For those of you who actually paid attention to my shout-outs last week and actually read Jared Davis' blog, you might have read a little bit about the famous Nome King. While he goes into some depth analyzing the character of Roquat/Ruggedo, the villain of "Ozma of Oz", "The Emerald City of Oz", "Tik-Tok of Oz", and "The Magic of Oz", it is worth mentioning that there was another Nome King in the stories. Kaliko started out as Roquat's chamberlain and chief steward in "Emerald City" (It might have been him in "Ozma", but he wasn't named until "Emerald City"). When the events of "Tik-Tok of Oz" caused Ruggedo to be removed from office, Kaliko became the new Nome King.
We see what kind of ruler he has become in "Rinkitink in Oz". When Rinkitink and Prince Inga arrive to rescue the King and Queen of Pingaree, who had been captured by their enemies and traded to the Nomes, King Kaliko delights in creating all sorts of dangers for them to face up against. It is only through the use of the magic Pearls of Pingaree that Inga and Rinkitink are able to survive their sojourn to the Nome Kingdom.
When Dorothy arrives to demand that Kaliko stop tormenting his prisoners, he is very petulant, like a spoiled child who's had a toy taken away from him.
Has power gone to Kaliko's head?
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6 comments:
Yes. The burden of kingship took it's toll on Kaliko, until he was a given a reality check somewhere down the road. (When that happened, I dunno. It's not in Baum.)
I try to keep myself in Baum, mostly because all of his stuff is public domain now. Also, I don't have any hardcopy Oz, so I have to rely on the Project Gutenberg archive for my legal downloads. (I'm big on the legal) That and they don't have any Thompson there.
Completely unrelated to your post on the Nome King.
When you are ready to publish, and actually have a product, give Indie Press Revolution a shot.
Here's their publisher page:
http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php
I know they distribute to stores, as well as on their own site.
Having been a store owner in the not too recent past, most stores will prefer to deal with a distributor than directly with a publisher...
Ok, I have to run off to work, but I was wondering if you will be making up more information for areas outside of Oz? Mo, Ev, the underground land of the Nome King, Mangaboo, etc etc.
And perhaps some ideas on how to create one's own fairy nation.
I'm already thinking about having Oz and Grimm interact somehow...
(uh oh :-)
My plan is to have the core book focussed on Oz, and do a book focussed on the rest of the Nonestic Continent as a supplement. If those are successful, I might even open up negotiations with the International Wizard of Oz Club and/or Oz Central to get permission to do a supplement covering the Famous Forty, or at least the Remaining Twenty-six.
Baum originally wrote King Rinkitink as a non-Oz book, and then adapted it into an Oz story. It's quite possible that the Nome King was originally supposed to be Roquat/Ruggedo, but he changed it to Kaliko to better fit into the continuity of the series.
Kaliko appears a few times in the Thompson and Neill books, and is somewhat of a cross between his Tik-Tok and Rinkitink personalities.
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