinda's father was an unnamed traveler who went to the outside world. As this cannot be Quelala, it means that Gayelette had a prior husband (and might explain why she views men the way she does.) This will be relevant later.

In Gili Bar-Hillel's "The Woozy's Tale" (Oziana 1992), Gayelette was also said to be Glinda's cousin. This is not a contradiction. Historically, royals commonly married relatives.  Glinda is likely related to Quelala, Gayelette's second husband. There are too many unknown variables to get a full picture of the family tree. In the most recent iteration of How the Wizard Came to Oz, Glinda is revealed to be the great niece of Locasta, who served as the Good Witch of the North prior to Orin.  (That can make her Gayelette's or her father's aunt).  One way mother and daughter could be cousins is if Gayelette's second husband Quelala was a cousin of Glinda's through her father's side (her father's nephew, for example).  There are other scenarios that are plausible as well.

The plot thickens in Mycroft Mason's "The Solitary Sorceress of Oz" (Oziana 2011), in which Glinda is said to have come to Oz from England around 1582.  While this at first glance seems difficult to reconcile, it actually accords with the prior accounts and explains Gayelette's noted irritation towards men. It appears that Glinda's father took her with him to the Outside World. She was initially named Linda until years later when she developed her magic in Oz and was given the sobriquet "Good Linda" later shortened to Glinda (see Melody Grandy's The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz: Book 3). It is not known at what age she was taken or how long she spent in England, save that she was old enough to work at the palace.

In Mason's story, Glinda worked as a housemaid to the magician John "Doctor" Dee during the time he served as advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, when he opened a portal to Oz that she fell through. This raises the question that John Dee, a famous magician, is her unnamed father. What was his motivation in bringing Glinda to the court of Elizabeth I? Might it have been to teach his daughter about the Outside World and rule it as queen?  Is this why her memory was taken away for a time? 

John Dee is ostensibly from the Outside World. His first recorded marriage was in 1565, the very same year Glinda was born and brought from Oz to the Outside World.  If John Dee took her to live with him and the woman he was to marry that year, Karen Constable, with whom he had no children, then likely the reason he had serve as his maid was so that his new wife wouldn't be suspicious that he had a child with another woman.

 Although Glinda identifies as a fairy (in Cory in Oz), this is suspect.  She's not a fairy like Ozma, Lurline, or Tititi-Hoochoo (as indicated in Leprechauns in Oz), but a native-born Ozite. Thus, she's a "fairy" in the same sense that she was born in a fairyland. Glinda distinguishes Cory as being a half-fairy because while her mother hailed from Oz, her father was from the Outside World. King Cheeriobed and the Menankypoos are said to be "magically constructed" (see the notes for The Giant Horse of Oz), a concept that's reconciled by the idea that they have fairy blood, as explored more in depth in "The Adventures of Munch Kenny and Gil Cain" in Lost Histories from the Royal Librarian of Oz. 

When Glinda returned to Oz in 1582, she arrived at the abandoned palace where she now lives. As she could read Latin and English, she went on to enhance her magical abilities and discover many valuable tools.  It's made clear that this was her father's castle, likely by her mentor, the Wizard Wam (Wammerian Hadrakis), who she sought out. He takes her on as his apprentice that year.  She yet doesn't have her memories, but it eventually comes back. When Glinda discovers the Forbidden Fountain of the Witch Queen Enilrul, which contains a potent mixture of her magical essence (which the Wicked Witches of the East and West had already imbibed of), she drinks of it, becoming one of the most powerful magic users in Oz. (The Witch Queen of Oz). 

At some point, her father returns to Oz and Glinda reunites with him, her mother Gayelette, and her sister Belinda, though it's not likely a reconciliation of the marriage.  Doctor Dee's first wife died in 1574.  A year after that, he married an unknown woman, who purportedly died in 1576.  Might he have returned to Oz at this time?  Is Gayelette the unknown woman?  The timing could work, with him going back and forth to Oz, though if he did marry her, it didn't last past a year.  He married again in 1578, and this time he shared his wife with his friend and fellow magician Edward Kelley, and had several children. 

