Fairy Godmother

In that one story they simply won't forget, at least they never knew my name
This article is about a subject whose real name is unknown, and is known only by a title, nickname, alias or description

“	Still, you can't get to the ball without breaking few pumpkins, I always say.	„
	~ The Fairy Godmother to Cinderella, Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love #6 — "Part Six: Ever After"

The Fairy Godmother was an enemy of Frau Totenkinder, the invader of Ultima Thule, and a meddler in the lives of Briar Rose, Cinderella, and Rapunzel.

History

Early life

The Fairy Godmother, along with her two sister fairies, moved freely through the worlds, bestowing blessings as they saw fit and bringing happiness wherever they went; however, they were oftentimes opposed by a powerful witch who sought to turn their blessings into curses. Refusing to admit defeat, the Fairy Godmother and her sisters altered their strategies, employing pawns to act as their agents to ensure their enemy's schemes went astray. The Fairy Godmother's sisters were eventually killed by Totenkinder, via poisoned apples. Unwilling to let this interference go unanswered, the Fairy Godmother showed a handsome prince the way to the tower that Frau kept Rapunzel in, mainly to spite Totenkinder. Her meddling with Rapunzel didn't end there, as she kept the prince from seeing Rapunzel again, as the godmother had plans for her. It's hinted she may have had a hand in the abduction of Rapunzel's daughters. Although, if she was the one to kidnap them, it is not known where she took them, since they weren't present with her when Cinderella found her in Ultima Thule.

Before her sister's demise, the Fairy Godmother and her sisters sent Prince Charming to wake up Briar Rose from her sleeping curse with "true love's kiss".^[1]

These contests took their toll on the Fairy Godmother. By the time she came to Cinderella's aid, her power had waned such that her spells could last only a single day. Regardless, the Fairy Godmother sent Cinderella to the ball (by turning a pumpkin into a carriage, Cinderella's rags into a beautiful dress, etc.) and arranged for her "happily ever after" by marrying Prince Charming. To her dismay, however, Prince Charming cheated on Cinderella, undoing all her hard work.

Ultima Thule

Deciding to have her way and make everyone happy, she simply resolved to eradicate unhappiness. She traveled to Ultima Thule, where the sun sets only once a year and her powers would work for nine months straight, and slayed King Valemon, placing herself as the ruler. She imposed a law that imposed forced smiles upon the citizens and restricted the use of magic.

With the help of Fables in the mundy world, she negotiated the trade of magical artifacts in exchange for firearms so she could keep control over the populace during the months when her power would fade. Those with the mundies brought the whole affair to Fabletown's attention, and they dispatched Cinderella to investigate. Cinderella, with the help of Dickory, managed to catch the Fairy Godmother unguarded and powerless. The Fairy Godmother is finally left at the mercy of the people of Ultima Thule.

Memory loss and recovery

The Fairest series reveals that after the Ultima Thule incident, she is locked up and slowly begins to lose her memories. Following a failed assassination attempt on Snow White, her cubs by rat-human hybrids, the Fairy Godmother is believed to be the culprit and Cinderella is sent to Ultima Thule to apprehend her. However, upon closer inspection, it is revealed that the Fairy Godmother had somehow escaped her prison but left her wand behind (which focuses her magics).

Using the wand, Cindy and Dickory track the Fairy Godmother in Amsterdam and quickly deduce she is not behind these attacks because of her mental condition, but they are apprehended by Rat Men and the Fairy Godmother is shot in the head by Cinderella's Stepsister (revealed to be working for Prince Brandish). She makes a full recovery, however, at the Knights of Malta Hospital thanks to Dickory and the mundies believing in her.

The Fairy Godmother also helps with the fight against the Rat Men (under the orders of Leigh Duglas now) by channeling her powers through Cindy and Marcel, one of the original mice who were transformed into footmen but saved himself by having sex and impregnating various women and telling them that he loved them (essentially being the father of the Rat Men). This reverts all of the Rat Men back into either mice or men and saves Fabletown from invasion.

Cindy and her Fairy Godmother eventually reconcile, the shot to her head having purged her of her formerly evil nature, and she is last seen at Crispin's welcome home party at The Glass Slipper, now a resident of Fabletown.

Characteristics

The Fairy Godmother, as her name suggests, is a fairy and a very powerful magic user.

Powers and abilities

The Fairy Godmother is able to fly; normally this is by means of pink-energy wings that protrude from her back, but she has been seen merely floating in the air without them.
She can perform acts of magical transformation.

