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Other Fables
Jack Horner
"I am the coolest I am the bravest. And I am absolutely the one you most want to have around when the chips are down— provided I like you."
As "Jack Frost I"
As a dragon
"We're the legendary people you've read about in your storybooks. Including me, the best of the best- the most famous and powerful Fable of all: Jack of the Tales. So one of you insignificant Mundys show me a little respect and pull over!" - Jack Horner
The Jack of all Tales. Former beanstalk climber, giant killer, perpetual thief, rake, and all-around knavish con man. As the quintessential Trickster archetype, it is said he is destined to "be at the center of all stories". Is actually half-Literal, but doesn't know this for centuries.
- An Ice Person: Is temporarily endowed with the wintry powers of The Snow Queen, taking on the identity of Jack Frost, harbinger of winter.
- Anti-Hero: Generally a Nominal Hero, sometimes sliding completely into Villain Protagonist territory.
- Anthropomorphic Personification: Of the
Designated Hero trope. - Beard of Sorrow: Sports one after the death of his wife Holly.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Does this routinely- he even acknowledges that the Fableverse has readers. This is attributable to Jack's half-Literal, half-Fable lineage.
- Brother–Sister Incest: Sleeps with all three of his half-sisters (the Pages) in turn, although none of them had any idea they were related at the time (having never met and looking nothing alike) and all four are disgusted by it when they learn the truth.
- Card Sharp: Has the uncanny and unfailing ability to produce four jacks from any deck of cards, at will.
- The Casanova: Can be quite charming and glib.
- The Cassandra: Has a violent encounter with three of the Adversary's Wooden Soldiers (the advance guard of a full-on enemy invasion), and tries to warn the Fabletown brass of this. Snow White and Bigby don't believe Jack, given his history of pulling scams. But when the invasion actually happens, Jack is quick to gloat "I told you so!". Snow recalls this years later, when Jack calls to warn her of Kevin Thorn's intentions for the Fablesverse.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Ingrained within his DNA. Displayed during the "Hollywood" storyarc, when he callously fires his assistant for basically nothing.
- Con Man: And he's been perfecting his craft for hundreds of years.
- Consummate Liar: Essential when you're a notorious trickster. But not so effective against people like Bigby and Snow, who are very conversant with his bullshit.
- Deal with the Devil: Made several of them, in fact. His being screwed over in the first one necessitated him making subsequent ones with over half a dozen others to lengthen his lifespan and (temporarily) escape his eventual damnation.
- Destructive Romance: With Rose Red.
- Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?: As a rogue trickster, Jack has his share of outwitting some hard-hitters in his universe. He's tricked a legion of Devils and Literals in his time, as well as even trapping Death itself so that he could screw a girl who was going to die.
- Dirty Coward: During the battle of Fabletown with Geppetto's "children", Jack hides from the fight and acts all high and mighty when he didn't even risk his life for Fabletown, he's even considered more cowardly than Bluebeard.
- The Exile: He was eventually banished from Fabletown.
- Fantastic Racism: After cutting a bloody swath through 1883's Old West, Jack is defeated and captured by Fabletown Sheriff Bigby Wolf, who asks him how he could commit such atrocities. Jack shouts that the transience of human lifespans, along with their own self-destructive nature, make their lives utterly worthless, so Fables killing them shouldn't even be considered a crime.
- Groin Attack: A staple of Jack's fighting style. He executes one on Bigby during their scuffle at the beginning of "The Great Fables Crossover". It doesn't help.
- The Gunslinger: As the notorious "Jack Candle", he led the Candle Gang in a rampage of crime the Old West of 1883 had never before seen. It takes Bigby Wolf to bring him down.
- Hammerspace: The properties of the magic sack Jack wins off "Nick Slick" in a poker game. It can contain an apparently unlimited amount of items (including living creatures), and when certain magic words are spoken, can entrap a being as powerful as The Grim Reaper.
- He later obtains a normal briefcase that later somehow magically takes on properties similar to the sack, insomuch that he can store vast amounts of gold within it. Jack is at a loss as to how it happened, but dismisses the phenomenon as "a perk of being at the center of all stories".
- Hated by All: No one likes him as he is a womanizer, pathological liar, and a narcissistic scumbag. Maybe with the exception of Gary to some degree but other than that everyone has the ire to put him in the ground and not shed any tears if he dies, to which he does but his soul gets away.
- Hero of Another Story: The word "Hero" is a stretch, but he is the protagonist of his own spinoff comic.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Jack Frost stabs him through the chest with Excalibur during their climactic battle.
- Irony: The first Fables story arc ends with Jack actually winning the lottery to be named lord of Prince Charming's Homeland kingdom. But as part of his sentencing for attempting to scam Bluebeard, he is forced to sell the lands back to their former owner. As it turns out much later in the series, Charming is Jack's father, so he would have been directly in line to inherit Charming's royal title and lands anyway.
- Insult Backfire: After having sex with Sally Cornwells during the final days of the Civil War, Jack kicks her out of the bed and demands she make him breakfast. Sally, decidedly pissed, calls Jack "pig", to which Jack replies "Or beef. Or chicken. I'm not picky, as long as there's lots of it."
- Interspecies Romance: Quite possibly had one, or at least a physical interlude or two, with a talking ape named Jane in West Africa, around the late 1800s. Jack denies it, but considering the source...
- It's All About Me: The only thing he cares about is himself.
- Jack of All Trades: Quite literally. Any tale that involves a character named Jack, or even an unnamed one that's simply described to be a foolhardy and headstrong tough guy, is about him. He's held down dozens of jobs throughout the course of his lifetime, and he's often found working for at least a few people simultaneously at any given time.
- Jerkass with a Heart of Gold: Jack Horner sometimes falls under this category though very rarely. Most of the time he is a selfish, narcissistic sociopath, and can be downright murderous at times like when he became Jack Frost and a cowboy gunslinger. But he has shown some examples of his more human side, like admitting to liking and caring for his friend Gary, mourning his wife's death and Gary when he kicked the dust, sometimes risking his life to save one of the Page sisters when they fell over a cliff, and generally helping out Fabletown and the Literals when needed. As seen in Jack of Fables #9, he's just not that good showing it to others that he does care about them.
- Karma Houdini: After he's killed by his son, his soul wanders off but then is captured by the Legion of Devils who plan to put him in his own personal hell for all eternity till he manages to escape again and create a universe for him and Gary to live in for all eternity as kings and enjoy their new lives with no comeuppance.
- Karmic Transformation: His transformation into a dragon is much like the legend of Fafnir, in that it makes his appearance match the immense greed he exhibited in hoarding a mass of gold. The transition also made him fat and balding, which is speculated to be the authors drawing it out to make him suffer.
