Polychrome
From Oz Wiki
Polychrome is a fairy and the daughter of the Rainbow.
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Decription
Polychrome is radiant and beautiful with golden hair and violet eyes. She wears flowing, fluffy robes of soft material like woven cobwebs colored in stripes of violet, rose, topaz, olive, azure, and white that melt one into the other. Her flowing hair is loose and floats around her in a cloud. (The Road to Oz)
She eats very little compared to mortals. Her diet consists of dewdrops, mist-cakes, and cloud-buns.
History
When Dorothy Gale, the Shaggy Man, and Button-Bright first met Polychrome she was dancing to keep warm after accidentally sliding off her father's rainbow and landing on the surface of the Earth. (Her father withdrew his bow without realizing she'd been left behind.)
Background
Polychrome is more a decorative than an active presence in The Road to Oz, but she makes positive contributions in her subsequent appearances in Baum's fictions. In Tik-Tok of Oz (1914) she summons the dragon Quox to rescue the captured Ozians from the Nome King. In The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918) she rescues the rusted Captain Fyter the Tin Soldier by oiling his joints, just as Dorothy had done for the Tin Woodman in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and she uses her magic to let the protagonists fit through a rabbit hole. In Sky Island (1912) she provides the solution to the central characters' main problem.
She re-appears in some of the books of Ruth Plumly Thompson. In Grampa in Oz she aids the main characters in finally reaching Oz for the climax of the story.
Polychrome may have originated in a similar figure in Baum's dramatic treatment Prince Silverwings. In that play, Nuna, daughter of the Storm King, is missing from the ranks of her sister Cloud Maidens. Change the names and the result is Polychrome and her situation. In turn, Polychrome had a clear influence of Jack Snow's Princess Chrystal.
In Other Media
Polychrome appears among the crowd in the final Oz scene of Disney's Return to Oz. She is played by Cherie Hawkins in an uncredited role.[1] She is depicted in silky robes, though much plainer than depicted in the book. The only distinguishing mark that she is Polychrome is the rainbow that she wears on top of her head.
Polychrome makes several appearances on the cards in The Tarot of Oz.
References
- ↑ Internet Movie Database, "Cherie Hawkins"