Weaknesses

The Fairy Godmother's power has waned so much that her spells last for only a day.
The Fairy Godmother needs a focal point to focus her magics. Primarily, she does so with her wand and is thus normally rendered powerless without it.^[2]

Original source

The Fairy Godmother is based on the character from the Charles Perrault version of the "Cinderella" fairytale (no godmother is present in the Brothers Grimm version). In Perrault's story, the fairy godmother turns a pumpkin into a golden carriage, mice into horses, a rat into a coachman, and lizards into footmen.^[3] However, in Fairest #21 — "Of Men and Mice, Part One: It Happened One Night," the Fairy Godmother transforms the pumpkin into a pumpkin-shaped carriage, pigs into horses, and mice into coachmen; and no creatures are turned into footmen.

Trivia

With her fondness of apples and her rivalry with Frau Totenkinder, it's heavily hinted that she stole Rapunzel's twins. If she did steal them, their current location is still unknown. As the twins were never shown with her at Ultima Thule or her return to Fabletown.
It is possible that the Fairy Godmother and her sisters are based on Flora, Fauna and Merryweather from Disney's Sleeping Beauty because she has pink wings and the others have green and blue respectively. Also, it is shown that they have ties with Briar Rose, and the Fables Encyclopedia indicates that she was a meddler in Sleeping Beauty's life.

References

↑ Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love #6 — "Part Six: Ever After"
↑ Fairest #26 — "Of Men and Mice, Part Six: The Cheese Stands Alone"
↑ Lang, Andrew (editor). "Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper," The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blue Fairy Book, by Various, Project Gutenberg. "This godmother of hers, who was a fairy, said to her, “Thou wishest thou couldst go to the ball; is it not so?” “Y—es,” cried Cinderella, with a great sigh. “Well,” said her godmother, “be but a good girl, and I will contrive that thou shalt go.” Then she took her into her chamber, and said to her, “Run into the garden, and bring me a pumpkin.” Cinderella went immediately to gather the finest she could get, and brought it to her godmother, not being able to imagine how this pumpkin could make her go to the ball. Her godmother scooped out all the inside of it, having left nothing but the rind; which done, she struck it with her wand, and the pumpkin was instantly turned into a fine coach, gilded all over with gold. She then went to look into her mouse-trap, where she found six mice, all alive, and ordered Cinderella to lift up a little the trapdoor, when, giving each mouse, as it went out, a little tap with her wand, the mouse was that moment turned into a fine horse, which altogether made a very fine set of six horses of a beautiful mouse-colored dapple-gray. Being at a loss for a coachman, “I will go and see,” says Cinderella, “if there is never a rat in the rat-trap—we may make a coachman of him.” “Thou art in the right,” replied her godmother; “go and look.” Cinderella brought the trap to her, and in it there were three huge rats. The fairy made choice of one of the three which had the largest beard, and, having touched him with her wand, he was turned into a fat, jolly coachman, who had the smartest whiskers eyes ever beheld. After that, she said to her: “Go again into the garden, and you will find six lizards behind the watering-pot, bring them to me.” She had no sooner done so but her godmother turned them into six footmen, who skipped up immediately behind the coach, with their liveries all bedaubed with gold and silver, and clung as close behind each other as if they had done nothing else their whole lives."

[Issue_6-1] Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love #6 — "Part Six: Ever After"

[2] Fairest #26 — "Of Men and Mice, Part Six: The Cheese Stands Alone"

[3] Lang, Andrew (editor). "Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper," The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blue Fairy Book, by Various, Project Gutenberg. "This godmother of hers, who was a fairy, said to her, “Thou wishest thou couldst go to the ball; is it not so?” “Y—es,” cried Cinderella, with a great sigh. “Well,” said her godmother, “be but a good girl, and I will contrive that thou shalt go.” Then she took her into her chamber, and said to her, “Run into the garden, and bring me a pumpkin.” Cinderella went immediately to gather the finest she could get, and brought it to her godmother, not being able to imagine how this pumpkin could make her go to the ball. Her godmother scooped out all the inside of it, having left nothing but the rind; which done, she struck it with her wand, and the pumpkin was instantly turned into a fine coach, gilded all over with gold. She then went to look into her mouse-trap, where she found six mice, all alive, and ordered Cinderella to lift up a little the trapdoor, when, giving each mouse, as it went out, a little tap with her wand, the mouse was that moment turned into a fine horse, which altogether made a very fine set of six horses of a beautiful mouse-colored dapple-gray. Being at a loss for a coachman, “I will go and see,” says Cinderella, “if there is never a rat in the rat-trap—we may make a coachman of him.” “Thou art in the right,” replied her godmother; “go and look.” Cinderella brought the trap to her, and in it there were three huge rats. The fairy made choice of one of the three which had the largest beard, and, having touched him with her wand, he was turned into a fat, jolly coachman, who had the smartest whiskers eyes ever beheld. After that, she said to her: “Go again into the garden, and you will find six lizards behind the watering-pot, bring them to me.” She had no sooner done so but her godmother turned them into six footmen, who skipped up immediately behind the coach, with their liveries all bedaubed with gold and silver, and clung as close behind each other as if they had done nothing else their whole lives."

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