Dee's death is mysterious, as there are no exact records as to what year he purportedly died (1608 or 1609 are speculated), and both the parish records and gravestone are missing. Likely, this is the year "Doctor" Dee returned to Oz or some country in Nonestica (possibly with Glinda's help), four years after his third wife died.  Similarly, there is no record of his three youngest daughters, Madinia, Frances, and Margaret, and it's possible that they chose to come to the realm of Faerie as well.  If so, who are they? In the outside world, his eldest son Arthur carried on his father's magical legacy, but to date several of his books have never been recovered. Perhaps that's because they're in Oz. 

Belinda, at this point, had grown angry and uncontrollable. She resents that Glinda is in line to become the Royal Sorceress of the Quadling Country (The Enchanted Gnome of Oz), perhaps thinking that since Glinda was away for so long, the position should have gone to her.  She may also resent her father and mother for various reasons.  It's unknown at what point Gayelette remarried, but if around this time, that also may have been a factor.

Glinda eventually became the Royal Sorceress of the Quadling Country at the time of King Jandor IV, when the royal family fled in the face of threats by Singra, the first of the Compass Witches to serve as Wicked Witch of the South, in 1820. She is unable, however, to rule the quadrant.  At this point, Belinda rechristened herself Belinda the Bad, and made enemies of her parents and sister when she threatened their lives.  Her father then took away her magic until she might repent of her wicked ways.  Bitterly she left the Quadling Country to join the Blue Witches of the Munchkin Country.

Glinda then faces Singra and puts her to sleep for a hundred years in 1831. So popular had this made Glinda that she was then asked to become ruler of the Quadlings, a position that was ratified by the king's son (then contentedly ruling the Red Desert of Aldehydea) a few years later.  She would go on to defeat her far more brutal sister Angra, who ruled from 1833 to 1843.

In one of the hidden passages in her castle, Glinda discovered the Great Book of Records, a gift of Lurline's. This is in 1892, the same year the Wizard moved into the newly built Emerald City.  Nearly a decade later, just before Ozma is found, in 1901, the book mysteriously unlocked.

Glinda's relationship with Gayelette appears estranged, or cordial at best, and there may be an untold story here.  Neither Gayelette nor her former husband were ever brought into the accepted trio of magic users during the time magic was forbidden in Oz, and Glinda is rarely seen speaking or visiting with her, though it's certainly possible that this happens off-screen.  Years later, Gayelette had another girl named Fabia, who went on to train under Glinda to become a sorceress.  The birth of Fabia appears to be a late development as she was still in training when she fell in love with a mortal and ran off to the Outside World to be with him and start a family.  They had a son Michael, who appears to have no powers.  He remained in the Outside World with his girlfriend Marla.  They had a daughter as well named Cora-Lee, or Cory, but when she was but an infant, Fabia and her husband got into a fatal car accident, and Fabia's spirit was stolen by an evil witch who'd been banished to the Outside World.  It wasn't until many years later (in 1985) that Glinda recovered Fabia and Cory.

Appendix U: The History of the Silver Shoes

The Silver Shoes appeared for the first and only time in a canonical book in L. Frank Baum's iconic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. They were changed by the team at MGM to Ruby Slippers because they felt red better reflected the new Technicolor production (still a novelty in 1939), and indeed they took hold of the public's imagination.  Yet, despite their fame, the original Silver Shoes weren't forgotten.

The history of the Silver Shoes, as delineated by the works found on the Main Oz Timeline of The Royal Timeline of Oz, goes far back into Oz history.  A creation of the dark fairy (and sister of the Fairy Queen Lurline), Enilrul, who molded them from magic silver at the bank of a silver river (The Silver Shoes of Oz), the Silver Shoes not only could transport its wearer anywhere in the worlds, but enables the wearer to shoot magical lightning bolts (Oz and the Three Witches).  The Silver Shoes went with Enilrul into the fountain where she dissolved herself after cursing Pastoria I, the King of Oz (The Witch Queen of Oz).  Later, they were there discovered by a young Malvonia, who went on to become the Wise Witch of the East.  The fountain bestowed magic upon the Wicked Witches (and Glinda who also came upon it) and became The Fountain of Oblivion.  The Wise Witch of the East later became the Wicked Witch of the East. 

