Who are Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion in Wicked? Original identities revealed
26 November 2024, 18:04
Which characters from Wicked become the Tin Man, the Lion and the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz? Their original identities and what happened to them explained.
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While many people flocking to the cinema to see the Wicked film (starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande) are already huge fans of the musical and know every word to every song on the soundtrack, others are experiencing the story for the first time on the big screen.
Most of the people new to the story of Elphaba and Glinda should already know that it is an alternative take on the true story of the Wicked Witch of the West from the 1939 film Wizard of Oz.
While Wicked is a completely different story in it's own right, it does touch on some of the plot of Wizard of Oz - and incorporates some of the same characters, but just not as you've seen them before.
That's right, if you've already seen Wicked Part One then you've already met the Tin Man, the Lion and the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz, and in the highly anticipated Wicked Part Two you will get to find out how they became the three companions of Dorothy.
Before we reveal who each of these characters are, and how they become the Tin Man, the Lion and the Scarecrow, there's a little background you need to understand as the story changes depending on whether you look at the book or the musical (and now film).
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was originally written by author L. Frank Baum in 1900s, and it was later adapted into the film Wizard of Oz in 1939. Wicked, on the other hand is a musical (and now film) adapted from a different book by a different author.
Wicked was adapted into a musical from Gregory Maguire's fantasy novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, released in 1995. This is the first of a four book series released by Maguire, who went on to write Son of a Witch (2005), A Lion Among Men (2008) and Out of Oz (2011).
While the musical is based on Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the story does differ in many ways, which changes the storyline of some of the characters, including the Tin Man, the Lion and the Scarecrow.
Who is the Tin Man in Wicked?
In Wicked (the musical), the Tin Man is Boq Woodsman, Elphaba and Glinda's fellow student at Shiz University. In the musical, Boq ends up in a relationship with Elphaba's sister, Nessa, despite being in love with Glinda.
After Nessa becomes desperate for Boq to truly love her, she accidentally mispronounces a love spell which shrinks his heart. To save his life, Elphaba turns him into tin, hence, the Tin Man. This part of the on-stage musical is expected to feature in Wicked Part Two, as it does in the musical.
The original story of the Tin Man, from Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is, however, very different and a lot darker.
In the book, the Tin Man is originally called Nick Chopper, a man of Munchkinland who finds himself in trouble after his sweetheart's mother takes umbrage with their romance.
To stop Nick and her daughter from being together, the mother asks Nessa (Elphaba's sister who later becomes the Wicked Witch of the East) to enchant his axe to cut off all his limbs and kill him (yikes), which she does.
Who is the Lion in Wicked?
You also meet the Wizard of Oz's Cowardly Lion in Wicked, but again, if you don't know what you're looking for you could miss it.
The Lion is in fact the little cub that Elphaba and Fiyero release into the wild after he's brought into their classroom at Shiz University in a cage.
In the musical of Wicked, there is a moment where the Tin Man can be seen on stage holding the Lion's tail and encouraging him to come out (which he doesn't) making a comment about how if Elphaba had let the Lion fight his own battles, he wouldn't be so cowardly.
Again, this won't be seen on-screen until Wicked Part Two is released.
Who is the Scarecrow in Wicked?
The character you know as Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz is in fact Elphaba's love interest, Fiyero Tigelaar.
The backstory of how Fiyero became the Scarecrow differs from book to musical, so here's it put simply; in the musical, as Elphaba sings No Good Deed, she casts a spell to save his life, which in turn causes his to transform into the Scarecrow.
Believed to be the same in the Wicked Movie (Part Two), Fiyero returns as the Scarecrow when he helps Elphaba escape after she fakes her own death. The end of the story concludes with Elphaba and Fiyero leaving together to start a new life.
In the book, however, it's not as black-and-white and this. It is never confirmed whether the Scarecrow is actually Fiyero, as Elphaba only suspects he is her old lover disguised.
