Oz, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, Lion

The relationship between Oz, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion is the central transactional engine of the second half of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Oz, the ruler of the Emerald City, presents himself as a Great and Terrible Wizard, but he is in fact a common man from Omaha, a ventriloquist and balloonist who has no magical powers at all. Each of Dorothy's companions approaches him with a specific, heartfelt request—brains, a heart, and courage—and Oz, rather than granting these gifts freely, imposes a single, seemingly impossible condition on all of them: they must kill the Wicked Witch of the West. This demand binds the four travelers together in a shared quest that tests their loyalty, resourcefulness, and courage, even as Oz himself remains hidden behind a series of elaborate illusions.

The Imposition of the Deadly Task

When the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion each enter the Throne Room, they encounter Oz in a different terrifying form—a lovely Lady, a terrible Beast, and a Ball of Fire, respectively—but the Wizard's answer is always the same. To the Scarecrow, who begs for brains, Oz declares, "If you will kill for me the Wicked Witch of the West, I will bestow upon you a great many brains, and such good brains that you will be the wisest man in all the Land of Oz." To the Tin Woodman, who asks for a heart, the Beast growls, "Help Dorothy to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. When the Witch is dead, come to me, and I will then give you the biggest and kindest and most loving heart in all the Land of Oz." And to the Cowardly Lion, who seeks courage, the Ball of Fire commands, "Bring me proof that the Wicked Witch is dead, and that moment I will give you courage." Each companion is thus made a party to the same dangerous errand, and their individual desires become inextricably linked to Dorothy's own wish to return to Kansas. The Lion, upon hearing the Wizard's terms, declares, "There is only one thing we can do, and that is to go to the land of the Winkies, seek out the Wicked Witch, and destroy her," and the others immediately agree, setting out together on the perilous journey to the West.

The Deception Behind the Wizard's Power

Oz's authority over the companions is built entirely on illusion and fear. He reveals to them, after they have destroyed the Witch and returned to the Emerald City, that he is "just a common man" and "a humbug." The great Head Dorothy saw was "made out of many thicknesses of paper, and with a carefully painted face," hung from the ceiling by a wire, with Oz pulling a thread to make the eyes move and the mouth open. The lovely Lady was merely a dress and a mask, the terrible Beast was "nothing but a lot of skins, sewn together, with slats to keep their sides out," and the Ball of Fire was a ball of cotton soaked in oil. Oz confesses that he has "fooled everyone so long" and that his greatest fear was the real Witches, for while he had no magical powers, the Witches "were really able to do wonderful things." He admits that he lived "in deadly fear of them for many years" and was "willing to promise anything" if Dorothy would only destroy the Wicked Witch of the West. The companions' entire quest was thus predicated on a lie, yet Oz's deception paradoxically forces them to earn their desires through genuine action.

The Fulfillment of Wishes Through Humbug

Despite his confessed powerlessness, Oz does fulfill the companions' wishes—not through magic, but through clever trickery and psychological insight. He stuffs the Scarecrow's head with a mixture of bran, pins, and needles, calling it "bran-new brains." He cuts a square hole in the Tin Woodman's breast and inserts a silk heart stuffed with sawdust, which the Woodman declares "a beauty." He pours a green liquid from a square bottle into a dish and tells the Lion to drink it, assuring him that it will become courage once swallowed. The companions accept these gifts with profound gratitude, and each immediately feels transformed. The Scarecrow declares, "I feel wise indeed," the Tin Woodman feels his heart rattling in his breast and finds it "kinder and more tender" than his original flesh heart, and the Lion announces he is "full of courage." Oz, left alone, smiles to himself, reflecting, "How can I help being a humbug, when all these people make me do things that everybody knows can't be done? It was easy to make the Scarecrow and the Lion and the Woodman happy, because they imagined I could do anything." The relationship thus culminates in a paradox: the false Wizard gives the companions exactly what they sought, but the real transformation comes from their own actions and belief, not from any supernatural power.

The Aftermath of the Wizard's Departure

Oz's relationship with the companions ends abruptly when his balloon, intended to carry both him and Dorothy back to Kansas, rises into the air without her. He calls out, "I can't come back, my dear. Good-bye!" and is never seen again. The companions, however, do not resent him. The Tin Woodman says, "Oz was not such a bad Wizard, after all," and the Scarecrow agrees, "He knew how to give me brains, and very good brains, too." The Lion adds, "If Oz had taken a dose of the same courage he gave me, he would have been a brave man." Dorothy forgives him as well, noting that "he had done his best" and that he was "a good man, even if he was a bad Wizard." The Scarecrow, now the ruler of the Emerald City, sits in the throne and reflects on his good fortune, while the Tin Woodman returns to rule the Winkies and the Lion becomes the King of Beasts. Oz's legacy, though built on deception, ultimately empowers each of his former subjects to claim the qualities they believed they lacked, and the relationship between the humbug Wizard and his three petitioners becomes a story of how belief, action, and self-discovery can transform even the most ordinary of beings.