Warrick Chopper

Warrick Chopper is a Mender, twin brother of Selva Chopper and one of the six major characters in the Namesake comic. He is the former Wicked Warlock of the West, having thieved, destroyed, and screamed his way into the title. Due to a self-inflicted curse Warrick's heart is removed from his body, causing his personality to be unstable. His search for his heart and an end to his curse is his primary mission in the story, as well as helping his friends.

Childhood
Warrick and Selva were born to Adora Chopper, the magically created daughter of Nimmie and Nick Chopper (the original Tin Woodsman of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.) Their father, Chadrick, left their mother, which many assumed caused her heart to break. In truth, her power and heart were weakened after giving birth to the twins. This permanent damage left her unable to directly care for her children, and Warrick and Selva were raised by their grandparents. Due to Adora's broken heart she became the first and only Neutral Witch of the West and lived separately from her children, seeing them infrequently.

Like their mother, Warrick and Selva possessed innate magical powers. When Warrick was a child he was visited by his mother and Princess Ozma, who informed him that he had Mending abilities, a kind of power to heal as well as build, shield and fix things. Ozma asked Warrick to allow her to train him, as she was the only other Mender in Oz. Warrick excitedly agreed, and asked if he might someday be able to fix his mother's heart. Ozma told him that if anybody could, it was probably him, despite the fact that Ozma herself was unable to heal Adora. At this point Warrick started to become infatuated with Ozma.

Adora's Death
Despite having promised to train him, Ozma sank into a deep depression following the death of one of the Dorothies and would see no one. Warrick convinced his mother to let himself and Selva visit the Castle of the West, the abandoned home of the Wicked Witch of the West, ostensibly to find a book. In reality Warrick was looking for some knowledge of the Witch's that would enable him to prevent the Dorothies from dying, and therefore help Ozma.

However, while searching amidst the Witch's belongings the twins unwittingly released an enormous humanoid black monster. The monster chased the twins and bit Warrick, whose scream of pain alerted their mother to the danger her children were in. Adora burst into the castle and attempted to protect her children, only to have the strain of the emotions she felt for her children completely destroy what was left of her heart, killing her. The monster scooped up Adora's corpse in its jaws and continued to pursue the children until Princess Ozma appeared and, seeming to embrace the monster, defeated it. Ozma soon after vanished from Oz. Although Warrick had only received a few lessons in mending from Ozma, he would continue to believe that he was to blame for not have healed his mother well into adulthood.

Death, Illness and Curse
Not long after Adora died Warrick's grandmother and grandfather passed away, seemingly of similar emotional devastation. Where Warrick had been bitten on his left arm black marks appeared, and he lost the use of his arm. Eventually he began to cough up blood and realized that he was dying. Without telling his sister Warrick traveled to the Castle of the West, where he found a biology book that contained not only a mysterious photograph of Ozma and another girl, but more importantly the "solution" to his problem. Using the same spell the Wicked Witch had used to become immortal, Warrick pledged his heart to Ozma, removing his heart physically from his chest and causing it to vanish. Warrick's arm immediately stopped hurting but he was soon reminded of a downside to the spell - his body would be destroyed by liquid water. He found a flying cloak and returned to his sister, who, unbeknownst to him, was affected by her brother's curse. Warrick offered to make sure Selva didn't "get sick" by removing her heart as well. Selva, frightened by the creature her brother had become, slapped him on the face. Warrick then lost his temper, grabbing and shoving his sister in an unprecedented act of rage. Selva threw him out of the house and the twins parted for six years, the first long separation in their entire lives. This is the turning point at which he and Selva become "wicked."

Although he and others believed that the spell had made him immortal, Warrick would later learn that he had actually killed himself by removing his heart and was actually an undead creature in stasis. He can only maintain this stasis by subliminally casting a healing spell on himself all the time, and that when he runs out of magic he will eventually siphon off all of Selva's as well.

