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The Good Witch of the South
Glinda

Real Name

Glinda

First Appearance

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

Original Publisher

Reilly & Britton

Created by

L. Frank Baum & W.W. Denslow

Origin[]

Glinda is kind and helpful, always willing to listen no matter how busy she may be. She has fifty attendants, chosen from the loveliest girls in each of the countries of Oz.

Centuries ago, when Oz was ruled by a wicked king, Glinda placed the Forbidden Fountain on the grounds of the Royal Palace of Oz. He and all his subjects drank of it, and afterward grew wise together.

Glinda became the Ruler of the Quadlings after vanquishing the Wicked Witch of the South.

Dorothy Gale visited Glinda on her first visit to Oz to ask for her help in returning to Kansas. The Good Witch told her of the charm of the Silver Shoes. Then, she took the Golden Cap from Dorothy and commanded the Winged Monkeys to carry the Scarecrow back to the Emerald City, the Cowardly Lion back to the forest where he was made King, and the Tin Woodman to the Winkie Country to rule as Emperor. She then gave the Cap to the Winged Monkeys, thereby freeing them forever.

When the Scarecrow was deposed as King of Oz, Glinda declined to help him regain the throne. Instead, she initiated a search for the rightful ruler, Princess Ozma the daughter of Pastoria. She eventually learned that the Wizard of Oz had kidnapped Ozma and taken her to Mombi to be hidden away. Glinda captured Mombi and forced her to restore Ozma.

Princess Ozma often turns to Glinda for advice, and the Sorceress has saved both Ozma and the Land of Oz as a whole from danger on several occasions. She is one of the few individuals who is authorised to practise magic in Oz, apart from the Wizard and Princess Ozma herself.

When Dorothy visited the Land of Oz a second time, Glinda advised against her using the Magic Belt to return home, suggesting that it would be lost forever like the Silver Shoes she had used previously.

Following the Wizard's return to Oz, Glinda took it upon herself to instruct the former humbug in the magical arts, and turn him into a real wizard.

After reading in her Great Book of Records about the Nome King's attempt to conquer Oz, Glinda placed a spell on the entire country to make it invisible to outsiders.

Glinda read of Queen Ann of Oogaboo's plan to conquer Oz in her Record Book, and redirected the queen and her army to the Nome Kingdom.

She sent the Scarecrow to help Trot and Cap'n Bill when they arrived in Jinxland.

When Princess Dorothy and Ozma went to the tribes of the Skeezers and the Flatheads and were trapped in the underwater island of the Skeezers, Glinda assembled a group of Ozma's counselors to help bring the underwater island back above water.

Glinda never fails to keep abreast of the events chronicled in her Great Book of Records, to the point where virtually nothing of any importance occurs anywhere without the Good Witch's knowledge.

Appearance[]

She is beautiful and stately and appears very young, though she is hundreds of years old. She is tall and wears splendid gowns that trail behind her as she walks. Her eyes are blue as the sky and always frank and smiling. Her hair is like red gold, finer than the finest silken strands, flowing in ringlets over her shoulders. Her cheeks are the envy of peach-blows and her mouth is enticing as a rosebud. She wears no jewels, for her beauty would shame them.

Powers and Abilities[]

Along with being the most powerful of all in the land of Oz (debatable, a later book states the Wicked Witch of the West was more powerful but, with a weakness to water with Glinda may or not have had), the Soldier with the Green Whiskers' inferred in his introduction to her that Glinda knew "how to keep young in spite of the many years she has lived", even before Queen Lurline enchanted Oz and stopped its inhabitants from aging. Also, the Nome General Guph stated she can "command the spirits of the air."

Public Domain Appearances[]

Books:

  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
  • The Marvelous Land of Oz
  • Ozma of Oz
  • The Road to Oz
  • The Emerald City of Oz
  • Tik-Tok of Oz
  • The Scarecrow of Oz
  • Glinda of Oz

Film:

  • The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910)

Notes[]

  • The famous (and non-PD), 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, names the Good Witch of the North character as "Glinda" however, in Baum's books, this was the name of the Good Witch of the South.

See Also[]

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