Constructed being in The Oz Series

Tin Woodman

Also known as a man made entirely of tin, this funny tin man, this tin man, a Woodman, and made of tin, the poor Woodman, the happy Woodman, the tender-hearted Woodman, the kind-hearted Woodman, their Emperor, the Emperor of the Winkies, his Majesty, my metallic friend.

A man made entirely of tin, jointed at the neck, arms, and legs, who was once a Munchkin wood-chopper. After the Wicked Witch of the East enchanted his axe, it slipped again and again and severed his limbs, head, and body, each replaced in tin by a tinsmith until he had no heart and lost his love. Polite and grateful, he is found rusted immobile in the forest and, once oiled free, joins Dorothy's party to ask Oz for a heart.

Appears in 58 chapters, first in chapter 5, last in chapter 95.

This encyclopedia covers chapters 1 to 100 of the story and shows the world as it stands at chapter 100, so it contains spoilers up to that point. To read it spoiler free, one chapter at a time, open the interactive codex.

What the story establishes

Affiliation	Emperor and ruler of the Winkies; the old friend and comrade of the Scarecrow, whom he now allies with (together with Tip, Jack Pumpkinhead, and the Saw-Horse) to recapture the Emerald City. (as of ch. 35)
Age	An adult; he grew up, worked as a wood-chopper, cared for his mother until she died, and then stood rusted in the woods for over a year. (as of ch. 5)
Animating lack	A heart: his tin body holds no heart, so he lost all his love for the Munchkin maiden; having known both brains and a heart, he judges the heart's loss the greatest he has known and seeks one from Oz so he can love and marry again.
Appearance	The Emperor of the Winkies, composed entirely of pieces of tin neatly soldered and riveted into the form of a man, now nickel-plated so his body shines magnificently; he rattles and clanks a little as he moves, and wears an engraved star upon his left breast covering the patch where the Wizard set his heart. When first met he was thickly smeared head to foot with putz-pomade before being polished. (as of ch. 35)
Being nature	A being now wholly of tin: born a flesh man but rebuilt limb by limb into tin, self-aware and speaking, yet without a heart.
Body conditions	Entirely tin, jointed at the neck, arms, and legs; his joints had rusted solid until oiled free, after which they moved as good as new.
Conflict	His defining lack — being heartless and unable to love since his dismemberment — is resolved this chapter: Oz cuts open his breast and sets a kind heart inside, so he now has the heart he sought. (as of ch. 16)
Construction material	Tin throughout: legs, arms, head, and finally the whole body were made for him by a tinsmith, the limbs and head fastened to the tin torso by joints so he can move as well as ever — a body that shines brightly in the sun and cannot be cut by his axe.
Creation account	Born a flesh-and-blood Munchkin, the son of a woodman: after the Wicked Witch of the East enchanted his axe, it cut away his left leg, right leg, both arms, his head, and at last split his body in two — and at each loss a tinsmith rebuilt the missing part in tin, until nothing of the original man remained and he was a jointed man of tin without a heart.
Current goal	Achieved his goal of defending Eureka and saving her life: she was proved innocent and freed through the substitute-piglet trick, so with the trial over the defense goal is fulfilled. (as of ch. 88)
Dialogue style	Polite, gentle, and reflective; speaks in a sad voice, recounts his life-story at length, and reasons philosophically that a heart matters more than brains. (as of ch. 5)
Equipment	Carries and wields his axe, now refitted with an axe-handle of solid gold and its blade polished free of rust to glisten like burnished silver; also given a silver oil-can inlaid with gold and set with precious jewels by the Winkies. (as of ch. 13)
Gender identity	man (as of ch. 5)
Green spectacles count	1
Health condition	Sound and in excellent order: having become somewhat scratched during his adventures, he has had himself nickel-plated, and after being polished his body shines magnificently; his heart, he insists, is orthodox though larger and warmer than most. (as of ch. 35)
Is alive	yes (as of ch. 5)
Maintenance needs	Must be oiled at the joints regularly to prevent rust; if his joints rust he seizes up entirely and cannot move at all.
Material vulnerabilities	Rust is his one danger: rain — or even his own tears — rusts his joints and jaws solid, and a forgotten oiling once froze him in the woods for a year; he depends utterly on his oil-can. He can also be dented, as the others fear for him on jagged rocks.
Maturation stage	Adult
Modular parts	Assembled from separate tin parts — a tin head, two tin arms, two tin legs, and a tin body — fastened together by joints by a tinsmith.
Motive	To regain a heart so that he can love again and return to marry the beautiful Munchkin maiden. (as of ch. 5)
Personality	Polite, grateful, gentle, and sentimental; he prizes feeling and happiness over intellect and mourns the loss of his heart above all. (as of ch. 5)
Quirks	Must oil his joints regularly or they rust and freeze him motionless; anxiously insists his oil-can be carried in case of rain. (as of ch. 5)
Referential profile	masculine (as of ch. 5)
Sex profile	nonbiological (as of ch. 5)
Skills	An expert wood-chopper; he clears a passage through thickly overgrown branches with his axe for the whole party. (as of ch. 5)
Social status	Emperor of the Winkies, invited to rule over them after the Wicked Witch was destroyed; he keeps a splendid palace, a Lord High Chancellor to run the kingdom in his absence, and imperial servants, tailors, and laundry, and prefers the title 'Emperor' to 'King'. (as of ch. 35)
Special capabilities	Being made of tin, he cannot be cut or hurt by his axe and feels no bodily pain from it, and he needs neither food nor sleep.
Status	Successfully defended Eureka at her murder trial: after the jury recommended death he produced the Wizard's substitute piglet from beneath his funnel hat to prove her innocent and free her, then smashed the vase with his axe to release Ozma's real lost piglet. The trial is now over. (as of ch. 88)

