Carabosse the Dark Fairy

Carabosse the Dark Fairy, illustration by drachenmagier

**Carabosse the Dark Fairy**, also known as **Carabosse the Black Fairy** or simply **Carabosse**, is a main antagonist of the fantasy book series "***Fairest***" created by **Fabian De Sousa** and illustrated by **drachenmagier**. She first appears in the first instalment of the series.

Carabosse is primarily based on the evil fairy godmother from the fairy tale "*Sleeping Beauty*".

## History

Little is known of Carabosse's history, but it is possible she was born at the beginning of time as she personifies darkness and is tasked with transporting the moon across the sky every night (as revealed in the Fairest Tales Short Story: "*The Sun, the Moon, and the Sleeping Beauty*").

Over a hundred years ago, Carabosse was approached by a King of the Enchanted Forest who sought her help in siring a royal heir for his kingdom. Giving the King a rose from her garden, Carabosse told him to prick his finger with one of the thorns and put three drops of blood in the Queen's soup without telling her. The King did as he was told, and the Queen fell pregnant and eventually gave birth to a daughter: Princess Talia.

The King and Queen host a celebration and invite the Twelve Great Fairies to be Talia's fairy godmothers, and each one bestows a magical gift, but Carabosse is offended at not being invited as well and appears at the celebration before the twelfth fairy can give her magical gift, and the Dark Fairy bestows a curse on the princess. During Talia's fifteenth year, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. After Carabosse vanishes, the twelfth fairy changes the curse to an eternal sleep that will affect the entire kingdom for a hundred years, and will only be broken by the kiss of a worthy prince.

Fifteen years later, Carabosse fulfils her own curse by appearing to Talia in the form of an elderly spinning woman and offers to let Talia try spinning. When Talia pricks her finger on the spindle, a triumphant Carabosse grows a wall of thorns around the Sleeping Beauty's kingdom so no prince will be able to break the curse.

### **Fairest (Book One)**

Carabosse first appears at the darkest edges of the Enchanted Forest where the Evil Queen has been banished by Snow White's Fairest magic. Here it is implied that the Dark Fairy encouraged the Evil Queen not to give up and suggested recruiting other fairy tale villains to exact the Evil Queen's revenge on her stepdaughter.

Later, Carabosse and the Big Bad Wolf are tasked with retrieving Jillian (Jack's wife) to use as bait for the fairy tale heroes, and Carabosse casts an awakening spell on Jillian so she is the only one not effected by the Golden Harp's lullaby. After kidnapping Jillain, Carabosse steals the Golden Harp for herself and takes it to the Sleeping Beauty's kingdom so it's lullaby will stop any prince from rescuing Princess Talia (see: *Fairest II: East of the Sun & West of the Moon*).

It is later revealed that Carabosse was working with Rumpelstiltskin all along to manipulate the Evil Queen into forming the Cabal of fairy tale villains to fight Snow White's team of fairy tale heroes, all so Rumpelstiltskin could steal the Fairest magic for himself and become invincible. It is during this final battle that Carabosse is pitted against Prince Charming, and Prince Charming manages to "slay" the Dark Fairy by stabbing her through the chest with his sword.

### **Fairest II: East of the Sun & West of the Moon**

While Carabosse is still presumed dead, Red Riding Hood aids the Silver Prince in overcoming the Dark Fairy's wall of thorns, slaying a fire-breathing dragon, and destroying the Golden Harp so the Silver Prince can rescue the Sleeping Beauty with his kiss.

### **Fairest Tales: A Collection of Short Stories**

Carabosse makes a significant appearance in the short story "*The Sun, the Moon, and the Sleeping Beauty*". A recently awakened Princess Talia learns of a prophesy claiming that a great disaster will befall the Enchanted Forest and destroy her kingdom. To find out what this disaster will be and how to stop it, she sets out to find Aurora the White Fairy (the personification of light and the sun) and speak with her at sunrise before she travels across the sky during the day. While Aurora cannot answer all of Talia's questions, she suggests Talia wait until dusk to speak with the White Fairy's twin sister.

