What if we IGNORE the last lines of the game...
...and treat it as a cheap trick the writers use to get us debating? Does the story still make [enough] sense? A "normal" noir story without nearly as many convoluted theories and assumptions like the whole Nerissa = Faith thing. In this scenario if we play all the way to the end, before Bigby recalls all those quotes, this is what we can assume to be true:
1) Faith in episode 1 is Faith. Faith's severed (and bruised) head is also Faith's
2) Nerissa, at every point of the game including the end, is Nerissa
3) The mirror cannot show Faith or Lilly not because of a glamour, but because of the original ribbon wearer being alive. Faith/Lilly being alive or dead doesn't matter. This could be cleared up if we had the chance to see Faith or Lilly in the mirror after Vivian died
4) Swineheart needing to run more tests also does not mean the head is glamoured. "Tests" could mean he is trying to figure out what made the cut, because Swineheart never knew about the ribbon spell and had no reason to think that was the "weapon" used to decapitate the girls
5) Nerissa told the truth in the last scene about ratting out Faith and Lilly, and coincidentally used the same phrase "you're not as bad as everyone thinks you are"
Things that remain unanswered:
1) How does Woody know what happened to Lilly, based on his conversation with Gren in episode 3 when you listen to them from outside the trip trap?
2) When EXACTLY is that one photo taken, the one with Faith angry at Nerissa? This affects when exactly Faith died, and how true Nerissa's confession is in the final scene
3) Why does Nerissa have Faith's purse in episode 4, or is it a generic common purple purse that doesnt matter
4) Nerissa admits to leaving Faith's head on the steps, but makes no mention of delivering Lilly's head, or how she knew where to find it
5) If you save Lawrence, he is present for Crooked Man's trial. When Nerissa arrives, there is zero interaction between either of them. Shouldnt he know then if that is Faith? This is in the same vein as "why cant Bigby just smell the difference between both girls"
Basically it means the girls never glamoured as each other, not in this timeframe at least, between the events of episode 1 through 5. We ignore the backstories of both Faith and Nerissa, but acknowledge that Telltale specifically assigned the roles as these Fables to make you THINK Faith escaped in the end (I think Nerissa being Faith is way more possible than the reverse). If Faith and Nerissa were any old character I agree it wouldnt be nearly as intriguing.
However if that is Faith at the very end, why would she continue the sob story to Bigby about selling out her friends? Why try to fool him even longer only to reveal her identity to him seconds later with the same line as Faith's in episode one? Why not say the line, then quickly disappear? Instead she just keeps on walking. Yeah she has a bag with her, but she doesn't look like she's in a hurry to catch a bus or whatever. It would have made more sense if while Bigby stood there dumbfounded, she disappeared without a trace.
The main debate, again in this scenario, is no longer "are Faith and Nerissa the same person". It reverts back to "is Nerissa punishable for what she did / is the Crooked Man truly responsible". Because the more I play through this game, the more I go with the simplest explanation and write off the final lines as an unnecessary distraction.
Comments
That just blew my mind!
You forget one simple thing here. The title of the 5th episode "Cry Wolf" Could it have been Faith all along, who was "Crying Wolf" or was it the Crooked Man?
What happened to "Faith's" body? We know Lily was tossed in to the lake...
When Bigby asked the Magic Mirror where Faith way, It was due to "powerful magic" that prevented us from seeing her. It was magic Faith was using to hide her beauty like she did to escape her fathers Kingdom. And I don't think the ribbons would have anything to do with it.
Also, we say Faith's father was dead, so the Magic Mirror CAN see people who are deceased. Remember?
One other thing when "Narissa" at the end said they were all being punished for treason, then why was "Narissa" still alive then? Shouldn't she have been punished as well? Why was Lily killed? She had nothing to do with stealing the picture, it was "Faith".
So then Georgie killed Lily when she was glamoured as Snow. There was a lot of blood. Where was all the blood from when they killed "Faith", where did it happen in the Pudding and Pie?
There are too many unanswered questions here.
Why would the Crooked man want to kill off the girls? They were making him money for him, why would he want to draw attention to himself, He already had Crane in his pocket. We also know that they haven't had a death in Fabletown in a very long time. The Crooked man was under the impression he was in an alliance with the powers that be, Didn't that seem.. strange?
I, too, am not interested in the debate over whether Nerissa was Faith or the other way round. And due to the massive script changes that took place during the production of Episode 2, there's certain to be a huge amount of detail that was scrapped. For all we know, the writers themselves are as split on this as this community.
I'd rather apply Occam's Razor. Narrative-wise, the last comment by Nerissa that bore such resemblance to Faith's was just a coincidence. They were friends and likely to have shared opinions about other people in Fabletown. This cuts out all the over-use of glamours that postulating one impersonating the other would entail.
For those familiar with the Mass Effect 3's Ending debacle, the Bioware writers also wanted "lots of speculation from everyone". This is a crutch to keep players discussing the game.