Princess Ozma
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Image:Ozma.gif Princess Ozma is a fictional character in the Land of Oz universe created by L. Frank Baum. She appears in every book of the series except the "The Wizard of Oz" (1900).
The daughter of the former King of Oz, King Pastoria, Ozma was given to the witch Mombi by the Wizard of Oz, who worried she would someday challenge his illegitimate rule as Oz's defacto dictator. Mombi transformed the infant Ozma into a boy and called him Tip (short for Tippetarius). Ozma, in the form of Tip, was raised as a boy and had no memory of ever having been a girl. As Tip, Ozma created Jack Pumpkinhead. In The Marvelous Land of Oz, Glinda the good witch forced Mombi to transform the boy Tip back into Ozma, and she was installed as Oz's ruler (although many realms within Oz were and remain unaware of her authority).
Baum was not inclined to worry about things like continuity between his books, however, and so Ozma changed frequently. In her initial appearance, she was described as a cherubic little girl with red-gold hair; however, all subsequent appearances of the Princess show her as dark-haired. According to The Tin Woodman of Oz, Princess Ozma appears to be fourteen or fifteen years old, and thus several years older than Dorothy. But Ozma's origins changed even more than her appearance, and a later book in the series explains that she is several hundred years old, and was one of a band of fairies who waited on Queen Lurline, who left her behind to rule Oz.
John R. Neill, the illustrator of Baum's Oz series, established the characteristic look of Ozma, strongly influenced by Charles Dana Gibson's 'Gibson girl' and by the beauties in the Art Nouveau poster art of Alphonse Mucha. Neill drew many pictures of Ozma between 1904, when she first appeared in The Marvelous Land of Oz, and his death in 1943, and during those years her image developed and changed. The illustration shown here is from Rinkitink in Oz, 1916: about halfway through Ozma's gradual transformation from an angelic child to a spitfire glamour-girl.
In a 1913 film created by Baum's film company, The Patchwork Girl of Oz Ozma is actually evil and the Patchwork Girl and Ojo must save the citizens of the Emerald City from her. Sometime later, Ozma was portrayed by Emma Ridley in 1985's Return to Oz which was based loosely on the books Ozma of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz.
Several fans have pointed out similarities in the appearance of Princess Leia from the Star Wars films to Ozma, in particular Leia's draped white costume and symmetrical hair design reminiscent of the flowers that typically adorn Ozma's crown.
Speculation of Ozma having a love life has stirred the fan community for years. In unofficial works after the 90s, Ozma apparently became engaged to a man named Milo Starling in the "Umbrella Man of Oz" trilogy. The character, while oddly religious for Oz, was well received amongst Oz fandom. Another story in which Ozma acquires a boyfriend is the "Dan in Oz" series by David Hardenbrook, which stars a young and lovable computer geek named Dan Maryk. A third series is in the works by Mike Conway, featuring a shape-changing warrior named Orryn who marries Ozma. This series has stirred some controversy in that Ozma cheats on her husband with a man named Harper in this story, which many claims would be "out of character" for her. Some fans also hold to the view that Ozma may not be interested in males at all, based on hints given in the novels of a very close relationship between Ozma and Dorothy. For example, chapter 17 of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz contains the following: "Just then the girlish Ruler of Oz opened the door and greeted Dorothy with a good-morning kiss. The little Princess seemed fresh and rosy and in good spirits."
In Gregory Maguire's revisionist Oz novels Wicked and Son of a Witch, "Ozma Tippetarius" is the hereditary title of the Queens of Oz, deposed before the Wizard's arrival. Ozma herself makes a cameo appearance in Son of a Witch, in the form of Tip.
As ruler of Oz, Ozma frequently encounters difficulties in trying to reign as monarch. The story featuring her the least is "The Lost Princess of Oz," in which she has been enchanted, and Dorothy Gale forms a search party with the rest of the famous Oz characters, learning the uses of the Magic Belt, and using its powers to eventually free Ozma.
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