Faith

This article is about the comic series character. You may be looking for her video game counterpart.

Faith
Biographical information
Real name	Faith Gateau (née Allerleirauh)
Aliases	Donkeyskin Ass-skin
Status	Alive (faked her own death)
Species	Human (Fable)
Gender	Female
Occupation	Prostitute Princess (formerly)
Affiliation	Pudding & Pie
Family information
Relatives	King Edward † (father) King Edward's wife † (mother) Lawrence Gateau (husband) Prince Lawrence's parents (parents-in-law)
Appearances
First issue	Fables: The Wolf Among Us #1 — "Chapter One"
Last issue	Fables: The Wolf Among Us #2 — "Chapter Two" (as herself) Fables: The Wolf Among Us #48 — "Chapter Forty-Eight" (as Nerissa)
Original source	"Allerleirauh" and "Donkeyskin"

“	Hey. There's something important I need to tell you. [...] You're not as bad as everyone says you are. See you around, wolf.	„
	~ Faith to Bigby Wolf in Fables: The Wolf Among Us #3 — "Chapter Three"

Faith is a Fable who lives in New York City and works as a prostitute at the Pudding & Pie on the Crooked Mile. She debuts in Fables: The Wolf Among Us #1 — "Chapter One." Her presence is felt throughout the series, despite being supposedly killed early on.

History

Early life

Faith was born to King Edward and his wife. Her family's great wealth lay in a magic donkey which secretly defecated gold. Faith's mother eventually grew gravely ill and passed away, but before her death she had her husband swear he would only remarry a woman equal to her in beauty.

King Edward mourned for a period, but was persuaded by his council to wed so as to not be alone as much as to produce a male heir. He searched for a wife, but came to the conclusion non could match his wife's beauty except his own daughter, Faith.

Faith was heavily against such an arrangement, and tried to deter their marriage by asking her father to complete three uneasy tasks: make her a dress blue as the night sky, a dress that shimmered as the moon, and a dress to equal the summer sun's radiance. While she hoped to effect escape during what she thought would be lengthy tasks, King Edward procured all three dresses rather quickly.

Thinking her father would never kill his source of wealth, Faith then requested a dress made from the skin of his gold-producing donkey before she would marry or procreate with him. To her shock, King Edward fulfilled her request and fashioned her a donkeyskin cloak. In her despair she shed a single tear that fell upon the fur whose sympathetic magic wove a spell, into a hag so ugly her father could not recognize her.

In disguise, Faith made her escape and found work as a cook in Prince Lawrence's castle; she maintained her disguise to evade the hunters her father sent after her. Every now and again, when she was sure no one was looking, she dropped the hood of her cloak and her beauty was restored. She often cried into the cakes she baked.

Prince Lawrence was so tantalized by the cake Faith baked for his birthday that he began spying on her and soon witnessed her remove her donkeyskin cloak, becoming her true self. Seeing her weep into the cakes she cooked, Lawrence ate every last crumb to taste her on his tongue. Eventually, Faith and Lawrence fell in love, and she told him her backstory. Lawrence's parents exiled him after their relationship was revealed, and they became wandering vagrants.

During the Exodus

When the Adversary began sweeping through the Homelands, Faith and Lawrence were among the last to escape his forces. They managed to book passage to the mundy world by in exchange for Faith's fine dresses. Though she claimed she was happy to be rid of the dresses her father gave her, Faith shed a single tear at their loss.

Arriving in Fabletown, Faith and Lawrence were shunted to the Exiles Building - an area in which impoverished nobles dwelt. Promptly forgotten, the couple fell and hard times. Faith turned to prostitution to make ends meet, but her relationship ultimately ended up strained. Eventually moving out of her husband's apartment, Faith went on to work for the Pudding & Pie as a call-girl. At some point, a magic ribbon was fashioned and placed on Faith to prevent her from spilling the Crooked Man's secrets; any mundane attempt to remove it would also have decapitated the wearer.

Faith's murder

While covering her friend Lily's shift with the Woodsman, Faith is assaulted by him and is saved by the Fabletown sheriff Bigby Wolf. Promising to give the sheriff a statement about the incident, Faith is given money by Bibgy to cover some of her losses, and she departs.

