Who is the killer? You will be surprised

DrHog

EDIT: Maybe the title is too boring, so I will put the hottest stuff up front: In this passage I will explain not only how Nerissa is actually Faith in last scene(cause it's covered in every second thread), but also how Faith could have killed Nerissa and Lily while fooling everyone (just by the sound, it's a lot more cool than just Georgie killing everyone, isn't it?)

I am going to rewrite some of the stuff I wrote on another forums, seeing how here people are also active might get something interesting to talk about. I was just surprised not to see very common things on the top from earlier episodes, maybe I see it all evenly because I waited for whole game to come out...

ANYWAY, let's get started. Episode 1, Lawrence's apartment.
All the blood on his body is dry, the blood on the knife and the bed/floor is fresh. Meaning most likely it was someone else's blood. Also the knife is conviniently sharp, just as Bigby commented from first finding ''Faith's head''. So it could have been used to cut someone's head off. Someone who was lying on the bed(by the left marks). And guess what, there is a ton of sleeping pills near Lawrence - meaning that the murdered girl could have been put to sleep in that room and was kept there, then at the needed time her head cut off and transported to the scene. Also the note on the bed, since it was up it's obviously not written by Lawrence. Why was the bed up in the first place? It would only make the killer look worse, cause it showed that someone else was in Lawrence's room. Also by the actions of the Tim-guys(they came searching, were quite surprised by what they saw) we can tell that Crooked man or Georgie were not aware of that whole thing, cause if they were, they would clean it right away, or would not bother at all.
So, to sum up, with the help of sleeping pills, the murder could have been done in Lawrene's room, without him noticing. Since he's a Fable, he could have been kept alseep for the whole 2 weeks by the murderer(using pills), so he would not notice anyone. Only one who vistits him is Faith, so it doesn't make her 'position' better in this case.
Another fun thing about notes on the fridge and the bed: either Faith and Lawrence have identical handwriting, or they are just very similar. Cause they are. The loops at 'y' and 'g', the 'a' are almost a perfect match. If we keep in mind that Lawrence did not put his note on the bed FOR SURE (I mean come on, fresh blood, open bed), it could also mean that both notes were written by the same person. As a note, the style is very classy, logical for a royal family. And yeah, note on fridge: 'I brought you some money last time so please pay for the rent, cause there will be a senseless girl lying on the bed next to you for a while and I don't want anyone to find out'
Yep, handwriting is a thing, You gonna believe me if by the time You finish reading this (if you do )

Now, the hotel: main question, how did the body disappear past Beauty so easily? The blood trails end at the door. Luckly, we have magic in this story, cause the body just magically disappeared by all the provided evidence. Well, coincidently the Creeping's man hideout has a nice thing about doors. I'm almost sure those magic doors were used to transfer the body from the hotel, Lawrene's room and maybe to some third place(or 2 bodies transfered from 2 different rooms in the same way). The only question is whether the murder could somehow control those, or found out the logic behind their work (that would explain the need to wait for 2 weeks with Lily in some way, murderer would wait till door appeared at the needed place). I mean how do these guys get in there? There must be either a way to summon the doors, or some schedule. The doors also last for a while(Bigby took some time to get there), so it's possible to enter (probably witohut the body since it's already there), commit murder and leave(with the body) in one go. The doors lead to a huge 'castle' and the doorman is a 'slow'(to put it kindly) boy, so it's not a problem to carry body around there without being noticed.
Returning to the hotel, since Lily was needed to be in sleep anyway, she could have been there under the sleeping pills effect for the whole 2 weeks('Fables are durable'), so there is a slight chance she was in the room the whole time and was carried through magic door only once, after being killed. Yeah, that makes sense too: killer has her there for 2 weeks till the door is activated, then carries her to the castle, from there to the pond.
Returning to the bed in Lawrence's room, why pull it up and close the 'doors'? Well, it sounds so crazy that it may actually be it: technically the bed is aslo behind the 'door', no problem with it being used to teleport to Crooked man's castle (not the front door, cause maybe it was not the active door at the time). It could have been rearranged a bit, but I'm sure that the bed was 'up' to use the door at it as a teleport - no other good explanation to put it up.

