History OnceUponATime / TropesAToD

* OneHundredAndEight: The address of Henry and his mother. Appropriate, as she's one of the {{Big Bad}}s.
** It also seems to be one of the many {{Shout Out}}s to ''Series/{{Lost}}''.
* AbortedDeclarationOfLove: In "Quite A Common Fairy", Mulan [[spoiler: was about to confess to Aurora that she's in love with her, but Aurora had her own confession about being pregnant with Phillip's child. This made Mulan change her mind and say she accepted Robin Hood's offer to join his Merry Men instead, an offer which she originally declined. Though there were only hints about Mulan's feeling for Aurora, this was confirmed by Sarah Bolger during the Fairy Tales Convention when asked about Aurora and Mulan's relationship]]
* AbsenteeActor: Robert Carlyle, from three episodes... and Raphael Sbarge from a lot more than three (see also BillingDisplacement).
** Season 2 featured several episodes in which lead actors are absent as the storyline focuses on one specific set of actors for an episode. Ruby/Red is probably the most noteworthy example, to the point where the character was quietly written out towards the end of the season after the actress was cast in another series.

** Rumpelstiltskin's father as well. He abandoned Rumple [[spoiler: for (almost) eternal youth and in season 3 taunts and plays with his emotions.]]

* AccompliceByInaction: Regina's motivation for wanting revenge against Snow White is that [[spoiler:she didn't keep a secret from her mother, who discovered her engagement with the family's stable boy and killed him]]. In fact, this part of her motivation against Leopold who [[spoiler:helped her mother's plans by accepting her mother's answer to the marriage proposal instead of hers]].

* AcheyScars: Granny has a nasty looking one on her arm that aches every month on the full moon [[spoiler:because it's the wound she got when she became a werewolf.]]

* ActuallyIAmHim: That boy that helps Henry escape from the Lost Boys? [[spoiler: It's Peter Pan, the BigBad of the season]]

** Rumplestiltskin is more of a badass in the series than usually depicted. Especially since he started out a total coward (and he admits he still is - he hides behind magic...in fact he became the Dark One in order to get rid of his cowardice) and failed to even fight for his wife when she was kidnapped by Killian Jones (Hook). In his own words:

** Jack the Giant Killer is reimagined as a selfish treasure hunter who took advantage of a naive and good-hearted giant.
*** Actually, this is an example of an UnbuiltTrope concerning a different folk tale. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_and_the_Beanstalk Jack ''and the beanstalk'']] is a separate myth from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Giant_Killer Jack ''the Giant Killer'']]. Jack from the latter is the hero portrayed in most modern adaptations (though he never ascended a beanstalk) while Jack from the former is considered by some to be a VillainProtagonist who is a petty thief and liar - much like the "hero" proposed in this series. In an interesting twist from the show's formula, audience expectations are slammed by having a character portrayed as s/he was in the ''original'' myth, rather than complete deviation.

* AgentScully: Emma is highly dubious about the idea that she's in a town full of amnesiac fairy-tale characters. [[spoiler:Until she's convinced otherwise.]]

* AfterTheEnd: In Season 2, [[spoiler:Emma and Snow are sent back to the Enchanted Forest and find that it still exists and there are still people there]]. Prior to that, [[spoiler:it was believed that the Enchanted Forest had been completely destroyed, so everyone looked on Storybrooke as an After The End situation.]]

** [[MerlinAndNimue Cora, in turn, had learned from Rumpelstiltskin "don't stop until they are on their knees." Like Regina, she later decided the lesson was supposed to be learning involved killing the person who taught it to her in the first place.]]

** Snow and Charming have ''another'' one is Season 2 [[spoiler:in the Fire Room, when they realize that they can't touch each other in spirit form.]]
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Mulan's top priority is always Aurora's safety, [[spoiler:which was made clear when she chose to give Cora the compass that will help Emma and Snow White return to Storybrooke as an exchange for Aurora.]] Though Mulan became Aurora's protector, in Season 3, [[spoiler:it was revealed that Aurora is Mulan's LoveInterest]]
* AmbiguouslyEvil: Hook seemed like a clear-cut BigBad at first, but his actual role is becoming more ambiguous as time goes on. It does not help that he [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder keeps]] [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor switching sides]].

