Sep15
The dysfunctional witches (and warlock) of Oz
on September 15, 2012 at 12:00 amChapter: Chapter 11
Location: Oz
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OH MY GOD! Hercilia is human again!
Yayyy! She’s way prettier than I thought she’d be. I like the title, Jinjur we don’t need you back on the throne, it didn’t work last time. 
Nice to see Hercila back to her normal self and not as a pair of accessories. And I love the little smile on Warrick’s face as he sees Emma. Shipper or not, he’s probably glad to see she’s ok.
Shippy-ness aside, Warrick’s smile in that last panel is rather adorable. Poor guy, though. Having “Wicked Warlock of the West” as your active title kind of puts you at the bottom of the pecking order…
On the one hand, I do feel sorry for Warrick’s reputation and being at the bottom of the pecking order. He probably won’t get to be the next wizard. (Though, he did EARN that Wicked title…) But if he had been chosen to be the next Wizard, the responsibilities and devotion to Ozma would preclude him from traveling with Emma. ^_^
Anyway, if Warrick’s heart is still missing, he’d make for a terrible ruler without Emma to keep his temperament in check. However, they said that Ozma can’t decide who the next Wizard should be. That says they’ve been in contact with Ozma (who may or may not still be inside a cocoon of poppy vines recovering her health). If they found Ozma, then they probably discovered that she has Warrick’s heart. And if they found it, is there any reason why they can’t put his heart back? (Perhaps Ozma needs it to recover her own broken heart?)
It brings up a lot of questions, though. If Ozma is conscious, is she able to restore her spell of eternal youth and life? Or do they have to deal with “the hole in the world” inky monster more permanently for that to happen? And one would imagine that Ozma of all people would desire to meet the new “Dorthy” or whoever (“Traveller”) it was that triggered these events and saved all of Oz.
But even if Ozma was close to recovering (just guessing here), the death of Scarecrow has to be a HUGE blow to her and possibly stressed her heart further. They were close friends. She’s already lost all those Dorthies, the Cowardly Lion, Tin Man and others.
As for the question of who should lead: It should be someone they can agree on. Having any of them bitter over this would probably have repercussions. I would nominate Selva. She does not seem to even want the job. That, IMO, makes her the better choice. I think history shows the best rulers are the ones who do not desire to rule. (Then again, Warrick might become insanely jealous of his sister, just as she was jealous of Warrick being the Warlock of the West.) Anlise might be a good choice, too. (Although, she does seem incapable of separating her love and devotion to Renge from thinking critically.) I just can’t see Hercilia being a good ruler. She’s way too “hot headed” for one thing. She seems argumentative and unwilling to negotiate or compromise.
I’m surprised that Ozma can’t decide. She’s ruled Oz a long time and should be able to handle such decisions. And she probably knows the lot of them pretty well. Perhaps this also has to do with her heart?
I don’t think Ozma’s back quite yet …
Yes, but I think he’s on his way to erasing his “Wicked” title, if things keep going the way they are. I totally agree with him not being able to rule well without his heart if Emma’s not there to keep him in check. Though, he probably doesn’t, hence the scowls during the discussion.
As for why Ozma can’t give him his heart back, I’ve got a bit of a theory (though it’s not really based off anything cannon, just my wondering on the subject). What if, when Warrick removed his heart, not only did it go to Ozma, it also kept itself in a kind of stasis. So, the heart Ozma is keeping, or accompanied by, or whatever, is the heart of a much younger, much different, much more infatuated with Ozma, Warrick. If you think of it that way, even if she could, Ozma might not want to return Warrick’s heart simply because it’s not guaranteed to work. What if it doesn’t take? If Warrick’s own heart doesn’t recognize him, then that could potentially kill him. Maybe that’s why the original Wicked Witch of the West never tried to put her heart or eye back?
Of course, as Sam said, Ozma might not be up to doing any magic at all. What with a broken heart, and having to somehow survive that attack from the Hole in the World all those years ago, I’d think she’s pretty weak. Although, if what she said to Warrick when he was little is anything to go by, I’m betting Mr. Mender could mend her heart, if he really tried. But again, just theories.
I wonder if Glinda could be the new Witch of Oz? If they manage to get her out of the poppies with Renge’s help, she might be a good choice to get Oz through the time it takes to wake Ozma. The again, she might just spazz out at Renge for keeping her under the poppies for so long, and then we’d just have another loud, very partial, contender for the position…
I was more of the impression that Ozma is unavailable because she isn’t actually present i.e. somewhere the others don’t know.
But what is that star between Emma and Selva in panel 3. Definitely not one of Selva’s earrings.
So ship Warrick and Ozma. That would balance things out. It will also work to have a balance between balance (Warrick/Ozma) and imbalance (the Warrick/Emma shippers going even more crazed). And it is not as if the wussies, ah, WESsies can have their hearts broken as happens in Oz. Truly a plot worthy of the Evil Isameg. Unless They have something even better lined up. Or worse or something.
D’awww, Warrick’s faaaaaace. (:
I don’t think I said this before but Emma looks lovely.
I cannot get over how adorable Warrick is in that last panel. ♥ Also, hooray for human Hercilia! She’s gorgeous!
Warrick congrats on your face. (‘: (All his expressions are so perfect.)
If Emma doesn’t say, “Why do you need a wizard?” I’ll be quite disappointed.
Yeah, the wizard was only needed the first time because Ozma had disappeared and there was no one around to rule Oz.
If Ozma really doesn’t want to rule, why don’t they patch up the Scarecrow and make him king (again)
Aaaaw, Emma and Warrick’s expressions are so sweet! Nothing original here, I know, but I can’t get over shipping them.
