List of Fables characters (Inmates at the Golden Boughs Retirement Village)

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 inmates at the Golden Boughs Retirement Village.

Little Black Sambo ("Sam")

Mr. Revise did such a good job of revising Little Black Sambo's story that Sam has grown into an old man and few people remember him. He still managed to escape during the mass breakout from the Golden Boughs by turning all of Robin Page’s tigers into butter. This upset Mister Revise greatly, as he viewed Sam as one of his greatest successes. According to Revise, Sam's story was "censored, shunned and forgotten by the oversensitive mundys". In The Great Fables Crossover, Kevin Thorn summoned Sam along with Hansel, hoping they could inspire him in writing his masterpiece. After numerous disagreements, Sam eventually dumped Hansel out of his wheelchair and off a cliff. He then attempted, unsuccessfully, to put an end to Thorn's plans by stealing his magical pen. During the final Jack of Fables story arc, it is revealed that he has become a father to a little baby boy, Sammy Junior, as a result of a one-night stand with Robin Page. Sam is one of the few regular characters who survives the Jack of Fables' final issue.

The Tin Man

The Tin Man was first seen in flashbacks during the Fables: Legends in Exile story arc, while fleeing the Adversary's forces. In the Fables spin-off Cinderella: Fables Are Forever, it is revealed that he, along with the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy Gale and Toto made it into the mundy world in the year of 1943, having been on the run from the Adversary's forces for years. The Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion decided to live out on the Jersey pine barrens rather than staying at the Farm, while Dorothy went on to live as a killer for hire among the mundys. At some point years later, all of them were captured by Mr. Revise's people and imprisoned at the Golden Boughs. The Tin Man used to have all sorts of appendages attached to his body, including tin cannons, a rotating saw and a large drill, which were all removed when he was revised. When Bookburner attacked the Golden Boughs, Mr. Revise reluctantly allowed many of the revised Fables to be restored back to their original self, and the Tin Man magically got all of the appendages back. In the final issue of Jack of Fables, the Tin Man and many former prisoners are caught in the middle of a confrontation between Jack Frost Two and Jack Horner, who has been turned into a dragon. Jack Frost believes that the Tin Man is on the dragon's side and kills him by chopping off his head.

The Cowardly Lion

Like several other Oz-characters, the Cowardly Lion was first seen in flashbacks during the Fables: Legends in Exile story arc, while fleeing the Adversary's forces. In the Fables spin-off Cinderella: Fables Are Forever, it is revealed the Lion, along with the Tin Man, Dorothy Gale and Toto, was on the run from the Adversary's forces for years, before the group made it into the mundy world in the year of 1943. The Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man decided to live out on the Jersey pine barrens rather than staying at the Farm, while Dorothy went on to live as a killer for hire among the mundys. At some point years later, all of them were captured by Mr. Revise's people and imprisoned at the Golden Boughs. When Mr. Revise reluctantly allowed the revised Fables to be restored back to their original self, and the Cowardly Lion learns that he was actually vicious lion looking for restraint before he was revised. In the series' final issue, in a chaotic battle with Jack Horner, who has been transformed into a dragon, the Lion dies when he is caught in Jack's dragon fire.

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty, also known as Mister D, is a giant egg who can blast away like a cannon, who fought in the Homelands version of the Battle of Colchester. This is a reference to the history of the nursery rhyme; "Humpty Dumpty" was originally the name of a big cannon used during this battle.[1]

Humpty attempted to escape the Golden Boughs again and again until he finally succeeded during the mass breakout orchestrated by Jack; only to get himself shattered when blasting several of Robin Page’s tigers. Since Humpty had promised to lead Jack to a hidden treasure, Jack took the Humpty Dumpty parts with him, and did the impossible by putting Humpty Dumpty back together again, using copious amounts of super glue. They found the treasure eventually, but Humpty was captured by Bookburner and forced to join him in his march against the Golden Boughs. After he got himself broken again, Bookburner had him resurrected as an evil version of his former self. Apparently, Humpty recovered, and was back as his old self again in the final Jack of Fables story arc. He was killed when Hillary Page fired her rifle-mounted grenade launcher in a chaotic fight in the final issue of Jack of Fables.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox

Paul Bunyan used to travel the length and breadth of his Fable Homeland of Americana, with his trusty blue ox at his side. He has been shrunk down to a smaller version of himself by Mr. Revise, but still grows in size when he is angry or when he gets closer to Americana. When Hillary Page cooked up a plan to venture in Americana, she blackmailed Bunyan to go with her, and both were captured by Bookburner when they reached their destination. Bookburner killed Bunyan by burning Bunyan's book and had him resurrected as one of his loyal soldiers, resulting in Bunyan's ox was left on its own. Bunyan was seemingly killed when Gary the Pathetic Fallacy unleashed his powers on him when Bookburner's army attacked the Golden Boughs.