** [[spoiler:As of "The Outsider", Belle becomes this again, thanks to Hook]].

* AnachronicOrder:

* AnimalAssassin: Regina in the fairy tale world had a pair of Agrhaban vipers sent to her room to kill herself with (à la Cleopatra) until her lover, the Genie suggests that there's another way. He uses the vipers to murder the king. It later turns out she [[ManipulativeBitch planned the whole thing]].

* AntiHero/ NominalHero/ TokenEvilTeammate: Regina, Rumple and Hook, see AntiVillain.

** The Evil Queen and Snow White who live in a fairy land don't believe in the goddess Ursula. [[spoiler:She's real.]]

** [[spoiler: Peter Pan and the Lost Boys attempt to force Henry to shoot an apple from one of the Lost Boys' head with a crossbow; the arrow has a deadly poison on the edge. At the last minute Henry turns to shoot Peter Pan instead, but Pan pulls one of these before it hits him. Becomes a plot point when Neal remembers Pan can do that.]]

* TheArtifact: after Ruby/Red's [[spoiler: main character arc]] was resolved, by the middle of Season 3 the character had become an artifact in that the writers had nothing else for her to do. As a result, after a few cameo appearances the character just disappeared (PutOnABus does not apply, given how no one leaves Storybrooke), and the actress left to work on another series. After said series ended, however, midway through Season 4 of OUAT, it was announced that the character, and the actress, would be returning, thereby reversing the trope.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The Pandora Box that can trap peaople inside and put them in a FateWorseThanDeath.

* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: Gold is very soft. A golden sword would be useless and easily bent. RuleOfCool applies.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: [[spoiler:August's]] death is pretty jarring considering [[spoiler:he was wooden at the time]] and the fatal attack was delivered via [[spoiler:suped-up taser. Wood isn't a conductor for electricity]], which one would think would be considered given the build-up of ''this particular weapon'' throughout the episode. Dips into ArtisticLicenseBiology when one considers that [[spoiler:his core is one solid block of wood just like his limbs, so even a shock powerful enough to penetrate his wooden exterior couldn't have ''stopped'' his heart because there wouldn't be one beating to start with]].
** WordOfGod states that it was no ordinary weapon, which might justify it.

* BadassBoast: Usually Regina

** LittleRedRidingHood [[spoiler:comes from a long line of werewolves]]. Her granny, [[spoiler:while no longer able to transform,]] is still a crack shot with a crossbow.

* BadDreams: A side effect of the sleeping curse. Once the curse is broken, the afflicted is plagued by horrible nightmares for months. It's bad enough that Aurora [[TheInsomniac gives up sleeping]] until Snow promises to help her through it.
** And the same dream is afflicting [[spoiler:Henry]].

*** Manipulating the Genie

*** This becomes even more impressive when you learn [[spoiler:the reason Snow needs a replacement mother to begin with? Cora arranged that.]]

* BeastAndBeauty: Rumpelstiltskin, in his nonhuman form, becomes romantically involved with the beautiful Belle [[spoiler:and, temporarily, a young Cora.]]

** Snow White may be heading this way after [[spoiler:casting a death spell on Cora's heart and ''tricking'' Regina into putting it back, killing Cora]].

*** Ella took Rumplestiltskin's deal because he killed her Fairy Godmother, expecting he would want his share of the riches from her new life as princess. But what he really wanted was her first born.

