Ibbit

Creation

Ibbit was created by writer John Ney Rieber and artist Ryan Kelly in The Books of Faerie: Molly’s Story issue 1, in 1999.

Major Story Arcs

Ibbit is a frog that turns into a giant monster due to the effects of the Twilight Gem, which is a massively powerful artifact that helps define the realm of Faerie.

He sits in the desert, wishing for the return of his lake. He is peaceful and not very intelligent. The demon Barbatos finds him, and pretends to accept Ibbit as his master, but really using the power of the gem to fuel his own schemes.

It is unclear how he gained the gem. Briar Rose says she used Twilight to bring Barbatos to Faerie, so perhaps she gave Twilight to Ibbit afterwards. Later on, when she asked Titania about who had the gem, and Titania described Ibbit, Briar seem to think it was funny; perhaps this means that she discarded the gem in a river but guessed what happened to it by accident afterwards.

One thing Barbatos does is get the Flitlings to revolt against the rest of the fairies. They enslave many of them, including Auberon and Titania. The slaves are forced to get water from a distant lake and carry it to where Ibbit sits in the middle of the desert. They pour out the water at his feet. Ibbit, having the limited intelligence of a frog, thinks this will recreate his lake, but the water just quickly drains down into the sand and disappears.

Sometimes Ibbit sees the skeletons of fairies who have died in this process, and wants them to get up and help. He doesn’t understand death. Barbatos explains to him that this is “theology,” which under his twisted description is just beings who don’t know what happens to them after death.

Ibbit begins to see the dead fairies as dead fish, and describes them as “theology fish,” meaning dead, and calls the water that drains into the sand “theology water.”

Ibbit, being simple, likes to hear Barbatos tell him stories at night.

Molly, Auberon, Yarrow, and Titania eventually confront Ibbit, hoping to free the fairies and get the gem, Twilight. However, meeting him, they begin to realize that he is not the problem. Molly shoots the gem off his neck, and splashes him with magic water, returning him to his natural form. With Twilight no longer in Ibbit’s possession, Barbatos disappears from Faerie.

Ibbit eventually returns to his river and lives happily as a frog.

According to Titania, Ibbit is immune to magic while he possesses Twilight.