Your take on the ending? (spoilers through episode five) - The Wolf Among Us (2013) Discussion

[–] blackbriar246 10 years ago

If I recall, they would frequently cover each other's shifts. They probably switched clients that night after Faith talked to Bigby.

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[–] bakerstreetdozen 10 years ago

I know there was a note from Faith to Nerissa saying, 'Thanks for covering my shift.' This would account for why Nerissa may have been glamoured as Faith that evening -- for a client -- but I don't understand why she would have wandered round the rest of the night looking like that, all the way back to the Pudding'N'Pie where she was beheaded (and beheaded for Georgie thinking she was Faith, no less).

--
'Save me, Barry!'

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[–] blackbriar246 10 years ago

I think the Faith you speak to at the beginning is the real Faith. I think Nerissa glamoured herself as Faith for one appointment, returned to the Pudding N Pie after (since Faith would have been glamoured as Nerissa to hide the fact that they were switching shifts) and was killed by Georgie.

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[–] bakerstreetdozen 10 years ago

No, I know that. They wouldn't have pointed out the similarities between Nerissa at the end and Faith at the beginning if we weren't supposed to come to the conclusion that they're the same person, after all!

Still doesn't make sense that the real Nerissa would stay glamoured as Faith the night she was murdered. Why not unglamour herself once she was out of reach of her client? Also, how did the glamoured Faith head have the exact same facial contusions that the real Faith received the night Bigby Wolf steps in to save her from the Woodsmen?

I'm a fan of ambiguous endings, if done well, but this is one that just isn't quite right for me. There are a number of theories floating about out there, but the big problem is that there's enough to disprove any of them without enough to prove any single one. It makes the ending feel tacked-on instead of planned and thought out.

--
'Save me, Barry!'

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[–] blackbriar246 10 years ago

It's possible that Nerissa left the glamour tube back at the Pudding N Pie. She can't unglamour herself until she opens the tube, so maybe she hadn't been able to open it yet.

I don't exactly feel inclined to replay the entire chapter to check, but I seem to recall people saying that 'Faith's' head didn't have the same bruises as the Woodsman gave her. If it did, I suppose the real Faith could have put them there herself.

I don't mind ambiguous endings either, but I felt like this one was shoehorned in rather than planned from the beginning.

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[–] Routalempi 10 years ago

Or the girls aren't supposed to be swapping shifts (if clients ask for a particular girl and expect to have them for example.) Then it would make sense to play it safe and stay glamoured until they get back inside the Pudding N Pie.

The bruises is an odd one, if they are the same did Faith recreate the damage when Narissa was alive? It'd be pretty hard to recreate the same bruising post-mortem. I've seen it argued that Narissa is glamoured as Faith in the first episode and both are running around with a third girl killed based upon the glamours listed in the illegal store. That's why Narissa acts differently in different scenes. She could also just be putting on an act to get what she needs (demonstrated manipulative already.) Or you could think it's sloppy writing\direction.

However, I do give them credit for being on top of details so I would wager that there is a proper answer or at the very least a handful of viable, satisfactory answers. Most likely the second, which I would be fine with.

A few things could be red herrings. There's ginger guy with sheperd style crooks on his tie who appears suspiciously frequently and drives Snow away before you find her head (later revealed not her) but that combined with names like Cry Wolf really seemed to suggest he was the Boy that Cried Wolf on some kind of revenge tear.

Now even though that was a red herring, something like that, especially with the crooks, makes me think they're playing a game rather than slacking off.

I personally like the idea of it being Faith at the end based on not just the evidence, but on story-thematic-emotional logic. Apart from making sure she's the Donkeyskin girl (who disguised herself as someone else to escape town), there's a lot of emphasis available on Bigby saying "this is about Faith." Much less so Lilly or other victims. For that it seems much more satisfying thematically that the distrusted Big Bad Wolf has an important moment of connection, she's tragically cut down and he goes to great lengths for her memory only to find that she's duped him all along. That would make the leave her\let her go mean more than "you've admitted you lied to me but maybe you lied a bit more Narissa?"

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[–] jmcsweeney98 10 years ago

My take on the ending is that it was Nerissa glamoured as Faith. She started a conflict with The Woodsman, as she knew Bigby would step in. Nerrisa, disguised as Faith, hoped that this brief interaction with Bigby would be enough for him to want to solve Faith’s murder after finding the real Faith's head on his doorstep. Nerissa manipulated Bigby into an investigation that would lead to the Crooked Man, because her ribbon stopped her from directly telling Bigby. I'm probably wrong though. I read some theories online that Nerrisa is actually Bloody Mary, which is a lot more bizarre than what I believe the ending was all about. I can't wait for the second season, so this ending gets explanined.

School is nothing but a glorified hamster wheel run by incompetent bureaucrats.

