Faith (Character)


 * "You're not as bad as everyone says you are."
 * ―Faith to Bigby. — Listen (file info) [src]

Faith is a Fable prostitute first appearing in Episode 1 of The Wolf Among Us. Her untimely demise in said episode is the catalyst that sets all subsequent events in motion. She was married to prince Lawrence and was Lily and Nerissa's friend.

Faith
The episode begins with Bigby responding to a call from Toad about the Woodsman going on a drunken rampage in his tenement. Upon Bigby arriving and questioning Toad's lack of glamour, the two realize that there's another person arguing with Woody upstairs. Bigby enters his apartment to find him slapping a girl, and immediately pins him against a wall. The girl spits in Woody's face, enraging him. He then fights Bigby, who makes short work of subduing him and breaking his jaw. Bigby begins questioning the girl, who says that the fighting began when she said she didn't recognize the Woodsman. As they talk, Woody recovers himself and starts mouthing off to Bigby, prompting him to tackle Woody through the wall of the building and onto the street below and knocking both of them unconscious. Woody recovers first and starts to choke out Bigby, almost forcing him to transform into a wolf before the girl sneaks up behind him and buries his axe into the back of his head, causing him to collapse onto the sidewalk. She searches Woody for the money she's owed while Bigby gets himself under control. Finding Woody to be broke, she angrily kicks him and works the axe further into his head, which Bigby can try to stop or allow. He then questions the girl further, but she's reluctant to reveal anything about her employer or even her name, saying that "her lips are sealed". By this point figuring out that she is a prostitute, Bigby asks how much the Woodsman owed her, as he figures it'd probably be bad for her to return empty handed. The girl says she'll be fine, but Bigby has the option of insisting she takes what little money he has. She tells Bigby he's not as bad as everyone says he is, then walks off into the night.

Later that night, Snow discovers the girl's severed head on the front steps of the Woodlands. She gets Bigby to investigate, and he finds a ring with a mysterious symbol on it tied to a ribbon in her mouth. Bigby also figures that whatever made the cut was a magical item, and that the head was likely placed there deliberately. After looking up the symbol, they discover that the girl's name was Faith. She was originally from a fable entitled "Donkeyskin", in which she escaped from marrying her father by using a donkeyskin coat to hide her beauty. She was married to a prince named Lawrence, who currently lives in an apartment in The Bronx. Bigby decides to visit Lawrence, after seeing through the mirror that he could be seriously injured. Bigby also has a choice to look at Faith through the mirror, but she doesn't appear. There is a spell on her blocking her from the mirror, saying "These lips are sealed." This scene is extremely important and comes into play during the last episode.

If Bigby decides to visit Lawrence before Toad, he and Snow arrive to see him apparently dead from a gunshot wound. After investigating the apartment for a short while, Bigby starts to think there's something peculiar about whatever happened, as the angle of the bullet in the wall would indicate that the shooter fired from below Lawrence. Snow then notices Lawrence blink, and he quickly wakes up and falls to the floor, blood gushing from his wound. Bigby puts him back in his chair, and Lawrence reveals that he tried to commit suicide because he felt like a burden on Faith. Bigby can decide whether to inform Lawrence of his wife's death, or be vague about her fate. While the questioning is going on, someone knocks on Lawrence's door. Bigby and Snow hide in a closet while Lawrence plays dead. The person breaks through the door and starts searching the apartment. Eventually, Lawrence tries to commit suicide again, or threatens the intuder with his gun. Bigby chases the man out the apartment and soon corners him. He reveals himself to be Tweedle Dee, and tells Bigby that he's investigating Faith for an employer. Bigby attempts to arrest him, but Tweedle Dum sneaks up on him and knocks him out.

Alternatively, if Bigby visits Lawrence after Toad, he dies from his wounds and Dee is found hiding in the closet.

Later, Bigby visits Toad's apartment, where it appears that a fight has gone down. After investigating and later convincing Toad to tell the truth, he reveals that Tweedledum came earlier looking for an item of the Woodsman's. Toad offered him Faith's donkeyskin coat, but he refused and instead beat him up. Bigby and Snow take the coat, and find a note in it for Lawrence saying "I'm sorry". Bigby then decides to visit the Trip Trap bar, hoping to find and question the Woodsman.

Upon arriving at the bar, Bigby finds Holly the bartender and Grendel. They claim to have not seen Woody in a while, but Bigby finds sufficient evidence of his being there. He is soon proven correct, as the Woodsman walks out of the bathroom. He is shocked when told that Faith was murdered, and swears that he didn't do it. Bigby can later arrest him in order to find out exactly what he knew about the event, or Tweedledee, who arrives after Bigby fights Grendel.

Smoke & Mirrors
Faith is mentioned numerous times throughout this episode. After returning from the police precinct with Crane, Bigby questions his chosen arrest from the previous episode about Faith's murder. The Woodsman reveals that he was hitting her because she showed up instead of his usual prostitue, Lily, and refused to comp the payment for the session. Tweedledee reveals that he was searching Faith's apartment for an item his boss wanted, but claims that neither he nor his brother were involved in her or Lily's murder.

While examining Lily's body, Bigby asks Snow if Swineheart ever gave her any information on Faith's head, but she says he hasn't and is still running tests on it.

Later, when visiting the Pudding & Pie, Bigby finds Faith's cubby in the back room of the club. Inside is a jewelry box and a makeup case, both of which have been broken open. He also finds a note to Faith from Lily, thanking her for covering her session with the Woodsman.

