Historical/In-Universe Depiction:
Bond 1: A figure who first appeared in the classic children’s tale –– [The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.] Created by L. Frank Baum in 1900, Dorothy Gale is famous around the earth.
As such, there is no one in the world today who does not know the name. In modern times, it is spoken of with the same reverence as those pertaining to figures like Alice Pleasance Liddell and Count Dracula. A name so well-known, that, even after the death of Baum, countless authors have each spun their own stories –– continuing on the legend of Oz, and of Dorothy Gale.
–– though they always start the same way.
Bond 2: Suddenly swept from home by cyclone, she was set towards a journey straight into the fairy-land of Oz. There was no warning, no time to understand what had happened; so despite her tears, Dorothy held her head high and walked away on an adventure after receiving the blessings of the Good Witch of the North.
She crushed a witch under her house. She met a brainless scarecrow, a heartless tin-man and then a cowardly lion. She slew the Wicked Witch of the West and then returned home with the powers of the silver shoes. To the eyes of her aunt and uncle, the moment she returned and told them her tales must have felt unreal.
Bond 3: But she is not someone who should exist in the form of a Heroic Spirit.
After all, no concrete evidence or historical records can conclusively prove that she lived in the 19th Century. Manifested under Dorothy’s name, her Saint Graph should one of a mere phantom –– an illusion. Baum’s delusion.
A mere tribute to someone else’s lost life. A girl who never lived in reality, only fantasy.
In the past, it was mystery which could not be solved by the common people. Lost and hidden by a certain society; the rumours around her livelihood remained a sworn secret. A forbidden tale, wherein Dorothy, said to have sprung only from the imagination of Baum –– the echo of his deceased niece, Dorothy Louise Gage –– derived an existence directly from his childhood friend.
–– on the other hand, her personality is different to his descriptions.
Bond 4: As an orphan sent to live with her aunt and uncle in the harsh climes of Kansas, she regaled stories of her struggles to Baum from letters. A desperate struggle that, to someone who had lost her parents to selfish greed, meant a new chance. A way to reinvent her own identity.
The silly little city brat who had been so foolish and too trusting, found in that struggle, a purpose.
From that day forth, no longer would she suffer under the actions of others.
No longer would she stop to lend a hand in kindness. She would serve only herself, she would walk her own path.
If her parents no longer needed her, then she no longer needed them.
She no longer needed anyone.
It was an action made to affirm her existence as ‘Dorothy; the independent girl’ rather than ‘Dorothy; the childish orphan.’ Her childlike side, which threw away all her youthful dreams and hopes was suddenly that of an adult.
Yet, as a side of herself unable to understand what it meant to mature at all, she could only imitate what she had seen before. Thus, she was a living paradox; a child who was a woman and a woman who was a child, existing at the same time.
Wanting to desperately live out that life, pleading desperately to understand, the reason as to why she was suddenly taken towards the Reverse Side of the World, may have been because of that desire.
A lesson she needed to learn; an adventure where she could grow beyond her boundaries. Adventures that could only occur in the pages of a children’s tale.
However, her legend was rooted solely in reality. There were no mere hallucinations or freakish delusions, only an actual set of events.
Bond 5: The tale of a child who stood bravely in the face of danger and cut down every foe in her way, even without magic to call her own, is one comprised of truth. Beloved by the fairies, she honestly became a hero whose legend was blessed by two worlds meeting together as one, for a single second.
Nevertheless, one can say there was no definite end to her adventures. Rather, it could be said a ‘full conclusion’ to them was never reached at all. Each chapter of her endless returns to Oz, the descriptions of her battles against Nome Kings and Headless Women and then, the tale of the princess she loved, collected in the volumes of an adult L. Frank Baum, so as to be told across the whole wide world.
Thanks to that, the girl who was once a childish, selfish monster, grew into the figure of a kind and caring princess. An image made into an icon for female children all around the earth.
Dorothy Gale is that person.
Keywords:
Land of Oz
The Kingdom of the Fairies, appearing in the depths of the world’s Reverse Side. Though it was thought to be a fictional place, derived only from the works of L. Frank Baum, it is a place which honestly, truthfully exists.
A fairy-land; the haven of the fairy-kind cut off from the rest of the earth by the Deadly Desert, ruled over by Princess Ozma. The country of magic beyond mankind, which can only be reached by those that are blessed by the fairies. Thus, having been created by the fairy-queen Lurline and located in the same coordinates as the United States, it can then be considered the American equivalent to Avalon.
There can be no other place like it, of course.
Relationships:
[Medea]: Why even that traitor witch, Medea b’came a Heroic Spirit too? I ain’t gonna accept somethin’ like that no way, no how! Witches are evil ‘ncarnate! She hasta die!
[Arturia Pendragon]: I wasn’t ‘specting the ‘King of Knights’ to be such a cute girl…How peculiar indeed. We’re similar though, I can tell. We’ve both got a blessin’ from the fairies, from long ago. Yup! Hey…she ain’t married anymore, right?
…Just askin’ is all!
[Thomas Edison]: Why, it’s that cowardly ol’ Lion! He b’came a hero of all people!? He ain’t done nuthin’ to b’come a Heroic Spirit! Eh…it ain’t Lion? Instead, it’s that ‘nventor Edison? Still…that lion head makes me hate him, and not b’cause he’s a witch. Why’s he got that head then?
MGM!? That MGM! I shan’t forgive ‘em! At all! Not after they made ‘that’ thing… Ruby Slippers, ‘ndeed…It’s ‘specially stupid, is what it is! It ain’t even true! I’ll erase it from history! I will! I will!
Craft Essence:
Confession to the ‘Wicked’ One
I ain’t ever told ‘nyone this. It’s my deepest darkest secret, it is! I’ve hidden it from everyone an’ neither Lyman nor Ozma ain’t ever finding out. What I did then, it weren’t no accident, ‘cause it was all on purpose! I was gunna kill ya anyway, even if it happened like that.
I killed ya, so I could return home, kinda selfishly. Do I regret that? Of course I ain’t! I don’t care if you was good or evil, I did it just ‘cause! You served a purpose an’ I made it seem an honest girls mistake! I don’t even know if you wanted to kill me an’ all, but I’ve been thinkin’ that maybe you didn’t. You wanted what was yours back, and then I came along...an’ well, we know how it ends.
Some people are born wicked, an’ others have wickedness thrust on ‘em. Perhaps that sayin’ applies to you too, missus!
–– hey, do ya think?
If they knew what I really did an’ who you really was, would I still be a hero? Ah...it don’t matter no more, does it? You’re gone an’ I’m here. I won and you didn’t, so I guess I’m better than you ever was.
Originally Posted by King of Padoru
