The denizens of the primary fairy tale world that avoided the Evil Queen's Dark Curse.

The other pages are:

Main Characters^{Click to expand}
Storybrooke Characters^{Click to expand}
Enchanted Forest Characters
Seattle Characters^{Click to expand}Alice/Tilly, Drizella/Ivy
"New" Enchanted Forest Characters
Magical Lands Characters^{Click to expand}Agrabah natives, Neverland natives, Oz natives, Arendelle natives, Camelot natives, Dunbroch natives, Hades, Dream Realm residents, Dark Realm residents
- Wonderland Characters
- Arendelle Characters
Lands Without Magic Characters^{Click to expand}
Mythological Creatures^{Click to expand}

Beware! Only spoilers from the current season (seven) are hidden with tags!

open/close all folders

Royalty/Nobility

Princess Cora/The Queen of Hearts

Cora Mills / Queen of Hearts

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cora_2609.jpg

Cora: Love is weakness.

Played By: Barbara Hershey, Rose McGowan (young)

Centric Episodes: "Queen of Hearts", "The Miller's Daughter", "Bleeding Through", "Mother"

The ambitious daughter of a miller, the highly manipulative mother of Regina, and the tyrannical Queen of Hearts in Wonderland.

Abusive Parents: Cora abused Regina physically and emotionally, tried to make her a Gold Digger, and finally ripped out the heart of the man Regina loved and crushed it into dust, killing him. It is revealed that the major cause of this was that she had ripped out her own heart, which made her unable to feel real love for anyone. Was this to her firstborn Zelena, who gave her up because having an illegitimate child around would prevent her from living the life she wanted. Hades, in turn, calls her out on this before punishing her for all eternity.
- In Cora's defence, however, she does appear that, with her heart, she would have been a good parent to Regina.
Adaptational Attractiveness: The original Queen of Hearts was ugly, with a bulbous head. This version is a very beautiful woman who aged gracefully.
Adaptational Badass: The miller's daughter in the original Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale merely allowed Rumple to spin straw into gold for her. Cora had him actually teach her how to do it herself, along with the rest of the dark arts, making her one of the most feared magic users in the Enchanted Forest and later Wonderland. Being capable of doing her own dirty work or turning people into thralls by stealing their hearts also makes her more formidable than the Queen of Hearts from the original Alice story.
Adaptational Villainy: The original miller's daughter wasn't evil, and the Queen of Hearts was rather played for some laughs.
Alas, Poor Villain: Her death scene is very emotional. She finally has her heart back, and realizes that her love for Regina would have been enough for her the whole time, completely abandoning her "love is weakness" mentality. She then dies in Regina's arms, saying "This would have been enough... YOU would have been enough".
Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Cora is a tall, dark-haired woman with a frosty demeanour, much like her daughter.
Ambition Is Evil: Cora is determined to break away from her past as the miller's daughter and there is absolutely no one that she wouldn't sleep with, cut deals with, manipulate, abuse, or kill (or all of the former!) to get what she wants.
And Show It to You: To Daniel right before crushing it and killing him. In front of Regina.
- Will willingly has her do this to him, just so he can no longer feel the crushing heartbreak of Anastasia's apparent betrayal.
Arc Symbol: The red heart on her spell book is seen in the Queen of Hearts' hedge maze.
Ascended Extra: An absolutely terrifying version.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Cora eventually manages to leave the Underworld and move on to a better place after reconciling with both of her daughters.
Batman Gambit: Her entire plan revolves around Regina saving Snow White.
Beat Still, My Heart: Cora did this to Daniel in front of Regina.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Cora got to be Queen after her daughter banished her to Wonderland with help from her old mentor.
Big Bad: For a majority of Season 2, as she is still alive in the Enchanted Forest and scheming to find a way to Storybrooke and exact her revenge on Regina for pushing her through the mirror. Snow mentions that no matter how badly Regina has acted, Cora is worse, and Cora spends episode after episode proving Snow correct on this.
Break the Haughty: Cora was always bitter, haughty, and had a nasty streak a mile wide. But a childish prank by some royals humiliates her, and this becomes her reason to exist - to make everyone else (especially anyone of royal blood) get down on their knees before her.
Character Death: Right after getting her heart back. The heart that allows her to love her daughter right before it kills her. That was put into her by Regina. Who had been manipulated by a broken Snow. Ouch.
The Chessmaster: Her plan that involved killing Snow's mother and manipulating events so that Regina would save the young girl's life in order to get King Leopold to propose to her is definitely the work of one of these. But then there's the fact that she deceived and manipulated Rumplestiltskin TWICE. On top of that, she got Hook to go after Rumple in "The Outsider" with the implication that she knew Hook would not be able to find a way to kill him, instead seeking to break him so that she could play him later on. And then finally, it's implied in "The Queen is Dead" that Regina going on a vendetta against poor Snow was part of her plan to "turn Snow White's heart black as coal" and destroy Eva's legacy; Regina's entire Roaring Rampage of Revenge has been within the cards that Cora played this entire time.
Collector of the Strange: Rumplestiltskin may have taught her to rip out hearts, but she made it an art form with her oh so warm and welcoming vault of still beating hearts.
Composite Character: Cora is both the miller's daughter (from the original Rumplestiltskin fairy tale) and the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. She also has shades of Koschei the Deathless, given that she's removed her own heart and hidden it for safe-keeping.
- Averted in that the Red Queen, Anastasia, who is often conflated with the Queen of Hearts in adaptations, is a separate character as in the original books, although they are connected as Cora was the one who taught Anastasia magic.
