| Langwidere, Queen Regent of Ev | |
|---|---|
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Real Name |
Langwidere of Ev |
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First Appearance |
Ozma of Oz (1907) |
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Original Publisher |
Reilly & Britton |
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Created by |
L. Frank Baum |
Origin[]
After King Evoldo of Ev sold his family to the Nome King and threw himself into the sea, Langwidere by default became regent of the country. She spent money from the royal treasury on herself and only spent ten minutes of every day actually governing and tending to matters of state. Furthermore, she admitted that she would rather spend those ten minutes admiring her beauty.
When Dorothy Gale met Langwidere, the Princess curtly told Dorothy that she was boring and stupid, and dismissed her. Then, after closely inspecting Dorothy's face, she changed her mind and said that Dorothy should stay so that Langwidere could take her head and add it to her collection, offering Dorothy one of her less attractive heads in exchange. Dorothy was indignant at this and refused; she was then imprisoned by the Princess's guards until she consented to Langwidere's demands.
The next day, Dorothy was rescued by Princess Ozma of Oz who, along with the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and other Oz creatures, was passing through Ev on a mission to rescue the Royal Family from the Nome King. At first, Langwidere was furious that Ozma and her assembly had stormed her palace but, when the Oz party explained the nature of their mission, Langwidere completely calmed down and said she supported them because if the Royal Family was restored to rule the kingdom, she could finally devote all her time toward admiring herself in the mirror. Langwidere then freed Dorothy, provided room and board for Ozma's people, and told them where to find the Nome King's kingdom.
When the Oz people returned successfully from their mission, the newly returned Queen of Ev graciously allowed Langwidere to keep her rooms and her cabinet of heads.
Appearance and Demeanor[]
Princess Langwidere has thirty heads that are interchangeable on her neck. Instead of changing her clothes every day, she simply changes her head. The heads are kept in a bejewelled boudoir known as her "cabinet". All are described as being very beautiful, running through all combinations of hair and eye colors (except for gray hair and red, tired eyes), skin tones, and even noses of different shapes to represent different ethnicities. Langwidere generally spends every waking moment of her life admiring whichever head she's currently wearing in a large mirrored hall, and "changing" heads whenever she wants to adopt a new look.
Since she can change her face at will, she has no interest in fashion. She always wears a simple white gown that suits all of her heads. Because her appearance changes so frequently, even her maid, Nanda, can only recognize her by a ruby key which she wears on a chain attached to her left wrist, and which opens her cabinet.
Notes[]
In the 1985 movie, Return to Oz, the character of Princess Mombi is largely based on Princess Langwidere.