Winkie Country

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The Winkie Country is a division of the fictional Land of Oz. It is distinguished by the color yellow which is worn by most of the local inhabitants as well as the color of their surroundings.

This was the country ruled by the Wicked Witch of the West before Dorothy melted her with a bucket of water in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; since then, the Tin Woodman ruled over the Winkies as their Emperor. The Winkie Country is separated only by the Deadly Desert from the underground Dominions of the Nome King.

The most famous depiction of the Winkies is in the The Wizard of Oz (1939 film) where they appear as the regimental army of the Wicked Witch of the West, marching in formation and chanting "Oh We Um, Eoh Um repeatedly. In the film the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion capture three Winkies and steal their uniforms so they can gain entrence into the Witch's castle and rescue Dorothy. In the film, the Winkies bear little or no resemblance to their literary conterparts, dressing in blue uniforms and having green skin and pointed noses. The Winkie Country is only shown at night in the film, with the main colours being blue, black and grey. The scenery is very bleak and barren, with many mountains and rock formations.

Like all the countries of Oz, the Winkie Country contains various unusual sights and places. Among them are:

From The Emerald City of Oz

• The Scarecrow's house, which is shaped like an ear of corn
• The house of Jack Pumpkinhead, a giant hollowed-out pumpkin

From The Road to Oz

• The palace of the Tin Woodman, created because the Wicked Witch's castle was too damp
• The Truth Pond, which anyone can bathe in and be freed of an enchantment, but must always afterward tell the truth

From The Patchwork Girl of Oz

• The Tottenhots, small sprite-like people who sleep during the day and play at night

From Tik-Tok of Oz

• Oogaboo, a monarchy where items of value grow on trees; it is separated from the Winkie Country by a mountain range

From The Lost Princess of Oz

• Merry-go-mountains, mountains that swirl swiftly and are made of rubber
• Thi, where bipeds with heart-shaped chests subsist only on thistles and use mechanical dragons to pull their chariots
• Herku, where the natives are extremely thin and muscular, strong enough to keep giants as slaves
• Bear Center, in a forest where stuffed bears are ruled by the Lavender Bear and guided by the wind-up Little Pink Bear
• Yip Country, a republic advised by the Frogman and separated from the Winkie Country at the top of a mountain

From Grampa in Oz

• Perhaps City on Maybe Mountain

From The Wishing Horse of Oz

• The dark forest of Gloma the good witch.

From Yankee in Oz

• Wackajammy, breadbasket of the West

In Other Works

In Gregory Maguire's revisionist Oz novels Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and Son of a Witch, this area is called the Vinkus, and it is revealed that "Winkie" is considered a derogatory term. The Vinkus is inhabited by several semi-nomadic tribes, including the Scrow, the Yunamata, and the Arjiki. Fiyero, a major character in Wicked, is a Prince of the Arjikis, and the Wicked Witch's (Elphaba's) castle (here named Kiamo Ko) is actually Fiyero's ancestral home.

Metallica sampled the chants of the Winkie guards outside the Wicked Witch's castle from the film The Wizard of Oz on the intro to the track The Frayed Ends of Sanity on their 1988 album ...And Justice for All. The chants were also heard in the Experience Unlimited song "Da Butt".