Consummate Liar: Unsurprising, given she's the one Regina inherited it from. She fools everyone in the settlement into thinking she was powerless and replacing Lancelot without Mulan or Snow (who knew Lancelot) realizing until she slipped by mentioning Henry.
- The lies she used to break up Anastasia and Will in Once Upon A Time In Wonderland were so good that neither of them even suspected she was lying. She's so good at lying that even every troper on the entirety of this site has no idea what was an outright lie and what was truth... or what was a mix of both!
Corrupt the Cutie:
- At the funeral of Queen Eva, Snow's mother, she tells her her plan is to make Snow's good heart black and evil.
- She also starts the work on Regina. Rumplestiltskin provides the rest.
- Under her tutelage the Red Queen went from an ambitious but basically good girl to being Wonderland's Sorcerous Overlord.
Crazy-Prepared: As Queen of Hearts, she doesn't keep her heart where everyone else does, making it impossible for Hook to rip it out.
Cool and Unusual Punishment: What she receives from Hades. It is, completely, justified.
A Day in the Limelight: "The Queen is Dead" and "The Miller's Daughter" in Season 2. Interestingly, Season 3's "Bleeding Through" gives her a posthumous variant of this trope.
Dead Person Impersonation: Has been masquerading as Lancelot for quite some time.
Death Equals Redemption: It's only as she's dying that she shows true love for her daughter and regrets all the evil she's done.
- Played With in the 19th episode of Season 5. She's already dead, but reconciling with Zelena and helping Regina and Zelena regain their memories is what allows her passage to the Better Place.
Death by Irony: At the funeral of Queen Eva, Snow White's mother, she tells the dead queen her plot in corrupting Snow White as a final means of destroying Eva and her "goodness." She is finally killed because Snow crossed the line by tricking Regina into putting Cora's cursed heart back into her body. Snow even used the same Cursed Candle Cora gave her as a means of saving her mother.
Demoted to Dragon: After her death in Season 2, she returns in the second half of Season 5 as the Puppet Mayor for Hades.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: Regina held her after she put the cursed heart back in her. For those last moments, she finally realized just having Regina would have been enough for her.
Disproportionate Retribution: So, a flighty princess tripped you and humiliated you in front of a bunch of nobles. It's perfectly reasonable to kill her in a slow, painful way with evil magic a decade later.
- However we later discover that this was not the only time Eva caused trouble for Cora, having exposed her in front of Leopold as being pregnant, causing her to be cast aside, leading to Zelena being abandoned.
The Dreaded: When told that Cora might be coming to Storybrooke, Mr. Gold (aka Rumplestiltskin) almost literally shits himself at the thought of this. When even Rumplestiltskin positively shits himself at her name, you know she is someone dangerous. Regina's not so hot on the prospect of seeing her mother again either.
Dying as Yourself: Cora's heart is returned to her moments before her death, allowing her to feel love for her daughter briefly before passing.
Dying Declaration of Love: "This... would have been enough... You would have been enough..."
Easily Forgiven: When Regina tries to kill her, Cora naturally attempts retribution, but forgives her daughter when Regina confesses that she "killed" her mother because she loved Cora and considers that a hindrance.
Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: As a young woman in "The Miller's Daughter".
Establishing Character Moment: In "The Stable Boy", we are introduced to Regina riding a horse with her father complimenting on her skill. Then her mother shows up, derides her for riding her horse in a masculine form, and uses magic to restrain her while she insults various choices Regina made in her life.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Regina. At least in her last moments.
- Had a romance with Rumplestiltskin and reveals that this was why she removed her heart.
Even Evil Has Standards: When Anastasia asks her if the laws of magic - you can't bring back the dead, you can't make someone love you, you can't change the past - can be broken, Cora is clear: No. They cannot. And, unlike Zelena, Cora is never even implied to have considered it.
Evil Counterpart:
- Cora's backstory seems like a very tragic version of Cinderella.
- By Season 2, she is becoming this to Regina, of all people. Large parts of the two characters' backstories are almost identical, but Regina recognises that she has done truly horrible things and appears to be sincerely trying to make amends. By contrast, Cora, if anything, is getting even more sociopathic. Of the major characters in the show, Cora was (before Peter Pan came along) the only one who could still be considered to be completely and unrepentantly evil until her last episode, "The Miller's Daughter", which manages to drum up some sympathy for her.
Evil Matriarch: She is the head of the family, despite marrying up to be with Henry, by using her powerful magic to make them all afraid.
Evil Mentor: For the Red Queen.
Evil Old Folks: As the mother of Regina, she is one of the oldest living characters in the series and very evil.
Fantasy-Forbidding Father: She didn't approve of Regina horseback riding in an undignified manner and casually tortured her until Regina promised to be good.
The Fashionista: Apparently, her first stop after arriving in Storybrooke and ruining Regina's redemption arc was going to get her hair did and assembling a modern wardrobe. She also takes time out of her Evil Gloating at Queen Eva's funeral to sass the Blue Fairy's outfit.
Fate Worse than Death: When she ends up failing Hades in the Underworld, he subjects her to a true Hell: spending eternity as a poor working village woman in rags.
Faux Affably Evil: Always speaks with a maternally put-upon tone that suggests a constant attitude of "really, dear, if you weren't so unreasonable, I wouldn't have had to torture you."
Fish out of Temporal Water: She needed time to adjust to life in Storybrooke.
Foil:
