Folklore and the Wizard of Oz

 I have no idea why I find folklore and mythologies so interesting. I also enjoy drawing things, but I'm not that talented, so I draw simple things, small scale thumbnail stuff for my own enjoyment. For awhile (since perhaps high school literature class) I've found myth family trees to be pretty cool. Recently, I put together an illustrated Greek myth family tree.  And then I did a tree for Norse myth too.  I wont post pictures for two reasons: 1.  I dont think they're very good, and 2. my camera wouldn't do my bad art any justice. (actually I did post pictures)

Anyway, I didn't plan on writing about Mythological family trees. But I felt this was a good segue to explain my affinity for myth and folklore, of which gnomes belong. I wrote a bit about this kind of stuff before. I found some other cool things with regards to the folklore gnome history.

Gnomes, or gnome-like creatures, pop up all over Europe folklore with a variety of names, much like elves and fairies. The Swiss call their gnome people the Barbegazi, which rhymes with fugazi, which I find amusing. Due to the climate of Switzerland, this particular kind of gnome has large hairy snowshoe-like feet that can be used to ski. I picture a hobbit-like thing in a winter climate.  They apparently do not come down from the tree-line very often, and legends surrounding the capture of this creature leads to its death shortly after leaving the mountains.

Apparently folklore is all about assigning royalty to groups of mythical creatures. Oberon, the king of fairies, pops up all over the place, including Shakespeare.  King Brian of the Leprechauns is a character in Darby O Gill books by Kavanaugh. The Mouse King is from the Nutcracker. And we can't forget David Bowie's character from Labyrinth, Jareth the Goblin King. Gnomes seem to have there own royalty too. I discovered Rubezhal, a gnome-like ruler of the mountains. A Germanic folk character, Rubezhal is a healer, can control the weather, and appears to be linked somehow to Wodan. According to Indian/ Hindu tradition, which has influenced the Wiccan/ Pagan/ Witchcraft traditions, Earth elementals (gnomes) are ruled by Gob, the King of Gnomes. This dude rules over these critters underground. There is also a Gnome King in L Frank Baum's Oz books. However, his name is given as Roquat the Red.

Which brings me to Oz. Marvel Comics recently began publishing these books in graphic novel form, and they are very well done. Instead of taking the basic concept of the novels and rewriting it for a mainstream audience, as Langley, Ryerson, and Wolf did for the 1939 film, Shandower and Young have transitioned everything Frank L Baum wrote in the novel to the comic. This is perhaps the truest and closest one will get to the actual Oz without reading the books. The plan is to do all of the original Frank L Baum books. There are 14.

The gnome king rules over the gnome people, underground.  Baum spells gnome phonetically, dropping the G. This character becomes a recurring villain in the land of Oz and appears in Ozma of Oz, the Emerald City of Oz, TikTok of Oz and the Magic of Oz.  The nomes reappear in Rinkitink in Oz, but they are now ruled by a new king, Kaliko. The gnome king also appears in books not written by Baum. These books are Kabumpo in Oz, The Gnome King of Oz (duh), Pirates in Oz, and Handy Mandy in Oz. With all of these appearances, the gnome king became the land of Oz's main recurring villain, even though most would recognize the wicked witches of the first few books.