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I arrived here, many years ago. When the Guild believed Jack of Blades would use the Snowspire Oracle in his quest to uncover the sword...
— Scythe

Scythe is an ancient hero encountered in the Fable series. He is considered one of the oldest members of the Guild of Heroes who has cheated death. His existence pre-dates the Snowspire Oracle,[2] making Scythe one of Albion's wisest and prehistoric beings.

Appearance[]

Scythe was described as a wraith of a man, wizened and stern. His appearance resembles the personification of the Grim Reaper. He is shown as a withered shell of a man, resembling a tall, mummified corpse. He also has unique white and blue tattoos covering his face, similar to the tattoos which can be seen in Snowspire Village, which is wrapped in a blue cloth or bandage. Scythe also wears gold armour that is mostly covered by a blue and white robe, which is surrounded by multiple bags and pockets. His body is very old and decrepit which suggests that he has been alive for a very long time.

History[]

If one studies the history of Albion, one first hears the figure "Scythe" mentioned after the fall of the Old Kingdom in the grip of Albion's anarchist period, known as the Fallow Wars. These histories say Scythe served as the mentor to the bandit-turned-Hero Nostro. At this time, Scythe carried an ornate sword while his blue cloak covered his tarnished gold armour. Scythe could sense that Nostro unknowingly possessed the same power as the Old Kingdom's Archons. So, Scythe trained Nostro to be a leader of men, tutored him in the ways of Will, and guided him to return security and prosperity to Albion. Nostro had founded the Guild of Heroes and began recruiting men and women for training.

Scythe, who had hoped that Nostro could bring Albion together, watched his pupil abandon his teachings with the appearance of Magdalena, a power-hungry courtesan who became Nostro's wife. Through her influence, the Heroes' Guild became a degenerate house of greedy mercenaries, and Nostro's influence waned. In disgust, Scythe vanished and left his pupil to his fate. After many years, Nostro realised how his power corrupted him and how he lost everyone, including his wife and followers. Then, one night, Nostro ingested poison an assassin placed in his food. Knowing of his impending death, Nostro called out for his old mentor, and Scythe reappeared with warm affection and kind words about the good things Nostro had done. Scythe sat vigil with Nostro until his final breath, then disappeared into obscurity.

The Guild Rebellion[]

Long after Nostro's death, the Heroes' Guild eventually established a new regime that only allowed quest cards that were strictly law-abiding and virtuous. However, Weaver, Maze, and many other guild members at the time led a revolution against this policy to allow heroes to choose their destiny. After much bloodshed, the rebellion finally succeeded, and the civil war came to an end. Scythe reappeared and proposed Weaver as the new Guildmaster, seeing in him the serene and impartial man he would become.

Fable: The Lost Chapters[]

Scythe makes his first appearance in Fable: The Lost Chapters.

Jack of Blades had returned to Albion, and his goal was to locate the Sword of Aeons. Knowing he needed the blood of Archon's descendants, Jack raided Oakvale to kidnap Scarlet Robe and her two children.

Maze-Scythe FA

Maze and Scythe discussing The Snowspire Oracle in the Guild.

Aware of the return of Jack of Blades and his pursuit for the sword, Scythe retreated to The Northern Wastes to protect the Snowspire Oracle. However, Maze questioned Scythe's leave of absence and pilloried his decision. Scythe had stressed to Maze that the signs were too vital to ignore and that protecting the Oracle from Jack was the right move. Suspicious of Maze and his motives, Scythe destroyed his guild seal to prevent heroes from following him to The Northern Wastes.

After the Hero of Oakvale defeated Jack of Blades, Scythe projected himself upon the boasting platform in Lookout Point. Scythe stated that his mission had failed and that many had died. Ancient Summoners have returned and symbolised an evil omen. Scythe calls for the strongest among the guild to retrieve the Fire Heart from the Primal Demon Door and voyage to The Northern Wastes. While Scythe continues to give his instructions, it is seen through the projection that a summoner strikes him and ends the conversation abruptly. Once the Hero of Oakvale claims the Fire Heart and takes the Ship of the Drowned across the icy waters, he meets with Scythe's projection on the Lost Bay. After the two officially meet in Snowspire Village, Scythe is shocked to learn that the Hero encountered summoners in Hook Coast, claiming there is less time than he thought.

Scythe instructs the Hero to recover the Glyphs of Inquiry buried in the Necropolis. With the glyphs, the two awaken the Snowspire Oracle and request the meaning of the summoner's return. The Oracle alerts them that Jack of Blades has once again cheated death and will emerge in his new form behind the Bronze Gate.

