| “ | If I let you walk out that door — and believe me, I can still stop you if I need to — then it will only be because I have your solemn promise that you won't try to talk to [Max] first. You'll use every dirty thing I've ever taught you and just do the dirty business and walk away. | „ |
| ~ Bo Peep to her husband, Peter Piper, in Peter & Max: A Fables Novel, "Chapter Three: Wolf Walley" |
Esmerault "Bo" Peep,[1] of Hesse and the Black Forest,[3] is a Fable who is wife to Peter Piper. She was a member of the Assassin's Guild of the Homelands version of Hamelin, and later becomes an agent for the secret intelligence organization known as the Shadow Players. She made a brief appearance in the top page illustration of Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall — "A Most Troublesome Woman," before making her full debut in Peter & Max: A Fables Novel.
History
The Homelands
Bo was given the name Esmerault at birth, but from the first day, her father nicknamed her "Father's Little Rainbow," which was later shortened to just "Bo."[1] When Peter Piper and his family are visiting their long-time family friends, the Peep family, the Empire's army attacks. The Pipers and Peeps escape to the Dark Forest, but Peter, his brother Max, and Bo, are separated. In time, Bo became a member of an assassin's guild.[6]
Eventually, Peter and Bo Peep are reunited and marry. They are heading to sanctuary in the mundane world when they meet Max, who attacks Peter and Bo Peep, using the enchanted flute Fire, given to him by Frau Totenkinder. Peter is able to avert the danger with his own flute, Frost, but the flute's magic inadvertently ruins Bo's legs and cripples her.[6]
Life at the Farm
Peter and Bo Peep make their home in a little cottage at the outskirts of the Farm, where Bo tends to a flock of lambs,[6] one of them being Bonny Lamb.[7]
After Peter defeats Max, he claims his brother's flute for Fabletown, resolving to use it only to undo the spell that crippled his wife centuries before. Finally, after much hard work and dedication, he succeeds in restoring Bo's injured legs to perfect health.[6]
Bo and her husband watching the dryads at the Farm
During the war with the Adversary, Clara recruits Bo and Peter to perform a series of strategic assassinations in the Homelands. Despite their initial reluctance, they ultimately agree to join when Clara mentions that it will minimize the collateral damage caused by her dragon fire.[8]
Bo Peep and her husband are among of the Fables who watch as the dryads; Princess Alder and Prince Aspen, arrive at the main square of the Farm, accompanied by their new employer, Geppetto.[9]
The couple can be seen among the Fables standing in the background when Rose Red addresses her fellow Fables after finally overcoming her long depression. They are both bright blue scarves, indicating that they have joined Brock Blueheart's cult.[10][10]
Bo and her husband are later present when Bigby Wolf tells the other Fables that Mister Dark has been killed by the North Wind.[11]
When the Fables are celebrating Christmas at the Farm, Bo is seen enjoying herself while Peter is playing with Boy Blue's band.[12]
She and her husband have their first speaking parts in the comics when they partake in the plans to rescue Snow White from Prince Brandish. After learning that Brandish is so cloaked in magic that any attack on him will bounce off and harm Snow instead, Bo voices her frustration, saying that she could kill him right now; but Peter correctly points out that they cannot do that.[13]
Knight of New Camelot
Rose Red decides that Bo and her husband are good candidates for her new Round Table, and sends a messenger bird to their cottage. Even though Peter says no,[14] Bo decides to attempt to win a seat,[14][15] and is ultimately chosen as one of Rose Red's Knights, who will take their place at the New Camelot.[3]
Bo and Peter later become friends with the dryad Princess Alder, and Bo advises the dryad on the customs and mores of modern courtship.[16]
At the New Camelot training ground, Bo is seen engaging in a match with Mr. Brump while her fellow Knights are practicing around her. Meanwhile, Maeve is quite frustrated with Reynard the Fox's less than stellar fighting abilities. Bo ponders if Reynard's current predicament is due to his transformation into a human, with only two legs and no tail, affecting his sense of balance.[17]
Bo is one of many Fables killed by Goldilocks, although Cinderella is able to bring her back to life. Bo's husband, Peter, is also one of the intended victims, but Goldilocks is interrupted by Bo before she can go through with her plans. Because Goldilocks took Cinderella's form, Bo attacks the real Cinderella when the latter shows up at their house a moment later. She almost kills her in a knife fight, but fortunately, Cinderella survives the deadly wounds, and is able to explain.[18]
When Ozma and King Cole share the news that Bigby has returned from the dead, Peter and Bo are among the Fables attending the briefing.[19]
