Gretel

Gretel, illustration by drachenmagier

**Gretel** is a supporting character in the fantasy book series "***Fairest***", and a main character of the spin-off instalment "***Fairest Witch-Hunters: The Hunt for Baba Yaga***", both created by **Fabian De Sousa** and illustrated by **drachenmagier**. She debuts in the first instalment of the series.

Alongside her brother, Gretel is named after and heavily based on the titular character from the German fairy tale "*Hansel & Gretel*" by the Brothers Grimm, as well as the Russian-version of the "*Brother & Sister*" fairy tale: "*Sister Alionushka, Brother Ivanushka/Сестра Алинушка, брат Иванушка*".

## History

Gretel (and her brother Hansel) were abandoned by their impoverished parents in the Enchanted Forest with nothing but a piece of bread each. Hansel had the crafty idea of creating a trail of breadcrumbs to find their way home, however, wild birds ate the trail, leaving the Brother & Sister lost, cold and hungry. While wandering the Enchanted Forest, the two children find a house made of gingerbread and candy, with windowpanes of clear sugar, and are lured inside by the evil Blind Witch who lives there, promising them more candies and warm beds.

The Blind Witch quickly reveals her true intentions, caging Hansel and force-feeding him to fatten him up, while forcing Gretel to clean and work for her.

The Blind Witch eventually orders Gretel to start the oven and lean in to check if it's hot enough, but Gretel pretends not to know how. The Blind Witch demonstrates, and while she is half-inside the oven, Hansel uses a chicken bone to pick the lock of his cage and escape, and both Hansel & Gretel push the Blind Witch into her own oven to be burned alive.

Curious as to what else is inside the Blind Witch's home, Hansel & Gretel search until they find the evil witch's spell-book and dark tools, and they vow to hunt and slay witches for the rest of their lives so the same misfortunes won't befall any other children. Hansel & Gretel then grown up to become the best witch-hunters the Enchanted Forest has ever seen, with Gretel using the Blind Witch's spell-book to counter their evil magic, and Hansel using weapons to physically fight witches and their familiars/guardians.

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

Years later, the now adult Hansel & Gretel are the second (and third) fairy tale heroes Snow White and Prince Charming recruit to help stop the Evil Queen and her Cabal of fairy tale villains from destroying *happy endings*. They first appear near the home of Frau Trude in the western swamplands of the Enchanted Forest, in time to rescue the Fairest princess and prince from the swamp witch's three guardians.

Hansel & Gretel prove instrumental in de-powering and slaying Frau Trude, and are quick to accept Snow White and Prince Charming's offer to band together with other fairy tale heroes to defeat the Cabal of villains. Later when the team is gathered for the first time, Gretel points out the contradiction of a monster-hunter (Red Riding Hood) wearing an enchanted red-hooded cloak that repels monsters, while Red Riding Hood points out the contradiction of a witch-hunter (Gretel) using a witch's spell book to combat evil witches' spells and curses.

When the team of heroes are pitted against the Cabal of villains, Hansel & Gretel intend to slay Dame Gothel (the last evil witch still living in the Enchanted Forest, whose door-less tower they could never find). Gretel proves a match for Dame Gothel, but is unable to defeat the witch without the help of her brother, who is tied up by Rumpelstiltskin with enchanted golden string. Later, Hansel is freed by Gretel in time for the two of them to slay Dame Gothel but not before Gretel's spell-book (originally owned by the Blind Witch in the gingerbread house) is destroyed.

At the end of "*Fairest (Book One)*" when the fairy tale heroes are going their separate ways, Hansel & Gretel thank Snow White and Prince Charming for helping them find and slay Dame Gothel, and mention their plans to travel to other fairy tale lands and continue hunting witches, before leaving on horseback.

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

When Red Riding Hood sets out to slay the Sea Witch (from "*The Little Mermaid*"), she recruits the help of witch-hunters Hansel & Gretel, having managed to send a message to them before they left the Enchanted Forest. Gretel uses a spell to summon Lorelei's five older mermaid sisters to take them to the Sea Witch's lair.

