Nikko

Nikko is the leader of the flying monkeys in the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz. He is the movie version of the character called the Monkey King in L. Frank Baum's original novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Unlike the literary character, the cinematic Nikko does not talk.

In the MGM film, Nikko was played was played by Pat Walshe, a veteran animal actor, performing with Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West.

In Flying Monkeys

A rare chinese monkey is brought to the United States, where it is sold as an ordinary monkey. A father buys the monkey for his teenage daughter, who names it Skippy and is the first person to ever treat it nicely.

But at night, Skippy leaves her house and attacks the people and animals of Gale, Kansas. When they fight back by shooting it, it splits into two; in this way, there are soon many Flying Monkeys attacking by night.

It is revealed that Skippy's true name is Nikko, and that he is the leader of a race of demons called the Xigo. All the other Xigo that have been created by Nikko will die when he does. But he can only be killed by one family's blessed weapons, passed down for a very long time. ("Flying Monkeys")

Background

In the musical Wicked, Nikko is given the first name Chistery.

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