The Golden Boughs Retirement Community is home to a man known as the Pathetic Fallacy, although he comes to prefer being called Gary, who has the powers of that concept. His precise status at the facility was somewhat unclear; while he did Revise's bidding, appearing to have his trust and carry out a number of minor staff duties. He's shown to be kind and sympathetic and aided the escape plan. It is later revealed that the Pathetic Fallacy is a Literal, an extremely powerful magical being of a different kind to the Fables, in that he personifies a literary concept rather than being a character from literature. He was the father of Kevin Thorn and Writer's Block, and grandfather to Revise, and Bookburner, and the great-grandfather to the Page Sisters. Also making him the great-great grandfather to Robin's newborn son Sammy Jr, her son with Old Sam. Although Mr. Revise has erased his memories several times, he sometimes seems to be aware of his family connection on occasions.
The Pathetic Fallacy traveled with Jack Horner, taking on the role of his sidekick, being somewhat naive and frequently confused, although he had lucid moments when he shows a great deal of knowledge about how stories work. He regards inanimate objects (which are, of course, generally quite animate in his presence) as friends and talks to them frequently. During his travels with Jack, he apparently entered a romantic relationship with a mannequin named Noelle. Much to Jack's personal disgust, but he let him be since he was happy with his new wife Holly Wagner. However, Holly and her father Maurice were killed in apparent car "accident". Through Jack's meddling they discovered Lady Luck and her Belgian lackeys were responsible for Holly's death.
With his help, he called Priscilla Page and made it look like he wanted to go back Golden Boughs. And with Noelle as a distraction, Lady Luck was apprehended. But before leaving Vegas, Gary left Noelle with a special gift, he gave her life as a human. Priscilla and an assistant would eventually track them down at the Grand Canyon. But due to the struggle the group seemed stuck down in the canyon. During an argument with Wicked John, Gary would reveal that Wicked John was the original and Jack was the copy. After explaining, Jack put the sword that Merlin had stuck in him and placed it in Wicked John. Raven came around that time and helped the group, except Wicked John, out of the canyon. Once they got Priscilla and the girl near a phone, they abandoned her as well.
Gary, Raven, and Jack spent most of the time in the Americana arc either running away from Hillary and then the Bookburner's crew Natty Bumppo and Slue-Foot-Sue. After which, they lost both groups and escaped with Jack's treasure. Gary would take part in the battle against the Bookburner when he came to attack Golden Boughs. Through Jack's idea, Mr. Revise released Wy'east, Loowit, and Klickitat, the Native American mountain spirits and caused a dormant volcano to erupt and kill the Bookburner. During the Great Fables Crossover, Gary got to meet Snow White and Bigby Wolf. He was very impressed seeing Bigby fight with Jack and decided to see what it'd be like to be Bigby's sidekick.
Though for the most part Bigby didn't want one and didn't like Gary's sometimes childish requests. He became even more enraged when he had been turned into a little girl by Kevin Thorn and hated how Gary called him cute as a girl. After Kevin was defeated, with Jack Frost II's assistance, the group wondered what to do with him. In one of his lucid moments, he refuses to join the Literals in the new universe created for them by the Deus ex Machina and willingly sacrifices his powers. Reasoning that the new universe will develop a Pathetic Fallacy when the need will arise, he returns at Jack's side.
After Jack Horner transformed into a dragon, The Pathetic Fallacy hid him in a cave where he had piles of gold. Its most likely throughout all these years of isolation, besides the cows to feed Jack; Gary began to lose his sanity. Mostly it was Jack's fault as in one of the issues, Gary met a kindly elderly looking lady. Jack ate her the moment his back was turned. It was revealed he entered a brief marriage with a woman and sold some of the original books in exchange for cows (for Jack to eat, as opposed to other people, namely the women he brings back to the cave). When Jack Frost arrives to slay the dragon (not realizing the dragon is his biological father), the Pathetic Fallacy rushes to Jack Horner's defense, destroying the Fulminate Blade. As a result, Jack Frost shoots him, which kills him since he had been living as a Mundy.
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