The Lost King of Oz is the nineteenth volume in the Land of Oz book series, and the fifth Oz novel written by Ruth Plumly Thompson.
Old Mombi, formerly the Wicked Witch of the North and absent from the series since having her powers taken away at the end of The Marvelous Land of Oz, now cooks for King Kinda Jolly in the land of Kimbaloo, a small independent kingdom in Gillikin Country. One day she encounters Pajuka, a former prime minister of Oz, whom she had enchanted into a goose years before. Mombi sets out to find Pastoria, one-time king of Oz, whom she had also enchanted in the past, in a bid to use him to take over the Emerald City. She kidnaps a local boy called Snip, to be her unwilling assistant and bearer of burdens. When she decides that he has learned too much of her business, Mombi throws Snip down a well; he ends up in the city of Blankenburg, populated by the invisible Blanks. Snip meets and rescues Tora, an amnesiac old tailor. Tora has been held prisoner for many years by the Blanks, to do their tailoring; he has compensated by sending his detachable ears flying about the countryside to learn the news.
Dorothy, meanwhile, is accidentally and magically transported to Hollywood, where she meets Humpy, a live stunt dummy; she brings him back to Oz. They escape the Back Talkers of Eht Kcab Sdoow (by running backwards), and meet the Scooters who help scoot them on their way. Kabumpo the Elegant Elephant shows up, and provides transportation (the mundane sort). Dorothy's party encounters Snip and Tora, and Mombi and Pajuka too. They (wrongly) come to the conclusion that Humpy the dummy is the enchanted Pastoria, and set out to the Emerald City to disenchant him.
Tropes
- Abdicate the Throne: Ozma and her friends, despite wanting to find King Pastoria, worry that Ozma will have to step down from the throne once he is found. However, once Pastoria gets his memory back, he wishes to continue being a tailor and let his daughter rule Oz, since he feels she is doing a good job.
- Animate Inanimate Object: Humpy, of the benevolent variety. He is brought to life after Dorothy inadvertently wishes for him to be alive.
- Cast Herd: Three cast herds in this case, with three subplots that tie together in the end.
- Distressed Dude: Snip, for most of the story, is Mombi's prisoner.
- Fix Fic: A sequel short story, "Executive Decisions" by David Tai, reveals Mombi's execution to have been staged. This appears in Oziana #38, the official fan magazine from the International Wizard of Oz Club.
- Forced Transformation: Mombi turned Pajuka into a goose in the years before the Wizard came to Oz.
- Identity Amnesia: The spell that Mombi cast in King Pastoria made him forget who he was. He then became a tailor named Tora with no memory of his past.
- Killed Off for Real: Mombi is executed via having water poured on her, in a decision many fans criticized as being out-of-character for Ozma.
- Living Apart: Tora has detachable ears which can fly off his head like butterfly wings and enable him to hear distant conversations.
- Make a Wish: Dorothy unknowingly stumbles onto a Wish Way, a dirt path where one's wishes come true if stated aloud. This was previously seen in Thompson's The Royal Book of Oz. Dorothy puts some of the sand from the path in her pocket, which saves her after she accidentally wishes to be back in America, as she is able to wish herself back to Oz with the sand.
- Modest Royalty: Pastoria, after regaining his memory, elects to continue being a modest tailor and let his daughter Ozma continue ruling.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Ties in with Thompson being Armed with Canon. Baum's Ozma let Mombi live after taking her power away, and was infamously pacifistic, even when Oz was being invaded in The Emerald City of Oz. In this book, however, she very casually orders Mombi's execution in the last chapter. This coupled with Ozma making Oz a colonial power in later Thompson books and threatening the Mudgers with decapitation if they leave their borders in The Cowardly Lion of Oz makes Thompson's Ozma very different from Baum's.
- Rapid Aging: When Dorothy wishes herself back to America, she begins to rapidly age into an adult woman; her true age in the Outside World. The process reverses when she returns to Oz again.
- Rightful King Returns King Pastoria is found, however, he chooses to continue being a simple tailor rather than resume being king.
- Riddle Me This: A magic quill arrives in Ozma's court and writes the message "GO TOMORROW TODAY". It takes some deep thinking from everyone before they realize it is telling them to go to the small kingdom of Morrow today.
- Sdrawkcab Speech: The residents of Eht Kcab Sdoow speak this way.
- Three Lines, Some Waiting: Dorothy's subplot begins several chapters in, eventually tying in with Mombi's. Later still, Ozma, the Scarecrow, Scraps and the Wizard embark on their own journey after receiving a mysterious message pointing them in the direction of the lost king.
- Villain Protagonist: Mombi is the main character for most of the story, and also the main villain.
- Wacky Wayside Tribe: An Oz staple. This time they include the Hoopers, hoop-shaped people who roll around, the cats of Catty Corners, the Blanks, invisible underground dwellers, and the residents of Eht Kcab Sdoow, who say and do everything backwards. Dorothy's one chapter trip to America is treated as this too, in a way.
- Wicked Witch: Mombi was once the Wicked Witch of the North.
