Warning: This article contains MAJOR spoilers for Wicked: For Good.
Fiyero Tigelaar is no dummy, so WTF is he doing with Dorothy throughout Wicked: For Good? We know from The Wizard of Oz that Dorothy ultimately tosses a bucket of water on the Wicked Witch of the West, AKA the love of Fiyero’s life, so it’s only natural to wonder what inspires him to join forces with the gingham-clad Kansan and traverse the Yellow Brick Road with her, a man made of tin, a lion afraid of his own shadow, and a leashed Border Terrier.
Much like the second act of the musical on which it is based, Wicked: For Good can be a bit confusing if you haven’t watched The Wizard of Oz in a while, or simply missed the breadcrumbs strewn about both Wicked films. After Fiyero meets his unfortunate fate, for example, he’s not seen again for most of the film, or at least that’s what first-time viewers are left to believe. Fans of the Broadway musical already know that he’s been transformed into the Scarecrow and largely becomes a background character as Dorothy’s story comes more to the forefront. Why does Fiyero team up with her? Did he really lose his brain, and how does he pull off that shocking finale?
Why Does Fiyero Team Up with Dorothy, and Has He Completely Lost His Mind?
When Dorothy meets the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, he reveals to her that he does not have a brain and desperately wants one. He even does a whole song-and-dance number about it (“Dancing Through Life,” anyone?), with details about what he’d do if he procured one. With this as our frame of reference, it’s understandable why viewers would assume that Fiyero similarly needs a brain after Elphaba casts the spell that transforms him into a man made of straw. However, his post-transformation actions make one wonder if his brain is actually still very much intact.
After he’s beaten by palace guards, strung up in a cornfield, and saved by Elphaba, Fiyero enters Dorothy’s story as the Scarecrow– not because he necessarily wants to help her, but because he has his own agenda. You’ll recall that in The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy helps the Scarecrow down off the wooden pole he’s stuck to before saying she’s off to see the Wizard. Assuming that all of this happens off-camera in For Good, Dorothy’s unexpected appearance gives Fiyero the opportunity he needs to join her on the Yellow Brick Road, return to the Emerald City, and formulate a plan to reunite with Elphaba.
Call me crazy, but none of this would be possible if Fiyero’s brain were completely gone. Even in the Land of Oz, he couldn’t possibly befriend a random farm girl, travel back to the Emerald City, and formulate a plot to save the woman he loves with a missing hippocampus. Without a brain, he wouldn’t even remember that he’s in love in the first place! His plan is cleverly hatched, and only because he has the wherewithal to know that, given his new form, no one in Oz is going to recognize him, making him the perfect double agent. As far as Dorothy knows, the Scarecrow is helping her on her mission to return home while simultaneously seeking his heart’s desire from the Wizard. Unbeknownst to her, he’s actually using her to get back to Elphaba, and may have fabricated the whole needing-a-brain part altogether.
Fiyero’s Plan is Even More Brilliant Than You Think
Remember that moment in “Thank Goodness” when the Ozian citizens share the rumors they’ve heard about Elphaba? One of them says, “I hear her soul is so unclean, pure water can melt her.” This results in the crowd collectively singing, “Please, somebody go and melt her!” Fiyero, who is standing next to Glinda when he hears this, is immediately outraged. “People are so empty-headed, they’ll believe anything,” he tells her, a cheeky wink at his (alleged) impending fate as well as the notion that the Ozians are gullible AF and thus easy to influence. This moment plants a seed in Fiyero’s brain, one that stays with him even after he’s transformed into the Scarecrow.
Once he arrives in Emerald City with Dorothy, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion, the audience sees a shot of the four of them looking up at the Wizard, who tasks them with bringing him the Wicked Witch’s broomstick. This is when the rest of Fiyero’s plan comes together, as he knows exactly which weapon is most likely to convince the Ozians that the Wicked Witch is legitimately dead. Director Jon M. Chu revealed (via EW) that Chistery brought Elphaba a note from Fiyero, which led to her preparing the water bucket for Dorothy to conveniently discover. This also explains why she would tell Glinda that they’ve “seen [Fiyero’s] face for the last time.” She’s not wrong– he’s a scarecrow now, meaning his good looks have been replaced by burlap– but she also doesn’t tell Glinda the whole truth: that he’s alive, and that their plan is to escape Oz together.
Fiyero then convinces Dorothy to toss a bucket of water on Elphaba, Elphaba fakes her own death, and everyone from Dorothy to Glinda believes that she’s dead for good. When Fiyero reunites with Elphaba at the end of the film, he tells her that “it worked”– “it” being the plan, which never would have happened had he not overheard the Ozians’ belief that Elphaba could be melted with water. It’s a brilliant plot, one that even Glinda believes (despite having a brain of her own), and one that could not have been orchestrated had Fiyero not still possessed something of a frontal lobe. Though it may feel yucky to viewers that he essentially played Dorothy to get what he wanted, he did what he needed to do to reunite with Elphaba and achieve the happy ending both of them deserved.
- Release Date
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November 21, 2025
- Runtime
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137 Minutes
- Writers
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Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox, Gregory Maguire
- Producers
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Marc Platt, David Stone