A Timeline of Oz

The first thing that happens on the page, and the beginning of every count that follows.

the great pressure of the wind on every side of the house raised it up higher and higher, until it was at the very top of the cyclone; and there it remained and was carried miles and miles away as easily as you could carry a feather.

Dorothy Gale·Kansas

One of the four who divided the kingdom dies under a falling farmhouse, and the Munchkins are freed. Dorothy inherits the Silver Shoes.

We are so grateful to you for having killed the Wicked Witch of the East, and for setting our people free from bondage.

Wicked Witch of the East·Dorothy Gale·The Silver Shoes

A bucket of water thrown in temper. The second of the four witches goes, and with her the Winkies' bondage.

This made Dorothy so very angry that she picked up the bucket of water that stood near and dashed it over the Witch, wetting her from head to foot.

Wicked Witch of the West·Dorothy Gale

A dog knocks over a screen and the Great and Terrible Oz turns out to be a little old man from Omaha. He says the word himself: humbug.

For they saw, standing in just the spot the screen had hidden, a little old man, with a bald head and a wrinkled face, who seemed to be as much surprised as they were.

Wizard of Oz·Toto

Three knocks of the heels and the first journey ends where it began, on the Kansas prairie.

Aunt Em had just come out of the house to water the cabbages when she looked up and saw Dorothy running toward her.

Dorothy Gale·Aunt Em·Kansas

The Powder of Life is used for the first time on a scarecrow-figure Tip built to frighten her — and it works.

After some search the woman drew from her basket an old pepper-box, upon the faded label of which the wizard had written with a lead-pencil: “Powder of Life.

Mombi·Jack Pumpkinhead·The Powder of Life·Tip

The Scarecrow is driven off the throne he was given by the Wizard, by an army of girls armed with knitting needles.

The Army of Revolt only awaits my coming to march upon the Emerald City.

General Jinjur·The Scarecrow·The Emerald City·Army of Revolt

The transformation is undone, the usurpation of two reigns is closed, and Oz gets the ruler it keeps for the rest of the series.

heralds proclaimed the conquest of the audacious Jinjur and the accession of the beautiful Princess Ozma to the throne of her royal ancestors.

Ozma·General Jinjur·The Emerald City

Evoldo's sale finally comes due. Ozma takes an army across the desert to the Nome King's underground palace — the first time Oz interferes beyond its own borders.

word came to our noble and illustrous Ruler, Ozma of Oz, that the wife and ten children--five boys and five girls--of the former King of Ev, by name Evoldo, have been enslaved by the Nome King and are held prisoners in his underground palace.

Ozma·Nome King·The Land of Ev

The single most useful object in Oz changes hands, and stays in Ozma's palace for the next twenty books, where it is stolen and recovered repeatedly.

While the child spoke they could all see that she wore the magic belt, and a great cheer went up from all her friends

Dorothy Gale·The Magic Belt·Nome King

The scene that supplies most of the prehistory above. The Wizard gives his account of the balloon; Ozma answers with the account of the throne he took.

there is a little more history about the Land of Oz that you do not seem to understand--perhaps for the reason that no one ever told it you.

Ozma·Wizard of Oz

The man who usurped the throne is given a home and a post by the heir he hid. He holds it for the rest of the series.

You shall be the Official Wizard of my kingdom, and be treated with every respect and consideration.

Wizard of Oz·Ozma

Dorothy gives directions, walks him to the crossroads, and the road she picks is not on any map of Kansas.

“Please, miss,” said the shaggy man, “can you tell me the road to Butterfield?

The Shaggy Man·Dorothy Gale

The book is a journey towards a party, and the party is a roll-call: every friend the series has made so far arrives at the Throne Room in turn.

Jellia Jamb now came to say that Ozma wanted Princess Dorothy to receive the invited guests in the Throne-Room, as they arrived.

Ozma·Dorothy Gale·The Emerald City

The cyclone of the first book cost him a house; the house cost him a mortgage; the mortgage costs him the farm. Kansas runs out, which is why Dorothy's family emigrates to Oz.

Once a cyclone had carried away Uncle Henry's house, so that he was obliged to build another; and as he was a poor man he had to mortgage his farm to get the money to pay for the new house.

Uncle Henry·Aunt Em·Dorothy Gale·Kansas

A tunnel dug under the desert comes up in front of the fountain built in a wicked king's reign, and an army of conquerors drinks itself into forgetting what it came for.

Did it tell you how our enemies drank the Water of 'Blivion?

Nome King·Ozma·The Emerald City

Glinda's barrier, and Baum's attempt to end the series. It holds for one book: the next volume arrives with an explanation of how word got out anyway.