Relationships

ally of · Dorothy ch. 5
Dorothy gladly welcomes the rescued Tin Woodman into her party for the journey to the Emerald City.
subordinate to → Ozma ch. 57
The Tin Woodman serves as commander of Ozma's army and obeys her orders, assembling the soldiers of Oz at her command for the campaign to free the royal family of Ev.
ally of · Woggle-Bug ch. 37
The Tin Woodman welcomed the Woggle-Bug into the party, but this chapter, wearied by the Bug's punning, the kind-hearted Woodman menacingly twirls his gleaming axe until the frightened Bug shrinks away and humbly promises to restrain himself.
enemy of · Mombi ch. 36
Mombi becomes the Tin Woodman's enemy, working magic to stop him along with the Scarecrow so the heroes cannot reach the Emerald City.
ally of · Scarecrow ch. 5
With the Emerald City restored to Ozma, the Scarecrow chooses to go home with the Tin Woodman to the Winkies, accepting the post of Royal Treasurer and pledging never to be parted from his friend.
rules → City of the Winkies ch. 35
The Tin Woodman rules the City of the Winkies as its Emperor, reigning from his domed palace.
ally of · Cowardly Lion ch. 6
The Tin Woodman, whose tin body blunted the Lion's claws, becomes his fellow traveling companion once the Lion joins the party, and discusses with him whether a fast-beating heart proves the Lion has a heart.
provides service → Jack Pumpkinhead ch. 36
When the Saw-Horse stumbles into a rabbit hole and pitches Jack into the air, the Tin Woodman skillfully catches the falling pumpkin head and saves it from injury.
includes ← ozma_rescue_expedition ch. 57
The Tin Woodman marches with the expedition alongside Tiktok, having assembled the army of twenty-seven and committed to going despite the risk of his tin melting in the furnaces.
indebted to ← Queen of the Field Mice ch. 9
Having had her life saved by the Tin Woodman, the Queen of the Field Mice owes him a life-debt and holds all her mice at his service; this chapter she honors it again, coming fearlessly at his whistle, lending a dozen mice, and guiding the party to the Emerald City (fulfillment_status: pending, repaid in recurring service).
leader of → the twenty-seven soldiers ch. 55
The Tin Woodman marches at the head of a company of twenty-seven variously uniformed soldiers; when the twenty-six officers order the private to retreat and flee in terror of the Nomes, the Tin Woodman pursues them, halts them, and threatens to have Ozma reduce all the officers to privates and promote the private to general if they flee again, restoring order and command over the army.
ally of · Tip ch. 36
Traveling together in the party marching to retake the Emerald City, the Tin Woodman (with the Scarecrow) takes Tip on as one of their friends and companions.
provides service ← Field Mice ch. 9
The Field Mice serve the Tin Woodman and his party again this chapter: the dozen loosed from the Scarecrow's straw rout Jinjur's Army, freeing the disarmed Tin Woodman from captivity and his sentence of destruction.
provides service → Winged Monkeys ch. 14
The Winged Monkeys carry the Tin Woodman through the air to the Emerald City; wary at first from their past treatment, he rides on cheerfully once he sees no harm is meant.
subordinate to ← Lord High Chancellor ch. 35
The Lord High Chancellor serves under the Tin Woodman as his chief minister, entrusted to govern the Winkie kingdom on the Emperor's instruction while he is away.
provides service → Oz ch. 17
The Tin Woodman chops a big pile of wood and makes the fire whose hot air Oz uses to inflate the balloon for his launch.
subordinate to ← Scarecrow ch. 48
The Scarecrow becomes the Tin Woodman's Royal Treasurer in the Winkie kingdom, the two friends resolving never to be parted.
rules → Winkies ch. 27
The Tin Woodman rules the Winkies in the yellow West country: having helped destroy the Wicked Witch of the West, he was invited by the grateful Winkies to become their ruler.
frees ← Billina (ended) ch. 67
Billina touches Prince Evring's tin whistle and speaks the magic word 'Ev,' instantly disenchanting the Tin Woodman, who had been transformed into the whistle by the Nome King's magic and carried unknowingly in the Prince's pocket.
discovers ← Billina (ended) ch. 67
Billina realizes that the tin whistle Prince Evring picked up in the Nome King's palace is actually the enchanted Tin Woodman, explaining why neither she nor the magic belt could find him earlier.
