What exactly IS Bigby?
I've been told he's not a "werewolf" and he's just a wolf in human form. Does he require a glamor? He seems to only change when angered and the only thing that can change him back is whiskey and his "Huff & Puff" cigarettes.
So, what exactly is he then?
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Did you read "Bigby's Vengence" in the Book of Fables? (Unlocked after tearing off Grendel's arm.) It does state his parents falling in love-- two wolves, so I believe it is what that person told you, he is a wolf in human form. Then yes, he does require a glamor, but remember when he almost changed while fighting the Woodsman?
Maybe he calms down after drinking, I don't think cigarettes matters. However, someone who can truly answer your question would be one who reads the comics, which maybe contrary to their intentions may spoil something. I personally would wait for this answer, as EP 1 doesn't give us enough information on this subject.
Edit: Um, where did the rest if this thread go? It had some pretty interesting information, and I see no reason for it to be deleted. It also fixed up a lot of bits that I was mistaken for.
In the comics, he was originally born as a wolf with the ability to create a gigantic gust of wind (his father is the North Wind). Later on, he can freely switch between human and his wolf form.
I'm not very far in the comics but as I understand it Bigby can change his form at will. I don't think that cigarettes or whiskey are necessary as part of the transformation process.
He doesn't need a glamour. Bigby was born a wolf and lived as a wolf for centuries. When he made the choice to live among the human fables, he contracted the lycanthropy virus and acquired the ability to shift into human form. (though the comic alludes to the fact that he may have been able to shape shift all along, due to his father's nature, and he just rejected those abilities). The whole story behind how his werewolf abilities came about is detailed in the prose story A Wolf In the Fold from the comics series. So, basically, Bigby is like a classic werewolf, only he was a wolf first and his lycanthropy allows him to appear human. His true form is a giant wolf, which he can shift back to at will. Though, sometimes he takes on wolfish features when he loses his temper. He can also become a wolf-man type creature whenever he wants.
The alcohol and cigarettes don't change him back, they just calm him down. And he smokes as much as he does to dull his senses because he has a superhuman sense of smell and living in the city would drive him crazy otherwise.
In the comics Bigby states that he is "A man sometimes and a wolf at all times."
The whiskey and cigarettes are to dull his over active senses. The wolf like a dog can smell lots of different things.
So basically Bigby's a Wolfwere, an animal who shapeshifts into a human. A Wolfwere means Wolf-Man while Werewolf means Man-Wolf. Were being Latin for 'Man'.
Likely he takes Cigarettes for stress relief, alcohol for it's depressant effect. A stressed and agitated werewolf is no one's friend. Considering how he was born a wolf it likely requires constant concentration to maintain that shape through the daily stresses of being a magical policeman (You try keeping these fables from killing each other day in day out!). For a werewolf that's probably not the best line of work so he likely has to compensate for it in substances that calm him down.
I read a lot of werewolf books in a lot of them there's certain situations that excite the wolf's side in the stories. The scent/sight of blood, the sight of prey running, feeling threatened, scared or angry; being injured or feeling pain, etc. How many of these do you think would be routine in a police officer's life when dealing with difficult to kill Fables? Try all the time. Now compare that to how often he's seen losing it, only twice and both times only when he's in serious risk of death. How does he do it? He drowns himself in alcohol and cigarettes.
Also could be that Bigby is a shapeshifter like his father and can take any form he wants, but his wolf form being his true form and therefore the fallback. This however would make him a shapeshifter mistaken for a werewolf.
Actually... I'm not sure about the alcohol, in the comics he's said he can't get drunk but can drink enough to just get the nice buzz. But concerning the cigarettes they've been pretty clear, and it's not stress relief, but to suppress his hypersensitive sense of smell, and I suspect the alcohol works here as well. He said he'd go nuts if he'd smell everybody (he can smell emotions like fear and stuff as well) for miles around him. In the city it'd be far too much to handle.
And yeah, originally he is a shapeshifter, who just never learned to shift shapes (to reject his father). However he contracted the lycan virus (and thus sort of became a werewolf) to turn human at will after the exile to Fabletown.
So actually... everything Violet_Zephyr said :P
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Bigby is the following:
a) A Fable, and one of the more resilient ones since he's well-known by the Mundies and is present in multiple stories.
b) The product of a union between a she-wolf and the anthropomorphic personification of the North Wind.
c) In his true wolf form, bigger than an elephant.
Other stuff:
As the son of the North Wind, he is immune to cold, does not need to breathe, and can summon winds that can blow down entire forests.
He doesn't need a glamour because he purposefully infected himself with lycanthropy using a cursed knife, so that he could move to Fabletown and be with Snow. Genetically he has the capability to shapeshift, but he chose not to train those talents because he hates his father and everything he represents.
As a giant, supernatural wolf, his sense of smell and taste is superhuman.
Only his mother was wolf, and his ability to take human form is natural.
Or just as the part of tough man act, as game doesn't exactly delve into highlighting Bigby's enhanced senses. (Otherwise investigation would look quite different: remember than in the very first volume of comics Bigby were able to tell whose blood is on the floor just by smelling it?)
