History Fridge / Fable

* ''Fable III'' introduces the ability to play as your hero in other heroes worlds. It's strongly hinted that this is possible through some form of alternate reality travel. Also in multiplayer, heroes can have sex with each other and even have children. But if all heroes are the sons/daughters of the old hero king/queen, than they share the same DNA. Which means they are, at the very least, [[IncestIsRelative half-siblings]] if not [[{{Selfcest}} more]]. Perhaps this should be put under a new category: Fridge Squick.

* Why does the Hero of Oakvale, unlike his descendants, need to replenish Will energy with augmentations and potions? Because back in him time, spells weren’t as streamlined (for example, he had to learn Enflame & Fireball separately instead of just learning Inferno, which combines both) and thus, spellcasting took more energy.

** Their mother, Scarlet Robe, only invested some points into Strength and spent half her life being tortured in a HellholePrison, not to mention being killed by Jack himself. No ordinary mortal could have lasted years, let alone decades, of torture and imprisonment.

** His ancestor, William Black/Scythe, was the first Hero to ever exist. He was not only powerful enough to defeat Jack, but he's also immortal. Dilution of the bloodline further down the centuries meant that the Hero and Theresa couldn't be both powerful AND immortal like him. The only reason he needed your help to fight Jack at all is possibly because the Sword of Aeons drained him of much of his vitality, leaving him a husk of his former self.

* Why does the Hero of Oakvale, unlike his descendants, need to replenish Will energy with potions? Because back in him time, spells weren’t as streamlined (for example, he had to learn Enflame & Fireball separately instead of just learning Inferno, which combines both) and thus, spellcasting took more energy.

* Why does the [[Videogame/FableIHero of Oakvale]] die of old age while his sister, Theresa, becomes immortal? It's most likely that all the skills the Hero learns are [[CastFromLifespan taking a huge toll on his body.]] Theresa only invests a few points and thus has more power available to keep her alive longer, but leaves her not being powerful enough to defeat [[PhysicalGod Jack of Blades]] or [[TheArchmage Maze]]. Being a MasterOfAll has a price.

* Why does the Hero of Oakvale die of old age while his sister, Theresa, becomes immortal? It's most likely that all the skills the Hero learns are [[CastFromLifespan taking a huge toll on his body.]] Theresa only invests a few points and thus has more power available to keep her alive longer, but leaves her not being powerful enough to defeat [[PhysicalGod Jack of Blades]] or [[TheArchmage Maze]]. Being a MasterOfAll has a price.

* Why does the Hero of Oakvale die of old age while his sister, Theresa, becomes immortal?It's most likely that all the skills the Hero learns are [[CastFromLifespan taking a huge toll on his body.]] Theresa only invests a few points and thus has more power available to keep her alive longer, but leaves her not being powerful enough to defeat [[PhysicalGod Jack of Blades]] or [[TheArchmage Maze]]. Being a MasterOfAll has a price.

* Why does the Hero of Oakvale die of old age while his sister, Theresa, becomes [[Immortality immortal]]? It's most likely that all the skills the Hero learns are [[CastFromLifespan taking a huge toll on his body.]] Theresa only invests a few points and thus has more power available to keep her alive longer, but leaves her not being powerful enough to defeat [[PhysicalGod Jack of Blades]] or [[TheArchmage Maze]]. Being a MasterOfAll has a price.

* Why does the Hero of Oakvale die of old age while his sister, Theresa, becomes immortal? It's most likely that all the skills the Hero learns are [[CastFromLifespan taking a huge toll on his body.]] Theresa only invests a few points and thus has more power available to keep her alive longer, but leaves her not being powerful enough to defeat [[PhysicalGod Jack of Blades]] or [[TheArchmage Maze]]. Being a MasterOfAll has a price.

* Why does the Hero of Oakvale die of old age while his sister, Theresa, becomes immortal? It's most likely that all the skills the Hero learns are [[CastFromLifespan taking a huge toll on his body.]] In the game, each skill ages the Hero .7 years. Theresa only invests a few points and thus has more power available to keep her alive longer, but leaves her not being powerful enough to defeat Jack or [[TheArchmage Maze]]. Being a MasterOfAll has a price.
** His ancestor, William Black/Scythe, was the first Hero to ever exist. He was not only powerful enough to defeat [[PhysicalGod Jack of Blades]], but he's also immortal. Dilution of the bloodline further down the centuries meant that the Hero and Theresa couldn't be both powerful AND immortal like him. The only reason he needed your help to fight Jack at all is possibly because the Sword of Aeons drained him of much of his vitality, leaving him a husk of his former self.
** Their mother, Scarlet Robe, only invested some points into Strength and spent half her life being tortured in a HellholePrison, not to mention being killed by Jack of Blades himself. No ordinary mortal could have lasted years, let alone decades, of torture and imprisonment.

