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Attention: Fable Legends Content This article contains information mainly related to Fable Legends and is considered canon to such game. Due to Fable Legends’ cancelation on 7th March 2016, its canonicity status within the Fable series is uncertain. |
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Warning: Spoilers This section or article may contain spoilers! |
The Lady of Rosewood, also known as the White Lady and later as the Scarlet Lady, is a character in Fable Legends and is also the main antagonist of the Tale of Roses storyline in such game.
The Lady herself is a supernatural figure that dwells within the Rosewood forest, and not only serves as a guardian of such but also manifests her influence and control over the many creatures that live in the woods, which has inspire great fables about her.
Background
Legends say that the being known as the Lady of Rosewood was not always a supernatural presence in Albion, but was actually a woman who lived in a long-forgotten past whom real name have been lost with the time.
During her human life, the young Lady lived in a small village located near the borders of the Rosewood forest, and as she grew up, she became madly jealous of her best friend Lily, whom was praised by the villagers for her beuty and gifted many roses picked from Rosewood which would soon wither as Lily did not care for them.
Eventually the young Lady's love turned to hate as Lily and the villagers started to ignore her own existence, and so she decided to put an end to Lily’s unworthy adoration hoping to gain the love of the villagers to herself. The Lady then departed to the depths of Rosewood seeking to find the Dreamers Rose, a fabled magical flower legends said to grow in the heart of the woods, and which a prick of its thorn on one’s finger would snatch all life away, with intents of giving it to Lily in order to have her killed.
No one in the village notice the Lady's abcense the night she ventured into the Rosewood, and althought the Lady’s dress and skin were being torn and scarred by the branches and thorns of the roses, for the first time in a long time a strange feeling started to pulse in the Lady’s soul; she was feeling wanted, the Rosewood wanted her to remain within the woods forever just like the many adventurers who entered the forest but never got out. Eventually the Lady got to the Dreamers Rose, but the Lady’s eagerness let to her carelessly pick the flower up, pricking her own finger on its thorn.
But instead of dying, the Lady’s spirit was claimed by the Rosewood, her blood mixed with the forest’s soil linked her own soul with the roses’ own essence, and soon she manifested herself as the being who was then named as the Lady of Rosewood. Her human body, protected by the roses, wouldn’t be allowed to rot, and her spirit, loose in the woods with her rage only amplified by the forest’s magic would soon bring doom to everyone she despised in life.
The Lady of Rosewood then unleashed her first attack on Albion and engulfed her own village with the woods, killing everyone inside of it, including Lily. However, the villagers souls would, just like her own, not be allowed to depart to the afterlife, and the Rosewood kept them as wisps dwelling in the forest as a memento to everyone who would dare bother the Lady or her precious roses, which were the only beings to ever love her.
And thus, the legend of the Lady was born. For ages she was called “White Lady”, as the physical manifestation of her spirit was covered in pale white roses, and she lingered in the legends as a beguiling creature, most peaceful after she took revenge on her village, and who only wanted to protect her flowers.
A Tale of Roses
Main article: A Tale of Roses
King Wendleglass, self-proclaimed king of Brightlodge, proclaimed the holding of the Festival of Roses, a celebration to commemorate the return of heroes to Albion and also reassert his power as king, and had his subjects collecting flowers from the nearby Rosewood.
This deeply offended and enraged the White Lady, who gathered her own strength and invaded the opening ceremony of the festival with her servants and attacking the city and its citizens, but as she couldn’t stay for long away from her woods, she retreated to the Rosewood taking both the king and his son as hostages.
But for the Lady’s misfortune, the heroes had just arrived for the festival and quickly ventures inside of Rosewood seeking to rescue the monarchs. However, they were late and king Wendleglass have already perished. The heroes then proceeded to fight the Lady, and managed to gain the upper hand, forcing the White Lady to once again retreat deeper into the woods.
The heroes then after capturing the seer Becket, who has run away from Brightloge and was living among outlaws, discovered the Lady’s origins thanks to the help of the wisps that were imprisoned in the woods. Convinced that if they were to kill the Lady of Rosewood for good, they would need to kill her human body, which they believed was the root that kept the Lady alive in the world. However, after venturing to the very heart of Rosewood, the heroes were indeed able to destroy the roots and vines that linked the Lady’s body with the forest.
However, this was a complete misunderstanding of the situation, as the heroes soon noticed that the Lady’s body was indeed dead since the moment she pricked her finger on the Sleeper’s Rose, and her spirit was since that moment one with the own Rosewood, and by severing the roots around her body, they had also severed the magical connection that kept the Lady physically bounded to the woods which prevented her from properly leaving the forest.
The blood that spilled from her human body when the heroes attacked her splattered the nearby roses and soil for one last time, tainting the Rosewood own essence, and thus all the white roses in the Rosewood turned blood-red, which also changed the White Lady’s physical form, who turned red just like the forest's roses.
The newly renamed Scarlet Lady, seeing all the boundaries that kept her locked within her woods gone, and strengthened by the blood and chaos unleashed in her domains, launched her first attacks on the rural Albion, seeking to engulf with her vines one town in particular, Rhubarb, which had the most fertile soils of all the known settlements at the time.
After engaging against the heroes once again in Rhubarb, the Scarlet Lady turned all her forces on attacking Brightloge for one final time, driving all her servants and the Rosewood magic to the battle. However, the heroes were, once again, able to fend off against her will, and the Lady was forced back to the Rosewood one last time and time would pass until she would try to cause any other harm in the new age of heroes.
Trivia
- Early concept art suggest that the Lady of Rosewood was intended to be one of Fable Legends heroes at first, but was later settled as an enemy.
- The White Lady is featured in the cover of Fable Legends The Rosewood - Original Soundtrack album.
Gallery