- To Belle. Both have been lovers to Rumplestiltskin, having met him when striking deals with him, and have brought out some of his better qualities. Belle met him by sacrificing her freedom to save the people she loved and fell in love with the man beneath the power and encouraging the good in him. In contrast, Cora met him when making a deal to save her own life after putting it in jeopardy in a vain moment of ambition, falling in love with him for his power, abandoned him after finding opportunities in marrying a prince that she did not have with him. Whereas Belle sought to break his curse (spending the rest of her life finding the solution and earning her happy ending with him), Cora intended to kill him and perpetuate his curse through her (with all of the power that came with it). The fact that Cora kissed him multiple times without breaking his curse while his first kiss while Belle nearly broke it is a testament to just how different they were to him.
- To Cinderella. They were both poor peasant women that made deals with Rumplestiltskin for better lives. While Cinderella wanted love, Cora wanted power. They both also end up tricking Rumple out of his deal, and a baby is the price in both deals.
Follow in My Footsteps: Cora wants this for Regina and will do whatever it takes to achieve it.
- This is also why she wanted the Red Queen as an apprentice.
For the Evulz: Her murder of Johanna. She already had what she wanted, but she proceeded to throw Johanna to her death out of pure malice.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Twice. First, in the Enchanted Forest she rose from a poor miller's daughter to wealthy noblewoman and one of the deadliest sorceresses in the world. Then again in Wonderland, where she rose from having been banished there with nothing but the clothes on her back to becoming the Queen of Hearts.
God Save Us from the Queen!: As the Queen of Hearts. The Red King's servants are terrified when she shows up.
Gold Digger: Marries Henry Sr. purely for the power and wealth of his position. The night before the wedding, she even flat-out states to his father "I don't love your son." She had two love interests before him; one was a jerk claiming to be a prince who seduced her, the other was Leopold (Snow's dad) whom she nearly married, but sadly she got pregnant after being seduced and when she lied to Leopold about it, he was convinced she was a gold digger and called the engagement off.
Go Out with a Smile: She remembers how much she loved her daughter before she died, resulting in this trope.
Godhood Seeker: Her ultimate plan was to become the next Dark One.
Greater-Scope Villain: For Regina's character in Season 1 and the Red Queen in the spin-off.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: Just as her heart is returned to her, allowing her to feel true emotions again, she succumbs to the cursed candle that exchanges her life with Rumplestilken's, allowing only enough time to tell Regina she would have been enough for her before dying.
Hoist by His Own Petard: So, you give a little girl a candle that could save one person by deliberately killing another so that you could corrupt her? Well, the corruption worked, but bet you never thought she'd grow up and kill you with it for all the hurt you caused her!
Ice Queen: Main reason is she lacked a heart.
Ignore the Fanservice: Cora is relatively immune to Hook's "pretty face".
It's All About Me:
- It's rather telling that Cora's immediate response to Regina claiming that she has no right to control her the way she does because it's "my life" is to retort "It's mine." Not to mention how it took twenty odd years in Wonderland plus the twenty-eight years before the curse was broken for it to occur to her to ask her daughter what she wants instead of deciding for her.
- As of "The Miller's Daughter", it seems that most of this attitude comes from not having her heart, as she seems to genuinely feel love for Regina after it's restored. Of course...
- "Bleeding Through" reveals that she always had this attitude. She gave Zelena up, because she was born out of wedlock, and having her around would ensure that Cora could never realize her dream of rising above her station.
Karmic Death: Cora always believed "Love is weakness" but it's not her love that gets her killed but Regina's.
Kneel Before Zod: She wants all the uppity nobles, especially one woman who played a prank on her, to kneel before her.
Knight of Cerebus: Things are darker when ever she is around. Snow White lampshades this.
Snow White: (to Emma) As bad as you think Regina is, this woman is worse.
Knight Templar Parent: She will do what she thinks is right for her daughter because she honestly believes Regina needs her.
Lack of Empathy: Thanks to removing her own heart.
Lady of Black Magic: Thanks to Rumple teaching her how to channel those dark emotions. The way she instructs the Red Queen in the use of magic echoes the way Rumple taught her.
Laser-Guided Karma: All her actions were made to escape her life as a miller's daughter and rise to power and riches. It's thus a perfectly fitting fate that Hades forces her to spend eternity as a working girl in rags.
Literal Change of Heart: She is unable to feel love due to her having her heart separated from her body. Returning it allows her to regain these emotions and regret her transgressions, but she ends up dying immediately afterward thanks to Snow cursing it.
Love Is a Weakness: Her motto. And it's a weakness she's more than willing to use or remove as she sees fit. Unfortunately, love is also ironically her weakness with regards to Regina. And Rumplestiltskin.
- It's also why she thinks she did Anastasia a favor by breaking her and Will up for good.
Love Redeems: Despite having believed most of her life that love is weakness, what ultimately grants her the happy ending she wanted was uniting her two daughters as sisters as well as regaining the love of both Regina, the daughter she mistreated, and Zelena, the daughter she abandoned, making them a family once again.
Manipulative Bitch: Oh, definitely. For emphasis, her daughter is no slouch at it herself, but falls prey to Cora's manipulations as easily as anyone else, even though she knows better. She plays the Red Queen and the Knave like a fiddle.
Master of Illusion: Shows a more fully realized version of Regina's ability to transform into an old crone in Hat Trick by posing as Lancelot. And later as Regina herself to frame her. And as Henry. And as the Blue Fairy.
Meaningful Name:
- The meaning of "Cora" in Greek is "The Maiden Of Hearts" which is fitting because she made a habit out of ripping a person's heart out, killing them.
- Furthermore, she is The Queen of Hearts in Hat Trick after her daughter pushed her through a looking glass. The word corazon is Spanish for "heart".
