Snow White (Fables)

Snow White
Publication information
Publisher	Vertigo Comics
First appearance	Fables #1 (July 2002)
Created by	Bill Willingham
In-story information
Team affiliations	Fabletown
Abilities	Highly efficient administrator; effectively immortal.

Snow White is a major character in the comic book series Fables. 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.

Snow was born in a small cottage and lived there with her twin sister Rose Red. In their youth, they were inseparable, swearing to each other that nothing would ever come between them. One day, a bear knocks on their house and asks to let him stay with them. They let them in and he stays through the entire winter with them. When the summer comes, the bear says goodbye to them and leaves. After that, the girls find a dwarf, whose long beard is stuck on a tree, who explains that he got stuck while he was getting wood for his tea kettle. Snow cuts his beard, setting the dwarf free. He gets angry at the girls and pulls out a treasure bag from the tree. That night, Snow tells 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 summer the girls find the dwarf again and save him twice. During the last time, a giant bird tells them that they will regret their actions, stating that "For one of you, seven evils await. For the other, the loss of one dear". After being saved, the dwarf gets angry with the girls and piles his treasures while telling them that because they cut his beard, his magic is gone. He is then attacked by and killed by the same bear Snow and Rose sheltered in winter.

After killing the dwarf, the bear changes into his real form - a human prince - and vows to marry Snow, while Rose marries his brother. Both the sisters and the prince tell their mother and father, respectively, about the vow. Both parents disapprove for their own reasons. At night, Snow and Rose's mother (who is revealed to be a witch) secretly meets with the king, who orders her to kill Snow so that his son's vow can be broken without any consequence. Snow's mother fakes her daughter's death and arranges for her to live with her aunt, the widowed queen of a distant land (Snow's mother helped her to achieve this position). Years pass and Snow starts to forget her childhood. She is struck by the jealousy of her aunt who is enraged by the fact that Snow is lovelier than her. The queen orders a hunter to kill Snow, but he spares her and she flees into the forest. There, Snow finds a cottage that is the home of seven wicked sons of the dwarf Snow saved so many times in her childhood. Unlike in the fairytale, the dwarfs treat her badly and turn her into their slave, abusing her physically and sexually for months. When the queen learns that Snow is alive, she disguises herself as an old woman and visits Snow while the dwarfs are away, giving her a poisoned apple. Snow eats it and falls into a coma. When the dwarfs arrive, they realize that Snow is dead and get rid of her by throwing her out into the woods. Prince Charming appears on the scene, finds Snow abandoned and saves her.

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