List of Fables characters

This article is a list of fictional characters in the Vertigo comic book series Fables, Jack of Fables, Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love, Cinderella: Fables Are Forever and Fairest, published by DC Comics.

These are the characters who do not belong in any other category.

Flycatcher

Main article: Flycatcher (comics)

Hope

Hope is one of the great powers, belonging to the same group as Mr. Dark and The North Wind. Just like others of her kind, she has her own personal magic box artifact, her Pandoran jar. The character, who is from the story of Pandora and Pandora's box, has appeared in several stories; she is the mysterious being who serves as an adviser to Snow White and Rose Red, taking the form of Colin Pig, Boy Blue and Snow and Rose's mother (from Snow White and Rose Red). Her true form is first seen, briefly, in an illustration for the Rose Red story arc, when Dunster Happ explains about the great powers. Earlier in the same story arc, Rose asks the spirit to show her true form, which it does, but the reader doesn't get to see what Rose sees. Hope's identity as the spirit is revealed in the final issue of the Super Team story arc, where she explains to Rose Red that hope is neither destiny nor strategy, but that she tries to champion those who can direct their hopes into actions. Hope has several paladins working for her, including Santa Claus, The Little Match Girl, and the false bride from the fairy tale The Goose Girl.

The Devil(s)

A group of Devils that Jack Horner made a deal with to prolong his life in the Jack of Fables story "Jack o' Lantern". According to the final issue of Jack of Fables, they are all The Devil.

Red Riding Hood

Red Riding Hood used to live quietly in her cottage in the Homelands where she would often remain undisturbed for long periods. Her peaceful life was occasionally disrupted by a summons to the Warlock's Hall where, unbeknownst to her, magical fetches of her were created, allowing another to take her form in order to infiltrate groups that were against the Adversary. An unnamed sorceress used her form to infiltrate the citadel at World's End during the Fables last stand in the Homelands, and during her stay she became romantically involved with Boy Blue. The sorceress's eventual fate is unknown. More recently, Baba Yaga used her form to infiltrate Fabletown in preparation for an invasion by the Adversary's Wooden Soldiers. Shortly after the incident, Boy Blue launched a covert mission into the Homelands which resulted in the real Red Riding Hood being brought to Fabletown, leaving the woman facing considerable animosity as a result. Upset by this reception and confused by the very different world that she found herself in, Red first latched on to Boy Blue, then Flycatcher when Blue left for the Farm to serve his sentence there, as both men are among the few who have no issues with her.

Red attended Bigby and Snow's wedding with Flycatcher, but, although she found Bigby oddly familiar, she failed to recognise his human form as being her old foe. After returning, she ventured out into the mundane city to have a makeover with the aim of attracting Fly. He was, however, shocked when he saw her, and ran away, ultimately reverting to his frog form. After Ambrose's humanity was restored by Santa and the spirit of his deceased wife, restoring his memories and causing him to fall into severe depression, Ride scolded him for attempting to starve himself rather than exact revenge. Ride's message led Fly to start his journey through the Witching Well and to eventually form the Haven. After Fly's Haven was established and became safe, Boy Blue brought Ride along with him so she could move there. She told Fly she would assist him by taking care of queenly duties, until he found himself a proper queen. During the latest story arc, Fly finally kissed Red, turning himself back into a frog. However, he refused to allow his curse control him and changed back into himself. At the end of the story, tired of being alone, he asks Red to share his bed with him, which she accepts delightedly.

The Tourists

The Tourists are a group of three Fables who originally worked for Bigby Wolf on keeping track of those Fables who have chosen not to live in Fabletown or up at the Farm. Since Bigby's departure, they now work for his replacement, Beast.

Mowgli

The first Tourist is Mowgli, from The Jungle Book. He is assigned the mission of tracking down the missing Bigby and bringing him back to Fabletown. While this is outside the Tourists' normal duties, he accepts the mission when Prince Charming informs him that his friend Bagheera, imprisoned for his role in the Farm revolt, would be freed once his mission was completed. Mowgli is primarily given this assignment because, unlike the other Tourists, he was raised by wolves, and thus knows how Bigby would think. The task takes many months and covered thousands of miles, but Mowgli is ultimately successful. During The Good Prince, Mowgli replaces King Cole as ambassador to Baghdad, as well as running an English-language school for Arabian Fables participating in the war against the Empire.

Feathertop

The second Tourist is Feathertop, the animated scarecrow from a Nathaniel Hawthorne short story. He appeared in "A Wolf in the Fold", a prose tale in the series' first trade paperback, where he accompanies Snow White on her mission to invite the Big Bad Wolf to join them in Fabletown in approximately 1650. He was chosen because, as an entity made of straw and vegetation, the Wolf would be unable to read his emotions and would find him unpalatable. His identity as one of the Tourists tourist is confirmed in Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love, where he appears in silhouette in a single panel.