** His descendants, the Heroes of [[FableII Bowerstone]] & [[FableIII Brightwall]], have even less Hero blood due to centuries of further dilution, which is why they can never become immortal nor become as powerful as their ancestor.

** His descendants, the Heroes of Bowerstone & Brightwall, have less Hero blood due to centuries of dilution, which is why they can never be immortal nor become as powerful as their ancestor.

* Why does the Hero of Oakvale die of old age while his sister, Theresa, becomes immortal? It's most likely that all the skills the Hero learns are [[CastFromLifespan taking a huge toll on his body.]] In the game, each skill ages the Hero .7 years. Theresa possibly only invests a few points and thus has more power available to keep her alive longer. Being a MasterOfAll has a price.

** Their mother, Scarlet Robe, only invested some points into Strength and spent half her life being tortured in a HellholePrison, not to mention being killed by [[PhysicalGod Jack of Blades himself.]] No ordinary mortal could have lasted years, let alone decades, of torture and imprisonment.

** Their mother, Scarlet Robe, only invested some points into Strength and spent half her life being tortured in a HellholePrison, not to mention being killed by [[PhysicalGod Jack of Blades himself.]]

* Why does the Hero of Oakvale, die of old age while his sister, Theresa, becomes immortal? It's most likely that all the skills the Hero learns are [[CastFromLifespan taking a huge toll on his body.]] In the game, each skill ages the Hero .7 years. Theresa possibly only invests a few points and thus has more power available to keep her alive longer. Being a MasterOfAll has a price.

* The much-exploited real estate system in ''Fable III'' and the implications of said exploitation explains Sparrow's monarchical rule quite a bit. Ostensibly, Sparrow's line became a royal dynasty because they toppled Lucifen and saved the world. But in the real world- and especially the Medieval and Renaissance world- you didn't tend to win the hand of the King's Daughter or a Crown just from saving the day; it tended to rely on a mixture of [[IOwnThisTown Property]], [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney Money]] and [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority military/combat power to expand your grasp or at least protect your investments]]. By the end of the game, players have singlehandedly killed Lord Lucien -- the most powerful figure presented in Albion -- and have also bought up all of the property available to buy in Albion, making most of Albion's citizens ''your tenants'' and dependent on you. So with the control over combat power, property, and money you established between those two, you basically made yourself the top FeudalOverlord of Albion by the end of the game. So, if you're already King/Queen in all but name, why not make it official and give your children something to pass on?

* The main hero and his older brother from ''Fable III'' are the children of the the main hero from ''Fable II''. However, considering your actions in ''Fable II'', you could have any number of children (this includes after the main game [[spoiler:when Lucien would have killed any previous children you had]].) This means that either all of your children died somewhere along the line or you disowned them as none of them are ever mentioned or seen living in the castle.

* ''Fable III'' introduces the ability to play as your hero in other heroes worlds. It's strongly hinted that this is possible through some form of alternate reality travel. Also in multiplayer, heroes can have sex with each other and even have children. But if all heroes are the sons/daughters of the old hero king/queen, than they share the same DNA. Which means they are, at the very least, half-siblings. Perhaps this should be put under a new category: Fridge Squick.
** On the other hand, it could be considered Selfcest, which is not quite as Squick if you don't really think about it too much.

* The main hero and his old brother from ''Fable III'' are the children of the the main hero from ''Fable II''. However, considering your actions in ''Fable II'', you could have any number of children (this includes after the main game [[spoiler:when Lucien would have killed any previous children you had]].) This means that either all of your children died somewhere along the line or you disowned them as none of them are ever mentioned or seen living in the castle.

