Rumpelstiltskin

Rumpelstiltskin is a main antagonist of the fantasy book series "Fairest" created by Fabian De Sousa and illustrated by drachenmagier. He debuts in the first instalment of the series.

Rumpelstiltskin is based on the character of the same name from the fairy tale "Rumpelstiltskin", as well as the evil dwarf from "Snow-White and Rose-Red", and the tradesman from "Jack and the Beanstalk".

History
Little is known of Rumpelstiltskin's history, but it is implied he has lived for hundreds of years. Roughly a century ago, Rumpelstiltskin aided Carabosse the Dark Fairy by giving her the Sleeping Beauty's curse, and in exchange he learned about the Fairest.

Craving ultimate power, he searched for decades for the next in line to inherit the Fairest magic and foresaw the potential for great darkness in a poor miller's daughter. He helped her become the Evil Queen by spinning straw into gold in exchange for a prize, but when he returned to claim the prize (the Evil Queen's unborn child), she begged him to let her keep her child. Believing she'll never break his bargain, Rumpelstiltskin claimed that if she could guess his name in three days, she'll be freed from their bargain. However, he did not predict the Evil Queen would use her black Fairest magic to enchant her favourite mirror to answer the truth to any question asked of it.

Discovering Rumpelstiltskin's name, the Evil Queen broke free of their bargain, and an enraged Rumpelstiltskin revealed she was experiencing the symptoms of a false pregnancy, and cursed her that her royal heir would one day be her undoing.

Rumpelstiltskin sought out a way to steal the Fairest magic for himself, and discovered a land above the clouds populated by giants and their magical treasures, and among those magical treasures was a mysterious Crystal Ball. However, the only way to reach that land is with a giant beanstalk grown from a magic bean. Rumpelstiltskin discovered a sickly King from a kingdom East of the Sun & West of the Moon owned a chest of magic beans and offered to trade them for a new wife and daughter who could take care of the King's son. The sickly King agreed but went back on his word when he discovered the new wife and daughter were hideous ogresses, and he died shortly after. Rumpelstiltskin tried to make a deal with the Prince for the magic beans, but the Prince refused, believing Rumpelstiltskin had caused his father's illness in the first place.

Enraged, Rumpelstiltskin cursed the Prince into the form of a brown bear and banished him to the Enchanted Forest, but never predicted that the Bear Prince would meet and befriend Snow White & Rose Red, the next two princesses in line to inherit the powers of the Fairest. While searching for the magic beans that the Bear Prince hid in the Enchanted Forest, Rumpelstiltskin somehow gets his beard stuck in a fallen log (an act that somehow also leaves him powerless) just before encountering Snow White & Rose Red. The two sisters help Rumpelstiltskin by cutting his beard free before the Bear Prince can stop them, and Rumpelstiltskin curses all three characters to be separated and each life a life filled with misery. Knowing Snow White's purity will drive the Evil Queen's vanity, he sends Snow White to live with her father, the Good King, and her stepmother, the Evil Queen. Rumpelstiltskin sends Rose Red to live with her maternal grandmother where she becomes Little Red Riding Hood. And Rumpelstiltskin curses the Bear Prince again, this time turning him into a hideous Beast and sending him to a "prison of his own making", a curse that could only be broken by the love of a maiden that sees passed his hideous appearance.

Finally with the magic beans in his possession, Rumpelstiltskin trades some for Jack's milk-less cow, setting him on the path to becoming Jack the Giant Killer and slaying many of the giants in Giantland.

Fairest (Book One)
Rumpelstiltskin makes his first appearance in Fairest (Book One) when the Evil Queen and her Cabal of fairy tale villains are in Dame Gothel's door-less tower communicating with Galigantus the Giant King (using a magic cauldron). There he offers the Evil Queen the magic beans in exchange for joining her Cabal and learning the details of her plan to defeat Snow White and rewrite happy endings, and the Evil Queen reluctantly agrees, still suspicious of the evil imp's ulterior motives.

Using the magic beans, Rumpelstiltskin grows the first giant beanstalk in years since Jack the Giant Killer's retirement, and the Cabal of fairy tale villains make their way to Giantland above the clouds. There they retrieve the mysterious Crystal Ball and await the arrival of Snow White and the team of fairy tale heroes.

When Snow White and her team of fairy tale heroes arrive, the two teams fight one another in a massive battle. While Hansel & Gretel intended to work together to slay the evil witch Dame Gothel, Rumpelstiltskin uses his enchanted golden string to tie Hansel up and prolong the battle between the heroes and villains so his plans are fulfilled. When the Evil Queen steals Snow White & Rose Red's Fairest magic with the Crystal Ball and intends to kill them with her black Fairest magic, the Crystal Ball steals the Evil Queen's magic as well. Rumpelstiltskin snatches the Crystal Ball, revealing this was his plan all along, and without the black Fairest magic, the Evil Queen perishes.

Rumpelstiltskin orders the fairy tale villains to kill their corresponding fairy tale heroes in exchange for the evil imp granting the villains their own happy endings, and this leaves a weakened and powerless Snow White at the mercy of Rumpelstiltskin. Believing he has won, Rumpelstiltskin reveals all his plans and actions to make this moment happen, and how he was somehow involved in everyone's fairy tales in one way or another.

