The Nome King: Ozma of Oz
Many people think of the Wicked Witch of the West as the iconic villain of the Oz franchise. Except that… in the books, she is not. She is merely the villain of the first book of the series, and there are many others that are as important as her: of course the other witches of Oz (Wicked Witch of the East, Mombi, Wicked Witch of the South, Blinkie), but also the Yoop couple, Ugu the Shoemaker, the Su-Dic and Coo-ee-oh… However the most major of those villains was without a doubt the recurring enemy of Oz: the Nome King, the true “big bad” of the Oz novel franchise.
The Nome King’s first apparition is in the novel “Ozma of Oz”, the third book of the series. After two entire novels set in Oz, Baum wanted to explore a bit outside the country, and so introduced to us Ev, a country beyond the Deadly Desert. (In this precise book, Ev is located beyond the Munchkin part of the Desert).
Dorothy is the first to arrive in Ev and to hear about its relationship with the Nome King: indeed the previous king of Ev, named Evoldo, was a cruel and wicked man. In a fit of anger, he sold his wife and his ten children to the Nome King as slaves. However he later regretted this action - but the Nome King would not set the family free, a deal being deal, and the king killed himself by jumping in the sea and drowning. Thus the country was left with no ruler and in a state of chaos (of which the Wheelers and Princess Langwidere are but two symptoms). Later, Ozma and the Oz army arrives to Ev but they recount a different story: indeed, Ozma heard that the wicked Nome King had enslaved the royal family, with no mention of King Evoldo, and so had decided to save the kingdom of Ev from the Nome King’s threat.
As it turns out, Dorothy’s version is the correct one - in fact, the local inhabitants of Ev claim that there is nothing wrong or wicked in the Nome King’s behavior, Tik-Tok even calling him “honest and good natured”. Langwidere even reveals that the Nome King made a bargain with Evoldo - offering him a long life in exchange of his family. Ozma still decides to go ask the Nome King to release the royal family, mentionning that Evoldo did not had a long life since he killed himself - making the bargain null and void - and that anyway, keeping slaves is wrong and something Oz stands against. (It is true that both wicked witches were renowned for “enslaving” their people, and Mombi also had kept Tip as a sort of slave, so there’s a solid ground for this). [And yes this is also a strong political message for the United-States at this time]
However, it is also mentionned that the Nome King is a “powerful” ruler and that no one in Ev would dare go against him, because they know he is much too strong - Ozma’s attempt is seen as a folly.
The Nome King’s underground palace is actually located in, or rather under, the Ev territory - hence why the Nome King has a strong connection to Ev. North-end of Ev, there is a valley between two great mountains - a valley closed up by a third, enormous mountain. The King’s palace is under this third mountain. The entrance of the palace (which can only be opened in the rocks by the Nome King’s magic) is kept by the Iron Giant, a mechanical construct that pounds the way to the mountain with a hammer, with the regularity of a clock. In fact, it is a clockwork machine, built by Smith and Tinker (the makers of Tik-Tok) per request/command of the Nome King (we do not know how or when they did it, but they built the Iron Giant for the King - he is the one who owns the key that controls the mechanism). And once the Iron Giant was passed (if you did not get crushed by his hammer) you have to get the Nome King to open the door - not by commanding, since he won’t obey any of the “surface-dwellers”, and not by request, but by pleading. Because the Nome King loves begging.
The palace is a splendid thing, lighted by lamps and decorated with numerous jewels in the walls. The throne room of the Nome King is a domed cavern, with at the center a rugged throne carved out of a boulder, and despite its rough appearance covered in emeralds, rubies and diamonds.
The palace in itself seems to have no door - all the entries and exits are shaped or created by the Nome King’s magic. However it has balconies - from which the Nome King can admire the “Underground World” over which he rules.
