Background
Alexandra Marie Bailey (known as Alex Bailey) is an original character from The Land of Stories series, and one of the two main characters of the series.
Alex is a girl of school-going age (She turns 12 in the first book) from [[::Category:Places in Our World|Our World]] who used to live in a small rental house with her twin brother Conner and her mother Charlotte. Her father, John Bailey, died shortly before she and her brother were 11. While Conner and Charlotte move into Dr. Bob's house after their second adventure in The Enchantress Returns, Alex stays in the Land of Stories. Her family explains her absence by saying she is going to a school in Vermont.[1]
Appearance
"She was a pretty girl with bright blue eyes and short strawberry-blonde hair that was always kept neatly out of her face with a pink headband."[2]
Though she and Conner are twins, they haven't "looked like identical twins since they were four years old" and "Charlotte stopped dressing them in the same outfits every day[3]".
At the conclusion of Worlds Collide, in the future, though her hair had become white with old age, Alex was still a beautiful bright-eyed woman, and she wore a sparkling robe and headband made of silver flowers.
Personality
Alex is described in The Wishing Spell as a bookworm, eager to please her teacher and impress her classmates. Because of this, she is often teased and made fun of behind her back, and spends her lunch breaks alone, reading. She is described as being very lonely[4]. It is likely due to her peers' jealousy that they isolate her for her genius. When she and her brother arrive in the Land of Stories, she is very excited to see all of the famous sites and meet her favourite "characters"; to the point of occasionally getting emotional over it because the fairy tales meant so much to her as a child. She feels that the fairy tales characters are her only friends.
At the start of The Enchantress Returns, Alex is taking part in an honors program taking additional classes at the community college in the next town and travelling there by train[5]. She feels even more alienated from her peers at the beginning of the second book, missing the Land of Stories and her grandmother. When she and Conner return to the Land of Stories and embark on their journey to save their mother, she displays a few instances of being "born with" magic; she activates the portal, and uses the Wand of Wonderment twice before it's even finished (against the Snow Queen[6] and in the Troblin Territory[7]). She is also the only one who is capable of defeating the Evil Enchantress.
At the end of The Enchantress Returns, she chooses to stay in the Land of Stories, because she feels more at home there than in the world where she was born.[8] She is sad about being separated from her mother and brother but she thinks this is the right decision.
At the beginning of A Grimm Warning, Alex is putting a lot of pressure on herself to become a proper fairy and worthy of the title 'Next Fairy Godmother'. When she meets a boy she likes, she is very sceptical and introspective about it at first, because she is afraid any heartbreak might turn her into another Ezmia.[9] It shows that Alex does not wish to harm people or to stray from the right path and is willing to put her responsibilities before her feelings. Her fear returns later when she is betrayed by Rook and lashes out at the soldiers attacking her; Conner reminds her that it was self-defence, and she is not like Ezmia at all.[10]
Even though Rook explains his reason for betraying her, Alex is unwilling to forgive him, showing that she can hold a long grudge. What happened with Rook makes Alex even more resolute about placing her fairy duties before her feelings.
When Alex is accepted into the Fairy Council, the other fairies explain that she has unknowingly passed their Inaugural Test of Courage (by having defeated Ezmia), Grace (by trying to grant people's wishes), Kindness (by accepting Cornelius) and Heart (by her motivation to become Fairy Godmother), showing that she is a good person at heart.
She shows exceptional leadership and magic skills in A Grimm Warning.
After seeing the Masked Man, Alex becomes obsessed with finding him. At the beginning of Beyond the Kingdoms, the Fairy Council tells her she has been spending too much time chasing him and neglecting her responsibilities as Fairy Godmother, and they give her an ultimatum. When she refuses to stop searching for the Masked Man, they "ungodmother" her.
Ever since she accidentally hurt the soldiers of the Grande Armée, Alex has been losing control of her magic more and more. When she feels overwhelmed or angry, bad things happen to those around her. In chapter one of Beyond the Kingdoms, she lifts a tavern full of people high into the air and only barely manages to reign her magic in before she drops it, and she makes the trees come alive to grab friends and foes alike; when trying to squeeze Colonel Rembert for information on the Masked Man, she literally has the trees squeeze all of them, including her friends.[11] She has also accidentally hurt her friend Cornelius.[12] When she is 'ungodmothered', she blasts fiery spells at the Fairy Council.[13] When the Council asks Conner how this could happen, Conner admits that her powers have been slipping from her control "on and off" for months.[14] The episodes affect Alex' memory and she has difficulties remembering what happened after she calms down. At the end of Beyond the Kingdoms, her problems turn out to have been caused by a curse, cast by the Snow Queen and the Sea Witch, in order to turn her into another Ezmia; someone they could manipulate and use to their own evil ends. Alex was strong enough to fight it off, and so the Snow Queen and the Sea Witch ask the other witches to join forces with them to strengthen the curse.
