| “ | I'm tired of games. I'm tired of all of you! Why doesn't the sofa go first? | „ |
| ~ The Nome King as he goes back on his word and tries to eat Dorothy and her friends, starting with the Gump. |
The Nome King is the main antagonist of the 1985 Disney dark fantasy film Return to Oz, which serves as an unofficial sequel to the iconic Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.
He is the ruler of the Nomes in the Land of Oz, who manages to take over the magical land sometime after the Wicked Witch of the West's death by using the Ruby Slippers to overthrow 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, killing them and 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 remorse for the Kansas girl, secretly enjoying her suffering.
- This is further supported in the film itself, where it's revealed that the Nome King never intended to give Dorothy the Scarecrow back, and was merely feigning remorse so he could enjoy his game of making them pick ornaments to guess which one the Scarecrow, thus confirming how sadistic he is.
- 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.
External Links[]
- Nome King on the Villains Wiki
- Nome King on the Disney Wiki
