Kaliko (Oz)

Kaliko is a fictional character from L. Frank Baum's Oz series. He is a nome and lives in the Nome Kingdom, where he is, at least to start off with, the Chief Steward to his sadistic master, the Nome King Roquat the Red.

Kaliko is first encountered in "Ozma of Oz", though he is identified only as the Chief Steward. Dorothy Gale, along with Princess Ozma of Oz, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion and a host of other characters from Oz embark on a mission to the Nome Kingdom to rescue the Royal Family of Ev, a neighbouring country. King Roquat has changed the Queen of Ev and her ten children into purple ornaments and scattered them throughout his vast ornament collection; he offers to allow each member of the Rescue Expedition to venture into the palace and have eleven guesses - all they had to do, was to touch which ornament could possibly be one of the transformed prisoners, and say aloud the word 'Ev', and the prisoner would be restored. One by one, the people from Oz fell into the trap. Fortunately, however, Dorothy's pet hen Billina overheard an argument between Kaliko and Roquat, and learned the secret. She was able to set the prisoners free.

In 'The Emerald City of Oz', Roquat the Red plans to attack the Emerald City in revenge for his humiliation; we see Kaliko only very briefly.

The character of Kaliko is in his prime in "Tik-Tok of Oz". This book, the eighth in the series, is a largely redundant rerun of "Ozma of Oz". Kaliko become king after old Ruggedo (whose name was changed from Roquat) was expelled from his kingdom by the Great Jinjin Tititihoochoo for tipping some members of a Rescue Expedition from Oz down a Hollow Tube and straight into the Land of the Fairies, which is under the governorship of Tititihoochoo. Kaliko promises to become a good king and offers to assist in rescuing the Shaggy Man's brother. Ruggedo returns to the Nome Kingdom, and Kaliko takes him in upon Ruggedo's promise to be good. Ruggedo must have broken his promise somehow, as by the time of the events in "The Magic of Oz", Ruggedo is a homeless wanderer once more.

Kaliko has a brief role in "Rinkitink in Oz", where he helps the cruel King Gos and Queen Cor hide the captive rulers of Pingaree from their 'wizard' son Prince Inga and his friend Rinkitink of Gilgad. Kaliko is essentially a good-natured person still, but refuses to surrender the prisoners upon Inga's arrival as he feels himself bound to his promise made to Gos and Cor. However, Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz arrive from Oz and force Kaliko to give up the prisoners.

Kaliko makes some more appearances in the later Oz books of Ruth Plumly Thompson, where he appears to have changed from a 'good' Nome into a cruel Nome who harbours plans to rule Oz for himself, and adds himself to the list of Princess Ozma's enemies. He, like all other Nomes, is afraid of eggs; and once he becomes king, he is a self-confessed 'powerful sorcerer'.