Fabletown is the fictional, clandestine community of Fable residents in New York. It exists in two locations, one being Bullfinch Street in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City; and the other on a large farm in upstate New York, protected with magical spells that repel non-Fables (generally referred to as mundanes, or, informally, "mundys").[2]
History[]
Establishment[]
As the Adversary conquered the Homelands, an event known as the Exodus, refugees from fallen kingdoms began looking for somewhere safe to live. Rumors of a sanctuary world began to circulate, and this sanctuary world was the mundy world; in this world the lives of certain Fables were known as stories and/or folklore.
Fabletown was founded prior to the British acquisition of the town, when it was known as New Amsterdam, putting the founding date somewhere between 1625, when New Amsterdam was founded, and 1665, when the name was changed to New York, in all probability towards the latter end of that period, when an influx of people would be less remarked on. King Cole was elected almost unanimously as their first mayor and served for many years. Ichabod Crane served as his deputy until his misconduct in recent times. Crane’s assistant, Snow White, took over. She functionally ran Fabletown.
As the city spread, the fables had to establish the Farm for fables that can't pass as human. Eventually, the entire community was absorbed into New York. The sorcerously gifted among them crafted enchantments to discourage mundys from paying attention to Fabletown or its residents.
Animal Farm[]
Fabletown continued in relative peace for centuries. But discontent simmered among those who dreamed of retaking the homelands, particularly among those confined to the Farm. This unrest was taken advantage of by Goldilocks, who fomented a coup on the Farm. It coincided with Snow escorting her sister, Rose Red, there to carry out community service for her crimes. The Farm's administrator, Wayland Smith, had already been taken prisoner. He was forced to convert modern weaponry into forms usable by the animal fables.
Warned by loyal fables, Snow avoided capture while Rose pretended to join the revolution. After freeing Wayland, Snow woke the larger Farm residents: a dragon and giants who’d been put into a magical sleep centuries before. With their aid she soon subdued the revolution. Goldilocks fled, but not before shooting Snow in the head.
It took Snow months to recover. Then she again became the victim of Goldilocks' manipulations, along with those of Bluebeard. Snow and Bigby survived Goldilocks' attempt on their lives, temporarily disposing of her. Meanwhile the recently returned Prince Charming killed Bluebeard in a duel. Bluebeard’s vast treasuries became Fabletown’s. As a result, Prince Charming challenged King Cole’s mayorship to seek control of the treasure.
March of the Wooden Soldiers[]
The first new refugee from the Homelands in centuries aroused excitement in Fabletown. However, Red Riding Hood turned out to be Baba Yaga in disguise. An agent of the Emperor, she led an army of wooden soldiers in trying to conquer Fabletown and seize its magics. They failed, though not without cost. But it had become obvious the Empire was no longer content to ignore Fabletown.
Prince Charming won the mayoral elections largely by the support of the animal fables. He had promised enchantments to any who wanted to pass as human. Having neglected to check with the witches of the Thirteenth Floor that this would be possible, his governance didn’t get off to a good start. Since Snow and Bigby refused to work with him, he needed a new deputy mayor and sheriff. Charming hired Beauty and Beast to replace them.
Soon after the invasion, Boy Blue disappeared with some of Fabletown’s most powerful magics. He’d returned to the Homelands to search for the real Red Riding Hood. Boy Blue had been close to her before fleeing the Homelands. Boy Blue was officially punished for his crimes on returning (with Red Riding Hood, though not the one he’d known). But he actually received Prince Charming’s blessing to gather intelligence on the Empire. As they’d suspected before he left, the Adversary proved actually be Geppetto. Blue had also taken the remains of his friend Pinocchio with him. Geppetto had brought him back to life, but with added loyalty enchantments, so Pinocchio stayed with him. With his identity and the other intelligence gathered, Fabletown began covertly preparing for war.
War Plans[]
Preparations became more open, as willing fables were trained in combat. Alliances were formed with Fabletown East (based in Baghdad) and the Cloud Kingdoms which touched all lands. Bigby was also dispatched on a commando mission into the Homelands. There, he destroyed the sacred grove around Geppetto’s cottage from which his wooden children were carved.
