The Wizard of Oz (1939) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Dorothy decides to run away after learning that Almira Gulch obtained a sheriff's order to take her dog Toto away. However, she is persuaded to return home when Professor Marvel, a fortune-teller, tells her that Aunt Em is worried about her. This decision places Dorothy at home just as the tornado strikes, allowing her to be swept away to Oz.

Foreshadowing: Earlier scenes establish Dorothy's deep bond with Toto, making her desperate choice to protect him understandable.

• Dorothy
• Toto
• Professor Marvel
• run away
• Kansas
• tornado

When the tornado hits, Dorothy cannot access the locked storm cellar, so she takes refuge inside the farmhouse. The tornado lifts the entire house and carries it through the sky. The house eventually lands in Munchkinland, in the magical Land of Oz, with Dorothy still inside and unharmed.

Foreshadowing: The storm cellar being locked prevents Dorothy from taking the conventional safe shelter.

• tornado
• house
• Oz
• Munchkinland
• storm cellar

When the Wicked Witch of the East is killed by Dorothy's falling house, the ruby slippers fall onto Dorothy's feet. Glinda then places the slippers on Dorothy's feet, explaining they will protect her from the Wicked Witch of the West. Glinda cannot simply take them because their magic works only when worn, and she wants Dorothy to have protection during her journey to the Emerald City.

Foreshadowing: Glinda's gift of the slippers sets up the central plot device that enables Dorothy's eventual return home.

• ruby slippers
• Glinda
• Wicked Witch
• protection
• Munchkinland

The Wicked Witch cannot simply remove the ruby slippers because their magical protection prevents her from doing so. When the Witch tries to snatch the slippers, Dorothy pulls them back, demonstrating that the magic prevents the Witch from taking them by force. The Witch must instead trick or force Dorothy into giving them up willingly.

Foreshadowing: The Witch's inability to directly take the slippers forces her to resort to increasingly dangerous schemes.

• Wicked Witch
• ruby slippers
• magic
• protection
• steal

The Wicked Witch explains that she is made of evil magic that is vulnerable to water. When Dorothy accidentally splashes her with a bucket of water while trying to extinguish flames on the Scarecrow's arm, the water dissolves the Witch's magical form entirely, causing her to melt away.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, the Witch shows fear when Dorothy threatens to throw water on her, hinting at this weakness.

• Wicked Witch
• water
• melt
• death
• weakness

When Toto pulls aside the curtain, Dorothy and her friends discover that the Wizard is simply a regular man operating machinery to create his frightening holographic appearances. He confesses to being a humbug, an ordinary man who was blown to Oz in a hot air balloon and used fear and spectacle to maintain his position as ruler of the Emerald City.

Foreshadowing: The Wizard's demands for the broomstick before helping them delays this revelation, giving time for suspicion to build.

• Wizard
• Emerald City
• fraud
• humbug
• machinery

While Dorothy possessed the power to return home all along, she was not aware of how to activate it. Glinda reveals at the end that Dorothy simply needed to tap her heels together three times and repeat 'There's no place like home.' Dorothy needed to learn this lesson through her journey and the growth she experienced in Oz.

Foreshadowing: Glinda's cryptic advice about following the yellow brick road suggests Dorothy must complete a journey of self-discovery first.

• ruby slippers
• home
• Kansas
• Glinda
• return
• journey

The Wizard's tokens, a diploma, a heart-shaped clock, and a medal, are actually symbolic. The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion had possessed intelligence, love, and courage all along; they simply needed to believe in themselves. Their actions throughout the journey demonstrated these qualities, proving they already had them.

Foreshadowing: Throughout their adventures, each character consistently displays the very traits they believe they lack.

• Scarecrow
• Tin Man
• Cowardly Lion
• brain
• heart
• courage
• Wizard
• token

As the Wizard prepares to leave in his hot air balloon, Toto becomes agitated and jumps off the Dorothy's lap to the ground. Dorothy immediately follows to grab him, and in the chaos, the balloon departs without her. The exact reason for Toto's behavior is not fully explained, though it may be due to fear of the balloon or the crowd.

Foreshadowing: Toto's escape earlier in the film when captured by the Witch's flying monkeys establishes his tendency to break free and lead rescues.

• Toto
• balloon
• Kansas
• escape
• Wizard

Glinda explains that Dorothy needed to discover the power herself through her journey. The adventures Dorothy experiences, building friendships, facing danger, and learning self-reliance, are essential to her character growth. If Dorothy had simply returned home immediately upon arriving in Oz, she would not have grown or understood the value of home.

Foreshadowing: The yellow brick road journey forces Dorothy to develop courage, compassion, and intelligence.

• Glinda
• ruby slippers
• power
• reveal
• journey
• growth