List of Fables characters

Fables is a fictional fantasy comic series for mature readers published by DC Comics. Template:Spoiler

New York Fables

Bigby Wolf

Main article: Bigby Wolf

Snow White

Main article: Snow White (Fables)

"The Cubs"

(LtoR) Winter, Darien, Therese, Conner, Ambrose, Blossom

Snow and Bigby's seven children are a rowdy, unpredictable bunch of hybrids that seem to have inherited abilities from all facets of their heritage. One of the seven, however, was born with a birth defect; he was a zephyr, a rogue wind whose invisible nature meant its parents were initially unaware of its existence, and fed off the air of living beings (accidentally killing them). They can all fly (at first uncontrollably so, flight having been their natural state and they needed to be taught how to ground themselves), and can shift to wolf form as well.

The final cub, Ghost (the zephyr) was sent by Snow to find his self-exiled father after she discovered her son was behind the recent rash of mysterious deaths. The family has since been reunited, however it is not known if the other six cubs have been introduced to their other sibling.

Prince Charming

While he is charming and handsome, Prince Charming is by nature a womanizer, liar and a general rogue. His (known) previous wives in chronological order were Snow White, Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) and Cinderella. He lived in Europe after leaving the Homelands, living off the kindness of various nobles and ex-nobles. He returned to Fabletown just prior to Rose Red's "murder". He hatched an intricate scheme, killing Bluebeard in a duel and successfully running for the position of Mayor of Fabletown against Old King Cole, so he would have access to Fabletown's treasury (where Bluebeard's finances would go). Unfortunately, he made some false presumptions (and thus promises) and is currently having a difficult time in office with public opinion turning against him. Following his victory, he appointed Beauty and Beast to the positions of Deputy Mayor and Sheriff respectively. Spending a large amount of time with Beauty on the job, he attempted to begin an affair with her; she rejected his advances, threatening to set Beast on him if he persisted. Theories both on and off the page speculate that he gives off powerful/magic pheromones, which are responsible for his strong ability to seduce nearly any woman with whom he makes the attempt.

Beauty and the Beast

Still together after nearly a thousand years, Beauty and Beast escaped from the Homelands with barely more than the clothes they were wearing. Both set up in relatively low-paid jobs, Beast maintaining the Fabletown buildings and Beauty working in a bookshop, earning between them enough to make ends meet, but little more. Their lives were hampered somewhat by Beast's tendency to shift back and forth between his human and beastly forms depending on his wife's mood towards him, but the two were nevertheless a loving couple. With the election of Prince Charming to Mayor of Fabletown, their lives have taken a turn for the better; as neither Bigby Wolf or Snow White were willing to work alongside Charming, their positions became vacant and the Prince offered Beauty and Beast the available jobs. Beast, now chief of security, has allied himself with Frau Totenkinder, the most powerful witch in Fabletown and has finally had his curse fixed; he can now transform into his Beast form at will. Whether he's aware that it was Totenkinder who inflicted the curse on him in the first place is unknown; this occurred pre-amnesty, so he would be legally unable to retaliate if he wanted to. While initially reeling at the complexities of the job (much of what Bigby did was covert and unknown to the general Fable population), he has grown into the job and appears to even enjoy it. Beauty has taken Snow's position as Deputy Mayor, and is currently learning to cope with all of the responsibility. Prince Charming recently tried to seduce her, but she refused him, threatening to send her husband after him if he tried again.

With the recent arrival in Fabletown of the Imperial Emissary, Lord Hansel, and the subsequent need to keep track of both him and his staff, Beast has asked for, and been given, additional funding and manpower.

Boy Blue

Main article: Boy Blue (Fables)

Old King Cole

Mayor of Fabletown since its foundation, Old King Cole preferred to leave the actual running of the place to Snow White, his deputy, focusing more on the more ceremonial and formal aspects of the role himself, an arrangement that generally worked well. He was eventually challenged for the position by Prince Charming who won after making a series of rash promises that he would prove to be unable to keep. Leaving the Mayor's penthouse apartment, he briefly roomed with Boy Blue (Boy Blue's original roommate Pinocchio had died during the Adversary's assault on Fabletown) before moving into the apartment formerly belonging to Beauty and Beast when they themselves moved into Snow's old place. A well-meaning and amiable man, King Cole found his defeat profoundly depressing. However, when the Arabian Fables arrived in Fabletown, Cole found renewed importance as one of the few Fables fluent in Arabic, and his diplomatic acumen led to a close friendship with Sinbad. Before this, Cole had been portrayed as a figurehead whose primary duty was glad-handling Fabletown's budget; his diplomatic sessions showed a shrewdness and cunning that he had not displayed before then. He has since become the ambassador to Fabletown East in Baghdad. He returned to Fabletown briefly to preside over the wedding of Snow White and Bigby Wolf.

Rose Red

Snow White’s sister, ex-girlfriend of Jack of the Tales, and brief fiancée of Bluebeard. For centuries, Rose's relationship with her sister was defined by wild carousing and partying, serving as an embarrassment to her sister. Snow's then husband Prince Charming got tangled with Rose Red in an adulterous relationship when she had stayed with the couple as Snow White's companion, thus putting an end to the already troubled marriage. In the first Fables story arc, she is believed to be murdered, until Bigby Wolf solves the mystery. In the second story arc, she and Snow White go up to the Farm, where they are caught up in a revolution. At the end of that story, Rose finally finds her niche, managing the Farm, which allowed her to stand equal to her sister, the then-deputy mayor. She continues to run the Farm, doting on her nieces and nephews, and has occasionally provided assistance to covert operations. Though her life as the original party girl is well behind her, she still maintains a cheerful attitude and independent spirit, evident in how she runs the Farm well, regardless of how the current administration would like her to manage things. She was briefly involved with Weyland Smith before his death in the battle of Fabletown. Rose was also the one who persuaded her sister to trust Frau Totenkinder and take her with them to the mundane world while they were escaping from the Homelands and the invading armies of The Adversary. She has since shown interest in Boy Blue while overseeing his labor sentence.