- Rumplestiltskin even lampshades the irony of her name, given her future modus operandi;
Rumplestiltskin: It's not a very pretty name is it. Sounds like something breaking.
Merlin and Nimue: Much like her daughter after her, Cora served as Rumplestiltskin's apprentice. Unlike Regina, Cora's tutelage involved tongue.
Mind over Matter: Cora has a habit of using this with magic to bring things to her or toss people around. She starts to magically rearrange the décor in the Red King's palace just to freak everyone out.
Mother Makes You King: Cora manipulates events so that Regina saves the recently widowed king's young daughter and he takes Regina as a wife. It's also revealed she killed the previous queen in the first place.
My Beloved Smother: She will do anything that will, from her view, advance Regina's status to queen.
My Greatest Failure: Upon regaining her heart, she views her abandonment of Zelena as this, expressing her remorse to her daughter about doing so and admitting it was for herself.
Necromancer: She can control the dead.
New Old Flame: To Rumple.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Would you believe it, but the Queen of Hearts, in her actions, unintentionally saves Wonderland due to the events that occurred in the series—and which were only possible through Will and Anastasia being separated and Will having no heart. Yeah, you read that right. Cora, the evilest woman to have ever been on both the main and side shows, made a good thing possible!
Older Than They Look: She looks about the same in the present as she did when Regina was a teenager.
Our Zombies Are Different: After ripping out people's hearts, Cora can use that heart to control multiple hearts, and order the corpses to rise and be given a command which they will obey.
Parental Abandonment: She abandoned her first daughter Zelena... in Oz.
Parental Favoritism: Groomed her younger daughter Regina for political and magical success, but never once gave a second thought to Zelena, whom she'd abandoned in Oz.
Parental Marriage Veto: Regina loved Daniel. She... disapproved.
Playing Card Motifs: Every heart she takes corresponds with a card in the standard 52 card deck. Will is the Knave, or Jack of Hearts. Notably there is no King of Hearts.
People Puppets: If she doesn't kill her victims when she takes the heart, she can use them this way too.
Playing with Fire: When she can't get close enough to Snow to rip out her heart, she improvises with fireballs.
Rags to Riches: She was born a miller's daughter—confirmed to be THE miller's daughter in "We Are Both"—and became landed gentry through various deals. She won't settle for anything less than her daughter going even further up the social ladder.
Rags to Royalty: Becomes Princess by marriage.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: She's usually seen dressed in a black and dark red dress.
Replacement Goldfish: How she sees the Red Queen, compared to Regina, whom she considers a disappointment.
Revenge by Proxy: Cora engineering Regina's rise to power was so she can displace her arch-enemy Queen Eva's daughter Snow White.
Rich Bitch: Averted in her youth. As the Miller's daughter, she was poor as mud.
Second Love: To Rumplestiltskin... it didn't work out.
Silver Vixen: She's very well kept for a woman of her age. Given that she's portrayed by Barbara Hershey, this is probably to be expected.
Social Climber: Started out as a lowly miller's daughter who used charm, wiles, and treachery to get into the court's good graces and marry nobility. She will settle for Regina being nothing less than being queen after her.
The Sociopath: Casually tortures her daughter to get her way, says that love is weakness, kills the man said daughter loves...
Soul Jar: Apparently, being just figuratively heartless was too subtle...
Stage Mom: Makes her daughter miserable because she'd rather Regina be queen than happy. Or, as she puts, being queen is the only way Regina will be happy (even if she disagrees on that point) because power is real and love is an illusion.
- She continues this trend as Evil Mentor to the Red Queen in Wonderland, who is more receptive to it.
Start of Darkness: When she was a young woman, she was tripped by an immature Princess Eva (Snow's mother before she wed Snow's father) and Eva claimed Cora hurt her. The King of the land forced Cora to apologize on her knees and wouldn't pay her for the flour. This was the start of her darkness as she would use the emotion she felt here to channel magic to spin straw into gold.
- "Bleeding Through" reveals Zelena's true parentage. Cora decided to sleep with a man claiming to be a prince, only to find out later that she was impregnated by a lowly gardener. She then meets and gets engaged to Prince Leopold, but Eva exposes her pregnancy after overhearing her talking with the gardener. As a result, she not only loses her prince, but also decides to abandon Zelena after realizing that keeping her would prevent her from living the life she wanted. Interestingly, the gardener was also where she got the idea of turning straw into gold from.
Stepford Smiler: Type C.
Two Aliases, One Character: Presenting Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts.
The Unfettered: No matter what deal she has to make, no matter whose life she has to end, Regina will marry up. Barbara Hershey, who also played a Stage Mom in the movie Black Swan, says that Cora would consider her Black Swan character "weak".
Unholy Matrimony: She was in a relationship with Rumplestiltskin prior to her marriage to Henry.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Actually surprisingly averted, given this show's trend. Cora was already bitter, proud, vengeful and calculating before Rumplestiltskin came into her life, although she was not yet evil by any stretch. The way she used her wits to her advantage and didn't hesitate to talk back to arrogant royalty is actually admirable.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: How Cora sees herself. She actually got mad at Snow for calling her "wicked". Regina and Zelena also thought Cora wanted what was best for Regina.
Who's Laughing Now?: Embittered by her poor living circumstances and the way nobles treated her, Cora's greatest aspiration was to make them all bow to her. Painfully.
Would Hurt a Child: Arranged for Snow's horse to go crazy in the first place, which could have killed her.
Yandere: If Cora does actually love Regina, it's a possessive and cruel love that doesn't allow for deviation from what she wants.

