List of Oz Characters - Princess Langwidere

Princess Langwidere is a fictional character who appears in Ozma of Oz, the third book in the Oz series. Her name is a pun on the words "languid" and "dear" or "languid air". As depicted in an illustration by John R. Neill, Langwidere's looks are styled on the Gibson girl standard of beauty which was popular at the time of this novel's publication.

Dorothy encounters the Princess in the land of Ev, which itself is separated from Oz by the Deadly Desert. After becoming stranded in Ev, Dorothy encounters Tik-Tok the machine man, who informs her that they must go to the royal palace of Ev to gain assistance in finding her way back home.

Along the way they have a run-in with a Wheeler, who informs them that the King of Ev recently committed suicide and the rest of the entire Royal Family of Ev is being held captive by the mysterious Nome King. The Wheeler explains that Princess Langwidere, the late king's niece, was the only living relative of the Royal Family "qualified" enough to assume rule of the kingdom — although this is highly debatable because, as the Princess herself later admits, she only spends 10 minutes of every day actually governing and tending to matters of state, and she would rather spend those 10 minutes admiring her beauty.

Princess Langwidere's most unusual feature is that she has 30 heads that are interchangeable on her neck — instead of changing her clothes every day, she simply changes her head. The heads, which inexplicably stay alive even when not being "worn," are kept in a bejeweled boudoir, and are described as all being very beautiful, running through all combinations of hair and eye colors (except for gray hair and red, tired eyes of course), skin tones, and even noses of different shapes to represent different ethnicities. They even have different personalities, as evidenced by head #17 which has an ungovernable bad temper. She wants to give it to Dorothy - and take HER head in exchange. Langwidere generally spends every waking moment of her life admiring whichever head she's currently wearing in a large mirrored hall, and "changing" heads whenever she wants to adopt a new look.

Princess Langwidere is referenced in Ruth Plumly Thompson's "Grampa in Oz", although her name is misspelled in that book. Except for that one instance, the character never appears in any other Oz books. In the 1985 movie Return to Oz, the character of Princess Mombi is largely based on Princess Langwidere. Langwidere is the principal villain of the 2006 stage musical Enchanted.

In the 2011 film Dorothy and the Witches of Oz, she is portrayed by Mia Sara. Princess Langwidere is depicted as one of the allies of the Wicked Witch of the West.