Nomes with Names

When the Nomes (as L. Frank Baum spelled the name of these rock fairies) are first introduced in Ozma of Oz, the only one to be identified my name is their king, Roquat. He does have a Chief Steward, but it’s not entirely clear whether he’s intended to be the same as the Nome who has that position in Emerald City, namely Kaliko.

In Emerald City, we also see the Nome King’s habit for disposing of any servant who displeases him. We see him “throw away” his Chief Counselor, and not only his army commander General Blug, but Blug’s successor Colonel Crinkle. In fact, he has Crinkle sliced up into pieces and fed to his seven-headed dogs. When Guph volunteers for the position as General, he agrees to be sliced up like Crinkle if he fails in his conquest of Oz.

Since both Roquat and Guph lose their memories due to their Water of Oblivion, however, this was apparently forgotten, and Guph is still in charge of the military in Tik-Tok.

When Kaliko replaces Ruggedo (as Roquat came to be known after his memory loss), he appoints Guph as his new Chamberlain. Oddly, however, his Chamberlain in Rinkitink is a previously unknown Nome named Klik. It’s been suggested that the reason for this is that, since the majority of Rinkitink was written considerably earlier in Baum’s career, the Chamberlain was originally Kaliko himself, and when Baum edited the text he simply removed a few letters to get “Klik.” If this was the case, though, couldn’t he have just changed the references to “Guph”? Maybe Baum felt that the Chamberlain’s character wasn’t really consistent with what he’d established about Guph. The former general does show up again as Chamberlain in Hungry Tiger, but in Wishing Horse Kaliko’s Chamberlain is named Shoofenwaller. So what happened to Guph and Klik? We don’t really know. Considering that Guph as portrayed in Hungry Tiger is angry with Kaliko’s friendlier way of governing, I wonder if he eventually quit, or was dismissed by Kaliko.

Tik-Tok introduces a few other Nomes to the scene. One is the Chief Magician, whom I suspect is probably the same as the wizard Potaroo from Gnome King and Wishing Horse. Another is the Long-Eared Hearer, whose incredibly long ears enable him to listen to things occurring all over the world.

In Rinkitink, this Nome is paired with the Lookout, who can see around corners and over hills. This leaves open the question as to whether the Hearer first appeared in the original King Rinkitink manuscript or was added in to fit with Tik-Tok. The Hearer is mentioned again in Wishing Horse, but the Lookout doesn’t appear in any other canonical Oz books. Klik, the Hearer, and the Lookout all appear in Sherwood Smith’s Trouble Under Oz, however. Tik-Tok also includes a brief appearance by Pang, the Chief Executioner, whose followers “bore great golden pincers and prods of silver and clamps and chains and various wicked-looking instruments all made of precious metals and set with diamonds and rubies.”

John R. Neill’s books mention a few other Nomes by name. In Wonder City, two Nomes named Umph and Grumph somehow reach the Emerald City and try to steal Jenny Jump’s Turn-Style, planning to use it to give themselves additional warts. And in Lucky Bucky, a Nome called Quiggeroc is identified as the kingdom’s Chief Digger. Who’s Who refers to Quigg as the newest general, which I don’t think Neill ever says, but is certainly possible.