The reboot of Fable from Playground Games draws closer every day, but every passing day without official word on the game's contents leaves more room for fans to speculate. At this point, it's still entirely unclear what relationship Fable might have with its predecessors. Playground Games might want to put its own stamp on the series by reusing nothing from the original games, but the use of the Fable name implies that the reboot will have roots in the old games. That could very well mean that the new Fable game brings back a previous villain like the notorious Jack of Blades.
Fans of the original Fable trilogy likely remember Jack of Blades as the first Fable game's main antagonist. Jack of Blades was a mysterious extradimensional being determined to wreak havoc in Albion and reclaim the power that he held before his defeat at the hands of William Black. The Fable reboot's relationship with Albion, Jack of Blades, and other Fable lore isn't clear, but if it's meant to be a reboot of the first game, then fans could very well find themselves battling Jack of Blades once again. The first Fable game provides a wealth of lore that Playground Games could use to build its own version of Jack of Blades.
Jack of Blades in the Fable Universe
Jack of Blades stems from a world called the Void and predates the humans of Albion by millennia. In his prime, Jack was part of the Court along with two other Void beings called the Queen of Blades and the Knight of Blades. Legend has it that, long before the events of Fable, the Court entered Albion and demanded fealty from the people of Albion, bringing tremendous disasters to the human world every time humanity refused. The Court's reign of terror lasted until William Black defeated them all with the help of the Sword of Aeons. While the Knight and the Queen were seemingly destroyed, Jack managed to live on by binding his soul to a mask.
Ever since the days of William Black, Jack managed to enact his vengeance on Albion by taking control of anyone who put on his mask. Various past atrocities in the Fable world are attributed to Jack, although he sometimes pretends to be a hero. During the events of Fable, he seeks out the Sword of Aeons as a means of restoring his former power, but good-aligned players can put an end to Jack's misdeeds. In the original Fable, players defeat him in his humanoid form before destroying the Sword of Aeons, but in Fable: The Lost Chapters, players can have one final battle with Jack where he transforms into a dragon. After this second battle, players can destroy Jack's mask, seemingly defeating him forever.
Reviving Jack for the Fable Reboot
Right now, there's no telling where the Playground Games Fable game stands in relation to Fable canon. Playground hasn't even specified whether it takes place in Albion or not. However, assuming it does, there are a number of ways that the reboot could adapt Jack's story. Naturally, Playground could start over from the first Fable game, giving Jack an even richer role and backstory than before by building on Fable's foundations. The reboot could also be about Jack returning to life to avenge his second destruction. After all, a godlike being like Jack may not have truly been killed by the events of Fable.
Even if Playground doesn't bring back Jack of Blades, it could build a villain around his story concept. A vengeful supernatural being with ties to the Fable reboot's distant history would encourage players to learn more about the world around them while keeping the story's stakes high. Fable doesn't have to bring back Albion in order to have its own list of otherworldly tyrants. It could be quite some time before Playground Games reveals the Fable game's plot, so no matter which way Playground decides to go, fans of Jack will just have to wait and see what his relationship to the reboot is.
Fable is in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.