Hero of Oakvale

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This article is about the main character of Fable. For the book of the same name, see The Hero of Oakvale (book). For the main character of Fable II, see The Hero of Bowerstone.

Your character in Fable and its expansion Fable: The Lost Chapters. He is the only playable character in both the above games. His name is never directly mentioned in the games, and he is often referred to as "The Hero" or simply "Boy". His appearance is customizable, and thus depends on the players' preferences.

In the cut scenes narrated by The Guildmaster, he is depicted as having long dark brown or black hair. His outfit changes in almost every one of the cut scenes. The Hero is to become the strongest Hero in Albion because of his ancient bloodline connected to Archon, the royal bloodline of the Old Kingdom. That is if you allow it, by training him in strength, skill and will.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Heroes Guild 1.3 Life after the Guild 1.4 Hunt for Jack of Blades 2 Fable II 3 Trivia

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

The Hero is the child of the famous heroine Scarlet Robe, who was often away from Oakvale due to her Hero responsibilities, so the hero's father Brom looks after him most of the time. The Hero starts off on a seemingly normal day as a young boy in Oakvale getting a birthday present for his sister Theresa by performing enough good deeds to earn gold from his father.

The boy got the present and gave it to his sister. As much as she wanted to celebrate the day, she warned him of strange visions she would witness in her dreams; visions of great terror, chaos and pain. After she began to speak of her nightmares, there wasn’t a moment gone by before a group of bandits stormed the once peaceful village, determined to rob and murder the humble villagers, As they searched for the boy. The boy who was almost petrified with fear was able to hide behind a nearby fence, while his sister was not so lucky. She stood tall as bandits grabbed her and took her with them.

The bandits pillaged long into the night. The blue sky had now been completely enveloped in a blanket of total darkness as a fierce inferno engulfed the village, burning homes and taverns down to nothing but ash. All the boy could hear was the shrill cries of the villagers, desperately trying to defend themselves and their belongings.

But they proved no match for the villainous bandits, who overpowered them with ease.

The terrified boy managed to return to the town but not a soul could be seen, only destruction. He wandered the center of town in the hope of finding someone, anyone who might still be alive, but he only found the corpse of his Father as he cried, suddenly a lone bandit caught sight of him and launched himself straight towards the defenseless lad. Fortunately a brave hero by the name of Maze was able to intervene, and killed the bandit in a single attack, saving the young boy from harm.

He warned the boy that if he did not come with him right now then he too would become a victim of Oakvale’s massacre. The boy, scared and confused, reluctantly agreed and the brave hero teleported the two of them to the sanctuary for all heroes, the Heroes' Guild.

The raid continued long into the night; there appeared to be no survivors. His mother and sister were kidnapped and taken to a place unknown, where they were tortured and ordered to reveal the boy’s location. Neither spoke a word. The irritated bandits who were hungry for blood,enslaved the mother and cut out his sister’s eyes, leaving her blind and in agonizing pain.

[edit] Heroes Guild

The boy was offered a home at the Heroes' Guild where he would be given the opportunity to train and possibly become a hero himself. The boy, who was crying and eager for revenge against the bandits who had crushed his family readily agreed to Maze's offer. It was there that the boy spent his childhood, studying the ways of becoming a hero, in the hopes that he might one day discover the bandits behind the vicious attack on Oakvale, and reap his revenge…

There he is accepted by the Guildmaster and begins training with Whisper, a fellow apprentice, rival and friend. After many years of intense training of both mind and body he would, together with Whisper, become a full fledged graduate of the Heroes' Guild, and an official "Hero".

[edit] Life after the Guild

He is initially offered routine quests to complete on behalf of the people of Albion, but as time progress and he gains power and renown, the quests become more difficult.

One day Maze tells The Hero that his sister may have survived the raid. Maze advises him to seek out the "bandit seeress." . After fighting his way through the bandits' camp he comes face to face with their king, Twinblade, and after a short, but brutal, fight The Hero defeats him and has the choice of slaying him, or sparing him. Upon Twinblade's defeat the seeress emerges, but it turns out to be Theresa, The Hero's sister. She tells him what happened after the day Oakvale burned, how she had been blinded by torture and ended up being saved by Twinblade's bandit clan. Though blind, her other senses had become greatly heightened and awakened an inner strength which focused her "dreams" into prophesies. She talks about their mother and a choice that The Hero would have to make some day, and gives him a letter she had written and a book about their bloodline. She then leaves in search of their mother after magically unlocking some hidden energy within The Hero, making him stronger, then forever leaves the bandit who raised her.

