Gayelette was a beautiful Princess as well as a powerful sorceress who once lived in the magical Land of Oz. She was introduced in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which revealed that she was also the first original creator of the magical Golden Cap, which was tied to the Winged Monkeys of Oz.
History
- "There lived here then, away at the North, a beautiful princess, who was also a powerful sorceress..."
- ―The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)
During ancient times, in the northern quadrant of Oz known as the Gillikin Country, the beautiful Princess Gayelette resided in a handsome palace built from great rocks of ruby.
As a powerful sorceress, all her magic was used to help her people, and she never hurt anyone who was good. Hence, she was beloved by her subjects, but she was also vain, short-tempered, and fastidious. Her inability to find a husband who was equal to her in beauty and wisdom was her greatest sorrow, but she eventually found a handsome boy named Quelala, whom she raised and groomed to be her husband, using all her magic to make him "as strong and good and lovely as any woman could wish".
When he grew to manhood, Quelala and Gayelette were engaged to be married, and the latter spent half her kingdom to create a beautiful Golden Cap as a wedding present for the former.
One day, just before the wedding, the mischievous Winged Monkeys who lived nearby tossed Quelala into a river as a prank. Though Quelala took it good naturedly, Gayelette was furious. She wanted to drown the Monkeys in the same river as punishment, but upon the King of the Monkeys' pleas and Quelala's speaking in their favour, she spared them. However, this was conditional: henceforth, the Monkeys had to obey the owner of the Gold Cap three times. She placed a charm on the cap that would summon them.
Aware of how Gayelette still could not bear the sight of the Monkeys, as well as how said Monkeys were all deathly afraid of her, Quelala summoned them to him after he had married her, and commanded them to always keep out of her sight, which they gladly did. Nevertheless, it can be presumed that Gayelette and Quelala lived happily ever after. (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)
Powers and Abilities
Gayelette was described to be a powerful sorceress whose potent magic made her loved by her subjects (whom she helped) and feared by those who crossed her (such as the Winged Monkeys). Examples of powers she derived from her magic were:
- Supernatural Beauty (possibly): Gayelette was beautiful - so beautiful, in fact, that for a long time until she met Quelala, she was unable to find a truly worthy husband, and while it was never specifically stated or confirmed, it was still highly likely that her beauty was constant, eternal, and never faded with time, especially given her being such a powerful sorceress.
- Wish Granting: Gayelette had the power to grant her own wishes, manifesting her desires into reality and make her dreams come true - through her magic, Quelala became "as strong and good and lovely as any woman could wish", and when he fully matured into manhood, he was "the best and wisest man in all the land".
- Beauty Inducement: Through her power of wish granting, Gayelette was also able to access the power to increase the physical beauty of others, making them more pleasing aesthetically - while Quelala's other commendable virtues (such as strength, goodness, and wisdom) were dramatically enhanced through her magic, his most notable quality was his handsomeness, which was so great that she loved him dearly.
- Mythical Beast Manipulation: Gayelette had the power to control and manipulate mythical beasts, controlling them to do her bidding, and doing whatever she wanted to them whenever she wanted to - when she learned of the prank the Winged Monkeys had played on Quelala, in her rage, she had all of them "brought before her" with the intention of drowning them all, and given how the King of the Monkeys had to "plead hard", it is reasonable and logical to deduce that her power of mythical beast manipulation was so advanced that the Monkeys were all powerless to fight back, or flee from, or even resist her in any way.
- Charm Inducement: Through her power of mythical beast manipulation, Gayelette had the power to put enchantments on objects, bestowing them with magical abilities - she enchanted the Golden Cap with a special charm that enabled whoever owned it to command the Monkeys three times.
- Mythical Beast Enslavement: Through her power of mythical beast manipulation, Gayelette also had the power to subjugate mythical beasts by dominating them and their ability to be independent beings - in exchange for sparing the Monkeys' lives, she made them the eternal slaves to whoever the Golden Cap's owner may be (wherever they may be, they were bound to always present themselves to the owner when said owner summoned them through the cap's charm, and they also had to do whatever said owner's bidding was, unless it was well and truly beyond their capabilities, and said owner can only command them three times). As demonstrated by Glinda, the only way to permanently break this magical enslavement was for an owner to, after having commanded the Monkeys three times, give the cap to the King of the Monkeys, and officially declaring them free.
Non-Canon appearances
- A film version of her will be played by Tenisha White in the alternate Oz horror film Gale - Stay Away From Oz.
- Gayelette and Quelala played important roles in March Laumer's The Frogman of Oz.
- In How the Wizard Came to Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West stole the Golden Cap from Gayelette.
- In Dorothy of Oz, Gayelette and Quelala met Dorothy Gale, and aided her when she sought them out. Neither of them appear in the film adaptation.
- In The Hidden History of Oz series, Gayelette was the previous Good Witch of the South as well as Glinda's mother. Though she was an extremely powerful sorceress, she was very distant from her husband and daughter. She was also said to age very differently from others, and was at least one-hundred-years-old. Before her death, she was investigating why no one in Oz dreamed.