Briar Rose

Better known as Sleeping Beauty, Briar Rose was Prince Charming's fourth wife. She escaped from the Homelands with close to nothing, but a blessing received on her christening day, which promised that she'd always be wealthy, came to her rescue, and she rapidly gained great wealth through successful speculation on the stock market. As such, she lives in a luxurious apartment filled with expensive furniture and decoration. Her curse, however, remains in effect, with the slightest prick of her finger leading to her falling asleep, followed by everybody else in the building, which is then surrounded by rapidly growing thorn-bearing plants. A kiss from a loving prince resets the curse back to the start. Generally a hazard, the curse has proved useful on at least one occasion when Bigby needed to deal with a mundane reporter who'd gathered entirely too much information about the existence of the Fables. Rose was sent into his apartment building first, then intentionally pricked her own finger, causing the entire population of the building to fall asleep, allowing Bigby and his cohorts to do what they needed to do unhindered.

Flycatcher

Flycatcher, real name Ambrose, a.k.a. The Frog Prince was a happily married man in the Homelands, with many children. He lived peacefully with his family, his only quirk being the occasional resumption of his frog curse when he was nervous, scared or especially excited. Fortunately it only took a kiss from his loving wife to return him to human form, and, as time went on, he would often go for years between instances of the curse asserting itself. His tranquil family life was shattered when the Adversary invaded his realm. Fly geared up in order to fight, unaware that the enemy troops had already invaded his castle. As he bid farewell to his family, enemy soldiers burst into the room, causing Fly's curse to manifest immediately. Trapped in his frog form, he could only watch helplessly as his younger children were murdered immediately and his wife and eldest daughter repeatedly raped before being killed themselves. How Fly returned to his human form is unknown - it is speculated that he took a last kiss from his dead wife. Unable to face the truth, Fly wandered as a beggar, asking everywhere he went if people had seen his family. Finally he learned of the sanctuary of the mundane world and, figuring that his family would have fled there, he travelled there as well. He still wonders what happened to them and has asked one of the magic mirrors retrieved from the Homelands to search for them on his behalf. Some of his fellow Fables are aware of the true situation, but conspire to keep the truth from him, knowing that it would destroy him. When drunk, Fly appears to have a greater awareness of what really happened to them, which is believed to be the reason why he rarely drinks.

Fly now acts as the janitor for the Woodland building, the center of government for Fabletown. Fly is not employed in the traditional sense, since the nature of his history is such that, if he has a job that he could choose to quit, he would have to do so and return to the Homelands to seek his missing family. As this would almost certainly result in his death, Bigby developed a system whereby Fly is working off a never-ending series of community service orders for a series of minor infractions, usually eating flies. As such, Fly can remain in the job that he enjoys doing and where he feels important. This arrangement was nearly disrupted by the well-meaning Beast, who intended to employ Fly legitimately, before Rose Red put him straight on the real nature of the situation.

Tall and decidedly gangly, Fly is almost universally popular in Fabletown, to the extent that Snow and Bigby named one of their children Ambrose in his honour. Although still searching for his family, he has developed something of a crush on Briar Rose, to the extent that his kiss was enough to wake her from her curse.

Fly has been spending a considerable amount of time with Red Riding Hood, having been asked to look after her by Boy Blue before the latter departed for the Farm. She accompanied him to Bigby and Snow's wedding. Fly, however, seemed oblivious to the fact that Red was falling for him, something that he only appeared to realize when she went on an expedition out into the mundane city, where she had a makeover with him in mind. He was shocked when he saw her and ran away, hiding in the depths of the business office. His curse then manifested, reverting Fly to his frog form.

Recently, Santa Claus visited Flycatcher and forced Fly to reveal that he can speak, and remembers what happened to his family. Santa then brought the ghost of Fly's wife so she could restore him to his human form. Santa explained that Fly will play a crucial part in future events, but only if he can learn to accept the past and move on.

Willingham has revealed that the next major story arc will focus on Flycatcher. Flycatcher is Buckingham's favorite character; Buckingham has said that he is the only truly innocent character in the series. [1]

Cinderella

Prince Charming's third wife, Cinderella is often seen as loud and rambunctious, and often goes simply by Cindy. She is the owner and manager of a shoe store in Fabletown. This, however, is merely a cover. She really works for the Sheriff as his off-the-record spy. He has used her to find Fables who may still be loyal to the Adversary, and she tends to use her good looks to do it. Her first mission shown in the series had her trapping Ichabod Crane into admitting that he would follow the Adversary if she were to ask him to. She also participated in the interrogation of the captured wooden soldiers after the invasion of Fabletown. She recently acted as a delegate to the Cloud Kingdom where she began to forge an alliance with the Giants on behalf of Fabletown. This allowed her to act as Bigby Wolf's mission operator during Operation Israel. Cinderella ran into a problem while trying to get the Cloud Giants High King to sign a treaty with Fabletown. To solve this, she enlisted the aid of the resident medic of Smalltown, and was turned into a mouse using one of Frau Totenkinder's potions. The price she had (or has) to pay for this potion has yet to be revealed, but Cindy certainly feels that it will come back to haunt her.

Weyland Smith

Weyland served as the administrator of the Farm facility and thus bore the brunt of much of the resentment of those Fables confined there. He was imprisoned during the revolution there and was magically compelled to turn his mechanical prowess to the task of adapting mundane weapons so that they could be used easily by non-human Fables. Once the rebellion was foiled, he was replaced as administrator by Rose Red. Originally intending to leave the Farm, Snow White asked him to stay on and continue the task of adapting weapons, in preparation for the inevitable conflict with the Adversary. He agreed and stayed at the Farm, becoming involved with Rose, before they were called into action to defend Fabletown against the incursion of the wooden soldiers. He fought bravely, smashing the enemy close up with a huge mallet, but ultimately fell in battle alongside many of his compatriots.