The throne room is said to be filled with beautiful and wealthy furniture, but it is nothing compared to the Nome King’s personal collection. It is located in a set of rooms adjacent to the throne room, great arched halls made of several types of marble, with thick velvet carpets and heavy silken draperies, and furniture made of rare old wood “richly carved”, covered in delicate satins. This part of the palace is lighted by a “mysterious rosy glow” that comes from nowhere in particular but makes “each apartment” soft and pleasing. And this is where the King keeps his huge collection of ornaments: on the shelves and brackets, on the tables and mantels, all sorts of vase, figures of men and animals, graven platters and bowls, mosaics, pictures, made of gems, of metal, of glass, of china, of stone or of marble. It is said to look like a museum collecting all sorts of “rare, curious and costly objects”.
It should be pointed out that the Nomes and the Nome King are pretty famous - not just in Ev, where apparently everyone knows them, but also in Oz, because Ozma knew everything (or almost) about them.
The Nomes are said to be “ sprites” or “rock-fairies”, living in the “Underground World”. They are “queerly shaped” but “powerful”. The Nomes spend their time working in furnaces and forges for their king, making gold, silver, metals, diamonds, rubies and emeralds. They then hide these riches under the ground, in the rocks and in other underground places difficult to reach - indeed all those materials are considered treasures of the king and should not be touched by anyone else. In fact, this is why the Nome King is not “fond” of those living on the surface on the earth - he believes them to “steal” his treasures, and thus refuses to appear at the surface of the Earth. If you want something from him, you’ll need to go to him.
The Nomes usually do not harm humans unless their king orders them to, but they visibly like to mock humans - some are at the door of the mountain, laughing at the Ozites envoyee as they fail to open the entrance. These nomes at the door are described as moving shadows at the surface of the rock, clinging to it like flies to a window, strange forms gliding “up and down the cliff” in an irregular and confusing way, never still, the color of the rock and with shapes “rough and rugged” as if they were pieces of the mountain coming out of the surface, and with a “weird and disheartening” laugh.
Later, the Nome King shows to Ozma more of his kingdom, to prove to her that she will not be able to best him or conquer him. From the balcony of his palace, you can see the “Underground World”, which is an extremly vast cavern (miles and miles under the mountain), filled with forges and furnaces where the Nomes work constantly to create and shape metals and jewels. The walls of the cave are covered in thousands of doors made of silver and gold - and when the Nome King “utters a shrill whistle”, the gold and silver doors open to reveal the Nome army, so big that just a fragment of it fills the already enormous cave . Like all the other Nomes in the cavern, they are described as “squat, fat and the color of the rock” - and their army outfit consist of a polished steel armor, inlaid with gems, sharp spears and swords and battle-axes of bronze as weapons, and more surprisingly, “electric lights” on their brows (yes, the Nomes apparently mastered electricity). The army is noted to be highly trained soldiers, perfectly organized and undyingly loyal to their king. In fact, the Nome King explains that a reason why the surface-rulers never attacked him is because his army is too powerful to oppose.
The Nome food is based on the earth - for example their coffee is made out of clay (apparently they take the clay, richly flavored, they brown it in their furnaces, then ground it fine, before turning it into a beverage. They also have cakes, though it is unknown with what they are made. Interestingly, the Nome food is edible by humans - Dorothy quite enjoys the clay coffee and Nome cakes, and does not suffer any side-effect or illness.
The Nomes need to sleep, even if there is no day or night in their kingdom - in fact, they still keep track of time (the King knowing that it is nearly midnight, despite there being no sun underground).
You can note that no female Nome is ever seen.
There is only one other individual Nome we meet outside of the King, and it is the Chief Steward of the Nome King. He is said to look like all the other Nomes, the only difference being that he wears a “heavy gold chain” around his neck and has an “air of much importance”. The Steward acts as a counterpart to the King - he seems to be his personal servant (bringing him food) and advisor (giving him counsel). He is the one who reminds the King to be tempered (for example reminding him to not eat too much cake, else he will be ill), and does notfear to openly question or criticize the decisions of his king when they seem too foolish - he does not fear the King’s wrath, because he “likes to say the truth”. To the point that he directly says that he would make a better and wiser king - to Roquat’s face!