If they had GLINDA here, they wouldn’t be having this discussion; everyone listens to Glinda.
I don’t see Warrick as The Wizard; he’s got, and earned, his own title as the Wicked of the West.
Glad Hercilia’s no longer a pair of shoes. Honestly? The job isn’t for someone who’s arguing to have it, that’s my position. The original Wizard of Oz was a humbug who got trapped in the position by his own actions; later one, he was forgiven and given the position back because he had essentially INVENTED it. Presumably the others have been appointed to that position by Ozma. Anyone fighting to get it isn’t the right choice for the job.
Keep in mind, Glinda is from the MGM movie, not the original story…in the first story, the witch of the North sends Dorothy to the Emerald city with the silver slippers, and it is actually the witch of the SOUTH who, at the end of the book, explains how the shoes work, thus avoiding this little scene:
Glinda from the movie would be an awful choice for a ruler for the simple reason that she was conniving, manipulative and evil. If you rewatch the movie you might even agree. Dorthy tried to make it clear that the death of WWoE (the Wicked Witch of the East) was an accident. But Glinda credits Dorthy for killing WWoE and calls for a celebration. The WWoW (Wicked Witch of the West) arrives, who is the sister of the slain witch. Glinda magically puts the ruby slippers on Dorthy’s feet. Even though, by inheritance, the slippers should belong to WWoW. Glinda teases her about the slippers and taunts that she can’t harm Dorthy. The witch gives Dorthy a threat and leaves. Then, Glinda says she can’t send Dorthy home. But the Wizard might be able to help her. So Glinda effectively gives Dorthy a reason to go on a quest – a quest which would eventually have her confront the last remaining witch. By setting Dorthy up to kill the last witch Glinda removed the last threat to her power base (Ozma is not in the movie) without having to do any dirty work. But what’s really rich is that the ruby slippers would have allowed Dorthy to go home from the very beginning. When Dorthy asked about this, Glinda told her that she would not have believed it was that simple… (Yeah… likely story. <_<)
As for the original Wizard: As others have pointed out, he was a real nasty piece of work. Among other things, he brainwashed Ozma, turning her into a little boy and made to forget who she really was. The fact that later stories has Ozma forgive the Wizard for his treachery boggles my mind. It must be because Ozma was a real pacifist and the forgive and forget type (overly compassionate). What the Wizard did would ALMOST be forgivable if he did that to hide and protect Ozma from enemies. But it seems he did that merely so he could rule Oz, preventing Ozma from rightfully claiming her position as princess.
This said: I agree that the job of ruler is not for someone who's arguing to have it.
I nominate Agha.
I don’t know the rules as to who can/can’t be the Wizard (I’m assuming magical ability, even though the Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a phony)…but if Agha can’t be the Wizard, I nominate Selva. I don’t care if she was affected by Warrick’s heart-loss and turned people into clothes; she’s talented with magic, she isn’t as criminal as Warrick, and she has the best one-liner (“Apology accepted!!”) in the entire series so far. XDD SELVA FOR WIZARD ’12!
Okay, first: LAST PANEL. I’m putting my shipping in a box and chucking it in a corner for this one (I can still hear it yowling at me. Livid.) and just saying “WARRICK, YOU’RE SMILE AT EMMA IS ADORABLE!!” Okay, second. I nominate Selva for wizard. She doesn’t even appear to want the job, and (as someone else above pointed this out) the best people for the job are often the people who don’t want to rule. FINALLY. Hercilia, you are gorgeous. Just stop glaring, sweetie.
PS. I hid a portal 2 reference in this post somewhere. Can you find it?
Selva should do it, she’d turn all troublemakers into purses.
So true! I love you for pointing it out! Thank you! XP
Of course, the only person in the room qualified to be a “Wizard” is Warrick…everyone else would have to be the “Wonderful Witch of Oz”
Warrick, you have my sympathies…
…wait, “Ozma can’t decide”? You mean Ozma was released from her poppy-prison off-screen? o_O
By “Ozma can’t decide”, they could mean that Ozma can’t make the decision because she is still in the poppies.
I assumed it meant she was uncertain, but it could mean that she can’t decide because she hasn’t been freed yet. (wouldn’t Renge have told them where she is?). I guess we’ll have to wait until Tuesday.
That’s what I was thinking too.
Agha would be a good choice. Of course, they could always go the really problematic route and nominate Emma.
Gotta say I’m Team Agha for this one- after all, she’s had many political positions back in Munchkinland
I like Selva’s expressions in panels 3 and 6. You can tell her thoughts with just a couple of pen marks. The contrast with the arrogant/angry character of 12/9/2010 is great. I also like Warrick’s expression in panel 2 and his smile in 7. I agree with everyone, Hercillia is a beauty, she just needs to get rid of her anger. Now let’s see Ozma!
Umm…. Does there HAVE to be A wizard? Isn’t possible for all of them to work together and make a…. collection of wizards? XD
Like a paliament
Hm, so if Ozma can’t decide, means she’d up and about. Wonder whyWarrick isn’t with her……
Because:
A. This is really important and he probably can’t leave the meeting without a fuss
B. He loves Emma. Maybe his crush on Ozma has faded.
I hope we see Ozma soon… but this is getting interesting-er.
I just discovered Namesake last night and I absolutely love it!
Welcome to the comic! I’m really glad you’re enjoying it!
This page (still) hasn’t appeared in the Archives/chapters listing yet.
Yes, Warrick’s smile is adorable, but the second panel is GREAT!
We really feel like we are in this room and hear all the fiery argument…
Excellent composition and nice drawing – you really are becoming real and good professionals.