Prince Henry

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Henry_Sr_8518.jpg

Henry: Power is seductive, but so is love.

Played By: Tony Perez, Zak Santiago (younger Henry)

Centric Episodes: "Souls of the Departed"

The husband of Cora, who is quite benevolent towards his daughter, the Evil Queen, and always sticks by her side.

Ambiguously Brown: Ethnicities are never confirmed in the Enchanted Forest, but it's obvious that he and his family are meant to be Hispanic as he, his younger self, his father, and his daughter are all played by Latino actors.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: After decades in the Underworld, he finally fixes his unfinished business by seeing that Regina has truly redeemed herself, and ascends to Heaven.
The Conscience: To Regina.
Doting Parent: To Regina.
The Everyman: He was dominated by his father, wife and daughter.
Earn Your Happy Ending: If anyone deserves their goddamn happy ending, after everything they've been through, it is this man. And, he's earned it — for once, he's managed to convince Regina to break free of Cora; she's defied her mother, broken free, become her own person, redeemed herself and finally found her happy ending and that, in turn, has earned him his.
Extreme Doormat: To both his wife and his daughter. "The Miller's Daughter" shows that despite clearly showing concern over his father's treatment of peasants, he didn't have the spine to stand up to him either.
Good Is Boring: He's one of the nicest, kindest characters in the series, his only (admittedly major) flaw being that he doesn't seem to be able to deal with strong-willed people. Cora admits she doesn't love him, and his father just shrugs and says "not much there to love".
Henpecked Husband: He rarely stands up against his wife concerning her treatment of Regina.
Human Sacrifice: Regina killed him in order to cast the curse.
I Was Quite a Looker: As seen in "The Miller's Daughter".
Impoverished Patrician: He and his father King Xavier in "The Miller's Daughter", which is why the king wants Henry's bride-to-be to spin straw into gold.
My Master, Right or Wrong: He was Regina's conscience but he went along with everything she did even if he knew it was wrong.
Old Retainer: Subverted. The old butler-looking man loyally listening to the Queen's every rant is, in fact, her dad.
Power is Sexy: Despite Cora ending up domineering him, he appeared to be quite enamored by her sharp esprit and self-confidence when they first met and didn't seem unhappy when his father made him propose to her.
Sealed Good in a Can: Regina had for a time shrunk Henry and put him in a box, then Cora took that box with her to Wonderland.
So Proud of You: His last words before ascending to a better place was to tell Regina he was proud of her for redeeming herself and breaking free of Cora's abuse when he couldn't.
Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: With Cora. Henry just didn't age well.
The Unfavorite: His family views him as more of an asset rather than as a person. When Cora tells his father she doesn't love Henry, his father just shrugs. For Regina, this is completely untrue; he is the thing she cares for more than anything else in existence.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: His father really doesn't give a damn about him beyond seeing him as a possible asset to be used.

Princess Aurora

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Aurora__9286.jpg

Princess Aurora: I've had my fill of rest.

Played By: Sarah Bolger

The true love of Prince Phillip who was placed under the Sleeping Curse by Maleficent.

Adaptation Dye-Job: The Disney version of Aurora is traditionally blonde, but in the show, she has auburn locks instead. She also wears purple instead of either pink or blue.
Back for the Finale: Along with Phillip and Mulan, she finds Neal washed up on a beach in the Enchanted Forest. She also reappears in the Season 3 finale after being cured from being turned into a flying monkey by Zelena.
Bad Liar: Proclaims to be one.
Deadpan Snarker: She deals with Cora with glorious disdain.
Decomposite Character: Briar Rose is now the name of her mother who was also under Maleficent's sleeping curse rather than an alias she uses.
Deep Sleep: Until Prince Phillip woke her up.
Defrosting Ice Queen: She was initially not very friendly towards Mulan, but eventually warmed up to her.
Deliberate Values Dissonance: She had a mild moment where she was shocked that Prince Phillip's traveling companion whom he had fought alongside through many battles was a girl.
Fish out of Water: Since she missed the first curse and was a flying monkey during the time the second curse was cast, she missed any side effects that gave the other Storybrooke residents information about our world. As such she doesn't know what a CD is, and still calls a TV a "devil box".
Forced Transformation: Both Phillip and she are turned into a flying monkeys by Zelena, although she survives.
Graceful Ladies Like Purple: She's always wearing a purple dress.
Heroic Suicide: Aurora is ready to sacrifice herself for others, since she doesn't believe she can be happy, but thinks they can and should. Snow White and Mulan don't let her go through it, but still.
Impractically Fancy Outfit: Her dress slows her down when travelling on foot, as she lampshades. Justified in that it's the one she was wearing when she woke up and she didn't have any other clothes.
The Ingenue: A classic example of one.
The Insomniac: As a side effect of the sleeping curse and it's bad enough that Aurora gives up sleeping until Snow promises to help her through it.
Legacy Character: Her mother was the original Sleeping Beauty. Instead of being inherited from her Disney Animated Canon counterpart, this is an attribute from the fairytale, where one of Sleeping Beauty's twin daughters is named Aurora.
Non-Action Snarker: Despite being far weaker than Cora it doesn't stop her from using her tongue to lash back.
Oblivious to Love: From Mulan.
Odd Friendship: Despite a rocky start due to their differences in character, she ends up having this with Mulan.
People Puppets: Thanks to Hook's betrayal, Cora is able to take Aurora's heart and control her until Mulan freeds Aurora in "Queen of Hearts".
Plucky Girl: Lampshaded by Cora when she holds her captive.
Princess Classic: Beautiful, sweet, gentle, and a non-combatant.
Silk Hiding Steel: Sweet, demure, and brave enough to sass Cora when she was captured.
Stranger in a Familiar Land: She was in Deep Sleep when Regina cast the Curse, so she doesn't know anything about it.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She is sweet to Phillip, her Love Interest, but cold and proud towards Mulan when she senses her interest towards him. Of course, this changes over time and she and Mulan become very close.
Talking in Your Dreams: As a side-effect of the Sleeping Curse, she has found the power to wander the dream realm for those like her, such as Henry.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Mulan's Tomboy.
Troll: Cora meets Aurora. It is glorious... and Aurora lives! And wins the argument too.
What Beautiful Eyes!: Big and blue-green.

