King Edward

King Edward
Biographical information
Status	Deceased (death by suicide) (ghost)
Species	Human (Fable)
Gender	Male
Occupation	King
Family information
Relatives	Faith (daughter) Prince Lawrence Gateau (son-in-law) † Wife †
Appearances
First issue	Fables: The Wolf Among Us #5 — "Chapter Five" (flashback)
Last issue	Fables: The Wolf Among Us #47— "Chapter Forty-Seven"
Original source	"Allerleirauh" and "Donkeyskin"

“	Take good care to play it straight! Deceive not, nor prevaricate! Blind I am and bent in gait, but one maid makes me stand up straight and that is my sweet Faith.	„
	~ King Edward to the Crooked Man, Fables: The Wolf Among Us #47 — "Chapter Forty-Seven"

King Edward is a Fable from the Homelands. He became infamous for his desire to wed his own daughter, Faith, who was forced to flee to a far-off country in order to avoid being coerced into an incestuous marriage. He first appears in flashbacks in Fables: The Wolf Among Us #5 — "Chapter Five." His ghost is later reawakened by the Crooked Man, who promises to give back him his lost daughter in exchange for wealth.

Donkeyskin

King Edward of Castle Allerleirauh once lived happily with his wife and his daughter, Faith. After his wife dies, Edward seeks out the most beautiful girl in his kingdom to marry. However, after a time, he realized that the most beautiful girl in the kingdom was Faith.

Horrified at the prospect of being in an incestuous marriage, Faith 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.

King Edward committing suicide

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. The kingdom quickly falls into financial ruin without gold. With no wealth and no wife, King Edward was driven to suicide.

Reawakened

Centuries later, the abandoned castle of Allerleirauh is entered by the Crooked Man's gang. Abigail Williams finds Edward's corpse and puts his crown on her head, which awakens King Edward's ghost, who then possesses Abigail. The Crooked Man offers a deal with him: offering to give him his long-lost daughter, Faith, in exchange for the excretion of his deceased donkey that passed gold. But Edward says that all the gold has been spent. Mary comes up with a plan: since the donkey is no longer living, they could find its untethered reflection in the Silverling. Edward argues that they would require the magic word to activate the golden excretion.

The King demands that they deliver his daughter Faith to him, adorned in her three luxurious gowns, and in return, he will reveal the magical word. The Crooked Man assures them that he knows where Faith is and promises to retrieve her quickly, but he is unaware of the location of the gowns. Edward hints that they can be found with Faith's husband, Prince Lawrence, and urges them to kill him. A consensus is reached by all parties involved.

King Edward possessing Abigail Williams while standing next to his own mummified corpse

They get ready for a wedding ceremony, with the crow as the officiant, 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. Although Faith is believed to have been murdered, it appears that she faked her own death and is now living under a new identity: When the woman known as Nerissa is left alone in the rain, the Crooked Man silences her by covering her mouth with his hand, grabbing her from behind, and forcefully putting Faith's family crest signet ring on her finger, 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.

Appearances

Fables: The Wolf Among Us

• Fables: The Wolf Among Us #5 (first appearance; flashback)
• Fables: The Wolf Among Us #7 (mentioned)
• Fables: The Wolf Among Us #43
• Fables: The Wolf Among Us #44
• Fables: The Wolf Among Us #45
• Fables: The Wolf Among Us #46
• Fables: The Wolf Among Us #47

Trivia

King Edward is based on the unnamed King from the fairy tale "Donkeyskin" by Charles Perrault, and the variant "Allerleirauh" by the Brothers Grimm.