When Dorothy's house fell on the Wicked Witch of the East in 1898, the Silver Shoes came into Dorothy's possession, and even the Wicked Witch of the West couldn't take them from her.  When Dorothy used the Shoes to wish herself back to Kansas, the Shoes were lost as she traveled over the Deadly Desert back to the Outside World. 

As the sands destroy nearly all life which touches it, there they remained for five years.  In 1904, when the Braided Man and a Wooden Gargoyle (protected by a spell cast by the Gargoyle)  landed upon the Desert, the Braided Man discovered the Silver Shoes and put them on, but they came off again as he was flown back to his home in Pyramid Mountain.  (The Braided Man of Oz). 

This time the Shoes were not content to stay lost, in large part because their master had returned.  In 1908, they dissolved into the sands and reconstituted themselves in Oz, where they were fished out of the Gillikin River and presented to the Good Witch of the North.  Determining them too dangerous to keep in Oz, she brought them to the Bowman, a nearby giant, who used a slingshot to shoot them to Sky Island.  They were likely intended to go to another witch queen, the kindly Rosalie, but instead they ended up in the Fog Bank separating the two divided lands and peoples.  The Frog King there discovered them, but his ownership proved short, as Dorothy (with the help of Glinda) soon retrieved them.  Yet, as soon as Dorothy returned to the Emerald City, the true owner of the Shoes emerges, Enilrul, who has herself reconstituted.  Enilrul sought only to go to the Outside World, and upon using the Silver Shoes to do so, they were again lost over the Deadly Desert.  (The Witch Queen of Oz)

It would be Ozma who would next discover them.  On her way back from settling a dispute between Foxville and Dunkiton, the Cowardly Lion, riding upon the Magic Carpet, stubbed his toe on something sharp.  Using her wand, Ozma retrieved the lost Silver Shoes.  She then allowed Betsy to test them.  (The Silver Shoes of Oz).  From that point on, they went into Ozma's safe. 

In an untold story, they get lost yet again. This time Trot and Betsy come upon them in the Valley of Lost Things in Merryland. They're unable to retrieve them. (Oziana 2014, "Lost and Never Found")

Different attempts to tell the history of the shoes are told in Jane MacNeil's Traleewu in Oz, Laura Jane Musser's "The Romance of the Silver Shoes" (Oziana 1975), and Paul Miles Schneider's Silver Shoes.

Appendix V: The Woozy's Origins

The blue, box-shaped Woozy first appeared in L. Frank Baum's The Patchwork Girl of Oz. An unusual and unique creature, he was generally gentle, though he loved to eat honeybees and could shoot fire from his eyes when angry, and nothing made him angrier than the phrase "Krizzle Kroo."

In fact, the Woozy has plenty of reason to be angry. From just Baum alone, we see he's been subject to all manner of cruelty. The Munchkin farmers literally tried to destroy him. Their justification is that he was eating their honeybees, which they raise there, but wouldn't relocating the Woozy have been a better solution that trying to kill the poor thing? What prevented the Woozy being killed by these monsters was his tough skin, but that still means he was beaten! How horrible! This element, incidentally, shows that things are not always quite as cozy and peaceful as Baum sometimes indicates, and one has to wonder—given Baum's penchant for social commentary—if he wasn't criticizing those ranchers who killed animals that ate their crops or preyed on the livestock they intended to kill themselves. (What would Baum think if he knew that ranchers now have their own secretive government agency called the Burea of Land Management who kills en masse for them?)

As if the Woozy hadn't suffered enough, the farmers then put him in a pen in the forest, build a stockade around him, and left him there to rot. Did they bring food or water? Nope, but they were thoughtful enough to come by from time to time just to harass him. We don't know the form this harassment took, but given their previous attempts at murder, I'm sure it wasn't fun. I'd like to imagine that he set a few farmers alight before they could lock him up.

In spite of all this, the Woozy emerges as kind and helpful. When he discovers that the only reason Ojo, Scraps and Bungle came to rescue him from years of hunger and what he describes as intense loneliness is because they need his three tail hairs, which he considers his "prettiest feature," he offers them up willingly!

