The Wizards of Obscurity (original) (raw)

In addition to the magicians I mentioned before, there are also a fair number of magic-workers in Oz and its neighbors who aren’t at all well-known. In fact, they’re often only known for one deed. It’s certainly possible they did more, or that they’re the same as magic-users we already know, but there’s no real evidence for this.

• The Wizard of Oz states that Prince Bobo of Boboland was enchanted by a sorcerer. While Bobo’s fate is revealed in Rinkitink in Oz, we don’t know what became of the sorcerer who perpetrated this spell.
• Ugu the Shoemaker is known to be descended from a long line of magicians, and the Czarover of Herku states that one of his (Ugu’s) ancestors was the greatest wizard and sorcerer who ever lived.
• While I’m mostly dealing with male magicians here, we can’t forget the “old lady who was a fairy or a witch or something of the sort” who offered Tommy Kwikstep one wish if he would deliver some medicine for her. He accidentally wasted his wish when he asked for twenty legs, and he ended up with them until Polychrome removed them. Tommy never again found the old lady, but it was established that it wasn’t Mombi. Actually, even that isn’t entirely certain, as Mombi has been known to take other forms.
• A wizard employed by the King of the Golden Islands turned Emperor Chang Wang Woe of the Silver Island into a crocus, which later grew into a beanstalk.
• Wumbo the Wonder Worker is said not to be the only illegal magician practicing in Zamagoochie.
• In Lucky Bucky, Davy Jones makes his way through an area in the Winkie Country inhabited by a great number of illegal witches and sorcerers. The painted image of Mombi is also said to have been to this area, but was unable to find any allies. I have to wonder how Ozma and Glinda wouldn’t have noticed these lawbreakers, but maybe they just don’t feel they have the resources to take on all of these magicians at once.
  
• In Yankee, Max from Hotchinpotch (previous discussed in this post) relates how he came across an abandoned cabin full of magic powders and such, as well as a golden spoon. Max suspects that the cabin was home to a hermit who experimented with magic, but he never returned to the dwelling after Max found it.
• In the old days, the Gillikin land of Fyordi-Zik was ruled by the Seven Spellbinders, led by a Loremaster. They used the seven Spellstones, of which the Rundelstone was the most powerful, to keep the country running and the sun rising and setting properly. When Blo-ab-Ditherdum-cum-Trumm-nun stole the stones, the current Loremaster Shmodda-ab-Fyordi-cum-Aximok sought them out with help from the marionette Pocotristi Sostenuto. When Ozma found out about Fyordi-Zik, she had Glinda neutralize the Spellstones and bring the country in line with the rest of Oz.
  

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