This soon brought the Empire’s embassy to New York to begin negotiations. But both sides knew these would never achieve anything. The embassy was led by Inquisitor General Hansel, a member of Fabletown before murdering his sister. Fabletown soon gained a new ally when Prince Ambrose (Flycatcher) underwent a quest to return to his homeland. Leading an army of ghosts, he established the small kingdom of Haven. Haven repelled increasingly large imperial forces.
Eventually the Adversary sent an army of wooden soldiers, as Ambrose had foreseen. Ambrose used the last of his magic to transform the wooden soldiers into trees. That was a massive defeat for the Empire, and secured Haven’s safety from further attacks.
With the Empire still reeling from the setback, Fabletown began setting their plans into motion. At first, they intended to wait until Geppetto visited the capital before commencing operations. But when Pinocchio returned from the Homelands with the locations of unknown portals to the mundy world, he bargained for his father being allowed to sign the Fabletown Compact. As a result, Prince Charming restored King Cole as Mayor while he became commander of the invasion forces.
The War[]
They began the war by sending in a blimp armed with modern weaponry. It was constantly resupplied by Boy Blue using the Witching Cloak to constantly move between the fronts of the war. The airship launched flying carpet-guided bombs at the portals linking the Empire’s worlds.
While the Empire rushed to respond, the main strike came with the prick of a finger. Fabletown had snuck Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) into the Empire’s capital. The witches of the Thirteenth Floor had tinkered and honed her abilities so that her powers soon put the entire city to sleep, quickly overgrown by foliage. Over a million individuals were neutralized, including the heart of the imperial bureaucracy.
Nevertheless, victory wasn’t easy. Imperial forces managed to bring down the airship before it reached the last gateway. Then the Emperor (the giant wooden soldier who acted as figurehead for the Empire) joined the forces laying siege to Bigby’s troops on the ground. Prince Charming was badly scarred by the airship’s fall. But he remained determined to complete the mission. He and Sinbad used flying carpets to drag a final bomb to the last gateway, where Prince Charming apparently died setting it off.
The Fabletown ground forces were shaken when a magic arrow felled both Boy Blue and Bigby for days. They recovered in time for the Emperor’s arrival, and Bigby engaged him in single combat. The last of the imperial forces scattered after the Emperor’s fall.
Pieces[]
Casualties continued even after the war was won. Boy Blue succumbed to the enchantments of the arrow which had felled him. Neither medicine nor magic could help him. His death had sent Rose Red into a deep depression. It also created a religion – primarily among the Farm animals, led by Brock Blueheart (formerly Stinky the badger). These believed that Boy Blue would return to lead them into a golden age.
Few were happy at Geppetto being allowed to sign the Compact, but this was soon overshadowed by another threat. The Empire had imprisoned many great powers over the millennia, using their power for its own warlocks. Without imperial forces to guard them, one of these powers was freed.
Mister Dark had been the source of both the Witching Cloak and Witching Well used by Fabletown. With the Empire gone, he chose them as target of his revenge for use of his magic.
Dark Ages[]
Before reaching the mundane world he used his magic to shatter Fabletown. The first thing to go was the Business Office, the connection to its other-dimensional space severed. That meant losing Fabletown’s magic arsenal. Soon after came the collapse of Fabletown’s buildings. The fables retreated to the Farm as they sought to learn their new adversary’s identity.
Geppetto tried to use the opportunity to regain some power. He swayed some of the more fearful fables with assurances he could deal with Mister Dark. His plans fell apart when Rose Red was pulled out of her depression. She quickly re-established her command over the Farm, and all the fables sheltered there.
Frau Totenkinder, leader of the Thirteenth Floor witches, took the task of dealing with Mister Dark as her last. Reverting to her younger form, Bellflower, she travelled to the Homelands to learn what she could of Dark’s history. She located and recruited Dunster Hap, leader of the Boxers who’d confined Mister Dark.
