The relationship between Fables and Mundies
Hey guys, i've been looking at these boards and I did notice one of the plotlines that was altered was Branigan discovering about Fabletown.
I heard some rumours/i speculate that accoridng to the canon of Willingham's work it wouldn't make much sense....but let me ask a question.
What gives Fabletown the right to hide itself from ALL of Mundy society?
The Fables are all refugees of war who then proceed to come to our world and hide from the Adversary. They bring along all kinds of dangerious individuals (Even Bigby ate a few people when he came over) along with them and dangerious magical artefacts.
If we look at another Urban Fantasy tale, The Harry Potter series, at least some portion of the Muggle goverment knows about magic and they were properly warned about Voldemort. What happend to NY when the adversary send in a legion of wooden soldiers or what about Mr Dark when he popped up? Yeah, folks got killed. Including babies!
I'm not saying the Fables should publicly announce their existance to the world but wouldnt it make things a lot easier if a similar relationship between the Ministry of Magic and the Goverment exists between Fabletown and the White House?
The US Army knows about Bigby Wolf and during the first World Wars he was part of their Black Ops team.
Another Question I would like to ask how much of the stories we know happend in our world?
For example the children that Peter Pan took along, Alice and Wonderland, Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz...are those mundies coming over from our world and came to the Homelands?
We also know that the tale of Frankenstein DID happen, the head of the monster is actually in the buisiness office so you can argue they are stealing from mundies now, as did the tale of Dracula, Bigby and Dracul were best buds aparantly according to Wolf in the Fold.
So what are your two cents on this?
Comments
I think they have a right to protect their community however they see fit. If that means keeping Fabletown secret, thats what it means. I dont think the Army knows about Bigby either. All that stuff he was doing during the War was of his own accord if I remember right. The few soldiers that did know about him are dead now. As for them living side by side with Mundies, if that was feasible, I dont think they would be going through such lengths to keep themselves hidden.
I admit with the Bigby thing it's left a little bit unclear. He and Harper talk about previous operations and he didnt see afraid when Bigby was Wolfed out. Personally I like to believe some officials knew about Bigby's true nature and kept it secret BUT the opposite is also very if not more plausible
Taken the monster's head with him and one of the few "magical" elements in our mundy world seems to give evidence to that.
Also a shout out to Nick Slick whom I have forgotten up untill now. You think Non-Fables ( or magical beings not native to the Homelands) would be allowed amnesty in Fabletown?
The reason they stay so secretive is to preserve their privacy for one. These Fables have gone through so many hardships for the longest time, They don't want to deal with paparazzi, fairy tale fanatics, and people in general who want to see these "Characters" who've been alive for up to centuries and starred in your favorite children's tales. Another reason is for safety. If they start making theirself known to the world, that opens up the possibility of the government meddling with the lives of the Fables, making choices to force them to do their dirty work, Taking advantage of the powers Bigby has and many other Fables. All Fables want is to live in the privacy of their own homes, like any other decent person. Of course, there are Fables who want to be known. Jack became a successful movie producer, however that was treading to close to Fabletown's laws to keep secret. The sheriff (Who was at the time not Bigby, but Beast.) had to erase immediate people Jack had contact with, although the movies were left alone for the public to watch. As for situations like the wooden soldiers, yeah mundies died. For the most part, Fabletown had no clue about the threat until it was around the corner, quiet literally. They did their best to fight the force off, and in the end they succeeded. It was unfortunate that human lives were cost, but that's life. Shit happens. People die in natural disasters, shooting, accidents. The fact that an Adversary- related situation killed innocent people was no different. Hell, Fabletown lost a numerous amount of people in that battle as well. It's how the world works. There was actually a part way later (When they were preparing to defeat the adversary for good) where Bigby threatened the adversary with the technology of earth. He even said that he'd get the US government involved, army and all, to prepare to attack with guns and tanks and all sorts of weapons that are so much better than the medieval weaponry that the homelands has. Of course, this ended up not happening, they created better plans than that. But it was a possibility to bring in the mundies. They weren't counting it as a bad plan, they were just able to come up with better ones after that encounter. I know it seems unfair to the world that Fabletown doesn't warn the mundies like in Harry Potter about Voldemort, but you have to understand that it's a sticky situation for them. It feel like the amount of casualties for the general public would have been greater if they knew about Fabletown and it's Fables. They'd get in the way, try to fight with the Fables even. But the soldiers were hard for even Fables to defeat. It's just safer I think. Even if only the US Government knew about Fabletown, it's still dangerous for Fabletown's privacy.
Huh, after that little personal rant, I guess I should answer the second part. A few tales did happen in the Mundy world. Obviously Frankenstein for one. Fables who are born in the Mundy world are still Fables and are still granted the general amnesty that ones from the Homelands get. Of course, there was nothing in a newborn baby's past that would need a general amnesty, but it also covers their rights as a Fabletown citizen. As for the stories who feature mundies....Technically, Alice, Dorothy, the kids in Peter Pan...technically they're also Fables, even though they play as regular humans in their stories. They could have been from a homelands version of the area they're from in the stories. There's a Homelands version of the Middle-east we know of, as well as a Homelands version of Ireland. The kids in those stories could have been from the homelands version of whatever region the story says they're from.