Prince Phillip

Prince Phillip: There are new dangers now; but they're nothing we can't handle.

Played By: Julian Morris

A prince shielded from the Dark Curse who travels with Mulan to find Princess Aurora.

Adaptational Wimp: Never fought and killed Maleficent like his original counterpart and in general comes off as less capable.
Back for the Finale: With Princess Aurora and Mulan when they find Neal washed up on an Enchanted Forest beach at the end of Season 2.
Curtains Match the Window: Both brown.
The Dreaded: The Yaoguai was dangerous enough that one of the greatest warriors in the land, Mulan, was afraid of it.
Forced Transformation: Maleficent turned him into a Yaoguai before he went on to rescue Aurora and was saved by Belle. And then he gets turned into a Flying Monkey.
Heroic Sacrifice: When marked by the wraith, he goes off by himself so his companions won't get hurt by it.
Not Quite Dead: Toyed with, at least. His soul was stolen... which means it can be RETURNED!
Playing with Fire: The creature Maleficent turns into is constantly covered in flames, and can even breath that fire to fend off predators.
Prince Charming: He's handsome, valiant and kind hearted.
Unexplained Recovery: Hasn't been an explanation as to how Mulan and Aurora managed to get his soul back though.

King Leopold

King Leopold: I seek nothing more than the happiness of all who set foot in my kingdom.

Played By: Richard Schiff, Eric Lange (young Prince Leopold)

The father of Snow White and husband of Queen Eva, then later Queen Regina.

Animal Assassin: Cause of death? Snake.
Arranged Marriage: Apparently he and Eva were engaged from birth.
Doting Parent: To Snow.
Fatal Flaw: Impulsiveness and Shortsightedness. His number one goal in life is for the people in his life to be happy. Unfortunately he tends to do this by making snap decisions in the heat of the moment and going through with them without thinking about the long term ramifications or understanding the full scope of the situation. For example: My wife died a few weeks ago and now my daughter has befriended this nice seeming woman , ask her to marry me. Or: I found a genie in a lamp, but I already feel like I have enough. Set the genie free, give him the other two wishes and take him home to meet my wife.
For Happiness: He only wants the happiness of all who live in his kingdom, so when he is given three wishes, King Leopold first wishes the genie free, and then wishes that his third wish be used for the genie's own use.
The Good King: He is beloved by his subjects for this reason.
Killed Off for Real: By the genie of the lamp.
Love Father, Love Son: He was once engaged to Cora, but their relationship went awry. Many years later, he ends up marrying Cora's daughter Regina, though the former was a love match while the latter was mainly an arrangement to give his daughter a new mother.
Marry for Love: Initially intended to do this with, of all people, Cora, until Eva intervened.
May–December Romance: With Snow's mother as seen in "The Queen is Dead".
The Mourning After: He only married Regina because she was the first woman to show interest in his daughter. He's still very much in love with his first wife, and he lets Regina feel it.
Old Man Marrying a Child: King Leopold is significantly older than his second wife Regina. When they married, he was already an old man while she was in her late teens. Of course, it's implied to be a sexless marriage, since he all but states he's marrying to give his daughter a new mother rather than himself a new wife. He was already visibly older than Eva as well.
Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Despite their, well, rocky start initially, Leopold came to dearly love his wife Eva, even when they were arranged to be married from birth. While he was first reluctant to marry her, and temporarily left her for Cora, it seems that they grew to love each other.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Takes the initiative when he learns Regina is about to elope with another man... by rummaging through her private stuff and locking her in.
Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: With Regina and Eva. Not really ugly, though, just old.
Universally Beloved Leader: Everyone in his kingdom loves him.

Queen Eva

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/215Heavierthanitlooks_747.jpg

Queen Eva: As long as you hold the spirit of goodness in your heart, I shall never leave you.

Played By: Rena Sofer, Eva Allen (young Princess Eva)

Snow White's beloved mother.

Broken Pedestal: Becomes this to Snow, after she learns she was not always the good person she knew growing up.
Character Development: When she's much younger in "The Miller's Daughter", she spitefully trips Cora, claims the other woman hurt her and is generally an enormous brat. By the time of "The Queen is Dead", she's much kinder and is quick to curtail Snow's own rather bratty behavior.
Killed Off for Real: By Cora.
The Lost Lenore: To King Leopold.
Posthumous Character: The first time she is mentioned, she is already dead.
Rich Bitch: Formerly.
Royal Brat: In her youth.
Start of Darkness: Not hers in particular, but her behavior towards Cora is the starting point of all the bad blood between Cora, Regina, and Snow's family.
Took a Level in Kindness: She's much more benevolent in "The Queen is Dead" compared to her bratty behaviour in "The Miller's Daughter".
- Became Their Own Antithesis: In fact, her parenting towards Snow shows she has the exact opposite outlook on life as she used to have. She used to not give a damn for peasants and mess with them for her own amusement, now she insists that everyone must be treated kindly regardless of social status.
Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: With King Leopold.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: When she was a spoiled child, if she hadn't tripped Cora and spitefully claimed she hurt her, the feud between Cora, Regina and her daughter's family would have never happened. It goes further than that, she had been engaged to Leopold from birth, but when he met Cora he decided to marry her instead. When she found out that Cora was carrying a child out of wedlock with a man who had claimed to be prince to get her into bed, and that she was being blackmailed to steal from the palace, she told this to Leopold who broke off the engagement and married her instead.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Inverted; Eva's a sweet adult who used to be a massive Rich Bitch.

Prince James

Prince James: Next time, make sure I am really dead.

Played By: Josh Dallas, Luke Roessler (child)

David's twin, who was adopted by King George and raised in his image. James was set to marry Princess Abigail until his sudden death.