- Like Father, Like Son: A smooth-talking, womanizing manipulator, just like his dad, Prince Charming.
- Loveable Rogue: On a good day. He does actually try to help Fabletown on a few occasions, but being a slave to his mercurial nature, he always ends up shooting himself in the foot and pissing everyone off.
- Manipulative Bastard: Knows how to push people's buttons to get what he wants. Does it to Gary with alarming ease and frequency.
- Narcissist: The only thing important to Jack is himself. He's so narcissistic that he made a movie trilogy about himself without the Mundies even knowing who he is and to improve his own fame, he didn't care about his own son and lied about a "quest" he sent him on just to get rid of him.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Given one by a group of wooden soldiers infiltrating Fabletown. It's rather satisfying.
- Nominal Hero: On most days. He has no redeeming traits whatsoever beyond being a go-getter, has no loyalties, and will gladly manipulate anybody, including his ex-girlfriend Rose Red or his own son, as long as it means he gets what he wants.
- Pet the Dog: Definitely uses Gary for all he's worth, but also seems to actually like him and genuinely cares for his well being. When he, Gary, and the others in Priscilla Page's retrieval van take a dive into the Grand Canyon, Jack immediately ponders shielding Gary with his own (supposedly) indestructible body.
- Physical God: His ultimate fate. After dying, a group of devils take his ghost to what they think would be his personal hell: being alone on a barren planet with nothing to do but think about what went wrong in his life, given a typewriter and infinite paper to describe all of his failings. Instead, he spends eternity describing his own perfect universe where he reigns as god-king and uses his Literal powers to pull Gary the Pathetic Fallacy to the end of time to make it a reality.
- Questionable Consent: Has sex (multiple times) with Rose Red, who is in a severe state of depression and extremely vulnerable emotionally. At several points, she even seems to think Jack is Boy Blue.
- Rage Against the Heavens: Does this upon finding out that his very existence is due solely to a "typo" by Kevin Thorn."ASSHOLE!!"
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Successfully pegs Goldilocks as being in league with the Page Sisters, solely on the basis that she wears glasses like they do.
- The Roaring '20s: Hiding out in Gangland (a section of Americana seemingly locked in the Prohibition era), Jack indulges in a little bootlegging to make a buck or two.
- Scaled Up: Gets turned into a dragon towards the end of his own series.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Takes this pose once Prince Charming becomes Mayor, suggesting that Fabletown is on the decline. But this was just a cover for him absconding with between 2.5 and 6 billion dollars of Fabletown's money.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Reaches epic heights in Jack of Fables.
- The Sociopath: Takes what he wants and manipulates whom he wants without a thought to the cost, or the harm his ambition might cause others.
- Take That, Audience!: When trying to get into bed with a despondent Rose Red during the "Great Fables Crossover", he straight out calls the readers of the Fables books "scum", indulging in "shameless hero worship".
- The Trickster: His role in the Fable firmament. One of many reasons why he's always survived and proves crucial in the overall scheme of things.
- Villain Protagonist: Arguably this, as he's the focus of his eponymous series and unarguably a terrible, terrible person. A flashback in the "Bad Prince" storyarc shows that the "god of all storytellers" (Kevin Thorn) specifically wrote (and created) Jack as a villain.
- Would Hit a Girl: Goldilocks gets the drop on him with a double-barreled shotgun, but Jack manages to turn the tables on her with an elbow to the head.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Pulls this on Bernard Stein, his agent at the very beginning of the "Hollywood" arc, for virtually no discernible reason.
- Zany Scheme: What most of his plots amount to. Some of them are even successful.
Mister Dark
"'Inhuman'? Dear boy, who ever said I was human?"
"Who am I? I'm the thing barely seen in the shadows. The dark one just out of the corner of your eye. I'm the creature lurking under your child's bed and hiding in his closet. Even when they had me boxed up and tucked safely away, my shadow touched every world, every man's soul." - Mr. Dark
The Anthropomorphic Personification of shadow, woe, and all other dark things. He was imprisoned by the Empire, but was later accidentally released by two thieves.
- Affably Evil: Addresses everyone very politely and in a very friendly manner, even while plotting to slaughter them, flay their souls and eat their teeth.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Towards the very end of their duel, when it's clear he's going to perish, Mr. Dark promises to forswear his vendetta against the Fables, as long as Mr. North spares his life.
- Bald of Evil: Sometimes appears to have some very thin wisps of black strands sparsely adorning his crown, or has a dome completely clean of all follicles, with hair only sprouting from the nape of the neck. At any rate, Mister Dark fits the bill of "evil" to a "T".
- Batman Gambit: After being trapped by the Boxing League (an elite army of Imperial sorcerers), he allowed his "nightmare sack" (which the Empire had put to their own use, enabling Dark to influence events from within the box) to fall into the possession of the refugees who would later become the leaders of the Fabletown community, who would centuries later destroy the Empire, with the Dark Man's sack (now in the form of the "Witching Cloak") being a huge factor in their success. As anticipated by Dark, the collapse of the Empire caused sufficient chaos in the form of looting that he would eventually be freed.
- Big Bad: After the Adversary, from issue 77 to 106.
- Cold Ham: Speaks in a very dead monotone, yet his phrases are always grandiose and really over the top.
- Dark Is Evil: He is an extremely nasty individual.
- Dark World: He creates these if he stays in one place for too long. Under his influence, murders and other forms of violent crime in New York rose dramatically.
- The Dreaded: Feared by all by virtue of his very nature as the embodiment of dark terrors. Even Great Powers like The North Wind regard him with respect.
- Eldritch Abomination: Takes the form of one during his duels with Bellflower and Mister North.
- Emotion Eater: Fear is his primary source of power.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He does seem to treat his servants decently enough. According to the Fables/Unwritten crossover he's even a decent husband and father, if you consider joined family torture sessions and brainwashing children into corrupted and twisted versions of themselves as responsible parenting.
- Hammerspace: Battled the Empire's Boxing Leagure of sorcerers, scooping dozens of them up and depositing them into a "bag of endless nightmares and infinite screams", a mystic sack that seems to have no bottom. This bag would later take the form of the Witching Cloak, displaying the same properties and more.
- Humble Pie: He gets to eat a slice whether he want to or not, when the self proclaimed greatest Great Power is taken down by Bellflower, a "mere" witch. Sadly, it doesn't last long since he quickly recovers and beats her in the rematch.
- I Have Many Names: The Dark One, Dullahan, The Bogeyman, The Dark Man, Duladan and countless others.