Frau Totenkinder

Leader of the magicians of Fabletown, Frau Totenkinder (which approximates to "Death of Children" in German) is the Black Forest witch from the Hansel and Gretel story. Her outward appearance as a rather frail old woman masks the fact that she is one of the most powerful Fables to have escaped the Homelands, and she could, in all probability, hold her own against most of those mages working for the Adversary.

Totenkinder was born into the Fog Mountain tribe and grew up there. Once she reached puberty, she began to experience premonitions, initially weak, but growing in strength and accuracy, until the tribe made her their shaman. She became romantically involved with Aurac, the son of the tribe's chief, until another nearby tribe invaded their lands. To avert war, the chief's son was married to the daughter of the other chief, leaving the newly pregnant Totenkinder alone. If it became known that the two had slept together, both would have been banished, so Aurac denounced her, accusing her of consorting with demons, leading to her being banished from the tribe. Realising that she would need far greater power than she currently possessed in order to survive, Totenkinder ritually sacrificed her newborn son and was granted considerable power, which she used to take revenge on Aurac. She learned that, while sacrificing one child a year would keep her power, sacrificing two would prevent her from aging. Years passed as she heaped every indignity imaginable on the tribe that cast her out; ages passed and she remained unchanged, growing only in power and cunning. She helped out those who were kind to her, creating the three Billy Goats Gruff to eliminate a bridge troll that was causing problems for a village that helped her out, and blessing those who she felt worthy. She took her revenge on the town of Hamelin by creating an enchanted flute that was used to lure away their children. Prompted by her experience with Aurac, she waged her own private war against handsome princes and men of wealth and privilege, during which she was responsible for the curses on Beast and Flycatcher. In order to stem her own physical desires, she allowed herself to age considerably. Finally, tiring of dealing with others, she retired to a cottage deep in the woods, interacting with others only when a child passed, when she would dress up her house with sweets to lure them in to be sacrificed to keep her power. Finally, she encountered Hansel and Gretel, who outsmarted her and burned her in her own oven. Surviving in horrific condition, she was eventually rescued by Snow White and Rose Red, running from the Adversary's forces. Telling her about the mundane world, Snow and Rose attempted to help her reach it, covering a considerable distance with her. However, they became separated while travelling and exactly how Totenkinder ultimately reached the mundane world is unknown.

Very little escapes her attention in Fabletown; she was the only one to be aware of Snow White's seventh child, for example, and knew of the arrest of Trusty John, despite attempts to keep it quiet. She also has her methods of gathering information from within the Homelands - she claims to have numerous spies there and was aware, for example, that Boy Blue had been captured by the enemy during his time there. Totenkinder has been instrumental in resolving two of the recent crises to hit Fabletown. She defeated Baba Yaga in magical combat during the wooden soldier assault, much to the shock of the latter, who had always considered her opponent to be minor-league at best. She was also responsible for thwarting the plans of Yusuf, chief advisor to Sinbad of the Arabian Fables, when he released a d'jinn, instructing it to eliminate all his opponents and bring him great power and wealth. Totenkinder anticipated this possibility and ensorcelled him, so that, unknown to him, he actually instructed the genie to kill all his accomplices, then himself (in as drawn-out and painful a manner as possible) and then return safely to its bottle. Without her foresight, it seems likely that Fabletown would have been largely destroyed, quite possibly along with much of the mundane world around it.

While generally acting in the best interests of Fabletown, Totenkinder is something of a schemer and often seems to be playing her own game. Her help usually comes with a price, as Cinderella found out when she needed one of the witch's potions (although what that price was has yet to be revealed). She has established something of an alliance with Beast since his advancement to the position of sheriff; while this generally establishes itself as a quid-pro-quo arrangement of mutual favours, it remains to be seen if any darker reasons lie behind it.

In the same way that Jack represents many of the different Jack tales, Totenkinder is "just about every witch in fairy tales", according to Willingham.

Kay

Once a captive of the Snow Queen, Kay is now grown and living in New York, away from Fabletown itself. He still has the troll mirror shards in his eye, with the result that all he sees is the bad in people; the evil things that they've done in their lives. The pain that this causes him leads him to routinely gouge out his own eyes, although they subsequently grow back over a period of around ten years. Kay has proven very useful in the past at detecting traitors, and it is with this in mind that Beast asked Frau Totenkinder to magically restore Kay's sight to assist him in rooting out Fables who might be secretly working for the Adversary. Because of his ability, Kay is the only other person in Fabletown to know the full details of Bigby's past deeds.

Doctor Swineheart

One of The Three Army Surgeons from the Grimm story of that name, Swineheart works at the Knights of Malta Hospital in New York, where the Special Research Section is in fact a cover for the private Fables-only medical facility. Swineheart took charge of Snow White's recovery after she was shot in the head by Goldilocks during the abortive rebellion at the Farm, and also dealt with her extensively during her pregnancy with Bigby's children. A battlefield surgeon without peer, his services proved invaluable during the battle of Fabletown. He appears to have taken on some mundane attitudes, most likely because he deals with mundane patients as well as his work with the Fables, to the extent that he starts to suggest the possibility of abortion when Snow expresses her unhappiness about the pregnancy, before the appalled Snow stops him going any further, threatening to throw him out of Fabletown if he persists.