Baum, oddly enough, never got around to giving this intriguing character an origin story, nor did any of his immediate successors. Ruth Plumly Thompson neglected him entirely, save for a short, unpublished comic-strip called "Adventures in Oz," which she wrote with John R. Neill, who also illustrated it (you can find it in the Sunday Press edition of Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz. It's probably just as well that she didn't, as she had a tendency to disenchant characters into royalty of some kind, and that would've been terribly disappointing.  March Laumer attempted to provide a back-story in his short "The Woozy's Tricky Beginning," (from Oziana 1978) but as with so many of his stories it really belongs in a separate Laumerian universe from Oz.

Finally, three separate origin stories appeared, all of which can be reconciled to provide a complete picture of the Woozy's origins, and which explain why he's box-like, why he has a taste for honeybees, and why he gets angry at the phrase "Krizzle Kroo." To best understand it, we must go through them chronologically (as opposed to their publication date):

The first is A Refugee in Oz, in which it's revealed that the Madou people, who live in Sidia—an oasis upon the Deadly Desert—created the Woozy to help eat the bugs that plagued their crops. This, unfortunately, turned out to be a failed experiment because his tastes ran much more to the honeybees, which, of course, were beneficial to their crops. The spell "Krizzle Kroo" makes the Woozy immediately stop in his tracks, but it also means that someone has to be watching him night and day to make sure he's not eating their honeybees. Apparently, deeming it not worth the effort, or finding themselves unsuccessful in containing him, the Woozy's creator took him out of Sidia and left him in another land.

The next story picks up from there.

"A Trip Down Memory Lane, or How the Woozy Came to Oz" (The Emerald City Mirror #7) finds the Woozy living in the Land of Wooz, across the Deadly Desert. It's clear from the former story that this must be where the Woozy's creator left him, and where he undoubtedly named the place "the Land of Wooz." Where exactly this place is isn't stated, but it's in one of the sparsely populated countries surrounding the Deadly Desert. The Madou magician was at least kind enough to leave him someplace where honeybees grow on trees, though it's more likely he planted those trees specifically for the Woozy.  He removed the Woozy's memory of life in Sidia, likely so that he wouldn't feel sad or abandoned, and, really, who wouldn't? It's not stated how long the Woozy spent there, but he would eventually find his way to Oz. In need of three hairs of a Woozy's tail for a spell (clearly a different spell than the one that would free Dr. Pipt and Margolette from the Powder of Petrifaction), Mombi sends a local farmer to the Land of Wooz to bring her the Woozy. She imprisons him and repeatedly recites the spell, which goes ""Magic, do as you do, do as you do, Krizzle Kroo!" This understandably drives the Woozy crazy, and with his fiery eyes, he melts the bars of the cage and escapes... but not before Mombi cast a forgetful spell on him. He then travelled to the Munchkin country.

The last part of his history occurs in "The Woozy's Tale." In the frame story, the Woozy is living in the Royal Stables, where he uncovers the wizard Krizzle Kroo, a Gillikin Wizard with an interesting history. Krizzle Kroo, who likely got his name from the spell that stops creatures in their tracks, appears to be a Gillikin wizard who used his magical wolves, crows and bees to terrify the Gillikins. He later helped the Wicked Witch of the West gain power in the Winkie Country. But in punishment for what he did up north, the sorceress Gayelette gains control of his creatures, and makes them subject to her magical Silver Whistle. She fails to capture the queen bee, however, and Krizzle Kroo soon creates a new hive. Once complete, he helps the Wicked Witch of the West defeat Gayelette. She, of course, keeps the Whistle for herself, and when he later discovers this (she soon uses it against the Wizard), he departs to harass her sister, the Wicked Witch of the East in the Munchkin Country.