Unfortunately for Rumpelstiltskin, Galigantus overheard his actions in creating Jack the Giant Killer (the one responsible for slaying a multitude of giants) and swears vengeance. The Giant King's stomping makes Rumpelstiltskin drop the Crystal Ball, allowing Prince Charming the chance to shatter it with his sword and release the three versions of the Fairest magic. The white magic returns to Snow White, the red magic returns to Red Riding Hood, and the black magic vanishes.

The last of the fairy tale villains are slain, leaving only Rumpelstiltskin at the mercy of all the fairy tale heroes. Snow White then strips him of his magic and announces he his banished from the Enchanted Forest, and the heroes leave and cut down the giant beanstalk so he is trapped in the land above the clouds. It is then implied that Rumpelstiltskin must run for his life from the rest of the giants who now know he was responsible for the deaths of so many giants.

Fairest II: East of the Sun & West of the Moon
Rumpelstiltskin doesn't make an appearance in Fairest Book Two, but he is referenced multiple times for his actions in acquiring the magic beans from the kingdom East of the Sun & West of the Moon, and for turning the Bear Prince into a Beast (a curse that can only be broken by the unconditional love of a Beauty).

Fairest Tales: A Collection of Short Stories
Rumpelstiltskin makes a significant appearance in the short story "Cinderella & the Twelve Brothers". Here it is revealed that Cinderella's father made a deal with the evil imp to live in wealth and luxury, but wanted to break out of the deal when he discovered Rumpelstiltskin wanted his firstborn daughter as payment. Unable to guess the evil imp's name, Cinderella's father still refused to give Rumpelstiltskin his firstborn daughter, so the evil imp cursed his family. Should Cinderella's mother ever give birth to a daughter, then all of their sons will be cursed into the form of birds.

Cinderella's father and mother live in luxury for many years and give birth to twelve sons. However, when Cinderella is born, the curse is fulfilled and all the Twelve Brothers are transformed into birds. Around the same time, Cinderella's mother dies, and the saddened father vows to never tell Cinderella about her brothers so she won't live with guilt. Meeting a Good Fairy during his travels, the father asks her to protect his sons and daughter, and the Good Fairy creates a cottage in the Enchanted Forest with twelve white lilies in its garden to protect the Twelve Brothers, and she becomes Cinderella's Fairy Godmother.

Years later, Cinderella's father marries another woman with two daughters of her own who become Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters. They mistreat and persecute Cinderella without the father's knowledge, and Cinderella finds solace in befriending birds, not realising these birds are secretly her Twelve Brothers.

After Cinderella marries the Prince with the help of her Fairy Godmother and glass slippers, she learns of the existence of her Twelve Brothers from her wicked stepmother and sets out in the golden pumpkin carriage to the Enchanted Forest to find them. She finds their cottage and reunites with the Twelve Brothers, only to learn they can only spend one hour every day with her. Waiting for the next day when she can spend another hour with them, Cinderella is visited at the cottage by Rumpelstiltskin who tricks her into picking the twelve white lilies in the garden that magically protected the Twelve Brothers. Sending the Twelve Brothers away, Rumpelstiltskin claims that their curse can only be broken if Cinderella can stay silent for seven years; seven years without speaking, laughing or crying. If she breaks her silence, the Twelve Brothers will remain birds forever and never return to her.

After this encounter, Rumpelstiltskin leaves and doesn't appear in the short story again.

Appearance
Rumpelstiltskin is an imp - the evil counterpart to dwarves - and is described as being short, scrawny and impish-looking with pointed ears and nose. He wears a pointed hat, pointed shoes and a vest where he kept the chest of magic beans, and before meeting Snow White & Rose Red, he apparently had a long beard.

Personality
Rumpelstiltskin is a scheming, greedy and patient imp, evident by his waiting decades to fulfil his plans to become the most powerful being in the fairy tale lands. He has a deep love of deals and bargains, possibly beginning with the first bargain he made with Carabosse the Dark Fairy with the Sleeping Beauty's curse.

Powers
Rumpelstiltskin has some natural magic, able to spin straw into gold and cast shapeshifting curses on the likes of the Bear Prince and Cinderella's Twelve Brothers. It is implied that he has some prophetic powers, able to foresee the potential in a poor miller's daughter to one day become the black Fairest powered Evil Queen, and able to foresee the Evil Queen's royal heir (Snow White) to one day become the most powerful Fairest of them all. He was also able to discover the existence of the Crystal Ball in Giantland, the land above the clouds he had no access to until he sought the magic beans to retrieve the Crystal Ball.

It is possible he has some kind of teleporting or transportation magic as he appears at the window of Dame Gothel's door-less tower without using Rapunzel's severed hair to climb up. He can also magically manipulate the golden string to tie up and entrap his adversaries.

Trivia
Because of Rumpelstiltskin's involvement in a multitude of fairy tales, he takes the roles of several fairy tale characters:
 * He is the title character in the fairy tale "Rumpelstiltskin".
 * He is the ungrateful dwarf in the fairy tale "Snow-White and Rose-Red".
 * He is the tradesman in the fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk".
 * He replaces the enchantress in the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast".
 * He was the one who gave Carabosse the Dark Fairy the Golden Spinning Wheel to exact her revenge with a deadly curse on Princess Talia from the fairy tale "The Sleeping Beauty".