- Killed Off for Real: By the North Wind, who seals them both in his Casket of Ancient Winds, a means by which a Great Power can effectively commit suicide.
- Kryptonite Factor: As he feeds on fear, facing a powerful foe who does not exhibit it will cause him to eventually drain his resources and weaken him.
- Made of Evil: He is the living embodiment of darkness, woe and malice as a whole.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: It's a dark name, for the darkest of entities.
- Night of the Living Mooks: His ability to kill people (Fables and mundanes alike) instantly by rotting them with a touch, then resurrecting them as "witherlings" (zombielike creatures), totally obedient to his will, affords him a potentially unlimited source of mindless minions.
- Obviously Evil: He represents every version of the boogeyman, and looks the part.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Captured by the Empire's Boxing League. Accidentally released by two thieves.
Jack Frost
"I'm starting to realize that heroes are less common than I'd hoped."
"What kind of heroes would we be if we retired having never slain an actual dragon?" - Jack Frost
Son of Jack Horner and The Snow Queen, he once inherited his mother's wintry powers and saved all of existence from erasure by Kevin Thorn, proving himself a true hero (unlike his father).
- An Ice Person: While possessed of the icy powers of The Snow Queen.
- Archnemesis Dad: Unknown to him, his father Jack Horner is the dragon he sets out to slay in his final quest.
- Brought Down to Badass: Even after surrendering his vast powers over cold to his mother the Snow Queen, he is still much stronger than normal, heals extremely quickly, and retains the limited ability to transport himself between worlds.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Born with a desire to help others and do great deeds, he seems to be predetermined to fulfill the heroic archetype as much as his father fulfills that of the Trickster.
- Cool Sword: The Fulminate Blade, a lightning sword and one of the last living relics of the age of flight.
- Dimensional Traveler: Despite returning his wintry powers to his mother, Jack still possesses the ability to magically transport himself from world to world and/or across dimensions. He must wait a considerable amount of time for the transportation energies to build up within him before he can teleport, however.
- Eye Scream: At some point in his many adventures, he loses his left eye.
- Green-Skinned Space Babe: Deirdre, a Witch O' The Woods who helps Jack on his mission to defeat The Empryean.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Is initially led around by the nose by Jack Horner, trusting him, of all people, merely because Jack's his father. He does become much more savvy down the line, however.
- Luke, You Are My Father: Confronts Jack Horner with this fact at the beginning of "The Great Fables Crossover" storyarc.
- Mutual Kill: He and his father Jack slay each other in their ultimate confrontation, with their respective last ditch attacks.
- Noodle Incident: Jack's career as a hero for hire is permeated with these. He and his partner MacDuff are always recalling mysterious circumstances like "the incident back on Sarukan", or "that nasty business with the Green Fog League".
- Off with His Head!: Jack the Dragon decapitates him with a massive claw strike during their battle, at the same instant Jack Frost slays him with Excalibur.
- Patricide: Unknowingly commits this when he kills his father Jack Horner in the form of a dragon.
- Retirony: Was just about to quit the hero biz before he got word of a fire breathing dragon causing havoc. Refused to retire before ridding the world of said menace. It costs him his life.
- Sidekick: Jack, at the very beginning of his hero career, meets MacDuff, an owl carved from wood from The Sacred Grove by Geppetto.
- Super Gullible: After many years of being sequestered in his mother's castle, as well as being totally honest and without deceit himself, he is naturally very susceptible to the flavor of bullshit people like his father Jack Horner specialize in dealing.
Mowgli
"I am the strong hunter, the swift runner, subtle tracker. And deadly killer— if need be."
Baloo: Do you still practice the hunter's discipline out in the world of man, Little Frog?
Mowgli: I sure do, old Baloo. Feet that make no noise. Eyes that see in the dark. Ears that can hear the winds in their lairs. And sharp, white teeth.
Mowgli: I sure do, old Baloo. Feet that make no noise. Eyes that see in the dark. Ears that can hear the winds in their lairs. And sharp, white teeth.
The hero of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, he's all grown up and serves as one of Fabletown's "Tourists", deep cover agents who perform clandestine operations out in the greater Mundane world. He is instrumental in getting Bigby to return to Fabletown.
- Affectionate Nickname: Baloo and Bagheera call him "Little Frog".
- Cunning Linguist: Depicted as being able to speak many different languages fluently, as befits a long-lived Fable who travels the world as part of his job.
- Get It Over With: Battles Tuvar, the leader of the Free People wolf pack, to take over as Pack Leader so that they will give him information vital to finding Bigby. The struggle ends when Mowgli breaks Tuvar's forelegs and back, and as Tuvar will never be able to hunt (or even move) again, he begs Mowgli for a "final mercy", which is granted in the form of a Neck Snap.
- Guile Hero: Not that it takes much to fool Gobs, but shows a propensity for manipulation and trickery in dealing with an encampmemt of goblins occupying the Indu world.
- I Surrender, Suckers: A bit of subterfuge played upon goblin forces encamped in the Raj kingdom. As their "prisoner", Mowgli is able to gain intel on the strength of the occupying forces, their main leaders and other vital information.
- Meaningful Name: As a perpetual "Tourist", he currently goes by the alias "Jagatbehari", which means "world traveler" in Hindu.
- Raised by Wolves: His backstory, and why only he proves capable of finding Bigby.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Can communicate with wolves (even Mundane ones), by virtue of his upbringing.
Sinbad
"Come with me and see what marvels await."
Envoy of the Arabian Fabletown and later captain of The Glory of Baghdad, the flying warship which proved crucial in the war against the Empire. Briefly married to Rose Red.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Sinbad and the Arabian Fables' retaining of slaves is a huge roadblock in their negotiations with Mayor Charming and the Fabletown government, who steadfastly reject to the concept. Former Mayor King Cole, acting as translator and go-between, re-words Charming's harsh, blunt objection in his reply to Sinbad into "He promises to respect your venerable custom to keep slaves. In return he trusts you'll respect our venerable custom to hang slavers wheresoever we find them." Yusuf, Sinbad's Vizier, reacts with outrage, but Sinbad himself is highly amused at Cole's cleverness, shouting, "Well done, well played!"
- "Arabian Nights" Days: Sinbad is a powerful lord from the "real" Baghdad (in the Homelands), the mythical and mystical land that puts the dull, dreary modern version to shame. The trope is even referenced in the storyarc's title.
- The Captain: Considerable sailing experience from his legendary adventures make him the natural choice to spearhead the running of the Glory of Baghdad.