Now, a small note to "little mermaid". I asked this question the second I saw her - why is she talking? The cripple boy has his leg broken (could be healed for a ton of cash, but who has it these days), so shouldn't it be same for HER? Little mermaind paid with her VOICE to get her legs(pretty common story, so it was not mentioned directly), whoever was impersonating her at the club just made a note of a high price (only to taunt Bigby further). (funny to say, mermaind's lips were were sealed too according to her original story). Also she if I recall correctly in the end she was given a dagger to kill the prince, so she could live. Instead, she killed herself. Too much of a side note, but I feel that it's the same dagger that was found in Lawrene's room, pretty much no other dagger related fables in the whole game. Speaking of the mermaid, if the real one was mute, she would not need a ribbon. Then she was killed by the dagger found in Lawrence's room, so it looks like it was a ribbon even though she woudn't have one. By ribbon I mean an enchanted one of course - she could have worn a normal one just to look same as other girls, so customers have less questions.

The theory that Nerissa was actually mute might be a fluke, but the more I look into it, the more I find:
In the scene at the 'crib', look at her dancing. Real mermaid should have been a perfect dancer according to the tale, so it should have come with ease, but it didn't look that amazing. More importantly, by her face expression I had a strong feeling that she only had 'don't talk' in mind, so it's possible she was pretending to be mute in front of Georgie (he must have though she was). When 'mermaid' made appointment for Bigby with Georgie - she wrote something on a note and gave it to Georgie, no words said again. She talked a bit when Vivian was around though, but it's very likely that Vivian knew about some of their plans and was protecting her. For example, she could know that Faith took the image of Narissa. As for he death scene, since she was so caring about the girls that she killed herself, it's easy to accept that she would not say anything even if they killed anyone or made some other plans, since Georgie was already an easy suspect and was almost dead anyway.
In the scene where Crane tries to use his ring there was also a strong implication that Vivian and Nerissa played along with the 'mute' thing, she almost said that 'She can't help it', but then Narissa gave up and started talking(and Vivian stopped right away). Could be a contribution to mute theory, although I'm not strongly forcing that one. Also in that scene, a solid trolling bit by Nerissa when she said 'my lips are sealed' instead of 'these lips are sealed'. Must have misspoke, but this really looked eyecatching a bit. To finish with that part, Crane just knew something - he was asking the girls, not Georgie or the Crooked man. Since they were allies he could have known something(and could have asked them), and he was probably hitting the jackpot there. K, done with the mermaid for now.

Now, who was impersonating who?

And here come the last thing I want to talk about again handwriting. There are lots of notes, most are signed but the thing to find out is 'who wrote what'. First there are the 2 notes in Lawrence's room: one on fridge and one on the Bed(covered them earlier).

Next KEY point is the short note from Lily - it could not be her(since she was in deep sleep), it's important to see who wrote it too.
Lily's handwriting on the note to Faith and the entry book are completely different. Nuff said. More than that Entry for Mr Smith is exactly the same as the one above, so that must have been the original writer(straight separate lines). I'd say that this is how one would imagine a troll to write - big straight lines, cause trolls surely have problems with using pens from birth. Except they don't - confirming Lily's true handwriting from the funeral cards will be a very important key to this, I didn't get there yet. It could also be a style to hide the true handwriting - either way, those aren't naturally written entries. The only thing that was written by Lily for sure is the address book, and the style seems closer to the entry book stuff. At the same time, it's completely different from the 'note to Faith', so there is a high chance that the killer wrote that note just so Bigby can see it (it was right on the floor in front of Bigby, hard to put it in a more obvious place). That way we would be fooled to think that Lily was 'awake' on the night 'Faith' was found or to confirm that she asked Faith to replace her for Woody (in fact she was either dead or more likely in deep sleep in room 207).
Now, looking at the book, 'Mr Black' should have been the Woodsman, he's the only one with 'private residence' address(he's also mentioned as WB in Lily's address book, B must be for 'Black'). Entry was written by same person who made '207' entry. Since Faith was substituting her at the time, it's very likely that she was the one writing these lines.

As for funerals - Gren, Vivian and Holy were the ones to write something. Nerissa was there, but didn't write anything, probably didn't want to risk and let Vivian others see her handwriting. Pretty strange, a good friend invited to funerals, and can't even write a few lines to her dead friend like others.