* While playing ''VideoGame/{{Fable II}}'', I couldn't help but think the music box's tune sounded familiar. Then, not too long ago, I listened to the theme music for all three fables, and it hit me: The music for the music box is a higher-pitched, plinky version of the original ''[[VideoGame/{{FableI}} Fable]]'' theme! Genius, Lionhead! Genius!
* Okay so throughout the games, the heroes seem to only be killable by other heroes right? Except for Rose, your sister from ''Fable II'' who is killed by Lucien. However this happens after she winds the music box, which is later used to drain the 3 heroes powers. The reason she was able to die was because the box stole her hero powers. And judging from how Theresa seems to want the spire it's possible she had the merchant lie about its properties solely to give you a reason to want revenge on Lucien!
** Or maybe she wasn't a hero in the first place. For example, King Logan, the protagonist's big brother in ''Fable III'', does not demonstrate any heroic ability. He does not have "magic" marks like Will users, and he is never shown using weaponry. However, it might be possible that he is adopted, but that wouldn't be able to explain why the King/Queen in ''Fable II'' chose an adopted child over his own biological child. And even then, the Hero in ''Fable III'' requires the aid of special gauntlets to be able to cast magic.
* I couldn't figure out how Reaver's appearance had changed so radically between ''VideoGame/{{Fable II}}'' and ''[[VideoGame/FableIII III]]''. Then I realized: Reaver must have [[spoiler: sacrificed more people to the Shadow Court in that interim, thus lowering his morality even further than it already was. As he did so, his eyes darkened and got dark circles under his eyes, and he began to appear more gaunt. Morality physically affects all Heroes... and Reaver's a Hero!]] Damn, Lionhead. You're good.
** [[spoiler:And players can be just as bad, if not ''worse'', than Reaver if they choose to be. The Hero also can gain dark circles around their eyes by being evil enough.]]

* Why does [[spoiler:the Crawler]] in ''Fable III'' suffer from such drastic VillainDecay and only attack you [[spoiler:using Walter as a proxy]]? It ''can't'' assault you directly. The only "attack" it has is [[spoiler:corrupting someone with darkness, and it likely couldn't (permanently) infect the protagonist because they're a Hero. Beyond sending its "children" after you and possessing Walter to attack you, it can't do ''anything''. Note its interactions with you and Walter in the cave system -- it has multiple chances to attack both of you directly, getting right up in Walter's face before he even notices, yet it never strikes out; all it does is send its "children" after the two of you and finally manage to infect Walter with darkness -- and even then only after terrorizing him into near-madness. Why does it do this? It ''can't physically harm you''. It ''has'' to rely on scare tactics, because it can't even infect someone until they're sufficiently terrified and therefore susceptible to its single power. That's also why it took so long for it to attack Albion. It had to wait centuries to amass the "children" necessary to make a direct assault]].
* The much-exploited real estate system in ''Fable III'' and the implications of said exploitation can make a lot of things make sense. Especially the aftermath of ''Fable II's'' ending and how Sparrow's line become the royal dynasty. Wasn't it because they toppled Lucian and saved the world, leading to the grateful Albionese to crown 'em? Well, to some degree. But in the real world- and especially the Medieval and Renaissance world- you didn't tend to win the hand of the King's Daughter or a Crown just from saving the day; it tended to rely on a mixture of [[IOwnThisTown Property]], [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney Money]] and [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority military/combat power to expand your grasp or at least protect your investments]]. A lot of the first post-Roman Kings and nobles tended to be either warlords, landowners who were able to buy up their neighborhood and make it their own, or a combo of both. So if you win the game and buy up a sizable amount- if not all- of the real estate, what have you done? By winning the quest you killed Lord Lucian, who in addition to being an OmnicidalManiac and threat to everybody and everything was the big powerbroker before, and you did it because you are a OneManArmy capable of killing anybody who looks at you funny. And by buying up the property, you've made yourself landlord of more or less all of Albion, making the people living there your tenants and giving you both control over the territory and more money than you'd know what to do with. You saying IOwnThisTown isn't a boast, it's an accurate summary of the property laws and even an understatement. So with the control over combat power, property, and money you established between those two, you basically made yourself the top FeudalOverlord of Albion by the end of the game, giving you more than enough power to protect yourself and enforce your will and enough money and property to build a functioning government and country out of. So, if you're already King/Queen in all but name, why not make it official and give your children something to pass on?
* Logan's monologue in ''Fable III'' about how Albion is his to mold and shape sounds evil at first, [[spoiler: till you realize that his threats are actually facts based on when the Crawler arrives and slaughters all of Albion.]]