- Cool Ship: The Glory of Baghdad, basically a war galleon heavily modified with s shitload of guns and gun ports, not to mention the capacity to fly, thanks to the three hundred magic carpets lining its hulls. It is instrumental in Fabletown's victory against the Empire.
- Culture Clash: The crux of Mayor Charming's difficulty in dealing with Sinbad and his court, along with the language barrier. Fortunately, King Cole is there to smooth things over.
- Dual Wielding: Whips out two scimitars to kill enemy troops when he and Prince Charming are set upon as they approach their target: the final Imperial Gateway.
- Evil Vizier: His adviser Yusuf, who is aghast that Sinbad has befriended the "foreign devils" and releases the D'Jinn, so that he may take power for himself.
- Face–Heel Turn: "The Last Sinbad Story" shows that he later aspires to become a world-conquering oppressor, much like the Adversary he helped depose.
- Fire-Forged Friends: He and Prince Charming co-captain The Glory of Baghdad, spearheading the war effort against the Empire and bonding while fighting for their lives.
- Foreshadowing: After the Glory of Bagdad wipes out a veritable sky full of dragons, the crew cheers that the ship is invincible, and that "they could conquer worlds with a fleet of such vessels". This is exactly what Captain Sinbad and his men much later set out to do, as related in "The Last Sinbad Story".
- Genie in a Bottle: Sinbad brings one with him to keep it out of the wrong hands. He fails in this.
- Good Hair, Evil Hair: Sinbad, basically a good, congenial guy, has a modest, well-trimmed goatee, while Yusuf, his Evil Vizier, has a crazy, twisted beard.
- Magic Carpet: A preferred method of transportation in the Arabian Fabletown, at least among the elite. The Glory of Baghdad is able to fly because it has dozens of them lining its hull.
- Royal Harem: Sinbad brings at least some members of his along to Fabletown. They are later freed.
- Smart People Play Chess: He and King Cole have a mutual love of the game, and forge a friendship over it.
- Values Dissonance: In-Universe. Sinbad and his retinue are shocked and appalled that Mayor Charming and his subordinates are shocked and appalled that the Arabian Fables retain slaves.
Prince Brandish ("Werian Holt")
"My true self is none other than Prince Brandish of Castle Lancedore, protector of the golden realm, marshall of the west— and the first and one true husband to Snow White."
"He's a villain, through and through. Has been all his life. A leopard can't change his spots. His reptile nature is dug in too deep. No one can change his basic character." - Snow White
Scion of Castle Lancedore, and originally betrothed to Snow White.
- Cool Sword: Possesses the Eastermark Blade, a powerful, said to be bloodthirsty weapon. It is highly magical, able to change into various different types of swords, and enables Brandish to magically transform people.
- The Dog Bites Back: After months of abuse, Brandish pummels his overseer, Weyland Smith, to death with a crowbar.
- Domestic Abuse: Slaps Snow White around, breaks her arm, and orders her about like a slave. All under the flimsy pretext that they're actually married and it's his "right" as a husband.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Takes on this role while teaching Leigh Duglas fencing.
- Forced Kiss: Pulls this on his "wife" Snow.
- Hated by All: Murdering his own mother, kidnapping Snow and holding her captive along with killing Bigby (resurrected later), and attempting to murder all of Bigby's kids then yeah, no one was mourning when Flycatcher killed him for his disgusting crimes.
- Hero Killer: Has a body count of noteworthy Fables that outstrips even the Adversary and his forces. Weyland Smith, Sir Lancelot, and even Bigby Wolf have died through his efforts.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: If he had killed Grimble after turning him into a bird (as was his first instinct), he wouldn't have later died at Grimble's hands.
- I Shall Taunt You: A strategy he applies during his duel with Bigby that works shockingly well.
- Insane Troll Logic: To say that his regressive ideas are slanted would be an understatement. He murders his own mother for practicing marital sex under the assumption that Queens should be virgins, obsessively held onto a vow to marry a woman he had not seen in centuries and intended on killing her friends and family under the belief that she would be more agreeable after he was the only person left in her life.
- Insult Backfire: When Brandish expresses his disgust at his "betrothed" Snow hooking up with Bigby Wolf and having his kids, and follows that up with his intention to slay the wolf and the cubs, Snow quite understandably tells him "You're mad.", to which Brandish replies, "Perturbed at best. Who wouldn't be, given the circumstances?"
- Involuntary Shapeshifting: Turned into a bear by a magical curse, which is lifted when he slays the evil dwarf who placed it on him.
- Madonna-Whore Complex: As if there wasn't sufficient evidence to paint Brandish as shithouse rat crazy, as a pre-teen, he murdered his own mother for having sex with her husband, his father, believing the Queen Mother should be "chaste, and above reproach".
- Marital Rape License: Invoked. Snow thinks Brandish has the intent to violate her and delivers a very sincere threat against it, but Brandish for his part says he has no inclination to do such a thing, as he intends to make Snow suffer until she breaks and offers herself wholeheartedly. He is also repulsed at the notion of being where "that filthy cur Bigby" has been, and won't touch Snow until she has been thoroughly "cleansed".
- Master Swordsman: Fantastically skilled with a blade; only Prince Charming and Snow White can match or surpass his talents.
- Matricide: As noted above, he killed his own mother as a child, for fornicating "like an animal" with her husband (Brandish's father).
- Narcissist: Only cares for himself and his own ways. He disregards Snow's feelings for Bigby and attempts to murder all her kids and rape her to birth him heirs for his own benefit, he even murdered his own mother just for having sex with his father.
- Not Quite Dead: Snow White stabs him right through the chest during their duel- a usually fatal blow. But it turns out that as Brandish's heart has been magically removed from his chest cavity, he does not die.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Treats Snow more like a slave than a spouse, and is aghast at the notion of dueling with Cinderella, a female, even for practice, as that would be "beneath him".
- Sadist: Breaks Snow's arm with no remorse, attempts to murder all her kids, and killing Bigby with no remorse and glee on his face, saying that he's a little sadistic I an understatement.
- Unholy Matrimony: How else would you classify the intentions of someone who kidnaps his intended, murders her lawful husband and others, and threatens to butcher her beloved children, all on the basis of a flimsy "betrothal" from centuries ago?
- Would Hit a Girl: Backhands Briar Rose hard enough to draw blood, and breaks his "wife" Snow White's arm. Oh, and he killed his own mother years ago.
- Would Hurt a Child: Expresses his intent to kill the "abominations" Snow birthed via Bigby Wolf.
Max, The Pied Piper
"I haven't yet learned to play Fire well enough to usher in a full worldwide apocalypse, but trust that I will, dear people. I'm dedicated and I practice daily, so someday I will."