Later, she formally announces the Trial of Combat between Prince Brandish and Lancelot in New Camelot.[20]
Hunting Yordan Yew
Bo battles a swarm of zombies
Several years later, Bo and her husband are working for the secret intelligence organization known as the Shadow Players.[4] At one point, she is shown practicing combat techniques with Peter while Feathertop guides Szymon Nowak around the facilities.[21]
Bo, along with her husband and Hansel, embark on a mission in the mundane world to capture Jordan Yow, a mundy girl who has gained magical abilities since the introduction of magic into the mundy world. Together with her comrades, she battles against a swarm of zombies and other horrifying beings. As they cautiously explore an abandoned train station, they stumble upon a peculiar train that seems to have appeared out of nowhere, not resting on any rails as if it was simply dropped in place by some unknown force. Inside the train, Bo and Hansel discover Jordan. However, instead of capturing her, Hansel declares he will kill her. When Bo attempts to stop him, she receives a blow to her knee from his walking stick. Peter locates his injured wife, and she begs him to stop Hansel from killing Jordan. Oddly, Bo reveals that she isn't experiencing any pain despite her injury.[4]
Bo and her husband make an attempt to apprehend Jordan without harming her, but the girl teleports out of their grasp. They then make their way back to headquarters, where Bo receives medical treatment from Doctor Dolittle for her injured leg. Despite the serious nature of her injury, Dolittle is confident she will recover well due to her fame as a Fable. The doctor is puzzled by her lack of pain and refusal of pain medication.[22]
Helping Jordan Yew
After her injury, Bo relies on a crutch to help her move around. She shares with Feathertop the details of their encounter with the monsters and reveals that they were figures from St. Louis folklore that Jordan raised from the collective unconscious. Feathertop demands for Bo to kill Jordan, which shocks her. Despite the pressure, Bo stands firm in her decision not to harm a child. In an attempt to persuade her, he brings her to Nibiru, a once prosperous world that was destroyed by powerful magic. Feathertop cautions her that if she chooses to spare Jordan's life, the mundy world could suffer the same fate.[23]
But Bo firmly states that she cannot live with the weight of Jordan's death on her conscience. Feathertop then reveals a heartbreaking tale of being forced to witness the deaths of countless innocent beings on the planet Nibiru, hearing the screams of children and smelling their burning flesh. He orders her to fulfill her responsibility, in order to prevent the children of the mundane world from meeting a similar fate.[2]
Bo intercepts a call from Jordan's panicked grandmother to 911. She frantically explains that Jordan has murdered her own family, and resurrected them as walking zombies. With the help of Glam in a Can, Bo transforms her appearance into that of a police officer and heads to Jordan's house. She introduces herself as Officer Lamb from the Chicago Police Department. Bo expresses her concern for Jordan, and offers to help her. Jordan accepts the offer and agrees to go with her. Noticing Bo's knee injury, she heals it with her magic.[24]
Bo and her husband sharing an intimate moment
Bo fakes Jordan's death by using Glam in a Can to transform a pig into an exact replica of Jordan and executing it. She then dumps the body in a rendering plant furnace, and sends the girl to Nibiru to help resurrect the dead world. When she returns to headquarters, she provides body cam footage as proof of the "deed."[24]
Afterward, Peter joins his wife in the shower and Bo ponders the consequences of their organization's actions. With the mundy world now creating Fables of its own, their interventions may be doing more harm than good. However, Peter defends their actions, stating that they are simply doing their job.[24]
Physical appearance
| “ | Hey, Peep, here's a poser for you. Why did God make blondes two percent smarter than horses? | „ |
| ~ Nutkin teasing Bo in Everafter: From the Pages of Fables #2 — "Train In Vain: Chapter Two of The Pandora Protocol" |
Bo is beautiful, like Fable women have a tendency to be, but after she is crippled, her beauty is described as a wistful one that threatens to disappear into sadness at any moment. She has pale blond hair, that looks almost white in sunlight, which she often pulls back into a loose knot at the nape of her neck. When confined to a wheelchair, Bo uses a green tartan blanket as a cover for her injured legs.[5] As soon as she can walk again, she begins wearing long skirts of various colors in the same tartan print.[9][10][11][12][13]
Powers
| “ | I expect you to mend rapidly. After all, you're a well-known Fable. | „ |
| ~ Doctor Dolittle tending to Bo's knee injury in Everafter: From the Pages of Fables #2 — "Train In Vain: Chapter Two of The Pandora Protocol" |
- Immortality: As a Fable, Bo is immortal and very difficult to kill.