The Woozy comes into this history here.  The Wicked Witch of the East (Lady Malvonia) commands her Bootmaker to do something about the bees in her castle. Now, in the original story, the Bootmaker builds the Woozy and she brings him to life.  This has to  be retconned, however, in light of the fact that the Woozy was made by a Madou magician in Sidia. Likely then, the Bootmaker came upon the Woozy and brought him to the Wicked Witch, where he rid her castle of the bees.  Another possibility that's more in keeping with the text is that the Bootmaker had come upon an immobile Woozy and brought him to his home. When the Wicked Witch asked for something to rid her of the bees, he brought the dormant Woozy to her and she revived him. Why was the Woozy in this state? Frankly, we don't know. This is the Munchkin Country, where farmer have no problem taking extreme measures to protect their crop. Might someone have done something to the Woozy?  If so, it means the Wicked Witch of the East did some good because she brought him back, possibly from the brink. 

The wizard Krizzle Kroo wasn't done with the Wicked Witch, and this time used his bees to extort Munchkin farmers to pay him taxes! The Bootmaker wasn't about to stand for that, and he took the Woozy out of the Witch's castle and set him loose on the bees. In his final act of revenge, Krizzle Kroo transformed the Bootmaker and his wife and child into the hairs on the Woozy's tail.  As the Woozy already had hairs, the spell must have embedded them into the tail hairs (which might explain why after he loses his memory, he subconsciously finds them so precious later on). He then wrote down the disenchantment spell (which used his name in part) and proceeded to lose it (intentionally or not, we don't know). It took Dorothy to find it, years later, and release the Bootmaker and his family for a happy reunion. 

Krizzle Kroo then takes the Woozy to a pen in a Munchkin forest not far from honeybees. He also likely takes his memory from him, making this the third time the Woozy's had his memories wiped from him! The Woozy gets out and begins eating the honeybees in the local farms, enraging the farmers who try to kill him, and then return him to the pen in the forest, and build a tall fence from which he can't escape, and upon which they put the sign "Beware the Woozy." Enter Ojo, Scraps and the Glass Cat... 12 years later to rescue him.

It's interesting that the Woozy finds out about his history piecemeal.  He first learns of his capture from the Land of Wooz, Mombi's attempt to use him for a spell, and his escape from her.  He then learns about the wizard Krizzle Kroo when he stops him from harming his friends in the Emerald City. Years later, he discovers his origins with the Madou people. While some would say it's convoluted, it actually makes sense. A lot of the Woozy's history is deeply traumatic, marred by abandonment (by the Madou), loss (of the Bootmaker and his family), terrible violence (by Munchkin farmers), followed by privation, hunger, imprisonment, harassment, and loneliness (in the pen in the Munchkin forest). As a fairy country, Oz seems to take care of its own, and it makes sense that the Woozy would only find out his difficult history in bite-sized pieces that he can handle.

Appendix W: Death and Aging in Oz

Written by Nathan M. DeHoff (originally on https://vovatia.wordpress.com/2017/03/18/i-wanted-eternal-youth-but-not-that-much-youth/) with editorial emendations:

L. Frank Baum says in The Tin Woodman of Oz that nobody has grown any older since the enchantment of Oz, and that specifically includes babies. Ruth Plumly Thompson modifies this in Kabumpo to say that aging is a matter of choice. But was that choice always the case, or did the enchantment itself have to be changed somewhat?

The story "Fat Babies, or The Temptation of the Hungry Tiger" suggests the latter. The Hungry Tiger meets a never-aging baby who’s been given incredible intelligence by a potion his mother took from Glinda. He confronts Ozma about always having to remain a baby, and she responds by enchanting the palace vegetable garden so it would age people.

Other Oz stories address the aging issue as well. In Eric Shanower's The Giant Garden of Oz, Ozma says that the fairies of Burzee used the gas of the delicate velp vine to bestow immortality on Oz. In Edward Einhorn’s Paradox, it’s the result of Ozma accidentally rubbing a powder that prevents aging (made from the velp vine most likely) on an hourglass that’s really an alternate-universe version of Ozma’s grandfather who lives backwards. Since such temporal anomalies affect a displaced person’s surroundings, everyone in Oz stopped aging, with the spell running backwards in time until shortly after Ozma took the throne. Glinda then reworks the magic on Ozma herself with a youth potion she received from Lurline. Paul Dana’s books propose that everyone around at the time of the enchantment stopped aging, and that included keeping pregnant women permanently pregnant.

Anyone who became pregnant after the enchantment, however, could have their babies in the usual way. This wasn’t mentioned in the original version of Time Travelers, and was likely added to account for what’s said about Ojo himself in Ojo, which I don’t think Paul had read when he first wrote the tale.