"To be sure, they got some of the details wrong, but look how much they got right! My legend seeped through along with some of Fire's magic. I wonder if there were other versions of Hamelin, in other unknown worlds, and if each one of them lost their precious little darlings on the same night? Do you think so? How many children did I end up taking, all told?" - Max Piper
Harbinger of doom and bringer of death and despair, he is the older brother of Peter Piper.
- Arch-Enemy: To Peter and Bo Piper.
- Attack on the Heart: Peter kills him by driving the super sharp mouthpiece of Frost deep into his heart.
- Beard of Evil: Has a twisted, unkempt goatee that has likely never felt a brush of comb.
- Black Magic: Fire, Max's flute, is permeated, if not totally made, of this.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Killing your own father over a flute certainly qualifies.
- Stealing away the children of Hamelin town because the village fathers wouldn't pay him for disposing of the rats would also qualify, if he weren't already predisposed to do something horrible to the people of Hamelin from the start, as was his bargain with Frau Totenkinder.
- Deal with the Devil: Promises to take vengeance upon the leaders of Hamelin town in exchange for the flute Fire and its great powers.
- After obtaining Fire, Max encountered many other evil entities that either taught him more spells or simply spared his life in exchange for the lives of the Hamelin children.
- Don't Go Into the Woods: The Black Forest seemingly exacerbates the hatred and madness that merely simmered within Max, fanning the embers of evil into an inferno.
- Driven by Envy: His jealousy towards his younger brother Peter is the main reason behind his turn to the dark side.
- Fashion-Victim Villain: Favors outfits of many mismatching bright colors, which are an assault on the eyes.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Who could have imagined that a young boy from a travelling family troupe of musicians would become one of the most evil figures in the Fableverse?
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Max's all-encompassing obsession to gain Frost enables his brother Peter to totally bypass Max's magical shielding and drive the extra sharp edge of the flute directly into his heart, killing him.
- Iconic Item: Both his flute and outfit of many colors and patterns.
- Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: The Pied Piper, all day. A creepy, sorcerous weirdo comes to town, performs an impossible task, gets screwed over, and swears dire vengeance against everyone. The next morning, every parent in town wakes to find every single one of their children gone without a trace.
- It's All About Me: What drives his insatiable and ever-increasing appetite for power, death and revenge.
- Magical Flutist: His flute, Fire, gives him myriad abilities, chief among them the ability to control other creatures.
- Mind-Control Device: Fire's signature function.
- Nigh-Invulnerable: By virtue of his magic flute and the myriad powerful spells of protection he's placed upon himself.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Cultivates the Spanish Influenza (a relatively conventional virus) and strengthens it to the point it becomes a worldwide epidemic. In the end, thousands, if not millions are dead. Expresses his intention and dedication to become powerful enough to induce a universal apocalypse.
- Patricide: Bludgeons his father to death with a rock in the Black Forest.
- The Plague: Resuscitates, strengthens and spreads the deadly Spanish Influenza virus throughout the world, killing thousands every day.
- The Sociopath: Narcissistic, greedy, prone to violence, paranoid and totally unconcerned with the rights or pain of others. And that was before the corrupting influence of the Black Forest and Fire.
- Start of Darkness: Max's long-simmering jealousy for Peter comes to a head when he realizes their father bequeathed the treasured family flute to his younger brother, and not him. From that begins a number of events and atrocities that transform Max from an envious brat into a mass-murdering sociopath.
- Sterility Plague: During his duel with Frau Totenkinder, Max reveals that he altered the Spanish Influenza virus so that it would render all Fables incapable of bearing children. Totenkinder and her colleagues among the 13th Floor witches work for decades to mediate the curse.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: Max pulls a very dark version of this on an elderly couple outside of Hamelin in the Homelands, basically enslaving them, forcing him to cook his meals and wait on him hand and foot.
- Would Hurt a Child: His whole M.O. Besides his most infamous atrocity, he later weaves a spell that not only awakens and strengthens the Spanish Influenza (killing thousands of children, as well as adults), but also affects Fables so that none of them can ever give birth to future babies.
Old Sam
"I'm a touch more spry than I look- when I need to be."
"I know he's not much to look at, but he's incredibly spry for a guy his age." - Robin Page
Formerly the "Little Black Sambo" originally featured in children's books. He has long since grown up, even appearing somewhat elderly, but still retains his amazing speed.
- Cool Old Guy: Is visibly older than most other Fables, but is still able to move like the wind, and turn his would-be pursuers into butter.
- Fate Worse than Death: When Kevin Thorn realizes that Sam tried to dispose of his magic pen before Thorn could wipe away reality, he basically "uncreates" Sam, by rendering him unable to be perceived by humanity, basically making him a ghost. Thankfully, this proves temporary, as this condition fades upon Thorne's defeat.
- May–December Romance: Has a very brief one with Robin Page, that results in a child.
- Only Sane Man: Tries his best to be the calming, moderating voice of reason to Kevin Thorn, who is contemplating writing an end to the universe as it is, while Imperial witch hunter Hansel does his best to encourage Thorn's nihilistic mindset.
- Super-Speed: Can still move almost faster than the eye can see, even at his (apparently) advanced age.
The Blue Fairy
"Put away your ancient grievances or I'll write a permanent end to them. Mark me on that."
"The fairy folk are of an alien nature and I'd guessed correctly that her morals would be different from ours." - Geppetto
A mystical creature who served as a surrogate mother of sorts to Pinocchio centuries ago, she proves largely responsible for the Adversary's rise to power.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Purported to be this by Geppetto. Supported by her Literal Genie granting of her beloved son Pinocchio's wish to be a "real boy".
- Color Character: Everything about her is blue, including her outfits, castle, and even her magic effects.
- Exact Words: Promised ages ago to make her beloved Pinocchio "a real boy". Which is precisely what she does. Only she never said he'd be permitted to mature physically beyond that...
- The Fair Folk: Geppetto notes how her inhumanity invariably gives her a different set of moral values than most people.
- Fairy Godmother: She functioned as this for Pinocchio in the original story, and still considers herself this in the modern day, actually referring to herself as his mother.
- Fate Worse than Death: Her being used as a Living Battery.
- Killed Off for Real: Slain by Goldilocks, using the powerful magical Sword of Regret.
- Literal Genie: Her spell to turn the wooden marionette in the shape of a boy into real, living flesh did just that- and no more. It did not give him the capacity to age, meaning that he will remain in the physical stage of a pre-pubescent forever. More than likely, this was not done due to any intended malice on her part; it is due to her rather flighty and thoughtless nature.
