Ruggedo!

This page is devoted to Ruggedo, the former King of the Nomes, and one of the finest villains in the Oz series. He has tried several times to conquer Oz, but he has never succeeded, largely because his approach is more bluster than action. Here's some information on this Nome.

Some Basic Information

Name: Ruggedo, formerly known as Roquat

Race: Nome

Occupation: Former King of the Nomes, and would-be conquerer of Oz

Home: He once lived in the Nome Kingdom, but he was banished from there, and forced to wander the surface. He has spent most of his recent years in the Emerald City, in one form or another.

Age: A little over 1000 years

Height: About 4 feet

Skin Color: Grey

Hair Color: White

Eye Color: Red

Likes: Jewels and caverns

Dislikes: Mortals, especially children, and especially girls

Weakness: Eggs (They are poison to Nomes.)

Favorite Meal: Breakfast

A Brief History of Ruggedo

For many years, Roquat the Red ruled the subterranean Nome Kingdom. He was good-natured on the surface, but he had an evil mind. When he transformed the members of the Royal Family of Ev, Queen Ozma brought a search party to the Nome Kingdom to rescue them. They succeeded, but, in the process, they took Roquat's Magic Belt, making a bitter enemy of the Nome King, and evoking his terrible temper, which has rarely been quelled since then. Roquat attempted to conquer Oz, and regain his Magic Belt, but he failed, and lost his memory. It was after this memory loss that he changed his name to Ruggedo. Rug continued to rule the Nome Kingdom for several more years, but, when he broke the laws of the Great Jinjin, he was banished from his own Kingdom. Since then, he has made many attempts to conquer both Oz and the Nome Kingdom. After every attempt, he was punished somehow, through banishment, transformation, and various other means.

Books Featuring Ruggedo

NOTE: There may be more Oz books featuring the former Nome King, but these are all the ones that I have read.

Canonical Oz Books:

By L. Frank Baum:
Ozma of Oz
The Emerald City of Oz
Tik-Tok of Oz
The Magic of Oz

by Ruth Plumly Thompson:
Kabumpo in Oz
The Gnome King of Oz
Pirates of Oz
Handy Mandy in Oz

Apocryphal Oz Books:

By Chris Dulabone:
The Deadly Desert Around Oz

By Greg Hunter:
The Enchanted Gnome of Oz

By Ryan Atticus Gannaway:
A Wonderful Journey in Oz
Sinister Gases in Oz

I understand that the Nome makes an appearance in Ray Powell's The Raggedys in Oz, but I have not read this book. Two stories in the 1986 Oziana (the International Wizard of Oz Club's annual collection of short stories), "Much Ado About Kiki Aru" and "Santa Claus in Oz" use Ruggedo as a character (although his appearance in the latter seems to be impossible to reconcile with the books).

My Own Stories About Ruggedo

Ruggedo and the School of Magic
Alliance of the Elementals

Ruggedo's Ravings

These are my favorite quotes from Roquat/Ruggedo.

"Cruelty is a thing I can't abide. So, as slaves must work hard, and the Queen of Ev and her children were delicate and tender, I transformed them all into articles of ornament and bric-a-brac and scattered them around the various rooms of my palace. Instead of being obliged to labor, they merely decorate my apartments, and I really think I have treated them with great kindness." (Ozma of Oz)

"No ruler upon Earth has ever dared to fight me, and no ruler ever will, for I am too powerful to oppose." (Ozma of Oz)

"Hens are bothersome enough at their best, but when they can talk they're simply dreadful." (Ozma of Oz)

"To be angry once in a while is really good fun, because it makes others so miserable. But to be angry morning, noon and night, as I am, grows monotonous and prevents my gaining any other pleasure in life." (The Emerald City of Oz)

"Of two dangers, it is wise to choose the least." (Tik-Tok of Oz)

"Bah! There's always a war." (Tik-Tok of Oz)

"Pooh! What do I care for the Jinjin? He never leaves his kingdom, which is on the other side of the world." (Tik-Tok of Oz)

"All the harm a dragon can do is to scratch with his claws and bite with his teeth." (Tik-Tok of Oz)

"I'm King of the Nomes, and I'm the Metal Monarch, and I'll do as I please and what I please and when I please!" (Tik-Tok of Oz)

Regarding Tik-Tok: "He ought never to have been made, but since he exists, I shall hereafter put him to good use." (Tik-Tok of Oz)

"You are an ordinary mortal, and to stop a mortal from living is so easy a thing to do that I will not keep you waiting half so long as you did for my conquest." (Tik-Tok of Oz)

"Really, I'd rather be conquered and lose my wealth and my Kingdom than gaze at that awful Love Magnet." (Tik-Tok of Oz)

"I'm getting tired of you, Kaliko, and the first thing you know I'll turn you into a potato and make Saratoga chips of you!" (Tik-Tok of Oz)

Before transforming the Shaggy Man: "Now this is a very interesting ceremony, and I beg you all to watch me closely and see that I've got nothing up my sleeve." (Tik-Tok of Oz)

"No Nome can ever be happy anyplace but underground." (Tik-Tok of Oz)

"It is hard work being a King, and harder still to be a good King." (Tik-Tok of Oz)

"Well, it's the fashion to kick Kings nowadays. I was a pretty good King--to myself--but those dreadful Oz people wouldn't let me alone. So I had to abdicate." (The Magic of Oz)

"I've had a hard life; hard as those rocks. Everybody's been against me from the very start, and all because I'm so little." (Kabumpo in Oz)

"Take anything you need. That's my motto." (The Gnome King of Oz)

"Everyone is against me! Every one, every two, every three, and everybody! Even the birds crow over me and make my life miserable and all because I want to regain my own kingdom and punish that wretched Ozma of Oz for defying and enchanting me! (Pirates in Oz)

"I'll transform you when I'm bad and ready and not before." (Pirates in Oz)

Go to my Oz Page.
Go to my homepage.

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page