At dusk, the White Fairy's sister is revealed to be Carabosse the Black Fairy (who personifies darkness and the moon), and who apparently survived her battle with Prince Charming in Fairest (Book One), claiming that "...it'll take a lot more than a sword to the heart to kill a being such as me...". Talia is at first terrified the Black Fairy wants to kill her, and Carabosse reveals that she purposefully appeared before the twelfth fairy godmother could bestow her magical gift, knowing the fairy would change her curse of 'death' to 'endless sleep'. Carabosse never wanted to kill Talia, only ensure that this princess with so many magical fairy gifts (putting her on par with Snow White's Fairest magic) would live long enough to face whatever disaster is coming.

Unfortunately, Carabosse also reveals she doesn't know what danger is coming either, and suggests Talia speak to the stars, and that maybe the Morning Star will know. The Black Fairy then travels the night sky to speak with them, and when the stars appear to Talia, they are revealed to be the Sleeping Beauty's twelve fairy godmothers.

## Appearance

Carabosse the Dark Fairy appears as a tall, thin old woman with long black hair, large curved black horns protruding from her head, and a pair of giant bat-like black wings on her back that are often wrapped around her like a bat (often mistaken for an ordinary black cloak).

The illustrations by drachenmagier have yet to detail her facial features, but does portray the Dark Fairy as gaunt, very demonic and somewhat alien-looking, reflecting the fairy’s sinister, eldritch nature.

## Personality

Carabosse is one of the most enigmatic characters in the Fairest series. She is worldly, intelligent and wise, most likely due to her long life, which also makes her very patient. However, she is also easily offended and extremely wrathful(evidenced by her strong reaction to not being invited to the christening of the princess she helped create). On rare occasions she is shown to be sarcastic and sassy when others assume incorrect things about her or her actions.

She is often incorrectly believed to represent 'lies' because she personifies darkness and shadows (as Aurora is believed to represent 'truth' because she personifies light), but Carabosse has yet to tell a confirmed lie to any other character in the series. However, she is not above withholding information, as she never told the Evil Queen about Rumpelstiltskin's plans or manipulations. As a guardian of the Enchanted Forest, Carabosse is devoted to the survival of her land. Yet do not mistake her for a benign being. Aurora promised that Carabosse would not cause harm while under the White Fairy’s roof, indicating that the Dark Fairy is still an extremely dangerous being to cross. It was also Carabosse who came to the Evil Queen with the proposition of a cabal to end happy endings.

## Powers

The full capabilities of Carabosse’s powers are unknown but she is described as a sorceress of frightening power. As a fairy, Carabosse is incredibly long-lived, and it is implied that she and her sister were born at the beginning of time as they each represent darkness and light, respectively, and each travel the sky as the moon and sun during the night and day, respectfully.

Carabosse can use her wings to fly, and possibly use her magic to teleport (it's possible that it was the Evil Queen's black Fairest magic that teleported Carabosse and the Big Bad Wolf into Dame Gothel's door-less tower, and to and from Jack's castle). She also has the power to spew forth purple fire as an attack when fighting Prince Charming.

## Trivia

* While Carabosse is primarily based on the evil fairy godmother from the fairy tale "*Sleeping Beauty*", her name is actually derived from a very similar character in the French literary fairy tale "*The Princess Mayblossom*" by Madame d'Aulnoy.
* Carabosse is the first fairy tale villain to join the Evil Queen's Cabal in Fairest (Book One).

* The concept of Carabosse and Aurora as sisters and their mythical roles as the moon (darkness-bringer) and sun (light-bringer), respectively, is most likely inspired by the fairy tale "*The Seven Ravens*" where a girl sets out to rid her seven brothers from the curse of being turned into ravens by first speaking to the sun (who is too hot) and then the moon (who craves human flesh), and lastly the morning star.