- Living Battery: Geppetto takes her unaware, captures her and locks her up, and hooks her up to an insidious machine that drains her magical nature. This enables him to create more slaves and lay the foundation of his ever-expanding empire.
- Off with His Head!: Goldilocks decapitates her with the Sword of Regret. Strangely, this doesn't stop her from babbling...
- Our Fairies Are Different: Has the height and size of a full-grown woman, and is not reliant upon the belief of others to maintain her existence.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: It is Geppetto's capture of the Blue Fairy and subsequent tapping of her magic that enables Geppetto to expand his power base by replacing more local rulers, enabling him to establish and build his empire.
Nalayani
"You can either ride with me or try to keep up. It's up to you."
"The gods left this world a long time ago."
Hailing from a village in the Indus back in the Homelands (the same Shere Khan and the other characters from The Jungle Book hail from), she fights constantly against raiders and mysterious creatures called "dholes". It's there that she teams up with her future husband Prince Charming.
- Action Girl: Her fierceness and courage swiftly catch the eye of "The Maharaja".
- Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: She is the only woman in the history of Fables that Prince Charming has never used a skeevy but clever pick-up line, or provocative double entendre on.
- The Determinator: Travels for days through miles of desert infested with wild animals, marauders, monsters and other unknown horrors to reach a Maharajah who may or may not be willing or able to help her save her village.
- Groin Attack: She threatens this with an arrow pointed directly at a marauder's junk.
- Lady of War: Becomes this later when she joins Prince Charming in his campaign against Sinbad's excursions in the Homelands.
- Love Interests: Prince Charming, The Casanova extraordinaire, immediately becomes enthralled with her, but as Nalayani is the only woman who has proven immune to his Charm Power, they actually don't get together during the course of their initial storyline together. They do get married later on.
Dorothy Gale ("Silverslipper")
"My Auntie Em always said you should find something you love to do and then do it, so I figured..."
"How does a homespun innocent Farm Girl end up a killer for hire, with blood all over her hands?" - Cinderella
The heroine of The Wizard of Oz, the former simple farm girl has since become a feared assassin for hire, and has developed a profound and long-running enmity with Cinderella, Fabletown's number one spy.
- Always Someone Better: The crux of her blood feud with Cinderella. "Silverslipper" is widely regarded as the deadliest agent and killer for hire in the underworld; the fact that Cinderella has thwarted her on multiple occasions and survived said encounters rankles Dorothy to no end.
- Blood Knight: Intensely enjoys deadly combat, hand to hand or otherwise.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Dorothy uses her magic slippers to take on the likeness of Ivan Durak to get close to Cinderella. They even have sex.
- Disney Villain Death: Suffers this twice, both at the hands of her rival Cinderella. The first occurs when she's kicked off a cliff in Switzerland, 1986, and the second, again at Cindy's hands, over the Deadly Desert of Oz in modern times.
- The Dreaded: The mercenary killer code-named "Silverslipper" is spoken of in hushed whispers throughout the underworld. Even the highly skilled and dangerous Cinderella didn't relish the prospect of facing this previously faceless foe.
- Fiery Redhead: Still wears her flaming locks in Girlish Pigtails, but now has an explosive, murderous temper.
- Foil: To Cinderella. Both come from modest backgrounds, both have shoes as key parts of their backstories, and both are highly skilled operatives in a dirty business. But as Cinderella points out, she serves as a spy for the interests of Fabletown and its community, while Dorothy is a mercenary out solely for herself, selling her services to whomever can meet her price. Also, Cindy only kills in the line of duty and takes no pleasure in it, while "Silverslipper" is a murdering psychopath who thoroughly loves dealing death.
- Girlish Pigtails: Retains this default hairstyle for decades after becoming an adult.
- Magic Mirror: Dorothy has a "magic picture" that enables her to view far off people and events in real time.
- Mind Wipe: Suffers this at the hands of Mr. Revise and his "Memory Hole" when her broken body is recovered by Priscilla Page and the Golden Boughs retrieval team. When the Boughs is destroyed, all her memories (and more) return.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Taunts her hated arch rival Cindy with this ugly truth.
- Professional Killer: The most notorious in the Fableverse.
- Villain Ball: After going to extreme lengths to lull Cinderella into a false sense of security and getting her into the most vulnerable, utterly helpless position possible, Dorothy still succumbs to Cindy's taunting and releases her from her bonds so they can fight it out one on one, rather that just kill her.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Dorothy's dog Toto (or at least his replacement) is right by her side as she torments a captive Cinderella in the shadow of a grounded blimp. But when Cinderella breaks free and takes off in the blimp to escape, Toto is never seen again, even when Dorothy breaks through the cockpit window of the blimp to stop Cindy.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Dumps her old friends The Tin Woodsman and The Cowardly Lion soon after escaping to the Mundane world, feeling that they were holding her back.
The Fairy Godmother
"Still, you can't get to the ball without breaking a few pumpkins, I always say"
"Once upon a time, an old woman with the best of intentions tried to sow the seeds of love in others ... with varying results. That old woman was ME ... and it's well past time I cleaned up my mess."'- The Fairy Godmother
Cinderella's fairy godmother, an enemy of Fabletown and an arch-rival of Frau Totenkinder. Her magic is very powerful but comes at a price because her spells break at Midnight.
- Adaptational Villainy: Unlike her original counterpart, the Fairy Godmother is a ruthless dictator who rules over Ultima Thule with an iron fist, not to mention her role in Rapunzel's story.
- The Atoner: A shot to the head purges the Fairy Godmother of her villainous nature and she actively helps Cinderella save Fabletown as a way of cleaning up her past messes.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Behind that doddering, grandmotherly facade is a much more ruthless, power-hungry interior.
- Fairy Godmother: Functions in a similar way to Frau Totenkinder and Mister Dark as the personification of a character archetype. Indeed, she and her sister fairies travelled the realms bestowing blessings and magical gifts as they saw fit.
- Good Witch Versus Bad Witch: The Fairy Godmother and Frau Totenkinder were mortal enemies back in the Homelands. Indeed, Totenkinder would go out of her way to ruin all of the Fairy Godmother's blessings and even murdered her sister fairies with poisoned apples. In return, the Fairy Godmother engineered Rapunzel meeting her prince to spite the Black Forest Witch.
- Magic Wand: Which she uses to channel her magics.
- Never Mess with Granny: She's a very magically powerful fairy who almost rivals Totenkinder herself.
- Took a Level in Kindness: In her second comic appearance, particularly after being shot in the head, the Fairy Godmother is a kinder, more subdued individual.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Her takeover of Ultima Thule was all part of her plan to make people happy ... by forcing them to be.