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[–] bakerstreetdozen 10 years ago

We do know that Faith (aka Donkeyskin) was known to hide her beauty to escape the kingdom. Bufkin even says as much during the last scene, where different quotes from previous scenes are floating round through Bigby's head, and I don't see why they would have all of the Donkeyskin lore involved. Thematically, it makes much more sense for Faith to have hidden to escape to a new life, as in the old tale; it matches.

As for Bloody Mary, we know that she said a few similar lines throughout the game, but there is no solid evidence to support that it's her. Why would she turn on the Crooked Man, after all? It even says in one of the Book of Fables entries that she is 'fiercely loyal to the Crooked Man' (paraphrasing, but you get the general idea).

Like I said in a previous post, there's not enough to support any theory at this time, but it seems as though there's certainly enough to make any theory highly questionable. This, to me, is a sign that the ending wasn't planned this way all along. For example, there's a film I enjoy called Sound of My Voice which has an ambiguous ending which asks the audience to come up with what really happened, based on one of two possibilities. Every time you watch it, you notice something new, and the film really supports both theories while disproving none. That's the brilliance of it, that neither can be debunked, and that's why people still talk about it over on the board.

I typically enjoy stories like these with the ambiguous ending simply because, given the information you acquire at the end, you really do tend to notice all the little hints leading up to the big reveal. It's almost like you're playing as a third-party observer with all the information. In this game, however, I played it through from top to bottom all over again a day or two after finishing Cry Wolf, and the ending still didn't become any clearer. There is no right answer, only wrong ones.

--
'Save me, Barry!'

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[–] jmcsweeney98 10 years ago

I was so confused during the ending and that's why I decided to chase after her, because I wanted answers. Hopefully we'll get them.

School is nothing but a glorified hamster wheel run by incompetent bureaucrats.

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[–] bakerstreetdozen 10 years ago

I did as well, but that's when it cut me off (of course). Out of interest, have you read any of the Fables comic books? They're really great.

--
'Save me, Barry!'

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[–] jmcsweeney98 10 years ago

Nope, I've never read any of the Fables comic books. I should check them out though, considering that I absolutely loved The Wolf Among Us. I cannot wait for the second season and the comics would most likely fulfill my desire to experience more of this violent and fascinating world. Is there anywhere that I can read them online?

School is nothing but a glorified hamster wheel run by incompetent bureaucrats.

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[–] bakerstreetdozen 10 years ago

Comixology is a great place to check out comics on your computer or mobile device, and the first issue is free for a lot of the stuff on there.

--
'Save me, Barry!'

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[–] wittmann73 10 years ago

I admit I was also confused at the end about which girl did what and glamored who. but at least i killed a few bad guys, hehe.

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[–] Watch_And_Learn 10 years ago

I don't know what to think...each theory has its pro and cons, in fact the theory that Faith is alive and was glamoured as Nerissa (who died, glamoured as Faith) has more pros but probably also more cons imo.

All in all I think :

- the theory that Nerissa was disguised as Faith (during Faith encounter with the Woodman) is easier to understand. It only means she glamoured into Faith once then took back her role. She did glamour into Faith at the beginning of the story to have Bigy's attention, then placed the head of Faith etc... When we talk about that theory, we can tell what happened, how and why, with some precision.

- the theory that Faith was disguised as Nerissa the whole game is harder to understand, because it also means that Nerissa was disguised into Faith (as you pointed you), and for other reasons. As I said this theory probably has more things that support her. It's more complicated, but also more beautiful because the twist would be much bigger. Also if we buy that theory there are a lot of things left to speculate : we don't know the exact order of events, we don't know what was Faith plan's exactly (when did she come with it? did she accept to sacrifice Lily and Nerissa from the beginning or did she came up with this plan in a hurry when she saw that Nerissa was killed?)

Two things I don't understand if the second theory is the truth are:
-why would Nerissa accept to glamour into Faith when she sold Faith and Lily out (so she has to know that Faith and Lily could be killed any moment, right?)
-the glamour that transforms Nerissa into Faith should not last that long after she dies, so that Nerissa's head should appear after some time...There is a one week gap at the end of the game, so after more than a week Nerissa's head should appear instead of Faith's one, right? After episod 2 they never talk about Faith's head again so we can take it that it didn't change (it stayed Faith).

I'm more convinced about the first theory but I have the feeling somehow that the second theory will be the exact one because it's much more complicated as I said and if this theory is true then there is much more left to explain, probably in episod 2.