Having grown tired of her life as a prostitute and being constant in debt to the Crooked Man, Faith gathered incriminating evidence on him. Sharing the knowledge with her friends and coworkers, her conspirator Nerissa apparently grew fearful of the repercussions and reveled their plan to their pimp Georgie Porgie. Thinking this would solve their problems without any real backlash and that they could try to escape later in a couple of years, Georgie seemmingly ended up killing Faith by removing her ribbon.

Faith revealed

The Crooked Man makes a deal with the ghost of Faith's father: to give him his long-lost daughter in exchange for the magic password to activate the golden excretion of the untethered reflection of his deceased donkey. They get ready for a wedding ceremony with an officiant and witnesses, and what seems to be a new body for King Edward to inhabit. Now that the bargain's made, the King demands that they provide Faith. The Crooked Man says that he will "make her a proposal she can't refuse."

The Crooked Man uses Bloody Mary's glass baby to go back to the mundane world. When Nerissa is left alone in the rain, the Crooked Man sees his chance: He silences her by covering her mouth with his hand, grabbing her from behind, and forcefully putting Faith's family crest signet ring on her, thinking to himself, "I know I'll win, in the end. After all... I have Faith"; indicating that Faith was not actually dead but had glamoured herself to look like Nerissa, and that Nerissa had been Faith all along.

Secret clues

Nerissa actually being Faith can be pieced together from several subtle clues:

• Faith says she wouldn't be prostituting much longer.
• Faith's parting words are "See you around, Wolf;" the same as Nerissa.
• Faith knew where Bigby Wolf lived, and that's where her head mysteriously turns up.
• Both Faith and Nerissa order Bigby not to touch their ribbons.
• Faith's backstory included her using magic to disguise herself.
• Bigby thought Nerissa seemed familiar.
• The prostitutes of Pudding & Pie were often glamoured.
• Both Faith and Nerissa tells Bigby, "You're not as bad as everyone says he is."
• In the fairy tale of "The Little Mermaid," the titular character is given the chance to become a mermaid once more by killing the prince. However, the Little Mermaid cannot bring herself to kill him, and chooses to die instead.
  • Such selflessness would be appropriate for an individual who is suggested to have given up their own life by allowing themselves to be glamoured as Faith and then put to death in her stead.

Personality

“	They could bruise her skin and break her spirit, but they never reached her heart.	„
	~ Prince Lawrence to Snow White and Bigby Wolf, Fables: The Wolf Among Us #7 — "Chapter Seven"

Faith was cunning and thoughtful, utterly disgusted by the idea of an incestuous relationship with her father. Her husband described her as having a good heart, being willing to check on occasionally despite their estrangement.

Physical appearance

Faith was a stunningly beautiful woman, with fair skin, medium-length dark hair and green eyes. According to her tale, her mother asked her father to only marry the most beautiful girl in the land. As per this request, King Edward came to the conclusion that only their daughter could match his dead wife's beauty.

Powers and abilities

• Immortality: Being a Fable, Faith was long-lived and extremely durable, in correlation to how well known her story is among the mundys.
• Magical tears: Faith's tears had sympathetic magic in them. It faded over time, and her husband claimed they just held sadness in the present day.

Weaknesses

• Magic ribbon: This ribbon prevented Faith from speaking about certain things, and if removed would decapitate her.

Original source

Faith is based on the Princess from the fairy tale "Donkeyskin" by Charles Perrault. One variant of the fairy tale is "Allerleirauh" by the Brothers Grimm, in which the Princess is called Allerleirauh and is at one point referred to as "Faith, rough-skin." In the comics, "Castle Allerleirauh" is the name of the seat of Faith's kingdom.

Trivia

• The figurine that Bigby accidentally knocks over in the Woodsman's apartment in Fables: The Wolf Among Us #1 — "Chapter One" is a donkey.
• Faith's former address in New York City is 1695 Story Avenue. 1695 was the year "Donkeyskin" was first published. "Story Avenue" references the fairy tale theme of the comic.

Appearances

Fables: The Wolf Among Us

• "Issue 1"
• "Issue 2"
• "Issue 3" ^(corpse)
• "Issue 4" ^(corpse)
• "Issue 5" ^(flashback)
• "Issue 6" ^(photograph)
• "Issue 7" ^(flashback)
• "Issue 10" ^(photograph)
• "Issue 25" ^(photograph)
• "Issue 27" ^(photograph)