Trusty John

The doorman at the Woodland building, John was almost universally popular. Amiable and good-natured, John enjoyed his job and was always pleased to see everybody. As such, it came as a complete shock to everyone when Kay unmasked John as a spy for the Adversary. Baffled as to how the 'most faithful Fable in history' could turn against them, John was interrogated by Prince Charming, Beauty and Beast; he explained to them that, long before signing up to the Fabletown compact, he had sworn an unbreakable vow of loyalty to his King, who he believed had been killed leading his forces against the Adversary. It turned out that this had not been the case, that his King, now working for the Adversary, had contacted John and ordered him to spy on his fellow Fables. Bound by his vow, which overruled the later compact, John had no choice but to obey and spent the next four years passing information to the enemy before Kay, with newly regrown eyes, caught him. Despite being sorely tempted to forgive him, given the circumstances, Charming realised that treason, no matter what the situation, must be dealt with harshly. Hardening his heart, he gave John the option to jump down the Witching Well under his own power as a gesture of mercy, the alternative being that he would be executed on the spot and his corpse put down there anyway. John accepted the offer. Few people explicitly know what happened to Trusty John, as revealing such a beloved Fable to be a traitor was deemed to be bad for the morale of Fabletown.

Grimble

The security guard at the Woodland apartment building that forms the centre of Fabletown, Grimble is the troll from the tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff and quite possibly many other tales where a troll features. He possesses a glamour that allows him to appear human. His possession of this expensive spell despite his relatively lowly job would seem to suggest that, like Bigby, Grimble was refused entry to the Farm facility because of his past history and thus was given the ability to appear human in order to live and work in the city.

Hobbes

Originally butler to Bluebeard, Hobbes the goblin stayed on to work for Prince Charming after the Prince slew his former master. Calm and dignified, Hobbes is nevertheless a formidable fighter and fought savagely during the Battle of Fabletown. Hobbes worked tirelessly in Charming's election campaign and has generally proved invaluable to his master. He possesses a glamour for use in public, presumably provided by his masters, and notes proudly that he maintains an unblemished record of reliability with it. He is apparently very well paid; when asked about it, Prince Charming dryly noted that Hobbes was better paid as a servant than he was as Mayor. Willingham said that his name was taken from Thomas Hobbes and that he chose it because he was amused by a character who symbolizes order being named after a philosopher who wrote about the difficulty of maintaining order. It is also, of course, a pun on the word Hobgoblin.

Red Riding Hood

The most recent addition to Fabletown, Red Riding Hood used to live quietly in her cottage in the Homelands where she would often remain undisturbed for long periods. Her peaceful life was occasionally disrupted by a summons to the Warlock's Hall where, unbeknownst to her, magical fetches of her were created, allowing another to take her form in order to infiltrate groups that were against the Adversary. Baba Yaga had used her form to infiltrate Fabletown during the incident with the wooden soldiers, not too long before the arrival of the real Red with Boy Blue on his return from the Homelands, leaving the real woman facing considerable animosity as a result. Upset by this reception and confused by the very different world that she found herself in, Red first latched on to Boy Blue, then Flycatcher when Blue left for the Farm to serve his sentence there, as both men are among the few who have no issues with her.

Red attended Bigby and Snow's wedding with Flycatcher, but, although she found Bigby oddly familiar, she failed to recognise his human form as being her old foe. After returning, she ventured out into the mundane city to have a makeover with the aim of attracting Fly. He was, however, shocked when he saw her, and ran away, ultimately reverting to his frog form.

The Three Little Pigs

The original Three Little Pigs, Dun, Posey and Colin were heavily involved in the revolt at the Farm. Colin, who appeared to be considerably less enthusiastic about the idea of rebellion than his cousins, was sent down to Fabletown to attempt to steal or duplicate a key to the main business office in the Woodlands building, and also to determine which of the city Fables might be sympathetic to their cause. Colin failed in these missions, largely because Bigby Wolf kept a close eye on him before sending him back to the Farm. For this failure, he was killed by the ringleaders of the rebellion (the implication is that Goldilocks did the actual deed) and his head put on a pole in the centre of the Farm as a message that it was time for the rebellion to begin. When it ultimately failed, Dun and Posey were tried as ringleaders and were executed for their crimes.

This posed something of a problem, as the Three Little Pigs is a popular myth and thus they were needed to fulfil their roles, but it also presented a solution to another problem. As part of Snow White's plan to stem the revolution, three giant Fables, Lonny, Donny and Johnny, who had been kept sedated for centuries due to the impossibility in hiding their huge forms, had been awakened. Rose Red, in her new position as Farm administrator, persuaded her sister to authorise the expensive spells required to transform the three giants into pig forms, allowing the three to take up their new roles as the new Three Little Pigs.

The late Colin appeared to Snow White on four occasions after his murder, still appearing as a head on a pole. The first occasion was when she lay in a coma after being shot by Goldilocks, where they discussed death briefly and Colin pointed out that, while he was dead, she probably wasn't. The second was shortly before the assault on Fabletown by the wooden soldiers, giving her warning that bad things were coming that would require all of them to defeat. The third occasion was in a dream after her return to the Farm with her children, to warn her that things weren't going to improve any time soon. His final appearance was apparently while Snow was awake, to tell her that things were finally going to get better for her (unbeknownst to Snow, Bigby was on the way back) and to say goodbye, that she didn't need him any more and that he should move on to whatever came next. Whether this was simply a function of Snow's unconscious mind or whether Colin's spirit survived his murder in some manner is unclear.

The Three Bears

Residents at the Farm due to their non-human appearance, the Three Bears got involved with the rebellion there, largely manipulated by Goldilocks, who was sleeping with Boo, the now-grown Baby Bear. After the revolt failed, the three were sentenced to one hundred years of hard labour. Some time later, when it became apparent that Fabletown would soon fall under attack, the three volunteered to join the defence, hoping to demonstrate their new loyalty. They fought bravely, but Papa Bear was badly injured and Boo was slain by enemy fire in the closing stages of the battle. Boo's body was committed to the depths of the Witching Well along with his fallen comrades, watched by his grieving parents. With the popular story requiring three bears, Mama Bear fell pregnant not long after her son's death and a new Baby Bear now completes the family once more.

