[MAJOR SPOILERS] The Curious Case of Ichabod Crane
Gudmoore
Banned
From episode 1 my initial guess on the murderer's identity was the Headless Horseman. Upon completing episode 2 I feel my theory has been proven half-correct.
By the end of episode 2 we know from several scenes that Ichabod Crane held sexual if not more emotionally intimate feelings towards Snow White despite his outbursts of anger towards her. His constant belittlement towards Snow is due to symptoms of depression. Feelings of worthlessness are expressed in several ways, one being lashing out towards others which he is shown to do in both episodes. This feeling of worthlessness has made him seek out a way to feel more powerful, this is shown through the way he is violent almost bordering on rape during sex.
All these are symptoms of depression indeed, however the depression is only a symptom itself.
Ichabod Crane suffers from a severe case of Dissociative Identity Disorder, also known as Multiple Personality Disorder. An extremely rare mental disorder characterized by at least two distinct and relatively enduring identities or dissociated personality states that alternately control a person's behavior, and is accompanied by memory impairment for important information not explained by ordinary forgetfulness. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociative_identity_disorder) However, I do believe Crane knows of his disorder and actively attempts to hide it from the others. I also believe that at times his alternate personality influences the base personality of Crane, mainly during times of stress.
The clues leading me to this conclusion are as follows:
- Looking at the out of game Book of Fables, several characters are shown to have different entries. These entries show other sides of the character.
Bigby has three separate entries in the Book of Fables.
- Bigby Wolf
- Bigby's Mercy
- Bigby's Vengeance
These entries correlate with the title of the page; Bigby's Mercy sharing a story of kindness while Bigby's Vengeance shares a story of betrayal and revenge. Other notable differences are the more human portrait in Bigby's Mercy and the more wolf-like portrait in Bigby's Vengeance.
Bluebeard has multiple entries as well, one depicting Bluebeard's base personality and story while the other depicts his mercy.
- Bluebeard
- Bluebeard's Mercy
Again, these entries correlate with the page titles; Bluebeard's Mercy shows a softer looking Bluebeard.
And now on to the star of the show; Ichabod Crane.
- Ichabod Crane
- Ichabod's Denial
The peculiar part of Ichabod's Denial is the subtitle of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This page of the Book of Fables goes through the legend of the Headless Horseman, revealing that it was a prank by a love rival to scare Crane out of the town. However as shown in the previous examples, the story normally correlates to a change in the character's personality. My hypothesis here is that the traumatic experience of the "prank" set itself deep in the mind of Crane, slowly simmering inside his head until the day when the stress exposes it.
Crane's outbursts towards others shows a lashing out of his feelings of worthlessness.
One of the more noticeable symptoms of clinical depression is the lashing out at others. This stems from the feelings of worthlessness that is a result of depression. The one suffering from the ailment will feel intense anger from the smallest of criticism as well as hold constant feelings of agitation and restlessness.Crane is shown to be suffering from intense stress.
This is heavily shown through his demeanor, restlessness and the biggest piece of evidence; the antacid tablets sitting on his desk. While some people take the tablets regularly, it is often used to note stress in media. This stress can play a massive part in the emergence of his illness.
The Headless Horseman is the only character in the (in-game) Book of Fables that can be viewed but not selected.
Toad Jr's comment on how someone said to, "stop laughing". When asked further, he states that he heard only one voice and no laughing.
These last few pieces of evidence were shoved in our faces at the end of episode two.
- Crane is shown to have an obsession with Snow White through the photos.
- Crane is the other person that most often resides in the office regularly, giving him ample time to pinpoint Snow's perfume.
- Few would have the alibi to visit her in her apartment/office to get the picture of her let alone get close enough to steal a snip of her hair.
With these last pieces of evidence, I believe they are throwing us a red herring to suspect Crane. Later on I feel we'll find out that Crane himself is merely just a creep, thus throwing us off his trail. Near the end as the story develops I feel we'll learn bits and pieces more about Crane and his problems.
To sum everything up, I believe the killer is not Ichabod Crane but the Headless Horseman; a separate personality formed from a severe case of Dissociative Identity Disorder. I'm not thinking that Crane becomes "headless" when the Horseman personality takes over. I do however think "Headless" refers more to the personality's behavior; a homicidal maniac that decapitates his victims. I believe Crane is aware of this other personality and tries to control it. There could be several cases of Crane developing selective memory and not recalling certain events. TJ's comment points to a strong link with the Headless Horseman who we all know laughs maniacally and has a thing for decapitating his victims. This is just my own opinion I came up with while playing through the two episodes, let me know what you all think.
TL,DR: The prime suspect is the Headless Horseman; a split personality of Ichabod Crane.
Other Suspects: Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde?
Comments
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No comments? No counter-arguments? No extra information to add?
Ichabod has a Snow fetish lol
Whatta guy
OR maybe someone is wearing an Ichabod Glamour. Yeah, maybe he smashed the mirror but maybe he's running because he's being framed. We fell for it once already with snow, we can't really jump to conclusions now, after all we have three more episodes to go.
