Shaggy Man - Character Biography

Character Biography

The Shaggy Man appeared at the Kansas home of Dorothy Gale one day in August, asking for directions to the nearby town of Butterfield so as to avoid going there by accident, for he wants to avoid a man who would return a loan of fifteen cents: as "Money...makes people proud and haughty. I don't want to be proud and haughty." Dorothy agreed to show him the way, but after a short time the two became inexplicably lost. The Shaggy Man told Dorothy about a magical device he has called the Love Magnet, which causes the owner to be loved by everyone he meets. He claimed that this artifact was given to him by "an Eskimo in the Sandwich Islands."

Eventually Dorothy and the Shaggy Man realized that they were wandering in an unknown fairyland. After a series of adventures, he and Dorothy reach the Deadly Desert, where his ingenuity lets them pass safely over the sands. Arriving in the Land of Oz, they found that their journey was prearranged so that Dorothy could attend a birthday party for Princess Ozma. The Shaggy Man was awed by the splendor of the fairy-realm, and resolved to live there permanently. Upon being questioned by Ozma, he revealed that he actually stole the Love Magnet from a girl in Butterfield, but was without remorse because doing so had allowed him to travel to Oz with Dorothy. Nevertheless, eager to be a good subject to the princess, he agreed to Ozma's decree that the Love Magnet be donated to the Emerald City and hung over the city gates.

In The Patchwork Girl of Oz, the Shaggy Man serendipitously arrived to rescue Ojo and his traveling companions from man-eating plants that attacked them along a yellow brick road in the Munchkin Country. In Tik-Tok of Oz, it was revealed that the Shaggy Man had a long-lost brother who was being held prisoner by the Nome King. Much of that book revolves about his efforts and those of his companions to rescue and disenchant this brother. Finally, the Shaggy Man decides to give up Oz to remain with his brother and other companions; the prospect of losing him from Oz persuades Ozma to allow these others to enter Oz. Much like the Shaggy Man himself, this brother has no name which is ever revealed to the readers, and is simply identified as "the Shaggy Man's brother." He was called Wiggy in the stage version.

In The Shaggy Man of Oz, the love magnet has worn through the nail and broken, and the Shaggy Man must go to the creator of the love magnet, Conjo (a retcon) in order to have it fixed. To get there, he visits many of the places visited in John Dough and the Cherub.

In the modern Oz book Queen Ann in Oz (1993), authors Carlson and Gjovaag give the Shaggy Man a personal name — Shagrick Mann.