* BedmateReveal: [[spoiler:Regina and the Sheriff,]] although this is shown after she leaves his apartment. Then revealed in-universe to Emma when she catches him sneaking out of [[spoiler:Regina's house]].
* BeingEvilSucks: According to WordOfGod, this trope is the inspiration for the show. The Evil Queen's reason for choosing to get revenge on Snow White by casting a curse on the ''entire, multiple worlds'' is to create a place where she can "win for once."
* BeingGoodSucks: This crops up during The Queen Is Dead, due to the high costs that doing Good were for Mary Margaret.

** [[spoiler: In Season 3, Peter Pan emerges as the real BigBad.]]

** [[spoiler:Peter Pan to Greg and Tamara in Season 2, as Gold spells out in the last scene of the season finale. Season 3 also reveals him as the Bigger Bad of the entire series up to that point.]]

*** Hook had developed feeling for Emma revealed in "Ariel", so he technically was romantically interested in both Baelfire's mother and love interest.
** If that that isn't more screwed up, as revealed in "Think Lovely Thoughts" [[spoiler:, Peter Pan is actually Rumpelstiltskin's de-aged father and in extension Baelfire's grandfather, and Henry's great-grandfather.]]

** In Season 2, there are several episodes in which lead cast members are credited, yet either do not appear or, if they do turn up, only do so for a few moments. This is most notable with Meghan Ory, who plays Red/Ruby, whose character was promoted to main cast for the second series, but [[spoiler: after completing a major backstory arc mid-season]] is reduced to cameo appearances in occasional episodes thereafter and ultimately disappears from the series, without fanfare, several episodes prior to the season finale. Despite this, Ory remains credited among the main cast to the end of the season; in real life, the writers wrote Red/Ruby out of the series in part, according to interviews with Ory, due to them deciding to focus on other characters and in part due to Ory being cast in another series.

** While Rumplestiltskin was telling Belle what she would have to do for him, he also told her she would have to skin the children he hunted. That one was apparently a quip.

** In Episode 21 of Season 1, Grumpy pulls a perfectly clean pickaxe out of a guards back [[spoiler:during Snow's raid on the castle to rescue Charming]].

* BodyguardCrush: Mulan, who became Aurora's protector when Phillip's soul was sucked out by the Wraith, [[spoiler:developed feelings for her as seen in "Quite A Common Fairy" when she almost confessed her love to Aurora]]

** The first half of the third season begins and ends with [[spoiler: a flashback to Emma giving birth to Henry.]]
* BoredomMontage: Done in "Welcome to Storybrooke", where, in a flashback to 1983 when the curse began, Regina walks the same way every day, always passing Ruby wearing a skimpy red outfit and being chastised by her grandma, Dr. Hopper walking his dog and wishing her a good morning, and Mary Margaret accidentally running into her. Eventually, it gets to the point where she says "Save it" to Hopper, and actually tells Mary Margaret she herself should be sorry for not watching where she was going.

* BornAsAnAdult: the dwarves

** Belle who, after being initially scorned by Rumple, is next seen drowning her sorrows in a pub and [[spoiler:institutionalized in Storybrooke]]. In Season 2, [[spoiler:the trope is taken a bit literally when she is shot by Hook and loses her fairy tale memories ''at the same time'']].

** Tinker Bell in Neverland.
** Young Regina. In fact the trope - mixed with BreakTheeHaughty - pretty much sum up the Evil Queen's entire raison d'etre.

*** And her reaction in Season 3 when she discovers [[spoiler: her loving son was in fact Peter Pan in disguise, otherwise why else would he want to stay with her]] verges on the heartbreaking.

** Slowly graduating up from normal is [[spoiler:Pinocchio, as he has been slowly turning back into a puppet since Emma decided to stay in Storybrooke. The curse works differently on him, though]].

** [[spoiler:Neal/Baelfire to Rumplestilskin for breaking their deal and and abandoning him. He calls Rumpelstilskin out 'again' for never bothering to come see him once he came to Storybrooke. This is made all the more tragic when Neal is shot and falls into a portal, critically injured.]]
** [[spoiler:During Peter Pan's NotSoDifferent speech to Rumpelstiltskin, Rumpel points out that he spent centuries trying to find Neal while Peter sat back and enjoyed his youth in Neverland, not buying his "be a family again" line.]]