Others

Numerous other characters have been mentioned and made appearances as minor characters or as rarely used ones. These include:

• Bufkin: A winged monkey from the Oz tales, Bufkin acts as Fabletown's librarian and thus is generally found in the cavernous business office, where he both works and sleeps. Close to Boy Blue, he hid for a week when his friend left for the Homelands, thinking that he would be blamed for not stopping him. Bufkin lacks wisdom, is occasionally mischievous and is prone to drinking heavily, but nevertheless is generally a good worker and rarely complains. During the events of 'Storybook Love', when everybody was out of the office, Bufkin came to the conclusion that he was now in charge and decided to rename Fabletown Bufkintown, a change that only lasted as long as it took somebody else to find out about it.
• Ichabod Crane: The former Deputy Mayor lost his job after he sexually harassed Snow White. After Cinderella exposed him as a likely traitor, Bigby executed him in Paris by bashing him in the head with a headless statue of Napoleon Bonaparte.
• Reynard the Fox: A resident of the farm, he stayed loyal during Goldilocks's revolution and helped Snow White escape the clutches of The Three Pigs and also helped her kill Shere Khan and free Weyland Smith from his bonds. He flirts with Snow White shamelessly, who is in turn appalled by the fox's advances.
• Jack Ketch: The executioner who killed Dun and Posey Pig after the revolution at the Farm. Willingham has said that he is not necessarily the historical figure; in Fabletown, "Jack Ketch" is used as a generic term for an executioner.
• Bagheera, Shere Khan, Kaa, Baloo and King Louie: Five from the Jungle Book, they aided the revolution and Khan was shot dead by Snow White. Baloo danced for a week on Khan's grave, doing a show and a matinee, and Bagheera urinated on it. Bagheera was the only revolutionary who chose confinement over hard labour. He was eventually freed after Mowgli, who owed Bagheera a life debt, took on his burden of service and brought the self-exiled Bigby Wolf back to Fabletown.
• Little Miss Muffet: Now apparently married to the spider and calling herself Mrs. Web, she is Fabletown's biggest gossip. Her husband, the Spider, was one of the victims of Snow's son Ghost.
• Rapunzel: Cursed by Frau Totenkinder for displeasing her, Rapunzel's hair is constantly growing, at a rate of four inches an hour, so she has to live under the most restrictive conditions of any of the city Fables, to prevent any mundanes from noticing the fast growth. She has three haircuts each day.
• Chicken Little: Another Farm resident prone to panic attacks.
• Cock Robin: Was killed by another bird fable during the Farm revolt and stayed dead, inspite of reader confusion which suggests that he came back.(Mark Buckingham has pointed out that the second robin that appeared in the 'Animal Farm' story-arc was a different robin, not Cock Robin himself).
• Mary and her Lamb: Mary and her lamb lived on The Farm when her lamb was killed by Ghost. Mary was inconsolable over her lamb's death inspite of Rose Red's and the other Farm fables' best attempts to console her.
• Edmond Dantès: Better known by his famous alias of 'The Count of Monte Cristo', Edmond owns and runs Fabletown's Chateau d'If Fencing Academy. He can often be found in the Branstock Tavern.
• Jack and Mrs. Sprat: Mrs. Sprat works at the Knights of Malta hospital and like the poem says, she is indeed fat. Her husband was another of Ghost's victims.
• The Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe: She and her children live in the Farm and were heavily armed during the Revolution.
• Crow brothers: Joel, Vulco, and Ephram Crow are the three survivors of the original twelve brothers. The brothers, warriors all, fought fiercely against the Adversary's forces and the Crows were instrumental in ensuring the escape of the last ship to leave the Homelands, as the then-surviving seven, armed only with daggers, took on and defeated a pair of dragons who were threatening the fleeing vessel, at the cost of four of their number. These days, Joel's sole task is to cut Rapunzel's hair three times a day, Ephram works as a security guard at the Knights of Malta hospital and Vulco runs the I Am the Eggman diner. The three Crows were brought in to assist with the arrest of the visiting Arabian Fables.
• Thrushbeard: Still as hirsute as his name suggests, Thrushbeard apparently managed to escape the Homelands with some of his royal fortune, as observed by Jack when he tried to sell the exiled King the magic beans; Thrushbeard, wise to Jack's ways, wanted nothing to do with it. He can often be found drinking in the Branstock Tavern. Whether his wife escaped the Homelands with him is unknown.
• Frankenstein's Monster: Was animated by Nazis during World War II. Bigby fought the monster (in a reference to the 1943 film Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man) when he stormed the castle where the experiment was being performed with a squad of Allied soldiers. The Monster's still-animated head is kept in the business office in the Woodlands building where Bigby chats with him from time to time. He often has phantom thirst and is given drinks by Bufkin.
• The Forsworn Knight: A human figure in full medieval armour, the Knight hangs from a noose tied to the tree in the Fabletown business office. All that is known about him is that he apparently killed himself somewhere in the thirteenth century and that, when plied with alcohol, he's prone to singing and then uttering prophesies; it's mentioned that things got decidedly messy the last time that this happened. His origins remain a mystery; all that Bill Willingham has been willing to say on the subject is that the Knight is not known by that name in his original fable.
• Mustard Pot Pete: A talking insect who lives in a mustard pot, Pete handles the night shift in the administration office at the Farm.
• The Cheshire Cat
• The Lilliputians: A group of men from the small kingdom of Lilliput formed an army and tried to fight the Adversary. Their group caught the attention of goblins, so to save their kingdom from destruction they left for the mundane world and founded Smalltown. But they had no women, until Thumbelina came along.
• Thumbelina: She moved to Smalltown during the 18th century and was the only woman there for a while, causing many fights over who would win her hand.
• John Barleycorn: Formally Johnny Bullhorn, he was a resident of Smalltown back when there were no women. He ventured to the Homelands and retrieved the magic barleycorns that Thumbelina was born from, bringing women to Smalltown.
• Arrow: A falcon who serves as commander of the Farm's air patrol. He accompanied the then-Johnny Bullhorn on his mission into the Homelands.
• Tom Thumb
• The Dish and the Spoon
• The Cow who Jumped over the Moon
• The Moon
• Br'er Rabbit
• Br'er Bear
• Br'er Fox
• White Rabbit
• The Three Blind Mice
• The Tortoise and the Hare
• The Mean Little Sunflower Kid
• The Mouse and the Clock from Hickory Dickory Dock
• Edgar Allen Poe's Raven
• Mr. Toad and Mole from The Wind in the Willows.
• The Three Billy Goats Gruff
• The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs: Believed killed in the Adversary's assault on the Homelands, Gudrun actually escaped and now lives in a secret den within the Woodlands building. Her eggs provided Bigby with an untraceable source of funds for his covert activities. With Bigby moved on, Gudrun now fulfils the same role for his replacement, Beast.
• Shylock: The central character from Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice, it seems that Shylock still works with money in some unspecified manner. He converts the Goose's eggs into currency.
• Goosey Loosey
• Puss in Boots
• The Ugly Duckling, still a swan.
• The Boy who cried Wolf
• Peter Cottontail: has been hired by Bigby to train his and Snow's children to hunt.
• Barbara Allen, the character of a folksong. She was accidentally killed by Ghost.
• Col. Thunderfoot, a rabbit colonel who was cursed to remain a human until a female rabbit could love him back.
• Mersey Dotes, now a mermaid who escaped the Adversary's aquatic forces and lives in a lake on the Farm. Her name alludes to the song Mairzy Doats.
• Santa Claus: Stationed at the North Pole, he can magically be at every house in the world at the same time on Christmas night. Following an attempt by Jack Horner to steal the naughty and nice list in 1956, Santa has left the list with Bigby to put in a safe place every year since.
• Mrs. Claus
• Reindeer, Who can magically fly.
• Various animated playing cards, flying monkeys, and avian fables.