Emma's Initial Journey to Oz
Warrick, now 26 and the Wicked Warlock of the West, at this point is living in the Castle of the West with a flying blue gumdrop shaped creature, Chiseri (later revealed to be his father, Chadrick) as his only companion. He observes Anlise from Ozma's (stolen) magic portrait and concludes that she has been brainwashed somehow by Renge. He makes a device which resembles a large hypodermic needle filled with fluid that he thinks will cure Anlise. Warrick flies to Elag to confront Anlise and unexpectedly encounters his long-lost Uncle Scarecrow as well as Emma and Agha. Soon afterwards Anlise arrives at Elag and destroys most of the town searching for The Dorothy - Emma. Warrick sticks Anlise with his "device" but it is useless and Anlise stabs him in the chest with a vine, appearing to kill him. After the battle Emma dissolves the vines in his chest, causing him to immediately revive.

Warrick heals Anlise's altered brain but is only partially successful, as Anlise loses much of her memory and accuses Warrick of murdering Ozma. He later reveals to his companions his life story, explaining that he did not die in the battle because the spell he cast makes him "the exception" to Oz's fading immortality spell. He and Anlise join Emma's cohort on the way to the Emerald City in order to save Ozma. When the party are captured by Sabion's forces, Warrick apologizes to his sister, Selva, who has been silently traveling with them all this time in the transfigured form of a purse. Selva frees the group and she and Warrick reconcile. Together he and Emma's companions enter the Emerald city and battle Renge's vines alongside Jinjur and Sabion's armies. Just as Renge is captured, in a dramatic twist the Scarecrow's head opens up and lets free an enormous monster, similar in appearance to the one that killed Adora. Warrick runs to Emma and covers her, and to his and everyone else's surprise creates a large green shield that contains the beast. Warrick is unpracticed at making shields and the strain is great, causing one of the eel-like creatures to escape, which is slain by Emma with her newly acquired vorpal sword. Emma leads the creature outside of the city, flinging herself off a cliff to bait it away from the others. Warrick flies down and catches her as she falls, and they successfully draw the creature away from the city, where the vines overtake it. Emma's powers portal them back to the city, where Emma collapses from her injuries.

Revelation of Ozma's Return to Oz and Chiseri's Identity
Warrick heals Emma, who wakes up three days after the previous events. After Emma shows signs of amnesia of the Scarecrow's death, Warrick confides that he is worried about her. Renge reveals that years ago Ozma returned to Oz and "something was burning through her chest." Warrick is horrified, believing that he has harmed Ozma with his spell, which was intended to help find her and bring her back to Oz. Warrick addresses his "minion" Chiseri for the first time as his father in front of Selva. Selva transforms Chiseri, actually Chadrick, Prince of Neer, back into human form. When Chadrick denies any wrongdoing in Adora's heartbreak Warrick angrily confronts him, only to be yelled at by Selva for "being a martyr." They soon after apologize again to each other for their mistakes.

After Renge finishes her tale Emma hacks Ozma out of the vines, a process that causes Warrick immense pain and causes him to faint. He tells Emma that he feels like "his bones are on fire." Chadrick tells Emma that he may have a solution to her returning home - to use one of the traveling orbs to get back to her sister. While everyone else reacts with happiness that Emma is at an end to her quest, Warrick exclaims "But... you can't!" However, Emma promises to return to Oz and they part ways as friends.

Making Amends, Gap Year
After Emma departed for Earth, Warrick and Selva found that they had a limited radius from Ozma that they could travel without becoming "wicked" again, due to the side effects of Warrick's curse. Despite this, Warrick went about Oz returning items he had stolen in order to fulfill his uncle's request. Warrick also read whatever he could about "the world of the Dorothies", and despite protesting to the contrary clearly missed her. He maintained total confidence that she would return to Oz, though.

Journey to Earth
After a year of being gone, Emma suddenly reappeared in Oz, bringing her sister, her best friend and members of Calliope. Warrick heals Emma from a severe arrow wound but is unable to completely withdraw the negative magic she absorbed. When she wakes up she expresses her worries and sadness to Warrick, who affirms her identity as a person, saying "there is nothing wrong with you." Emma impulsively hugs him. After he leaves her room, he experiences a small heartbeat.

