This article is about the fictional characters. For the mammals known as 'flying lemurs', seeColugo. For the rejected hypothesis that bats are related to monkeys, seeflying primate hypothesis.
Winged monkeys are fictional characters that first appeared in the 1900 children's novelThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by the American authorL. Frank Baum. They are described as junglemonkeys with bird-like feathered wings. They are playful, intelligent, and speak English. They are initially under the control of theWicked Witch of the West, but are later controlled by the protagonist,Dorothy Gale. They lift Dorothy and fly her to two distant locations.
The Winged Monkeys next appeared in the 1939musical film adaption of the novel,The Wizard of Oz. In the film they have a much smaller role than in the book, and do not speak (or at least were never given any dialogue), but it was their first appearance in an Oz-based film. After 1939, similar characters have appeared in numerous books, films, computer games and other popular media.
The now widely used but inaccurate termflying monkey has been adopted inpsychology, referring to someone who performsenabling work on behalf of anabusive person. It does not really fit with the depiction in the book, where the avian simians are under the magic spell of the Golden Cap, and must obey its wearer.
The Winged Monkeys started as free creatures living in the jungles of the fictionalLand of Oz from the children's fiction novelThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz. They were a rather carefree but mischievous bunch, until their king, as a prank, tossedQuelala, a richly dressed human friend of theirs into a deep river, ruining his velvet costume. His fiancée, a princess namedGayelette, was furious since this was their wedding day. She had ruled part of Oz's northern quadrant,Gillikin Country, and was a sorceress. As punishment for the prank, she enslaved them and made them obey the Golden Cap. Any wearer of the cap could make three demands of the monkeys. Later, this cap fell into the hands of theWicked Witch of the West, who used it to make the Monkeys help her in conquering Oz's western quadrant (theWinkie Country), enslave the nativeWinkies, and drive theWizard of Oz out of her territory when he attempted to overthrow her.
After the fictional characterDorothy Gale melted the Wicked Witch, she put on the cap, unaware of its power. When she learns its power, she uses it to influence the Winged Monkeys to transport her and her companions to theEmerald City, during which journey theMonkey King tells Dorothy the story of how they were enslaved by Gayelette. Then Dorothy asked them to carry her back toKansas, but the Winged Monkeys could not leave the magical realm of Oz; thus the second request was wasted. Dorothy's third and final request was for them to carry her and her company over the rocky mountains inhabited by the Hammer-Heads, who would not let them pass over their turf.
Dorothy ends up handing the Golden Cap over to the characterGlinda, the beautiful Good Witch of the South. Glinda then ordered the winged monkeys to carry Dorothy's companions back to their new homes in Oz after Dorothy's departure, and then to simply cease to bother people and not play pranks on them anymore. She then gave the Winged Monkeys the cap as their own, breaking the curse and setting them free.
In the 1939 filmThe Wizard of Oz, the Monkeys are intelligent enough to obey commands, but do not speak as they do in the book. They abduct Dorothy and her dog Toto and dismantle the Scarecrow, but do nothing to the Tin Man or the Cowardly Lion, leaving them free to put the Scarecrow back together and rescue Dorothy. There is no mention of any three wishes in the film, suggesting that the Monkeys serve the witch out of fear, although the Golden Cap is seen briefly. The analogue to the Monkey King, one Nikko, whose wings have been clipped, is played by dwarf performerPat Walshe. He is seen in several sequences, including when he is ordered by the Witch to throw Toto in a river; an order that Dorothy prevents him from carrying out. Nikko is also shown with the Witch as she angrily throws down the hour glass after the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion rescue Dorothy, and once more after the Witch has melted. His name is shown only in the credits, as "Nikko" is never spoken on screen.
There is only a glimpse of the Golden Cap in the film: when Dorothy and the Lion awake after Glinda breaks the spell on the poppies conjured by the Witch, she is seen watching them in anger in her crystal ball. Nikko hands her the Golden Cap and she utters the "somebody always helps that girl" line, before throwing the cap across the room angrily. The reason for this brief appearance comes from a scene deleted from the final film. In the script, after the Witch conjures up the poppies that put Dorothy, Toto, and the Lion to sleep, she orders Nikko to fetch the Golden Cap so she can summon the winged monkeys and they can take the Ruby Slippers from the sleeping girl. However, she never gets a chance as the spell is broken before she can. In the film, the cap looks almost identical to the original artwork by W. W. Denslow in the book.
The musical number "The Jitterbug" dealt with a magic insect sent by the Witch to weaken the invaders before the Monkeys arrived to catch them. The visual footage is lost, but the soundtrack survives, and the song is often incorporated into stage productions based on the movie, with extra activity for the Monkeys to perform.
A particularly clumsy and incompetent band of Winged Monkeys serves a resuscitatedWicked Witch of the West in the 1964 animated television specialReturn to Oz.
InThe Wiz, the African-American rock adaptation ofThe Wizard of Oz, the Flying Monkeys are a motorcycle gang, whose leader is named Cheetah, after theTarzancharacter. They lack natural wings, but are bonded to their motorcycles, which bear metallic wings. After being returned to their normal forms, the Monkeys carry Dorothy and her friends back to the Emerald City.
