Snow White (Fables)

"Brandish thinks his heart is cold? Mine's been made of stone since I was a child. Monsters of the woods couldn't kill me. The armies of kings, sorcerers, and empires couldn't. I'm Snow goddamn White. I look after myself. I look after my own. And I never lose."

- Snow to her daughter Therese.

Snow White is a major character in the comic book series Fables and was the first wife of Prince Charming and the former Deputy Mayor of Fabletown, first under Ichabod Crane, then under King Cole. Snow White eventually falls in love with Bigby Wolf and bears him seven children, the Cubs.

Snow White appears in the 2013 video game adaptation of Fables, The Wolf Among Us, which is canon to the comics and serves as the prequel. She is voiced by Erin Yvette

Early Life
Snow White was born in a small cottage in a clearing within a great and magical forest. Her father died within a year of her birth, killed by his evil sister for reasons unknown. In their youth, Snow White and her twin-sister Rose Red were as happy as any two children in the world and were inseparable, swearing to each other that nothing would ever come between them.

Snow White and Rose Red
One winter's evening as the family sat comfortably by the fire, a talking bear knocked on their door and asked for shelter from the bitter cold. Snow's mother let him in, unafraid of the creature due to having made bargains to keep the family safe from harm, and he stayed throughout the entire winter with them; in the daytime the bear would trot off into the forest whereas at night he would lodge with the family. When spring came, tardy after the long winter, the bear left them. By summertime the girls, in their youthful exuberance, had nearly forgotten their visitor they soon met a dwarf who claimed his long beard was stuck on a tree while getting wood for his tea kettle. To the dwarf's chagrin, Snow cut his beard to free him and he, having lied about his predicament, pulled out a treasure bag from the tree. That night, Snow told Rose about a dream of hers of when the bear left them, where he says he needs to return to the woods to protect his treasure from the wicked dwarfs. During the course of that summer, the girls saw the mean old dwarf again and saved him twice more. Towards summer's end Snow White and Rose Red encountered the dwarf one last time. After saving the mean dwarf yet again, a giant bird told them that they would come to regret their actions. After being saved, the dwarf was angry with the girls and magically piled his treasures while telling them that because they cut his beard, his reserves of magic will have vanished and his people will shun him. He is then attacked and killed by the same bear Snow and Rose sheltered in the previous winter.

After killing the dwarf, the bear changed into his real form - a human prince - and he vowed to marry Snow, while Rose could marry his younger brother. Both the sisters and the prince told their mother and father, respectively, about the vow. Both parents disapproved for their own reasons. Later that night, Snow and Rose's mother secretly met with the king, who ordered her to kill Snow so that his son's vow could be broken without any consequence; in those days there were apparently harrowing consequences for oathbreakers (i.e. giant cauldrons in Hell where one would boil for eternity and be eaten from time to time, rivers of scythes, and all sorts of other ugly punishments). To preserve her daughter's life, Lauda faked Snow's death and arranged for her to live with her paternal aunt, the widowed queen of a distant land.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
Years passed and Snow started to forget her childhood, though vague memories of her sister and mother continually plagued her. Her aunt was both a malevolent monarch and a woman of the craft. She was lovely, but vain and proud. Everyday the Queen would consult her magic looking glass, asking it who was the fairest in all the land and always it would reply that she was, until one day it said that Snow was even lovelier than her. The Queen was enraged at this usurpation and called for her huntsman to drag Snow White away, into the deep, dark forest, where many terrible deeds could be concealed. The Queen further instructed the hunter to bring back Snow White's heart, as proof of her death or perhaps a prize of sorts. Snow White pled for her life, and in time the huntsman's heart was moved. She then fled into the dark forest and the huntsman substituted the heart of a pig to present to the wicked Queen, who was none the wiser.

Dimly Snow recalled a cottage somewhere in these great woods, a place of simple comfort and refuge. Eventually she did find a cottage, but not the one she recalled from her youth. She was in a different part of the forest, far to the north of her old home. This was not a good place, but the sweet and innocent Snow didn't know it. This part of the vast forest wasn't bound by strong bargains to keep her safe from harm. By simple fate or evil purposes, Snow fell into the clutches of the seven sons of the wicked dwarf of her youthful adventures. They treated her badly and turned her into their slave, abusing her physically and sexually for months. In time, the dark and wicked Queen learned from her magic mirror the truth about her niece’s survival. The Queen could not abide this news and was enraged to learn Snow was still alive. Cloaking herself in the guise of an old woman, she visited Snow in her cottage while the dwarfs were away, giving her a poisoned apple. Snow took a bite of the poisoned apple and fell into what is now known as a deep coma. When the dwarfs found her comatose, they assumed that Snow White was dead and, not wanting to keep her rotting carcass around, disposed of her by casting her out onto the edge of the forest. Prince Charming happened upon the scene soon after, found Snow White abandoned and his love was apparently enough to overcome the wicked Queen's poison, since all nobles of his realm had some degree of magic in them.

The Wolf Among Us
In the first episode of the game (sometime around July 1982) Bigby first encounters Snow at the Woodland Acres Apartments where he and Snow live (although in separate apartments). Snow knocks on Bigby's door to alert him to the murder of a suspicious woman whom Bigby had encountered earlier that evening. After allowing Bigby to perform a sweep of the area for clues, Snow takes Bigby to Ichabod Crane's office to read into some Fables as to decipher the woman's identity. Throughout the course of the game there is a small spark between Snow and Bigby - including a heart-felt conversation in a taxi on the way to the Trip Trap Bar. At the finale of the first episode, Bigby goes to interrogate the Woodsman at the aforementioned Trip Trap Bar, who is a suspect in the murder (which results in a fight between Bigby and Grendel). Bigby returns outside of the Apartments to find Snow murdered in the same fashion as the other woman.

Episode 2 starts out with Bigby staring in horror at Snow White's crime scene, but quickly fades out and is revealed as a flashback whilst being questioned by the mundy police. Later on in the episode, in the middle of an interrogation, Snow is shown to be alive and well, to the Fables' shock. She is upset with Bigby's apparent treatment of the prisoner, Bigby attempts to defend himself and then questions how she is still alive. It becomes apparent that someone was glamoured to look like her and killed while she was out working on the case. As they ascend to the floor her office is located on, he says "I almost lost you once--", and is interrupted abruptly by Snow, who says "I'm not yours to lose." Soon after, Bigby and Snow go to examine the body, and Snow finds herself to be rather self-conscious and unnerved by the likeness of the glamour's effects. Later, she helps console Holly the bartender and gives her the pin found on Lily's body.

At Lily's funeral, Bigby informs Snow that Crane is the prime suspect, as he was the one who made Lily glamour as Snow White and had sex with her. Snow White is disturbed by this revelation as the Tweedles show up and wound Bigby, Holly, and Grendel with their shotguns. After Bigby recovers they find out that Crane smashed the magic mirror and took a piece with him to avoid them finding him. After some investigation he and Snow end up at Aunty Greenleaf's place, who has been supplying Crane with illegal glamour for years. Snow orders Bigby to burn down Greenleaf's tree and it is up to the player of whether they choose to do so or not, which does have consequences as Greenleaf does bring up Snow's actions in the game's climax. They go to the Pudding 'N Pie and capture Crane, but once they start leaving they confront the Tweedles and Bloody Mary, who prove tough enough for Bigby to enter his werewolf form (which possibly results in Dum's death). He is severely injured by Mary, and Snow gives Crane up in the process to save Bigby.

Trivia

 * Her character is based on two myths recorded by the Brothers Grimm, Snow-White and Rose-Red and the more famous Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.