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“ | Then the Kingdom of the Great Lion fell, and again we did nothing, because we always found the old lion to be a bit too pompous and holier-than-thou for our tastes. | „ |
~ From King Cole Remembrance Day speech in Fables #4 — "Chapter Four: Remembrance Day" |
The Great Lion is an animal Fable who first appears in a brief flashback from the Homelands in Fables #4 — "Chapter Four: Remembrance Day." The Kingdom of the Great Lion was among the earliest Fable Homelands to succumb to the conquest of the Adversary's conquest.
History
The Kingdom of the Great Lion was one of the Fable Homelands that was conquered early on by the Adversary. The lion himself was felled and killed by arrows.[1]
On Fabletown's Remembrance Day, King Cole reads the history of the Fables as part of the ceremony, and mentions the fate of the Great Lion's kingdom. Cole points out that "we always found the old lion to be a bit too pompous and holier-than-thou for our tastes," and points to this as yet another excuse utilized by the remaining Fable lands to avoid intervention.[1]
As the ghost of Sir Lancelot knights Ambrose, he endows him with the privilege to carry arms and dispense justice, "by the blood of every true king." Among those kings, he references "the Great Lion on his stone," referring to Aslan's sacrifice on a stone table in The Chronicles of Narnia. The lion appears in the background via memory, accompanied by King Arthur and John the Presbyter.[2]
The Great Lion once again appears via memory, alongside King Arthur and John the Presbyter, as King Ambrose proclaims that the King and his law are one, and sentences Prince Brandish to death.[4]
Appearances
Fables
- Fables #4 (flashback)
- Fables #62 (via memory)
- Fables #150 (via memory)
Original source
The Great Lion is a reference to Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia.[3]
Due to the book series being under copyright, the lion and the kingdom could not be officially named in Fables. Bill Willingham has commented on the panel where the Great Lion appears in Fables #4 — "Chapter Four: Remembrance Day," saying: "Narnia is my favorite fantasy series, bar none. Better (for me at least) than the remarkable Lord of the Rings and any other contender you might like to trot out. Problem is, Narnia isn't in the public domain, so we couldn't use it in Fables. So who is the lion mentioned in that one panel and what kingdom is depicted? I can't say it's Aslan and I can't say it's Narnia. But that doesn't stop any of you from looking at the first lines of this paragraph and coming to your own conclusion".[5]
Fables #73 — "War and Pieces, Chapter One: Voyage of the Sky Treader" appears to be a reference to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the fifth book in The Chronicles of Narnia, using the internal chronology.
In Fables #137 — "An Early Winter: Part Six of Camelot," Winter Wolf refers to a book her mother reads to her and her siblings all the time, about a land where there is always winter, but never Christmas, a reference to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, in which Narnia has become a land of despair, where there is always winter but never Christmas.
References
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