YOU WILL NEVER HEAR ANYTHING MORE ABOUT OZ, BECAUSE WE ARE NOW CUT OFF FOREVER FROM ALL THE REST OF THE WORLD.

Glinda, the Good Sorceress of the South·The Land of Oz·Ozma

An accident in a magician's kitchen, and the errand that carries the whole book: Ojo must gather the ingredients of the antidote.

They stood motionless and stiff as marble statues, in exactly the positions they were in when the Liquid struck them.

Unc Nunkie·Margolotte·Ojo the Lucky

Not by the antidote Ojo spent the book collecting, but by the Wizard.

Then the Wizard made the magic pass and spoke the magic word before the statue of Unc Nunkie.

Unc Nunkie·Wizard of Oz·Ojo the Lucky

Oz's oldest enemy loses his throne to his own steward — and immediately becomes a wanderer who turns up in Thompson's books for the next decade.

"Look here, Kaliko," said Betsy, addressing the new King, "what's the use of being hard on Ruggedo?

King Kaliko·Betsy Bobbin

The errand the whole expedition was mounted for, and the reason Ruggedo lost his crown.

I have found my lost brother, and he is now beside me, freed from the enchantment of ugliness which Ruggedo cast upon him.

The Shaggy Man

Three reigns of murder laid out in one sentence — Kynd destroyed by Phearse, Phearse by Krewl — and the crown returned to the daughter of the first.

He told how Gloria's father, the good King Kynd, who had once ruled them and been loved by everyone, had been destroyed by King Phearse, the father of Pon, and how King Phearse had been destroyed by King Krewl.

Princess Gloria·King Krewl·The Scarecrow·Pon

The whole population carried off in a morning, leaving one boy on the island — a darker opening than anything else in the series.

Landing upon the beach, which was but a few steps from the palace itself, were hundreds of boats, every one filled with a throng of fierce warriors.

Pingaree·Prince Inga·Regos·Coregos

Pingaree's hereditary magic, hidden under the tiles and nearly lost with the palace that stood over it.

While this talk was in progress Inga suddenly remembered the three pearls which his father had hidden under the tiled floor of the banquet hall.

Prince Inga·Pingaree

The Magic Picture, Glinda's Book of Records, the Wizard's black bag — all gone in a night, along with the ruler. Oz is left with no way of finding out what happened to it.

When Dorothy returned to where Betsy and Trot awaited her, the little girl’s face was rather solemn and troubled, for never before had Ozma gone away without telling her friends where she was going, or without an escort that befitted her royal state.

Ozma·Dorothy Gale·Glinda, the Good Sorceress of the South·Wizard of Oz

Defeated and transformed into a dove, the thief comes back to ask forgiveness — and refuses the offer to be made a man again.

and I have come to ask you to forgive me for the great wrong I did in stealing Ozma and the magic that belonged to her and to others.

Ugu the Shoemaker·Ozma·Dorothy Gale

The Tin Woodman goes back for the girl he was enchanted away from and finds her married to a man assembled out of his own discarded flesh. She is content, and would rather they left.

Then this must be the man whom old Ku-Klip patched together and named Chopfyt.

The Tin Woodman·Nimmie Amee·Chopfyt·Ku-Klip

A magic word that transforms anything into anything, in the hands of a discontented boy — and then in Ruggedo's.

I want to become Kiki Aru again--Pyrzqxgl!

Kiki Aru

The fountain settles a second war. Ozma's mercy in this series is almost always the same mercy: the wrongdoer is not punished but emptied.

he picked up the cup, filled it with the Water of Oblivion, and drank it to the last drop.

Kiki Aru·Ozma·Wizard of Oz

Coo-ee-oh is transformed into a swan and forgets her own magic, leaving a glass-domed island on the bottom of a lake with the ruler of Oz sealed in it.

"Can't you raise the island?" inquired Dorothy.

Ozma·Dorothy Gale·Queen Coo-ee-oh·Skeezers

The last thing Baum published about Oz turns on a piece of pure cryptography: the missing words were the syllables of the queen's own name.

We know now that Coo-ee-oh used the syllables of her name for the magic words.

Glinda, the Good Sorceress of the South·Queen Coo-ee-oh·Skeezers

Thompson's first Oz book opens by taking the series' oldest running joke — the Scarecrow has no family but a bean pole — completely literally.

Hugging the bean pole for dear life, the Scarecrow slid rapidly downward

The Scarecrow

A retcon of the Scarecrow's origin: the pole he was stuck on was a magic beanstalk, and the spirit that entered him was an emperor's. Nothing in Baum prepares for it, and nothing after it depends on it.