In An Author's Odyssey, she was eventually corrupted by the curse after being cast on her again by all the witches. She then goes on a rampage throughout the Otherworld and the fairy tale world.[15]
Relationships
Alex and her twin brother Conner are very close, though Alex occasionally feels second-hand embarrassment for Conner's behavior at school or the things he says[16]. In The Enchantress Returns, she comes to appreciate him (even) more when he stays optimistic in the face of hopelessness and danger.[17] At the end of A Grimm Warning, Conner offers to stay with her in the Land of Stories for a while to help her adjust to being the new Fairy Godmother. Alex is very upset with Conner for not being on her side at the 'ungodmothering', but they make up after Alex finds out the Masked Man is their uncle. They both think of a way to make the Portal Potion at the same time, though they are trapped in separate worlds, proving once more that they 'think like twins'.[18]
In A Grimm Warning, Alex has feelings for Rook, but can't forgive him for betraying her and the kings and queens. He helps her find the Masked Man in Beyond the Kingdoms, but she still feels the same way.[19] When she meets Arthur in Beyond the Kingdoms and spends two weeks with him in his world, they fall in love. She is tempted to stay in his world with him, but knows she has to go back and save the kingdoms. She feels leaving him was the hardest thing she had ever done.[20] But knows they will meet again one day.
In Worlds Collide, Arthur and Alex stumble upon each other in their dreams and communicate. During this time, Alex was put asleep by the witches since they didn't have a use for her at the moment. Alex cries and warns Arthur that she won't be alive for long. This worries Arthur and after he wakes up, he tells Mother Goose and Merlin that Alex is in trouble. They refuse to believe him, so he goes to the sword in the stone and tries to complete his destiny early so Mother Goose would have no excuse not to let him visit Alex (they made an agreement that Arthur would be able to visit Alex after he achieves his destiny in An Author's Odyssey). After becoming king of England and creating the Knights of the Round Table, he comes to the "Land of Stories" with his Knights, Mother Goose, & Merlin in search for Alex. During his visit, He encounters Rook and the two fight over Alex forming a love triangle. After Arthur fights in the war, he and Alex kiss and Alex puts their relationship on hold... until Arthur finds the Holy Grail. They say goodbye, but Arthur believes that this hold on their relationship won't last long since he is determined to find the Holy Grail in about two months.
Alex was very close to her grandma, The Fairy Godmother. She misses her very much, and changed her look (which used to resemble that of her grandmother in color and style) to something new after her death, and also barely uses a wand anymore.[21]
Story
1. The Wishing Spell
Alex and Conner work as a team to solve the Wishing Spell's riddle and collect the items they need to return to their world. After defeating the Evil Queen, Alex finds out she is part fairy and is related to the Fairy Godmother.
2. The Enchantress Returns
When their mother is kidnapped, Alex and Conner return to the Land of Stories. The kingdoms are under attack from an Enchantress, and Alex finds out she is a 'part' of the magic spell the Enchantress is trying to use to create a portal, because she is the 'heir to the throne of magic'[22]. She and Conner assemble a magical weapon to stop the Enchantress. However, in the end, Alex defeats the Enchantress because she can relate to her and uses her empathy rather than her magic. When the gateway to her world closes, she chooses to stay in the Land of Stories to learn magic with her grandmother.
3. A Grimm Warning
Alex is accepted into the Fairy Council and is immediately faced with difficult choices; her grandmother falls ill, making her Acting Fairy Godmother, and the Land of Stories is under attack from the Grande Armée and the Masked Man. She makes up a battle plan and, aided by Conner, convinces Trollbella and Elvina's armies to join their forces. Her magic rallies the armies together and helps save the kings and queens. After the battle, she becomes the new Fairy Godmother and founds the Happily Forever After Assembly.
4. Beyond the Kingdoms
Alex has become obsessed with finding the Masked Man and is thrown out of the Fairy Council because of it. Upset, she flees to the Giant's Castle, where she finds Mother Goose. She promises to help Alex. Her grandmother sends her a magical moth to show her a memory of the Masked Man, revealing his identity. She meets Cornelius and Rook, who have discovered the Masked Man's hide-out. Alex and Mother Goose return to their friends and the quest to find the Masked Man begins. They follow him into the books, first to Oz, then to Neverland and Wonderland. They are lead to believe the Masked Man has gone back to the Land of Stories and try to follow him, splitting up in two groups, but they have been tricked into going in to the wrong books. Alex and Mother Goose end up in King Arthur's story. Alex falls in love with Arthur, but knows she has to make the Portal Potion and save the kingdoms, so they must part. She travels back into the Land of Oz alone, meets up with her friends, and returns to the Land of Stories to find the Fairy Palace destroyed. She and Conner prepare themselves to travel back to their own world to build their own army to defeat the Masked Man.