- Accelerated healing factor: A Fable's durability is allegedly dependent on how well known they and their story is to the mundies.[25] As a well-known Fable, Bo possesses the ability to rapidly recover from most of her injuries.[22]
Appearances
Original source
- She is based on the titular character of the nursery rhyme "Little Bo-Peep," and the wife from the nursery rhyme of "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater."
- A common version of "Little Bo-Peep" goes:
Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And doesn't know where to find them;
Leave them alone, and they'll come home,
And bring their tails behind them.
Little Bo-Peep fell fast asleep,
And dreamt she heard them bleating;
but when she awoke, she found it a joke,
For they were still a-fleeting.
Then up she took her little crook,
Determined for to find them;
She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they'd left their tails behind them.
It happened one day, as Bo-Peep did stray
Into a meadow hard by,
There she espied their tails side by side,
All hung on a tree to dry.
She heaved a sigh and wiped her eye,
And over the hillocks went rambling,
And tried what she could, as a shepherdess should,
To tack each again to its lambkin.[26]
- A common version of "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater" goes:
Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,
Had a wife and couldn't keep her;
He put her in a pumpkin shell
And there he kept her very well.
Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,
Had another and didn't love her;
Peter learned to read and spell,
And then he loved her very well.[27]
References
|
See also
| Fables | |
|---|---|
| Series | Fables • Jack of Fables • Fairest • Fables: The Wolf Among Us • Everafter: From the Pages of Fables |
| Specials | Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall • Peter & Max: A Fables Novel • Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love • Cinderella: Fables Are Forever • The Literals • Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland • Fairest: In All the Land • The Unwritten Fables • Batman vs. Bigby! A Wolf in Gotham |
| Characters | Bigby Wolf • Snow White • Rose Red • Prince Charming • Beauty • Beast • Boy Blue • Flycatcher • King Cole • Frau Totenkinder • Geppetto • Snow Queen • North Wind • Jack Horner • Bufkin |
| Video games | The Wolf Among Us • The Wolf Among Us 2 (unreleased) |
| Fabletown | |
|---|---|
| Governing body | King Cole • Snow White (formerly) • Prince Charming (formerly) • Beauty • Ichabod Crane (formerly) |
| Inhabitants | Beast • Bigby Wolf (formerly) • Flycatcher (formerly) • Trusty John • Grimble • Bufkin • Cinderella • Mowgli • Hobbes • Pinocchio • Briar Rose • Doctor Swineheart • Rapunzel • Kay • Edmond Dantès • Crispin Cordwainer • Thrushbeard • Fairy Witch • Frau Totenkinder • Ozma • Fairy Witch • Morgan le Fay |
| Places | Grand Green Florist Shop • Chateau d'If Fencing Academy • Edward Bear's Candies • Ford Laundry • Nod's Books • Lewis Antiques • I Am the Eggman Diner • Yellowbrick Roadhouse • Web 'n' Muffet Market • The Woodland Luxury Apartments • The Glass Slipper Shoes • Branstock Tavern |
| Unique items | Magic Mirror |