A Thousand Lore Questions and Theories

Comments

• DabigRG

  October 2020

  Welcome to the Telltale Community! Good to know new people can and will join here.

  Properties of Fables
  How do Fables work, and what makes some of them more durable than others? Georgie died from a stab wound to the stomach, while Woodsman was able to take an axe to the skull and survive. What gives some Fables their uncanny resilience?

  Uh, fairy magic, I guess.
  And yes, Georgie's death really doesn't make much sense unless he's not a Fable.

  Speaking of Woody, in the Book of Fables it's said that his real name has been forgotten, but how is this the case? Wouldn't Woody remember his own name, or is it forgotten because Mundies forgot it?

  The idea is that his unearned popularity as The Woodsman really got to his head, to the point that even he forgot his real name after centuries. That's part of why he's such a pathetic drunk in the present--those days are over and he's been having trouble adjusting ever since.

  Ichabod and Lily
  When it's discovered that "Snow's" body is actually Lily in a glamour, Ichabod has a rather distasteful reaction. He keeps making racist remarks about trolls, which comes off as rather unusual to me due to his relationship with Lily. She was willing to impersonate Snow White for him, why would he speak so ill of her? It didn't sound like a way to deflect suspicion to me, it felt like his dislike for trolls was 100% genuine.

  Because he likely didn't know, just like everyone else but Woody; he also expresses concern when they first see her track marks being revealed for the same reason.
  He just asked Vivian under the table if there's a fable who specializes in becoming someone else and she said she'd hook him up. Then Lily walked in all glamour'd up ready to give a convincing performance and he was indeed hooked from there.

  It is interesting you mention it though, because the previously one segment from the first episode has him noticeably say they "had something special." While it's meant to appear in line with Snow seemingly being murdered, he knew exactly what was really going on from the moment Snow walked in on their interrogation. And since Bigby was originally gonna confront him about it in the second episode, it makes me wonder.

  The Ribbons

  If Vivian intended to free the other girls by killing herself and lifting the curse, it sure didn't seem to work. Even at the end of the game "Nerissa" and the other girls still seem to be wearing their ribbons, and refuse to remove them at every opportunity. This raises two questions: "Was Vivian ACTUALLY Vivian or another girl in glamour?" or, "Did Vivian not understand her own curse?" Of course it could just be PTSD keeping the girls from removing their ribbons. If I had a magical beheading ribbon tied around my neck, I'd be scared to remove it too- even if I thought it was disabled. However, it's equally possible that "Vivian" wasn't who she claimed to be.
  It's intended to be the fact that taking them off meant having your fucking head come off before. Curse being lifted or not, no self-sustaining person is gonna just jump at the opportunity to try that.

  The Wolf Among... Everyone
  When Bigby is chasing after the Crooked Man's limo in wolf-form, he doesn't even attempt to hide his appearance, but there don't appear to be any consequences for this. I was kind of under the impression that most of the cars driving down the street were Mundies, but I suppose it's equally possible that the population of Fabletown is much more dense than I realized. Every single person there could be a Fable- except the police officers that found Snow's body certainly weren't. If Mundies are allowed to live in Fabletown, how did Bigby not get caught during his wolf-form rampage?

  Good question.
  Perhaps Snow invested one last bit of the money into a widespread version of Crane's memory spell?
  Also, he's basically the self-glamouring Sheriff pursuing the big mastermind of their problems, so some may let that slide.

  The Butcher Shop
  Within the butcher shop, The Cut Above, we find evidence of a glamour-making operation, with shackles, a warning alarm, a chalkboard of names, and various magical ingredients. Bigby mentions that these ingredients could be used to create various kinds of dangerous magic, but we never see any payoff of that. If the Crooked Man and his goons needed to defend themselves from Bigby, why not use some of these "dangerous magical items" they were apparently creating? I've come to realize that we have NO IDEA what the Crooked Man's endgame was with this operation. What exactly was he attempting to do?

  Yeah, I was really wondering about that too.
  Perhaps its a sequel hook and/or allusion to the idea of the Crooked Man having much bigger plans.
  Or maybe the ingredients just happened to components for dangerous magic, but were used for something illegal, but mostly controlled.