Ali Baba
"Huzzah! A greater find than I could have hoped for in all my wildest dreams of grand, lovely, splendid avarice!"
"But he was melancholy in his unearned wealth. The palaces it bought were lonely. The wines from forty nations tasted bitter on his tongue. The women of his seven seraglios held no allure for him, for their hearts were not fairly won. It wasn't until Ali Baba turned to thieving himself that he truly came alive. He had a natural gift for it, confounding merchant princes and the sultan's guards at every turn."' - Jonah Panghammer
The anti-hero from Arabian Nights, he is now known as the Prince of Thieves.
- Blatant Lies: Claims that Tariq Ibn Umar Ad Saladin Al Ghor gave him the Legendary Blade of the Seven Gardens, but he actually stole it from the man's tent.
- Cool Sword: Carries the Legendary Blade of the Seven Gardens, purported to be able to slice through mountains, "given" to him by Tariq Ibn Umar Ad Saladin Al Ghor. He wields it to great effect against many of the Empire's Wooden soldiers.
- Guile Hero: Retains this quality from his original legend.
- Killed Off for Real: Goldilocks is compelled by the Sword of Regret to murder him in the course of killing his lover, The Snow Queen.
- Love at First Sight: Initially seemed to have this for Briar Rose, but it turns out to be for the Snow Queen.
- Loveable Rogue: There's a reason he's survived so long as an repentant thief, and why the ruthless Snow Queen not only spared his life, but eventually took him as a lover...
- True Love's Kiss: His devotion to riches and strong initial attraction to Briar Rose enabled him to wake her with a smooch.
- Victory Is Boring: The reason why he abandons his life of fabulous wealth and leisure to become an adventurous thief.
Lauda
"Sleep well and soundly, my loves. Get your rest, for tomorrow may test us all."
"Once upon a time, in a garden, there were two rose vines, one bearing white roses, and the other red. The garden belonged to a poor widow, who lived in a small cottage in a clearing within a great and magical forest. She had two daughters, who were just like the two roses."
Snow and Rose's mother, whose actions and lineage are the driving force behind much of the conflict between her daughters. She never appears in the story proper, only in flashbacks.- Cain and Abel: While she left home, withdrawing from the generational fratricide, she did kill her last surviving sister, Geirvé, when she found her decades later (granted, Geirvé was trying to kill Lauda in the first place to tie up every loose end).
- Good Parents: She loved her daughters dearly and was willing to pretend one was dead to save her.
- Happily Married: In issue #149, we learn she and her husband were very much in love. Sadly, their marriage did not last long due to his untimely death, likely at the hands of his sister.
- In the Blood: Her magical lineage, which forces the members of each generation to kill each other off until only one remains, then inheriting the bloodline's power. Also, the members of this line can apparently only conceive daughters.
- Love at First Sight: This was the case with her and her unnamed husband.
- Massively Numbered Siblings: She was the youngest of thirteen sisters.
- Single Sex Offspring: The norm for her family, as mentioned above.
- The Strategist: It's implied that she purposefully bowed out of the family killings so she could claim the power later.
- Strong Family Resemblance: The flashbacks from the Rose Red and Happily Ever After arcs show that adult Lauda looks very much like her own mother.
- Tempting Fate / You Can't Fight Fate: After killing her last remaining sister in self-defense as mentioned above, Lauda thought she and her husband could live happily ever after together, and that she could avoid the family "curse" continuing by only having one child. Naturally, in due time she gave birth to twins Snow and Rose. This is even Lampshaded by Rose in the story when she learns of it, saying "anyone could have seen that coming".
- 13 Is Unlucky: Averted at first, as she found a way to circumvent the family curse and even ended up as the sole surviving sister and wielder of the generational power. However, it was later played straight as her plan to avoid the curse in the next generation by having only one child didn't work and her beloved husband died after only a year or so of marriage.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Magically turned herself into a beautiful white crane to meet with the King to the West.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: In issue #96, Lauda claims that she helped her sister (later revealed to actually be her sister-in-law) marry the King of the Silver Realm, causing her to owe her a favor. Yet, in issue #149, we learn that the sister-in-law was married to the king before Lauda ever met her, or her future husband, so how could she have helped her to become a queen? In addition, her ultimate fate has never been explained.
- Youngest Child Wins: As mentioned above, she was the last of the 13 sisters left alive, then inheriting the family power in full.
Mundanes ("Mundys")
Molly Greenbaum
"So, will there be anything else, sir?"
"I don't know what "riposte" means, but don't you dare withdraw yet!" - Molly Greenbaum, to Prince Charming
A waitress at Gottfried's Steak House in midtown Manhattan. She has a brief romantic encounter with Prince Charming at the very beginning of the series.
- Dropped a Bridge on Her: The next time we see the poor girl, years later, she has become one of Mister Dark's "Witherling" zombie-eque slaves.
- Funny Background Event: In the first big panel depicting Molly and Charming after leaving the steakhouse, you can see two young girls in the adjoining apartment listening with great amusement to their carnal session.
- Immodest Orgasm: Prince Charming inspires at least one of these in Molly back at her apartment.
- Super Gullible: A guy she just met, who expressed his intention to stiff her with the check for his meal, later convinces her to let him shack up with her, take money from her purse, and do his laundry, all without her ever learning his real name. But this is Prince Charming we're talking about here...
Tommy Sharp
"I only wanted a big story. I didn't mean anything."
"Welcome to the world you made, you pathetic little media fuck." - Bigby Wolf
A reporter for the Daily News who has realized that the Fabletown residents never age.
- Entertainingly Wrong: He thinks the Fables are immortal because they're Vampires.
- Exposition of Immortality: He wants to do this in an article about them.
- Killed Off for Real: Bluebeard makes sure of it himself.
- Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Bigby almost murders Sharp upon their first meeting, in front of God and everybody, but correctly guesses that Sharp has made provisions against just such a contingency. But once those provisions have been eliminated, Bluebeard takes it upon himself to carry it out.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Through painstaking and extensive research, not to mention a considerable amount of clandestine observation, Sharp comes to the accurate conclusion that the citizens of Fabletown are greater than human, immortal beings. But he incorrectly discerns that they are vampires, due to witnessing Bigby shapeshift to wolf form.
- Too Dumb to Live: He discovers an ancient community of (supposed) vampires, decides to out them against their will, and warns them in advance. While one could justify it as journalistic integrity, he doesn't stop to think his threat to the Fables could (and did) get him killed.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Pretty much nails a lot of the "rules" of vampires, especially their abilities and limitations. He just incorrectly applies them to this situation.