Babe the Blue Ox was transformed into a miniature ox by Mr. Revise; after Babe and Bunyan were caught trying to escape the Golden Boughs during the mass escape orchestrated by Jack Horner, Revise had them both thrown down the "memory hole" as punishment, resulting in the already shrunken Bunyan becoming almost human-sized and Babe turning into a miniature blue ox. Throughout the series, Babe enjoys entertaining the reader with his own private musings. Babe seems to be one of the few characters that breaks the fourth wall, but it is unclear who he talks to exactly (himself, the reader or an imaginary audience). He also seems to be able to find himself in the most improbable situations, without anyone showing any sign of surprise (some characters even mistake him for a dog, though he clearly looks like what he is: a blue ox). Even Bunyan seems a little confused about Babe's identity, as he keeps referring to Babe as a "she", even though he also refers to Babe as an ox and is deeply insulted when someone calls Babe a cow. Babe is somewhat loyal to Jack, but he is also somewhat delusional in his mind as he likes to talk in his mind about stories he makes up. Babe is also one of the very few characters to have survived in the final Jack of Fables story arc.

Wicked John

A man who is the spitting image of Jack Horner, except from the dark hair. He used to be best friends with Raven and is shown several times trying to get Alice's attentions, though she's clearly disgusted by him. It is revealed that Jack Horner was never involved in the Beanstalk or Giant-killing incidents, but is actually an unknowing copy of Wicked John. Upon Wicked John's death, some great power decided to write him back into the stories, but got his name wrong, thus creating Jack Horner. John was later revived, and now both Fables exist.

Gary the Pathetic Fallacy informs Jack of the facts after a mysterious, old man shows up and plunges the sword Excalibur through Jack's chest (and dies shortly thereafter). Jack, who can’t get the sword out, is delighted with the news, since this means that the sword was really meant for John, the “real” version. Jack is able to pull Excalibur out of his chest and impales John with it, before leaving John behind.

In the final story arc of the series, it is shown that John has been at the Grand Canyon, the place where he was left behind, for at least two decades, still living with the sword stuck in his chest. He is now being used as a tourist attraction as the "Impaled Wild Man". It appears no one's really tried making real interaction with him, beyond trying to pull out his sword for fun. Due to this treatment, he has lost some of his mental stability and has become somewhat delusional. Eventually, he has enough of being an attraction and makes a long journey to find Gary the Pathetic Fallacy. He does eventually find Jack, who has been transformed into a dragon, and Gary. At the same time, Jack Frost Two arrives to slay the dragon Jack, not knowing that the dragon is his father. Gary, rushing to Jack's defense, pulls the sword right out of John in order to defend Jack, and Wicked John dies from the injuries.

Raven

Raven is a Native American who can turn into a raven and is guided by a bird spirit. He is referred to as a trickster figure, which is true to the mythology. During his time as a prisoner at the Golden Boughs, the spirit instructed him to stay close to the copy of Jack of the Tales. Raven, like so many others, believed that Wicked John, who was the spitting image of Jack except from his dark hair, was a copy of Jack Horner, and Raven and John became close friends. After the mass escape from the Golden Boughs, it was revealed that John was the original Jack of the Tales and that Jack was actually the copy. After hearing the news, Raven chose to leave John behind and become Jack's companion instead, since the spirit had specifically instructed him to befriend the copy and not the original. Staying true to the trickster figure mythology, he was close to turning his back on Jack more than once when trouble arose, but the bird spirit convinced him otherwise, reminding him that he was supposed to help Jack. Jack and Raven's ways eventually parted after the destruction of the Golden Boughs, when Raven chose to stay with a group of former prisoners.

