Princess Mombi is a major character and the secondary antagonist of the 1985 live-action film Return to Oz. A tyrannical and evil being at heart, Mombi is responsible for kidnapping and trapping Princess Ozma within her enchanted mirror after striking a deal with the Nome King, resulting in the downfall of Emerald City. In the aftermath, Mombi became the ruler of the city, and the presumed princess of Oz itself.
The film adaptation of Mombi was inspired by the fictional character of the same name from The Marvelous Land of Oz, and Princess Langwidere from Ozma of Oz.
Background[]
Mombi is a powerful witch residing in the Land of Oz, and a powerful minion of the Nome King. She has the ability to switch heads, and has acquired at least 30 of them for her personal collection, while a red key is used to unlock the cabinets in which she stores them. Additionally, she guards the Powder of Life, a powerful material that gives inanimate objects the ability to live and become mobile. Mombi is also the Oz-counterpart of Nurse Wilson from Dorothy's world, who wants to wipe away her memories of her previous adventures.
For many years, Mombi had served the Nome King out of both fear and potential power. As a result, he motivates her to kidnap the princess and traps her in a mirror. which he, in return, gives her the Emerald City. She then takes Ozma's castle as her own, and traps Jack Pumpkinhead away in the tower. Before the return of Dorothy Gale, Mombi had ruled over Oz for some time.
Development[]
Mombi is primarily and loosely based on her original counterpart from The Marvelous Land of Oz. She is also based on Princess Langwidere from Ozma of Oz, who has the ability to switch heads. During development, the two characters were combined to create a more powerful villain for the film, with the newly-created Mombi being the central antagonist of Return to Oz. During original development in 1983, Mombi went through several design, character, and personality changes, and almost had a redemption arc written in at the end of the film, instead betraying the Nome King rather than having her powers stripped away. For casting, Jean Marsh was casted as the real form of the character, while Sophie Ward and Fiona Victory played variants of her heads. Actresses Louise Fletcher, Teri Garr, and Mary Steenbergen were all considered for the role of Princess Mombi.
Personality[]
- “I forgive Mombi. Dorothy has punished her by removing her magical powers. And a witch with no magic is a miserable creature indeed.”
- ―Ozma describes Mombi's current personality[src]
Mombi is a feared witch of Oz who uses her powers for the wicked and evil. She desires both power and beauty, which results in her obsession with collecting heads and constantly switching between them. At one point, Mombi had the idea to imprison Dorothy and remove her head once she had reached maturity, although it never went according to plan. She is also a highly selfish being who has little feelings for others, including the Wheelers, who serve her out of fear, and describe her as deranged. Additionally, although she is a witch to be feared, she herself fears the Nome King, and acts cowardly towards him whenever they make contact. Mombi's lust for power, beauty, and her obsession of heads is what ultimately leads to her demise, causing her to become a "miserable creature".
Physical appearance[]
- “I think Number 4 will do for this afternoon...”
- ―Mombi switching her head[src]
Mombi, in her true form, is a middle-aged witch with curly, brunette hair and dark-colored eyes. She is rather tall and dresses to match her mood, which includes switching her heads in place of anger, annoyance, or happiness. For her main attire, she wears a red and gold dress that spikes out at the top, covered in gemstones, like rubies and emeralds.
Powers and abilities[]
According to Mombi and several residents of Oz, she is capable of several witchy abilities, with Mombi's most noticeable power being able to switch heads with ones that have previously been removed from their bodies. In doing so, she is able to change her facial appearance entirely. With the help of the Wheelers and the Nome King himself, Mombi is able to receive, find, and collect any heads she wants, resulting in her massive collection.
Mombi also has the ability to manipulate and persuade the residents of Oz, including Dorothy Gale and the Nome King. However, both her hunger for power and crave for beauty result in unsuccessful convinces towards the two individuals. Additionally, she is able to trick and force the Wheelers into serving her, allowing for easy control over Oz after the capture of Ozma. Although the Wheelers are terrified of her and only serve her out of fear, they are able to do most of her dirty work, and cause mayhem around Emerald City.
At the end of Return to Oz, Mombi is stripped from all her magical powers, including the ability to switch heads. This results in her becoming a normal resident of Oz, and is considered by Ozma a horrible punishment, even for Mombi.
Appearances[]
Return to Oz[]
Mombi plays her lute upon Dorothy's arrival.
Princess Ozma appears as a central character and major antagonist of the film. She is the Oz-counterpart of Nurse Wilton, who attempts to wipe Dorothy's imagination through shock therapy, but escapes on a stormy night. When she and Billina arrive in Oz, they are able to follow the Yellow Brick Road and find that Emerald City has been semi-destroyed and the residents being turned to stone. With the help of Tik-Tok and the Lead Wheeler, Dorothy makes the ignorant decision to seek Princess Mombi at her castle. Upon arriving, Mombi is seen playing a musical lute, and greets Dorothy, who eventually learns that the princess can switch heads at will. While informing Dorothy that Oz has been destroyed some time after her last arrival, Mombi tells her that the Nome King has control over Oz now, and keeps close eyes on everyone. In the meantime, she ends up switching one of her heads (being Number 4), and instantly becomes fond of Dorothy's head, and decides to lock her up in the tower until she is old enough to have what is considered a mature face. Dorothy tries to get away, but is thrown in the tower with Billina, and meets Jack Pumpkinhead.