After activating the Shrine of Archon, the Bronze Gate opens, and the Hero of Oakvale again battles Jack of Blades. Once the Hero defeats the dragon form of Jack of Blades, Scythe contacts him on his guild seal, urging him to destroy the soul mask to banish Jack of Blades' soul once and for all. - But, of course, it is up to the Hero if they follow his advice or not.

Fable Heroes[]

A picture of the Scythe Puppet from Fable Heroes.
Main article: Scythe (Fable Heroes)

Scythe appears as a playable character in the Xbox LIVE Arcade title, Fable Heroes. He is available for purchase by Hammer on the Hero Tile of the Abilities Board.

Little is known of this mysterious figure, his distinctive gold mail and blue robes the uniform of some long-forgotten service. Both ancient and ageless, he has wandered Albion for centuries, opposing evil wherever he found it. However, Scythe has not been seen for over 500 years, which proved a problem when gathering reference material to create his Hero Doll. A number of variants were trialled, with the Doll wielding in turn a pitchfork, set of shears, and a rake, before someone had the bright idea of equipping him with a scythe.
— Fable: The Journey Description


William Black[]

Main article: William Black

One standard theory regarding Scythe's true identity is that he is likely William Black, the first Archon of the Old Kingdom. There are many things in the Fable series that hint at Scythe being William Black. Although, none of them outright confirm this is true within the games.

Tales of Albion[]

The first set of clues that led to speculation was in the Tales of Albion.

  • William disappeared in a royal blue clock and golden mail. When Scythe "appeared out of nowhere," he was seen dressed in tattered blue robes and tarnished gold armour. The same clothing that Scythe is dressed in at the time of Fable: The Lost Chapters.
  • The Sword of Aeons was described as an ornate sword, and the archon vanished with it. Scythe is carrying an "ornate sword" when he first meets Nostro.

Fable TLC[]

  • When the Oracle is recounting the story of the Archon, it says, "But the first Archon still casts his shadow in this world." Taken literally, this could further imply that Scythe is William Black.
  • When the Oracle speaks specifically about Scythe, it states that he is older than the Oracle, and his origins are unknown.

Fable II[]

  • In Fable II, the book Living Forever: The Immortalists states: "According to those who believe these legends, the Hero who went by the name of Scythe would not have been a mere necromancer, but one of the Archons."
  • Should the player choose the love ending, the Hero will receive a letter from Rose claiming to be in the company of a very thin man who wears a hood and looks scary, but he's nice. Rose also believes that he is a king of some sort and that he knows her family. Lionhead Studios confirmed this man is Scythe.
    • This adds credibility to the idea that Scythe could be William Black, as Rose states in her letter that he says he knows our family, which means either that as an Archon of the Old Kingdom, he is of the same bloodline and so an ancestor of Rose and the Hero of Bower Lake, or referencing the fact that Scythe knew the Hero of Oakvale.
      • She also writes, "I think he's a king", referencing his reign as Archon.

Fable: The Journey[]

  • In Fable: The Journey, Theresa details the story of William Black to Gabriel while travelling in Miremoor. After describing William Black's journey into The Void to cast off the Corruption that afflicted him during his first voyage to the Void, she claims that William Black disappeared, never seen again in a form that would be recognizable to the denizens of the Old Kingdom.

Fable Anniversary[]

  • In the Launch Day Weapons and Outfits Pack DLC for Fable Anniversary, the Snowspire Charity Shop gets 'Scythe's Outfit'. It's unknown if this is Game Canon, but the Boots in the outfit reads, "How many pairs of shoes can an Archon go through in their lifetime? Going by the smell of these, not many!"

Notes[]