* The ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'' series. Theresa. It is established in the tutorial section of the first game that she is a precog. Behind the scenes of much of the first game she suffers a humiliation parade of tragedies, which is hardly likely to be psychologically healthy, and since she was a precog there is a fair chance that she might have seen at least some of it in advance (but then what can a kid do to stop that?)... And that brings us to the second game. Firstly, she is a descendant (likely the eldest and thus least dilute) of Archon who once ruled Albion and built the first spire, a fact which gives her those prophetic powers of hers (and likely her immortality). Secondly, not only does she demonstrate a knack for manipulation by guiding Sparrow through her various missions, but essentially reveals that she manipulated Lucien the same way too, all for the sake of getting her hands on the Spire. She does the same thing in the third game too with both her apprentice's progeny, though at least that time her meddling seems a tad more justified. Thirdly, the uncanny rate at which technology advances (and Heroes decline) in Albion seems mighty suspicious given that there is a blind seer pulling a lot of strings behind events already... so all in all, the most powerful person in Albion, with a history of extreme trauma behind her, has her hands on an artifact of obscene power constructed by her ancestors and used to wipe out almost all civilization at the height of its glory, has likely been manipulating current civilization towards a glory-age, has shown herself to be utterly ruthless in the pursuit of her goals, and has a power that tends to lend itself very strongly to fatalism. Two possible outcomes seem likely: Either she intends to make history repeat itself by wiping out civilization again, or she intends to do right whatever her ancestor presumably failed to do the first time around, once again after recreating the Old Kingdom to original specs. Neither seems to bode well.
** Or, maybe, she realized that the only way to prevent another cataclysm was to see to it that the spire was rebuilt, and manipulate events so that she would end up in control of it. All that would come of trying to stop Lucien would be her death at the hands of him or the enormous network of allies and loyal servants he manipulated into helping him rebuild it. Lucien, or almost anyone else who happened to amass his wealth and influence, would do the same thing as the last Archon did... and it would happen again, and again, and again, for as long as the human race still cared enough about themselves to seek any sort of power. If, however, Teresa took control, and then only used its power to prevent anyone else from ever building another spire, the cycle of ruin would be broken. Given some of the weirder events in ''VideoGame/{{Fable II}}'', such as the enormous convenience of the protagonist being unable to prevent the death of Hammer's father almost right after Teresa mentioned she needed a warrior instead of a pacifist, it's very likely her manipulations bordered on the sociopathic in pursuit of this goal. She might even have been the one that wrote the prophecy that led to Lucien gunning down the protagonist in the first place...
* The fight against the Crawler at the end of ''VideoGame/{{Fable III}}'', [[spoiler: Where it possesses Walter and you hear the Crawler saying things in Walter's voice. Then you hear Walter say something like; "Kill me." This troper realized that Walter could still see what was going on, but couldn't do anything to stop it.]]
* In ''Fable III'', the ending to the Nigel Ferret quest [[spoiler:[[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules if you reject his $100,000 bribe]]]].
-->The criminal forces of Nigel Ferret have been defeated, and Mr Ferret himself remains locked in a cage for the rest of his life. [[spoiler:Which, in the absence of food and water, is bound to be quite short.]]
* ''Fable III'' introduces the ability to play as your hero in other heroes worlds. It's strongly hinted that this is possible through some form of alternate reality travel. Also in multiplayer, heroes can have sex with each other and even have children. This brings me to the horror. If all heroes are the sons/daughters of the old hero king/queen, than they share the same DNA. Which means they are, at the very least, half-siblings. Perhaps this should be put under a new category: Fridge Squick.

* The main hero and his old brother from ''Fable III'' are the children of the the main hero from ''Fable II''. However considering your actions in ''Fable II'', you could have any number of children. This means that either all of your children died somewhere along the line or you disowned them as none of them are ever mentioned or seen living in the castle.
** [[FridgeBrilliance Fridge Brilliance]]: Lucien had your family killed near the end of ''Fable II''. Maybe the canonical Hero of Bowerstone chose either Sacrifice (which might explain how he became popular enough to be crowned King) or Money (which would certainly explain how he could afford to buy up most of Albion). Either way, not picking the Love ending means whatever family you had are gone, which would explain why they aren't around in ''Fable III''.



[[AC: FridgeLogic]]

* In in ''Fable I'', Jack of Blades slits Scarlet Robe's throat with the blunt edge of a katana. [[FlatWhat What]].
** I'm not sure it was the katana he was using. After all, he had those spiky villain-gauntlets on. I always thought that was what he cut her throat with.
** This is a game where you can decapitate someone with ''lightning''. Anything's a cutting edge if you try hard enough...