While Mombi is sleeping, Jack and the others come up with an idea to build something that can fly the out of the tower, but will need Mombi's Powder of Life, which is hidden in the cabinet containing her real head (Cabinet 31). Dorothy then steals the key from the sleeping, headless princess, and makes her way to the cabinet, steals the powder, but accidentally wakes up both the head and her body, causing the other heads in the hall to scream, resulting in Dorothy running back to the tower. The group ends up awakening the Gump, and they fly away in time before Mombi could do any more harm.
Mombi pleads to the Nome King.
A madden Mombi becomes frustrated, and resides to using her original head. She sends her Wheelers to go find Dorothy and bring her back. The Wheelers are unable to do so, many of them dying in the Deadly Desert, which results in Mombi going after her instead, taking some of the Wheelers as means of transportation. Mombi is able to track down Dorothy at the Nome King's lair, who becomes upset with her for "failing" him. Mombi pleads to the Nome King for his forgiveness, and claims that Dorothy's escape was entirely unintentional. But before the Nome King can make any harsh decisions, he quickly runs for Dorothy as she has solved his puzzle. Mombi begins to run, but she is quickly stopped and imprisoned within a magical cage, while Dorothy attempts to find the Scarecrow and her friends. Being successful, Dorothy ultimately frees all her friends, resulting in the Nome King growing in anger. As a result, he attempts to eat Jack Pumpkinhead, and is unaware that Billina is hiding inside of his head. As a result, she accidentally lays an egg and drops it inside of the Nome King, which causes him to fall apart and be destroyed. As a result of his death, Mombi is stripped from all her powers, and the stoned residents of Oz become normal again, and some of the heads that she stole return to their rightful owners.
Mombi imprisoned by Princess Ozma, who shows her mercy.
With the Nome King defeated, Dorothy, her friends, and the residents of Oz celebrate in their victory. Ozma is eventually freed from the magical mirror Mombi had trapped her in, and reunites with Jack Pumpkinhead — his real mom. Imprisoned by the now-freed Princess Ozma, Mombi is spared from any torture and horrid imprisonment sentence, as losing her powers is considered to be the biggest punishment of them all. Although no harsh punishment is given to Mombi, she is still forced to be imprisoned for some time. Dorothy then gives Ozma the Ruby Slippers, and promises to keep Oz a secret. When returning home, Mombi's counterpart, Nurse Wilton, is arrested for her harsh treatments against her patients, much like Mombi herself.
Video games[]
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two[]
Much like several other Return to Oz characters, Mombi appears as several broken attractions and a cameo character throughout Wasteland in Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.
Printed media[]
Return to Oz: Dorothy Saves the Emerald City[]
In the reimagined retelling of the 1985 film, Mombi appears as a minor antagonist in the pictured book. Upon encountering the princess, Dorothy learns from Mombi that Oz has been taken over by the Nome King. As a result, and much like the film version, Princess Mombi locks Dorothy Gale, Tik-Tok, and Billina away in the attic, knowing of their intentions to find the Nome King. However, Dorothy and her friends manage to escape Mombi's palace, and encounter the king for themselves. Unlike the film version, Mombi's allegiance to the Nome King is unknown, and is not impriosned and stripped from her powers when Oz is saved.
Park attractions[]
Storybook Land Canal Boats[]
A miniature replica of Mombi's palace at Disneyland Paris.
At the Disneyland Paris theme park, a replica of Mombi's palace from Return to Oz appears on the Storybook Land Canal Boats ride. Multiple characters from the 1985 film, including Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion, all appear outside her doors, while she appears as a silhouette.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Much like Return to Oz itself, Princess Mombi has garnered a cult-following, resulting in her becoming a fan-favorite Disney villainess.
- During development of Return to Oz, a major piece of inspiration for the character of Princess Mombi was Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Additionally, the part of Princess Mombi was almost given to Louise Fletcher, who had previously played Nurse Ratched in the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
- Princess Mombi went through several character changes in early development of the 1985 film.
- Teri Garr and Mary Steenbergen were considered for the role of Princess Mombi in Return to Oz.
- In the original books written by L. Frank Baum, Mombi is a very important character within the fictional universe and history of Oz, and a pivotal character.
- In The Marvelous Land of Oz, Mombi instead has her powers taken away by Glinda the Good Witch rather than after the Nome King's death.
- Since the release of Return to Oz, Mombi has been part of several merchandise lines based on the film, including toy dolls (which were formerly sold at Disneyland), posters, t-shirts, and action figures.
- The Return to Oz references and Easter eggs in the 2011 video game Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two is a nod and recognition to Disney's negligence of the film and characters, including Mombi.
- Mombi appears in The Walt Disney Comedy and Magic Revue movie compilation and segments from 1985.
- Jean Marsh, who played Mombi in the film, also played Queen Bavmorda, the main antagonist of the 1988 film Willow. Coincidentally, both characters are evil and villainous witches.
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