Frau Totenkinder

Frau Totenkinder (German for "death of children") appears to be one of the oldest of the European Fables. The woman who would become Totenkinder was originally born to and became the shamaness of a tribe of prehistoric people. After an affair with the son of the chief (who was shortly thereafter married the “princess” of another tribe to prevent a inter-tribal war) left her pregnant, she was driven out of the tribe by her ex-lover lest his new in-laws discover that the child she was carrying was his and the war between the two tribes begin again. Totenkinder exacted her revenge by sacrificing her own newborn child to gain power and cursed her ex-lover with boils and warts. She discovered that by sacrificing a child each year, she could gain magical power. By sacrificing two, she could remain ever youthful.

Totenkinder lived down through the ages, the witch of many European legends. Helpful to those that were kind to her, vengeful to those that were not. Because of her initial bad experience with the son of a ruler, she cursed many princes such as the Beast and Ambrose, the Frog Prince. Because she would still occasionally have feelings for young men, she allowed herself to age. Retiring to a house deep in the woods that she would glamour to look like a gingerbread house one a year to attract a child for sacrifice. But Hansel and Gretel outsmarted her when she was weak, burning her in her own oven.

It was there her skeleton, still alive, was found by Snow White and Rose Red while on the run from the Adversary’s army. Rose pulled her out of the oven and she and Snow nursed the old woman back to health. When Totenkinder told them who she was, Snow immediately became distrustful and disdainful, but Rose continued to treat the old woman kindly. The three traveled on together for a while, but were separated. How Totenkinder found her way to the Mundane world is unknown, but she arrived many centuries ago and began weaving spell about her to connect herself to her new world and protect herself and Fable Town, becoming the Fable community’s most powerful witch (though others have been seen).

When the Adversary attacked fabled town with a horde of wooden soldiers, Totenkinder and the witches and magicians of Fable Town were initially tasked with keeping the battle from being noticed by the Mundane humans living nearby, but Totenkinder went to the Mayor’s penthouse apartment and called the orchestrator of the battle, Baba Yaga (in the guise of Red Riding Hood), to the roof for a magical duel. King Cole investigated noises coming from his patio and saw the two monstrous demon-like figures locked in mortal combat. Totenkinder won the battle and confined Baba Yaga deep in the caverns of the Fable Town municipal building for interrogation.

Since the Beast has taken over as sheriff and spymaster for Fable Town, Frau Totenkinder has been much more involved in it’s events. She likes the good natured Beast more than his colder predecessor ( Bigby Wolf) and has altered his enchantment so that he can transform at will (though it is unknown whether or not he knows that it was she that cursed him in the first place). She was instrumental in defeating a D’jinn brought by group of emissaries from the Arabian Fable Lands. She also has her own network of spies in the Fable Lands and has kept the new Mayor, Prince Charming abreast of information they gather. But while she has been very helpful in recent events, it is implied that Totenkinder is a wild-card playing her own deep game.