Villains

The Adversary

Main article: Geppetto (Fables)

The Snow Queen

A sorceress of great power, Lumi, better known as the Snow Queen, is the commander of the Emperor's personal guard. Once naive and good-natured, with a childlike and somewhat gullible personality, Lumi had a long relationship with Jack Horner. Trusting him, she gave him her powers for a while while she was unwell, creating the persona of Jack Frost. Subsequently, however, she matured, showing a sharp mind and a cunning aptitude. Tall and quite beautiful, she is generally surrounded by an aura of cold, to the extent that it's usually snowing in her vicinity, often to the annoyance of those around her, not that any of them would dare say anything. She is capable of pulling in the winter weather surrounding her if she so chooses, but rarely does so. She was present when Boy Blue cut off the head of the Emperor and even detected his presence before he revealed himself, but was unable to determine who he was masquerading as and thus prevent his attack. She seems to have either always known who the true leader of the Empire was or has known for quite some time, she has been repeatedly shown as one of Geppetto's closest and most trusted allies. When Blue escaped from captivity, Geppetto swore to send the Snow Queen after him to get revenge. She acted as host of the Imperial conference called after Bigby's destruction of the magic grove. She commands legions of frost creatures, including giants. At the conference, she set out a four-stage plan for the invasion and destruction of the mundane world, which she calls "the four plagues". First, thousands of warlocks will release six deadly diseases; secondly, dragons and fire imps will burn the world's cities; third, the Snow Queen's minions will turn the world to perpetual winter; finally, with all crops and means of production destroyed, the remaining humans will starve to death. The Empire can then use the mundane world as a prison. As a result of Pinocchio's briefing, Lumi has been ordered to amend the plans to ensure that all the Fables living in the mundane world have been assassinated prior to any attack, to prevent them rallying the technologically advanced mundane forces against the Empire.

Baba Yaga

One of the Adversary's most powerful sorceresses, Baba Yaga arrived in Fabletown after taking the form of Red Riding Hood. In this disguise, she seduced, interrogated and tortured Boy Blue, and then led an army of wooden soldiers to attack Fabletown. She was defeated in a magical battle with Frau Totenkinder on the roof of the main Fabletown building where Totenkinder had spent years laying down protective spells, giving her the advantage. The rest of Fabletown believes Baba Yaga died in this battle, however Bigby and Totenkinder have kept her alive and restrained, regularly drained of magical power, in a secret prison cell in order to extract information from her.

Her legendary chicken-legged hut was brought to the mundane world when the Fables originally left the Homelands and was stored at the Farm, kept under tight magical control. It awoke, broke through the controlling spells and went on the rampage when Baba Yaga came through in disguise, providing Frau Totenkinder with the clue to her true identity. Its current status is unclear, although the Farm-based Fables presumably managed to get it under control eventually. It's also unknown how it was separated from its mistress in the first place.

Baba Yaga is served by the three demigod knights of the Rus, Bright Day, Radiant Sun and Dark Night, who rank among the most formidable warriors in the Empire. All three faced and were defeated by Boy Blue during his return to the Homelands, but due to their irrevocable bond with Baba Yaga, none of the three were able to die and now exist in the state that Blue left them in. Bright Day represented his mistress at the Imperial conference, appearing only as a head.

This version of Baba Yaga should not be linked with those that have previously appeared in Vertigo titles. Fables exists in its own continuity and thus the characters, while having the same basic source, are entirely separate.

Goldilocks

The girl who broke into the Three Bears' home and ate their porridge has grown up. Now Goldilocks is a gun-toting Leftist political agitator. She led about half of the Farm against Snow White in a rather foolish revolution. Despite her claims to be fighting for the 'rights' of the Farm Fables, and even becoming Little Bear's lover, her actions make it quite clear that she didn't care about the cause in the slightest, simply the power that such a position would provide. It was hoped that she had been killed after attempting to assassinate Bigby and Snow White (being, in order, hit in the head with an axe, knocked off a cliff and then finally hit by a truck off another cliff into a river), but her popularity as a Fable allowed her to survive her horrendous injuries and she has recently reappeared on the scene in the spin-off series Jack of Fables.

