The Good Witch of the North

The Good Witch of the North
The Witch of the North as illustrated by William Wallace Denslow (1900)
First appearance	The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)
Last appearance	The Road to Oz (1909)
Created by	L. Frank Baum
Information
Species	human/witch
Gender	female
Occupation	Ruler of the Gillikin Country
Title	Good Witch of the North
Family	unknown
Spouse(s)	none
Children	unknown
Relatives	unknown
Nationality	Gillikin

The Good Witch of the North (sometimes named Locasta or Tattypoo) is a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by American author L. Frank Baum.^[1]

Literature

The classic books

In the original novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Good Witch of the North is an elderly sorceress from the Gillikin Country who is summoned to the Munchkin Country when Dorothy Gale's falling house kills the Wicked Witch of the East. She arrives at the site of the Wicked Witch's death with three Munchkins and is the only one brave enough to speak to Dorothy, who, having killed the Witch of the East, is believed to be a powerful sorceress. She welcomes Dorothy to the Land of the Munchkins, points out the body of the dead Witch and then introduces herself as the Witch of the North. Having been told that all witches are evil, Dorothy is initially frightened of her, but she assures Dorothy that she is a good witch much loved by her people. She also mentions that she is not as powerful as the Witch of the East had been, or she would have liberated the Munchkins from slavery herself. Using a magic slate formed from her hat, she advises Dorothy to travel to the Emerald City to seek the aid of the powerful Wizard of Oz in returning to Kansas. She kisses Dorothy on the forehead, a magical act that serves to protect Dorothy on the journey, because "no one will dare injure a person who has been kissed by the Witch of the North". This statement is proven to be correct later in the book, when the sight of the shining mark left by the kiss prevents Dorothy from being harmed by the Winged Monkeys or the Wicked Witch of the West. The sight of this mark is also one of the factors which convinces the Wizard to admit Dorothy to his presence.

At the beginning of The Marvelous Land of Oz, it is revealed that the Good Witch of the North had banned the practice of magic by any other witch in Gillikin Country. In Baum's fifth Oz book, The Road to Oz, the Witch of the North is one of the many guests who attend Ozma's birthday party.

A recurring topic in Oz discussion forums has been the speculation that the Good Witch of the North may actually be Gayelette, another magically and politically powerful female resident of the Gilikin Country as described in a flashback in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.^{[citation needed]}

The name of the Good Witch of the North in Baum's own stage version of The Wizard of Oz is Locasta. However, in Ruth Plumly Thompson's Oz novel The Giant Horse of Oz, the Witch is named Tattypoo.

Later books

In The Giant Horse of Oz, it is revealed that Tattypoo is in reality the transformation of a beautiful Munchkin queen named Orin. Orin had originally been kidnapped by the former Wicked Witch of the North, Mombi, who was in love with her husband, King Cheeriobed of the Ozure Isles. In order to remove her rival, Mombi kidnapped Orin soon after the birth of her son, Prince Philador. She then transformed Orin into an old witch in order to keep her hidden. Eventually, as Tattypoo, Orin was able to displace Mombi as the ruler of the Gillikins.

At the beginning of the book, Cheeriobed rules over the Ozure Isles from the Sapphire City. Tatypoo resumes her former identity after falling through a "Witch Window" in her home. After her return to human form, Orin loses the magical powers she acquired as the Good Witch of the North. Much of the rest of the novel is devoted to Cheeriobed's rather despondent life since the loss of his beloved wife, and Orin's return to her husband and son.

At the end of the book, Princess Ozma proclaims Up Town the capital of the Gillikin Country, and its rulers, Jo King and Queen Hyacinth, as the new rulers of the Gillikin Country. This is because Queen Orin, in addition to no longer being a witch, no longer wishes to rule. Rather, she wishes to return to her life as Queen of the Ozure Isles.

Queen Orin is among the Ozite celebrities banished to the bubble at the bottom of Lake Lightning by Skamperoo of Skampavia in The Wishing Horse of Oz.

The 1939 movie

In the classic 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, the Good Witch of the North is called Glinda, which is the name of the Good Witch of the South in the Oz novels. In the movie, the Good Witch of the North, portrayed by Billie Burke, is relatively young and beautiful, but also a bit scatterbrained, and in addition to meeting Dorothy on her arrival in Oz, she also supervises her progress on her journey to the Wizard and helps her find her way back to Kansas at the end of the story. The movie makes no reference to the Good Witch of the South.

The two witches were combined for the sake of the film to save time. This was often done in many movie versions - combining the elements of two popular book characters to shorten lengthy novels.

Modern works

In Alexander Melentyevich Volkov's Magic Land series, the Witch's name is Villina. When the Wicked Witch of the East tried (in that continuity) to exterminate the humanity by means of a magical hurricane, Villina changed the spell so that it only affected one house (which, as her magical book said, was always empty during storms), and dropped it upon the Wicked Witch. Her magical slate is changed into a tiny book which transforms into a giant tome when blown upon, and, in addition to the divination qualities, also functions as an encyclopedia. She appears in two books after the first one (although in one of them she appears off stage, and it is narrated to the main characters).

Gregory Maguire's 1995 revisionist novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and the musical Wicked (based on the book), follow the model of the 1939 movie in giving the name "Glinda" to the character who grows up to become The Good Witch of the North. See the article on Glinda for more information on this character.

In William F. Brown and Charlie Smalls's The Wiz, the Good Witch of the North is named "Addaperle" in the stage version and "Miss One" (played by Thelma Carpenter) in the 1978 film version. Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, is a separate character in both stage and film versions.

Not all Oz fans have agreed with Thompson's transformation of this character. In 2000, Dave Hardenbrook published The Unknown Witches of Oz, with Locasta, the Good Witch of the North, as the main protagonist. In this version, Locasta and Queen Orin were "switched" by Mombi, but Locasta is in the Great Outside World. The book then tells how Locasta returns to Oz and what happened. (Due to some other elements, including Ozma marrying a Larry Stu character, this book is not accepted by all Oz fans.)[1]

In The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, Glinda and the Good Witch of the North are again separate characters (and the Good Witch of the North has the name Tattypoo), although they are both played by Miss Piggy (as are the two Wicked Witches).

The VeggieTales episode The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's from Big Idea Productions contains Madame Blueberry as "Splenda the Sweet But Non-Fattening Fairy" (brand name for sugar) replacing both of the two Good Witches.

References