Tin Woodman: Encyclopedia II - Tin Woodman - The classic books

Tin Woodman - The classic books

In the books, the origins of the character are rather gruesome. Originally an ordinary man by the name of Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman used to make his living chopping down trees in the forests of Oz. The Wicked Witch of the East enchanted his axe to prevent him from marrying the girl that he loved. The enchanted axe chopped off his limbs, one by one. Each time he lost a limb, Nick Chopper replaced it with a prosthetic limb made of tin. Finally, nothing was left of him but tin. However, the tinsmith who helped him neglected to give him a heart. Once Nick Chopper was made entirely of tin, he was no longer able to love the girl he had fallen for.

In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy Gale befriends the Tin Woodman and he follows her to the Emerald City to get a heart from The Wizard of Oz. They are joined on their adventure by the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion. The Wizard sends Dorothy and her friends to the Winkie Country to kill the Wicked Witch of the West.

The Wizard turns out to be a "humbug," and can only provide a placebo heart made of velvet. However, this is enough to please the Tin Woodman, who, with or without a heart, was all along the most tender and emotional of Dorothy's companions (just as the Scarecrow was the wisest and the Cowardly Lion the bravest). When Dorothy returns home to her farm in Kansas, the Tin Woodman returns to the Winkie Country to rule as emperor. In later books, he even constructs, for himself, a palace made entirely of tin — from the architecture all the way down to the flowers in the garden.

In The Tin Woodman of Oz, Nick Chopper finally sets out to find his lost love, Nimmee Ammee, but she has already married a man constructed partly out of his own discarded limbs.

A recurring problem for the Tin Woodman in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was his tendency to rust when exposed to the least bit of moisture. For this reason, the character eventually has himself nickel-plated and the Winkies are very proud to be ruled by the only nickel-plated emperor in history.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The classic books", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki