A Character Dissection Exercise: Elder Faerie Cookie.
In this post, I will be attempting to theorize more about Elder Faerie's personality by looking at his general history (some parts of which will be speculated), as well was what other info we are given about him in-game. Treat this as a theory/analysis.
"I shall protect this world from evil."
What we know about him in canon.
Founded the Faerie Kingdom
Has been around for literally ages, perhaps as long as the elementals
His origins are unknown, but implied to be related to the witches who created the world.
His duty is to protect the silver tree, or rather that is the duty he has taken up for the good of all.
He's stubborn has all heck. Really. This guy is the definition of Tenacity.
Uses Prism Energy in his attacks.
Is calm and serious, but also empathetic and probably has a little trouble expressing his emotions. He cares deeply for his duty and his knights and friends
He knows some primordial witchcraft
He uses half of his life energy to bring White Lily back and then sacrifices the rest of his life force in an attempt to stop Shadow Milk Cookie.... Oh. Oh wait, that makes sense.
________________________________________________________________
Potential Backstory
(Warning: Canon Spoilers mixed with Heavy Speculation Ahead. Speculations will be colored in red.)
Elder Faerie was once a regular guardian of Earth bread like the Sugar Swan and the other Elementals. He was actually similar to Moonlight Cookie in that he was directly baked by the Witches just as Moonlight was baked by the Wizards. While Moonlight was baked to explore the Dream Realm and aid the Wizards' in their research, Elder Faerie was baked with a simple task: Protect Earth Bread from any threat that comes it's way.
See, while the Divine Emissaries were baked specifically to aid cookie kind, Elder Faerie was baked to protect the land in general. It is for this reason that he wasn't given a soul jam of virtue. His job involved protection, not spreading an influence meant to progress cookie kind.
In the beginning, Elder Faerie did a lot of traveling and would eventually settle down in Beast Yeast due to a lot of threats coming from this cotenant specifically. Since the Divine Emissaries were doing a majority of their work here, it's also reasonable to assume that Elder Faerie settled here to make sure that no outside forces tried to interfere with their work.
During his early time in Beast Yeast, he would meet and befriend the Emissary of Solidarity, who would visit him often the newly established Faerie kingdom. An interesting possibility is that maybe Salt of Solidarity actually helped Elder Faerie build his kingdom, hence how he knows about it as well as where to find it. The two were on very good terms with each other, as they both cared deeply for the world they were created to help as well as their responsibilities that gave them their purposes.
While Elder Faerie was responsible for protecting the land from major threats, minor threats could easily be brought down with the unity of the cookies. Because of this, Elder Faerie was less of an active hunter of threats, and more of a careful watcher over the land, as he'd let the cookies handle whatever small-scale threats came their way. Salt of Solidarity would often lead the charge against dealing with these problems.
In the earliest days, when the Emissaries all served the greater good, the witches would visit various parts of Beast Yeast to check on how things were going. It is confirmed in canon that they visited Salt of Solidarity, but it is unknown if they ever visited the Faerie Kingdom. However, as the virtues began to fall away, the witches stopped visiting all together. It is currently unknown as to why this happened.
Because the other Emissaries were "too busy to visit" at the time, Salt of Solidarity wanted a way to connect with his collogues even while they were performing their duties. He went to Elder Faerie for help with this project. After a long brainstorming session, they came up with an idea: they would plant a special tree that would connect to all of the virtues, and through the connections they would be able to keep tabs on everyone and better work together for the greater good.
It was also around this time that corruption began to spread withing the Emissaries' hearts.
The tree was planted, and Salt would check in on it every so often. Turmoil would brew across the continent as each Virtue fell from grace. This would all come to a head upon the complete growth of the Silver Tree. Salt would give up half of his power to connect to the other virtues before heading back to the great barren to check in on his knights. And Elder Faerie would use the Powers of the Silver Tree to check up on all of the virtues...
Only to find that most of them had already fallen to darkness by this time. Elder Faerie would witness the rise of a great evil that was ready to tear the continent apart, as well as the fall of the last virtue held by his dear friend. He'd watch as Silent Salt Cookie massacred the armies that destroyed his knights.
