"(laughs) You're learning it the hard way, just like I had to. There is no such thing as love. Families are just strangers who share blood. They claim to love you unconditionally, but in the end, they always betray you the most. My mother taught me that lesson, and now you're learning it from me."-Lloyd Bailey
Lloyd Bailey, widely known as the Masked Man, is a main character and the main antagonist of all the books he has appeared in.
Background[]
The Masked Man is an original character from the Land of Stories series. He first appears in A Grimm Warning. He is a criminal who is freed from Pinocchio Prison by General Marquis, whom he pretends to help while advancing his own evil plans. After seeing his face without the mask, Alex mistakes him as her late father, since his facial appearance is similar to Alex and Conner’s late father.
In book four, Beyond the Kingdoms, it is revealed that the Masked Man is Brystal Evergreen’s youngest son, Lloyd, which makes him the twins' uncle. The twins' father was the Masked Man's brother.
Appearance[]
"The Masked man was tall but very frail. He wore a tattered suit and his tie was torn in half. A gray sack over his head concealed his face; holes were cut around the eyes and the mouth."[1]
Lloyd is described as a tall man with a frail appearance, he wears a gray sack that covers his head with only three holes that reveal his pale blue eyes and his mouth, when he took off his mask it was revealed that he was physically identical to brother, but while John had a warm smile and kind eyes , Lloyd had a cruel smile and a merciless look in his eyes.
Personality[]
At the start of A Grimm Warning, the Masked Man resides in Pinocchio Prison. The plaque on the wall next to his cell says he is sentenced to life in prison for attempted robbery of the Fairy Godmother[2]. It is mentioned he has been in there for a decade already. He was imprisoned because Little Bo Peep turned him in.
When General Marquis asks about his mask, Lloyd claims to wear the mask voluntarily, saying he is hiding "something he doesn't want the rest of the world to see".[3] He may have gotten the idea from reading The Man in the Iron Mask.[4] However, in Beyond the Kingdoms, it is revealed that the Fairy Godmother put the mask on him when he was arrested so no one would know he was her son.[5]
Hagetta says he chose the name "Masked Man" for himself. According to her, he is the youngest son in a very powerful family, but he longed to be more powerful than all of them, using deceit and theft to achieve his goals.[6]
He is eager to make a deal with General Marquis and claims they are similar men (which does not speak well for the Masked Man). Hagetta describes him as a "total crook"[7].
He has knowledge of hatching and using dragons, and when Alex and Conner look inside his cell, they see illustrations of winged creatures, pirate ships, and animals with big ears and feet. He has carved lumps of coal into hooks, hearts, and swords.[8] When he manages to hatch the dragon during the course of A Grimm Warning, he is described as looking like he accomplished one of his biggest dreams.[9]
He is shown to take pleasure in seeing the fear he is causing the citizens of the Fairy Kingdom. However, when Little Bo Peep tries to appeal to his caring side, he is said to be very conflicted before deciding to turn her down.[10]
Flashbacks and memories in Beyond the Kingdoms reveal some of Lloyd's youth from before he got the mask. He was a loner as a boy, who hated the outdoors[11], preferring to stay in his room and read. He was cruel to animals, trapping them in jars in his room[12] and taking delight in the idea that a nest of baby squirrels may have been eaten by an owl.[13] Hoping to make him happy, the Fairy Godmother offered him a potion to turn his favourite books into a portal, but he declined. When his mother found out his biggest dream was to destroy the Land of Stories and kill her, she took him into the forest and "killed his magic", hoping that would stop him. Lloyd swore he would never forgive her, and began to plot his revenge. He eventually ran away from home, and the Fairy Godmother staged a funeral, telling everyone he was dead. She didn't see him again until he was arrested for trying to steal the potion.[14]
Overall Lloyd wants nothing more than to take over the Land of Stories and is willing to go to any lengths to get to it. He's ambitious, very convincing and treacherous and sometimes makes promises that he doesn't agree to. The only time Lloyd expressed genuine fear was when he was surrounded by zombies in the draft "Cemetery of the Undead" and was seen kicking and screaming as he was buried alive. This implies that he feared death itself, something that tyrants couldn't control nor escape.
Relationships[]
The Masked Man is the Fairy Godmother's son and John Bailey's younger brother.
He was in a love relationship with Little Bo Peep until he broke out of prison, but it wasn't true love: Lloyd seduced Little Bo with love potions made by Morina, hoping he could get Little Bo to challenge Queen Red Riding Hood to the throne and make him king.[15] Then, he meant to obtain a dragon egg, destroy the fairies, and steal the Portal Potion.
Growing impatient, he decided to break into the Fairy Palace and steal the potion without the use of a dragon, but Little Bo found out about his plans. Pregnant with his child, Emmerich, she decided to tip off the Fairy Council about what he was planning on doing and give her son to Hagetta to keep him safe. At Little Bo's request, Hagetta placed the child somewhere safe(in the Otherworld), and the Masked Man never found out about his son. When Little Bo begged him not to attack the Fairy Council with his dragon, she mentions how his life has been difficult and that he was "tossed aside by his own blood", but that he had also been capable of being a loving and caring man to her. Regardless, since the Masked Man didn't truly love Bo Peep, he commanded his dragon to kill everyone -- her included. Bo died of a broken heart.[16]
He knew the Snow Queen from his time before he was imprisoned, and already made a deal with her about her dragon egg prior to the events of A Grimm Warning.
