The Tin Woodman’s life was forever changed when he suffered a broken arm that turned gangrenous. Then, a normal man of flesh, he lived alone in a sparsely populated forest near Tilshire, and sought help from his nearest neighbor, an eccentric old woman. Unbeknownst to him she was a powerful witch, and she put him to sleep with a spell before whisking him away to her hidden fortress. There, she amputated the limb, and replaced it with an arm of tin and cogwork powered by magical gems within. The witch told him that as she had saved his life, it now belonged to her. She then used him as a test subject for further macabre experiments.
One after another, she replaced the Woodman’s arms and legs with tin. Then she took the rest of his body, piece by piece – all but his brain. With a heart of enchanted crystal, muscles of gears and pistons, and eyes of polished glass, he was an amazing creation, but a wretched, suffering creature. His former identity was destroyed. But, he was not broken.
The witch lost interest when there was no more of the now ‘Tin’ Woodman to replace. He used that lapse in vigilance to escape. After stumbling upon his old woodcutting ax, he hacked through palisades and wooden gates with inhuman strength. He fended off the witch’s patchwork minions, traveling through dark forests and along lonely roads. He felt hollowed, soulless, his heart no longer Human. He recalled what emotions were, like anger and loneliness, and he reasoned that by all rights he should be experiencing some of them strongly. But he felt no trace of these familiar mental states.
After many months, he came upon Dorothy Gale as she journeyed to find the Emerald Wizard. He accompanied her, seeking to regain his heart. Together with Dorothy’s other companions, they reached their destination, became friends, and even wrought revenge on the wicked witch. In the end, the Emerald Wizard showed The Tin Woodman that he had always had a heart, proven by his empathy for the suffering people he had seen, and his acts of heroism on their behalf. The way he experienced emotions may have changed, but they still were with him.
Afterwards, they parted ways, but vowed to reunite one day. The Woodman was drawn to the deeper overgrowth of Durham Forest, which grew day by day and encroached upon the wholesome farmland around it. He made it his mission to prune it back, despite the violent resistance from the Dark Elves there.
All seemed well for The Tin Woodman until he heard of a fellow woodman, old and dying alone. He was moved to pity, and went to the man’s house to comfort him. Unbeknownst to him, the tip had been a plot orchestrated by Ozilda, the witch’s vengeful apprentice. When he opened the cabin door, he was yanked through a portal to a terrible, inverted Teleria, a land called Oz.