Salt would return to Elder Faerie Cookie after the whole ordeal, and Elder Faerie would tell Salt the truth about his former collogues. Enraged, and upon realizing that they had all failed their purposes, Silent Salt cookie then asked Elder Faerie to seal them all in the Silver Tree so that their evil would no longer threaten the world. Elder Faerie understood the circumstances and agreed to help, but he was also conflicted as he was about to lose his only friend for the greater good.
After the Beasts were sealed away in the Silver Tree, their soul jams were purified by the Silver Tree's power and sent out into the world to find new wielders. Elder Faerie prioritized the maintenance of the Tree's seal, founding the Silver Guard to ensure that no outside threat would try to unleash the Beasts from their prison.
Until... someone tried to break the seal, causing the Great Calamity.
No, it wasn't Dark Enchantress. If it was her, then she would have had to time travel (vaguely possible thanks to a certain Croissant but as of now is unconfirmed) to rip that hole in the Tree's trunk. As of this time, the culprit who damaged the Silver Tree remains a mystery. I'm not sure when or how Dark Enchantress made her deal with the Beasts, but she did at some point before the heroes arrived in Beast Yeast.
White Lily cookie would appear in the Faerie Kingdom at this time and help re-seal the Tree. This deed would make her a hero in the Faerie Kingdom.
Elder Faerie was especially grateful for Lily's help, and she would be allowed to stay in the kingdom for as long as she wanted. Over her time there, Elder Faerie would grow close to Lily over their shared interests of making the world a better place. Elder Faerie also saw a bit of his old friend in her as well.
Of course, Lily would then leave for the witch's banquet. Elder Faerie was worried about what could happen there as well as the possibility of losing another close friend. He even offered Lily a place to stay in his kingdom. She went anyway, and Dark Enchantress Cookie was re-baked. White Lily's soul would make its way back to the Faerie Kingdom, where Elder Faerie put her in a glass coffin to preserve what was left of her. (Still not sure how this part works. Forgive me for sounding unclear.)
Dark Enchantress would then go on to wage the first Dark Flour War. The other ancient heroes showed up to face her and stop her evil from spreading. Elder Faerie was unable to join the heroes in the war due to the threat of the Beasts breaking out being a very real possibility. The Silver Tree was already wounded from the culprit of the Great Calamity, and it was a coin's toss between Dark Enchantress breaking them all loose, or the Beasts taking advantage of the war to break themselves out. The latter possibility led Elder Faerie to tighten security around the Silver Tree during this time.
The First Dark Flour War would end with Pure Vanilla Cookie shattering their purified soul jams, trapping Dark Enchantress in the Crescent Moon prison. The Golden Cheese Kingdom got destroyed in the war, and in the Hollyberry Kingdom, Hollyberry Cookie would step down from her throne after her son got married.
During most of this time, pieces of Lily's soul would wander aimlessly looking for fragmented memories of her past, while Elder Faerie would keep watch over her remains, as well as the Silver Tree.
Then many years later, Dark Enchantress would be freed on accident by the Gingergang, and they would go on to rally the ancient heroes and make new allies before heading to Beast Yeast to find the whereabouts of Dark Enchantress Cookie. During their expedition, they would come across White Lily's memories and find the Faerie Kingdom. Elder Faerie would welcome them in and tell the an altered story of what happened: that the witches trapped the Beasts in the Silver Tree to prevent them from causing any more trouble.
However, due to a mix of circumstances, namely: both White Lily's weakening life force affecting the barrier she put on the tree, as well as the presence of Pure Vanilla Cookie's soul jam drawing the awareness of Shadow Milk Cookie, the Beast of Deceit would attempt an early break out.
Shadow Milk's spirit was able to wreak havoc on the Faerie Kingdom. It was during this crisis that Elder Faerie recognized two crucial facts about the situation: Firstly, White Lily's power may have been the only thing that could re-seal the tree in time before the beasts could break out, as his power alone against Shadow's power wouldn't have been enough. Secondly, they were up against the former Emissary of Knowledge, who had the highest chance of learning who truly sealed the Beasts in the Silver tree.
