# The Wonderful Wizard of Oz — Character guide

> Key figures in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

- [Dorothy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wonderful_wizard_of_oz_se/characters/dorothy.md): A Kansas girl who only wants to go home, yet keeps freeing strangers and killing witches she never meant to harm.
- [Tin Woodman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wonderful_wizard_of_oz_se/characters/tin_woodman.md): A polished man of tin who lost his heart with his flesh and will chop through any forest to ask a wizard for a new one.
- [Oz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wonderful_wizard_of_oz_se/characters/oz.md): The unseen ruler of the Emerald City, who speaks through flames and heads and never lets anyone look him in the face.
- [Scarecrow](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wonderful_wizard_of_oz_se/characters/scarecrow.md): A straw-stuffed man who worries his head is empty, yet keeps solving the problems his cleverer friends cannot.
- [Cowardly Lion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wonderful_wizard_of_oz_se/characters/cowardly_lion.md): A roaring beast who admits he is terrified of everything, then charges into danger anyway to protect his friends.
- [Toto](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wonderful_wizard_of_oz_se/characters/toto.md): A small black dog who cannot speak but never leaves Dorothy's side, and whose barking topples more than one tyrant.
- [Wicked Witch of the West](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wonderful_wizard_of_oz_se/characters/wicked_witch_of_the_west.md): She governs a treeless, untilled country from a castle door, watching her borders with a single eye as sharp as a telescope. When Dorothy's party strays into her land, she does not parley—she whistles up wolves, then cro
- [Winged Monkeys](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wonderful_wizard_of_oz_se/characters/winged_monkeys.md): They are servants, not villains: three times the Cap's owner may summon them, and they must obey, whether the bidding comes from a witch or a girl. Their reputation precedes them so powerfully that Oz, who has faced them
- [Aunt Em](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wonderful_wizard_of_oz_se/characters/aunt_em.md): Dorothy's aunt who lives with her on the Kansas farm.
- [Glinda](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wonderful_wizard_of_oz_se/characters/glinda.md): Ruling from a ruby throne in a castle of red-uniformed girl soldiers, Glinda receives Dorothy with kindness but not sentimentality—she will help, and she will ask for the Golden Cap in return. Her calm authority contrast
- [Munchkins](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wonderful_wizard_of_oz_se/characters/munchkins.md): The small, friendly inhabitants of Munchkin Country.
- [Kalidahs](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wonderful_wizard_of_oz_se/characters/kalidahs.md): Fearsome beasts with bear bodies and tiger heads that attack the travelers.
- [Wildcat](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wonderful_wizard_of_oz_se/characters/wildcat.md): A wildcat that chases the Queen of the Field Mice.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wonderful_wizard_of_oz_se/characters