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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 |
| “ | Some people simply lead a charmed life. The key is discovering the nature of that charm...and then exploiting it for your own gain. Though you may surround yourself with lessers...with cannon fodder...it's crucial to remember that, in the final reckoning, you are alone. There is only you, and the whole world standing in opposition. The secret lies in knowing that you are stronger than the opposition. More cunning. More resourceful. That's when the world finds you alone...brought low, forced to start over from nothing...you can look the odds in the eye and say, "I'm not worried." I know I'll win, in the end. | „ |
| ~ The Crooked Man, Fables: The Wolf Among Us #48 — "Chapter Forty-Eight" |
The Crooked Man is a Fable who first appears in Fables: The Wolf Among Us #33 — "Chapter Thirty-Three." He is the main antagonist of the spin-off series, as he is revealed to the puppeteer responsible for the series of events that form the central conflict of the comic, and was responsible for ordering the murders of Faith and Lily. He directly employs Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum and Bloody Mary as his muscle, and has a controlling interest in the Pudding & Pie. He also uses the Jersey Devil as muscle, with his pawn shop the Lucky Pawn being a front for his loansharking activities.
History
Bigby's hunt
At the Pudding & Pie strip club, Georgie Porgie is conversing over the phone with the Crooked Man as Bigby Wolf and Snow White arrive to apprehend Ichabod Crane for his misappropriation of Fabletown funds. Georgie alerts him about a potential problem and instructs him to send down Bloody Mary.[4] As they attempt to return him to the Woodland, they are suddenly cut off by the Crooked Man's car. Emerging from the vehicle are Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum and Bloody Mary — sent by the Crooked Man to capture Crane and bring him back. Mary demands that Bigby hands Crane over.[5]
When Bigby refuses,[5] Mary shoots him with a silver bullet,[6] immobilizing him. She is about to execute him with the Woodsman's axe when Snow interrupts, offering Crane in exchange for Bigby's life. Mary is unconvinced, but the Crooked Man gives her an okay from his limousine. She breaks Bigby's arm, then marches Crane into the car, which speeds off.[7]
A short time later, Bigby questions Beauty and the Beast about the loan they took out from the Crooked Man. Beauty tells Bigby that she got the loan at the Lucky Pawn, a pawnshop managed by the where the Jersey Devil under the direction of the Crooked Man. Fables visit the pawnshop to purchase and sell unique items brought from the Homelands, that are not available elsewhere. The shop also serves as a front for the Crooked Man's loansharking activities.[1]
Bigby finds Jersey at the Lucky Pawn questions him about the Crooked Man.[8] Bigby and the Woodsman find a secret armory which keeps the Crooked Man's crew supplied with weapons, and an illegal spell-making lab where off-the-book witches can brew up black-market charms. Jersey explains that the door to the Crooked Man's lair moves around the New York City, never staying in one place for too long. Crane had to use the Magic Mirror to contact him, and Jersey himself had never actually seen him. As Bigby departs, Jersey proclaims that the Crooked Man is beyond his capabilities, and the victims were killed because he intended for them to be killed.[9]
Upon returning to the Business Office, Snow asks to see Crane in the newly repaired Magic Mirror. They see Bloody Mary ordering him to Paris until further notice,[10] shortly before using her power to cut off the Mirror's vision. They then ask to see the Crooked Man. The mirror reveals that the magic door is currently residing under the Gothic Bridge in Central Park, and Bigby rushes over to use it before it moves again.[11]
Showdown
Bigby arrives at the bridge and runs into the portal, which transports him to the Crooked Man's lair, where he is greeted by Tiny Tim, who reveals that the sheriff was expected. They walk to his meeting room, where the crime lord is meeting with Dee, Dum, Georgie, Vivian and the Jersey Devil.[11]
As the Crooked Man converses with Bigby, Bigby discovers that he speaks in a rather polite tone, and he orders the Jersey Devil to sit down and not execute Bigby. During the conversation, the Crooked Man acknowledges that it was Georgie who killed Faith and Lily. Georgie brags initially, but he begins to throw a fit when the Crooked Man states that he "misinterpreted one of my instructions." The Crooked Man tries to offer Bigby Georgie as a gesture of goodwill and as a beginning of a friendship filled with favors in both directions.[12]
The Crooked Man lets Georgie Porgie take the fall for his crimes
When Bigby refuses his offer, the Crooked Man orders Bloody Mary to execute him. She shows up by teleporting via the room's mirror[12] and things spiral out of control as the Tweedles, Jersey and Georgie all try to kill Bigby. As they fight, Georgie is fatally stabbed, while the Crooked Man flees with Mary. He gives Mary a piece of enchanted glass and shoves it into her skin, formalizing their contract and making it unbreakable.[13]
