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The Oompa-Loompas are small humans who were preyed upon by the various predators that reside in their homeland before Wonka invited them to work at his factory. They are paid in their favorite food, cocoa beans, which were extremely rare on their island. The Oompa-Loompas are mischievous, loving to play practical jokes and singing songs which, according to Wonka, they are very good at improvising. They sing a song at the end of each child's comeuppance. In the 2005 film, the Oompa-Loompas are all played by Deep Roy and are virtually identical. They wear their tribal clothing during their time in Loompaland. They are workers at Willy Wonka's factory.

Origin[]

Oompa-Loompas formerly lived in Loompaland, a place filled with trees and strange creatures such as Wangdoodles that frequently attack the Oompa-Loompas. As such, they live high above the ground in treehouses, allowing them to be safe from the dangerous predators below.

The Oompa-Loompas diet consists solely of green caterpillars, which tastes revolting; as such, they tried to add other ingredients to make the taste better, such as red beetles and the bark of the bong-bong tree. However, the one that taste the best was the cocoa beans, however cocoa beans were so rare that finding three to four each year was lucky for them. Because of its scarcity, the Oompa-Loompas worshiped the cocoa bean as a god, even holding rituals and festivals to honor it.

Wonka discovered the Oompa-Loompas while searching for new ingredients for his candy, and lived with them for a few days, learning their culture and desire for cocoa beans. He then offered to bring them to his factory, where they can live and become his workers in exchange for an endless supply of cocoa-related products. The leader of the Oompa-Loompas agreed to his offer, and the Oompa-Loompas have been living there since.

Appearance[]

Oompa Loompas in Chocolate Room

Oompa Loompas in Red

Oompa-Loompas are short beings that look identical to each other. They have brown-colored skin, black hair, and masculine faces. Female Oompa-Loompas look the same (as shown by the brief stop by the administrative office in the Great Glass Elevator). They are seen wearing different uniforms in each room, such as a red uniform in The Chocolate Room and a black uniform in The Inventing Room.

All Oompa-Loompas seem cheerful and happy all the time, which is prominently shown in The Chocolate Room and when they sing songs for the four children. They also like to tease and have fun with the tourists, an example being their lack of seriousness when rolling Violet Beauregarde.

Despite this cheery facade, they run everything in the factory seriously and are loyal to Wonka and the factory, even going as far as to sacrifice themselves to protect its success, which is shown when twenty of them became blueberries when testing out Wonka's gum, and when some of them tried to stop Mike Teavee from accessing the teleporter. This is likely because of their gratefulness for Wonka and his decision to bring all of them to the safety of his factory, as they see him as their leader.

Trivia[]

  • Actor Deep Roy played all 165 Oompa Loompas. Deep Roy took Pilates and dance classes to prepare for the role.
  • In the 2005 film, the Oompa-Loompas are all played by Deep Roy and are virtually identical. They wear their tribal clothing during their time in Loompaland, and typical factory worker uniforms in Wonka's factory. Some of the female Oompa-Loompas, like Doris, work in the administration offices. In the reboot, Willy Wonka explained to the visitors how the Oompa-Loompas were hired to work in the factory.

Gallery[]

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