Origin
Ozma is the rightful ruler of Oz and it is indicated that she would reign in the fairyland forever, being immortal. She was born of a long line of fairy queens and her birthday is August 21.
Creation
Ozma first appeared in The Marvelous Land of Oz in 1904 by L. Frank Baum.
Character Evolution
Ozma’s appearance and origins changed frequently as the series of Oz books progressed. In her initial appearance, she was described as a cherubic little girl with red-gold hair; however, all subsequent appearances of the princess show her as dark-haired.
Major Story Arcs
The Marvelous Land of Oz
The daughter of the former King of Oz, King Pastoria, Ozma was given to the witch Mombi by The Wizard, who worried she would someday challenge his illegitimate rule as Oz’s defacto dictator. Mombi transformed the infant Ozma into a boy and called him Tip (short for Tippetarius). Ozma, in the form of Tip, was raised as a boy and had no memory of ever having been a girl. As Tip, Ozma created Jack Pumpkinhead. Glinda forced Mombi to transform the boy Tip back into Ozma, who was then installed as Oz’s ruler (although many realms within Oz were and remain unaware of her authority).
Ozma of Oz
When word came to Ozma that the Royal Family of the neighboring Land of Ev had been imprisoned by the Nome King, she organized a rescue party and set out to liberate them, crossing the Deadly Desert on a Magic Carpet. In Evna, Dorothy Gale joined their party and they continued on to the Nome Kingdom. The Nome King offered them an opportunity to save the Royal Family of Ev, who had been turned into ornaments in his palace, but it was a trick and soon Ozma herself was transformed into a carved emerald grasshopper. She was rescued (along with everyone else) by Billina the hen and the entire party escaped back to Ev, having confiscated the Nome King’s Magic Belt. The Ozites attended the coronation of King Evardo XV and then returned to the Land of Oz.
The Emerald City of Oz
When the Nome King planned to invade Oz and destroy it in revenge, Ozma discovered his plans with her Magic Picture. She was surprisingly nonchalant about the threat, refusing to either prepare for war or escape the country, but merely waiting for their inevitable enslavement. When the Scarecrow suggested a non-violent way to turn back the invaders, Ozma agreed and was able to protect her kingdom.
Glinda of Oz
She and Dorothy went to the Flatheads and the Skeezers to try to stop a war from breaking out between them.
Other Versions
As Tip
Tip had no memory of his childhood. He couldn’t remember his parents. He was brought Mombi to be raised. Mombi was feared by the other Gillikin people as they suspected she was indulging in magical arts.
Despite the fact that Mombi was his guardian, Tip hated her. He was forced to do her bidding and one day decided to play a trick on her. He found a big pumpkin and carved a face upon it. He decided to make the form of a man and planned to put it in a place she would come across it in order to give her a fright. Tip bestowed the name Jack Pumpkinhead on his creation and set his creation in the middle of the road.
When Mombi came across Jack, she, at first, assumed he was a man. When she realized he wasn’t real, she decided to test out a new magical powder she obtained. The powder gave life to Jack.
Mombi planned on using Jack Pumpkinhead to do the work around her place. She told Tip she had no use for him and was going to turn him into marble. Tip decided to run away with Jack Pumpkinhead. The two made their way to Emerald City to visit the Scarecrow, who was the current ruler.
Return to Oz
Ozma is the rightful ruler of Oz. It is revealed that her father was the king of Oz before the Wizard came, and Mombi made Ozma her slave. When the Nome King took over Oz and promised Mombi the heads of 30 women (to switch heads with) if she kept her a secret, Mombi imprisoned her within the mirror. Somehow, Ozma was able to appear outside Oz and talk to Dorothy at Dr. Worley’s clinic; after discovering that some of his patients have been damaged by his machines and locked in the cellar, she rescued Dorothy from the clinic, but Nurse Wilson discovered them and chased after them, resulting in both of them falling into the river. Ozma vanished, and seemingly drowned; presumably she returned to her position in Oz, which was inside the mirror. She showed Dorothy the way out of Mombi’s mirror room when Dorothy was taking Powder of Life from Mombi’s cabinet containing her original head, and Mombi was trying to stop her. After the Nome King was destroyed and Oz restored to its original state, Dorothy got Ozma out of the mirror, and she took her position as ruler of Oz. She used the Ruby Slippers to send Dorothy back to Kansas, saying she would look in on her from time to time and take her back to Oz if she wishes to return. Afterward, Dorothy saw Ozma in the mirror, indicating that Oz was not a dream (as both movies initially implied).
Fables
Originally a Princess of Oz, Ozma was one of the Fables who fled the magical Homelands due to the Adversary’s takeover. It is unclear when Ozma left Oz or when she joined up with the Fables in New York, but she aligned herself with a group of witches and wizards who called themselves the 13th Floor Witches, so named due to their residence in the Woodland building.
Although Ozma appears to be young, she is deceptively intelligent and good leader. Recently, she confronted Frau Totenkinder about the possibility of leading the coven and even went so far as to accuse Totenkinder of having driven Mother Birdie–the previous leader–insane in order to usurp power. When Totenkinder left the Mundane world to find Dunster Happ, Ozma was voted in as leader. She claims that every leader of the coven has a specific duty to accomplish while in power–the Fairy Witch’s great task was the creation of Fabletown and the Woodland building, Totenkinder’s great task was the battle against the Empire—and Ozma sees her task as the battle against Mr. Dark for the sake of Fabletown.
She is currently participating in a power struggle in The Farm along with Stinky and Geppetto to decide who should lead all of the Fables in exile. In order to trump Geppetto–who claims that he should lead since he once defeated Mr. Dark in the Homelands (though not without the help of thousands of sorcerers)–Ozma lavishly uses her power to give Reynard his transformation from a fox into a man, thus proving her superiority in the ways of magic. To seal the deal, and keep Geppetto out of her hair, she also contacts the Blue Fairy, a former prisoner of Geppetto’s, to try and remove the old man from the power play.