[The Wizard of Oz specifically points out his own aging in Oz prior to Ozma’s reign in Paradox. This is its own conundrum, which is discussed here.]

As I mentioned in an earlier post about the enchantment, Nick Chopper’s parents also died, and likely during the Wizard’s reign since his father once visited the Emerald City. (I guess he could have visited the place that would later be called the Emerald City, but I’m not sure this really solves anything.) So we’re left with a period of time when people did age and die, but also some references to much older characters. The thing is, I can’t recall Baum ever really using the older characters, at least when it came to mortals in Oz itself. This was more something Thompson did, as with the Samandrans in Yellow Knight. But then, Thompson might well have just worked with the Tin Woodman explanation, except revised somewhat to avoid the permanent baby issue. It doesn’t say when aging stopped, and she might have just forgotten about the early references, or disregarded them as contradictory. Since she did try to reconcile the accounts of the Wizard and Ozma’s early history as given in Land and Dorothy and the Wizard with her own Lost King, it’s not like she always ignored Baum’s contradictions; but she might well have done so when they went against the story she wanted to tell. A possible work-around that I’ve seen suggested, in Michael Patrick Hearn’s The Annotated Wizard of Oz among other places, is that the enchantment was suspended when someone not part of the royal family took the throne. It’s clever, but as David Hulan pointed out, it would make it strange that people seemed to have adjusted so well to aging and dying again when many of them would have been able to remember deathless life under the last rightful king. Then we have Jack Snow suggesting (if not outright stating) that Lurline’s enchantment occurred about 200 years before Magical Mimics. In order to fit all these sources together, we might be left with something like this:

1. Some Ozites have been around since time immemorial, possibly due to fairy blood, specific enchantments, or localized magic. This includes the Samandrans and their neighbors, Corabia and Corumbia. According to Joe Bongiorno’s Royal Timeline of Oz, some of this was likely a result of Lurline’s attempt to undo her sister Enilrul’s curse as described in Phil Lewin’s Witch Queen, which made them unable to die but in constant pain. The timeline dates this to the thirteenth century. Ed. Notes: Some of these events are told in greater detail in Lost Histories from the Royal Librarian of Oz.

2. Lurline’s enchantment in the eighteenth century, using the somewhat erratic power of an egg laid by the Phoenix of An, results in everyone alive at the time ceasing to age and die, at least as long as they remained in Oz. This includes unborn babies. Ed. Notes: This was an unintended consequence of the Magic Eggs.

3. Babies born after the enchantment can still age and die, since they weren’t actually around when Lurline cast the spell. This includes Nick Chopper’s parents. Ed. Notes: This makes the most sense as both Ozma and the Wizard note (in Paradox in Oz) that people died prior to Ozma coming on the throne.

4. The backwards spell from Paradox affects everyone in Oz, including those who weren’t present at the earlier enchantment(s). This once again means non-aging babies, although I’m not sure whether it resulted in more permanent pregnancies. Ed. Notes: The backwards spell only came into effect the first time Ozma went back in time, NOT to fix an aging enchantment, but to discover the origins of the mysterious baby Zoey. See the continuity notes here for more info.

5. A palace vegetable garden affected by the Magic Belt allows for controlled aging, especially for babies. I’m actually not sure whether this story takes place AFTER Paul’s stories in which Button-Bright and Ojo take pregnant Ozites to Ev to give birth, or these people were the exception because they were around for Lurline’s egg-based enchantment. I’m leaning towards the latter, as it would account for some people being able to age up to a certain point and then stop in Thompson’s Oz, like Randy. If so, this presumably means Ozma set up other localized spots for aging throughout the land, since not all of these Thompson characters would have been able to get to the Emerald City.

It ends up being pretty convoluted, perhaps unavoidable when some of these works are pretty obscure anyway, and adding in Baum’s penchant for contradicting himself. He never actually did say anything that went against the idea of permanent babies (at least as far as I can remember, and I remember these books pretty well), but it seems like pretty much everybody writing after him didn’t like the idea and tried to get around it in their own ways.