The Nome King’s name is here said to be Roquat of the Rocks.
He is the ruler of the “Ungergroudn World”, which means he gives order, commands and owns the rocks and everything under the Earth. Or at least he says so. Later, Baum hshows us numerous other underground realms and kingdoms that visibly do not belong or obey in any way the Nome King. And him claiming all riches of the Earth belongs to him might simply be a lie part of his greed - though visibly the Nomes do produce all gems and metals of Earth.
The Nome King physical appearance is the one of a man both small and fat, with a skin the color of “rock” (a gray-brown color according to the narration). is bushy hair and flowing beard are of the same color, and so are his garnments. When he first appears, he is described as kind and good-humored, with merry eyes, a jolly face, a pleasant voice and a belly “shaking like jelly” when he laughs. In fact, Dorothy says that the Nome King looks like “Santa Claus”, only with the color wrongs. We know that the skin color of the Nome King can change with his emotions - his face grows red with laughing too much and with rage ; and later white with fear. The Nome King has an habit of smoking a pipe, which he usually lits with red-hot coals he keeps in his pocket.
The Nome King first appears as a kind, gentle, understanding entity. He welcomes the Ozite envoyees, he laughs and jokes with them, he listens to their request and he proves them that he owned slaves fair and square - he did gave Evoldo a long life, but the king chose to waste it away with suicide. The King goes as far as to offer the Ozites to free the slaves themselves - but here comes another part of his behavior. His love for games and fun. The saving of the Ev royal family is a dangerous game of guessing.
You see, the Nome King says that he does not want to be cruel towards his slave. So, to keep them and use them without being cruel, he turns them into ornaments and trinkets to add to his “bric-a-brac” collection. The Nome King is obsessed with his ornaments collection. He offers the Ozite a guessing game - if they cannot guess which objects are the transformed Ev royal family, then they lose and turn into ornaments themselves. But if they guess right, they can leave with whoever they found, returned to their normal shape.
It is not a fair game however, because the King is greedy and does not want his precious ornaments or slaves taken away. In fact, he hopes that all the Ozites will be turned into ornaments themselves. The Steward wonders, if this was his intention, why did he not just turned them all at once into trinkets, to be done with it. To which the King answers that he wants to be amused and have fun - and indeed, every time an Ozite fails he bursts out laughing.
Because, as you realized by now, his jolly appearance as mostly a facade, a trick. Deep down, the Nome King is not kind at all. In fact, when Billina saves all the Ozites and Ev prisoners of the King, he is so enraged his face becomes frightening, distorted by rage until it becomes nightmarish. [He also shouts some Nome insults/swear words, which by rank of importance are: Rocketty-rickets! / Smudge and blazes! / Hippikaloric!] Hopping up and down like a mad jumping jack, he promises to punish the Ozites by throwing them in his dungeons, “where volcanic fires glow and molten lava flows, and the air is hot enough to burn people’s flesh”. He even plays around the terms of his agreements: yes, he did promise the Ozites they could leave his palace. He said nothing about them leaving his dominions.
It is mentionned, when the Nome King appears, that he does not wear a crown but rather a belt - broad and jewel-studded. It opens and closes in the back. At first it is implied to merely be the Nomes’ equivalent of a crown, a symbol of royalty.
However it is later revealed that this belt is “the magic belt” and the source of the Nome King’s magical powers. Without it, the King is as weak and powerless as a regular Nome, and whoever wears the belt inherits of all its powers. They include:
# Transformation: It is thanks to the Belt that the Nome King could transform his slaves into ornaments. He also threatens to turn his victims into scorpions. And later Dorothy uses to belt to undo the King’s transformations, and turn other Nomes into eggs.
# Passageways: The Nome King (and later Dorothy) use the belt to open and close doors in the rock of the mountain/palace.
