Species in The Oz Series
Scoodlers
A species of two-sided, humanoid creatures encountered sitting motionless on rocks in a hollow among barren hills; one side of the body is black (black face, black hands, curling toes, yellow hair) and the other pure white (clownish white face, purple hair), and they flop between the two sides at will. They appear suddenly in growing numbers around travelers, speak and act in unison, and are cannibals who declare their captives will be made into soup.
Appears in 2 chapters, first in chapter 98, last in chapter 99.
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
| Cultural norms | Scoodlers act and speak in unison as a chorus, surrounding strangers who enter their rocky territory; they regard outsiders not as beings to negotiate with but as food, declaring their intent to eat the travelers as soup even while claiming to love them. (as of ch. 98) |
| Habitat | A rocky, mountainous region with jagged peaks and a hollow among the rocks beside the road, in barren country where nothing green grows. (as of ch. 98) |
| Innate traits | Scoodlers can detach their own heads from their shoulders and hurl them as weapons at a distance with great force, then dash forward on foot to retrieve and reattach the heads to their shoulders. (as of ch. 98) |
Relationships
- rules ← Queen of the Scoodlers ch. 99The Scoodler Queen holds sovereign authority over her people, dwelling in the largest house in the cave and issuing orders that her guards obey without question.
- located in → the Scoodlers' cave ch. 99The Scoodler people dwell in the domed rock cave, inhabiting the ring of small rock houses built around its central hall.
- defeats ← the Shaggy Man (ended) ch. 99As the Scoodlers throw their detachable heads at the fleeing prisoners, the shaggy man catches every head thrown at him and hurls each one into the black gulf, leaving the whole band of Scoodlers headless and helpless.
- imprisoned by ← Button-Bright (ended) ch. 99Button-Bright is captured with the others and imprisoned in the Scoodlers' cave, terrified and repeatedly wailing that he does not want to be made into soup; during the escape the Shaggy Man carries him out of the cave on his shoulders because his short legs cannot run fast enough.
- captures → Button-Bright (ended) ch. 99The Scoodlers surround Button-Bright along with the rest of the group and march him into their cave as a prisoner, terrifying the boy with talk of the soup kettle.
- imprisoned by ← Dorothy (ended) ch. 99[CASCADE] Created by CAPTURES(scoodlers→dorothy)
- captures → Dorothy (ended) ch. 99The Scoodlers surround Dorothy along with her companions and lead her across the bridge into their cave as a prisoner intended for the soup kettle.
- imprisoned by ← Polychrome (ended) ch. 99[CASCADE] Created by CAPTURES(scoodlers→polychrome)
- captures → Polychrome (ended) ch. 99The Scoodlers surround Polychrome along with her companions and lead her, as their captive, into the cave and before the Queen.
- threatens → road_to_oz_traveling_party (ended) ch. 98The two-sided black-and-white Scoodlers surround Dorothy's traveling party in a rocky hollow, declare they want to eat the travelers as soup, and when the shaggy man tries to force a path past them, two Scoodlers hurl their detachable heads at him as weapons.
- imprisoned by ← the Shaggy Man (ended) ch. 99The Shaggy Man is captured with the party and held prisoner in the Scoodlers' cave, singled out by the Queen (whom he vainly tries to flatter and reason with by means of the Love Magnet) as the largest source of soup; imprisoned in the store-room, he secretly empties a potato sack and plots the group's escape, later hurling every Scoodler head into the black gulf.
- used against → the Shaggy Man (ended) ch. 98Angered when Shaggy Man throws a stone at them, two Scoodlers pluck their own detachable heads from their shoulders and hurl them at him with such force that he is knocked over.
- captures → the Shaggy Man (ended) ch. 99After overwhelming him with thrown heads, the Scoodlers surround the shaggy man along with his companions and march him across the bridge into their cave as a prisoner destined for the soup kettle.
- commands ← Queen of the Scoodlers (ended) ch. 99The Queen orders the guard to take the prisoners away and, at six o'clock, run them through the meat chopper and boil them into soup with plenty of salt, onions, garlic, and pepper.
- imprisoned by ← road_to_oz_traveling_party (ended) ch. 99The Scoodlers capture the entire traveling party in the rocky hollow, march them across a narrow rock bridge into their dome-shaped cave, and bring them before the Scoodler Queen, who condemns them to be run through the meat-chopper into soup at six o'clock; they are shut up in a store-room of soup vegetables under a single guard until the Shaggy Man engineers their escape.
- captures → road_to_oz_traveling_party (ended) ch. 99The Scoodlers overwhelm the whole traveling party with a barrage of thrown heads, surround them, and march them into their cave as prisoners meant for the soup kettle.
- defies ← the Shaggy Man (ended) ch. 98When the Scoodlers block the road to bar the group's escape, Shaggy Man refuses to be stopped, picks up a loose stone and throws it at them to force his way past.
- confronts → the Shaggy Man (ended) ch. 98The Scoodlers surround Shaggy Man's group on the rocky road, declare they want the travelers for soup, and Shaggy Man challenges them, demanding to know who they are and what they want.
- deceives ← Polychrome (ended) ch. 99Acting on the shaggy man's whispered plan, Polychrome dances near the guarding Scoodler and slaps his face before whirling away, provoking him into throwing his head so the shaggy man can catch it and disable him.
- fears ← Toto (ended) ch. 98Toto, who had barked furiously at the strange creatures at first, grows afraid once they reveal themselves as Scoodlers, stops barking, crouches between Dorothy's feet, and whines dismally.
- steals ← Toto (ended) ch. 99When a Scoodler's thrown head strikes him, Toto grabs it by the ear and runs off with it, trying to roll it down the hill before the other Scoodlers pelt him into dropping it.
From the text
Soup!Chapter 98
The creature was black all over except its hair, which was fine, and yellow, banged in front across the black forehead and cut close at the sides.Chapter 98
One funny thing about the Scoodlers was they could walk in either direction, coming or going, without turning around; because they had two faces and, as Dorothy said, "two front sides," and their feet were shaped like the letter T upside down.Chapter 99