  • You may meet Scythe briefly in the Heroes' Guild talking to Maze. But if you are forced to go to meet with Maze for attacking someone, Scythe will be gone.
  • Scythe is introduced as a figure of legend among even the Heroes' Guild, a Hero that is utterly obsessed with cheating death. This is futher supported by Maze who mocks him in front of the Hero of Oakvale for his frail appearance and unwillingness to accept his fate, after an argument about the Northern Wastes. Jack of Blades is often considered the only one who has "seen and done more" than him. Scythe walked the earth long before the guild was created, and even the Oracle of Snowspire is unsure of many things that he has done.
  • If the Hero of Oakvale attacks Scythe, he replies with: "Your attacks are too weak." "No mortal weapons can harm me..." "Don't you have better things to do but attack me?".
  • Scythe speaks in a deep and calm voice tone. However, he can be heard using a higher, stern hissing voice when he is upset or anxious.
    • An example is when the hero strikes him too many times in Snowspire before the Necropolis or in Archon's Shrine. "Stop that! Jack of Blades could emerge at any moment!" He also uses this voice within the story as he urges the hero to cast Jack's soul mask into lava - this could be why many players had difficulty identifying who was speaking to the hero at the end of Fable: The Lost Chapters, for the voice change is significantly noticeable.
  • Scythe is said to be the mightiest and oldest Hero since William Black, but Scythe was never seen in a fight (possibly because he defends Snowspire Village) and never been seen equipped with his scythe even though his concept art and his doll does.
  • He is one of the few named Heroes in the entire game who can not be killed through evil choices (Twinblade, Whisper, TheresaThunder, Briar Rose, the Guildmaster and the Hero of Oakvale himself) or killed in the course of the story (Maze, Scarlet Robe and Nostro).
    • In TLC when you must collect the soul of 'The Oldest' nobody hints at the fact that Scythe is actually older than both Nostro and Weaver, maybe this is because they know it would be futile to even attempt to harm him, or Lionhead may not have added him as an option to kill because, if he is William Black, that means he had already given his soul to the Sword of Aeons in exchange for its help in destroying The Court.
  • Apprentices in the Heroes' Guild can be overheard talking about Maze and Scythe's argument, to which one of them will say that Scythe "...spends a lot of his time reading up on the old tomes".
  • In Fable II, it states Scythe is believed by the populace of Albion to be a Necromancer, and that he had disappeared from Albion entirely. Though it offers no insight to exactly when he disappeared, it can only be assumed he disappeared sometime between the ending events in TLC to the destruction of the Heroes Guild.
  • Scythe is the only named practitioner of the Necromantic arts, although there is supposedly a small cult of "Immortalists" that uses Scythe as inspiration. Necromancy is not otherwise mentioned in the game, and the "Raise Dead" spell is never referred to as being related to Necromancy.
  • In Fable III, Scythe is mentioned several times, through the weapon Scythe's Warhammer and the Scythe tattoo set. The description of Scythe's Warhammer also states: "It is foretold that one day Scythe will return to Albion. When he does, he might want his hammer back. Just a heads-up."
  • Ironically, even though Maze seems to be an associate of Scythe's and also admits to a strong desire to avoid death, Maze was completely unable to cheat death himself. This could be due to the fact that Scythe was not originally included in Fable and appeared only in Fable: TLC and was possibly an afterthought intended only for the expansion, or possibly because Scythe was suspicious of Maze's motives and may have refused to teach him. Scythe mentions that his name has been "long since forgotten in the Guild", and that this is because of Maze.
  • The ancient hero that is buried in the Heroes' Guild called Holdr is depicted to have a set of armour that is vaguely similar to Scythe's.
  • Scythe and Theresa share a commonality of being alive for centuries. Scythe being older than Theresa, may conclude that he is the oldest living being in Albion.
  • Since there is no definitive proof of this, it is believed that Scythe's title as a Necromancer is merely the people of Albion's way of justifying his extremely long life span. Since no Hero actually knows how he managed to survive for so long.

Trivia[]

  • In 2019, with Youtuber Skyrionn, Dean Carter confirmed that Scythe is William Black. "Scythe is William Black. The Archon. The Progenitor of Heroic Blood. The cursed wanderer."

Cut Content[]

  • Up to 5 lines of dialogue were removed from the game, when the Hero puts on Jack of Blades' mask. One of which says "you should have listened to Scythe, little hero!", this implies Scythe was the one warning you not to wear the mask.
  • There is evidence in the game files such as cutscenes, which support the idea that Scythe was intended for the original Fable on Xbox and may have been tied to the Focus Sites and Travel to Necropolis quests. But both him and the quests were removed, changed or never truly implemented before its release.

Inspiration[]

S-l1600

The Mascot that was the inspiration for Scythe.

According to co-creator Dene Carter, he was once a model for a gothic catalogue called Black Rose which dealt with a lot of gothic clothing and Alchemy Metalwear. Apparently, the character Scythe was originally based off a cloaked character with a rose that acted as a mascot for this clothing company. It is also said that Scythe was meant to be his own type of character and had no involvement with the Archon's Bloodline.

Dene also goes onto say that he created his own form of head canon for the mascot that was meant to be some kind of Necromancer and Alchemist that was so wrapped up in his work that he forgot to die. However, his team at Big Blue Box Studios would later decide that it would be a better idea to try and wrap up his story during the development of Fable: The Lost Chapters.

In Dene Carter's own words: "So he wasn't originally intended to be William Black, but we realised that that's exactly who he was supposed to be."

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Scythe's Warhammer
  2. Snowspire Oracle states Scythe is older than it is. Fable TLC
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