While the Wicked Witch of the West is a somewhat significant character in the Oz books, it’s really the MGM movie that thrust her into super-stardom. It’s Margaret Hamilton in green makeup and black clothes who makes lists of the best villains, and whose story Gregory Maguire told in Wicked.
While the Wicked Witch in the book played basically the same role, she was a quite different character. While MGM’s Witch pursued Dorothy from the very beginning and showed up from time to time just to mess with her, L. Frank Baum’s original Witch took no notice of Dorothy until the girl and her friends entered the Winkie Country.
Once there, rather than screwing around with hourglasses and such, she immediately sends a pack of wolves to kill and/or destroy Dorothy’s entire party. She’s less active than in the movie, but she doesn’t muck about. On the other hand, she’s also a coward in some ways. In addition to her fear of water, she’s also afraid of the dark, and the Cowardly Lion can scare her away just by roaring. Doesn’t she have any spells to shut him up? Quite possibly not, as she uses up pretty much all of her remaining power trying to destroy the invaders. While MGM’s Witch appears to still be at the height of her power, Baum’s is essentially hanging on by a thread, but is scary enough that no one realizes this. Even though she does know real magic, her position isn’t a whole lot different than the humbug Wizard’s.
Also, while Hamilton can apparently call on the Winged Monkeys whenever she wants and has what appears to be a well-trained fighting force (even if they’re pretty bad at spotting strangers who simply put on uniforms), Baum’s character begins the story with only one more wish on the Golden Cap and a bunch of craven Winkies as soldiers. While Baum hadn’t worked out much about Oz at this point, it fits the later established tradition that Ozian soldiers are typically chosen based more on appearance than fighting skill. The movie’s Witch also lacks one of the most interesting physical features of the original character, specifically her single telescopic eye. In terms of the Witch’s significance in the books, don’t forget that she dies in the very first one, and hence can’t stick around to cause any more harm. The Nome King was really Baum’s only recurring villain, although Ruth Plumly Thompson and John R. Neill also brought back Mombi. And while Mombi never seems to have had the power that her western compatriot did (she’s identified in Dorothy and the Wizard as a former ruler of the Gillikin Country, but other sources suggest she never had the same kind of stranglehold that the Witch of the West had over the Winkies), she appears to have perpetrated a lot more random acts of badness in her time.
We really don’t know a whole lot about the Wicked Witch of the East, but she was said to have held the Munchkins in bondage for many years (not literally, I assume).
When we finally see the Wicked Witch of the South in Rachel Cosgrove Payes’s Wicked Witch, she has some impressive powers, but bungles pretty often in carrying out her plans. Apparently the wicked witches in the east and west were able to gain more authority in their respective territories than their northern and southern counterparts, but we don’t really know how. Okay, we know in the case of the Wicked Witch of the West that the Winged Monkeys were involved, but they presumably weren’t for her associate in the Munchkin Country.
-
Recent Posts
Archives
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
Categories
- A. Lee Martinez
- Adventism
- Advertising
- African
- Age of Exploration
- Albums
- Alchemy
- algonquin
- Alquerque
- Altaic
- Amanda Palmer
- American Civil War
- American Dad
- american revolution
- Amish
- Anabaptists
- Anglicanism
- Animal Crossing
- Animals
- Animism
- Arabian
- Arabian
- Arrested Development
- Art
- Arthurian Legend
- Astronomy
- Atticus Gannaway
- Australian