# Protection: The Lion tries to attack the Nome King, but he cannot get close to him - every time he jumps, he doesn’t move forward, stays on the same spot. The same way, the Nome King mentions he can enchant the jaws of the wild animals to prevent them from biting. The Belt also stops the Iron Giant to let the Ozites pass underneath.
The belt, despite its grand abilities, has limits. Though in future books these limits would be forgotten, retconned or reinvented - as the magic belt itself would become all-too forgotten or on the contrary a deus ex machina.
The book presents us two limitations of the belt:
# The transformations of the belt are limited. While the Nome King is the one that causes the transformations, he does not seem responsible for the specific details of them - ending up surprised at the shape of the ornaments. It is also quite interesting to see that for most of the novel the belt is on an “automatic” mode to so speak - the transformations or un-transformations into ornaments are done without the Nome King doing anything. He set the rules of the game, and the belt goes by it. In fact, when the Nome King wants to turn the ozites into a specific creature (scorpios) he needs to wave his hands and pronounce magic words.
The transformations are also bound by thematic rule: for example, the royal family of Ev are turned into purple-colored ornaments, while the Ozites are turned into emerald-colored objects. It is unknown if this was done on purpose by the Nome King or is something he could not control.
# The magic belt cannot work on wood. This is something that is a small plot point in this novel but is then forgotten in later works. The Nome King for example cannot put any spell or enchantment over the Sawhorse because it is made entirely of wood.
# The belt only works in “fairy countries”. This is explained by Glinda at the end of the novel: the Magic Belt (and presumably all other magic items) only have powers when in a “fairy country”, such as Oz or Ev. But it would lose all powers in a non-fairy country, such as Australia or the United-States. Or more precisely… You see, Dorothy wants to tie the belt around her waist to go back to Australia, but Glinda mentions that such an action would cause the belt to be lost forever - since it would not be on Dorothy anymore when she arrives to Australia. It would disappear “like the silver shoes” did when Dorothy returned to Kansas, and be lost forever, “the magic destroyed”.
The Nomes in this novel have only one weakness (outside of the magic belt). Eggs.
Nomes are terrified of eggs - their sight is enough to plunge the perfectly organized Nome army into a frenzied chaos. According to the Nome King, it is because “eggs belong only to the outside world, to the world on the earth’s surface”. As a result, in the Underground World, eggs are considered poison, and is the only (or at least one of the only) things the Nomes fear.
However, the exact rationality and truth behind this fear has been questionned. Indeed, the Nomes do not know anything about eggs - for example they didn’t know that chicken could lay eggs. And, despite being thrown two eggs in the face, the Nome King does not die or is not poisoned, he merely screams around and is scared for his life - afterward you could say maybe the eggs are poison to ingest, just like in the movie adaptation, but at least we know they are not toxic to the touch, or “contact poisons”.
The magic belt is, as I explained above, one of the big… disension points in the Oz fandom. The magic belt is really badly handled by Baum - not only by removing its limitations did it became a deus ex machina solving all the problems of Oz, but on top of that Baum forgot it existed half of the time resulting in the reader asking why in such dire situations would Ozma not use this deus ex machina?
As for the Nome King’s behavior you actually have a perfect example of how fairies and the “fair folk” used to be perceived in the old days, before the Victorian times. Making deals, manipulating words and terms in bargains to scam and trick people. Greedy, obsessive and selfish. With a wild, mercurial temper. Great magical powers for a great rage and a great ego.
Many interpreted the Nome King as an embodiment of extreme and tyranical capitalism - a greedy power trying to own everything, forcing its people to work day and night, obsessed with rocks, metals, gems and other materials, relying on bargains and making slaves…
The fact the Nomes are terrified of eggs is also strongly symbolic. Egg is a life, the life of flesh and blood, not of the rock and metal such as the Nomes, and egg is also a distinctively female and motherly symbol - opposing an all-male Nome universe.
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