Returning to the Farm, Bellflower set in motion her plan to confront Mister Dark. They duelled, and Bellflower used all the magic she’d gathered over the centuries to trap Dark in gold. The prison didn’t hold. Not long after the fables explored the castle Dark had built over Fabletown’s ruins — with stronger magic that made the mundys ignore it — Dark broke free. Then he forced them to flee once more.
Fall of Dark[]
This time Dark followed them to the Farm, forcing them to flee further – to Haven. Even there he managed to find them, laying siege to the kingdom and constantly pressuring its magical borders. Following Pinocchio’s suggestion, a super team was formed of their most powerful members. That was an attempt to harness the modern story format as a power source. They didn’t get the chance to face him, as Bigby’s father, the North Wind, challenged Dark first. They fought, and he dragged Dark with him into the Casket of Primordial Winds, ending them both. The threat lifted, the fables moved back to Fabletown.
Fairest in All the Land[]
A smaller threat soon overtook them as fables were murdered in pairs. The first to die were Morgan le Fey and Mrs. Ford. With Bigby recently dead, and Beast now sheriff of Haven, Cinderella was assigned to investigate the deaths. The presumed list of other intended victims was found written by Mrs. Ford – who could foresee others’ dooms.
Given the use of the car which was actually the transformed witch, Hadeon, Cinderella found its ability to travel anywhere still left her too late to save the next victims. These were Rose Red and Mrs. Moon, then Snow White and Edmund Dantes. Cinderella reached Bo Peep’s house before she or her husband Peter Piper were slain. But she found that the assassin had worn her guise when attacking them. Bo Peep attacked without warning, wounding but not killing Cinderella. The misunderstanding was sorted out, and Cinderella continued her search.
Cinderella soon deduced the killer was Goldilocks, being manipulated by Hadeon; identified the sword as one which forced the killer to take a second life for every one intended; and realized Mrs. Ford’s list was of those who would die rather than might. With their fates determined, Cindy had to let the killings continue. So died Bellflower and Dunster Hap, the Snow Queen and Ali Baba, Briar Rose and Prince Aspen, Beauty and the Lamia which had been part of her, and the Blue Fairy and the Lady of the Lake.
Realizing Goldilocks had likely travelled with her hidden by Hadeon’s magic, Cinderella took them to a barren world. She waited for Goldilocks to show herself and try to kill her. The fight was interrupted by Bo Peep, who’d snuck along at Cinderella’s request. Bo wasn’t good enough to beat the sword’s magic, and was its first victim. Cinderella, having realized she was on Goldilocks’ list but not Mrs. Ford’s, reasoned she’d survive the encounter. This (despite the unsteady logic) left the sword with only one second victim: Goldilocks. Cinderella took the sword from her and killed Goldilocks.
Using the sword’s ability to restore one of each pair of victims to life if the wielder regretted it within seven days, Cinderella brought back Morgan le Fey, Snow White, Rose Red, Bo Peep, Bellflower, Briar Rose, Beauty, the Snow Queen, and the Lady of the Lake. Confronting Hadeon, Cinderella got her to admit her role. She forced her to take them to the lost Business office, from where she’d stolen the sword. The Thirteenth Floor witches re-established the connection with the Business Office. It was renamed Mirror’s House after the Magic Mirror who’d inhabited it for years.
Fabletown Compact[]
One of the most ardent laws of the Fable community harkens to a signed Amnesty established shortly after their exile from the Homelands. In short, every Fable begins their new life with a clean slate, regardless of any crimes or transgressions they may have committed in the Homelands. It is considered bad form to render judgment against a Fable based upon pre-Amnesty activities. It isn’t all-encompassing, and some exceptions have had to be made. For instance, Bigby was banned from Farm grounds due to his depredations against many of its residents in the past. The only person to be stricken from the compact is Hansel.
Fabletown members are also constrained by certain laws, the most important being that they not reveal their true nature to mundys. Penalties for such are harsh – the general punishment options are community service or execution. Procedures are in place to deal with mundys who learn of their existence.
Fables are not required to live in Fabletown, although most do at some point. Those who do are policed by the sheriff, while those elsewhere in the world are regularly visited by the Tourists (Mowgli, Feathertop, and the Woodsman). These are agents of Fabletown who travel the wider mundy world on various missions.