During the fight, the Sea Witch slashes Gretel across the stomach with a magic dagger, leaving her out of the fight as she uses a spell to heal herself while Hansel and Red Riding Hood battle the Sea Witch, who transforms into a multi-tentacled Kraken-like sea-monster. The Sea Witch is ultimately de-powered by a recovered Gretel, and killed by a sword to the heart by Red Riding Hood.

Returning to the Enchanted Forest, Hansel & Gretel part ways with Red Riding Hood, revealing their plans to leave the Enchanted Forest and travel to the *Realm of Rus* (home of the Russian fairy tales) to hunt and slay the most powerful evil witch of fairy tales: Baba Yaga.

### **Fairest Witch-Hunters: The Hunt for Baba Yaga**

Shortly after arriving in the *Realm of Rus* (home of the Russian fairy tales), Hansel & Gretel begin hunting the Witch of the Woods ("Ved'ma Lesa"), which involves Hansel being turned into a little white goat when he drinks from a cursed stream, Gretel befriending a kind old Merchant who takes them in, Gretel being lured into a trap by the Witch of the Woods, and Hansel (as a little white goat) leading the Merchant to save his sister from drowning. Once Gretel is saved, she uses her newly rediscovered magic to transform Hansel back into a human, and the Brother & Sister and Merchant are attacked by the Witch of the Woods. The sibling witch-hunters defeat her easily and rest at the Merchant's house, where they reveal their plans to hunt down and slay Baba Yaga, and the Merchant tells them the story of the only person in known history to find Baba Yaga's chicken-legged hut, encounter the Great Witch, and escape unharmed: Vasilisa the Beautiful.

Hansel & Gretel set out to find Baba Yaga's Skull Lantern, which Vasilisa buried in the middle of the forest, as it is the only object that can light their way to the evil witch's home. Shortly after digging it up, the Brother & Sister encounter a Russian knight battling a three-headed green dragon and quickly aid him. The knight is revealed to be Prince Ivan Tsarevitch (the Russian version of "Prince Charming"), and the dragon is called "Zmej Gorynych". After slaying the dragon and meeting Prince Ivan's monstrous animal companion, the Grey Wolf, Hansel & Gretel hear Ivan's fairy tale past and tell him of their plans to slay Baba Yaga.

Their conversation lasts until the next morning, when at dawn the three fairy tale heroes are attacked by the White Rider, the first of Baba Yaga's three horsemen guardians, who commands an army of undead skeleton warriors. Hansel & Gretel and their new friends are overwhelmed by the endless, unbeatable army and lose the Skull Lantern to Baba Yaga's three black raven familiars who have been spying on them for the evil witch. With no other choice, the fairy tale heroes escape into the forest at the Grey Wolf's insistence, where Leshy the Forest Guardian protects them from the White Rider and the undead army.

Once the White Rider gives up and leaves with his army, the Leshy reveals that the next step in the heroes' journey is to find the Firebird in the west. Along the way, Hansel & Gretel learn more of Prince Ivan's fairy tale past, revealing he is also the same "Ivan Tsarevitch" from the fairy tale "Tsarevna Frog" ("*The Frog Princess*") and is searching to free Vasilisa from the curse of Koschei the Deathless. However, before Hansel & Gretel can question more about Ivan's connection with the mysterious *Fairest* princess Vasilisa, the heroes leave Leshy's forest to see acres of crop fields destroyed by a giant fire.

The village suffering from the fire damage reveal that they have been attacked every midday for the past three days by the Poludnitsa, the Noon Witch, who Gretel reveals is a very rare elemental witch called a "Fire Witch". Using Hansel as bait, the Brother & Sister slay the Poludnitsa and save the village, and Gretel uses a spell to regrow all their crop fields, which lures the mythical Firebird.

Unable to free Maryushka from her curse, Gretel instead gives the Firebird the ability to speak, and asks her to bring them to the homes of Baba Yaga and Koschei the Deathless. The Firebird flies away to lead them to the only person who knows how to kill Koschei the Deathless, and the heroes follow on horseback until they reach the seashore and cannot follow anymore.

