Mythlands: THE HEIST

Character Profiles: The Heist Part One (61-65)

Jack the Giantkiller - Mentioned a few times by The Hare and The Golden Goose, Jack has been unseen in the story but he's around behind the scenes, playing his part and may yet show up 'on camera.'

The story of Jack the Giantkiller is an English fairytale and legend, set in the days of King Arthur - it could be that the English tale is based off of similar variant tales (Welsh, Norse, French, Breton, Cornish and Celtic) - in which case Jack probably has a set of dopplers in the Mythlands.

Like many tales from the oral tradition, this story existed, perhaps for centuries until it found it's way into print. That occurred in the year 1711 - that original 'chapbook' publication was updated to a more sturdy edition circa 1760 by John Cotton and Joshua Eddowes and the tale has been printed in many collections since.

The tale begins with an account of how Jack slew a cattle eating giant called Cormoron - he was able to do so by use of his wits. But another giant, Blunderbore seeks revenge - more giant killing ensues and Jack's legend is firmly in place.

With more adventures and a connection to King Arthur's court, Jack gains a magic sword, a cap of knowledge, a cloak of invisibility, and shoes of swiftness. By the end of his tale, Jack is a knight of the round table and has married the daughter of a duke.

In the Mythlands he is living a semi retired life, subject to new laws against killing giants. In order to combat occasional boredom, Jack joins his new friends Hare and Golden Goose on their own misadventures and was involved in one of Hare's get rich quick schemes in the 1960's that saw them try to hustle in Myth Vegas.

In the present day, he is helping them out again, but behind the scenes.

Mick the Barman - The star of a film that came out in 1986 and it's 1988 sequel, his legendary status and catch phrase 'You Call that a knife? This is a knife!' was enough to have the blonde Australian croc hunter manifest in the Mythlands.

Eventually finding terrain to his liking, Mick opened up a bar in the western desert, east of Narnia and affiliated realms and west of Elephantland, Oz and Wonderland. His bar is frequented by mercenaries, treasure hunters, adventurers and anyone foolhardy enough to hide out or travel through the desert.

Mick is a good friend to Goldie Lochs and came to her defense when a group of oriental assassins tried to kill her because she'd conned their boss, a certain doctor, by the name of Manchu. Goldie's Australian accent may indicate a deeper connection - perhaps that of trainer and pupil.

Behind his bar Mick keeps a good supply of large cigars, as well as a baseball bat, shotgun and gatling gun.

Goldie Lochs - Goldie is an example of two kinds of Mythlanders. First the child character now grown to adulthood and secondly the type of character who massively re-invents themselves. Formerly a sweet little girl who got involved with three bears, ate their porridge and slept in their beds etc etc, Goldie grew up to be a hard drinking, cigar smoking, ladette who works for the highest bidder, dubbing herself an 'adventurer,' she could best be described as a mercenary, a thief, a con artist, a brawler and in the eyes of some, a lost cause. She also engages in tomb raiding and treasure hunting, sometimes with friends such as Lara, Dora and a few times, Jessica Bunny.

The story of Goldilocks may have existed in the oral tradition first of all, but it first entered the world of literature when Robert Southey, a British writer and poet, anonymously published 'The Story of the Three Bears,' in a collection called 'The Doctor.' in 1837.

Due to the efforts of admirers of the story, it was reissued in 1848 with illustrations by George Nicol, with Southey identified as the stories author. Before either of these, Southey had been orally telling the tale, as early as 1813 and his may have been a variation of a tale told by his uncle William Tyler. In Southey's original, it wasn't a little girl but an old woman who enters the house of the bears - in Tyler's that old woman may have been a vixen and not human.