| “ | All the precious stones in the world are made here in my underground dominions. All made for me by my Nomes. So, imagine how we feel when someone from the world above digs down and steals my treasures. All those emeralds in the Emerald City really belong to me. I was just taking back what was mine to begin with. | „ |
| ~ The Nome King pathetically justifying his crimes to Dorothy Gale and her friends. |
The Nome King is the main antagonist of the 1985 Disney dark fantasy film Return to Oz, an unofficial sequel to the iconic Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.
He is the King of all of the Nomes, who conquers the Wonderful Land of Oz by taking it over from the Scarecrow and Emerald City's population after Dorothy Gale's departure. Teaming up with Princess Mombi, the Nome King rules Oz with an iron fist until Dorothy returns and comes across new Ozians to put an end to his rule.
He was portrayed by the late Nicol Williamson, who also played Dr. J.B. Worley in the same film.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- Upon finding Dorothy Gale's Ruby Slippers, he uses them to usurp the Scarecrow as the ruler of Emerald City before proceeding to take over the Wonderful Land of Oz with his Nome army. He then turns all Ozians, including the Tin Woodsman and the Cowardly Lion, into stone, leaving Emerald City in ruins and to be roamed by the Wheelers.
- The Scarecrow and some of his subjects were transformed into green ornaments whom the Nome King keeps in his rocky lair. When confronted by Dorothy Gale and her friends later on, the Nome King excuses his act of stealing all of Emerald City's jewels as a fair one, due to the precious jewels originally belonging to him and his Nomes before the Scarecrow and the Ozians stole them to build the city, ignoring the fact that the jewels were already there even before the Scarecrow took over the throne.
- Appoints the sorceress Princess Mombi, who was just as bad as him, to be the ruler of what remained of Emerald City, supplying her with thirty living young female heads to improve her looks whenever she feels like in exchange of her keeping Ozma inside the mirror. Worse is that the heads are still conscious, placed in a fate worst than death.
- While he behaves in a polite and hospitable way to Dorothy and her friends once they find their way into his mountain, this is all pragmatism to trick them into believing that he's no threat. Though he seems to actually feel pity for her in the film, Joan D. Vinge's novelization states that the Nome King was just feigning feeling bad for the Kansas girl, secretly enjoying her suffering.
- While he offers Dorothy to use the Ruby Slippers to send her back home, he doesn't do this because he wants to reunite her with her uncles Henry and Em or with her dog Toto, but so she can stop being a threat to his plans and let him rule the Land of Oz unopposed for eternity.
- Suggests to Dorothy and her friends play a guessing game to find the Scarecrow and free everyone by giving them three chances to find which of the ornaments in his treasure room the Scarecrow is, but if they fail, he will likewise transform them into green ornaments, and leave them like that while feeding himself off their essences to make himself more human-like and powerful.
- Locks Mombi up after she fails him, proving that he only cared for her as long as she was useful to his plans.
- Transforms into a giant rocky behemoth and tries to kill and devour everyone once Dorothy finds the Scarecrow and restores him back to his usual self as well as her friends that failed the game, going back on his word despite promising to let them go.
- Sadistically tries to devour the Gump (who barely detaches himself from his makeshifted body) before doing the same with Dorothy's so-called "son" Jack Pumpkinhead, whom he would have successfully devoured had it not been for Dorothy's hen, Billina, laying an egg that falls inside the Nome King's gullet, fatally poisoning him.
- While he does gently put Jack and Billina down after they kill him by dropping the latter's egg inside his gullet, there's no proof that the Nome King was being honorable as opposed to having just given up because he knew he was about to die.
External Links[]
- Nome King on the Villains Wiki
- Nome King on the Disney Wiki