5. An Author's Odyssey
Alex and Conner travel to the Otherworld and collect Conner's stories from Mrs Peters. They visit their mother Charlotte and have a family dinner with her and Bob. Alex travels with Conner through some of his stories to recruit characters and form an army to fight The Masked Man and The Wicked Witch of The West, The Queen of Hearts and Captain Hook and save The Land of Stories. As they travel through Conner's stories he learns a lot about himself. Alex is very proud of her brother for creating such amazing worlds through his writing. Conner's characters are secretly taken to Charlotte and Bob's hospital to stay while they wait to travel to The Fairytale World however some doctors discover the characters. Charlotte is forced to lie and say that they are performers for a show that will be put on for the patients. Alex uses her magic to help the characters put together their show. When all of Conner's characters have been recruited and the show is performed Alex and Conner announce they are ready to go back to the Fairytale world and fight back against the Masked Man's armies. Alex goes to the toilet and is attacked by Morina. Morina curses her with dust and Alex is cursed to feel nothing but anger. She is going to be used as the Witches weapon against the Otherworld.
6. Worlds Collide
Morina has cursed Alex to destroy New York City. Alex desperately contacts Conner in his dreams, even begging him to put her out of her misery, claiming that everything would go back to normal if he did. However, Conner saves Alex by telling her one of his stories, when the twins's friends and family pretend to be Conner to confuse Alex. Conner then takes Alex to his story. In the story, the twin's late father is still alive. Conner and Alex tell him what is going on with Alex, only making it sound more realistic and that it happened at school. Their father, John, comforts Alex and tells her that she doesn't have to be perfect. As Alex cries with happiness, the curse wears off.
Quotes
"I think what I've learned from all of this is that villains are mostly just people villanized by circumstance."[23]
"I always wanted to be as loving as Wendy, or as curious as Alice, or as brave as Lucy, or as adventurous as Dorothy- I always saw a little bit of myself when I read about each of you."[24]
"That's the beauty of magic- there's really no science to it."[25]
"I guess that's a question as old as time, isn't it? Why do any of us let the world dictate our personal truths?"[26]
"My most educated analysis with all means of science and technology in mind, is that it's magic."
Powers and abilities
INTELLIGENCE(10/10)
Alex is an intelligent girl who scored perfect scores in school, however she was picked on because of it. She is smart enough to solve the riddles in the wishing spell, before she was able to use her powers. She also escaped many traps and has shown to be able to think really fast.
AGILITY(8/10)
Alex is able to dodge spells and has shown to be able to do so before knowing any magic spells, she can dodge blasts from the Snow Queen who has heightened senses (except sight because she just so happens to be blind after her defeat). She was also able to barely escape the Thornbush pit while in like, the middle of it! Of course, she did have help from Froggy at the end but dodging those many vines are already impressive enough.
DURABLITY(7/10)
Remember the second book when the heroes crashed from the sky? Yes, that was amazing considering there was no seatbelt or safety precaution at all! She has also survived many hits and she sure can take them, Alex can even be indestructible with the wand of wonderment, it doesn't count but I really want to mention it.
MAGIC(100/10)
There was no typo, it is 100/10, Alex Bailey is the most overpowered character in the book, all the other villains combined is nothing compared to her at her best. Alex can make animals come out of nowhere, WRAP REALITY, she made spikes of rocks come out of nowhere, teleport the ENTIRE army which is a group of armies to one place in ONE TRY. Alex can effortlessly kill people if she wants to. Alex's abilities were so powerful that the witches wanted to control her alone instead of the entire fairy kingdom, I bet they were like, "Alex is more than enough."
FLAWS
Alex is still a human and a mortal, she can be killed like one. She can also be over-emotional at times, which causes her to sometimes not have control over her magic.
References
- ↑ TLOS III, ch 1, p. 15
- ↑ TLOS I, ch 1, p 12
- ↑ TLOS II, ch 5, p 57
- ↑ TLOS I, ch 1, p 14
- ↑ TLOS II, Prologue, p 14
- ↑ TLOS II, ch 17
- ↑ TLOS II ch 22
- ↑ TLOS II, ch 30, p. 514
- ↑ TLOS III, ch 4, p. 75
- ↑ TLOS III, ch 28, p. 425
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 1, p. 39
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 24, p. 331
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 3, p. 61
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 3, p. 62
- ↑ Revealed in Worlds Collide, page 96
- ↑ TLOS I, ch 1, p. 17
- ↑ TLOS II, ch 18, p. 310
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 30, p. 410
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 10, p. 148
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 28, p. 395
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 3, p. 55
- ↑ TLOS II, ch 24, p. 438
- ↑ TLOS I, ch 22, p. 405
- ↑ TLOS II, ch 27, p. 472
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 11, p. 161
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 24, p. 332
Gallery