Officially a democracy, Fabletown doesn’t have regular elections. But one may be called at any time if a challenger gathers 500 signatures in favour of a special election.
Sheriff of Fabletown[]
Fabletown’s sheriff has authority over internal and external security of the Fables community. Fabletown has so far had only two sheriffs: Bigby and Beast.
The sheriff’s main responsibility is maintaining the secrecy of their true nature. He acts as judge in deciding punishments for actions which endanger this secret. Although citizens may appeal his decisions to the Mayor, the secrecy is important enough that his decisions are rarely appealed without strong grounds.
If a mundy learns their secret, the sheriff takes whatever means are necessary to deal with the threat. Solutions include misdirecting the target, blackmailing them into silence, or, as a last resort, killing them. The sheriff may deputize any Fables required to get the job done.
Under Bigby’s custodianship, the sheriff also became responsible for information gathering in the outside world, overseeing the activities of the tourists. He also employed Cinderella as an off-the-books spy, to work on any operation that he didn’t want known about. One mission was seducing the traitorous Ichabod Crane into confessing his willingness to ally with the Adversary.
To fund his special projects, the sheriff has access to Gudrun, the goose that lays the golden eggs, whose escape from the Homelands is a secret. The position also comes with (very) small office, next to the Deputy Mayor’s.
Description[]
Fabletown is located between Kipling Street and Andersen Street with Bullfinch Street running through. The two is divided into two blocks.
Fabletown's Knights of Malta Hospital is located on Perrault Street.[3]
Nestled in the Meatpacking District, far from the rest of Fabletown, lies The Crooked Mile — a part of Fabletown notorious for its shady establishments and illicit activities.[4] It occupies a portion of Washington Street.[5]
The Wolf Among Us[]
Fabletown has an entry within the Book of Fables in The Wolf Among Us.
Fabletown is a community located on Bullfinch Street in Manhattan's Upper West Side. To regular people (or mundies), it appears to be an ordinary New York neighborhood. But it is really the home of Fables from many worlds, and within the business office at the Woodlands lies a massive cavern, a vast library, and hundreds of magical items of immense power. All non-human fables live upstate on The Farm, an extension of Fabletown.
Places of Interest[]
B[]
Branstock Tavern[]
| The Branstock Tavern is a pub located next to The Glass Slipper Shoes.[6] Among the drinks on tap there were Fable Ale and Bit o Bitte.[7] The pub's name is a reference to the Barnstokkr tree from Norse mythology. |  |
History
Jack Horner was seen there, attempting to persuade Thrushbeard to fund an expedition to the Cloud Kingdoms, but Thrushbeard saw right though him.[6] Thrushbeard was later seen drinking in the Branstock Tavern while engaging in a conversation with Edmond Dantès.[8] After King Cole lost his position as mayor of Fabletown,[3] he drowned his sorrows by drinking in the pub.[9] Later, King Cole and Nurse Spratt had a date there, and Spratt asked him why he hadn't made a move on her. Meanwhile, the Lady of the Lake was drinking heavily in the watering hole to dull her shock at seeing her own fate. Rose Red and Morgan le Fay discovered her there and tried to persuade her to return home for the night, but she refused, saying that she wanted to drink away all her emotions. Inevitably, she consumed too much alcohol and passed out in a state of intoxication.[7] Afterward, Ozma, Mr. Grandours, Prospero, the Fairy Witch and Maddy were discussing how a missing piece of Bigby Wolf, who had been turned into a statue of glass, had been mysteriously returned. Maddy wondered if they should tell Lake, but Ozma believed that they would have a hard time waking her.[10] | |
C[]
Chateau d'If Fencing Academy[]
| The Chateau D'If Fencing Academy is situated above the Grand Green Florist Shop[11] and is run by Edmond Dantès, the Count of Monte Cristo. It is named after the Château d'If fortress from the novel. |  |