** The Genie becoming the Queen's MagicMirror.

** There are also hints that Oz is connected to these worlds - the Mad Hatter implies that he has been, and WordOfGod points out that there is a picture of flying monkeys visible in Henry's book in the pilot.

** Rumelstilskin has one in "Lacey".

** Emma's "Seriously?"

* CatFight: In "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter", Regina and Emma finally stop being passive aggressive and go at it in an all out fist fight, forcing the Sheriff to break it up.

** Peter Pan is fast enough to catch arrows fired at him before they impale him. [[spoiler: Neal takes advantage of this by coating the shaft with an immobilizing ink instead of the tip.]]

** Kathryn Nolan is absent in Season 2 as her actress is now in the Copper series.
** The character of Ruby/Red disappears from the series suddenly, several episodes prior to the Season 2 finale. Due to the creators deciding to drop the character and the actress (whose role had been reduced substantially since [[spoiler: completing a major character backstory arc midway through the season]]) being cast in another series. The absence of Ruby is particularly noticeable in the closing episodes of Season 2 when Emma and the others are frantically searching for the kidnapped Regina, yet for some reason do not employ Ruby's previously and well-established ability to track people.
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: Not actually used all that much with magic in general, but [[spoiler: In Neverland, the land runs on this, with pixie dust to fly and magical weather being side effects of a person's beliefs.]]

** LittleRedRidingHood is also [[spoiler:the wolf]], and her friendship with Snow is suggestive of "Literature/SnowWhiteAndRoseRed".

*** Not to mention how he tells his love interest "As You Wish", like yet another [[Film/ThePrincessBride famous pirate]]

** [[spoiler: The ''actual'' Ursula, not Regina's impersonation of her. Or rather, the statue of Ursula as seen at the castle ball.]]

** Of ''all'' the kids Regina could've adopted, she picks the son of the woman with the power to break the Dark Curse she cast, not to mention the grandson of her worst enemy. [[spoiler:''Both'' of them. Emma even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the coincidence that is her meeting Henry's father, who is one of the two other people from her world ''not'' to have ended up amnesiac in Storybrooke]].

* ConvenientComa:

* CoordinatedClothes: Regina and Rumplestiltskin both wore black and blue for an episode after they started [[spoiler:a sort of Heel Face Turn and tried to redeem themselves for their loved ones]]. They are still as antagonistic as ever, and end up disagreeing on the best way to carry out this plan.

* CouchGag: A different creature, character or item appears in each episode's title card.

* CrapSaccharineWorld: Storybrooke. When Emma first enters, it seems like a nice normal town and everyone appears content. But nobody can actually leave and people are forced to stay suspended in time and must play the roles that were assigned them, never truly moving forward in their lives. What keeps this from being an outright CrapsackWorld is that the entire town is oblivious.

** The season 3 episode "Lost Girl" has one of these in store for [[spoiler: Rumplestiltskin]], as a doll from his childhood given to him in the previous episode continues to [[spoiler: appear despite his attempts to get rid of it]].
* CruelMercy: Regina's sparing Snow after removing her heart.
** The same scene has GetItOverWith just before.

* CurseEscapeClause: The entire town of Storybrooke is cursed with LaserGuidedAmnesia, but Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter was smuggled out and is slated to break that curse BecauseDestinySaysSo.

* CycleOfRevenge: [[spoiler:So, Cora is slighted by Snow's future mom and kills her. Then after Cora kills her daughter's lover and forced her into a marriage with the widowed king, Regina decides to take revenge on Snow White for telling Cora (because she's unable to stand up to Mommy). The revenge leads to the curse. The curse leads to Cora returning and once again playing Regina like a cheap flute. Together, they kill Snow White's childhood nanny, try to kill Rumplestiltskin, and Snow realizes Cora was behind her mother's death. Part out of desperation, part out of revenge, Snow kills Cora. Now, Regina's blood feud leads her to almost kill Snow White again. Henry intervenes, but when Snow shows up to surrender her life to end the feud, Regina rips out her heart, then spares her life by putting it back, declaring Snow's StartOfDarkness is all the leverage she will need to finalize the revenge]].

