GOOD WITCH OF THE NORTH

'The Good Witch of the North' is a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by American author L. Frank Baum.

Contents

The classic books

The 1939 movie

Modern works

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. 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 Baum's fifth Oz book, ''The Road to Oz'', she is one of the many guests who attend Ozma's birthday party.
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'.
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 husband 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, no 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''.

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.)[1]
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).