Tigbalan

**Tigbalan** is a classless Unseelie horse fae and horse shifter. He is also some status lower than monarch or Inner Court. He is the counterpart of Luma.

## Appearance

Tigbalan has long arms and hooved fingernails. His teeth are 'jagged' and 'wretched', and he has horse ears, horse lips, and horse eyes with horizontal pupils.

Augus Each Uisge considered him 'one of the ugliest horse fae on the planet'.

Gwyn noted that he smelled like 'swamps and wetlands, trees with twisting branches and thick, astringent saps that clawed through his nervous system.'

## Personality

As Tigbalan feeds on violence, he can be cruel, but he can also be empathetic and helpful. He seems to only care about feeding his true appetite, even though he could easily use his powers to leverage great power for himself.

Tigbalan is territorial, but can restrain himself as needed.

Tigbalan's nature apparently requires him to not betray what he trades his violence for. He is, however, not averse to talking about *how* he tortures fae.

## Life

Tigbalan lives somewhere in the jungles of the Philippines. Accounts of him are mixed, as he can be benevolent at times, yet wildly malevolent at others. He can lead people off paths until they starve or drowne, but he is also known for helping people.

When Gwyn starts working towards freeing Augus from captivity at the Seelie Court, he sends correspondence to Tigbalan in order to obtain the power of invisibility. Tigbalan replies that he is willing to meet with Gwyn, but only if Gwyn comes in person, and only in a few hours from when Gwyn receives Tigbalan's reply, so Gwyn seeks him out.

Tigbalan agrees to grant Gwyn invisibility, in exchange for Gwyn remaining in Tigbalan's care for two weeks, so that Tigbalan can torture him. Tigbalan also refuses to allow Gwyn to mentally withdraw during the torture - a protective habit Gwyn started when he was younger, to mentally escape his family's physical torture - forcing Gwyn to stay in the present and suffer even more. Gwyn notes that Tigbalan's torture is far worse than what he'd experienced in the past.

Tigbalan goes to the Unseelie Court to brag about torturing Gwyn to anyone who would listen. News travels to the Seelie Court, where Gwyn hears. Despite Augus' anger over Gwyn's actions, Gwyn gives Augus the invisibility.

Gwyn invites Tigbalan to the Unseelie Court for Gwyn's Debut due to Tigbalan's status, as well as Luma's status as Gwyn's co-worker. Tigbalan attends, and greets Gwyn first, before he invites Gwyn over to Augus. Tigbalan is patronizing towards them both, but Augus still consults with him about Augus' invisibility, which Augus finds difficult to adjust to. Tigbalan notices that Augus is sick, and is annoyed that Gwyn hadn't told Tigbalan about this ahead of Tigbalan's granting the invisibility. He directs Augus to seek advice from Fenwrel the Mouse-Maiden for help.

The Nain Rouge notes that in times of great unrest, classless fae reach out to each other, and implies that Tigbalan was starting to do this before Gwyn reaches out to her to help form the Coalition of the Classless. Although four Unseelie classless fae went unidentified at the Coalition meeting, since Gwyn identifies the others, and did not identify Tigbalan, it seems unlikely he was present at the meeting.

## Special Abilities

### Fae Ability

**Invisibility:** Tigbalan is able to use a rare and powerful complete invisibility, which renders him unable to be seen, heard, or otherwise sensed. He can also extend this to conversations, preventing others from overhearing him speak. He can grant this power to other fae, for a price.

### Skills

**Physical Strength:** Tigbalan is physically strong enough to be able to shatter the bones of even a monarch with one strike.

## Relationships

### Gwyn ap Nudd

Tigbalan is disgusted by Gwyn and patronizing towards him, but would be happy to feast upon Gwyn's suffering at the next opportunity. Tigbalan's treatment traumatized Gwyn greatly, and Gwyn still struggles to control himself when Tigbalan is around.

## Luma

Tigbalan's counterpart. Luma calls Tigbalan her brother.

## Quotations

* To Gwyn: *'You are filth.’*
* To Gwyn: *‘Should you ever need anything from me again, you need only find me. I have to confess, I dream of feeding from you once more. It’s not every day a King offers himself up as a meal. Just looking at you whets my appetite.’*

## Trivia

* Tigbalan implied he is older than Augus.

## Folklore/Mythology

'The Tikbalang (/ˈtikbaˌlaŋ/) (also Tigbalang, Tigbalan, Tikbalan, Tigbolan, or Werehorse) is a creature of Philippine folklore said to lurk in the mountains and forests of the Philippines. It is a tall, bony humanoid creature with the head and hooves of a horse and disproportionately long limbs, to the point that its knees reach above its head when it squats down. . . . Tikbalangs or Tigbolan scare travelers, lead them astray and play tricks on them such as making them return to an arbitrary path no matter how far they go or turn. This is counteracted by wearing one's shirt inside out. Another countermeasure is to ask permission out loud to pass by or, not to produce too much noise while in the woods in order not to offend or disturb the tikbalang. The "tigbolan" is a ghost which assumes a variety of forms, and sometimes confers a similar gift upon a certain favored individual. A superstition popular with the Tagalogs of Rizal Province is that Tikbalangs are benevolent guardians of elemental kingdoms. They are usually found standing at the foot of large trees looking around for anyone who dares to bestow malignancy on their kingdom's territory. . . . In some versions, the tikbalang can also transform itself into human form or turn invisible to humans. . . . Tikbalang is generally associated with dark, sparsely populated, foliage-overgrown areas, with legends variously identifying their abode as being beneath bridges, in bamboo clumps or banana groves, and atop Kalumpang (Sterculia foetida) or Balite (Ficus indica) trees.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 26 December 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/6404462. Chapter 23: Confrontation.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 5 December 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2150699. Chapter 30: Trade.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse.* Archive of Our Own, 5 September 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/4957257. Chapter 8: Court.
4. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 18 June 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/4283271. Chapter 4: Suspicions.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 22 December 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2204791. Chapter 33: Invisible.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 16 December 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2184505. Chapter 32: Forest.
7. ↑ not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse.* Archive of Our Own, 29 November 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2132476. Chapter 29: Corporal.
8. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 6 February 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/7205945. Chapter 29: Classless.
9. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 14 August 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/10409742. Chapter 56: Islands.
10. ↑ "Tikbalang". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikbalang. Accessed 17 May 2021.