Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, better known as the "Wizard of Oz," is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He debuted in Baum's 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and was further popularized by a stage play and several films, including the 1939 MGM musical film. In his first appearance in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Wizard rules the Land of Oz from his palace in the Emerald City. He is exposed at the end of the novel as a conman and circus magician, but in further books of the series, he becomes a trusted and valued friend to the Oz characters.
Oz books The Wizard is the eponymous character of the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Unseen for most of the book, he is the ruler of the Land of Oz and highly venerated by his subjects. Believing he is the only man capable of solving their problems, Dorothy and her friends travel to the Emerald City, the capital of Oz, to meet him. Oz is very reluctant to meet them, but eventually each is granted an audience, one by one each day. In each of these occasions, the Wizard appears in a different form:
Before Dorothy, he was a giant head. Before the Scarecrow, he was a beautiful lady dressed in green silk gauze and wore a green crown of jewels on her flowing green locks. Before the Tin Woodman, he was a thick woolly-haired horrible elephant-sized beast that is described to have the head of a five-eyed rhinoceros, five long arms, and five long slim legs. Before the Cowardly Lion, he was a ball of fire. When, at last, he grants an audience to all of them at once, he seems to be a disembodied voice. Eventually, it is revealed that Oz is actually none of these things, but rather an ordinary conman from Omaha, Nebraska, who has been using elaborate magic tricks and props to make himself seem "great and powerful". Working as a magician for a circus, he wrote OZ (the initials of his first two forenames, Oscar being his first, and Zoroaster being the first of his seven middle names) on the side of his hot air balloon for promotional purposes. One day his balloon sailed into the Land of Oz and he found himself worshipped as a great sorcerer. As Oz had no leadership at the time, he became Supreme Ruler of the kingdom and did his best to sustain the myth. Once exposed, he reveals that he has never had any real magic power at all and so lived in constant fear of the Wicked Witches of the East and West. When he heard that a girl capable of killing witches had appeared in the land, the cowardly "wizard" was willing to promise anything in order to manipulate her into disposing of the Wicked Witch of the West but admits that he cannot keep his promises. He leaves Oz at the end of the novel, again in a hot air balloon. After the Wizard's departure, the Scarecrow is briefly enthroned, until Princess Ozma (the rightful hereditary ruler of Oz) is freed from the witch Mombi at the end of The Marvelous Land of Oz. In The Marvelous Land of Oz, the Wizard is described as having usurped the throne of King Pastoria and handed over the baby princess to Mombi. This did not please the readers, and in Ozma of Oz, although the character did not appear, Baum described Ozma's abduction without including the Wizard as part of it. The Wizard returns in the novel Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. With Dorothy and the boy Zeb, he falls through a crack in the earth; in their underground journey, he acts as their guide and protector. Oz explains that his real name is Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs. To shorten this name, he used only the initials of his first name and his first middle name "O.Z.", since the initials of his other middle names spell out the word pinhead which he didn't want to use. When Ozma rescues them from the underground kingdoms, he recounts his story of becoming the ruler of Oz, and Ozma explains that before the witches usurped her grandfather's throne (an occurrence happening long before the wizard arrived), the ruler of Oz had always been known as Oz or (if female) Ozma. Ozma then permits him to live in Oz permanently. He becomes an apprentice to Glinda (the most powerful magic-worker in Oz). Ozma decrees that, besides herself, only The Wizard and Glinda are allowed to use magic unless the other magic users have permits. In later books, he proves himself quite an inventor, providing devices that aid in various characters’ journeys. Some of his most elaborate devices are the balloon-powered Ozoplanes in Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz, and intelligent taxis called Scalawagons in The Scalawagons of Oz.
Possible inspiration In The Annotated Wizard of Oz, Michael Patrick Hearn suggests that L. Frank Baum may have derived elements of the character and backstory of the Wizard from Washington Harrison Donaldson, a balloonist, ventriloquist and stage magician who worked for P. T. Barnum. On 15 July 1875, Donaldson made an ascent near Chicago and disappeared in a storm; neither he nor his balloon was ever seen again. The Wizard is also said to have been partly inspired by inventor Thomas Edison, whom author L. Frank Baum referred to as "The Wizard". A contemporary nickname for Edison was "The Wizard of Menlo Park".
Adaptations
Silent films (1908–1925) The Wizard appeared in nearly every silent Oz film, portrayed by different actors each time.
The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays (1908): Sam 'Smiling' Jones The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910): Hobart Bosworth The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914): Todd Wright His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914): J. Charles Haydon Wizard of Oz (1925): Charles Murray
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
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