 oscar zoroaster phadrig isaac norman henkle emmannuel ambroise diggs (also known as the wizard of oz and, during his reign, as the great and powerful oz) is a fictional character in the land of oz created by american author l. frank baum.jack snow, who's who in oz, chicago, reilly & lee, 1954; new york, peter bedrick books, 1988; pp. 238-9. isbn 0-87226-188-3 the character was further popularized by the classic 1939 movie, wherein his full name is not mentioned. ==oz books== the wizard is one of the characters in the wonderful wizard of oz. unseen for most of the novel, he is the ruler of the land of oz and highly venerated by his subjects. believing he is the only man capable of solving their problems, dorothy gale and her friends travel to the emerald city, the capital of oz, to meet him. oz is very reluctant to meet them, but eventually each is granted an audience, one by one. in each of these occasions, the wizard appears in a different form, once as a giant head, once as a beautiful fairy, once as a ball of fire, and once as a horrible monster. when, at last, he grants an audience to all of them at once, he seems to be a disembodied voice. eventually, it is revealed that oz is actually none of these things, but rather an ordinary conman from omaha, nebraska, who has been using a lot of elaborate magic tricks and props to make himself seem "great and powerful." working as a magician for a circus, he wrote oz (the initials of his first two forenames, oscar being his first, and zoroaster being the first of his seven middle names) on the side of his hot air balloon for promotional purposes. one day his balloon sailed into the land of oz, and he found himself worshipped as a great sorcerer. as oz had no leadership at the time, he became supreme ruler of the kingdom, and did his best to sustain the myth. he leaves oz at the end of the novel, again in a hot air balloon. after the wizard's departure, the scarecrow is briefly enthroned, until princess ozma (the rightful hereditary ruler of oz) is freed from the witch mombi at the end of [[
Characters_in_Wicked Fictional_characters_from_Nebraska Fictional_characters_introduced_in_1900 Fictional_magicians_(fantasy) Musical_theatre_characters Oz_(franchise)_characters Oz_(franchise)_characters_who_use_magic