| Selva Chopper | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Personal Information | |
| Age | 26 |
| Gender | Female |
| Nationality | Winkie Country, Land of Oz |
| Family Information | |
| Marital | Single |
| Parents | Adora Chopper
Chadrick ("Chiseri") |
| Grandparents | Nick Chopper
Nimmie Chopper |
| Sibling(s) | Warrick Chopper |
| Alignment | |
| Affiliation | Oz
Calliope |
| Allies | Warrick Chopper, Emma Crewe, Elaine Crewe |
| Other Information | |
| First Appearance | Chapter 2 - Cover |
Selva Chopper is a talented witch and twin sister of Warrick Chopper. Selva briefly held the title of Wicked Witch of the East after having turned Hercilia into a pair of shoes and the King of the Munchkins into a hatbox. She is one of the six main cast members in the Namesake world, and the second person Emma meets in Oz during her initial journey.
She is a tall, beautiful young woman with gorgeous violet-purple skin and dark hair. Her elbow has a green birthmark. When she is her natural self, her friendly, joyful demeanor delights everyone. She loves life to the fullest, and it shows, be it by creating fantastic clothing with her magic, dancing, or exploring new things with the wide-eyed wonder of a child.
History[]
Childhood[]
Selva and Warrick were born to Adora Chopper, the magically created daughter of Nimmie Aimee and Nick Chopper (the original Tin Woodman 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; Selva and Warrick 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 her mother and brother, Selva possessed innate magical powers. She received her training from her mother and also spent a summer learning with Glinda the Good and Hercilia. During this time Selva became an expert in transformation and a friend to Hercilia.
Deaths of Adora and Grandparents[]
Selva and Warrick visited the castle of the West at Warrick's behest, ostensibly to find a potions book, but in reality her brother was searching for a way to keep the Dorothies from dying. Although Adora told them to keep away from any room marked with an "X", Selva and Warrick go into them anyway. Selva finds a large cabinet with a large X which is locked shut, but she severs the lock using her magic.
Selva frees the closet Monster.
Unfortunately, this frees an enormous woman-shaped
monster. The monster injures her brother. Adora attempts to save her children, but the strain breaks what is left of her heart, killing her. Although Ozma appears and saves the children, Selva suspects that Warrick never has fully trusted her since she set loose the monster that killed their mother.
The emotional strain of losing her daughter and the subsequent disappearing of Ozma cause their grandmother to become ill and die. Soon afterwards their grandfather, the Tin Woodsman, loses the will to live and rusts despite Selva's pleas.
Alone, Curse and Madness[]
Selva and Warrick travel to the North after their grandparents' deaths. Selva uses her magic to take up work as a seamstress. However, her brother falls ill and she becomes overprotective of him. He leaves one day and does not return for some time, causing Selva significant distress. When he does return, Warrick has become an undead creature with no heart, terrifying Selva, who slaps him in fear when he says he can "help" her by removing her heart as well. Warrick reacts with violence and rage, and Selva throws him out of their house. The twins separate for six years.
Warrick's curse has several unintended side effect - Selva becomes extremely paranoid. She isolates herself, and when she does leave to visit Anlise she sees that Anlise has become infected by poppies. Selva begins turning people into objects to protect them, reasoning that if you didn't have a head, you couldn't become a poppy.
Emma's Journey to Oz[]
Transformation[]
Selva accidentally transforms herself into a purse.
Emma arrives in Oz just in time to witness Selva's coronation as the new ruler of the Munchkins, having disposed of both Hercilia, former Witch of the East, and turned the King of the Munchkins into a hatbox. Emma's disruption of the ceremony causes Selva to fly into a madness-induced rage. She attempts to transform Emma, but Emma's cellphone deflects the spell, which hits Selva instead, causing Selva to become a purse. Emma, in an unexpected act of mercy, lies to Anlise and gives her own purse to the witch to destroy and takes Purse Selva on her way to the Emerald City, sparing her life.
Selva transforms herself back into a human.
Selva remains a purse for much of Emma's journey, by her side, but silent. Warrick states that Selva could change back any time that she wished, but that she was "sulking." Selva chooses to change back into a human at her brother's behest when their group is captured by Glinda's Guard. She frees them and reconciles with her brother, accepting his apology for previous transgressions.
Selva then briefly explains to the others the effect that her brother's spell had upon her. She also states that, similar to Warrick, Emma has a calming effect upon her. Selva's madness appears to be under control from this point in the story onwards.
Rescuing Ozma[]
Selva aides Emma and her companions in entering the Emerald City by trapping a vine. When they find the city completely overrun by vines she is eager to help in any way that she can, going for Warrick's axe to chop vines manually when no other means are available to her. She is horrified when the black amorphous monster emerges from her uncle's head, immediately recognizing it as akin to the Beast that killed her mother. Like her brother, Selva is stricken when the Scarecrow soon after succumbs to his injury and dies.
After Emma returns from containing the monster outside of the city, Selva helps her brother in nursing her friend back to health, making her a new dress when Emma's clothes have to be replaced. Selva regains her cheerful and enthusiastic natural personality.
Revelation of her Father[]
Renge, under guard and chains, tells the others a story of how she came to be wizard and how Ozma came to be buried in the vines. Warrick leaves the room, distraught that he may have hurt Ozma, and reveals aloud that
Selva changes Chadrick back into a human.
Chiseri is his father in front of her watching sister. Selva immediately transforms Chiseri, now formally shown to be Chadrick, back into human form. She is upset at this concealment and lashes out at Warrick for "being a martyr," though she soon after apologizes to him.
Chadrick soon after explains how Emma is able to return home and Selva, unlike her brother, is immediately happy that Emma can get back to her world.
Gap Year, Wanderlust[]
Her Power Restored[]
With Warrick in possession of a heart once again, Selva is no longer vulnerable to the power drain. Her abilities were already mind-numbingly powerful, and now they are more so. The Shadow is clearly worried about her being its opponent, as she can manufacture the hated Vorpal Metal against it without ending.
Friends[]
Selva was the first to step up and join Calliope, pulling Warrick with her. Alice Purcell's words, 'prisoner or warrior?' deeply affected her and she didn't hesitate to use them on her brother to get him to join her on Earth.
Selva loves Earth. Being free of all the past in Oz means she has the chance to develop herself, as herself. She also has a better relationship with Warrick since they can see each other without the past getting in the way. When Warrick is healed she starts crying from relief and joy.
Outgoing and outspoken, Selva's honesty has collected a lot of friends. Her first meeting with the other magic-users at Calliope couldn't have gone better, and she was soon put to work creating useful things--such as clothes that shrink or expand with its owner's size! Since transmutation is her skill, it is only a matter of time before she can think her way out of any problem--we so far have not seen her limits when she is thinking clearly.
Selva is currently madly in love with Alice Purcell, and these feelings are reciprocated. We can thank Wendy Shepard for ever-so-gently nudging Selva into taking the first step. Alice calls her 'my witch to reckon with'.
Tempted by the Shadow[]
The Shadow's specialty is exploiting weakness, and it separated Selva from the others in the darkness, hoping to whisper corruption in her ears. It promised her the things she wanted: wanderlust, exploration. It failed to grasp Selva has other desires: her brother's cure and happiness with Emma Crewe; life with Alice; being useful in Calliope. Her past trauma and paranoia possibly made her hypersensitive to BS, as she soon figured out the Shadow was afraid of something about her. Before long she was creating Vorpal Metal out of nothing with her transmutative powers, and using it as a weapon.