Within the series, Bigby Wolf is a member of the "Fable" community – fantastical characters from fairy tales and folklore who formed a clandestine society centuries ago within New York City known as Fabletown, after their Homelands have been conquered by a mysterious and deadly enemy known as "the Adversary".

Bigby Wolf has received a positive reception for his complex characterization as an anti-heroic figure, and is considered by critics to be the closest character the Fable series has to a protagonist.

In these early appearances, Bigby's well-muscled body, shaggy hair and habitual scowl on his face is similar to Hugh Jackman's portrayal of the Marvel Comics character Wolverine.

As a character patterned after the outlaw cultural hero archetype, Bigby shares similar traits with the likes of Jesse James or Robin Hood than traditional fairy-tale oriented ones.

[2] The creative team of the comic book series, Mark Buckingham and Bill Willingham, confirmed that Bigby started off with a malevolent personality as part of his origin story, but his fascination with Snow White and his desire to protect her was a turning point for his character arc.

Bigby's ongoing personal journey to redemption, as depicted in the series, is constantly interspersed with multiple opportunities to revert to his bestial, violent nature, which is never completely absent according to Buckingham and Willingham.

[1] His constant internal struggle to keep his true nature in check is deemed necessary for him to coexist peacefully with other beings in a community, and that it is the only way for a creature like him to find redemption and forgiveness.

Dialogue options chosen during conversations may have a positive or negative effect on how other characters view Bigby, and their perceptions have far-reaching consequences which influence future events in the narrative.

[15] The video game's branching narrative is adapted and streamlined into a single canon plotline as Fables: The Wolf Among Us, with its first issue released on December 10, 2014 and published by Vertigo Comics.

[8] Justin Clark from GameSpot described Bigby as a "brusque, cold, and brooding" Wolverine who wears Sam Spade's trench coat, noting his physical resemblance to the Lost series character James "Sawyer" Ford and that his "past misdeeds weigh on him constantly".

[20] David Hinkle from Engadget praised the game's "intoxicating" mingling of mature themes like penance and redemption with fairy tale magic and superstitions as part of Bigby's character arc.

[7] Josiah Harrist from Killscreen found that Bigby "steals the spotlight as the seemingly irredeemable anti-hero craving redemption" and that it is ironic that "Fabletown's biggest, baddest monster happens to be the one keeping the peace".

[21] Ozzie Mejia from Shacknews called Bigby "an interesting, multi-dimensional character" who can be moulded into "a heartless pursuer of vengeance" or an individual with "a heart of gold underneath his gruff exterior" depending on player choice.

[23][24] Following the initial announcement of a sequel to the Wolf Among Us in July 2017, Alex Walker from Kotaku expressed a preference for a story that revolves more around Bigby's desires, as opposed to Snow White or the political machinations of Fabletown which dominated the first game's narrative.

[26] Hill linked Bigby to Joseph Campbell's hero myth pattern studies as an outsider marked with supernatural powers from birth, to the Beowulf legend with his ability to assume the alternate form of a werewolf-like creature, and to the politics of conflict and war that surround the creation of the Fables series with the character's service history and involvement in a counter-insurgency storyline.

Hill argued that the character serves as a "liminal margin", a concept originally developed by Homi K. Bhabha, "where pedogogical, nationalistic and resistant narrative discourses construct, maneuver and negotiate identity".

[1] In her book A Tour of Fabletown: Patterns and Plots in Bill Willingham's Fables, Neta Gordon observed that new elements of Bigby's character were introduced in the series' later story arcs, where he is often depicted an interested, caring and protective father.

[28] G. Christopher Williams from Pop Matters was amused by the possibility of Bigby (at the player's discretion) retaliating against non-player characters over their misogynistic misuse of the word "bitch", which literally means a female dog, as a form of insult.