Adipose Rex: To show the difference between Prince James and Charming, Josh Dallas wears a slight fat suit to show that Prince James is in a little worse shape than Charming/David is.
Armor Is Useless: A simple weak spear thrust seems to cut through his 3 layers of armor not to mention his flesh and bone like it's made of tissue paper. Conclusion being that his armor is made of papier-mâché or he's completely hollow inside. Most likely both.
Asshole Victim: Doesn't appear to be this initially since, while a bit arrogant, he didn't seem all that bad in the few minutes of screen time we saw of him. Come his second appearance and it's pretty clear he deserved what he got.
Bait the Dog: When we first see him in "The Shepherd", we get the impression that he was just as noble and courageous as Charming... really, considering his father, we should have known better.
Birds of a Feather: He and Jack are a perfect match in bloodlust, lust for riches, regular lust, manipulation...
Coitus Uninterruptus: He's in bed with his um... friend Jacqueline (Jack). He doesn't even bother covering her up when Daddy walks in to talk business.
Deader than Dead: He falls into the River of Lost Souls and becomes a mindless, drifting soul, though "Last Rites" suggests that this is reversible.
Evil Twin: To Prince Charming, thanks to a deal his mother made with Rumplestiltskin. Instead of being raised as a kindhearted shepherd, James was raised as by a despot to reject love and only think of himself.
Faux Affably Evil: He acts as charming as Charming, but is really anything but.
Hidden Depths: Cruella reveals that he always wondered why his mother gave him up but kept James. It seems to be averted when he reveals that she misunderstood and the real reason he is mad at David is for taking his place after he died, but the flashback of "Murder Most Foul" suggests that maybe Cruella was correct after all.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How he dies.
Killed Off for Real: In his first few minutes of screentime!
Like Father, Like Son: Like King George, he was a jackass.
Manipulative Bastard: Manipulating a naive giant who just wanted to explore and make friends, then taking advantage of his offer of help to go up the beanstalk, rob the place, kill Anton's entire family, and then James tops this off by leaving Jacqueline (Jack) to hang after getting away with the goods. The guy might have fewer scruples than his already-vile old man, who we at least know loved his late wife and James.
Overlord Jr.: Saying he responded more favorably to King George's parenting style than Charming would be an understatement.
Polar Opposite Twins: With Charming.
Posthumous Character: After his death, David takes his place.
Prince Charmless: In direct opposition to his twin brother.
Tempting Fate: Despite his quip to Behemoth about falling for someone Playing Possum, he himself fails to check that he is dead. Oops...
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: As shown in "Murder Most Foul". He even ran away from King George because he was going to be made into a knight, and he "didn't want to kill anything". This makes how he turned out all the more sad.

King Xavier

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ouat216_040_3300.jpg

King Xavier: Love... is weakness.

Played By: Joaquim De Almeida

The father of Prince Henry, and Regina's grandfather.

The Bully: To Cora and to a lesser extent, his son.
The Corrupter: Is nothing but disdainful and bullying to Cora until she actually spins straw into gold and he realizes that he has more in common with her than he thought. He then persuades her to come fully to his side and way of living, ending the episode actually calling her "daughter".
Faux Affably Evil: He's polite only so much as he is sardonic and cruel.
Gold Digger: To an extent. He's more than willing to sell off his son to the highest bidder in order to be rich again.
Impoverished Patrician: His kingdom is suffering from a lack of wealth.
Jerkass: A big-time case of it.
Love Is a Weakness: He's where Cora picks this catch phrase up from.
Manipulative Bastard: He can read people like Cora well enough to know their feelings, and thus can use words to sway them to his way of thinking.
The Sociopath: He doesn't love anyone, not even his own son!
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He's a here of a lot like King George. A sociopathic king desperately trying to marry his son off to someone rich enough to save his kingdom? Hell, they even share the line, 'Love is a weakness' ('a disease' in King George's case). Though Xavier might actually be worse: at least King George actually loved his (first) son.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: When Cora goes to rip his heart out so she can marry Rumple instead of his son, he gives her a short speech about how Love Is a Weakness and all that matters is power. This speech causes her to change her mind and remove her own heart instead, rendering her unable to love Rumple or anyone else. This, in turn, causes her to become the Evil Sorceress we're introduced to in Season 1. Basically, Xavier helped cause the next fifty or so years of misery with nothing more than a few words.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: He doesn't much like his son.
Cora: I don't love your son.
King Xavier: I didn't expect you to. Not much there to love, frankly.

Sir Gaston LeGume

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gaston_8822.jpg

Sir Gaston: I am Sir Gaston, and you, beast, have taken—

Played By: Sage Brocklebank, Wes Brown

Centric Episodes: "Her Handsome Hero"

The former betrothed of Belle back in the Enchanted Forest.

