TWAU: The Origin Stories
So, since I love folklore, I thought I'd start this thread for people who are interested in the stories. I've seen people asking some questions about the characters and their origins. I'll try to find stories that are as close to the definitive versions as I can (no Disney! 
). I'll link to summaries in the case of novels, epics, etc. I'll also make an effort add to this thread as the episodes continue. If anyone has any comments, anything to add, whatever, feel free! And if I miss anyone or make any mistakes let me know. 
EPISODE 1
- Bigby Wolf:
Bigby is a bit difficult because he's established to be The Wolf from many tales. So, I'll stick to the two that they mention in the game.
Red Riding Hood or Little Red Cap. There are several versions of this story, so here is the
Grimm's version. I went with this one since they mention the stone episode with the Woodsman. http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm026.html
...and The Three Little Pigs. This one is English from Joseph Jacobs.
http://www.authorama.com/english-fairy-tales-16.html
- Snow White:
Probably one of the best known fairytales that there is. From the brothers Grimm.
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm053.html
(In the Fables universe she is also the same character from Snow White and Rose Red. She mentioned her sister, Rose, in the game.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2591/2591-h/2591-h.htm#link2H_4_0064 )
Mr. Toad:
From The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Here's a summary.
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-wind-in-the-willows/wikipedia/plot-summary/The Woodsman:
From Red Riding Hood or Little Red Cap (see note on Bigby Wolf)Faith (and Lawrence):
Again, there are several versions of this story. They reference the name Allerleirauh from the Grimm's tale, but they establish the fact that Faith is from the French story Donkeyskin. Here is Perrault's version.
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault11.htmlBeauty & Beast:
A Fairytale with lots of variations. The classic French version is what most adaptations of Beauty and the Beast are based on.
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/beauty.htmlColin:
One of the Three Little Pigs. (See note on Bigby Wolf.)Ichabod Crane:
From The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41/41-h/41-h.htm ( Summary: http://www.gradesaver.com/the-legend-of-sleepy-hollow/study-guide/short-summary/ )Bufkin:
Flying monkey from the Land of Oz. Here is a summary of L. Frank Baum's Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz/study-guide/short-summary/Magic Mirror:
The mirror from Snow White (see note on Snow White). In the Fables universe it's also mentioned that the mirror has been around for thousands of years and has had several other owners.Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dee:
From Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll. Here's a summary of the chapter that they appear in.
http://www.shmoop.com/alice-in-wonderland-looking-glass/looking-glass-chapter-4-summary.htmlHolly:
There are tons of stories about trolls. In the game there are references to the Norwegian story The Three Billy Goats Gruff in Holly's bar, the Trip Trap. Aside from the bar's name, there are three goats on the sign:
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0122e.html#gruffGren:
Grendel from Beowulf. Here is a summary:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/beowulf/summary.html ( Full Text: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16328/16328-h/16328-h.htm )
EPISODE 2
Bluebeard:
The murderous bridegroom is common in fairytales, from Grimm's Fitcher's Bird to the English story of Mr. Fox. But the character Bluebeard is very French.
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault03.htmlLily:
Lily does not seem to be tied to a specific story. The Troll Cross, however, is an old Scandinavian symbol. As I said in Holly's note, there are plenty of stories about trolls. The Norwegian stories collected by Asbjornsen and Moe contain several popular ones.
http://kurs.uib.no/dikult105_2013/dikult105_15/boots2.html#anchor1Jack:
Jack, like Bigby, is difficult because he is said to be Jack from various stories. Even from the American Jack tales. So, again, I'll stick with one of the best known ones, the one that's mentioned in the game. Jack and the Beanstalk.
http://www.authorama.com/english-fairy-tales-15.htmlGeorgie:
Georgie Porgie from an old English nursery rhyme.
http://www.neatorama.com/2011/08/03/who-was-the-real-georgie-porgie/#!vAwvtNerissa:
The Little Mermaid from Hans Christian Andersen's story. Disney gave her a happily ever after, but the original story has a tragic ending. She didn't have a name in the original, but the name Nerissa means "Sea Nymph."
http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_merma.htmlHans:
Similar to stories about Jack, there are lots of stories about a character named Hans in folklore. Hans in Luck, Hans Clodhopper, etc. Hans is almost always portrayed as a dullard. In the game they reference the story Clever Hans.
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm032.html
EPISODE 3
Vivian:
???? No real info yet on where she comes from. She shares her name with the Lady of the Lake from Arthurian Legend, however, the Lady of the Lake is already in the comics and she and TWAU's Vivian are definitely not the same character. So, right now there's no confirmation as to what her origins are.Dr. Swineheart:
From Grimm's The Three Army Surgeons. Swineheart is a surgeon who boasted that he was so good at his job that he could cut out his own heart and put it back in again. He succeeded in removing his heart, but due to a mishap when he went to put it back in, he ended up with a pig's heart instead.
http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/grimm/bl-grimm-3surgeons.htmFlycatcher:
The Prince from the tale of the Frog Prince. In the Grimm's version of this story, the girl throws the frog against the wall rather than kissing him. Very romantic, LOL. In the Fables universe, Flycatcher's story turned tragic after his "happily ever after."
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm001.htmlAunty Greenleaf:
From Aunty Greenleaf and the White Deer an American folktale.
http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/08/aunty_greenleaf_and_the_white.htmlBloody Mary:
A vengeful spirit from urban legends. Sometimes in folklore she is said to be the spirit of a witch who was executed, or sometimes a woman who died in a horrible accident. Folklorists started recording examples of her around the 1970's, but the idea of magic and spirits in mirrors is an ancient one. So many variations, but pretty sure her name is familiar to most of us.
