Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-5305135-20131016220319/@comment-22525977-20131016231834

OUaT fairies are so cool and I desperately want to know more about them.

I think Blue is, if not outright villainous, certainly not nice.

There's her introduction as Reul Ghorm, the battlefield legend: "Reul Ghorm is an ancient being that rules the night. The original power... Bigger than anything." Then, when Bae summons her, it's a sinister set-up—tension is high and there's definitely an element of "what could be more powerful than the Dark One?" going on, which is why Blue showing up was a surprise.

Then, three hundred-ish years later, she's the Blue Fairy, and instead of being a soldier's tale, she's a benevolent figure that Johanna secretly informs Snow of: "There is a benevolent fairy who can grant a person's wish, if their heart is true." There's also some implication that this is supposed to be a secret ("I'm not really supposed to even know of this," Johanna says) and, once again, Blue is presented as the most powerful being ever ("Someone schooled with the most powerful of magic.").

I think the difference between these two introductions to the character as a helper archetype has mainly to do with time and the way mythologies mutate over time (in the same way that original fairytales were dark, twisted morality tales, but today we tell versions of them to kids as fluffy fun). There is a bit of language shift implied—we go from "Blue Fairy" in Gaelic to "Blue Fairy" in English, which would help the corruption of old tales into something new along as well.

That qualification of "BENEVOLENT" fairy really caught my attention the first time I watched that episode, because it comes with the implication that there are enough evil/malignant fairies out there for a benevolent one to be an exception and worth pointing out (or, if all fairies were good, calling one in particular benevolent would be superfluous).

We also see that she doesn't treat her fellow fairies very well; she manipulates the Grumpy/Nova situation to deny Nova her lover and chance for the adventures she craves, and then she's outright cruel to Tinker Bell. Also in "Quite a Common Fairy," we see that Blue is an authoritarian, controlling leader who maintains very strict rules; that's not necessarily a bad thing, of course, but that style of leadership doesn't exactly go hand in hand with being a paragon of goodness because it doesn't allow well for the differing needs and desires of the people following (it's a bit like the "strict but fair" teacher archetype who doesn't make allowances for, say, a dyslexic kid—not bad, but not good either).

Next, there's her handling of people whom she approves of. There's Jiminy, who she readily offers a second chance even though his intentions were certainly not "pure"—he knew that potion would do something bad to his parents, and he was fine with that (quite understandably—his parents were horrible people and he was in a shitty situation, and I don't blame him in the slightest for wanting to get rid of them. Compare, however, Jiminy and Regina—both were in terrible situations, both were desperately unhappy and in need of help. Both turned to Rumpel for that help—Jiminy for the potion, Regina for, at first, just getting rid of her mother [exactly what Jiminy wanted] and then reluctantly allowing Rumpel to talk her into further lessons. Blue helped Jiminy, but refused to do the same for Regina on the grounds that she was already beyond helping).

There's Snow, whom Blue repeatedly helps but not whenever Snow requests it (that Cora was able to impersonate Blue to give Snow the candle and that real!Blue didn't interfere would seem to indicate that Blue had no interest in even offering comfort to young Snow that magic couldn't save her mother without horrible costs). Her biggest contribution to the plot is to show up with the magical wardrobe that will be everyone's salvation—but rather than allow Snow to go through with her daughter, Blue lets Gepetto's selfish desires interfere with this plan to save the entire world.

I have a theory that, in Bae's time, fairies were considered more of a chaotic neutral force—they might help you, they might not, and it'll probably come with a price if they do lend you a hand (similar to how Rumpel operates in Snow's time). Over time, Blue pushed for the fairies to become more and more helpful and to either divert the costs elsewhere or outright state what they would be, so people seeking their help could make an informed decision rather than hoping for the best as they must with Rumpel.

So Blue's group of fairies started to become more and more of a reliably "good" force rather than an unpredictable either/or one, and folklore being what it was, Blue got put on higher and higher pedestals until she only helped the "pure of heart," and everything she did was considered to be just, which is why it's acceptable for Blue to propagate the total enslavement of the dwarves (as we see in "Dreamy") and deny help to a miserable, helpless young woman (Regina in "Quite a Common Fairy") without any apparent repercussions to herself; she's managed to convince people that she's an absolute moral authority (and I'm fairly certain she believes it herself: "There is good magic and dark magic, and I'm on the right side.")

I don't think that she's flat-out evil (though I would not, honestly, be that  surprised if she got set up as a villainous character later), but I think she definitely has some  agenda going on.