Werewolves are often shown as being very hard to get drunk due to their body filtering it out as a poison. Though drinking a lot of it or if it's like magically empowered can get them drunk.
How would cigarettes suppress his sense of smell? How does drinking?
How was Bigby being choked to death if he is unbreathing?
The cigarettes matter, but for a different reason:
Bigby is a wolf with a heightened sense of smell. The cigarettes drown out the smells of New York so that he doesn't go insane with sensory overload (not to mention, I can't imagine the city smells wonderful in general). His constantly assaulted senses are probably the cause of some of his grumpiness, too.
Yes he knew who's blood it was, but he couldn't tell if they were alive or dead. thing is the blood on the railing might be the murders or faith's we just don't know yet because we haven't hit that part of the story yet in the game. It will all (like the book) be revealed.
He is actually a Giant wolf. But, his father is North Wind(one of the strongest person in whole universe), and his mother is a Wolf. His father left her mom dying, and Bigby get angry. He decided to be Wolf, not a wind.
He came to Human World as Wolf. He needs glamour ofc, but he can change when he wants. He is not werewolf or human. He is a wolf, a giant wolf.
He was probably just getting annoyed.
Ah, thanks, I didn't have the entry in front of me, so I got that mixed up.
Considering his eyes were rolling back into his head and he was going limp until he started to change, I don't know about that.
Maybe he forgot about his powers?
It's an oversight by Telltale for dramatic effect, then. Bigby held his breath for three weeks when the Woodsman threw him into the river, waiting for his body to pass out the stones from his stomach.
Actually, he is a werewolf, in that he's infected with lycanthropy. His original form just happens to be a wolf, so he came at the werewolf thing from the other direction, so to speak. He doesn't need a glamour.
he's a demi-god. his father is the god-like north wind. his mother is a wolf. he doesn't have 1 particular shape or form and had access to a whole host of abilities. but he lived as a wolf for so long (his father abandoned him and his mother), he's pretty much stuck with it.
He doesn't require a glamour. Snow White explains it in an epilogue of the first comic. She used a knife that allowed men to turn into wolves at will, and was told that it works in reverse as well. Then she cut Bigby with it, and he was able to switch at will.
I live in the wonderful shit hole that is Houston and have no idea why anybody would want to visit New York city (or any major city for that matter) mmmm nothing better than to not be able to see black sky at night and live within inches of another family or in my case a family that literally has people coming over all hours of the night obviously selling drugs.. and I live in the "ok" part of the Houston area. and to make things worse its my fellow white man that scares the crap out of me more than anybody else not that race is an issue but im starting to hate my own race since moving here... point is if I was a wolf man in a major city i'd smoke more than just cigarettes to tolerate people (sorry bout the rant I was on a roll)
Ah, so that's why Toad wasn't complaining about Bigby using glamour at the start. Makes sense.
How big is his true form
Here some pics of him in wolf form.
Well its simple... He's a 2 Dimensional creature, lost in our 3 Dimensional aquatic world, longing for a purpose....
Ok,you fucktards.Bigby DOES need to breathe,in fact.He can HOLD HIS BREATH for a long period of time.But when the Woodsman attacked him,Bigby was injured AND unprepared.And we can all see the way he was starting to become less affected as he turned into a wolf,which suggests that his powers aren't all that strong in his human form.
The point IS Bigby needs to breathe like every other fable i know of.I'm sorry,but i'm just so annoyed at seeing this shit with Bigby not needing to breathe,kay?
He is NOT a werewolf.He is NOT a wolf and NOT a human.He is Bigby.Cut by Snow with a lycanthropy knife,he is able to shapeshift between a human and a wolf whenever he wants to,but turns into a wolf specifically when he is angered or in danger.He is a human,but contains a beast.That's the whole point,you guys!He's trying to contain his inner beast,that's why everyone is so scared,because he can come out at any moment,but Bigby is learning to control it!And no,he doesn't need glamour.I just can't...YOUR COMMENTS ARE WAKING MY INNER BEAST,YOU FUCKERS!!!!!
HE DOES NOT FUCKING NEED GLAMOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!):B
I never thought of it that way...But i just wanna add that he CHOSE not to have all those abilities,because he hates his father for abandoning his mother.
Hell, don't ask me, ask Bill Willingham. You can argue about what I said but it comes directly from the comics.
Besides, you ever smell a cigarette?
Drinking doesn't suppress his sense of smell. Smoking does. It actually does dull one's sense of smell in real life.
The Fables graphic novel 1001 nights of snowfall has a beautiful short story that fleshes out Bigby's birth and growth into what we know now. It shows exactly how he discovered his powers as well as what his abilities actually are. Plus it has the hilarious image of a proud young bigby threatening pigs which will never ever be old.
It gives me headaches actually.
That's interesting, but if he has such difficulty getting a buzz on alcohol than how does he get any affect from the smoking unless he's a chimney?
Calm down Phyre.