Bluebeard

The former nobleman and serial killer who has reformed, or rather pretended he had, Bluebeard was involved with various shady dealings in Fabletown. He was enormously wealthy, nearly singlehandedly supporting the Fabletown government (which had no way to levy taxes, and thus relied on donations from wealthy patrons) and was able to afford even the top magical spells (his entire palace was hidden inside a room of his apartment). He considered himself to be the nemesis of Bigby Wolf, using every opportunity to try to put the Sheriff down. It was fairly accurate to say that his bark was worse than his bite: when he pointed out to Wolf that his threats lost their value if Bigby didn't follow them through, Bigby responded that he never needed to because Bluebeard, a terror against weaker and/or helpless opponents, always backed down when faced with a stronger one. This observation caused Bluebeard to shed tears, and to hate Bigby even more and he attempted to engineer his assassination and that of Snow White, working in conjunction with Goldilocks. Bluebeard was killed by Prince Charming in order to seize his vast assets. Contrary to what his name might suggest, he is not, nor ever was, a pirate. As his body was dropped down the witching well, it seems reasonably clear he'll stay dead.

Rodney and June

Spies for the Adversary, Rodney and June started out as two of Geppetto's wooden children, Rodney a highly-decorated junior officer in the forces assaulting the Arabian Fablelands and June a medic assigned temporarily to his unit. Meeting when Rodney was injured, the pair swiftly grew to enjoy each other's company and began to court each other, despite not really having much of a clue how to go about it. Eventually, Rodney wrote a letter to Geppetto, asking that they be made flesh, so that they could marry and be together properly. The letter was read before dispatch by Rodney's superior officer who was shocked by the content, as it revealed a number of facts about Geppetto's true position within the Empire that would cause immense problems should they get out. He initially locked Rodney up, unsure how to proceed, then ultimately relented. Destroying the letter, he announced that Geppetto should be reassured that there had been no letter and that the situation was under control and dispatched Rodney to do so, with June accompanying him to provide additional witness, observing quietly to the pair that had somebody wanted to ask Geppetto what had supposedly been in the non-existent letter, then it would make much more sense to ask him in person.

Reaching Geppetto after months of travel, Rodney and June made their request. Geppetto talked with them for some hours, then told them that such a great gift would always come with a price and asked them to think about whether they'd be willing to pay it. Rodney and June accepted, were made flesh and were married in a grand ceremony presided over by the Emperor himself. They settled down happily and swiftly conceived a child. Shortly thereafter, they were visited by the Snow Queen, who explained the service that was required of them. They were briefed on life in America, then were sent through and were installed in a small apartment in New York under the name Greenwood, only a couple of blocks from Fabletown, with orders to spy on the Fables there and to study up on sabotage and murder techniques in case they're required to take a more active role. They write their reports in a journal which is magically linked to an identical volume in the Homelands. Orders are passed to them in the same way; occasionally they are provided with specific instructions detailing tasks to be carried out, sometimes involving violent acts. Though both appear to be highly ambivalent about what they do, and June in particular worries about how the recent birth of their daughter will affect things, they nevertheless remain loyal to the Empire - the magic that changed them to flesh ensures that.

Rodney was one of the attendees at the Imperial conference called after Bigby's destruction of the magic grove. He was apparently horrified by the plans for the genocidal plan suggested for the mundane world by the Snow Queen and consulted with Pinocchio about how this could be prevented.

Hansel

Lord Hansel, of Hansel and Gretel fame, holds the position of Head of the Imperial Inquisition and is one of the most feared men in the Empire. After their misadventure in the Homelands involving Frau Totenkinder, who the children pushed into her own oven, Hansel and Gretel emerged from the forests to find their land overrun by the Adversary's forces. They fled, staying ahead of the invading armies and taking sanctuary in one church after another, until they learned of the mundane world. Arriving there in the mid-17th Century, they made their way to the newly-established Fabletown, where they were shocked to discover Frau Totenkinder among the Fables already present. Hansel immediately demanded her execution, only to be informed that, under the terms of the Fabletown Compact, Totenkinder had been granted immunity for her actions in the Homelands. Disgusted, Hansel announced his intention to live among the mundane population, leaving his sister behind in Fabletown.

Hansel moved to Europe, where he swiftly established a name for himself as a witch hunter, testifying in numerous trials and taking part enthusiastically in the executions. It reached the point where his word was considered sufficient to convict a suspect of witchcraft. Hundreds of people were executed at his word. When the Salem witch trials broke out in 1692, Hansel immediately returned to America to participate where he continued with his crusade. Reports of his activities greatly concerned the Fabletown authorities, but as he remained within the letter of the Fabletown laws, no action could be taken against him.

Being nearby for the first time in many years, Hansel visited Fabletown, asking to see his sister. He begged her to leave Fabletown, as it was only her presence that stopped him from assembling the forces required to obliterate the place. Gretel refused, explaining to him that she had spent time studying with Frau Totenkinder in the intervening years and had gained a new appreciation for the magic arts, seeing them not as the devil's work, but as a useful tool. Horrified and enraged, Hansel struck her viciously with a chair, snapping her neck instantly. As no witnesses had been present, he tried to claimed that it had been an accident, but he was not believed. Hansel was stricken from the Fabletown Compact and banished forever. He continued with his witch-finding activities, but as time passed and the witch-hunts ceased, his fame became infamy and he vanished from the mundane world.

Returning to the Homelands, Hansel was tasked with investigating and punishing any unauthorized use of sorcery. It is implied that his job is not to give alleged sorcerers fair trials but simply to stamp out illegal sorcery through terror. He was one of the attendees at the Imperial conference called after Bigby's destruction of the magic grove, although he was not apprised of the war plans outlined by the Snow Queen so that he could not reveal them were he to be subjected to interrogation. Geppetto has designated him as the Empire's official envoy to Fabletown; however, his real mission in the mundane world is to send Baba Yaga and the wooden soldiers back to the Homelands. He was initially given three years to accomplish this, as Geppetto seems intent on a full-scale attack on the mundane world in 2009. Recent changes in plan have increased the urgency of his mission; if the war is to occur on schedule, Hansel now has to speed things up.

