I know who the "Crooked Man" is.
Alright.
Don't read this if you just want to ride the story like the wave of ecstasy that it is, ok? I REALLY enjoy getting into the weeds on this sort of thing and I'm pretty observant, so that's what's gonna happen here. Put on your waders, because we're going deep.
In episode 1, as I blew through this amazing new Telltale game for which I'll never stop being grateful, I was struck by the man Snow and Bigby encountered in the hallway after Snow woke Bigby from his scant few minutes of rest. He was distinct. He had red hair that I could swear I'd seen already at some point. He had a tie on with an interesting pattern: shepherd hooks. Also known as shepherd crooks. He was interesting; he wasn't just some guy. There had to be something there. The episode kept the central theme of how so many Fables were just forgotten, swept under the rug, left in squalor by the famous Fables.
Who's more forgotten than "The Boy Who Cried Wolf?" Who has more to hate The Big Bad Wolf for? Certainly, the Wolf ruined many lives... but they're remembered. Who's the Fable who Bigby ruined and then the rest of the Fables ruined by forgetting him altogether? Just the Boy.
I started paying more attention. Then I noticed the taxi driver was the same man from the hallway. Then I noticed that same man again, during the Tweedle chase. Again, every taxi, same man. Every time.
Now, Episode 3 arrives, and we find the mastermind behind all of this is the "Crooked Man." "Why that name?", I wondered. It's an odd name for anyone to choose for himself; no master criminal thinks of himself as a crook. No man who commands others and controls heads of state considers himself common thuggery. So why "Crooked Man?"
Because: shepherd crooks. Because he's the Boy Who Cried Wolf. He set out to take revenge not only on Bigby (although that's clearly large in his motivations), but on the entire system which destroyed him more fully than Bigby ever did. Why do I think it's not all just about Bigby?
Does anyone, anyone at all, think Bloody Mary couldn't have shot Bigby right in the brain had she wanted to? She put one, single, bullet in her gun. Someone who doesn't know how to aim doesn't do that. She knew exactly what she was doing. The Boy wanted a spectacle and he wanted Bigby to be laid low. He wanted them to see the Woodsman's Axe, and he had no intention of allowing Mary to give Bigby the chop. This is a game.
The Boy has built an empire in the shadows of Fabletown, and his subjects are the Fables that the big names like Snow have forgotten. The prostitutes are his pawns, Crane was his rook and he sees Bigby and Snow as the opposing chess pieces. Hence Mary's statement: "a new Queen". Bigby is the opposing player's Queen, Snow is the King.
That's my reckoning, anyway. Hope I didn't take the fun out of it for anyone.
Comments
Sorry, but no. He's just a reused model. He appears in 2 places at once in a scene in episode 1
I don't see a recycled model being all of it. It's possible that the taxi driver is just a generic model that I'm not supposed to notice, and maybe that's not a part of it at all, but a generic model being given his own scene in episode 1? I don't see Telltale being that lackadaisical.
Sorry but a while ago someone posted a video that leaked The Crooked Man's model. The hand in the car mached his model so it's pretty much confirmed, if you want to spoil it to yourself just search for it.
Interesting, I'll check it out.
I'm a bit suspicious of it given that the camera wasn't lining up with the model's face, and the face lacked all animation while the other two faces were fully animated. Also the hand is ungloved, in Episode 3 I'm fairly certain the hand was wearing a white glove. Different colored and patterned suit too, I believe, although that could be lighting or my memory failing me.
He also seemed to be playing the role of Snow. Hence the camera focusing on his neck, where Snow's face would normally be given her character's height.
Look at the Walking Dead. You see the same walker 100 times...
Surprised you didn't mention that the final episode's name is "Cry Wolf", so there's that.
What kind of generic model has a name? I believe it's Cryer, I think that's what it says on the wiki.
That couldn't be the Crooked Man because the Crooked Man looks like this.
..Where did you get this picture?
Hacked game files.
Crooked Man model was leaked on the forums, i have pictures and videos of him.
And it's not Cryer.
Someone did a video where they switched Snow's model with the Crooked Man's model.
inb4 Redacted