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[–] bakerstreetdozen 10 years ago

I think you may be right that the 'Nerissa as Faith' explanation is a bit less complicated than 'Faith as Nerissa' simply because it would require less glamour. But it 'Faith as Nerissa' flows more with the overall game, being that we know Faith (or Donkeyskin as she was known) disguised her beauty and fled her kingdom. It would make the perfect parallel.

the glamour that transforms Nerissa into Faith should not last that long after she dies, so that Nerissa's head should appear after some time...There is a one week gap at the end of the game, so after more than a week Nerissa's head should appear instead of Faith's one, right? After episod 2 they never talk about Faith's head again so we can take it that it didn't change (it stayed Faith).

I believe a person will stay glamoured for as long as they have the glamour tube somewhere on their body, and so long as it hasn't been tampered with. The head was left on Bigby's doorstep but the body was never recovered, so the glamour tube was likely on the body. However, it is worth mentioning that Dr Swineheart wanted to do further testing on the head which leads me to believe he'd found something off about it.

--
'Save me, Barry!'

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[–] Watch_And_Learn 10 years ago

Yes there are many things to support the "Faith is alive and Nerissa was killed" theory, I believe the 2 main points are the tales:
-as you say Faith is donkeyskin : in the fairy tale she disguises to escape as you say
-Nerissa is the little mermaid : in the fairy tale she is doing self sacrifice (original story)...
There are other points supporting one theory or the other, but these 2 are the strongest imo and they support the theory that Faith is alive. Some people talk about the brand smokes and the mirrors, but I don't think these prove anything. We can't be sure that the roles aren't inverted...but it's true Faith probably just did what she did in her tale, and same for Nerissa.

But regarding the glamour, I read what you say on other forums :

I believe a person will stay glamoured for as long as they have the glamour tube somewhere on their body, and so long as it hasn't been tampered with.

but is glamour really permanent? I mean if it is the case then Toad TJ and Colin (the pig) and all the animals in the farm just have to buy one glamour then they will be okay. I think if glamour was permanent then the witches wouldn't have much job : once everyone has a glamour they have no work anymore...

I haven't read the books but I think a glamour spell doesn't last forever, so :
-either the glamour is dispelled when the tube is opened
-either the glamour is dispelled with some time
but maybe a glamour spell lasts 2 weeks, or a month, or several months...we don't know. We just know it's rather expensive. If the glamour spell lasts for more than 1 week then it explains why Faith's head is still Faith after 1 week (there is a 1 week interlude in the end) : it will take more time so that the head 'becomes' Nerissa (when the glamour spell ends).

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[–] bakerstreetdozen 10 years ago

I haven't read the entire series of books, but I've made it a fair distance through, and you see folks who are a) in constant glamour, b) fables who go in and out of glamour whenever they want, and c) fables who are never in glamour, either because they don't require one or cannot afford one. The glamours are made by a group of magical fables who live on the thirteenth floor of the Woodlands (including Auntie Greenleaf). Some of the glamours we see in the game are cheap knockoffs, which is why they work a bit differently, but ideally I believe you only have to purchase a glamour once and use it at your discretion, which is one of the reasons why it's so expensive to attain.

--
'Save me, Barry!'

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[–] duelmasterjay 9 years ago

Just like in another post this makes no sense. Extremely convoluted

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[–] Liquid_Ozymandias 9 years ago

Here's what I made of it.

What we know:

- Lily,Faith and Nerissa all wanted to be freed so they formed a pact.
- Faith writes a letter to Nerissa, thanking her for covering her shift.

What I believe is the real Faith has an encounter with the Woodsman in the beginning, so we know she is away from her work. My guess is she asked Nerissa to cover for her, only way to do this is to glamour herself to look like Faith. So now Nerissa glamoured as Faith is beheaded.

Now the real Faith knowing this has happened decides to glamour herself as Nerissa. Why does she do this? So nobody gets suspicious, she sees what Crooked Man is capable of and enlists Bigby for help.

Faith is alive and glamoured as Nerissa.

Come at the king, you best not miss.

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] gio_evans 9 years ago

Nooo nerissa is little red riding hood

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[–] bakerstreetdozen 9 years ago

How do you figure?

--
'Save me, Barry!'

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[–] matt_shade 8 years ago

I suppose Nerissa and Faith would trade places for some reason and "Nerissa" would confess and "Faith" and Lily would get killed.

But I found it suspicious how worried she was about Bigby removing the ribbon at the end. It makes me wonder if she was Vivian as "Faith" in Ep1 and then "Nerissa" after that while "Vivian" was either of them killing themselves so Vivian could lie at the Crooked Man's trial and be free (assuming Vivian could remove the spell on the remaining girls). That's just a hypothesis of course.

"Need" is just a fiction. As is "should", "must", "value" and "importance".

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[–] bakerstreetdozen 8 years ago

There was a tie-in series of webcomics based on the story of the game. It fills in some gaps and gives characters some backstory that wasn't there before. They make it quite clear that Nerissa was glamoured as Faith

--
Why don't you take a pill, bake a cake, go read the encyclopaedia.

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