Arthur Harp
"I have to allow certain things that I may not personally approve of, in order to maintain good order and discipline."
"Finally there was the mysterious Sergeant Harp, the only one of us not from Dog Company.Not even from the 101st Airborne. But he knew how to jump. Something about him scared the frothy Irish piss out of me- the way he could move through the thick, dark undergrowth like it was a wide, empty boulevard in the brightest daylight." - Pvt. Shawn Duffy
Sergeant in the OSS during World War II, he often collaborated in dangerous secret missions with Bigby Wolf, usually deep inside enemy territory. He later becomes infected with a version of lycanthropy, making him a "wolf-man" like his old friend.
- Dating Catwoman: Marries Sieglinde, the Nazi doctor, basically because they had both become werewolves, thereby making them unique and outcast from the rest of humanity.
- Deep Cover Agent: His specialty with the OSS, and how he originally encounters Bigby.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Harp and Bigby were an unbeatable team, contributing hugely to the Allied war effort, and they learned to trust each other with their lives over the course of the conflict.
- I Owe You My Life: Bigby saved Harp's life many times during WW II, which is why Harp years later, cannot bring himself to shoot his old friend with a silver bullet.
- Not Quite Dead: Was shot, then caught in the explosion of the Nazi tower. He nevertheless survives, due to being infected with Bigby's "werewolf" blood.
- Off with His Head!: The "Werewolves of the Heartland" graphic novel ends with Bigby decapitating Harp for being a weak leader.
- Older Than They Look: Looks to be maybe in his early to mid-thirties, even several decades after the end of WW II, due to being infected with the lycanthropy virus.
- Secret-Keeper: Knew full well Bigby was some form of supernatural being, but never revealed this information to anyone, even his superiors or men.
- Would Hit a Girl: Has no problem shooting Dr. Sieglinde von Abensberg und Traun in the midst of a heated firefight, despite her being a woman and non-combatant. It turns out she survived as a werewolf.
Moss Waterhouse
"From the highest studio tai pans to the lowliest junior assistant agents, there's not a warm body in town that can risk not taking my call."
"As much as anyone, Nimble pictures owned this town. And I was a prince of the city." - Moss Waterhouse
A young executive and up and coming mover and shaker in the film industry. He becomes second in command to "John Trick" (actually Jack Horner) at Nimble Pictures, and later rises even higher.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even the grasping, predatory Moss is shocked at how coldly and casually "John Trick" fires his old agent Bernie Stein, the man who helped him establish himself in the movie industry.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Due to the Fabletown laws against revealing the existence and nature of Fables. Jack cannot make more than the most brief public appearances as head of Nimble Pictures, so he appoints Moss as the man who will not only be the face of the studio, but also the guy who really runs the day to day operations.
- Klingon Promotion: When Jack's machinations in Hollywood are revealed to the Fabletown brass, they swiftly drop the hammer down, divesting "John Trick" of the vast majority of his fortune, and removing him from his position as head of his own studio, replacing Jack with an all-too willing and enthusiastic Moss.
- Number Two: To "John Trick", as acting head of Nimble Pictures, executive producer of the Jack films and the public face of the company.
- The Starscream: Moss never really expressed any serious dislike for his boss, but his predatory nature and outright greed makes him jump at the chance to oust Jack as head of his own studio, expressing zero remorse.
- Twofer Token Minority: Moss himself alluded to this trope, as he outlines his assets while interviewing for his position as "John Trick" (Jack)'s second in command. He actually checks three of the boxes; four, depending on whom you ask:"I'm a gay, Jewish black liberal."
Sarah Tanaraq
"That's the nature of rebound relationships, right?"
"And I always assumed when someone finally came to take Bigby away from me, it would be the woman he's trying so hard to forget." - Sarah Tanaraq
A young Inuit woman living in the Alaskan wilderness who Bigby has a relationship with during his estrangement from Snow White and Fabletown proper.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Obviously has very strong feelings for Bigby, but also understands he's just biding his time until the situation changes and he is somehow reunited with his one true love. She is extremely gracious and understanding at their separation, making Bigby feel extremely guilty.
- Nice Girl: She's presented as an Understanding Girlfriend who is well aware of being a rebound relationship for Bigby, even making a trek into the mountains (that apparently takes days) just to bring him supplies. She takes the anticipated break-up with such grace that Bigby feels like shit afterwards.
- On the Rebound: She knows full well that Bigby has just broken up with what is probably his one true love, but she actually sees it as her "duty" to try to help him get over it. Paradoxically, she is also fairly certain Bigby will eventually go back to the mystery woman.
- Sex for Solace: Her relationship with Bigby in a nutshell. Bigby is obviously trying to forget the pain of losing Snow and his cubs, while Sarah is more than likely extremely lonely.
- Understanding Girlfriend: Sarah had no delusions that her relationship with Bigby was no more than a way for him to cope over being separated from Snow and his children. She also knew he had secrets that she didn't push him on and disapproved but accepted that there was nothing she could do about her boyfriend's constant drinking.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: She's savvy enough to know that her relationship with Bigby wouldn't last and there was something about him that explained he lived in isolation. Like all Mundanes Locked Out of the Loop she comes to the wrong conclusion which is that Bigby is some sort of government agent (technically true as for having worked for the Fabletown government, but not quite accurate).
Meghan
"The truth is, I don't want to hear any more fairy tales".
"So, to whom do I pray for my handsome prince? Where's my 'happy ever after'?" - Meghan
This Louisiana Farm Girl had her life irrevocably changed when Reynard the Fox literally dropped into her life and caused her to fall in love.
- Everyone Has Standards: Despite starving from being on the run, she refuses to allow Reynard to steal food from people.
- Farm Girl: Which is how Reynard discovers her.
- Fiery Redhead: Normally very mild and even-tempered, but the likes of Reynard would tax anyone's patience.
- Interspecies Romance: Falls in love with Reynard while he's in human form, but stays in love with him (and has his baby) after discovering he's actually a fox who fakes a human aspect.
- Mystical Pregnancy: When they have sex and Reynard impregnates Meghan, his magical nature as a Fable fox causes her to go full term and deliver their hybrid child within days.
- Not What It Looks Like: Early looks into Meghan's homelife make it appear that she's at the mercy of abusive relatives Uncle Bobby and Cousin Joey, who use her like a slave and threaten her with beatings. But this view is entirely exaggerated and incorrect, as, despite their occasional brutish and crude ways, they actually love Meghan very much and have never and would never harm her.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Meghan jumps to this conclusion when she reads a newspaper article revealing that her family's farm has burned down. It turns out she's wrong.