The Hero's next step, to find out about his mother ,is to search for Maze's friend, known as "The Archaeologist", who knows more about the Old Kingdom than anyone else alive. This search takes the Hero to Witchwood where he finds a Demon Door and the only way to open it was to say his name. The hero could either pay someone to tell him, or work out the name Hits by hitting the stones by himself and he quickly finds The Archaeologist, only to have him run away for fear of being found by darker forces. While in Witchwood the Hero decides to compete in The Arena, which he conquers together with Whisper. After they survive several rounds of vicious opponents a mysterious figure appears - introduced as the Hero of Heroes, Jack of Blades - who commands that The Hero and Whisper fight each other to death. Here the Hero stands with the choice to either kill his old friend, earning a reward of 10,000 gold for doing so, or let her live. After becoming the Arena Champion he meets Jack of Blades in the Hall of Heroes, and is told where he can find his mother, Scarlet Robe, who also had been an Arena Champion.

To do this he must rescue the Archaeologist, who has been abducted from Bowerstone jail by his enemies. The Hero again fights his way through dangerous foes to get to the Archaeologist before he is brought to the prison, he tells the Hero that there is an ancient, otherwise hidden entrance to Bargate Prison - where Scarlet Robe is being held - through the Lychfield Graveyard. The Hero is led to the crypt of a legendary Hero named Nostro, who alone can reveal the needed path and whose armor has been stolen by the Gravekeeper. After collecting the four pieces and returning them to the crypt, Nostro signals a Demon Door close by to open, revealing the path to the hidden prison.

The Hero makes his way through several tunnels to the prison and finally finds his mother, but unfortunately Jack of Blades, who is ultimately the head of the prison, appears in their escape path, revealing that he had set up the rescue from the start. Both The Hero and his mother are captured and locked up.

[edit] Hunt for Jack of Blades

At least one year goes by, and during this time Jack is "free to roam Albion". Finally The Hero finds the means of escape and, together with Scarlet Robe fights his way back through the tunnels, ultimately having to defeat the legendary Kraken to get through.

After a brief reunion with his mother, The Hero and Scarlet Robe part ways (not before his mother unlocks another untapped source of power in his blood) to try and stop Jack from finding the Sword of Aeons, which would give him even more power. Scarlet goes to find Theresa while The Hero heads for Hook Coast to find the key which Jack of Blades needs to activate all the Focus sites which will lead him to The Sword. The first time he goes there to the old abbey of Hook Coast, a magical barrier blocks his path but his mother finds a book in Maze's quarter which could unlock the barrier. Upon returning to the guild he is on time to see minions of Jack subdue his mother, but he is not fast enough to stop them from teleporting out and taking her with them. Nevertheless, he takes the book his mother has found and gives it to The Guildmaster, who is familiar with the arcane runes that will grant the Hero access to the abbey. He stands by the barrier as the Guildmaster reads the runes and unlocks the mystical forcefield. There he finds Maze who has his sister imprisoned with magic, proclaiming this is so because he believes Theresa is controlled by Jack of Blades. Theresa counters his claims, accusing Maze of joining Jack of Blades' forces and betraying the Guild. Jack entered the scene, tied up the Hero with his magic powers, and took the key, in the process revealing Maze's true allegiance. He teleported himself away so that he could activate the focus sites as Theresa unties the Hero. The Hero and maze fight fiercely, their battle taking them all over the town of Hook coast, culminating at the foot of the lighthouse. Maze was no match for the Hero and is cut down. Before drawing his last breath, Maze reveals his motives for joining Jack and professes that the hero may be powerful enough to defeat the demon of Blades. He explains Jack's plan to activate all the sites around Albion and the old Hero shows his true colours, subtly wishing the Hero success in his quest. The Hero of Oakvale chases Jack of Blades all over Albion to each of the four Focus sites, hacking his way through the forces of Evil, along with the help of Guild Apprentices, Guards and the Heroes Briar Rose and Thunder, the two putting their differences aside to defeat the shadow. The hero is not fast enough and Jack manages to focus all the sites, before heading for the Guild. The Hero rushes to his former home and when he arrives, the Guild is in flames. Jack has slain any who challenged his wrath, and has left the Guildmaster badly wounded, at the base of a bookcase in the Guild Library. The Guildmaster informs the Hero that Jack's power is vast indeed and that they had no chance of stopping him, and that it was up to the Hero. Even with the Sword of Aeons, Jack was overwhelmed and like the Hero's ancestor William Black had ages before, the Hero destroyed Jack's body utterly, casting his soul into the vortex that the Sword of Aeons had been siphoned from. He was now faced with the choice that Theresa had told him about so many years ago. Either he could take the Sword of Aeons, strike his sister down and have power greater than even Jack dreamed of, or he could destroy it and its darkness forever. (This choice is very similar to that of Frodo Baggins in the destruction of the One Ring, and Peter Molyneux confesses to drawing inspiration from a wide range of texts)