At his sister's insistence, Warrick agrees to follow Emma and the others back to Earth to join Calliope. As he angrily packs, he realizes that he has deeper feelings for Emma.

The True Nature of Warrick's Curse
At Calliope Warrick undergoes a combat assessment and medical exam. He is able to suddenly create a shield when Emma destroys a wall, but is not able to summon them at will. Initially he is excited to receive training to become a more advanced mender, but his enthusiasm disappears when he is told the true nature of his curse - that not only is he dead, but that his continued existence will eventually kill his sister as well if his heart is not found and the curse broken.

When Warrick meets Nandita to be trained as a mender he initially refuses, stating he will return to Oz and never use his powers again. However, Nandita is able to help Warrick begin to overcome his guilt regarding his mother's death, drastically reducing the size of his chest scar. Warrick thanks her and regains optimism about his future.

That evening he meets Emma as she flees her room, waking up from a bad memory. She embraces him and they have a rare personal conversation. Warrick states that he came back in time to see Emma run from her room due to feeling like Emma was "fading away." He takes her hand, causing Emma to panic and bolt back to her room.

Selva Chopper
Warrick and his twin were never apart as children and young adults, and had a close affectionate relationship. After Warrick removes his heart they separate abruptly, causing yet further destabilization of their personalities. During Emma's journey to Oz they reconcile and become on good terms again.

Adora Chopper
Due to her damaged heart Adora and Warrick had a distant relationship. After her death Warrick retained significant guilt for not being able to save her until his healing began with Nandita.

Nimmie and Nick Chopper
Warrick's grandparents raised him and Selva. They had a close relationship until his grandparents' death.

Ozma
Warrick became infatuated with Ozma when he was a child. However, there is no indication that she saw him as anything more than an apprentice, even forgetting who he was. Despite this, Warrick became determined to end her depression regarding the Dorothies, searching for a key to immortality. He also pledged his heart to her, bringing her headlong back to Oz. As of Emma's journey to Oz he was still in love with her.

Emma Crewe
One of the key relationships of the Namesake plot is between Warrick and Emma. They start off as, at best, civil allies. In a turning point Emma becomes sick of Warrick's snide attitude and shoves him against a wall, telling him to "stop acting like a spoiled brat." He and Emma then are partners, along with their companions, in deposing Renge and finding Ozma. During their journey there are hints that they might be attracted to each other, though this is never fully acknowledged by either, such as when Warrick reacts with alarm at Emma returning to Earth, or Emma's sword suddenly becoming functional when Warrick enters the room. When Emma is away from Oz for over a year Warrick spends significant time studying Earth. Even though he had thought it was "pretty stupid" before Emma visited Oz, Warrick then says he wants to know what her world is like.

When Emma returns to Oz, and Warrick and Selva then follow her to Earth, their relationship deepens. In Oz Warrick realizes that he has romantic feelings for Emma, and he feels his heart beat in his chest after being around her. On Earth Emma realizes a few days later that she has feelings for Warrick, but this romantic chapter of their relationship remains at an early stage.

Appearance and Personality
Warrick's green skin and brown hair is inherited from his mother, who, being of floral origins, was half green and half purple. Warrick is green everywhere save his left knee, which is purple. He otherwise resembles his father, having a pointy nose and chin. Warrick is 6 feet tall and about 153 pounds and is noted for being extremely skinny due to having put himself in stasis when he was ill. He has a scar on his right hip from having been burned by a cauldron with water, and a large scar on his shoulder from being bitten He has a large fist-sized hole in his chest from where he cast out his heart. Nandita later heals this to the size of a small star-shaped scar. Being in stasis, he will not grow or build any muscle mass due to his curse. Warrick nearly always wears a long black enchanted coat that gives him the ability to fly. It was one of the items he found in the Castle of the West and formerly belonged to the Wicked Witch of the West. He also sometimes wraps his hands in bandages, a symbol of being a mender.

Warrick naturally is somewhat of a nerd and loves reading books. When he cast out his heart he had difficulty controlling his emotions, especially his anger. When he is near Ozma, and especially Emma, he feels normal again.