The Royal Army

The Royal Army of Oz serves as the primary instrument of the Wizard's authoritarian rule, a standing military force deployed to enforce his policies of territorial expansion, resource extraction, and population control. Under the Wizard's reign, the army has been transformed from a ceremonial body into a tool of systematic oppression, carrying out campaigns that have devastated entire regions and populations across Oz.

Structure and Command

The Royal Army operates under the direct authority of the Wizard of Oz, who has centralized military command since seizing power from the Ozma Regent. The army's structure reflects the Wizard's strategic priorities, with forces deployed to secure resource-rich territories and suppress dissent. The Gale Force, a specialized paramilitary unit, functions as the army's internal security arm, conducting raids, arrests, and executions against political opponents and dissidents. The army maintains garrisons in strategic locations throughout Oz, including the outpost at Red Windmill in the Vinkus, where a reconnaissance force has been stationed for years to monitor the Arjiki tribe and contain the Witch of the West.

Campaigns of Conquest and Exploitation

The Royal Army has been the primary agent of the Wizard's expansionist policies, particularly in Quadling Country. Following the discovery of ruby deposits beneath the swamps, army engineers and soldiers descended on the region, displacing the native Quadling population through forced relocation and violence. Turtle Heart, a Quadling glassblower, describes how the army's road builders "to look and taste and sample the air, the water, the soil" in preparation for the Yellow Brick Road, ignoring Quadling protests. The army's presence led to the systematic destruction of Quadling settlements, with the population "dispossessed and disappeared" as the military drained the badlands to extract rubies. The campaign ultimately failed to produce sufficient wealth to justify the devastation, leaving the region a wasteland.

Suppression of Dissent and the Animal Population

The Royal Army enforces the Wizard's Banns on Animal Mobility, which restrict Animals from traveling on public conveyances and working in professions. The army conducts raids against Animal dissenters, as reported in the Emerald City Home Guard's suppression of "some Animal dissenters, who were making a nuisance of themselves in the palace gardens." The Gale Force operates with particular brutality, conducting midnight raids on households, breaking up printing presses, holding mock trials for treason, and executing prisoners at dawn. Commander Cherrystone's reconnaissance unit in the Vinkus exemplifies the army's dual role: ostensibly conducting surveys, but in reality maintaining a permanent presence to contain potential threats and, as the Wizard later admits, "to keep you in check."

The Kidnapping of Sarima's Family

The Royal Army's most direct intervention in the Witch's life occurs when Commander Cherrystone's unit, learning of Elphaba's absence, forcibly removes Sarima, her five sisters, and her children Irji and Nor from Kiamo Ko. The sisters resist violently—Three breaks Cherrystone's wrist with a sharpening stone, Five and Six ring the alarm bell, Two tries to send messages via crows—but the soldiers prevail. The family is taken to an undisclosed location; the Wizard later reveals to Elphaba that Sarima and her sisters are dead, Irji was executed by "the Paraffin Necklace" as a public statement, and Nor has been kept as a political prisoner, chained and abused, serving as the Wizard's "protection" against Elphaba's anger.

The Army's Role in the Wizard's Downfall

Despite its power, the Royal Army proves unable to prevent the Wizard's eventual downfall. The army's garrison at Red Windmill remains in a state of "bored readiness" throughout the Witch's later years, never moving against Kiamo Ko directly. When Dorothy and her companions arrive in the Emerald City, the army offers no resistance to the political changes that follow. The Wizard's regime, sustained by military force for decades, collapses not through military defeat but through internal political maneuvering, as "seditious ministers" prepare to lead a Palace revolt and execute the Wizard without trial just hours before his escape by hot-air balloon.