* DarkAndTroubledPast: {{Invoked}} by name during the sheriff election. Regina dug up Emma's past, including juvie records that were supposed to be sealed and smeared them across the front page.

"...please" is snarking in that he [[spoiler:remembers when Regina assumed he wouldn't]].\\
\\

** The only episode to center around [[spoiler:Graham]] ends with his death.
** Same goes for [[spoiler:Cora]].

* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Subverted, with the exception of one example and one example only: Jiminy's parents. Then, double subverted when his efforts to kill them results in Gepetto losing ''his'' parents.

* DeclarationOfProtection: Done multiple times by Mulan (who's Aurora's protector) throughout the first half of the second season. Mulan also claims she failed to protect Aurora [[spoiler:when they learn that Aurora's heart was taken by Hook when she was held captive by Cora]]
* DecompositeCharacter: PeterPan is [[spoiler: an inhuman monster]]. The young boy who was found in Kensington Gardens and befriended the Darlings was Bae. And the one who took Hook's hand was Rumpelstiltskin. [[spoiler: It's basically a family trait]]

** [[spoiler:Pinocchio to Geppeto.]]
** [[spoiler:Graham to Emma after Regina crushes his heart.]]

** Henry's biological dad, whom he was told was a fireman who died during a rescue. In reality he's Neal Cassidy, a thief who was forced to leave Emma behind before even knowing that she was pregnant with his kid. [[spoiler: It also turns out that he's Baelfire, Rumple's son, and was forced to stay away by August so that Emma can fulfill her destiny of breaking the curse on Storybrooke. After that was done and Neal found out that he had a son, he did move into Storybrooke so that he can be with Henry. Shortly after, he was shot and was transported through a portal, thus disappeared for a second time]].

** Grace's father never returns from his trip because [[spoiler:he is trapped in Wonderland and becomes the Mad Hatter]].

** [[spoiler:Cora kills Regina's true love Daniel ''right in front of her'' and forces her to marry the king. So, naturally, Regina blames...Snow, who's the one who told Cora about the two of them]].

** The actions of a spoiled princess cause Cora to become one of the show's biggest [[BigBad Big Bads]], even manipulating Rumple in the processes at a time when he was a little more sane and a lot more vulnerable than we've normally seen him.

** Watch the scene where [[spoiler:Rumplestiltskin teaches Cora to use her emotions to turn the straw into gold then think about it]]

* DyingAsYourself: Several examples during "And Straight On 'Til Morning". [[spoiler: The town is on the verge of destruction, and Mother Superior manages to devise a cure for Belle and Sneezy's amnesia, so that they can at least die as thereselves with their loved ones]]. A different version is shown when [[spoiler: Regina resolves to slow the trigger and buy the townsfolk enough time to escape, knowing that she'll die, but at least she'll be saving everyone]].

[[/folder]]

** Regina and ''her'' mother, who are related to the Charmings as Regina was Snow's stepmother [[spoiler:and cousin]].

* ActorAllusion:
** This [[BlackSwan isn't]] the first time Barbara Hershey has played a StageMom with a preference for black clothing whose daughter eventually comes to embrace her dark side.
** Jiminy's admonishment to Henry that "giving into one's dark side never accomplishes anything" becomes hilarious once you realize [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic where you've heard his voice before]].
** A Machiavellian {{Chessmaster}} type with a hidden agenda in a constant power struggle with another questionable authority figure? Yeah Creator/RobertCarlyle has [[Series/StargateUniverse never done]] ''[[Series/StargateUniverse that]]'' [[Series/StargateUniverse before]].
*** Or playing a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds that was never really a ''good'' guy, but never planned on [[Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough becoming world-destroying evil]], either
** Almost certainly unintentional, but Noah Bean plays Daniel, Regina's backstory dead lover. Previous to being on OUAT, he was Ryan Fletcher on {{Series/Nikita}} who at least during the first season was played as a RomanticFalseLead for Nikita... whose backstory also includes a dead lover named Daniel.

