| “ | I don't know how you meat people can get through a single day. Every stray bleeds and causes you agony and can even kill you stone dead, without immediate treatment. If I get whacked with a sword--which I was, once or twice just now--the most I need is a bit of glue and sanding to be fine again. | „ |
| ― MacDuff to Jack Horner, Jack of Fables #37 — "Fat Jack: The New Adventures of Jack and Jack, Part 1 of 4" |
Macduff is a wooden owl Fable, who is eventually transformed into a real owl made of flesh and blood. He was originally carved by Geppetto to serve as a pet, and debuts in Fables #40 — "He's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage: Chapter Four of Homelands." After the fall of the Empire, Macduff crosses paths with Jack Frost, and becomes his sidekick as Jack embarks on a career as a hero for hire.
History
Adversary's pet
Macduff, known as just "owl" at the time,[1] is a wooden owl that Geppetto, the Adversary, carved himself,[4] in one piece from a trunk of the Sacred Grove.[6] The witch Frau Totenkinder suspects that Geppetto wanted a pet and decided to create one as loyal to him as his wooden puppets.[4] In any case, Geppetto likes to keep his owl close. On the rare occasions where his master addresses him directly, he only calls him "owl."[1]
Owl's eyes were painted by Geppetto's Senior Assistant Corwun Peiderpestle, who did the eyes of the new wooden creatures that passed through Geppetto's workshop. However, unbeknownst to Geppetto and his assistant, Totenkinder had placed an enchanted paintbrush among Corwun's tools, which the assistant applied to about one in every five or six puppets that crossed his workbench. This enabled the witch to see through any pair of eyes that Corwun painted with her special brush, with the eyes' owner being none the wiser.[4]
The owl observes from his perch as Boy Blue awakens after more than a week in a coma, having been confined in Geppetto's cottage, and watches while Geppetto revive his son Pinocchio.[7]
Later, the owl attends the Imperial conference focused on addressing the Fables residing in sanctuary within the mundane world. He is observed landing on a tree stump while Geppetto converses with the Snow Queen regarding the ineffectiveness of her initial plan.[8] Unbeknownst to both of them, Totenkinder is looking through the wooden owl's eyes at that moment and spies on the Adversary as he and the Snow Queen discuss their classified strategies. Although she cannot actually hear them, she puts her lipreading skills to good use, and discovers that the Adversary is planning on invading the mundane world in three years, which she reports to the Fabletown authorities.[4]
One evening, Pinocchio comes home intoxicated. While he tries to sneak in quietly, he sees the wooden owl perching outside Geppetto's cabin and asks it to keep quiet, so they won't wake Geppetto.[2]
Jack Frost's sidekick
After the Empire is defeated, the owl is left all alone. Several months later, he wanders through the general areas Geppetto used to go, and along the way he spots Jack Frost in a fight and comes to his aide. When Jack asks his name, he says that Geppetto refers to him as "owl" and he fears he won't see his maker again. Jack feels gratitude towards the wooden owl's assistance and wishes to reward him. The owl asks him to doing some wood repairs on him. Unfortunately, Jack isn't a trained woodcarver like Geppetto, but the owl offers to lead him and tells him of a remote woodshop he can go to. Along the way, Jack quotes from Macbeth, "Lead on Macduff." When the owl curiously asks who Macduff is, Jack offers that to be his name.[1]
After tending to Macduff, the two begin a friendship and a partnership. Young Jack is not sure what to do, since his mother is under Briar Rose's sleeping spell and Jack Horner was no father to him. He decides to be a hero for hire and Macduff offers to be an aide to his new friend in that business.[1] The wooden owl tells him that the actual phrase from Macbeth goes, "Lay on, Macduff, and damned be him who first cries, 'Hold, enough!'" and was a challenge to a fight, not an invitation to lead the way. However, Jack confirms the legitimacy of his name, stating that even though it was originally a misquote, "Lead on, Macduff" is a common phrase in various works of fact and fiction from many different worlds.[9]
