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Good Witch of the North
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The Good Witch of the North is a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by American author L. Frank Baum.
he original novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Good Witch of the North is an elderly sorceress from Gillikin Country who is summoned to 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 alone of the party is brave enough to speak to Dorothy, who, having killed the Witch of the East, is believed to be a powerful sorceress.
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Encyclopedia
The Good Witch of the North is a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by American author L. Frank Baum.
Literature
The classic books
In the original novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Good Witch of the North is an elderly sorceress from Gillikin Country who is summoned to 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 alone of the party is 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 the girl that she is a good witch who is 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 Wizard in returning to Kansas. She kisses Dorothy on the forehead, so as to protect her from harm 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 Gilikin Country as described in a flashback in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
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 was a transformation of Queen Orin of the Ozure Islands, her true form restored falling through a "Witch Window". She is wife to King Cheeriobed and mother to Prince Philador. They rule over the Munchkins from Sapphire City in the Ozure Isles. Much of the plot of the novel is devoted to Orin's restoration to the throne and Cheeriobed's rather despondent ruling since her loss. Not wanting the Good Witch of the North, now depowered, ruling two countries, Princess Ozma proclaimed Up Town the capital of the Gillikin Country, and its rulers, Jo King and Queen Hyacinth, to the rulers of the Gillikin Country. Although Baum had specified the Good Witch of the North was more powerful than Mombi, Thompson credited Mombi with the transformation, with frequent outbursts of "but she was put out two years ago," in reference to her execution in The Lost King of Oz.
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
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, explaining that 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 considered official by all Oz fans.)
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.
Under the name Locasta, the Good Witch of the North is the main protagonist in Dave Hardenbrook's 2000 novel The Unknown Witches of Oz.
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