Under the Influence: Glinda of Oz

The final volume of the fourteen Oz books written by L. Frank Baum sees Ozma and Dorothy on a visit to Glinda, when Dorothy, idly paging through the Great Book of Records, discovers a cryptic notation that the Flatheads and Skeezers – previously unknown inhabitants of Oz – have begun a war. Ozma is determined not to permit war within her borders, and decides to set out directly for these people in the far north of the Gillikin country and convince them to make peace.

Glinda tries to convince her, several times, not to get involved, especially by herself. Ozma refuses, saying that now that she is aware of the problem she can no longer ignore it. This is a fairly powerful section of the book, and one of the more thoughtful pieces in the entire series, as we see a considerable debate on the nature of responsibility, caution, and proper ways of addressing conflict within a realm that one is responsible for. Glinda is also concerned by Dorothy's insistence on going, and finally provides her with a ring that can be used to trigger an alarm in Glinda's palace, in case anything truly goes wrong. Dorothy also brings the Nome King's Belt, so she is physically protected.

After a journey with a few impediments such as hostile giant spiders and a valley crossed only with the help of fairy Mist Maidens, Ozma and Dorothy reach the first goal, a great flat-topped mountain atop which live the Flatheads. The girls manage to find a way inside the mountain, past an invisible wall placed around the mountain, and climb to the top. There they find the Flatheads – people with literally flat heads, as though cut off just above the brows – who are lead by the Supreme Dictator, or Su-Dic for short, a powerful sorcerer who has taken advantage of the fact that his people carry their brains in external containers (not having, after all, a top to their skulls to hold brains) to capture additional brains for himself.

The Su-Dic is an arrogant but clever man who is partially responsible for the war; his people were poaching fish from the lake of the Skeezers, who tried to prevent this; in retaliation, the Su-Dic's wife, who was a magician herself, sought to poison the lake, but was herself transformed into a Golden Pig by the magic of Queen Coo-ee-oh of the Skeezers.

The Su-Dic knows who Ozma is, but has no intention of obeying her commands, and tries to imprison the two; fortunately, Ozma is able to render herself and Dorothy temporarily invisible and escape.

Having had a taste of the unreasonableness of the Flatheads, Ozma decides to see if Queen Coo-ee-oh can be more reasonable. The Skeezers live in an impressive glass-dome covered city in the middle of a lake, and when Ozma signals from the shore, a magical bridge is extended from the city to the shore to allow them inside.

Unfortunately, Queen Coo-ee-oh is vain, arrogant, and refuses even to entertain the idea that her little kingdom is only part of another; she claims to be a vastly more powerful magician, a "Krumbic Witch", and that she will keep Ozma and Dorothy as her subjects after she deals with the Flatheads the next morning.

When the attacking force of Flatheads arrives, Coo-ee-oh demonstrates that she was not merely bragging. She first protects her city by causing it to sink beneath the water, leaving the Flatheads no way to reach or harm it, and then goes out to battle the Flatheads themselves using a marvelous submarine boat.

Unfortunately, the Su-Dic is able to strike her first with a potion that transforms Coo-ee-oh into a Diamond Swan.

Without Coo-ee-oh, no one can raise the island, extend the bridge, or control the submarine boats. Not only are Ozma and Dorothy trapped, but so are all of the Skeezers. Dorothy manages to send an alarm to Glinda, alerting her of their plight, but the situation seems very grim indeed…

Glinda of Oz is one of the strongest Oz novels. It is purely plot-driven, with scarcely any of the travelogue that was one of Baum's standard techniques. Instead, we are given a tight, multi-threaded plotline that follows first Dorothy and Ozma, then Glinda and an Ozian rescue party, with a third thread – that of a young Skeezer man named Ervic – tying the two finally together.

Ervic is another of the rare male characters in Oz who is allowed to do something – although his true effectiveness lies mostly in following directions well and cleverly, despite being frightened by magical events that are far beyond him.

Coo-ee-oh learned her magic from three Adepts at Magic, and when she felt she had learned as much as she needed, betrayed and transformed the Adepts to fishes in the lake. The Three Fishes find Ervic – stranded outside his city because he was one of those on board Coo-ee-oh's boat – and have him enact a cunning plan to regain their forms from a nearby magician, a Yookoohoo named Reera the Red, who normally interacts with no one, and helps no one. Ervic's adventure in Reera's domain is one of the creepiest and most atmospheric sections of any of the Oz books, and by itself would make Glinda of Oz stand out.

The solution for the submerged city is also cleverly done, and in two parts, with a fair mystery provided for the readers and characters to solve. The resolution is suitably dramatic, even if the wrap-up is fairly quick afterwards.

Glinda of Oz is often called "darker" than the other Oz books, though I would not call it any darker than, say, The Scarecrow of Oz; certainly some of the sequences in the latter book match or even exceed in darkness those of Glinda. However, it is a more serious book, more focused on the possible realities of Oz as a country and the consequences of Ozma's rules and the ways in which she chooses to enforce them.

Ozma is, put bluntly, a bit too much of a risk-taker. She puts herself in personal danger when she might well have chosen to have some of her friends and allies take point, and this is shown to have been unwise. Her insistence on dealing with the problem personally is shown to have created its own problems, and I have to wonder if Baum might have explored that more had he been able to continue the series further.

For purposes of Polychrome, I was certainly influenced by this serious and more nuanced approach to the land of Oz in my development of my own understanding of my version of Oz. Additionally, I decided that both the Su-Dic and Coo-ee-oh would make good choices for Viceroys, and they are mentioned by Ugu during his rant at poor Mombi. Little else specific was used, though I consider Glinda of Oz one of the more … spiritually inspirational of the books for purposes of writing Polychrome.

Glinda of Oz is a fine ending piece to the series; if Baum had to finish the series, at least it is ended on a high note, a book well worth reading.