the tin man

Nick Chopper was born and raised in the eastern quadrant of Oz known as Munchkin Country. He was the son of a skilled lumberjack who sold the wood he cut for a living. When Nick grew up he followed in his father's footsteps and became a lumberjack, and when he passed away he took care of his elderly mother until she died too. Nick was lonely, so to stop the pain in his heart from loneliness he decided that he would start a family, that he would get married. Nick fell in love with a beautiful Munchkin girl named Nimmie Amee, he asked her to marry him and she promised to marry him, as soon as she got enough money to make her a better house. So Nick began to work with all his might. She was a lovely woman but she worked as a full-time servant to an old woman who did not want to lose her servant, so he went to the wicked witch of the East and promised her two sheep and a cow if she could stop the wedding. The wicked witch cast a deadly spell on Nick Chopper's axe, and when the woodcutter raised his axe it magically slipped from his hands and instead of cutting the trunk he ended up severing his left leg. Nick went to the nearest tinsmith and asked him to make him a tin one. And he went back to chopping; without realizing that he had enraged the witch even more, the axe slipped again. His flesh limbs were lost and then replaced by tin ones, until one day the axe slipped and he cut off his head, for a moment he believed himself dead and the wicked witch victorious until the Tinsmith found him and made him a tin head. Nick went back to chopping a few days later believing himself victorious, but the witch would make her axe slip one last time, so Nick ended up cutting himself completely in half. Being found by the Tinsmith once again, he created him an articulated body completely out of tin, he no longer needed to sleep or eat. And when he realized that he no longer had

Still, Nick continued to cut down trees, feeling proud of his now shiny metal body. He typically carried his oil can with him wherever he went, but one day he forgot it and was caught in a storm, leaving him in the woods with his axe raised high. He lay there for over a year, motionless and rusty. During this time, he reflected on his past, and that the most painful loss had been that of his heart, because when he was in love, he had been the happiest man on earth.

When Dorothy and Scarecrow found him, he decided to accompany them to Emerald City, determined to get a heart to love again and thus be able to marry his fiancée. Throughout the journey, he showed that he is a pious and loving person. After receiving his heart and saying goodbye to Dorothy, he would agree to rule the Winkies (as emperor), who had asked him to be their new ruler after the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. The Winkies are said to be the most skilled tinsmiths in the world, they built for the woodcutter a large tin castle, with a tin flower garden and decorated with tin statues of the emperor's personal friends (The Road to Oz). The tin man was nickel-plated.

He would help Scarecrow stop General Jinjur and her rebellious army. After Ozma regained her rightful place as queen of Oz, Scarecrow would accept Nick's invitation to be his royal treasurer. (The Marvelous Land of Oz)

The Tin Woodman commanded Princess Ozma's army and was briefly a green tin whistle shaped like a pig (Ozma from Oz).

He was the defense attorney at the trial of Eureka the Cat (Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz).

The Tin Man would absolutely refuse to allow Eye to tear the wing off a yellow butterfly in order to save Margolotte and her uncle from a life as marble statues (The Rag Doll of Oz).

He is made entirely of hollow, shiny silver tin, skillfully articulated, and if well oiled is able to move silently and with ease. Nick was once a man of flesh and blood, a Munchkin lumberjack, before gradually replacing his fleshly body with a metal one with no internal organs, brain, lungs or heart, making him unable to sleep or eat, though he is prone to rust and paralysis. He always carries his axe with him.

Heartless or not, he has always been the most sensitive and emotional of Dorothy's companions; when he accidentally squashed a bug while walking along the Yellow Brick Road to see the Great Wizard he was heartbroken.

Nick has always been proud of his tireless and brilliant tin body, and of course, his heart.