D[]
Deli Grocery[]
| Deli Grocery lies next to Pudding & Pie on The Crooked Mile[12] on Washington Street.[5] |  |
E[]
Edward Bear's Candies[]
| Edward Bear's Candies is Fabletown's candy store, located between the Grand Green Florist Shop and Ford Laundry.[11] It is named after the teddy bear that was the inspiration behind A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh.[13] Fittingly, the shop is famous for its honey clusters.[14] Snow White buys a bag of chocolates there while her sister Rose Red is missing,[11] and Flycatcher buys sweets for Red Riding Hood at the shop.[15] Kevin Thorn buys honey clusters for himself at one point,[16] and Pinocchio does the same for himself and Geppetto while giving him a tour of Fabletown. Pinocchio also says that he is not sure if a bear actually owns the shop, but if he does, he does it from a distance, meaning the Farm.[17] |  |
F[]
Ford's Laundry[]
| Ford Laundry,[14] also known as Ford's Laundry,[18] is located between Edward Bear's Candies[11] and Nod's Books.[14] It is a laundromat owned by Mrs. Ford, which was the stage of the murder of its owner and Morgan perpetrated Goldilocks.[18] |  |
G[]
The Glass Slipper Shoes[]
| The Glass Slipper Shoes,[19] also referred to as The Glass Slipper, is Cinderella's shoe shop in Fabletown.[20] The name of the store is a reference to the Charles Perrault version of the "Cinderella" fairytale, in which the famous glass slippers are featured (in the Brothers Grimm version, the titular character wears golden slippers). When Cindy is out, the shop is looked after by her assistant, Crispin Cordwainer.[21] The store is operated by Cinderella as a cover job to keep her fellow Fables from knowing about her spy activities.[20].[21] |  |
Trivia
| |
Grand Green Florist Shop[]
| The Grand Green Florist Shop is situated below the Chateau D'If Fencing Academy.[11] When Pinocchio showed his father Geppetto around Fabletown, he pointed out the florist; however, he didn't suggest stopping at the shop because he was sure that Geppetto wouldn't be sending any flowers to anyone in the foreseeable future.[17] |  |
I[]
I Am the Eggman Diner[]
| I Am the Eggman Diner is the local Fabletown diner owned by Vulco Crow of the Crow Brothers.[17] The name is a reference to "I am the eggman," a lyric from the chorus of The Beatles song "I Am the Walrus," which is based on Lewis Carroll's poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter" from the novel Through the Looking-Glass.[22] |  |
K[]
Knights of Malta Hospital[]
| The Knights of Malta Hospital contains a secret Fables-only clinic, which occupies the top three floors.[23] This is where Dr. Swineheart, Nurse Spratt and Ephram Crow work.[3] It is named after the Knights of Malta, a religious military order founded in the 11th century, which is also known as the Hospitalers.[24] |  |
L[]
Lewis Antiques.png[]
| Lewis Antiques is an antique store situated between Nod's Books and I Am the Eggman Diner.[19] It offers "wondrous items at reasonable prices."[14] |  |
Trivia
The name of the shop may be a reference to C.S. Lewis, who wrote Bill Willingham's favorite fantasy series[25] The Chronicles of Narnia, which features an antique wardrobe that works as a magic portal. It could be a reference to Lewis Carroll, who wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass: In Fables #14 — "The Mouse Police Never Sleep: Storybook Love Part One," a mirror is sitting in the display window, and Alice enters Looking-Glass Land through a mirror in the second book. | |
The Looking Glassworks[]
| The Looking Glassworks can be found on The Crooked Mile[4] on Washington Street,[5] just down the road from Pudding & Pie. The Crooked Man uses this industrial building as a backup headquarters, in case the main one is compromised.[26] |  |
Lucky Pawn[]
| The Lucky Pawn can be found on The Crooked Mile[27] on Washington Street,[5] and is a pawnshop managed by the Jersey Devil under the direction of the Crooked Man. Fables visit the pawnshop to purchase and sell unique items brought from the Homelands, that are not available elsewhere. The shop also serves as a front for the Crooked Man's loansharking activities. [28] |  |
