Nome King

Roquat the Red or Ruggedo of the Rocks, deposed Nome King
Oz character
Peter Brown with the Nome King on the cover of The Gnome King of Oz (1927) by Ruth Plumly Thompson art by John R. Neill
First appearance	Ozma of Oz (1907)
Last appearance	Handy Mandy in Oz (1937) (canonical)
Created by	L. Frank Baum
Information
Nickname(s)	The Metal Monarch
Aliases	Roquat the Red Ruggedo of the Rocks
Species	Nome
Gender	male
Occupation	expatriate wanderer
Title	King (former)
Nationality	Nome Kingdom, Land of Ev

The Nome King is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum. He is introduced in Baum's third Oz book Ozma of Oz (1907). He also appears in many of the continuing sequel Oz novels also written by Baum. Although the character of the Wicked Witch of the West is the most notable and famous Oz villain (due to her appearance in the 1939 MGM musical The Wizard of Oz), it is actually the Nome King who is the most frequent antagonist throughout the entire book series.

Katharine M. Rogers, a biographer of L. Frank Baum, has argued that there was a precursor of the Nome King in one of Baum's pre-Oz works. In the Adventures in Phynnyland (1899), later known as A New Wonderland, there is an extremely similar character called King Scowleyow. Rogers finds him a "convincingly evil" villain despite his ridiculous name. His people reportedly live in caves and mines. They dig iron and tin out of the rocks in their environment. They melt these metals into bars and sell them.

Scowleyow hates the King of Phunnyland and all his people, because they live so happily and "care nothing for money. He decides to destroy Phunnyland and instructs his mechanics to build what is essentially a robot. It is described as a great man built of cast iron, and containing within him machinery. The robot is called "the Cast-iron Man". The metallic creature roars, rolls his eyes, and gnashes his teeth. It is set on marching across a valley, destroying trees and houses on its path.

Rogers notes the similarities between Scowleyow and the Nome King. They represent the negation of goodwill and happiness. They are associated with the underground and material wealth. Scowleyow is a powerful figure who uses his technological knowledge to create a machine capable only of destruction. And both villains demonstrate the tendency of evil towards self-destruction.