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Issue 02-27-2026: Folklore Fondness
| Hello everyone, While at work this week, I discovered that apparently, February 26th is National ‘Tell a Fairy Tale’ day; an opportunity to enjoy favored childhood fables that inspired or enthralled us as children, and may have even helped us become who we are today. And as it turns out, one such fairy tale had a large impact on one of my major characters. So, for today, I’d like to share how one of the classic fairy tale bad guys helped create one of my most complex anti-heroes. To start, everyone knows the tale of the Big Bad Wolf, right? Popularized by the story of the Three Little Pigs, the inclusion of wolf antagonists in fables such as ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, ‘The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids’ or ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ led to several interpretations that the wolf who menaces the protagonists in each fable is the same creature – a supernaturally powerful beast that can only be outwitted, but never truly slain, as befits the nature of evil itself. I discovered one such interpretation in the form of the video game ‘The Wolf Among Us’, based on the Fables comic book series by Bill Willingham. In this game, the characters from classic fairy tales, novels and folklore have, through mysterious circumstances, been forced from their homeland and settled in New York City, in a clandestine community called Fabletown. The game’s protagonist, Bigby Wolf, is a version of the Big Bad Wolf who has been pardoned for his past deeds and given the role of sheriff, having gone from menacing others to now trying to protect them. Yet the shadows of his past are never fully forgotten, whether by him or the people he’s now sworn to guard, and it proves a troubling handicap when one of the few people who was kind to him is murdered, and he must solve the mystery of who killed her. I very much enjoyed Bigby’s story in ‘The Wolf Among Us’ and how it captured not just his struggle to balance his more civilized side with his primal past, but also in how the game invited player control by allowing them to either try to help Bigby become a better man, or to let him indulge in his dark urges. My own personal play style – where Bigby would try to be accommodating and kind unless pushed or threatened, at which point, he showed disturbing ruthlessness towards those who provoked him – inspired me and made me curious how such a character could translate over to my own stories. Thus, the character of ‘Kodo’ was born – in concept, a wolf who similarly suffered from a dark past and was struggling to balance his inner rage with his outer desire to be kind. Of course, that was just the first step: I had to ensure that Kodo stood out from Bigby and wasn’t just a rehash of the work Bill Willingham had already put into the character. To that end, I found further inspiration with the character of Adam Taurus of the web series RWBY. Adam himself was mentioned by writers Monty Oum, Kerry Shawcross and Miles Luna to be inspired by ‘the Beast’ from ‘Beauty and the Beast’. However, Adam was a tragic inversion of the fairy tale, representing a Beast that falls to madness rather than finding love. This gave me the idea to zigzag Kodo’s own arc, with him initially falling to madness like Adam, but coming to realize his downfall, regretting it, and seeking atonement. Bill Willingham had given Bigby some backstory in that he was the result of a God of the North Wind coupling with a white wolf, then abandoning the white wolf. Bigby’s villainy came from him failing to confront the God for abandoning his mother, and taking his rage out on others. This inspired me to connect Kodo to my other character Shiva – herself based off the white wolf character Amaterasu from the video game Okami – leading to the plot shown in ‘Of Scales and Fur – Celine’ where Shiva is incapacitated, leading Kodo to want to avenge her. However, I feel that where Kodo really came alive was when I paired him with another of my concept characters Celine – initially a concept of a mere ‘adventurer’ character. By giving Kodo and Celine traits of both Adam and his partner Blake from RWBY and making them foils to each other (Kodo being more violent and headstrong, where Celine was more gentle and wise), I feel that I managed to complete Kodo’s characterization as a headstrong but good-intentioned young wolf who’s desire to protect his family first led him to ruin, but also inspired him to crawl his way out of ruin and try to make amends. And it also gave Celine more characterization as well, taking her from a simple adventurer to a kind-hearted yet curious explorer whose desire to learn more about her world would lead to her discovering more than she intended. You can see how my work turned out by checking out Kodo’s page on my website, which includes links to all the books and stories he’s been a part of. Celine, Wing and Phoenix’s stories are where he gets a major spotlight, though you can also find hints to what he’d eventually become in the epilogue of Shiva’s story, as well as in his brief appearances in Rocket’s tale. And, of course, he’ll still have a part to play in the upcoming ‘Of Scales and Fur – Jackknife’ which will be ready for release in October of this year. I’m also sorry to say that due to some extra responsibilities I need to take care of, ‘Blaze Plays Mass Effect’ will not be continuing this week. Instead, I’ll be leaving a poll on my YouTube channel that I’m hoping will help make my future videos more fun to watch. Please be sure to check it out and vote for what you think will best help my videos going forward. After all, it was the interpretation of fans that allowed us to go from the Big Bad Wolf – a literal embodiment of evil – to Bigby Wolf – a fascinatingly complex and morally intriguing anti-hero. I look forward to seeing how your interpretations can make my own stories even better. Until next time, from my writing desk to yours, thank you for reading. |
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