  Snow White and Glamours
  If you give Mr. Toad the money you found in Ichabod's jacket at the Lucky Pawn, you'd be forgiven for thinking they would be able to get glamours and stay in Fabletown. At the end of the game Mr. Toad and his son get the boot and are sent to the farm, despite Toad allegedly telling Snow he had the money to buy Glamours. Why would she just kick him out without even listening? Along with Toad, Colin was also sent back to the Farm, and I have questions about that too. What separates the Fables that can get Glamours from those that can't? If Toad has the money but still wasn't allowed to get one, I don't think it's an issue of them being expensive. At first I thought that all Animal Fables without hands were simply unable to Glamour themselves due to being, essentially, talking animals, but Bigby throws a wrench in this. At the factory we see that Bigby's true form is a giant quadrupedal wolf, which implies Glamours are able to give Fables functional hands even if they don't possess them normally. If this is the case, it means Snow had some ulterior motive for getting rid of Toad, although we have no idea what this could be. Is it possible she was involved in the scheme this entire time, and sent Toad to the farm to tie up loose ends? Snow has made a number of questionable decisions in the game that I couldn't really grasp, such as demanding beyond reason that Bigby burn down Greenleaf's tree. I don't think she's as innocent in this as she appears.

  How reliably they can keep it up and how much of a risk they are to be exposed. Toad had flaked on paying his and staying out of sight for quite some time and Snow had to start cracking down in order to start improving things, so he got the boot.
  This is also why she wanted Greenleaf's tree gone: it had used to create illegal glamours that allowed dangerous Fables to sneak around undetected and got others like Lily killed.
• Jayenne

  October 2020

  This game gives you insane amounts of material to speculate on. The Nerissa/Faith conspiracy alone is shattering my damn brain. I hope we get answers in the next game.

  DabigRG posted: »

  Welcome to the Telltale Community! Good to know new people can and will join here. Properties of Fables How do Fables work, and wha… moret makes some of them more durable than others? Georgie died from a stab wound to the stomach, while Woodsman was able to take an axe to the skull and survive. What gives some Fables their uncanny resilience? Uh, fairy magic, I guess. And yes, Georgie's death really doesn't make much sense unless he's not a Fable. Speaking of Woody, in the Book of Fables it's said that his real name has been forgotten, but how is this the case? Wouldn't Woody remember his own name, or is it forgotten because Mundies forgot it? The idea is that his unearned popularity as The Woodsman really got to his head, to the point that even he forgot his real name after centuries. That's part of why he's such a pathetic drunk in the present--those days are over and he's been having trouble adjusting ever since.… [view original content]
• Poogers555

  October 2020

  1. I'd probably chalk up different Fables durability to be something that overall doesnt matter. Yes its a bit weird why Woody is fine with an axe in the head while Georgie gets stabbed and dies. It would be nice to have a bit clearer rules when it comes to something like that, but I wouldnt say it killed the immersion for me or anything. Also this isnt proof or anything but the woodsman axe was apparently enchanted at one point, maybe part of that enhancement is still there and it cant kill its owner. So magic stuff is the answer I guess. Also Woody's name isnt literally forgotten, its more of just a saying that everyone just refers to him as Woodsman or Woody rather than whatever his actual name was.
  2. Crane didn't know Lily was a troll which is why his first reaction to the reveal is a disgusted "You gotta be kidding me."
  3. Vivian removing the ribbon did work which is why Nerissa is able to chew out the Crooked Man in episode 5. She doesnt want to remove it because in the back of her mind is a "Well what if it isnt fully broken and my head still falls off...?" Basically just "ptsd" like you said. Like you know it should be fine to do now, but if somehow it wasnt you die so is it worth it?
  4. Bigby probably wasnt caught because he wasnt staying in place or anything and couldnt be 100% identified as a werewolf. Its not like Toad who is 3 feet tall wearing clothes and slowly walking around making him very identifiably not human. Its also the 80s so its not like people could take photos and videos. I do hope Wolf 2 may have a nod to this moment though with maybe a news paper mentioning multiple reports of a wolf man running around in the streets.
  5. Crooked Man's end game was to just have a successful criminal underworld. Its a pretty obvious metaphor about how organize crime operates due to a government not treating the citizens fairly, in this case not making a required item like glamours affordable, so they turn the Crooked Man because they can afford it but it comes with a catch and they keep a thumb on them to keep them under that pressure. The dangerous magic could also simply be things like the world teleporting or magic they used to replicated Vivian's ribbons.
  6. Toad being sent to the farm anyway even after he finally has money to pay for it is again more of a general statement of government not treating citizens fairly, as Toad is punished for simply not being like the others so he is required to purchase expensive glamour or else he is punished. He had multiple times failed this task other Fables dont need to, but the government decided he was too much of an abuser of the system and sent him away even though he finally could pay. About Bigby though, Bigby doesnt actually have a glamour, he is a Fable lucky enough to be able to change at will between forms. (He was cut with a knife of lycanthropy as a Wolf, which basically turned him into an opposite werewolf, giving him the ability to become man.)
• DragonBlue

  January 2021

  I recently just played TWAU and I absolutely loved it!!!!
  For the 1st question, I guess it depends on the Fable. They have different degrees of durability and healing factors.