Organization in The Oz Series
ozma_rescue_expedition
Also known as the procession, the cavalcade.
The rescue expedition from Oz, having freed Ozma and the royal family of Ev and stripped the Nome King of his magic belt via Dorothy, is forced to abandon the search for the missing Tin Woodman and withdraws from the palace and cavern, fighting off a pursuit of Nome warriors, back out into the open air on the path toward Ev.
Appears in 8 chapters, first in chapter 55, last in chapter 67.
This encyclopedia covers chapters 1 to 100 of the story and shows the world as it stands at chapter 100, so it contains spoilers up to that point. To read it spoiler free, one chapter at a time, open the interactive codex.
What the story establishes
| Leader id | ozma |
| Member count | Ozma, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, twenty-seven soldiers, the Lion and the Tiger drawing the chariot, and the Saw-Horse. |
| Purpose | To cross the deadly desert from Oz into the Land of Ev in order to free the royal family of Ev from the thrall of the Nome King, and, on the way, to liberate Dorothy from Princess Langwidere's tower. |
| Reputation | Celebrated as heroes: greeted with cheering crowds, feasts, and medals after successfully rescuing Ozma and the royal family of Ev. (as of ch. 68) |
Relationships
- leader of ← Ozma ch. 55Ozma leads the rescue expedition, driving the Lion-and-Tiger chariot with her ivory O-Z wand and commanding the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and twenty-seven soldiers as they cross into Ev.
- enemy of ← nome_army ch. 60The Nome army stands as the insurmountable opposing force to Ozma's rescue expedition: its overwhelming numbers convince Ozma that her brave Twenty-Seven would be quickly destroyed and that open battle is hopeless.
- includes → Billina ch. 57Billina joins the expedition at Dorothy's invitation, riding along held in Dorothy's arms in the chariot.
- includes → Cowardly Lion ch. 57The Cowardly Lion is harnessed with the Hungry Tiger to draw the chariot, taking part in the expedition to the Nome King's domain.
- includes → Dorothy ch. 57Dorothy rides in the golden chariot beside Ozma, holding Billina, as part of the expedition setting out to free the enslaved queen and her children from the Nome King.
- includes → immense Tiger ch. 57The Hungry Tiger is harnessed with the Cowardly Lion to draw the chariot, taking part in the expedition to the Nome King's domain.
- provides service ← magic carpet ch. 67Ozma's magic carpet provides safe transport for the rescue expedition, unrolling itself to carry the whole party across the gulf so their feet never touch the dangerous ground.
- includes → Ozma ch. 57Ozma leads the expedition from the golden chariot at its head, having organized the journey to liberate the imprisoned queen mother and her ten children from the Nome King.
- includes → Saw-Horse ch. 57The Sawhorse carries the Scarecrow just behind Ozma's chariot as part of the procession setting out for the Nome King's Palace.
- includes → Scarecrow ch. 57The Scarecrow rides on the Sawhorse just behind Ozma's chariot, having pledged to face the Nome King's furnaces despite the danger fire poses to him.
- includes → the twenty-seven soldiers ch. 57The Army of twenty-seven marches behind the main party in the procession, forming the military strength of the expedition to the Nome King's domain.
- includes → Tiktok ch. 57Tiktok marches beside the Tin Woodman as part of the expedition, joining because he is Dorothy's slave and goes wherever she goes.
- includes → Tin Woodman ch. 57The Tin Woodman marches with the expedition alongside Tiktok, having assembled the army of twenty-seven and committed to going despite the risk of his tin melting in the furnaces.
- protects → royal_family_of_ev (ended) ch. 56This chapter crystallizes the expedition's arc-defining mission: having freed Dorothy, Ozma declares the expedition's true purpose is to liberate the royal family of Ev from the Nome King's thrall, and closes the chapter by convening a solemn conference to plan their rescue. The vanished dynasty thus becomes the campaign's central objective.
- defeats ← the Nome King (ended) ch. 61Through the guessing-game trap the Nome King systematically destroys the Ozma rescue expedition: after Ozma herself is transformed, the Tin Woodman and then, one after another, all twenty-six officers and finally the private enter the palace, guess wrongly, and each becomes an ornament, leaving only Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tiktok, the beasts and the Sawhorse. The armed rescue force that marched on Ev is thus dismantled without a battle.
- defeats ← the Nome King (ended) ch. 63The Nome King's guessing-game trap has now consumed almost the entire rescue expedition, transforming Ozma, the soldiers, Tiktok, and the Scarecrow into ornaments and leaving only a remnant free.
- confronts → the Nome King (ended) ch. 57In the war council of this chapter the expedition resolves to march on the Nome King's own country to force him to release the imprisoned royal family of Ev, accepting that reaching all-powerful King Roquat in the Underground World will be a dangerous undertaking. The party sets out for the Kingdom of the Nomes at daybreak.
- protects ← Billina (ended) ch. 63With every officer and leader of the expedition transformed, Billina takes on the rescue herself, securing the King's promise that she may guess and release her enchanted friends.
- rescues → Dorothy (ended) ch. 55The expedition, arriving from Oz across the desert, delivers Dorothy from her captivity when Ozma compels Princess Langwidere to release her from the tower.
- rescues → royal_family_of_ev (ended) ch. 57The expedition's declared mission, reaffirmed in this chapter's solemn conference, is to liberate the enslaved royal family of Ev — the transformed queen and her ten children — from their long imprisonment by the Nome King.
- defies → iron giant (ended) ch. 58The rescue expedition confronts and gets past the Nome King's guardian, the hammer-wielding iron giant, by dashing beneath its mallet one at a time and ferrying its weak-kneed soldiers across on the Lion and Tiger, so the whole party reaches the far side and continues toward the underground palace.
- located in → Kingdom of the Nomes (ended) ch. 57–59At daybreak the whole expedition sets out from Langwidere's palace along the road toward the valley that leads to the Nome King's domain, entering the campaign's target territory.
- threatens ← nome_army (ended) ch. 66As Ozma's party marches out through the passage after their escape, a large number of Nome warriors are seen chasing them with swords, spears, and axes raised, intending to strike the fugitives down before they can get away.
- confronts → Princess Langwidere (ended) ch. 55The expedition marches unbidden into Langwidere's palace; despite her threats to chain and imprison them, Ozma faces her down and obliges her to free Dorothy.
- invokes ← the Nome King (ended) ch. 66After the rescue party begins its march out through the passage, the Nome King secretly sends a large force of his warriors chasing after them with weapons raised, in a last attempt to stop their escape.
- threatens → the Nome King (ended) ch. 55The expedition's declared mission sets it against the Nome King: Ozma announces she has come to free the royal family of Ev from his thrall, establishing him as the campaign's target.
- located in → Nome King's Palace (ended) ch. 59–66Ozma's party passes through the rock doorway and a jeweled passage into the Nome King's domed throne cavern, where they confront him over the enchanted royal family of Ev.
- communicates with ← magic carpet (ended) ch. 67Ozma's magic carpet unrolls itself to safely carry the entire rescue party across the gulf on their way back to Ev.
- commands ← Billina (ended) ch. 58Billina cries out "Wait--wait!" in an abrupt, commanding manner, and Ozma halts her chariot so suddenly that the whole procession is thrown into confusion, all so the hen can go lay her egg.
From the text
"You behold in these bold warriors the pick of all the finest soldiers of Oz; and, if we are obliged to fight the Nome King, every officer as well as the private, will battle fiercely unto death."Chapter 57
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