Because of that second reason, Elder Faerie understood what needed to happen: He needed to sacrifice his own life essence to bring White Lily back to life so that she could have a higher chance of re-sealing the tree. And if he died in the process... then hopefully the secret would die with him.
He was willing to sacrifice his life to keep his friend's secret. If anything, he was the only one who knew the truth, and if he died then it would take a long time before the Beasts found out who really put them in the tree. But why? Why was it so important for the Beasts to not know that it was Salty and Elder Faerie who worked together to put them in the tree?
My best guess would be... well... if the Beasts knew that the witches were gone without a trace, then any fear they had of their creators would disappear. I imagine that the only reason the Beasts aren't wrecking total havoc is because they think that causing too much chaos will draw the witches' attention. But since they aren't actually around, then it's a race against the clock to put the Beasts back into containment before they find out that their creators aren't actually a threat. The moment the truth gets out, then the Beasts aren't going to hold back. They are going to tear Earth bread to shreds for their own amusement.
Anyways, Elder Faerie would meet an untimely demise after sacrificing all of his power to stop the Beasts from getting out. Unfortunately for him, they got out anyways thanks to some very unfair loopholes.
So, the only question to ask now is: was it all worth it in the end?
Personally, I think it wasn't. But to Elder Faery? Every second of time he bought with his death was. ______________________________________________________________
What was Elder Faerie Like?
The backstory I have speculated for him most likely has some holes in it. But from the canon we are given, we are pretty clearly shown a major key detail about Elder Faerie's personality:
> His Tenacity <
This guy has a will made of literal steel. He will not break or bend under pressure. He's incredibly resilient. Even when faced with mockery, war, and death he absolutely refused to even hint that something wasn't as it seemed. He stood his ground, lied through his teeth, and took the truth about the silver tree to his literal grave. Elder Faerie cares deeply for the greater good and was willing to honor the requests of his friends at the expense of his own personal desires.
And that last bit right there is also the most important bit about this whole thing.
Imagine being entrusted with a dangerous secret from your closest friend- a secret so devastating that if the wrong people found out about it, it would lead to the potential destruction of the world. You then watch as your friend then basically dies.
Now, imagine having to keep that secret as well as having to bottle up your own grief because if you cried, then you would be hinting at something being wrong. Imagine having to keep your own unspoken feelings and this dangerous secret to yourself for hundreds of years and the only people you can potentially safely confide in about your issues keep leaving you.
Imagine trying to drown out your grief by trying to enjoy yourself. But not even after all that time, the endless celebrations and faery songs can't make you feel better. You are surrounded by festivities and honor, but it all tastes bitter because you have to guard your feelings and secrets all alone.
What I'm saying is that it's a miracle that Elder Faerie hasn't become evil. The poor guy hasn't had any support. He CAN'T have any support. Because if he did, if he decided to selfishly tell someone the truth just to get it off his chest, then that action could potentially lead to the Beasts finding out the truth. Any chance to confide in someone else ultimately becomes a risk.
As well as the fact that you are also a risk as long as you're alive.
So, imagine that when you are faced with the possibility that the evil you've been guarding for so long is about to break free, you realize that the first target of their pent-up aggression WILL BE YOU. They will torture you, break you, and if you even slip up once, they will shake you down until you tell them what you know. Knowing that you are living could potentially put the world at risk, you decide to take the easy way out.
You decide to end your own life to buy your allies time to lock this threat back up.
And keep in mind that Elder Faerie did all of this for the world he loved so dearly. He had to sacrifice his friends, his feelings, and potentially his sanity to keep the cookie world safe. The same world that he desperately wanted to be a part of in a certain case.
_______________________________________
So, my conclusion to all this?
(Small Warning: this is a hot take)
"We don't give this guy enough credit." is an understatement. And frankly, I am ashamed that the only thing this fandom does is treat this guy like shipping fodder.
Seriously. Elder Faerie doesn't need a date. He needed therapy. Yesterday.
Have your fun if you wish, but I want to see the Faerie King get the closure he deserves. I want to see him open up about everything he's been through. I want to see him get better. But if canon stays the way it is, then that may never happen.
====================================
