Ev | |
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Location of Ev (top right)
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Flag of Ev
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The Oz series location | |
Other name(s) | Land of Ev |
Created by | L. Frank Baum |
Genre | Juvenile fantasy |
Type | Fairy country |
Ethnic group(s) | Evians, Wheelers, Big Wigs, Blacks |
Notable locations | Evna (capital), Smith and Tinker factory |
Notable characters | King Evoldo and his children, Princess Langwidere, Tik-Tok |
First appearance | Ozma of Oz |
The Land of Ev is a fictional country in the Oz books of L. Frank Baum and his successors. Its exact location is unclear between text and maps. The Road to Oz states that Ev is to the north of the Land of Oz, and in Ozma of Oz, Princess Ozma of Oz and her procession enter the Munchkin Country and meet the King of the Munchkins upon leaving the palace at Evna, the capital city. Subsequent books place Ev nearer to the Winkie Country, and the map on the endpapers of Tik-Tok of Oz shows the Munchkin Country as having no northern border with the desert that surrounds Oz, as a thin strip of the Gillikin Country extends even farther east than most of the Munchkin Country. This map depicts Ev as a small country to the northwest (the compass rose is reversed) of Oz, with the Dominions of the Nome King as a separate area. James E. Haff and Dick Martin's map, following the text, place the Nome Kingdom under an Ev that takes up the entire portion allotted to the Nome King's dominions on Baum's map.
King Evoldo of Ev sold his unnamed Queen and their ten children, Princess Evanna, Prince Evardo, Princess Evedna, Princess Evella, Prince Evington, Princess Evirene, Prince Evring, Prince Evrob, Prince Evroland, and Princess Evrose, to Roquat, the Nome King, whose dominions are underneath Ev, in exchange for a long life. Evoldo regretted it and destroyed the life that King Roquat had provided him. Believing that Roquat had simply stolen the royal family, the Ozites entered the kingdom on a diplomatic mission to free them. When Roquat informs them of the fair deal, they play by his rules, and thanks to Billina, win back the family of Ev and the Nome King's Magic Belt.
During the time that the family was enslaved, Princess Langwidere, Evoldo's niece, took the throne as regent, but was too vain to do many administrative tasks, and spent most of her time admiring her 30 interchangeable heads. She had three wings of the palace demolished in order to direct visitors to the left wing, which is to one's right, but is the only wing left. She is relieved to give up the throne to her cousin, King Evardo, the eldest of Evoldo's children.