** Regina and ''her'' mother, who are related to the Charmings as Regina was Snow's stepmother.

* Badass Boast: Usually Regina

** [[BeautyAndTheBeast Belle]], LittleRedRidingHood, Literature/{{Cinderella}}, and [[SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarves Snow White]] have a night on the town together.

** Rumplestiltskin himself might be an example. [[spoiler:He kills people in front of his child. He has massive overreactions to any injury done to Bae, best shown when he turns a man into a slug and stomps on him after hitting Bae with a cart. Bae also seems to have become afraid of his father]].

** And again late in Season 2, when she [[spoiler:lets Rumplestiltskin talk her into murdering Cora]].

** [[BeautyAndTheBeast Belle]] is friends with LittleRedRidingHood, who's friends with Literature/{{Cinderella}} and [[SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarves Snow White]].
** Snow White has had a one-night stand with Doctor {{Frankenstein}}.

** [[spoiler: Peter Pan and the Lost Boys attempt to force Henry to shoot an apple from one of the Lost Boys' head with a crossbow; the arrow has a deadly poison on the edge. At the last minute Henry turns to shoot Peter Pan instead, but Pan pulls one of these before it hits him.]]

** The mother of the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Evil Queen]] from SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarves is [[spoiler: [[AliceInWonderland the Queen of Hearts]]]] and is the miller's daughter from the Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}} story, too - albeit with a twist.

** [[Literature/AliceInWonderland Wonderland]] is accessible from the Enchanted Forest by way of a magic hat. [[spoiler: Cora]] is revealed to be the Queen of Hearts.

* AllMythsAreTrue: At least all fairy tales are. Though it's [[PublicDomain a very loose]] definition of fairy tale. ClassicalMythology seems to be fair game too. Historical legends, with the addition of [[spoiler:Mulan]]. And with the unveiling of [[spoiler:Dr. Frankenstein]], it would seem even classical sci-fi and horror aren't off-limits either.

** The [[Literature/AliceInWonderland Mad Hatter]] and [[PeterPan Captain Hook]] both appear, with both Wonderland (the setting of a spin-off series launched in 2013) and Neverland being major locations in Season 2. The Mad Hatter is even implied to have visited [[TheWizardOfOz Oz]].

* ActionMom: Snow White

** The actions of a spoiled princess cause Cora to become the BiggerBad of the series... even manipulating Rumple in the processes at a time when he was a little more sane and a lot more vulnerable than we've normally seen him.

* BarehandedBladeBlock: Rumplestilskin, of all characters. Against Prince Charming. And he [[PureAwesomeness does the two-fingered version]]. And given what we know about his power, he did so because he thought so too.

* CoordinatedClothes: Regina and Rumplestiltskin both wore black and blue for an episode after they started [[spoiler:a sort of Heel Face Turn and tried to redeem themselves for their loved ones]]. They are still as antagonistic as ever, and end up disagreeing on the best way to carry this plan.

** Almost certainly unintentional, but Noah Bean plays Daniel, Regina's backstory dead lover. Previous to being on OUAT, he was Ryan Fletcher on [[Series/Nikita]] who at least during the first season was played as a RomanticFalseLead for Nikita... whose backstory also includes a dead lover named Daniel.

* AbortedDeclarationOfLove: In "Quite A Common Fairy", Mulan [[spoiler: declines Robin Hood's offer for her to join his Merry Men because she claims there was someone she needed to talk to. This person was Aurora, to whom she was going to confess her love to. Though there were only hints, this was confirmed by Sarah Bolger during the Fairy Tales Convention when asked about Aurora and Mulan's relationship]]