Lion or wyvern

I'm writing a Wizard of Oz parody, where the analog for Oz is a horrible hellish dimension. I got the majority of my 'party', and the only one left was the cowardly lion. Initially I was going to have him be a straightforward lion man. I was going to have his backstory be that he's a lion tamer, and he fused with his lion as he got sucked in (its just a thing that happens in that dimension. My munchkin kid analogs were horribly mutated). He was going to lament his cowardice to being whipped by his master.

Then I got to thinking how anvillicious that sounds. So, I was thinking of swapping him out for a wyvern transformation. He still plays the same role (guy that should be scary is a coward), it doesn't come off as animal torture as bad when it's a fictitious species, and it completely fits in the fantasy setting. However, I feel like I'm losing something by not having him be a lion. And I lose a bunch of my jokes when I change him into a wyvern monster.

Should I make him a wyvern monster, or keep him as a lion man?

Compromise with a chimera? You get lion and fantastic creature!

Plus, it's a pun!

edited 11th Jun '15 12:45:54 AM by Luthen

You must agree, my plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity! My Tumblr

What's the anvilicious bit?

Don't beat your pets with a whip and poke them with a chair. Anvil=dropped.

Now everyone pat me on the back and tell me how clever I am!

Oh.

A Space Whale Aesop.

I think a lion man's fine. Avoiding anything that could be seen as a story moral by people looking for one seems overly restrictive, really.

Real lion tamers dont use torture. Why not just have either the original lion, or the original tamer, have been naturally cowardly? It doesnt have to have been the result of the tamers actions.

Well, not torture per se, but I imagine the whip is there to instill fear.

I'm not trying to make an anti-circus story. That perception is exactly what I'm trying to avoid now.

I think I might stick with the lion. As much as I like the idea of a circus with multiple fantasy races, him being a wyvern kills some of my jokes. Granted, I could make new ones, but still.

EDIT: How is the chimera a pun?

edited 11th Jun '15 11:48:58 AM by washington213

"Well, not torture per se, but I imagine the whip is there to instill fear."

No, it isnt. Modern animal tamers dont use whips, if you see one during a performance, it's pure theater. Touching an animal with a whip will get you arrested, these days.

Maybe not a pun exactly. But any Mix-and-Match Critter can be called a chimera. So chimera + human = chimera.

You must agree, my plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity! My Tumblr

Well then, that works even better for me.