The inciting event
The game begins in Briar Hill, the hero's childhood village. After a time jump to adulthood, a mysterious figure arrives. This stranger turns the hero's grandmother and the entire village population to stone, leaving the player as the sole survivor. This petrification is what sends the hero out into Albion to find answers.
The grandmother mentions Bowerstone and the Heroes' Guild before being petrified, giving the player a direction. Everything that follows in the main story stems from this moment.
No time pressure
Ralph Fulton explained the narrative design behind the petrification: "The story is written so that although there are stakes, your grandmother and village, there's no ticking bomb." The village stays frozen. The threat is real but not urgent. This lets the player explore Albion freely, buy property, build a reputation, and engage with the world at their own pace before pursuing the main quest.
This is a deliberate design choice. Open-world RPGs often struggle with the tension between an urgent main quest and the player's desire to explore. Fable resolves this by making the stakes personal but static. Your grandmother is stone. She is not getting worse. She can wait.
Jack of Blades connection
The 2024 Xbox Showcase trailer included imagery that strongly resembled Jack of Blades, one of the most iconic villains in Fable history. The figure wore a crimson hood, carried a staff, and was surrounded by a red aura. Fans immediately noticed the similarities.
Jack of Blades is an interdimensional being from the original Fable who could take over new bodies using a magic mask. He was the primary antagonist of the first game and one of the franchise's most memorable characters. If he returns in the reboot, it would be in a form consistent with his ability to possess new hosts. But Playground Games has not confirmed or denied the connection.
The Cult of Shadows
The Cult of Shadows is confirmed to return in the reboot, operating out of Bloodstone. Whether The Stranger is connected to the cult, leads it, or is a separate threat entirely remains unclear. The cult and The Stranger both pose threats to Albion, but their relationship has been kept under wraps.
Humphry's former student
Humphry the Golden once took in a powerful heroine who turned evil and now threatens Albion. This former student is part of why Humphry became reclusive. Whether this turned-evil student is The Stranger, is connected to The Stranger, or is a separate antagonist has not been revealed. The game appears to have multiple antagonistic threads that may or may not converge.
What remains unknown
Nearly everything about The Stranger is deliberately obscured. Their identity, their motive for petrifying Briar Hill, their connection to Jack of Blades (if any), their relationship to the Cult of Shadows, and their endgame are all open questions. Playground Games is clearly saving these revelations for the game itself.
What is known is structural: The Stranger is the catalyst for the entire story. Every quest the player undertakes in the main narrative traces back to that moment in Briar Hill when the village turned to stone.