Ichabod Crane

"You think... you have what it takes... to run that office?! You think I didn't make sacrifices? I've MADE sacrifices. And you won't be in that chair one minute before you have to give up something you care about just so the wheels don't fall off the goddam wagon. I did the best I could with what I had. And the town took everything it could out of me. If I maybe took a little something back in return... then so be it. I have no regrets."

- Crane on his tenure as the town's Mayor

Ichabod Crane is a major character and the cowardly Mayor of Fabletown in The Wolf Among Us. He is the former slave of William Calvin Morgan and the current employee of the planet's ruler, Azazel.

Kazama's Quest
Long ago when Crane was first elected Fabletown's mayor, a fallen angel know as Jin Kazama came to the Pyramid of Azazel to destroy Azazel and end his rein of terror over the planet. Kazama battled the Fabletown members who protected the Pyramid, and then faced off against Crane's five top assassins and collected their emerald crystal-like keys, which were called "Pyramid Crystals" along the way to do some transports. Yet Kazama showed a hired assassin, Gwen, mercy and let her live for there was something different about her, like she was from another planet of sorts. After Jin used the power of the crystals and transported himself to the upper level of the pyramid, Mayor Crane was awaiting him on his chair.

Kazama was worried that he would be no match for Azazel, as Crane said: "There is no way in Hell you have a chance against Azazel. No chance at all against our Masta." The words got to Kazama. The battle between the Japanese angel and the cowardly mayor began. Gwen suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stepped into the fight, she attacked the scared mayor and helped Jin defeat him. She saved Jin's trouble. But at the cost of her betrayal, she was struck and knocked out by a beam of dark energy that came from Crane's pistol he had with himself just in case. Crane escaped the chamber soon after like the pussi that he is. Afterwards, from the background a big glowing figure slowly emerged, Jin recognised the figure: it was none other than the malevolent Diamond God Azazel himself. He fought the dark god inside his own pyramidal temple but Jin was no match for him. Kazama and Gwen eventually escaped with a portal to Earth.

The Wolf Amongst Us
After finding Faith's decapitated head on the front steps of the Woodlands, Snow White goes to report her and Bigby Wolf's findings to Crane, as he is the mayor of Fabletown under the allowance of Azazel himself. This news angers him, and he begins to yell at Snow, claiming that the murder was her own fault. Bigby enters the business office as they argue, and intervenes in defence of Snow. Crane then turns to blame him, saying that it's his job to protect the citizens of Fabletown. He asks if Bigby has any leads or suspects, who can point the fingers at Bluebeard, the Woodsman, or Faith's pimp, all of which further displease him. Crane then asks Snow to reschedule his "massage" with Vivian, insults her for seemingly forgetting to purchase wine for him, and leaves, snidely telling Bigby to "do his job". Bigby was about to throw an insult back at him, but before he could do so, Snow stopped him and remarked that infuriating him is not a good idea.

"I know what you're thinking, Bigby. It's been one full night and a slice of morning, and I already miss her too. We had something special."

- Crane to Bigby on Snow White's apparent death

After Bigby is arrested by the FTPD for an unknown reason at the Woodlands, he is brought to a precinct in the West Side. The following afternoon, he is questioned by Detective Brannigan. During the questioning, the Detective suddenly seizes up and falls unconscious, along with the rest of the officers in the station. Crane walks in, holding a box with evidences about the murder in the Woodlands and reveals that he used a memory wipe spell on the cops, allowing him to rescue Bigby and bring him to the Woodlands to interrogate his capture. On the way back he mentions his sadness over Snow's death, which Bigby sympathised with him.

Bigby used harsh and sexual violence during his interrogation on the prisoner. Crane tried to stop Bigby thus leading Bigby to nearly hurt him. When Snow appeared in the interrogation room, him and Crane were shocked to her alive.

Whilst Bigby and Snow are looking at the corpse of Lily, he comes to see if Bigby has found any clues, and then says that Snow should stay when Bigby is about to leave to tell Holly of her sister's death. Crane stated "I'd love to join you, but I have some business I need to attend to..." and leaves.

When Bigby arrested Tweedledee, Jack Horner states that Dee was "here at the bar" and Bigby immediately knew it was Crane who released him from custody.

