| This article is about the comic series character. You may be looking for her video game counterpart. |
| “ | People like us... We get forgotten all the time. When we suffer, we do it in silence. Our lips are sealed. And that's the way the world prefers it. We just fade away, like we never existed in the first place. | „ |
| ~ Nerissa to Bigby Wolf, Fables: The Wolf Among Us #48 — "Chapter Forty-Eight" |
Nerissa, formerly known as the Little Mermaid, is a Fable who lives in New York City. She first appears in Fables: The Wolf Among Us #18 — "Chapter Eighteen" and is a stripper working at Pudding & Pie. It is implied that Faith assumed her identity after the real Nerissa was beheaded by Georgie Porgie while glamoured as Faith, and that we never actually meet the real Nerissa in Fables: The Wolf Among Us; only Faith masquerading as her.
History
Pudding & Pie
Nerissa works as a stripper at Pudding & Pie, a strip club located on the Crooked Mile, a shady part of Fabletown. During the investigation of her co-worker Lily's murder, Fabletown Sheriff Bigby Wolf enters the club to find the owner, Georgie Porgie, angrily observing Nerissa's pole dance and criticizing her for a subpar performance.[3] After talking with Georgie, she discloses that she was once known as "the Little Mermaid" and that she now possesses genuine, human legs that came at a high price.[1]
Bigby tries to ask her for help, but she only replies "These lips are sealed," and that she isn't supposed to talk about work. After Bigby demands she cooperates, she offers to make an appointment with him. Catching her veiled attempt at helping him, he agrees and she retrieves a key for Room 204 at the Open Arms Hotel. When Bigby questions why he wasn't given the key to Room 207, the same room Lily last used, she replies, "You'll think of something."[1]
Lips are sealed
Nerissa attends Lily's funeral under the Buckingham Bridge.[4] Later, when Bigby and Snow White arrive at the Pudding and Pie to arrest Ichabod Crane, they find him furiously shaking a scared and crying Nerissa and demanding she tell him what she knows about the murders. He explains that he wants to use the Ring of Dispel to break the spell that keeps Nerissa from talking freely. He pleads with her for information when the ring doesn't work, but she painfully replies, "these lips are sealed."[5] She watches in the background as Bigby confronts Crane.[6]
Afterwards, she observes with tears in her eyes from a concealed spot as Bigby engages in a fierce battle against Bloody Mary.[7] Nerissa goes to the Sheriff's office the next day to see Bigby. Bigby and Nerissa both try to work around the spell that had been cast upon her. but no matter how hard they try she cannot speak out. Just then Bigby notices the ribbon around Nerissa's neck and realizes it looked just like Faith's and Lily's. Realizing that the ribbon must be the source of the spell, Bigby asks her if she could take it off and reaches for it, but Nerissa freaks out and begs him not to remove it. She explicitly states that she is unable to remove it, as there will be negative consequences. She inquires of Bigby whether he has companions with whom he can converse, emphasizing the beauty of having someone to talk to. Bigby realizes that she is giving him a clue.[8]
Crooked Man's arrest
Nerissa crying in the rain
After finding Vivian's body and realizing she is now free to speak, Nerissa shows up at the Crooked Man's trial and claims to have witnessed him ordering Georgie to murder her colleagues Faith and Lily.[9]
Meanwhile, in the Homelands, the Crooked Man makes a deal with the ghost of Faith's father, King Edward: to give him his long-lost daughter, Faith, in exchange for the magic password to activate the golden excretion of the untethered reflection of his deceased donkey that passed gold.[10] 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."[2]
Faith revealed
Two weeks later, Bigby meets up with Nerissa outside Woodland. He comments on her risking catching a cold by standing in the rain, yet she clarifies that being a former mermaid, she is accustomed to the water. She explains that she, Faith, and Lily were planning on escaping the Pudding & Pie for good. However, Faith decided to steal a photo of Crane with Lily in order to gain some leverage. Worried that the Crooked Man would find out Faith stole it and kill them, Nerissa decided to confess this to Georgie, who said he'd smooth things over with his superior. When he returned, he told Nerissa that he had to make an example of them, and removed Faith's ribbon in front of her, killing her. With no other options, Nerissa left Faith's head on the doorstep of the Woodlands, hoping to get Bigby's attention.[2]
The Crooked Man captures Nerissa
She reveals that back at the trial she told a lie; in truth, Georgie was the one who gave the order to have Faith and Lily killed, and not the Crooked Man. She acknowledges her lie, and states that she refused to allow a technicality to prevent the Crooked Man from being punished. She and Bigby part ways. Regrettably, the Crooked Man managed to flee from prison and is now pursuing Nerissa. He silences her by covering her mouth with his hand, grabbing her from behind, and forcefully putting[2] Faith's family crest signet ring[11] 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.[2]
Physical appearance
| “ | If it's redheads you're after, I can introduce you to my girl Nerissa here on stage. | „ |
| ~ Georgie Porgie to Bigby Wolf, Fables: The Wolf Among Us #18 — "Chapter Eighteen" |
Nerissa is a beautiful woman with a lithe body, medium length red hair and fair skin.[3] She used to be a mermaid, but she underwent a permanent magical transformation that granted her human legs.[1]
Secret clues
Nerissa actually being Faith can be pieced together from several subtle clues:
- Faith says she wouldn't be prostituting much longer.[12]
- Faith's parting words are "See you around, Wolf;"[12] the same as Nerissa.[2]
- Faith knew where Bigby Wolf lived,[12] and that's where her head mysteriously turns up.[13]
- Both Faith[12] and Nerissa order Bigby not to touch their ribbons.[8]
- Faith's backstory included her using magic to disguise herself.[14][15]
- Bigby thought Nerissa seemed familiar.[1]
- The prostitutes of Pudding & Pie were often glamoured.[16]
- Both Faith[12] and Nerissa tells Bigby, "You're not as bad as everyone say you are." They also both follow it up with "I'll see you around... Wolf."[2]
- 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.[2]
- It is also possible that Bigby never met the real Faith and that the Faith he met at Toad's apartment was a glamoured Nerissa.
Original source
Nerissa is based on the titular character of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of "The Little Mermaid."
Etymology
The name Nerissa was created by William Shakespeare for the play The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare possibly based it on the Greek name Νηρηΐς (Nereis) meaning "nymph, sea sprite," itself derived from the name of the Greek sea god Nereus,[17] who was the father of the sea nymphs known as the Nereids.
Trivia
Nerissa is characterized by her red hair and is specifically identified as a redhead in Fables: The Wolf Among Us #18 — "Chapter Eighteen." The color and the floral embellishment in her hair are reminiscent of the Disney portrayal of the Little Mermaid.
Appearances
Fables: The Wolf Among Us
- Fables: The Wolf Among Us #18 (first appearance)
- Fables: The Wolf Among Us #19
- Fables: The Wolf Among Us #22
- Fables: The Wolf Among Us #23
- Fables: The Wolf Among Us #30
- Fables: The Wolf Among Us #31
- Fables: The Wolf Among Us #33
- Fables: The Wolf Among Us #34
- Fables: The Wolf Among Us #47
- Fables: The Wolf Among Us #48
References