The pole in the Munchkin farmer's cornfield was none other than the magic beanstalk, and he, thrust on the pole by the farmer to scare away the crows, had received the spirit of the Emperor Chang Wang Woe.

The Scarecrow·Chang Wang Woe

Pumperdink's prince is put under a term: marry a proper fairy princess, or the kingdom is forfeit. Kabumpo the Elegant Elephant takes charge of the search.

The great, gorgeous birthday cake was gone, though not two seconds before it had been placed on the table by Hashem himself.

Kabumpo·Prince Pompadore

The runaway country he is riding is spun out to sea and stopped there. Thompson still brings him back.

They watched until the Country plunged joyfully into the Nonestic Ocean and, when it was almost in the middle, Ozma stopped it by the magic spinning process and it became Ruggedo’s Island.

Ozma

A collector nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine lions and a half into his collection sends for the Cowardly Lion.

"Tazzywaller, I must have another lion," said Mustafa of Mudge, giving his blue whiskers a terrible tweak.

Mustafa·The Cowardly Lion·Tazzywaller

Seven magic words spoken by a stone man, and the whole of Mustafa's collection goes rigid with the Cowardly Lion at the bottom of the heap.

No sooner were they uttered than the nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine lions were turned to so many stone statues

Crunch·The Cowardly Lion·Mustafa

A king who lost his head in an explosion gets it back at the end of a search that also finds his son a wife and Ragbad its fortune.

But, best of all, she had, aided by the wizard’s magic, wished Fumbo’s head firmly and permanently back upon his body.

King Fumbo·Prince Tatters·Urtha

Mombi's last prisoner. Pastoria, Ozma's father, has been alive the whole time, enchanted into a tailor and living outside Oz — twenty-one years after the Scarecrow told Glinda he was dead and gone.

Tora, the tailor, no longer, but Pastoria, the King, stood embracing his prime minister, for the same green formula that had restored his majesty had also released Pajuka from his weary enchantment.

Pastoria·Ozma·Mombi·Pajuka

Thompson reaching back twenty-five years to Baum's founding fairy, and giving her a defeat: the queen who enchanted the whole country could not undo one witch's work on one man.

Then Pastoria, himself, told how Lurline, Queen of the Fairy Band, had come to his shop, tried to disenchant him and when she found Mombi's magic too strong for her, had bestowed upon him his remarkable flying ears.

Pastoria·Mombi

Irashi holds Rash in place of its rightful boy king, who has been hidden in the palace under a wig.

"Burnt again!" roared the Pasha of Rash, flinging his bowl of pudding across the table.

Irashi·Ippty

The usurpers are not killed or imprisoned but carried off above the clouds by an airman — kept out of mischief rather than punished, which is the house style.

With Irashi and Ippty out of the way, Reddy can rule his Kingdom in peace, and while those two rogues will not really suffer, they will be kept out of mischief for years to come.

Irashi·Ippty·The Hungry Tiger

Taken in front of the whole court at dinner, along with the box of wishing pills — the recurring plot of the middle Thompson books, and a fair measure of how much Oz depends on one object.

Someone is trying to steal my magic belt!” wailed the little fairy, swaying dizzily from side to side.

The Magic Belt·Ozma·Peter

The Ozure Isles get their queen back, and the book closes by explaining what became of the Good Witch of the North — a piece of Baum's furniture Thompson quietly rebuilt.

"Why!" panted Jewlia, beginning to jump up and down, "it's the Queen--Queen Orin, herself!

Orin·Cheeriobed·Ozure Isles

Told by Orin: Mombi fell in love with Cheeriobed, was refused, and took her revenge on the family. Thompson makes Baum's kindly Witch of the North a victim of the same witch who hid Ozma.

Cheeriobed, who was helping with the decorations, quickly explained that they were for our wedding, and Mombi, in spite of her extreme age and ugliness, fell instantly and deeply in love with the Prince.

Tattypoo·Mombi·Cheeriobed·Orin

The capital falls a second time, and without a fight — the first was Jinjur's army of girls, twenty-five years earlier.

For Mogodore had at last arrived in the Emerald City, and with a rush and without opposition, captured the famous fairy capitol.

Mogodore·The Emerald City·Ozma

The bumbling knight of the Thompson books is revealed as a king's son under a spell — and the last of her books read here ends by giving a running character a history.

By some unexplained miracle we have been released from our wearisome enchantment.

Sir Hokus·Princess Marygolden·Corumbia