I'm not really convinced, simply because I don't think it'll be that obvious. A quick google search can tell you that Crane is in the Headless Horseman's story, and we're only on episode two, so the killer shouldn't be revealed yet.
HOWEVER I do really like that idea of why someone said "stop laughing," so I will keep it in mind as we find out more.
Nah, it's been established in the comics that Ichabod was kicked out of Fabletown for spying on various fables and making "sexual advances" on Snow. Never says anything about murder. My guess is that someone is framing Ichabod to look like the criminal...
I do like this theory, especially about the "stop laughing" bit
However i feel its a bit too easy, since Crane is allready suspect, getting the horseman is easy, since he is him.
But its something to keep in mind.
edit: seems like im parroting bertie4445 :P Didn't read untill now.
Wow, that's actually very likely, and plays into my thoughts on it.
How does Bluebeard fit into all of this, because I'm sure he does. My original theory was that Bluebeard had somehow manipulated Crane into killing at least Lilly, this is much more believable with the "Headless Horseman" aspect added in. So... Really not a problem, just the fact that I think that Bluebeard is somehow involved. Still, I don't think he's the mastermind. More like he found out about Crane after the first murder, and then manipulated Crane into committing the second, knowing that Bigby would track it down, and Crane would be forced to leave his position, letting Bluebeard try and take power as acting mayor while King Cole is gone.
This also brings up the question of who the mastermind behind it all is, because I have no doubts that Crane/the Horseman is the killer, but why would he kill Faith unless he was working for someone? Does it have something to do with the object that Faith stole form the Tweddles' boss? On a side note, I don't think that the Tweedles or their employer are involved in the actual murder too directly. Neither is Georgie. While all of them are probably guilty of something, The Horseman and HIS Boss are ultimately responsible, and then maybe Bluebeard stepped in and organized Lilly's murder, or at least got Crane to do it somehow.
I still think Bluebeard is framing Crane so he can gain power. I think hes behind all of these killings in some way, shape or form. He has the money to pay people like Dee, Dum, and may have even paid the Ginger guy to watch Bigby's moves (kind of unlikely). Although I still think this theory is likely to be true. Crane does tend to go bezerk on people (too a certain extent) and then be a decent person afterwards. Maybe this theory would work the other way around. Maybe the Headless Horseman is posing as Crane, killing Lily and Faith and making it look like it was Crane who did hence the photo sticking out from under the bed. Of course none of the fables suspect that its him because no one has even seen the guy yet (because hes posing as Crane). Anyway I think I may be getting a little carried away here but this theory and the Bluebeard theory sound very likely to happen in my opinion.
I do agree about Headless Horseman as being a very likely suspect , but are you saying that Crane is Headless Horseman ? Or how does this "disease" of yours work , because I don't really understand.
Dissociative Identity Disorder or Multiple Personality Disorder is a psychological disease. Those affected by it show more than one personality, each with their own traits, likes, dislikes, etc. Have you ever seen Me, Myself & Irene? Using that movie as a crude example, Ichabod would be Charlie and the Headless Horseman would be Hank.
Cases differ, sometimes one personality can take full control of the body. The other personality may or may not be privy to the actions of the commanding one. Other times the separate personality can exist fully in the mind as a sort of little voice influencing the commanding personality's actions.
This is a good theory, the only problem is that one of the "Book of Fables" in the game establishes that the Headless Horseman was not real nad that it was a prank by of rival of Crane.
Ichabod Crane appears to be in the photo in the conveniently placed envelope. Why is it so easy to find? I mean, talk about a sloppy pick-up job. Leaving the biggest murder suspect in an envelope at the scene of murder, that is so obvious... it's as if someone wanted B. Wolf to find that envelope (to frame Crane).
Although after witnessing Crane break the mirror some may be inclined to think, "OP, must be Crane. GUILTY" Crane may just have an unhealthy sex fetish OR this was the murderer who glamored himself to be Crane. Either or, some questions I have for the next episode to be answered: where was Crane during the time of the murder? What motives did he have to kill? What is the deal with Crane's seemingly sex fetish?
Interesting. It sounds like something Telltale would do. I mean it's an "abstract" plot , and it's interesting and captivating as well. Makes for a good dramatic story , I like this.
I like it, it's at least plausible. I personally don't think they'll go that way, but it's an interesting notion.
it's certainly a unique theory, has good back-up ground. Definitely plausible given the evidence
Yes but as I'm explaining here; the Headless Horseman doesn't physically exist. Dissociative Identity Disorder can be caused through traumatic stress. After the event, the stress could have manifested into a person that exists only in the mind of Ichabod Crane.
Thanks for the comments and your input. I've updated the first post with more information and some picture evidence.
I think this also raises the question: Who took that scandalous picture of Crane?