Story[]
Childhood[]
Lloyd was born to Brystal Lynn the Fairy Godmother, along with her twin brother John, unlike his brother, Lloyd was quite reserved preferring to stay home and read, the relationship between the brothers was quite tense, which worried their mother a lot.Over time Lloyd began to develop psychopathic tendencies, capturing small animals and then fantasizing about ways to torture them, his mother tried everything to educate him, even teaching him about the portal potion in an attempt to help him get his life back on track but his tendencies simply were up.
One night Brystal discovered that her son's dream was to seize the lands of stories and murder her, seeing that her son no longer had a solution, she was forced to do something that she would not forgive herself, she took Lloyd to the forest and she separated the magic from his blood, transforming Lloyd into a mortal, Lloyd full of rage swore that he would never forgive her and that one day he would take revenge on her. Brystal only told him that even if he never forgives him, she will always love him.
Incarcelation[]
At some point in his adulthood Lloyd broke into the fairy palace determined to steal the portal potion to create an army and destroy his mother, however he was discovered and persecuted, he took refuge with Bo Peep's home but she handed him over to the authorities and imprisoned him in the Pinocchio prison.
Brystal went to visit him once there, begging him to stop his desires for hatred and revenge, but he refused, Brystal then conjured a dark sack and placed it over Lloyd's head so that no one would know who he was, leaving Lloyd locked up for more than a decade.
Later Brystal lied to the council of fairies saying that Lloyd had died, organized a funeral to collaborate with the lie, only her friend Lucy Goose being the only one who knew that it was not true, but she chose to remain silent and keep the secret.
It is unknown if John also knew if his brother was still alive. However, he did tell Charlotte about him in case he ever returned and she mistook him for him.
Joining the Grande Armée and Stealing the Portal Potion[]
When General Marquis breaks into Pinocchio Prison to offer the criminals their freedom in return for their allegiance, the Masked Man offers to help him, saying he is the only one who can help him win. He leads the Grande Armée to the Snow Queen to obtain a dragon egg. He helps them hatch it. When they attack the Fairy Council, he reveals his true colours- he only pretended to be helping General Marquis and was really just using him to get to the Fairy Council. He uses his command over the dragon to attack the Council and, his plan to destroy them thwarted, breaks into the Fairy Godmother's chambers to retrieve a potion. He reveals his face to Alex, who thinks he is her father, John Bailey.
Recruiting a Literary Army[]
After escaping from Alex and her friends at the Witches' Brew, the Masked Man goes to ask Morina to locate his books with her crystal ball. He breaks into Froggy's library to steal them and uses the potion to begin recruiting for his army. When he finds out Alex and Conner are on his trail, he tries to trap them inside two separate worlds, burning the portal books. At the end of Beyond the Kingdoms, he has recruited several literary villains as well as mythological creatures, and attacks on the Land of Stories have begun.
Conquering the Land of Stories and Death[]
The Literary Army having conquered the fairy-tale world, the Masked Man became the self-appointed emperor of the Masked Empire. He met his unwilling citizens for a speech. His people pelted him with food, and all laughed at him, including his comrade, the Wicked Witch of the West. He was furious. He then attempted to publicly execute all the royal families. Fortunately, the kings and queens were saved by a rescue party. Then the Queen of Hearts, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Captain Hook confronted him about not fulfilling his many promises to them. He assured them he would once his plans as Emperor were properly executed, but the Literary leaders were tired of his stalling and didn't want to hear it. They commanded their forces to drop him over the balcony. He managed to survive the fall since his cape snagged a tree branch. He later overheard the Literary villains conspiring with Morina, for plans to conquer the Otherworld. He learned about his son Emmerich Himmelsbach, who was kidnapped by the witches, and that they were planning to use his son against him. He snuck Emmerich out of the witch's camp. He acted around Emmerich in a kind and fatherly manner, in order to make a good impression on his son. Emmerich was unaware that the Masked Man was deceiving him. He wanted to transfer Emmerich's magic blood into his body, thus killing his own son. They traveled into Bree's second draft of "Cemetery of the Undead" and forced Charlotte Bailey to transfer the blood, since she was a doctor. She tricked Lloyd and drugged him with sleep-inducing medicine, terribly wounding him in his leg and making him very sleepy. Four zombies awakened, one of them being an undead version of his deceased once-lover Little Bo Peep, whom he was responsible for the death of. She is enraged to see him and attacked him. He wastes the last bullet of his pistol on her, and it had no effect since Bo was already dead. Lloyd tried to escape her, terrified, but tripped over an unmarked gravestone. Dozens of zombies pulled him underground into the grave, and he was buried alive between screams of terror. The gravestone then read: Here lies Lloyd Bailey -- beloved by none. The Masked Man was now finally dead.
Quotes[]
"You can't kill me! You still need me!"[17]
"(laughs) You're learning it the hard way, just like I had to. There is no such thing as love. Families are just strangers who share blood. They claim to love you unconditionally, but in the end, they always betray you the most. My mother taught me that lesson, and now you're learning it from me."[18]
References[]
- ↑ TLOS III, ch 16, p. 276
- ↑ TLOS III, ch 16, p. 275
- ↑ TLOS III, ch 16, p. 278
- ↑ TLOS IV, Prologue, p. 12. Lloyd was most likely reading Alexander Dumas' popular version of the story.
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 10, p. 154
- ↑ TLOS III, ch 25, p. 383
- ↑ TLOS III, ch 25, p. 381
- ↑ TLOS III, ch 17, p. 292
- ↑ TLOS III, ch 29, p. 434
- ↑ TLOS III, ch 29, p. 437
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 9 p 140
- ↑ TLOS IV, prologue, p 12
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 9, p 142
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 10, p 154
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 5, p. 85
- ↑ TLOS III, ch 29, p. 437
- ↑ TLOS III, ch 19, p. 318
- ↑ TLOS IV, ch 1, p 34