Decades later, in the final story arc of the series, the spirit comes to Raven in a dream and tells him that he has forgotten his purpose in life, which is to protect Jack Horner. The spirit commands him to gather together every ally he can muster and save Jack Horner, who, unbeknown to Raven, has been transformed into a dragon. Raven tells the others that the bird spirit has shown him the way to Fabletown, and the group sets off to find the place. The group follows the spirit for days, until they reach their destination, finding themselves in the middle of a battle between Jack Frost Two and Jack the dragon. Raven lies to the others and convinces them to protect the dragon, saying the dragon is the only one who knows the secret way to Fabletown. Everyone soon realizes that they have been tricked when Jacks kills several of them, believing that they are out to steal his treasure. The Page Sisters also show up, and are devastated when Jack burns the books of original Fable stories that they have been looking for. Upset at the loss of the books (the sisters needed them for restoring their immortality), they start shooting everyone around them and Raven is shot through the head and his chest. As he dies, he asks the spirit why it led them into this death trap, to which the spirit replies, "No particular reason. I thought it'd be funny" (though it realized some other being had been pulling its strings, as well).

Alice

Alice spent much of her time inside the Golden Boughs fending off the advances of Wicked John, a man she openly despised. She managed to escape with John Henry and Pecos Bill during the big breakout, and the group briefly accompanied with Jack Horner, who told them the story behind his identity as Jack Frost. Jack made a joking pass on her, but Alice rejected him. She was last seen in the Golden Boughs during Bookburner's attack, where Mr. Revise gives her a copy of her original story, an act that is supposed to grant powers back to the character that had been stripped away. However, whatever abilities Alice had returned to her were never shown.

Alice was not seen among the Fables who left the Golden Boughs together after its destruction, and she was not present during the series' finale, indicating that she may be one of the few who survived the series. In the series' final story arc, the Page Sisters come across several books of the original Fable stories (from before they were revised by Mr. Revise), one of which is called "Alice's Adventures Beyond the Grave" (this may or may not indicate that she might be able to return to the living, even though she may or may not have been killed like almost every one in the "Jack Of Fables" series).

In the Jack of Fables series, Alice is wearing her classic knee-length dress with a white pinafore, but the dress is red rather than blue. Like in the drawings of John Tenniel, her hair is blond. In the story Jack Frost, she also is seen wearing the striped stockings and wide ribbon from the illustrations of Through the Looking-Glass.

Toto

The Fables spin-off Cinderella: Fables Are Forever tells the story of how Toto, along with Dorothy Gale, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, escaped to the mundy world during the 1940s. While the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion decided to live out in the woods rather than at the Farm, Dorothy took Toto with her when she left to live as a killer for hire among the mundys. At some point, Toto was captured by Revise's people, presumably when Dorothy was captured in the year of 1986.

Toto attempted to flee the Golden Boughs during the mass escape orchestrated by Jack Horner, but was killed and eaten by one of Robin Page's tigers. Dorothy remarks that she's kind of relieved, since this is the first time "that flea-bitten mongrel has quit yapping in a hundred years". But, as Priscilla Page points out, "killed Fables often get magically replaced by new versions of the same Fables", and a new version of Toto shows up, alive and well, by Dorothy's side in Oz in Cinderella: Fables Are Forever. It is unknown what became of him after Cinderella kills Dorothy in the Deadly Desert.

Lady Luck

A blonde who feeds on people’s luck by eating their brain. She fled the Fable homeland Americana in order to escape Bookburner, and settled in Las Vegas in the mundane world. In Vegas, she had lucky casino winners kidnapped so that she could use them for her grisly rituals. She left a string of bodies in her wake, but was eventually captured by Revise's people and taken to the Golden Boughs. Lady Luck was one of Goldilocks’ revolutionaries, who believed Bookburner and his army was coming to save them from their captivity at Golden Boughs. Ironically, it was Bookburner's army that shot the revolutionaries down when they finally did arrive. Apparently, she survived, as she cropped up in the final Jack of Fables story arc. She was shot and killed by the Page sisters in a chaotic battle in the final issue of Jack of Fables. She remarked that it was "not [her] lucky day".

Other inmates

References

  1. ↑ Nevins, Jess, Willingham, Bill, Buckingham, Mark (2013). Fables Encyclopedia. New York. DC Comics. ISBN 978-1-4012-4395-1
  2. ↑ Iona and Peter Opie (editor), The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, Oxford University Press, New edition, 1997, ISBN 0-19-860088-7, p. 80
  3. ↑ "A Cat Came Fiddling out of a Barn". LanternTree.
  4. ↑ "The Project Gutenberg EBook of Edmund Dulac's Fairy-Book, by Edmund Dulac". Project Gutenberg. May 18, 2008.
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