Unsure what to do now that the Firebird has flown to the horizon beyond the sea, Hansel & Gretel and Prince Ivan meet a Rusalka (a Russian mermaid princess) who reveals that Prince Ivan's soul is owned by the Sea Tsar ("King Kojata") and demands he comes to Kitezh the Sea Tsardom, or a war between Land and Sea will begin. Prince Ivan has no choice but to go, and Hansel & Gretel agree to go with him. In the Sea Tsardom, Ivan is tasked to do three impossible tasks, which he only accomplishes with the help of the Rusalka and Gretel's magic. An impressed Sea Tsar demands Prince Ivan marry one of his thirteen daughters, which Ivan only manages to escape by agreeing to marry the Sea Tsar's youngest daughter, the helpful Rusalka.

The Rusalka helps Prince Ivan, Hansel & Gretel escape the Sea Tsardom, but is discovered and transformed back into Vasilisa's magic doll. The Sea Tsar sends his army and the Black Rider (Baba Yaga's third horseman guardian) to chase the fairy tales heroes, who only escape with the help of the Firebird, who returns with Finist the Falcon King.

Hansel & Gretel learn of Finist the Falcon King's connection to Prince Ivan's father, and meet Finist's wife, the warrior princess Marya Morevna, who is the only person who knows how to kill Koschei the Deathless. The three heroes then go on a perilous journey to Buyan Island to retrieve Koschei's heart, then make their way to Koschei's black castle on Bald Mountain ("Lysa Hora") where the evil immortal sorcerer, his mother Baba Yaga, and an army of Russian folkloric monsters are waiting for them.

With the help of Finist the Falcon King's army of birds of prey, and their other friends, Hansel & Gretel reach Koschei's castle where Hansel faces the Black Rider my himself so Gretel can face Baba Yaga and Prince Ivan can face Koschei the Deathless. Prince Ivan kills Koschei the Deathless by crushing his heart in his fist, and a distraught and vengeful Baba Yaga attacks, swearing to make all life in the *Realm of Rus* a thousand times worse for slaying her son. Gretel battles the Great Witch to a standstill, only to learn the terrible consequences of what will happen if Baba Yaga is truly slain.

## Appearance

Gretel is described as a slender, pretty young woman (although not on the same level of beauty as most fairy tale princesses in the *Fairest* world). Although she's not as tall as her brother, Gretel shares the same skin tone and dark brown coloured hair and eyes as Hansel, but her hair is long and pulled back into a ponytail.

According to drachenmagier's illustrations, Gretel wears an armour-plated torso covering with a maroon-coloured scarf/cape clasped on, alongside brown leather pants, thigh-high boots, gloves.

## Personality

Unlike her brother, Gretel has a much more reserved and serious personality, with rare moments of matching Hansel's witty humour. She is very compassionate, always choosing to help others, even when it distracts or pulls Hansel & Gretel away from their goals or missions.

Also unlike her brother, Gretel appears to have no interest in a romantic relationship. Whether or not this is a personal preference or a byproduct of her using witchcraft remains to be seen (as so far, all witches in the *Fairest* franchise have never shown romantic interest in anyone).

## Powers

From the Blind Witch's spell-book, Gretel learned how to cast magic by stating German phrases to create a variety of effects, and later learned to do the same variety of effects by stating Russian phrases. This includes (but is not limited to): creating magical blasts and shields, lighting fires, removing/suppressing witches' magic to make them powerless, locating magical objects, slowing down or speeding up time, regrowing or rapidly growing plants and crops, allowing enchanted animals to speak, and much more.

By the end of "*Fairest Witch-Hunters: The Hunt For Baba Yaga*", Gretel gets a massive power upgrade and learns how to cast spells without stating phrases (although she still often uses hand gestures).

## Trivia

* Hansel & Gretel are the second and third fairy tale heroes recruited into Snow White's team of heroes to combat the Evil Queen's Cabal of fairy tale villains.
* Fabian De Sousa has stated in social media that he based Hansel & Gretel and their personalities on his own brother and sister.
* Some of Gretel's earliest spells (cast using German words and phrases), are poorly translated and in some cases don't make sense. It is possible (but unconfirmed) that Google Translate was used.
* Gretel is the only main character in the *Fairest* series to not have a romantic interest or relationship.