rescues ← Field Mice (ended) ch. 39
The field mice's stampede of the Army rescues the disarmed Tin Woodman from captivity and his sentence of being fed to the goats.
captures ← General Jinjur (ended) ch. 39
At Jinjur's signal a girl snatches the Tin Woodman's axe from behind, disarming him, and the Army takes him prisoner along with his comrades.
kills → Kalidahs (ended) ch. 7
Following the Scarecrow's plan, the Tin Woodman chops away the near end of the tree-bridge just as the two Kalidahs are nearly across, dropping them into the gulf where both are dashed to pieces on the sharp rocks below.
captures → Mombi (ended) ch. 45
Fond of flowers, the Tin Woodman plucks a big red rose from a bush in the palace garden and pins it to his tin bosom, unknowingly carrying the disguised Mombi out of the city into Glinda's camp — completing the quest's capture without anyone suspecting it.
imprisoned by ← Mombi (ended) ch. 45–46
[CASCADE] Created by CAPTURES(tin_woodman→mombi)
commands ← Oz (ended) ch. 11
Oz, in the shape of the Beast, commands the Tin Woodman to help Dorothy kill the Wicked Witch of the West, directing him to return only when the Witch is dead to receive his heart.
creates → the Gump (ended) ch. 41
The Tin Woodman builds the flying machine (the Gump) on the palace roof from salvaged materials, binding two sofas together for a body, fastening the antlered Gump's head as a figure-head, adding four palm-leaves as wings and a broom as a tail.
rescues ← Dorothy (ended) ch. 5
Dorothy oils the rusted Tin Woodman's neck, arm, and leg joints with the oil-can from his cottage, freeing him from a year of paralysis and saving his life.
expresses love ← Dorothy (ended) ch. 67
When the Tin Woodman is restored by Billina's whistle-touch, Dorothy throws an arm around him and hugs him tight in her joy at having him back.
protects → Eureka (ended) ch. 88
The Tin Woodman defends the accused kitten Eureka before the jury, pleading her innocence, and saves her from execution by producing a substitute white piglet from under his hat.
threatens ← General Jinjur (ended) ch. 39
Jinjur decrees the Tin Woodman's destruction, ordering that he be cut into small pieces and fed to the goats.
negotiates with ← Oz (ended) ch. 11
Oz, as the Beast, tells the Tin Woodman he must earn a heart by helping Dorothy kill the Wicked Witch of the West; when the Witch is dead he will give him the biggest, kindest, most loving heart in all the Land of Oz.
gives ← Oz (ended) ch. 16
Oz gives the Tin Woodman a heart: he cuts a square hole in the tin breast with tinsmith's shears, inserts a pretty heart made of silk stuffed with sawdust, and solders the tin back over it, leaving a patch; the Woodman is greatly pleased and grateful.
gives ← Oz (ended) ch. 87
The Wizard gives the Tin Woodman one of his eight remaining tiny piglets, to be hidden and later produced as the supposedly lost piglet to save Eureka.
persuades ← Oz (ended) ch. 87
The Wizard persuades the reluctant Tin Woodman to conceal a substitute piglet and use it to prove Eureka's innocence by a trick, overcoming his dislike of deceiving friends.
communicates with → Oz (ended) ch. 11
The Tin Woodman enters the Throne Room, where Oz has taken the shape of a terrible Beast; he tells the Beast he is made of tin and has no heart, and asks to be given a heart that he may be as other men are.
repairs → Saw-Horse (ended) ch. 37
The Tin Woodman amputates one of Jack Pumpkinhead's wooden legs, whittles it down, and fits it as a new left leg for the broken-legged Saw-Horse, restoring it to working order.
expresses love ← Scarecrow (ended) ch. 67
Overjoyed at the Tin Woodman's sudden return, the Scarecrow throws himself upon his old comrade's bosom in surprise and delight.
communicates with → Scarecrow (ended) ch. 35
The reunited friends confer: the Scarecrow reports the girl-rebels have driven him from the Emerald City and looted its treasury, and the shocked Tin Woodman resolves at once to march and recapture the city and restore the Scarecrow to his throne.
transforms ← the Nome King (ended) ch. 61
The Nome King transforms the Tin Woodman into an ornament after he fails his guessing game, and finds the resulting ornament so funny that he laughs uncontrollably.
oath bound → Wicked Witch of the West (ended) ch. 11–12
The Tin Woodman is bound by Oz's condition to help Dorothy kill the Wicked Witch of the West to earn a heart, and pledges to go with the others though he has no heart to harm even a Witch. Fulfillment_status: pending.