An entire year passed, the world settled back into the monotonies of life and the Guild was rebuilt. The Hero walked around Albion for a year seeking his new life. With Jack gone people didn't have as much need of Heroes. After being summoned by the Guildmaster and Briar Rose they receive a message from Scythe, an undead hero in The Northern Wastes about some dangerous creatures called Summoners and that the "Chosen One" should open the gate to the prophets and take the ancient relic called the Fire Heart. There he had to solve a puzzle called Mystery of Day and Night, if he filled the puzzle with suns he let one of the prophets free and if he fills it with moons he kills one. He then collects the Fire Heart. If The Hero didn't take the Sword of Aeons he returns to The Guild and in Maze's quarters he finds a clue which lead him to the legendary Avo's Tear. He, together with Briar Rose travel to Hook Coast and put The Fire Heart in the lighthouse, when suddenly Summoners attack the lighthouse and the two heroes have to stop them. When the summoners are defeated and The Fire Heart charged up, The Ship of the Drowned appeared. The Hero traveled with it to the Northern Wastes. From the coast he traveled to the Snowspire Village to talk with Scythe. Scythe's plan was to ask The Oracle from Snowspire village about this evil that curses the Northern Wastes, but for that he needed some glyphs to awaken it. He went to The Necropolis, a great city inhabited with ghosts. There he had to search and dig for glyphs at the same time that he had to fight the monsters that lived in the town. After killing many creatures he found all the four glyphs. He then awakened the Oracle, who told him that the evil was in fact Jack of Blades.

He dwelt in the vulcan behind the door called The Bronze Gate. It was foretold that when The Bronze Gate was opened it marked the end of the world. He also told him that if he wanted to open the gate he had to collect, with the mask of Jack of Blades, the souls of three specific heroes, from now on The Oracle could also be used as a source of ancient knowledge to the Hero. These heroes were A King of the Arena, The Heroine and The Oldest. These descriptions could match with a lots of powerful heroes. The Hero could now, aloud, hear the thoughts of Jack of Blades. Jack tried to manipulate the Hero to kill the heroes Thunder, Briar Rose, and the Guildmaster to fulfill the quota, while the Hero could follow the path of good, and try to take the souls of already dead heroes and leave others unharmed, taking the souls of an arena fighter, his mother, and Nostro.

After opening the Bronze Gate he faced Jack again, this time in the form of a dragon. Once again the Hero emerges victorious as he casts down Jack of Blades' newest form, and he receives the villain's fabled mask, which contains his soul. Scythe telepathically explains to him that The Hero must cast the mask in the flames to destroy it forever, and all the while the mask strives to convince the hero to wear him, thus being Jack's newest host. The Hero felt Jack's influence within him and his promise for power tempted him to the edge. Historically, The Hero casts the mask into the flames.

[edit] Fable II

In Fable II comes a new hero to replace the old one. He/she is one of the last remaining heroes. His/her origins at this moment is currently unknown but it is implied that he/she is this hero's descendant. The story takes place roughly 500 years after the first Fable in an Enlightenment style world. The hero from the first game has been mentioned in some of the books found in Albion, however, he is never seen.

There is a Demon Door in Oakfield where many believe the Hero of Oakvale spent the final years of his life called Serenity Farm, as is written in the description of the property.

[edit] Trivia

• There exists, in-game, a book named The Trials of Aarkan, the events of said book are markedly similar to the Hero's youth and quest. There also is a crossbow, locked in a silver key chest in Darkwood, named Arken's Crossbow.
• In Fable II, you'll find a book saying the hero had children, but when the Guild was destroyed, all records were destroyed. Your hero/heroine is likely to be a descendant of him, as the three Hero virtues as passed solely by blood, and the characters of both games possess all three virtues, which is a rarity even among Heroes.
• The Hero is a part of Archon's bloodline, who were all immortal, so the hero could still be alive, despite references in-game, telling of his death.
• Performing enough emotes to Theresa in Fable II will cause her to say "You remind me of someone I once knew long ago".
• In the book "The Hero of Oakvale" in Fable II, it states that the Hero of Oakvale used the sword of Aeons against Jack Of Blades, creating a paradox. Because if the Hero of Oakvale used the sword of Aeons, it means Theresa was sacrificed. Though this may be a historical error on part of the in-game archaeologists, as the two swords look almost identical.
• In one of the loading screens of Fable II it says the hero killed the Guildmaster (also known as Weaver). But it's mostly likely just an easter egg in reference to the first Fable.

Heroes
Fable	The Hero of Oakvale • Briar Rose • Scythe • Whisper • Thunder • Scarlet Robe • Weaver • Maze • Jack of Blades
Fable II	The Hero of Bowerstone • Garth • Hammer • Reaver