Bigby follows Georgie and Vivian to the Pudding & Pie. Georgie tries to convince Bigby that the Crooked Man coerced him into killing Faith and Lily, and that he didn't kill them on his own accord. He elaborates that the Crooked Man placed magical ribbons around Faith, Lily, and the other girls' necks to prevent them from speaking. He explains that if Bigby takes the ribbon off Vivian, the original "Girl with the Ribbon," the spell will be broken, but Vivian will die. Vivian backs away and pulls her own ribbon off after expressing her remorse for ruining the girls' lives, committing suicide.[3]
With his dying breath, With his dying breath, Georgie reveals the whereabouts of The Crooked Man: He is hiding at The Looking Glassworks, a secondary base used in case the main one is discovered. Bigby wastes no time and heads straight to the Crooked Man's location. Upon arrival, the Crooked Man commands Mary to deal with him.[14] Once Mary is taken care of, Bigby tracks down the Crooked Man. The Crooked Man pulls out a gun loaded with silver bullets, claiming it's just a precaution. He demands that Bigby bring him back to the Business Office alive for a proper trial.[15]
Incarceration
The Witching Well serves as the location for the immediate trial. The Crooked Man argued that he is innocent because he never forced anyone to do anything. He also claims that he never ordered Georgie to kill Lily and Faith; and that Bloody Mary acted on her own accord when she tried to kill Bigby in The Looking Glassworks. He confesses to being a loan shark, but points the finger at the Fabletown government for creating such dire situations that the Fables have no other option but to seek his help.[2]
He justifies his role as a pimp by claiming that the women chose their profession willingly. Furthermore, he also notes that there is no concrete evidence against him, only accusations. It looks like he might sway them, but then Nerissa claims that she heard him force Georgie to kill Lily and Faith, and Georgie only killed them because if he didn't, the Crooked Man would kill him. Bigby puts him in a holding cell until they can have a full, fair trial.[2]
The Crooked Man asks for shaving equipment and Bigby provides it for him, admitting that if the Crooked Man were to use the blade to end his own life, he would do them all a favor. The Crooked Man decides that there is no place for him in the mundane world, and he will remove himself from it and go to the Silverling instead. Using the small shaving mirror, he steps through the looking glass and into the new world by following the shard he had gifted to Mary. He realizes that this is the ideal spot for rebuilding his criminal empire.[16]
The Silverling
He proceeds to track down Mary in the Silverling realm, a place where reflections are sent when they break free, and the two join forces once more.[17] The Crooked Man also employs the Knave of Hearts, who was known to be physically abusive towards her; and Knave's new wife Abigail Williams. The tension between Knave and Mary often needs to be diffused by the Crooked Man. With delicate care, Abigail reconstructs Mary's glass baby belonging to Mary and the Knave,[8] while the Crooked Man discloses his intention to travel to Castle Allerleirauh. This is all part of his scheme to raise money for his criminal enterprise and search for the legendary donkey that passes gold.[9]
On the Crooked Man's orders, Dee and Dum kill Grendel's mother and bring the Crooked Man her heart.[10] The group attempts to activate the glass baby's teleportation powers with the heart; however, the ritual fails,[11] and they find themselves seeking out[12] the now untethered reflection[13] of Aunty Greenleaf,[12] who succeeds.[3]
Castle Allerleirauh
The Crooked Man and his henchpeople in Castle Allerleirauh
Using the baby, the Crooked Man and his gang are transported to Castle Allerleirauh in the Homelands.[14] Upon entering the abandoned castle, Abigail is possessed by the ghost of King Edward.[14] 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. Edward argues that they would require the magic word to activate the golden excretion.[18]
The Crooked Man is confident that they will succeed in finding the donkey: The Tweedles are able to ferret out the stall of the late enchanted donkey, and Aunty Greenleaf is able to fill its trough with reflective water for their travel. With Mary's glass baby as their guiding star, they should have no trouble breaching Castle Alleirauh's own Silverling and lay claim to the untethered reflection of the beast. All that remains is for the Crooked Man to tell them the incantation that will trigger the creature's golden excreta.[19]
Edward 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.[19]
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]
Finding Faith
The Crooked Man captures Faith glamoured as Nerissa
Two weeks after the trial, the Crooked Man uses Mary's glass baby to go back to the mundane world. He watches from behind a street corner as Nerissa confesses to Bigby 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.[16]
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[16] Faith's family crest signet ring[20] 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.[16]
Appearances
Fables: The Wolf Among Us
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Original source
He is based on the titular character of the nursery rhyme "There Was a Crooked Man." The Crooked Mile — a part of Fabletown notorious for its shady establishments and illicit activities[21] — is named after a line from the poem. The nursery rhyme goes:
There was a crooked man and he went a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all liv'd together in a little crooked house.
References
See also
| 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 |