While talking to Beauty, Bigby can ask her whether she's seen Faith at the Open Arms, but she says all the names blend together to her and she can't remember anyone specifically.

A Crooked Mile
If Lawrence was saved in Episode 1, he shows up at Lily's funeral, and Bigby can ask him how he's coping with Faith's death. He says that he was angry when he first heard about Lily's funeral, since he wanted the same for Faith, but he soon changed his mind knowing that Faith got to lead a happy life with him, if only for a little while.

While looking through Lily's things at the Trip Trap, Bigby finds a picture of Lily, Faith, Nerissa, and Tweedledum. Later, when Holly asks him why he's still going after the killer, he can name Faith as his primary motivation for solving the murders.

If Bigby investigates the Tweedles' Office, he will find a file on "Donkeyskin" (one of the aliases of Faith). The file states that she stole a photo from Crane (the illicit photo that Bigby finds at the end of Episode 2 and that Nerissa refers to at the end of Episode 5). The possible leads listed in the file to find it would include her apartment, Lawrence, the Woodsman, Lily, and "[her possible friends] at the Pudding N Pie". The file explains Dee's and Dum's investigations throughout Episode 1.

Cry Wolf
While confronting the Crooked Man in his lair, Bigby learns that both Faith and Lily's murders were committed by Georgie, though he implies that he did so under the Crooked Man's orders. When Bigby later speaks with Georgie in the Pudding & Pie. he reveals that Faith, Lily and Nerissa "tried to pull a runner" on him and the Crooked Man. As a result, the crime lord ordered Georgie to silence the girls.

While exploring Sheppard Metalworks, Bigby can observe several photos of Faith on a bulletin board.

At the end of the episode, Nerissa 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 instead been ordered to make an example of them, and removed Faith's ribbon in front of her. Nerissa then tried to warn Lily, but found that she wasn't with were scheduled appointment. With no other options, she left Faith's head on the doorstep of the Woodlands, hoping to get Bigby's attention. After finishing her story, Nerissa tells Bigby the same "You're not as bad as everyone says you are" line that Faith gave in Episode 1, before walking off, causing Bigby to become curious. As Nerissa walks off Bigby slowly pieced together subtle clues from conversations during the investigation he had overlooked before and got more suspicious with each one: All of this lead Bigby to suspect that Nerissa had actually been a glamored Faith the whole time and that the head left on his doorstep at the start had been the real Nerissa, glamoured to look like Faith. Or that it was really Narissa glamored as Faith at Woody's apartment when she and Bigby met and he had never actually met Faith. He then decides whether or not to go after her.
 * Faith had known where Bigby lived and that's where her head mysteriously turned up
 * Faith had used a very suggestive tone when saying she would "See him around" and had said she wouldn't be prostituting much longer
 * Both Faith & Nerissa had drawn Bigby's attention to their ribbons and had said they had to tell Bigby something
 * Faith's backstory included her using magic to disguise herself
 * Dr. Swineheart never spoke of his tests with Faith's body
 * Bigby thought Nerissa seemed familiar
 * The prostitutes of The Pudding N' Pie were often glamoured

Killed By:
Soon after Bigby saves her from the Woodsman, Bigby and Snow White discover her head on the front step of the Woodlands.
 * Georgie Porgie
 * The Crooked Man (Caused, Possibly)
 * Nerissa (Indirectly Caused)

It was later revealed that it was because Nerissa confessed to Georgie that Faith had procured an illicit photo of Crane and a prostitute hoping Georgie to be merciful, and that since Crane was an important ally of the Crooked Man (being his puppet). Later when Georgie is informing Nerissa along with Lilly and three other girls about the current situation from Nerissa's confession, Faith enters the room and Georgie with no hesitation instantly goes for her ribbon and pulls it, decapitating her. After this, Nerissa comes to believe that the Crooked Man ordered Georgie to silence Faith by killing her. Additionally, knowing that Faith's murder would otherwise go unsolved, Nerissa was the one who placed her head on Bigby and Snow's doorstep.

In multiple conversations in Episode 5, the Crooked Man denies that he ordered Faith to be killed and only ordered Georige to make sure she wouldn't do anything bad to harm his business so he tells him to make sure she stays silent, and in the process Georgie simply "misinterpreted" his instructions and killed her. Georgie insists numerous times that the Crooked Man did in fact tell him to kill Faith with no other instructions, however due to Georgie lying to Bigby in episode 2 makes his claim unlikely, however Vivian can inform Bigby that Georgie is telling the truth. Nerissa reveals to Bigby that the Crooked Man was not present during Faith's death, but seeing as Georgie instantly killed Faith as soon as he saw her, lead her to believe that the Crooked Man ordered him to do it. Whether or not if the Crooked Man really did ask Georgie to kill Faith is currently debatable.

Book of Fables Entry
"Faith, otherwise known as Donkeyskin girl, made it through the Exodus from the Homelands with the clothes on her back, her husband, and nothing else. She was once a beautiful princess, happily married to Prince Lawrence of a neighboring kingdom. Her life should have had a happy ending, but the mundane city of New York wasn't kind to her, or her marriage. With no money, Faith found herself turning tricks to make the rent for a cheap apartment on the outskirts of Fabletown. She had a difficult life, but she did what she could to survive in an unfamiliar world."