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/bloodymary.asp
EPISODE 4
Johann The Butcher:
From the nursery rhyme "Rub-a-dub-dub."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rub-a-dub-dubJersey Devil:
A cryptid or legendary creature from American folklore. Said to be the ill-fated thirteenth child of Mother Leeds. Here is the best page I could find for info on the legend.
http://weirdnj.com/stories/jersey-devil/Tiny Tim:
From A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
Full Text: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-h/46-h.htm (Summary: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/christmascarol/summary.html )The Crooked Man:
From the nursery rhyme "There Was a Crooked Man"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Was_a_Crooked_Man
EPISODE 5
- Vivian (Again):
So, we finally get an answer for Vivian's backstory. She is the "girl with the ribbon around her neck" from folklore. As far as I can tell this story is American in origin. The ribbon color varies, but it's usually said to be yellow or green in the story. Though I've seen some versions where it's red or black. Here is the best retelling of it that I could find on the net.
http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2009/08/the_yellow_ribbon.html
Comments
This is a good idea for a thread.
Don't forget the Magic Mirror, also from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Also note that while Holly's bar does reference Three Billy Goats Gruff, the actual troll from that story is Grimble, the sleeping security guard for the Woodlands.
Is there a story about the Witching Well?
Thanks.
I'll add a note for Magic Mirror.
I do remember now that Grimble was supposed to be the troll from The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Perhaps Holly was just making a joke when she named her bar, since it's one of the most popular troll stories that there is?
I haven't come up with much about the Witching Well. There are a lot of themes from old folklore buried in that one object, but I can't find any stories that mention it specifically. Maybe it was just one of Willingham's creations. The term "Well Witching" refers to dowsing, but that seems unrelated.
I know you said no disney but in Enchanted theres a witching well which takes whoever falls down it in the human/mundane world. I doubt it's that one but it could be idk?
maybe its why if you're a bad fable you thrown in there, to get sent back to the homelands?
That's interesting. I had completely forgotten about that well in Enchanted. (It's been a while since I've seen that movie.)
I think the Enchanted well was probably a reference to the wishing well in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. (I do love Disney, by the way!
I was just looking for older stories). Enchanted came out in 2007, and The Witching Well first appeared in Fables around 2004.
I did find a note on the Witching Well here on the Vertigo Wiki (comic spoilers) that says it's supposed to be all unnamed magical wells in all stories and that Willingham liked the fact that its name was similar to Wishing Well.
Ok, I found an answer about the well.
Bill Willingham was discussing items like the Witching Cloak and the Witching Well, and here's what he said about the well:
http://www.clockworkstorybook.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=86&start=140
Ah that's interesting (: and good point haha it was the only thing I could think of though except a scottish myth I heard a few years ago
Updated for episode 3. An interesting episode compared to the first 2 since in it we have only 2 characters who are easily traced to fairy tales (Dr. Swineheart and Flycatcher), added to that we have an urban legend rather than an actual story (Bloody Mary), a character whose origins haven't been revealed (Vivian), and another whose origins I can't place (Auntie Greenleaf).
So, while updating this post I found that this episode just wasn't as straightforward as the others. Anyway, if anyone has any more ideas or thoughts about Auntie G. or Vivian, please feel free to add them.
EDIT: Found Auntie (or "Aunty"... not used to spelling it like that) Greenleaf's story. Good story, and entirely new to me.
Post has been updated again.
this is awesome thanks for doing this. also in the comics the magic mirror says the he use to belong to the snow queen to, so you could add that if you want. even thought the snow queen prob wont be mentioned in the next 2 episodes.
Fantastic, no, fantastic isn't the word for this thread, superasmfantasmicellence is the word! Just made the word up fyi, totally following this so I could be up to date with these stories that I don't rightly know yet!
Thank you!
I'll add a little note to the mirror entry to clarify that his origins go further than the Snow White story.
Awwwww. Thanks. ^_^ I'm glad that it's helping people out.
No problem! Keep it up when you can!
I also couldn't find any fairytale characters called Vivian, but it could be the anglicised version of the Irish "Bébinn", which is apparently common in mythology. The Wikipedia entry mentions a few things, but mostly of the 'godess' variety which I think Fables would stay away from. It does say, however, that "In the Fenian Cycle of Irish tales, Bébinn is "a beautiful giantess of aristocratic bearing" who seeks protection from the Fianna when an ugly giant pursues her."
It'd be neat if she turns out to be a giantess under a glamour.
That's really interesting. How awesome would it be if Vivian shed her glamour and turned out to be some gorgeous, radiant, giant goddess who did her best to protect the other girls?
I really hope that they'll give us an origin for her. I can't wait to see what it is.
Great job with the thread, after reading Toad's story i realised i saw an animated movie about him on Animax some years ago. I also watched Beowulf in that period, i didn't realised Gren was from there. I didn't knew about Bufkin, Georgie, Bluebeard, Greenleaf, Hans, Swineheart or Faith and Lawrence's origins either.
Updated for Episode 4.
Pretty straightforward. Just four new characters this time.
There's also The Crooked Man, who's from the nursery rhyme, "There Was a Crooked Man" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Was_a_Crooked_Man
Added, thank you.
Can't believe I forgot to add him. I think that since everyone has been talking about him for so long he barely felt like a new character. lol.
great thread, thanks for the info
So this will (probably) be my last update to the original thread. Not much new in episode 5, just a confirmation for Vivian's origin story. I would have done it earlier, but it's been a busy couple of weeks for me. Again, if I missed anything let me know! Take care all.