Later, when Bigby is investigating a room in the Open Arms Hotel, discovering Lily's real crime scene, he finds a photo of Crane and Lily; it is then revealed that Bigby's sudden discovery was being watched by Crane via the Magic Mirror. In order to prevent himself from being caught, Crane smashed the mirror broken with a magic lamp.

Crane is mentioned when the two Tweedlees order Bigby to stop searching for him at gunpoint at Lily's funeral.

At Lily's funeral, Holly is furious at Bigby for throwing Lily's body down the Witching Well, but Snow reveals that Crane was the one who did it and that Bigby had nothing to do with it; it's likely Crane had disposed her body after Bigby and Snow leave for the Trip Trap.

Now being pursued by Snow and Bigby, Crane takes a shard from the broken mirror so that they couldn't track him and rips a page about the Ring of Dispel from a book documenting all magical items not kept in the Mayor's Office, and plans to use that ring to prove his innocence since Bigby believes that he's the killer. He then travels to Aunty Greenleaf and she gives him the Ring of Dispel, but doesn't tell him that magic has worn off, and leaves right before Bigby and Snow enter Greenleaf's apartment. When Bigby and Snow catch up to him at the Puddin' & Pie, he tries to use the ring on Nerissa only to realise that it's defective after multiple failed attempts, and collapses onto the floor. Bigby mentioned how he found the photos of Crane and a glamoured Lily in the hotel room, Crane then admitted his love to Snow, which horrified her. While Bigby and Snow cannot arrest him for such perverted acts, they instead arrest him for embezzling money from Fabletown to pay off his debts to the Crooked Man.

When leaving the Puddin' & Pie, Crane is wanted by the Crooked Man due to his unpaid debts. The Tweedles and Bloody Mary demand Bigby to surrender the in-custody Crane to them. When he refuses, the twins begin to shoot rapidly at Bigby until he transforms into his massive werewolf form. Attempting to defend Crane from being killed, he consequentially receives a silver bullet to his side from Mary and collapses. Snow quickly rushes to Bigby and allows Bloody Mary to take Crane.

During his investigation into the the Crooked Man's operations, Bigby discovers Crane's coat which contains the stolen photo of Snow White and the shard from the magic mirror which Crane took when he smashed it; Crane however, is nowhere to be seen.

Once the mirror is finally repaired Snow asks to see where Crane is, and shows him being ordered by Blood Mary to get on a plane to Hinderbug and remain silent, lest she will deal with him in her "own way".

Crane is frequently brought up due to how the Crooked Man committed a crime kidnapping him and how he was a terribly unpopular leader. Morgan says he has no idea why Azazel even appointed him the mayor of one of the most important cities on his planet.

Personality and traits
Being the mayor of Fabletown, Crane often abuses his authority for his own pleasure such as ordering Snow White around too much. Despite having such a high position given to him by Azazel himself years ago, he rarely takes his job seriously and it is later revealed that he has in fact used Fabletown's money for his own desires. He also has an obsession with Snow, even going as far as to hire prostitutes like Lily to glamour themselves as Snow so that he can enact his sexual fantasies. He also shows hints of bigotry toward trolls for he quotes: "should've left them all in the homelands or extinct them all." and was horrified to see Lily's true form.

Although Crane is cowardly and corrupt, he does not turn out to be directly malicious. He only worked with the Crooked Man and Bloody Mary through coercion, and does have a sense of morality for if Bigby tortures Tweedledee in "Smoke & Mirrors", he will stand up for Dee's rights. Crane also appears to be defenceless and doesn't show any aggression or anger if Bigby slaps him. Crane also undermines Bigby's authority for he throws Lily's body down the Witching Well, even if Bigby promised Holly her body, and releasing Tweedledee from custody if Bigby arrested him.

Journal Entry
Hailing from the haunted Hond City, Ichabod Crane has been Mayor of Fabletown for nearly 5 years. Crane is a bundle of nerves and never takes his job fairly seriously. Though that doesn't mean he always does it bad. As one of Fabletown's elite, Crane is often blind to the troubles of the less well-off citizens. Overall, Crane is authoritarian, cowardly, and always hiding something. But what more can one expect from such an idiot of a man?

Trivia

 * He is named after the mayor of the town of Sleepy Hollow from the 'Headless Horseman' folklore stories.