threatens ← Army of Revolt (ended) ch. 35
The rebels are reported to intend marching on and capturing the castle and city of the Tin Woodman himself, extending their conquest beyond the Emerald City.
rescues → Cowardly Lion (ended) ch. 9
The Tin Woodman builds the truck, helps lift the heavy sleeping Lion onto it, and pushes from behind to draw him out of the poppy bed to safety.
rescues ← Cowardly Lion (ended) ch. 8
The Lion swims the drifting raft to the bank while the Tin Woodman holds fast to his tail, saving the Woodman from the runaway current.
reveals secret to → Dorothy (ended) ch. 5
The Tin Woodman tells Dorothy his life-story: how the Wicked Witch of the East enchanted his axe to dismember him piece by piece until he was rebuilt in tin and lost his heart.
rescues → Dorothy (ended) ch. 8
The Tin Woodman helps carry the poppy-drugged Dorothy out of the deadly flower field in a chair made of the two constructs' joined hands.
protects → Dorothy's Traveling Party (ended) ch. 12
The Tin Woodman stands guard over the sleeping party and single-handedly meets the pack of wolves, chopping off the head of each of the forty wolves so none can harm his friends.
includes ← Dorothy's Traveling Party (ended) ch. 6–23
The Tin Woodman travels with the company, seeking a heart from Oz.
imprisoned by → General Jinjur (ended) ch. 39–48
[CASCADE] Created by CAPTURES(general_jinjur→tin_woodman)
acquires resource → green spectacles (ended) ch. 10
At the Emerald City gate the Guardian of the Gates fits the Tin Woodman with a pair of green-glassed spectacles and locks them on with his key, as Oz's decree requires of everyone entering the City.
injures → Jack Pumpkinhead (ended) ch. 37
To provide a new leg for the Saw-Horse, the Tin Woodman amputates Jack Pumpkinhead's left leg, to which Jack reluctantly submits.
gives ← Oz (ended) ch. 88
The Wizard lets the Tin Woodman (Nick Chopper) use one of his nine piglets to produce in court as a substitute for Ozma's lost pet.
discovers → Oz (ended) ch. 15
The Tin Woodman discovers Oz is a humbug with no magic, and is shown that the terrible Beast he faced was only sewn skins on slats.
shows respect → Oz (ended) ch. 84
The Tin Woodman warmly welcomes the returned Wizard and thanks him sincerely and respectfully for the heart he once gave him, saying it beats as kindly and lovingly today as it ever did.
shows respect → Ozma (ended) ch. 47
When the restored Princess Ozma arises, the Tin Woodman, with the other comrades, bends his head low in honest admiration of the lovely Princess.
deceives → Ozma (ended) ch. 88
The Tin Woodman deceives Ozma by producing a substitute piglet from under his funnel hat and passing it off as her lost pet to prove Eureka innocent.
rescues → Queen of the Field Mice (ended) ch. 9
By beheading the pursuing Wildcat, the Tin Woodman saves the little field mouse's life; she proves to be the Queen of all the Field Mice.
repairs → Saw-Horse (ended) ch. 86
The Tin Woodman cuts a limb from a tree with his axe and fashions a new leg and ear for the damaged Sawhorse, fastening them securely in place.
mourns ← Scarecrow (ended) ch. 61
The Scarecrow grieves for the Tin Woodman, lamenting that his old comrade has become an ornament and is lost to him forever, and worries that being laughed at by the Nome King will hurt his friend's pride.
reveals secret to → Scarecrow (ended) ch. 5
The Tin Woodman recounts to the Scarecrow how he came to be tin and heartless, explaining why he longs for a heart.

103 further relationships are in the interactive codex.

From the text

I shall take the heart... for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.Chapter 5

“I have no heart, you know, so I am careful to help all those who may need a friend, even if it happens to be only a mouse.”Chapter 9

“I am a Woodman, and made of tin. Therefore I have no heart, and cannot love. I pray you to give me a heart that I may be as other men are.”Chapter 11

“It is, I am convinced, a strictly orthodox heart, although somewhat larger and warmer than most people possess.”Chapter 35

A good heart is a thing that brains can not create, and that money can not buy.Chapter 48

was a man made entirely of tin. His head and arms and legs were jointed upon his body, but he stood perfectly motionless, as if he could not stir at all.Chapter 5

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