- Authors
- Awards
- Aztec
- Babylonian
- Baha'i Faith
- Beatles
- Beatrix Potter
- Belle and Sebastian
- Ben Folds
- Big Bang
- Bill Campbell and Irwin Terry
- Biology
- Board Games
- Body Image
- Book Reviews
- Breath of Fire
- Brentford Trilogy
- British
- Bronze Age
- Buddhism
- Byzantine Empire
- C.S. Lewis
- Calvinism
- Camilla Townsend
- Camper Van Beethoven
- Capitalism
- Captain N: The Game Master
- carl barks
- Carolyn Mark
- Carribean
- Cartoons
- Castlevania
- Catharism
- Catherynne M. Valente
- Catholicism
- Celebrities
- Celtic
- Chanukah
- Characters
- Checkers
- Chess
- China
- Chinese
- Chris Dulabone
- Christian Science
- Christianity
- Christmas
- Christopher Moore
- Chronicles of Chrestomanci
- Chronicles of Kazam
- Chronicles of Narnia
- Chrono Trigger
- Climate
- Cold War
- Colonization of America
- Comics
- Communism
- Concerts
- Confucianism
- Conspiracy Theories
- Coptic
- Corporations
- Cracker
- craig shaw gardner
- Crusades
- Cults
- Current Events
- Daniel Handler
- Dave Barry
- David Tai
- Dennis Anfuso
- Diana Wynne Jones
- Diane Brzozowski
- Dice
- Dick Martin
- Dirk Gently
- Discworld
- Disney Afternoon
- Dominoes
- Donkey Kong
- Douglas Adams
- Dr. Seuss
- Dragon Quest
- Dreams
- Drugs
- Easter
- Eastern Orthodox
- Economics
- Education
- Edward Einhorn
- Edward Lear
- Egyptian
- Eloise Jarvis McGraw
- elvis presley
- England
- Environmentalism
- Eric Shanower
- Ethnicity
- Etymology
- Evolution
- Fairy Tales
- Families
- Family Guy
- Feminism
- Final Fantasy
- Finnish
- Focus on the Foes
- Food
- Fox News
- France
- Frank Black
- Frank Black/Black Francis
- Fred Otto
- French
- Fundamentalism
- Futurama
- Games
- Gender
- Genetics
- German
- Germany
- Gina Wickwar
- Global Warming
- Gnosticism
- Golden Sun
- Great Depression
- Greek Mythology
- Greek Philosophy
- Halloween
- Harry Potter
- Health
- Hellenistic Greece
- Heroes of Olympus
- Hinduism
- Historical Personages
- History
- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- Hittite
- Hmong
- Holidays
- Holy Roman Empire
- hopi
- Hugh Pendexter
- Humor
- Iberian
- In Memoriam
- Inca
- incryptid
- India
- Introspection
- Inuit
- Iran
- Islam
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- Jack Chick
- Jack Snow
- Jainism
- Japan
- Japanese
- Jared Davis
- Jasper Fforde
- Jeff Rester
- John R. Neill
- Jonathan Swift
- Judaism
- Kane Chronicles
- Kelly Hogan
- Kid Icarus
- Kirby
- Korean
- L. Frank Baum
- Language
- Lewis Carroll
- Libraries
- Live Shows
- Lutheranism
- madeleine l'engle
- Magic
- Magic Items
- Magnetic Fields
- Magnus Chase
- Mahjong
- Malaysian
- Mana/Seiken Densetsu
- Maps
- March Laumer
- Marcus Mebes
- Marin Elizabeth Xiques
- Mario
- marissa meyer
- Marxism
- Mathematics
- may day
- Mayan
- Medicine
- Mega Man
- Melody Grandy
- Mennonites
- Mesoamerica
- Mesopotamia
- Metroid
- Middle Ages
- Middle East
- Minus 5
- Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
- Monarchy
- Monkees
- Monopoly
- Monsters
- Monty Python
- Mormonism
- Mr. Show
- Muppets
- Music
- Mystery Cults
- Mythology
- Names
- Native American
- Navajo
- Neil Gaiman
- Neko Case
- Nellie McKay
- New Church
- New Pornographers
- New Year's Day
- Norse
- Nursery Crime
- Nursery Rhymes
- october daye
- Once Upon a Time
- Onyx Madden/Jim Nitch
- Oz
- Oz Authors
- Pac-Man
- Pachisi
- Pacific
- Passover
- Percy Jackson
- Persian
- Peter Clarke
- Phantasy Star
- Phil Lewin
- Philippine
- Philosophy
- Phyllis Ann Karr
- Piers Anthony
- Pixies
- Places
- Playing Cards
- Plays
- Poetry
- Pokémon
- Politics
- Popeye
- Power Rangers
- Prejudice
- Presbyterianism
- Protestant Reformation
- Punch-Out
- Rachel Cosgrove Payes
- Rasputina
- Rastafarianism
- Ray Powell
- Real Time with Bill Maher
- Relationships
- Religion
- Renaissance
- Revisiting Disney
- Rick Riordan
- Robert Rankin
- Robyn Hitchcock
- Rocky and Bullwinkle
- Roman
- Roman Empire
- romani
- Ron Baxley Jr.