So yeah. That's my explanation. Sorry it's long, I was trying to give my examples and evidence as detailed and correct as possible.
To answer part of your question: the reason why Fabletown doesn't want to be discovered by Mundies is because they don't want their presence to be treated like some sort of theme-park attraction.
In other words, they don't want to be the next Disney World or Disneyland. All of those endless autographs and family pictures, ugh, it'd be tiring for them! XD
I don't know. Iit depends on what you mean by amnesty? Wiped of all their crimes? I don't know if they have the authority to do that with outsiders.
I think there's more to it also than just wanting to not be freaks. The story of their "creator" makes me think about how much of their existence is tied to the magic of their stories and them being being treated like regular people might upset some kind of balance.
Thanks for the replies all!
Well of course the reason why Fabletown is left a secret is because they dont want the attention, I think it's explained in "A Sharp Operation", I can understand that absolutely. Now with the American Goverment (or ANY goverment for that matter) drafting them into service....I can see that happen. When we look at other works like X-Men or The Boys and whatever, the goverment wont pull any punches to get super powered individuals to work for them.
Well when we look at Frankenstein's monster, Bigby did take him in despite the fact the monster did kill quite a few people (I think it's three or four if you include Frankie, one of them a child). So if Nick Slick or Alucard (Just a example since Ol' Dracul got ahead of himself) came knocking on the Buisiness office...i dunno, could be plausible.
@ Emmypess
No it's fine, i really enjoyed those arguments! Had to take a glass of cola and some crisps with me tho ;P
I read somepalce that Dorothyalongside the trio of colourful friends DID appear in Fables ...or at least in one of the spin-offs. So I think you might be right that the folks who come over into the fantastical world are fables themselves.
I thought in the comics a small town of humans knew of their existence? Tho I think its ok and maybe happen if humans knew more about the odd ones [werewolves vampires etc] then fables and became one.
They mingle with the Mundies but no one is supposed to know about their magical nature. The one guy who got really close was dealt with. Bigby did reveal himself to about three or four of them during the war but they are all dead now. To reveal your nature to Mundies is a very serious offense. One character almost faced execution because of it.
Yeesh that's extremely private, but its ok if the mundy is a oddone?
The only Mundies who knew about Bigby were the ones he worked with, and they all died. Bigby did trust some individuals with his secret, but never the high ups in the army.
The Fables couldn't reveal themselves to the rest of society because the Fables themselves were the targets of all of this other violence. Imagine if the Mundies realized that they could end Geppetto's threat by cooperating with him to get rid of all of the New York Fables. So, yeah, as KCohere said, they have the right to protect themselves however they see fit. And as long as they live in America, they have a 5th Amendment right not to incriminate themselves.
Oddone? Im not sure what that is.
Werewolf,vampires,zombies etc. I say odd ones because Bigby called them that in the werewolf comic and I assumed that the fables referred to non human and non fables odd ones.
Do you mean Wolves in the Heartland? Im not sure but since they essentially became Bigby's "children" spawning their werewolf curse from him, I believe they considered themselves Fables. I could be wrong though. But I dont know, it's never come up in any other case that I can recall. I think it would be different since Fables have a speficic creator and a specific origin and their natures are tied to magic. It wouldnt be the same as if some Mundy got bitten by a vamp that had nothing to do with the Fables who came from the Homelands. But again, Im just speculating because I dont think a situation like that has ever come up. I suppose that would be an interesting scenario lol
Haha thanks I too would like to see more of that since some ppl do believe in them and mundies can become one. I def gotta read that comic tho <,<
Just curious because I never read the comics but has a fable ever been in a relationship with a mundie?
Bigby had a very short one. Prince Charming had who knows how many, same as Jack.
Bigby did? oh goooo oooooooooooon....
Also food for thought are Fables able to procreate with Mundies?
It is a bit of a shame because you could have a entire subclass of "immigrants" like Vampires or Werewolves or aspiring wizards living in Fabletown who arent actually Fables. But because there is little magic left in our realm they flock to Fabletown, like moths to a flame.
Again what if Nick Slick or Alucard poppd in? What bout Frankenstein's monster enctr...
Hmm I would also like to know.
I thought part of their magical powers stem from the fact Mundies create stories about them. If they were to figure out they're real and not make any more stories about them, I wonder if Fables would either cease to exist or even die.
Also I think it's about sort of pretending they're real. It seems almost as if the comics were made to fit in our real time frame suggesting perhaps these stories aren't made up but true or a sort of "realistic" what-if.
I am sure that Prince Charming and probably Jack have dozens of half-Fable/half- Mundy children who they dont know about lol. Weve never seen it though.
Actually, there was one girl with a big belly who claimed a Jack was the father but he had another identity at the time.
Yeah and they all where originally mundies or a mundy can become one. By belief their not fables