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how does fiyero turn into the scarecrow

In the musical version of Wicked, Fiyero is transformed into the Scarecrow by Elphaba’s spell in a desperate attempt to save his life.

Here is a breakdown of the events:

  • Fiyero’s Capture: After choosing to be with Elphaba, Fiyero confronts the Wizard’s guards—the Gale Force—to protect her. He is captured by the guards and dragged away to be tortured for betraying the Wizard and Madame Morrible.

  • Elphaba’s Spell: Believing Fiyero is about to be killed, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) attempts to cast a powerful preservation spell from the Grimmerie (a magical book) during the song “No Good Deed.” She intends for the spell to make him impervious to harm.

  • The Transformation: Although Elphaba stops the spell before she thinks it is complete, the magic takes effect in an unexpected way. Instead of just protecting him, the spell transforms Fiyero’s body, removing his bones and vital organs, and turning him into the straw-stuffed, boneless form of the Scarecrow. This transformation saves him from the guards’ torture and death, as he is now an inanimate object, which the guards subsequently hang on a pole.

  • The Reveal: Elphaba, believing her spell failed and Fiyero died, later stages her own death. At the very end of the musical, the Scarecrow arrives, reveals his true identity as Fiyero, and opens a trapdoor to confirm Elphaba is alive. The transformation worked to hide him in plain sight, allowing the two to escape Oz together.

📚 Note on the Novel

It’s important to know that the stage musical’s version of Fiyero’s fate is a significant change from Gregory Maguire’s original novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.

  • In the novel, Fiyero is killed by the Gale Force. Elphaba later chooses to believe that the Scarecrow is Fiyero in disguise, but this is implied to be a delusion born of grief and paranoia, as her flying monkeys confirm that the Scarecrow is only stuffed with straw. The musical provides a much more hopeful, literal transformation.