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Nomes (sometimes spelled Gnomes) are immortal creatures in stories by L. Frank Baum, who live under the earth's surface, where they guard the precious metals and jewel stones that lie buried in rock and ore. They are ruled by the Nome King.

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Nomes

  • There were also different Gnomes that reside in Burzee. They are called both rock fairies and sprites.

Description[]

As described in Ozma of Oz, Nomes are "rather round and not very tall. Their toes are curly and their ears broad and flat. They are the color of rocks and their shapes are as rough and rugged as if they had been broken away from the side of a mountain. They can cling to the surface of rock as a fly does to a window-pane". They are also implied to be immensely strong, in that they can throw gems and boulders with ease, lift crystals as large as themselves, and drink molten silver unharmed.

Though they live underground where there is neither night nor day, they do need to sleep, and do so. They are immortal, and nearly invulnerable unless they come into contact with a hen's eggs, which they believe to be poisonous to Nomes. (Ozma of Oz). The effect of an egg on a Nome remains inconsistent, however: in Ozma of Oz, the Nome King is hit with two eggs and survives, but he and all his subjects are still terrified of eggs, until his entire army retreat at the sight of them; and in The Emerald City of Oz, the Nome general Guph recruits three other would-be conqueror nations to lead an invasion of Oz, so the Nomes would not face any egg at all. In Tik-Tok of Oz, it is stated that, "If the inside of an egg touches a Nome, he withers up and blows away and that is the end of him - unless he manages quickly to speak a magical word which only a few of the Nomes know". (Tik-Tok of Oz). In the same book, the Nome King is still so frightened of eggs he is powerless when surrounded by a ring of them.

When Ruggedo was the Nome King, he often treated his subjects poorly; so poorly, they were known to refuse to work until Kaliko begged them to. Kaliko was respected because he was one of themselves, and as much abused by Ruggedo as any of them. (Tik-Tok of Oz)

ReturnToOzNomes

Nomes as they appear in Return to Oz.

In Walt Disney's 1985 film Return to Oz, the Nomes are depicted as grotesque, shapeless creatures, capable of appearing in any rock, with the most prominent one being the Nome Messenger, who alerts the Nome King to Dorothy Gale's presence in Oz. The Nomes appear in the climax, being ordered by the Nome King to stop Dorothy and her friends from escaping him; but they flee, uttering the word "poison..." in horror, after the Nome King accidentally swallows Billina's egg. In this version, the Nome Kingdom itself appears to be made of the same substance as they, and collapses when they retreat.

Important Nomes[]

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