* At the end of ''Fable II'' this letter is received:
-->''I woke up today in such a peculiar place. It's like a great big forest, with lots and lots of trees that go on forever. I was scared at first because I couldn't find you, but there's someone here who says he knows us, says he knows our family. He told me his name, but I keep forgetting it. Weird. I think he's a king or something. He's very thin and wears a hood and looks scary, but he's nice and I feel safe with him here. I hope you're okay Little Sparrow. Somehow I know that it's all going to be alright, and we'll be together again one day. He promised me.\\
\\
Love\\
Rose''
** This one takes a bit of prior knowledge from the first one to understand and took me playing the first fable again to finally get it. It is implied that the person who she is currently with is the necromancer from the first game, Scythe.

* After playing ''VideoGame/{{Fable I}}'' for a week, I was unable to figure out the Demon Door riddle from the Hero's Guild ("Your path is dark. Only a light will reveal it, and you are not bright enough."). I thought it had to do with a good (light) alignment, but that didn't work. It wasn't until months later, having not looked at the game since, that it occurred to me out of the blue, [[spoiler:you have to light the lamp you're given upon completing the tutorial, a literal light source.]]

* Remember what happened to Rose in the beginning of ''Fable II''? How she died in the castle? Well, her wish was likely, "I wish we could spend the rest of our lives in Lord Lucien's castle!" Well, her wish did, in fact come true in a horrible, LiteralGenie / JerkassGenie way. She spent the rest of her life walking around inside Lord Lucien's castle before he shot her. Your character eventually [[spoiler: becomes king/queen]] and possibly spends the rest of his/her life inside the castle as well!

** Or maybe she wasn't a hero in the first place. For example, Logan, the Prince/ss' bigger brother and king in ''Fable III'', does not demonstrate any heroic ability. He does not have "magic" marks like Will users, and he is never shown using weaponry. However, it might be possible that he is adopted, but that wouldn't be able to explain why the King/Queen in ''Fable II'' chose an adopted child over his own biological child. And even then, the Hero in ''Fable III'' requires the aid of special gauntlets to be able to cast magic.

* Why does [[spoiler:the Crawler]] in ''Fable III'' suffer from such drastic VillainDecay and only attack you [[spoiler:using Walter as a proxy]]? It ''can't'' assault you directly. The only "attack" it has is [[spoiler:corrupting someone with darkness, and it likely couldn't (permanently) infect the Prince/ss because s/he's a Hero. Beyond sending its "children" after you and possessing Walter to attack you, it can't do ''anything''. Note its interactions with you and Walter in the cave system -- it has multiple chances to attack both of you directly, getting right up in Walter's face before he even notices, yet it never strikes out; all it does is send its "children" after the two of you and finally manage to infect Walter with darkness -- and even then only after terrorizing him into near-madness. Why does it do this? It ''can't physically harm you''. It ''has'' to rely on scare tactics, because it can't even infect someone until they're sufficiently terrified and therefore susceptible to its single power. That's also why it took so long for it to attack Albion. It had to wait centuries to amass the "children" necessary to make a direct assault]].
* The much-exploited real estate system in ''Fable III'' and the implications of said exploitation can make a lot of things make sense. Especially the aftermath of ''Fable II's'' ending and how Sparrow's line become the royal dynasty. Wasn't it because s/he toppled Lucian and saved the world, leading to the grateful Albionese to crown 'em? Well, to some degree. But in the real world- and especially the Medieval and Renaissance world- you didn't tend to win the hand of the King's Daughter or a Crown just from saving the day; it tended to rely on a mixture of [[IOwnThisTown Property]], [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney Money]] and [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority military/combat power to expand your grasp or at least protect your investments]]. A lot of the first post-Roman Kings and nobles tended to be either warlords, landowners who were able to buy up their neighborhood and make it their own, or a combo of both. So if you win the game and buy up a sizable amount- if not all- of the real estate, what have you done? By winning the quest you killed Lord Lucian, who in addition to being an OmnicidalManiac and threat to everybody and everything was the big powerbroker before, and you did it because you are a OneManArmy capable of killing anybody who looks at you funny. And by buying up the property, you've made yourself landlord of more or less all of Albion, making the people living there your tenants and giving you both control over the territory and more money than you'd know what to do with. You saying IOwnThisTown isn't a boast, it's an accurate summary of the property laws and even an understatement. So with the control over combat power, property, and money you established between those two, you basically made yourself the top FeudalOverlord of Albion by the end of the game, giving you more than enough power to protect yourself and enforce your will and enough money and property to build a functioning government and country out of. So, if you're already King/Queen in all but name, why not make it official and give your children something to pass on?