The Wizard of Oz is the mostly-unseen character in the classic book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, (by L. Frank Baum). The Wizard was also known during his rule of the Land of Oz as “Oz the Great and Powerful.” His real name was Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs. In the 1939 movie his real name was never mentioned by any of the characters.

Oz the Great and Powerful was not an actual wizard, because the magic he performed came from his ability that came from the tricks he could pull on people. But he was still regarded as a wizard nonetheless. This is because his technical skill and genius with all things mechanical (he came to Oz in a hot air balloon and designed elaborate magician’s tricks) was almost wizard-like in its presentation and outcomes.

 The Land of Oz, at the time that this man landed there in his balloon, was without a leader for various reasons. He appeared to be a great sorcerer who came from the skies, though, in a flying chariot with the word “OZ” (for “Oscar Zoroaster”) on the balloon. The Wizard of Oz, in the time before he came to the Land of Oz, had once worked as a circus magician in the human world. One day, his balloon transported him to the Land of Oz and he became its ruler for a time.

 The citizens of the Land of Oz were always being troubled by various wicked witches. In fact, the one from the East had been killed by Dorothy Gale’s falling house, when she was transported to Oz by a cyclone. They looked to the Wizard of Oz to help protect them from these witches, most especially the Wicked Witch of the West, who was a sister to the witch killed when Dorothy Gale’s house landed on her (she ruled the Land of the Munchkins, in the Land of Oz).

 The Wizard of Oz eventually came to meet young Dorothy, Toto her dog, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Woodman and agreed to help each achieve that which they most desired. Dorothy wished to return to Kansas with Toto, for one. Together, they are given a task, which is to kill the Wicked Witch of the West, who rules over the Winkie Country.

 Through various adventures undertaken by Dorothy and her companions, it is revealed to all in the Emerald City (where the Great and Powerful Oz ruled) that he isn’t exactly who he made himself out to be. Still, his powerful personality allows him to go home in a new balloon he fashioned with help from Dorothy. He leaves the Land of Oz and flies back to Nebraska, where he originally came from.