The Nome King

The much feared Nome King, from L. Frank Baum's tales of the land of Oz, is the current ruler of that land, conquered relatively early in the Adversary's campaign, as well as many of the surrounding kingdoms and Imperial districts. He attended the Imperial conference called after the destruction of the magic grove and was positively delighted by the plans outlined by the Snow Queen for the effective genocide of the mundane population. He did feel, however, that the plan could be improved with his assistance, feeling that he had many minions that could be of great use.

Others

Jack Horner

Main article: Jack Horner (Fables)

Pinocchio

Main article: Pinocchio (Fables)

The Tourists

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

The only Tourist to have appeared thus far in the main series is Mowgli, from The Jungle Book. He was assigned the mission of tracking down the missing Bigby and bring him back to Fabletown. While this was outside the Tourists' normal duties, he accepted the mission when Prince Charming informed him that his friend Bagheera, imprisoned for his role in the Farm revolt, would be freed once his mission was completed. Mowgli was primarily given this assignment because, unlike the other Tourists, he was raised by wolves, and thus knew how Bigby would think. The task took many months and covered thousands of miles, but Mowgli was ultimately successful.

The second Tourist, Feathertop, the animated scarecrow from a Nathaniel Hawthorne short story. He appeared in "A Wolf in the Fold", a prose tale in the series' first trade papeback, where he accompanied Snow White on her mission to invite the Big Bad Wolf to join them in Fabletown in approximately 1650. He was chosen because, as a non-organic entity, the Wolf would be unable to read his emotions and would find him unpalatable. Bill Willingham has identified the final Tourist as being the Woodsman, who features in many different tales but is best known for his appearance in the story of Red Riding Hood.

The North Wind

The North Wind, often referred to as Mr. North, is the father of Bigby Wolf. When travelling the world, he fell in love with a wolf named Winter; they had seven cubs. Mr. North grew bored after several years and abandoned her. He is the only European fable that still holds his kingdom from the Adversary. He arrived in Fabletown when word reached him about the birth of his grandchildren, and he spent several years at the farm helping Snow take care of them. He treated Snow like she were his own daughter, taught his grandchildren how to fly and shapeshift. He is strong enough to fight Demons and is based on many European Wind Gods, primarily Boreas (who has his own fable, entitled the The North Wind and the Sun). Bigby never forgave him for abandoning Winter and considers him a monster. He eventually returned to his kingdom before Bigby returned to Fabletown. Following Bigby and Snow's visit to his castle, he has officially agreed to help Fabletown by finding zephyrs that will be trained to spy on Hansel and his associates.

Sinbad

The famed mariner of legend is a prince of the Arabian Fables. He arrived in Fabletown with his minister, Yusuf, a host of servants and slaves and, to the consternation of his hosts, a d'jinn secured within a bottle, for a meeting carefully negotiated by Mowgli. Things got off to the worst possible start when Prince Charming forgot completely about the meeting and it was only when King Cole, who both spoke the language and was familiar with the customs, was brought in that things began to calm down. As things progressed, Sinbad began to see that the mundane world represented a new beginning, and decided to free all of his slaves. The enraged Yusuf used this as an excuse to release the d'jinn, giving it commands that would put him in control of both the European and Arabian fable communities. Fortunately, Frau Totenkinder had anticipated the possibility and warped his language, so that the commands he gave were not what he intended, ultimately leading to his own prolonged demise and the reimprisonment of the d'jinn. Sinbad did indeed release his slaves, giving them the option to either accompany him back to Baghdad or to remain in Fabletown. He left Fabletown, taking King Cole with him as the official Ambassador to the Arabian Fables. They returned to Baghdad, where he revealed to Cole that, for the time being, the Arabian Fables still live in the Homelands equivalent of Baghdad, until such time as the Adversary's forces take it. Sinbad has learned from the uncontrolled exodus of the European Fables into the mundane world and has made plans to ensure that their own escape, should it prove necessary, will be much more orderly.

Kevin Thorn

Kevin Thorn is a former New York City journalist who has the ability to see behind the illusions cast by Fabletown magic-users. After the Battle of Fabletown, the anchorman on the news show Thorn worked for reported an out-of-control block party, a building fire and a gang fight in the Upper West Side; minutes later, the details were fading from everyone's head but Kevin's. After reporting this to his boss, he was fired for "going all X-Files". Kevin has now dedicated himself to discovering what exactly is going on in the Upper West Side. He is leaving a complete paper trail in case of his sudden death (which he now considers to be a strong possibility). Kevin's connection to Fabletown, if any, has not yet been explained. In Issue number 54, it is revealed that Kevin is acting as a superintendent at a house three blocks away from Fabletown. This house is also now occupied by Hansel and his staff, though Kevin seems unaware of their true identities. In Kevin's free time (when not spying on Fabletown residents), he is writing a book describing what it is he has discovered of the Fables. He has been keeping an eye on them for long enough now to be familiar with many of the regulars and has noticed the disappearance of several - Bigby Wolf, Snow White, Boy Blue and so forth - linked with references to "The Farm". He has come to the conclusion that "the Farm" is actually a euphemism for execution, giving him the mistaken impression that the Fables willingly kill their own without reservation. He is aware that Tommy Sharp was also investigating Fabletown and was subsequently murdered, which has only served to heighten his misgiving about the Fables.

Tommy Sharp

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

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

Bluebeard, however, felt differently. Believing, as always, that he knew best and probably in no small part to spite Bigby, he summoned Sharp to Central Park where he executed the journalist. Before his death, Sharp claimed to have destroyed all his research. Given the nature of the threat hanging over him, this is most likely true, but some vestiges may remain which a diligent researcher could uncover. Sharp's legacy may yet come back to haunt the residents of Fabletown.