Macduff helps Jack look for any deed, no matter how small or ordinary (such as helping with crops or retrieving a lose goat to a farmer). Eventually Jack get his big chance as a hero when a young girl named Elsa Fen comes and asks for their help. Creatures called night walkers have been attacking her home and she needs a hero to help. However, by the time they reach her father's hold-fast, the entire place is deserted.[9]
No sooner have they got there, they are attacked and taken captive by the night walkers; however, much to their surprise, the creatures have kidnapped people in order to find Jack, for they need him for a heroic deed. According to Wruk Buk Tuk, a sorcerer had been using his magic to control them and anyone who got too close was put under his spell and attacks the other. Jack agrees, on the condition he and Macduff will work out a binding peace treaty between his people and the humans.[10] After a very long battle, Jack defeats the sorcerer and there is peace, thanks to Macduff's help. The two eventually sneak away from the kingdom, because Jack does not wish to marry Elsa.[11]
Jack later employs himself under the king of Landfall's services under the king's claim that Empyrean had been stealing gold and kidnapping virgin maidens for his own personal pleasure.[12] Macduff is not too fond of this adventure, due to the company Jack begins to keep with Deirdre,[6] a witch who offers to help him.[12] However, things aren't as they appear, as it is eventually discovered that both the king and Deirdre lie about the Empyrean. Deirdre had used him for a domestic dispute against her former lover and the king had been using Empyrean's name as a ruse to get away with selling the maidens into prostitution and tries convincing Jack into being a co-conspirator.[13]
Macduff and Jack have many more adventures through the years.[14] Jack eventually gives him a few modern touches, such as lasers in his eyes to help him in battle, and Macduff is even transformed into a real owl of flesh and blood.[5]
Death
Eventually, Jack decides to take one last final battle before retiring and decides to slay a dangerous dragon, not knowing that the creature[14] is his own, semisane father Jack Horner, who has been transformed into a dragon from his own greed.[11] Macduff is killed in the battle, burned to death by Jack's dragon fire while trying to protect his beloved friend. His final words are telling his friend that he loves him.[3]
Physiology
Macduff is a wooden owl animated through a unique form of magic that cannot be replicated without an enchanted grove.[15] He is eventually transformed into a real, anthropomorphic owl of flesh and blood with golden feathers.[5]
Powers and abilities
Laser vision: After Macduff is transformed into a real owl, Jack Frost provides him with laser eyes to help him in battle.[5]
- Supernatural endurance: As a wooden owl, Macduff possesses greater durability and is significantly more resistant to harm or death compared to living creatures made of flesh and blood. For instance, if he suffers a cut from a sword, a small amount of glue and some sanding will suffice for him to recover completely.[1]
- Pain immunity: Macduff implies that he,[1] like all wooden puppets,[16] is devoid of the capacity to feel pain.[1] It should be noted that when the vizier of the king of Landfall uses a drill on him, he reacts as if in pain, although he may just be acting theatrically.[15]
Appearances
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Etymology
Jack Frost names his wooden owl companion after Macduff,[1] the heroic main protagonist of the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare.
After receiving his new name, the wooden owl tells him that the quote Jack attributed to Macbeth, "Lead on, Macduff," was wrong; the actual phrase goes, "Lay on, Macduff, and damned be him who first cries, 'Hold, enough!'" The owl explains that it was a challenge to a fight, not an invitation to lead the way. Jack's companion likes his new name, but since it doesn't actually derive from what Jack said, he wonders if it is truly legitimate. However, Jack explains that although "Lead on, Macduff" was originally a misquotation, it is a common phrase that appears in important works of fact and fiction from a dozen different worlds, and the owl's name and its origin are entirely sound.[9]
References
Notes
- ↑ According to Jack of Fables #42 — "Castling: Kings of Earth and Sky, Part Two of Five," Macduff was carved from a trunk of the Sacred Grove. As seen in Fables #40 — "He's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage: Chapter Four of Homelands" and Fables #50 — "Happily Ever After," the Sacred Grove is located outside the Adversary's cottage in Toscane.