History NightmareFuel / OnceUponATime

* Lady Tremaine kidnaps Cinderella's fairy godmother and murders her with her own wand just for helping Cinderella! [[spoiler: It's a shocker she turns out to be a Big BadWannabe.]]

* [[spoiler: At the start of the season, we're led to believe [[WickedStepmother Lady Tremaine]] will be the season's main villain, then we're led to believe [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Drizella]] is; but the main villain turns out to be [[TheChessmaster Mother Gothel]], who [[OutGambitted out-gambitts]] both of them and leaves them trapped under a well]].

[[AC: Episode 10- THe Eighth Witch]]

* An early one from the first episode: Rumpelstiltskin's positively bone-chilling description of the Dark Curse:
-->'''Rumpelstitskin:''' Your prison... ''all'' of our prisons will be time. Time will stop and we will be trapped. Some place horrible where everything we hold dear, everything we love, will be ripped from us while we suffer for all eternity while the queen celebrates, victorious at last. *{{beat}}* No more happy endings.

* Rumpelstiltskin's FreakOut after being kissed by Belle. It's the first time he's really, truly been terrifying. Talk about deconstructing the LoveRedeems trope...

** Cora's concept of love with regards to Regina and vise versa. As far as we know, it's been years since Regina [[spoiler: pushed Cora into the mirror to Wonderland]] and she ''still'' has power over Regina. ''[[TruthInTelevision Being abused messes you up]]''. And Cora deciding that the kindest thing to do is wait until the Curse is broken and Regina is broken with nothing in the world and then step in. So that Regina will ''need'' her.

* Rumpelstiltskin ripping out [[spoiler:Milah's heart]]. [[{{Jerkass}} She's hardly sympathetic]] but ''damn'' Rumpel, that was ''cold.''
** And earlier, Belle's actual nightmare about Gold threatening to kill Grumpy and actually turning back into Rumpelstiltskin.
* Everything about Moe's idea of 'saving' Belle from Rumpelstiltskin, but ''especially'' watching the plan's execution.

** Also, [[spoiler: when Rumpelstiltskin discovers that a boy will be his undoing, he simply says he'll kill the boy. That boy turns out to be Henry...]]

** Rumpelstiltskin skins Robin Hood. We knew Rumpelstiltskin was evil, but nothing had ever been said before about him doing torture; it seems intended to show us that no matter how funny or woobie-like he was, he was still evil.
** And juding by the amount of blood on the towels Belle had to clean despite Robin Hood himself being relatively bloodless, he's been doing it repeatedly: using magic to un-do the damage before proceeding to do it again. We knew he was evil but no one had ever said about [[ColdBloodedTorture torture.]]

* An in-universe version for the rescue team, when Tink gets frustrated with their lack of an escape plan and reveals what Pan did to [[spoiler: Greg and Tamara.]] Sure, [[spoiler: Tamara was actually killed by Rumpelstiltskin,]] but ''they'' don't know that, and there's a definite 'OhCrap' vibe starting up.

*** The whole scene where [[spoiler: young Rumpel is snatched by the shadow and rather than save him, his father grabs his hand and tells him that the shadow is "his friend" with whom he made a deal: he'll abandon Rumpel in exchange for becoming a boy again, a boy who will never grow up due to being one with Neverland. His father rationalizes this action with "I was never meant to be a father", but also tells Rumpel that he doesn't want his child around to remind him of being an adult. The poor child is hearing from his own father that he values his own youth more than being a parent to him. Then his father lets go of his hand and as the shadow takes the crying, screaming Rumpel up into the air, it forces him to look down to see his father transform into a boy before his very eyes. And that's the last he sees before getting taken away from Neverland. Just imagine how that would absolutely emotionally scar a kid having to go through that! It was simply horrifying.]]

* Rumpelstiltskin has an ''entire room'' in his castle filled with magical items that even he considered too dark, dangerous, and unpredictable to use. Think about that: An entire room's worth of items that even The Dark One, master of dark magic, didn't dare unleash. The very idea is enough to send chills down your spine.

* Gold speaking through Hook in "Heroes and Villains." Even knowing that Hook is being controlled, Rumpel's impersonation is chillingly convincing.

* TheReveal of what's happening to Rumpelstiltskin's heart: [[spoiler: It's turning completely black. If that last little bit of red goes out, he'll lose any ablity to love.]] Remember all those evil deeds, the ones that made his heart dark in the first place? Those were when he could still love. Just imagine what he'd be like when the process is done.

* Remember sweet old [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Auntie Em]]? [[spoiler:She's not only dead in the Underworld, but a few minutes after she appears, she is reduced into a puddle by Hades for simply being willing to help the heroes.]]

* The idea of what the Olympian Crystal [[CessationOfExistence does to someone]] is bad enough, but being blasted or stabbed by it is clearly a horrifically painful and agonizing experience. And of course, having one of those destroyed by it be [[spoiler:Robin Hood]].

* To show Emma that Henry is losing his mind trying to convince her by stealing the book, Fiona [[spoilers: ''throws him down the stairs'' with magic, landing him in the hospital. WouldHurtAChild indeed. Even worse when we realize that this is the first time a villain has ever physically injured Henry. She came very close to averting his InfantImmortality.]]

* Emma [[spoiler: [[TheHeroDies '''actually dies''' in her fight against Gideon.]] Once again, thank Zeus for Henry and TrueLovesKiss.]]

* Emma [[spoiler: [[TheHeroDies '''actually dies.''']] Once again, thank Zeus for Henry and TrueLovesKiss.]]

* Emma [[spoiler: [[TheHeroDies '''actually dies.]] Once again, thank Zeus for Henry and TrueLovesKiss.]]

* Fiona has become [[spoiler: the manipulative mayor of the town just as Regina was in the beginning, has Emma locked in an ''asylum'', and seems to be trying to convince her that her adventures were AllJustADream]]. Worse, [[spoiler: she's sent everyone back to their original worlds and plans to destroy all the realms - forever]].
* [[spoiler: Gideon is fighting Emma again. [[FridgeHorror Just what did Fiona do to him to make him want to kill Emma again?]]]]

* Fiona has become [[spoiler: the manipulative MayorEvil of the town just as Regina was in the beginning, has Emma locked in an ''asylum'', and seems to be trying to convince her that her adventures were AllJustADream]].

[[AC: Episode 19 - The Black Fairy]

* [[FromBadToWorse It gets worse.]] Black boasts, "I'll show you real magic", and ''nonchalantly flicks Zelena's beam of energy up into the ceiling,'' causing her unstable magic to shower all the fairy crystals with darkness, giving Black all the power she needs to begin the Final Battle. [[CurbStompBattle She then chokes Zelena, flings Regina away with a casual wave, and breaks a crystal, releasing a wave of darkness through the caves.]]

* Also, losing someone and being unable to bear it, and do anything to avenge them / find them, for a long time without any success.

* * Consider the fact that Pixie flowers grow as a counteracting measure when a great evil is present. When Regina was the BigBad in charge of Storybrooke (specifically 18 years before the Dark Curse was broken) a single flower grew to counteract her evil (and at the time she had been in charge for 10 years and done many horrible deeds). How bad is the Black Fairy? All she has to do is ''exist'' in Storybrooke and the snowy forest '''[[UpToEleven grows a giant field of the things.]]'''