- Russian
- Ruth Plumly Thompson
- Santeria
- Satanism
- Scandinavia
- Science
- Scientology
- Scottish
- seanan mcguire
- Search Terms
- Self-Esteem
- Semitic
- Sesame Street
- Seventh-Day Adventism
- Sexuality
- She and Him
- Shinto
- Sikhism
- Sims
- Slavic
- Snobbery
- Socialism
- Songs I Don't Care For
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- South American
- Space Program
- Spanish
- Spiritualism
- Sports
- Stan Freberg
- Star Trek
- Star Wars
- Stephin Merritt
- Stratego
- Street Fighter
- Super Mario Bros. Super Show
- Switzerland
- Taoism
- Technology
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Television
- Terry Pratchett
- Thanksgiving
- The Colbert Report
- The Daily Show
- The Flintstones
- The Jetsons
- The Simpsons
- The Sims
- Theosophy
- They Might Be Giants
- Thursday Next
- Tiles
- Tom Holt
- Tori Amos
- Toys
- Trials of Apollo
- Ultima
- Uncategorized
- United Kingdom
- Urban Legends
- Ursula K. LeGuin
- Valentine's Day
- Video
- Video Games
- Voodoo
- VoVat Goes to the Movies
- Wayward Children
- Weird Al Yankovic
- Welsh
- Wicca
- William Shakespeare
- Winnie-the-Pooh
- Wizards & Warriors
- Xanth
- XTC
- Year in Review
- Yoruba
- Young Fresh Fellows
- Zelda
- Zoroastrianism
Blogroll
- 1UP's Retro Gaming Blog
- Adventures in Nerdliness
- Alan Cook's Weblog
- Back of the Cereal Box
- Calvin's Canadian Cave of Coolness
- Comics I Don't Understand
- Comics Make No Sense
- Dare I Read?
- Disney Weirdness
- Dwindling in Unbelief
- Eclectic Banana
- Electronic Cerebrectomy
- Hungry Tiger Talk
- No Smoking in the Skull Cave
- Oz and Ends
- Power of Babel
- Press the Buttons
- S.P. Maldonado's Oz Art
- Slacktivist
- The Oz Enthusiast
- The Royal Blog of Oz
- There's More to Oz Than the Yellow Brick Road
- Trixie's Treats
- Unreasonable Faith
- Verities and Balderdash
- Wannabe Wonderlands
Celebrity Blogs
Comics
More Stuff from Me
Meta
Twitterpated
- No, Mother, it's just the Northern Lights. #AnimalCrossing #ACNH #NintendoSwitch https://t.co/OtdKsN9UHC 17 hours ago
- @Nymphomachy Didn't it also have some kind of floating creatures for Jupiter? I loved this part. 21 hours ago
- @WeirdMedieval Beneath the trees where nobody sees, they'll shoot to kill as long as they please. 21 hours ago
- @MasterJediMara @Acidic_Blonde @SciFiTags @TheMikeyFlash @mrjafri @SeanMODonnell1 @The1stBAT TK421, why aren't you at your register? 21 hours ago
- @Nymphomachy Yeah, pretty sure I had that one. 21 hours ago
In my own version of the Oz canon, and this is something I haven’t read anywhere else, so if it’s written about in another book I haven’t seen it yet, I imagine that there was a prophecy of some kind that stated the Wicked Witch of the West would be defeated by a little girl. Obviously, WWW found out the prophecy, but it didn’t state who the girl was, what she would look or act like, and maybe not even that it would be a girl from the Outside World. So, like Herod in the Bible and rulers in other stories, the WWW used her soldiers to find every girl born in the Winkie Country during her rule and kill them. She probably attempted to murder every other girl-child born in the rest of Oz, but the Wizard, Glinda, and the Good Witch of the North had enough power to stop her. I don’t know what happened in Munchkinland; maybe the Wicked Witch of the East was feeling devious and wanted to see another witch defeated so she could take over the Winkies herself. So…the WWW didn’t do much to threaten the rest of Oz once she was sure no Winkie girl could rise against her, and the Wizard knew about the prophecy, too, so that’s why he felt compelled to send Dorothy and her friends after the Witch because he knew she’d be able to defeat the WWW while his army couldn’t. Maybe the Wizard and even Glinda and the Good Witch of the North had sent girls against the Wicked Witch before, but these other girls didn’t have Dorothy’s friends or personality traits.
Of course, that theory adds a whole new layer of drama and darkness to the series that doesn’t really exist in the canon, so it’s probably not accurate in any way.
I guess that does help to get the Wizard off the hook for sending a little girl to almost certain death. Regardless of how dark the prospect is, though, I’m not so sure about the Winkie Country not having any little girls at the time. But who knows?
Well, Oz at the time apparently didn’t have any chickens, dogs, or horses either (despite all of that being untrue in later books–at least for the Emerald City), so it’s possible.
Pingback: Oz by the Book | VoVatia
Pingback: Oz by the Book | VoVatia
Pingback: Green Witch Village | VoVatia