N[]
Nod's Books[]
| Nod's Books is the bookshop that Beauty worked at for years before taking her job as the Deputy Mayor.[29]
|
 |
O[]
Open Arms Hotel[]
| The Open Arms Hotel is located on The Crooked Mile[33] on Washington Street.[5] It is a seedy pay-as-you-go establishment with cheap rates, where something "disgusting, depraved, or downright criminal" is happening behind every door.[34] The hotel is regularly patronized by call girls and those seeking their services.[35] Beauty was secretly employed at the reception desk, in order to supplement her income and repay a loan that she and Beast had acquired from the Crooked Man. A big part of her job was not to "notice too much"[36] and not keep a register; the place was designed to be anonymous.[35] |  |
P[]
Pudding & Pie[]
Located on Washington Street[5] on The Crooked Mile, Pudding & Pie,[4] also stylized as Pudding 'n' Pie[5] and Pudding and Pie,[4] is a strip club[5] owned[4] and operated by Georgie Porgie.[5] The establishment's name is a reference to the "Georgie Porgie" nursery rhyme, which begins with the line: "Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie." |
 | |
T[]
Trip Trap[]
Trip Trap[37] is a bar operated by[38] the bridge troll[39] Holly,[38] located in a basement on The Crooked Mile[37] on Washington Street. To access it, one must descend a flight of stairs from the street above.[5] The sign above the entrance shows the Three Billy Goats Gruff walking over the troll bridge in a scene from the fairytale.[40] This is fitting, as the name of the bar is a reference to the classic story, where the sound of the goats' hooves on the troll bridge is described as "Trip, trap, trip, trap, trip trap." |
 | |
W[]
Web 'n' Muffet Market[]
| The Web 'n' Muffet Market is a grocery store run by Miss Muffet and her husband, Mr. Web.[30] After Web's passing, a delivery boy was wanted.[14] After Web's death, Miss Muffet needed an extra hand running the shop, so Beauty got Hakim a job there.[41] At one point, Kay carries a bag of groceries for Frau Totenkinder after she went shopping there. The witch states that the store used to deliver groceries directly to the customers when Web was alive, but this ended after his death.[42] |  |
Y[]
Yellowbrick Roadhouse[]
| The Yellowbrick Roadhouse is a restaurant located next to the Web 'n' Muffet Market,[17] at the corner of Bullfinch street.[14] It is named after the yellow brick road from the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. |  |
Inhabitants[]
Trivia[]
- Kipling Street and Bullfinch Street are named after Thomas Bullfinch, author of The Age of Fable, and Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book.[43] The other two streets are presumably named after fairytale authors Hans Christian Andersen and Charles Perrault.
- The name of Edward Bear's Candies shop is a reference to Winnie-the-Pooh — author A. A. Milne named the character after his son's teddy bear, which was originally called Edward Bear.[13] The name of the shop and the honey-based treats implies that the store is run by the Pooh himself: Fables creator Bill Willingham has implied that this is the case, but that this could not be stated outright in the comic, as the character was under copyright at the time[44] (the copyright eventually expired in the United States at the start of 2022).[45]
Gallery[]
References[]
See also[]
| Fabletown | |
|---|---|
| Governing Body | King Cole • Snow White (formerly) • Prince Charming (formerly) • Beauty • Ichabod Crane (formerly) |
| Inhabitants | Beast Bigby Wolf (formerly) • Trusty John • Grimble • Bufkin • Cinderella • Mowgli • Hobbes • Pinocchio • Briar Rose • Doctor Swineheart • Rapunzel • Kay • Edmond Dantès • Crispin Cordwainer • Thrushbeard • The Huntsman • Fairy Witch • Frau Totenkinder • Ozma • Fairy Witch • Morgan le Fay |
| Places | Grand Green Florist/Chateau D'if Fencing Academy • Edward Bear's Candies • Ford Laundry • Nod's Books • Lewis' Antiques • I Am The Eggman Diner • The Yellowbrick Roadhouse • Webb 'n' Muffet Market • Woodland Apartments• Glass Slipper Shoe Store • Branstock Tavern • Stone Soup |
| Unique Items | Magic Mirror |