The Winged Monkeys appear inThe Wizard of Oz (1990), with one of them named Truckle (voiced byPat Fraley) serving as the Wicked Witch of the West's chief sidekick. He is shown as capable of speech and even gets to wear the Ruby Slippers for a brief time. Truckle leads the winged monkeys who were loyal to the Wicked Witch of the West into performing a ritual to resurrect her.
InThe Muppets' Wizard of Oz, the Winged Monkeys are a peaceful group of "motorcycle enthusiasts" and are played bySal Minella,Sweetums,Crazy Harry, Black Dog, Calico, Old Tom, Spotted Dick, and Aretha fromFraggle Rock. The winged monkeys are placed under the Wicked Witch of the West's control when she obtains their Magic Biker Cap. Forced to do her bidding, the winged monkeys ride their motorcycles through the skies of Oz, performing the Wicked Witch of the West's dirty work. After the Witch is melted in a bathtub filled with tap water, Dorothy returns the Magic Biker Cap to Sal Minella, freeing the Winged Monkeys.
Flying Monkeys appear in the 2008 filmInkheart where they are summoned to the real world by Capicorn and kept in a pen alongside the other summoned creatures.
InBill Willingham'sVertigo comic book seriesFables, a winged monkey namedBufkin is a clerk and librarian in the Business Office belonging to the government of Fabletown, a community of refugee fairy-tale characters ("Fables") living in modern-day New York City.
The winged monkeys appear inOz the Great and Powerful. Oscar Diggs befriends a winged monkey named Finley (voiced byZach Braff) after saving him from a lion. The film also includes WingedBaboons, which make up the armies of Theodora and Evanora. They are feral, incapable of speech, and have leathery bat-like wings.
In the music video "Heretics and Killers" by Canadian bandProtest The Hero, the band is seen performing in winged monkey suits. A newspaper at the beginning also indicates the monkeys are out of work, so they try finding ways to make money.
The winged monkeys appear in the third season ofOnce Upon a Time. This culminates in a plotline revolving around the winged monkeys taking Storybrooke's inhabitants to convert into winged monkeys. After the Wicked Witch's defeat, everyone who was turned into a flying monkey return to their human forms.
In a Danny Shanahan cartoon from theNew Yorker (September 26, 2016), a surgeon tells a flying monkey that the witch is dead by touching him on the shoulder and saying, "Ding-dong."
In the ITV (and PBS) sitcomVicious, Freddie (Ian McKellen), who incessantly insults Mildred (Hazel Stewart), the mother of his partner Stuart (Derek Jacobi), observes that one can be sure that Stuart's mother has indeed arrived if one looks out the window and sees flying monkeys.
The Flying Monkeys appear inDorothy and the Wizard of Oz. Some of them are on the side of the Wicked Witch of the West's niece Wilhemina and are led by Frank and Lyman (voiced bySteve Blum andJess Harnell).
In the third volume ofShazam!, the winged monkeys are shown as inhabitants of the Magiclands location called the Wozenderlands. Working for the Wicked Witches of the North, South, East, and West, they pursue theWhite Rabbit to take him prisoner. The White Rabbit runs from the winged monkeys and is saved byMamaragan,Eugene Choi, andPedro Peña.[3]
In the 2008 animated seriesThree Delivery, a boy turns into a flying monkey from eating a fortune cookie created with the Fu Fortune Cookie recipe, which can make whatever fortune that is written comes true. He uses the recipe to turn other children into flying monkeys (including Tobey) to make friends under the mantle of "The Monkey King".
InThe Super Hero Squad Show episode "Night in the Sanctorum!",Enchantress uses her magic to create an illusion of "winged primates of peril" to bombard Super Hero City so theLethal Legion can seek the wreckage for Infinity Fractals.
Although not a direct adaptation to the literature itself, the 2013Super Sentai series,Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger features theDeboth Army's members being themed after the characters inThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Resentful KnightEndolf is designed with the motif of winged monkeys, whose possession of Dogold's shock restrains parallels his source of inspiration's fate of being enslaved to the Golden Cap. InPower Rangers Dino Charge, he was adapted asSinge.
In the 2017 seriesEmerald City, the Flying Monkeys are mechanical creatures that the Wizard uses to spy on his subjects. They are able to record and play what they have seen.
In theAmazon Video seriesLost in Oz, the Flying Monkeys are regular monkeys with robotic wings who serve Fitz, the apprentice of Langwidere.
The termflying monkey has been used in popularpsychology to refer toenablers of an abusive person, such as anarcissist or asociopath. It particularly indicates someone who does work on the behalf of the abuser, as the Winged monkeys do for the witch in the original book.[4]
The abuser will typically use family, friends, or coworkers who are loyal and/or subservient to them as flying monkeys to subvert or attack their intended targets. The flying monkey may act as a courier of information between parties, or as someone who pleads the case on behalf of the abuser. The flying monkeys themselves might buy into the abuser's false personality, might be too afraid of the abuser to stand up to them, or may themselves suffer from a mental disorder that the abuser exploits, such as having narcissistic or sociopathic tendencies themselves.[5]