Now let's take a look at Georgie. In last scene, 'Mermaid' said that she and Lily were sitting somewhere when Faith walked in, then something-something and she ded. Most likely Georgie just wanted to hit her with his bat like he wanted to hit Hans. Bigby could smash the stuff in the club with that bad - noticed how it had a lot of blood on it? No direct evidence, but my guess is that Georgie hit Faith in the head with the bat when he saw her, she fell and he though she died. Faith is a really weak Fable (let's be honest), so that would be enough. But what if Faith and Narissa swapped places? Narissa was tough enough to survive a lot (more popular- tougher Fable), so maybe the girls planned this whole thing in advance to make Georgie think that he killed Faith, while she remained alive. That way, one of the girls could have been set 'free' possible to help free others somehow. But the murdered used this to their advantage, and murdered the witnesses instead. All that said, just to open a possibility to how Georgie would truly believe that he killed someone, without actually doing it.
Also, Lily died in room 207, Ness/Faith must have died in Lawrence's room, whoever Georgie hit (probably was at the club) was not killed. Georgie is not a complete idiot to kill someone at the motel(they still have to do business there, if he REALLY wanted to do it, he'd do it at a more safe place), and he shouldn't have known about Lawrence's place; again meaning that he most likely didn't kill anyone.

Too much text, I must have missed something, but let's SUM UP:
Lawrence's apartment is the cornerstone. The knife and the fresh blood, the open bed and the note, all of that are there for a reason and I think my logic in the start was right. Once we agree that Faith actually killed Ness in that apartment, a lot of previously solid theories break apart:
First, it already means that Georgie did not kill both girls (even though by the way he said it, he did). And if he didn't kill two, maybe he didn't kill any. This creates a 'who and why' questions, and as a result Faith could kill Lily just to keep her mouth shut (she honestly said that 3 of them planned to get out of it).

I mean don't forget, it's a detective game, ''Georgie is the killer'' is just way to weak for a good outcome option. The sweetest one is 'Faith masked her death, killed 2 of her friends and tried to kill Lawrence for being a wimp'. How did she try to kill Lawrence? Oh, it was bothering me a bit at first, now it makes more sense: If she really kept Narissa at his room and even made a note to mask the spilled blood it as a suicide, it's logical to make sure Lawrence stays dead. Maybe she noticed that he was alive after he shot his lung - so she cut his wrist too. With luck, he just survived.
Why would the blood on the wrist be dry? Easy - the fan. If you think about it, if you aim a fan at the bleeding person, the blood will dry MUCH faster. Because of it I'm not sure about the complete sequence of events(the dry part only makes it unclear when Lawrence shot his lung, could have been right before Ness was brought in, could have been a week before that), but this small point must have been vital. My best guess is that Faith saw Lawrence's suicide attempt one day, noticed he was breathing, brought Ness there, filled them both with sleeping pills, had her there for some time, then at the fated day cut her head off and cut Lawrence's wrist before going away.

So, to sum up the sequence that could be supported by facts above:
-First the 3 girls made a plan to run away. Maybe asked Vivi's help too. Got the pictures, Faith ratted everyone out, everything set in motion.
-Now, how she tricked Georgie? Again, there is no scene with clear feedback from him, so how about this: Fate provokes Georgie and he hits her with his bat (one that Bigby could use to smash stuff, it has bits of blood on it too for some reason). Fables don't die easy, so a solid wound to the head could keep them alive. If they switched among each other(using glamour), and Georgie thought that he hit Faith (pretty weak Fable), he could have been sure he killed her (and in reality he would hit someone else, like Nerissa who is a very strong fable). This could happen before 'storing' mermaid in Lawrene's room and putting Lily to sleep, cause Georgie and Crippled man never said anything about time. Faith could have planned this with Lily and Nerissa this just to make Georgie and Crippled man think that Faith is dead, so she can operate openly(another proof is that she used 'Gren' in the entry book for meeting Woody on the first day of the game, so they would not suspect it was her in case someone looked); what they didn't expect is that Faith would kill them too and take their place.
- Faith puts mermaid to sleep in Lawrence apartment. Tons of pills suggest that someone was put to sleep, could be either Lawrence or Narissa, or both.
- Faith used the same pills to hold Lily in room 207, only person who came there was Crane and he was expecting a 'sleeping beauty' in the first place, so it could have lasted for as long as needed.
- On the first game night real Faith went to make 'noise' in Woodlands to attract Bigby (the fake note from Lily it to 'prove' that she was asked to go there). After that she goes to Lawrence place, cuts mermaid's head off, most likely enters through the bed-door (else no reason to make bed 'up') and leaves the head in front of Bigby's appartement. Also leaves a note on bed to make the whole thing look like suicide(it already did, just put MORE emphasis). Must have forgotten about note when carrying the body through door, that's why note is in such place. No time to clean blood, but the whole Lawrene's room makes it look like it's his blood or something. This is pretty solid, Tim-s had no idea of that, so Georgie should have also been out of this too.
- OK, returing the Lily - she was sleeping until needed time, Faith was writing the entries instead of her. Then when time came, Faith could just untie the ribbon and kill her. Lots of blood can be explained by Lily's size (even if she's glamoured outside, if i remeber right things on inside still count), then she teleported and dumped the body She tried to leave the scene as messy as possible, so Bigby would notice. I think if Georgie did it, he would have some common sense to clear afterwards, or even pick a better place to begin with. She could have even said the 'don't laugh at me' lines, since TJ never said whether it was a man or a woman who said it. Along with Georgie and Bigby, Faith also smoked Huff-n-Puff, so it is entirely possible that she comited both murders.(or she carried it on purpose to make people think it was Georgie).