If you went after Woody in episode 1 you won't have a lot of evidence. If go after Dee there is a ton of stuff that can happen. One time when interrogating Dee Crane gasped when Bigby said which brings us back to the original question, who's your employer. Clearly Dee's employer is Crane. Which means that Faith had something that Crane wanted. Then there is Crane's expression when Snow shows up (like he saw his own stupidity and guilt). But the owner of the most black market magic is Bluebeard. Bluebeard probably took the picture in ghastly room 207. Also both Bigby and Snow are good detectives, though Snow is a better politician.
i think its an interesting theory. its definitely not what you would expect at first.
but i still don't understand what would make him leave the heads at the doorstep
Who doesn't? But honestly he is little too old and creepy to have one for Snow.
How to unlock Bigby's Vengeance? I played ep 1 and 2 but i dont have it.
Than I know you didn't tear off Gren's arm. Just do it once, It adds one or two lines to episode 2.
Just going to chip in here to say , I like that we finally get a bit of background to Crane. Readers of the comics might now that, but here's for the rest: In the comics, Crane isn't in office anymore. The reason for that is said to be Crane sexually harassing Snow.I really hope we get more details for this part of Fables, as I was always wondering how Crane got away so easily for that.
I dont want to tear his arm is there any other way to get it?
He is pretty douchy. Just experiment and you will find out.
OMG good job! Now everyone knows it and TTG... rewrites episode 3 ;D Be ready for waiting.
There isn't any other way. Oh it makes him scared of doing anything to piss you off until you tell Holly about Lily. Later he'll notice that the presence of Snow makes you be gentle. Makes you wonder why they make you tear off his arm. I only did it twice.
I just tore his arm off in a playthrough then deleted that playthrough. Alternativey you could do it once then rewind the episode from an earlier point. Didn't feel good tearing it off though, and it wasn't a genuine choice by me, so i just decided to delete the entire playthrough
I honestly believe Crane is being framed. Who took that picture? He honestly belived Snow to be dead and not want to harm her himself. There are a lot of weird plot-holely questions that make character motivations or opinions weird. Like how Snow recovered that body. And somehow didn't have other information she should have. I honestly believed Snow was an imposter given her statements and demeanor after the interrogation scene. Also, some parts were really unclear around that body recovery timeline that we didn't get to see. I honestly thought Snow was talking about Faith because she couldn't have known the other person was killed and looked like her.
Even still, I think the Faith and Snow/Lily murders are separate. They are not the same MO because Faith was not glamoured to look like Snow.
C'mon guys. Stop it. Or we will never get the next episode
P.S. Sorry for my english
I'm thinking someone is glamoured to look like Crane to frame him.
There are definitely a lot of shitty detectives here.
It's all a little too easy.
I think the main issue here is the pictures.
What a great angle of Ichabod and Lily (Snow), suggests that there was either camera with a timer on or someone was there taking a picture, judging from the angle I don't think there would be anything for the camera to stand on.
What an extremely convenient envelope of pictures of Snow and Bigby as well as the picture of Ichabod and Lily (Glamoured as Snow).
As far as we know, it may not even be Ichabod who smashed the mirror, it could be the same person who was Glamoured to look like Ichabod in the first place.
Bluebeard looks like he get's power after Ichabod (presumably) runs away, Bluebeard has a slight grasp on power with Ichabod, Snow and Bigby because of his money standpoint, this could suggest that he may have some sort of access to her apartment and therefore be able to get the things.
Also, I noticed when I was interrogating Dee that he said "Bigby, you're going to get me into trouble", or something along the lines of that, then he looked at Bluebeard (I assume it was Bluebeard anyway), also, Bluebeard was interrogating Dee before Ichabod and Bigby arrived, maybe he was interrogating him about something different...
However, to the arguement that Ichabod wouldn't have killed a troll, I agree, however have you considered that perhaps she took drugs to induce sleep, to re-enact the scene from the book?
This would also support that Beauty claims to have never heard a sound.
Personally I believe that Bluebeard has some answers to some of the questions, also, nothing heard from the Mayor either?
Crane is Dee's employer. I found that out while interrogating Dee. Why would Crane release someone who clearly had something to do with the murders. You literally have to replay episode 2.
Crane didn't release Dee, Snow White did.
At the Trip Trap Bar they mention Dee coming in and telling them about the murder, Bigby curses Crane and Snow apologises to Bigby.
Snow White was with you the entire time. Snow is most likely sorry she left Crane alone with Dee.
Anyone notice how Tweedle Dum was in Crane's car after looking into the magic mirror during episode 2?
And then during the preview for Episode 3, "Crane" is seen driving off in the same car, with what seems to be another glamour spell container.
Could these two be linked in together in any way?
Yeah. People seem to forget that killer did that.
And that he put Faith's ring inside her mouth, presumably to help investigation find out who she was.
I don't believe that Crane's the killer but that is him in the picture, they even got the cufflinks right. We already know from Ep1 that he's a regular 'John' with the prostitutes. I still don't think it's him though.