The Woodsman

Bill Willingham has identified the third Tourist as being the Woodsman[1] from the tale of Little Red Riding Hood He appears in flashbacks from the fairy tale in the March of the Wooden Soldiers story arc and the Fables graphic novel 1001 Nights of Snowfall. In addition, all of the tourists are shown in silhouette in Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love, but not referred to by name. The Woodsman is also mentioned in The Great Fables Crossover, in which Bigby implies that he still harbours vengeful feelings for him and is just as mad at him as he is at Jack (which does mean a lot) and that his current whereabouts are unknown. The Woodsman makes an appearance in the prequel adventure video game The Wolf Among Us

Tommy Sharp

Tommy Sharp was a writer for the Daily News. He somehow got wind that there was something unusual about the Fabletown community and spent several years following it up. He tracked down records detailing the Fables' possession of the area right back to when the city was called New Amsterdam, compiled a number of personal histories and located photographs of several of the Fabletown residents going back to the beginnings of photography, proving that none of them had aged a day. He also secretly trailed Bigby Wolf, a not unimpressive feat, given the Wolf's massively enhanced senses and witnessed him changing to his wolf form in Central Park. In the story A Two-Part Caper, Sharp came to Fabletown and asked to speak to Bigby, with the aim of giving the Fables a chance to respond to his story prior to publication as a journalistic courtesy. Explaining to a visibly amused sheriff that he believed them to be vampires, Sharp stated that he would shortly be publishing his story.

The concerned Wolf, realizing that even if nobody official believed the story, they'd be inundated with goths and vampire-wannabes, quickly formulated a plan to steal all of Sharp's research, using Briar Rose's enchantment to put all the occupants of the building to sleep while they ransacked his apartment. It quickly became apparent, however, that Sharp had backed all his information on the internet. Bluebeard, who was supposed to be keeping watch downstairs, insisted that they should simply shoot Sharp, belittling Bigby when he chose a different course of action. Kidnapping Sharp, the Fables took a number of photographs of him posed with Pinocchio, in such a manner to make it appear that Sharp was a pedophile. They then informed Sharp that if he published his story, they would release these photos, plus a videotape of an interview with Pinocchio where he explained what Sharp had supposedly done to him by pointing out on a teddy bear where Sharp touched him, thus destroying Sharp's reputation completely. Sharp had no choice but to cooperate.

Bluebeard, however, felt differently. Believing, as always, that he knew best and probably in no small part to spite Bigby, he summoned Sharp to Central Park where he asked Sharp if he had destroyed all his research; when Sharp confirmed he had, Bluebeard executed the journalist.

Gretel

After Hansel and Gretel's misadventure in the Homelands involving Frau Totenkinder, whom the children pushed into her own oven, Hansel and Gretel emerged from the Black Forest to find their land overrun by the Adversary's forces. They fled, staying ahead of the invading armies and taking sanctuary in one church after another until they learn of the mundane world. Arriving there in the mid-17th Century, they made their way to the newly established Fabletown, where they were shocked to discover Frau Totenkinder among the Fables already present. When informed that, under the terms of the Fabletown Compact, Totenkinder had been granted amnesty for her actions in the Homelands, a disgusted Hansel announced his intention to live among the mundane population, leaving his sister behind in Fabletown. Many years later, Hansel visited Fabletown, asking to see his sister, begging her to leave Fabletown. Gretel refused, explaining to him that she has spent time studying with Frau Totenkinder in the intervening years and has gained a new appreciation for the magic arts, seeing them not as the devil's work, but as a useful tool. Horrified and enraged, Hansel struck her viciously with a chair, snapping her neck instantly. As a result, Hansel was stricken from the Fabletown Compact and banished forever. Gretel's body was cast down the witching well. Her spirit remained there in a sort of limbo for centuries, until Flycatcher, his memory restored and finally ready to face his past, went down the well, finding all the ghosts of those who had previously been thrown there. Gretel was one of the many spirits who were given flesh and blood and followed Flycatcher to Haven.

Civilized Apes (maybe)

In Jack'n Apes of Jack Of Fables, Jack Horner claims that his own adventures inspired Edgar Rice Burroughs to write the whole Tarzan legend (which would then mean that either Tarzan does not exist in the Fables series, or he was just Jack) - and that, in turn, inspired Jack to go to Hollywood, which led to the creation of his own series. Apes and monkeys he claims to have met are:

Jack being an unreliable narrator and a pathological liar, it is impossible to tell for sure if he was telling the truth. On the other hand, he has told the truth on several occasions (about the Wooden Soldiers, about his days as Jack Frost and about the Literals, to name just a few) - besides, the insistence he displays when telling he did not have an affair with the female ape Jane may be proof that his tale is true ... at least partially.

Shadow Fabletown

A network of hidden Fable communities, scattered throughout the world, as seen in the Fables spin-off Cinderella: Fables Are Forever. Among the Fables of Shadow Fabletown are:

Japanese Fables

A group of characters and creatures from Japanese folklore. They live in a hidden Fable community in Tokyo, as seen in the Fairest story arc The Hidden Kingdom.

Others

The Wolf Among Us

Fables first introduced in the prequel video game The Wolf Among Us.

References

  1. "The New Fables Questions for Willingham thread". Fabletown: The Bill Willingham Forum. Jan 25, 2007.
  2. "The Project Gutenberg EBook of Aesop's Fables, by Aesop". Project Gutenberg. February 27, 2004.
  3. "Winnie The Pooh and All, All, All Alan Alexander Milne". The Linguist.
  4. Nevins, Jess, Willingham, Bill, Buckingham, Mark (2013). Fables Encyclopedia. New York. DC Comics. ISBN 978-1-4012-4395-1
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