The rest is pretty much covered, I tried to concentrate on the points that most threads ignored,
Thank You for reading, have a nice day.

DrHog

To put as a side note, I believe there is a sequence of 'choices' that will lead to a secret ending:
Something like: Give money to Faith, find it later as evidence; save Lawrence, note the undisturbed scene at his room; make a deal with Jack, have him say something at last scene; and so on and so forth.
As a result, when Narissa comes to accuse Crippled man, Bigby will say something like 'oh Hey Faith', throw in some evidence (like Lawrence's room), ask her to remove her ribbon(she confirmed it was powerless) and then it would magically turn out that it was the glamour item keeping her image (the tubes are a signature of a particular witch, it's not impossible to have other types of glamour). Now that would be a worthy hidden ending, don't you think so?

DrHog

OK, a few more things to add to the theory:
The bloody wheel at foundry. Georgie said he need to make an example, to punish - death is too easy. Put a troll (Lily) on a giant wheel with spikes, chain her there and have her bleed slowly. Maybe even let her leave after that. Would explain 2 weeks of missing time. Also, what if Vivi comes one day and say that Lily died on the wheel? Georgie would just ask to dump the body, but he would be sure he killed her. While in reality she was teleported away (well, that part is described earlier). The wheel would also explain the holes on her legs. Easy to just assume she did drugs, BUT if she was tied to that wheel and bleeding cause of spikes, isn't that a stronger evidence?

Next thanks to another thread with detailed analysis on the 'magic lab' and glamour, especially the fact that Faith had an additional. You know you have a good theory when you suddenly uncover a giant piece of evidence that you previously ignored, and then it fits perfectly. If that additional piece was to block mirror from seeing her (if you can make a ribbon that makes your head come off AND block mirror, it should be easier to make ribbon that just blocks mirror), then we can try the idea that only Vivian't ribbon was real, copying magic was a tale for Gergoie so he is sure that girls keep the mouths shut and won't bother them much.
That would explain the need of dagger in Lawrence's room and even the whole disapearence sequence of woody's axe (if it was used to cut Lili's head off).
I'm pretty sure about this theory, even though it has 3 things that are very hard to believe, it goes scaringly well with all the small pieces of evidence (like blood on wheel, bat, the whole Lawrence's room, etc).

Oh, 3 things hard to believe to sum up:

1) Georgie was tricked to think he killed the girls, while he did not and probably did not want to (I know how he punished 2 and that he didn't even touch third, so talk about 'direct orders to kill')

2) Ribbons were fake. This Is also very hard to believe because of the mirror, but again, as described above, it can be true. And it would add pieces for weapons.

3) Faith killed Lily and Narissa, most likely helped with Lawrence's suicide. It's a rather clear outcome once the first two points are proven, hard planning is a thing about her.

Well, this theory is so crazy that I gonna brake my keyboard trying to make people believe it (cause it is impossible to prove it in '2 words'), and to get a whole picture and see how all pieces are connected, one has to be patient enough to read a wall of text. So I'll just bump it once things become clear so everyone can see I was right