Adaptational Heroism: Unlike his Disney counterpart, he seems to be a nice guy who really wants to save Belle from Rumplestilskin.
- Subverted when it's revealed in his second appearance that, like his Disney counterpart, he enjoyed hurting and killing anything or anyone he saw as monstrous. Although he still at least attempted a Heel–Face Turn at one point, so he's still not quite as evil.
Bullying a Dragon: Going up against the most powerful magic practitioner in the land with just a sword wasn't a good idea.
Butt-Monkey: To some extent. He attempts to rescue Belle from Rumplestiltskin, but he ends up getting turned into a rose. That gets clipped by Belle. And proceeds to be in the same room where Belle pretty much expresses her dislike for him.
Curb-Stomp Battle: He's a flower before he even gets his challenge out.
Deader than Dead: The end of his second appearance sees him falling into the River of Lost Souls, damning him there for all eternity as a mindless drifting soul, though "Last Rites" suggests that this is reversible.
Disposable Fiancée: Of the Bland Perfection type. Rumplestiltskin actually literally disposes of him in his second and final scene. To add insult to injury, Belle freely admits she never loved him because he was so flat a character.
Forced Transformation: Rumplestiltskin turns him into a rose. An unknowing Belle... snips his stem.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: His challenge of Rumple was due to him trying to get better and be the kind of hero Belle would want him to be. When he gets killed and sent to the Underworld, this makes him decide that only strength matters and he regresses back to his old ways.
Killed Mid-Sentence: "I am Sir Gaston, and you, beast, have taken—" Turned into a rose.
Leeroy Jenkins: He attempts to take on Rumplestiltskin... by himself.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: After Belle stops him from killing the undersized ogre, she sees his eyes glow red in the shards of the enchanted mirror, marking him as a true monster.
Revenge Before Reason: After Belle manages to get Rumplestiltskin to spare Gaston in "Her Handsome Hero," Gaston tries to kill the Dark One in a rage only for Belle to push Gaston into the River in a struggle to help Rumple.
Too Dumb to Live: Challenging a powerful sorcerer all by himself, armed only with a sword, and introducing himself with an Inigo Montoya-style monologue rather than attacking. He ends up being turned into a rose mid-sentence.
- Somewhat made better in the fifth season when he reveals that the reason he did it this way was that he was attempting to emulate the kind of noble hero from classic literature that Belle loved so much, rather than just because he was stupid.
Transflormation: Rumplestiltskin turns him into a rose.
We Hardly Knew Ye: Barely has any screen time before getting bumped off.
What Happened to the Mouse?: It's not made clear if he's alive or dead after being turned into a rose, snipped, and put in a vase. It takes four seasons before its confirmed his soul went to the Underworld upon being turned to a flower.

Lady Tremaine

Lady Tremaine: Girls, I've scraped and fought your whole lives for this... an invitation to the Royal Ball... and a chance to dig your claws into a prince.

Played By: Lisa Banes

Cinderella's wicked stepmother.

Abusive Parents: Lady Tremaine to her step-daughter Ella, later to Clorinda when she decides to marry a footman.
Adaptational Villainy: The original Lady Tremaine wasn't a saint either but she never tried to kill anyone. This version was also more open about her hatred for Ella while the animated version at least tried to appear subtle.
Aristocrats Are Evil: Lady Tremaine definitely.
Darker and Edgier: She tries to stab Ella to death, before that she tried to kill the man her daughter loves in front of her out of pure spite.
Domestic Abuse: Lady Tremaine to Ella. She reduced to her a servant and treated her like dirt since her father died. She takes sadistic glee in causing her emotional pain and has no limit to her cruelty.
Evil Is Petty: Though Ella is her step-daughter and she knows that if the prince marries her she would still get what she wants, she hates Ella so much she smashes a slipper out of pure spite. After one of her daughters decides to marry a footman and not a prince, she tries to kill him for no other reason than to take out her anger.
Evil Old Folks: She's 50, at least.
Evil Is Stupid: Ella suggested that she would marry the prince and give Tremaine the status she wanted (since she IS her stepdaughter and thus family) if she would let Chlorinda marry whoever she wants. Tremaine refuses with the excuse that her marrying the prince wouldnt be socially accepted since she's a maid, when she is the one who reduced her to a maid and Ella is actually a lady by birth (as he is her deceased husbands biological daughter, who was a lord). However it seems to really just be out of spite. She also smashes the slipper thinking it will keep the prince from recognizing her. It doesnt work.
Green-Eyed Monster: One possibility that she is so cruel to Ella is out of envy that she was born into aristocracy while she started as a peasant and had to climb her way up. All her mean comments to Ella and reducing her to a maid is to put her down so she feels higher up. She is also probably taking out her anger at not being as high up in status or as wealthy as she wanted to be on Ella.
It's All About Me: She only cares about herself and believes she is entitled to everything.
Irrational Hatred: She absolutely despises Ella and takes every opportunity to make her feel horrible about herself, from burning her mother's dress, calling her beautiful dress ugly, to making her believe that the prince made her a joke by dancing with her.
I Lied She threatens to smash the glass slipper, which she thinks will be Ella's only proof to convince the prince that she's the one he fell for, unless she tells her where Chlorinda is. Ella tells her, but she smashes the slipper anyways.
Jerkass: She's about as nasty as they come.
Kick the Dog: She burns the dress of Ella's deceased mother just to make her upset and later tries to kill the man her daughter loves because he isn't a prince, among other things.
Lack of Empathy: She's even willing to kill and have a smile on her face.
Meal Ticket: She wants her (biological) daughters to marry a prince so that she can move up in the social ladder and makes no exception.
Parental Favoritism: Tremaine definitely favors her daughters over Ella, though Clorinda gets an amount of her wrath after she disobeys her. It is clear that she is only nice to her daughters for the sake of mooching off them after getting one of them to marry royalty. Otherwise she would probably be just as cruel to them as she is to everyone else.
Rich Bitch: Despite being a Lady, Cinderella's father apparently didn't leave her with a lot of wealth, but she still fits this trope.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Ella wins the prince's hand, she decides to go to the Land of Untold Stories until "the world makes sense again" (when she is on top and Ella is on the bottom).
Social Climber: She wont stop until she reaches to top, or one of her daughters does for her.
The Sociopath: She is cruel, narcissistic, incapable of love, is willing to kill on a whim, and gleefully takes every opportunity to emotionally torment Ella For the Evulz.
Wicked Step Mother: She is the wicked stepmother from Cinderella.

Clorinda

Clorinda: Mother would never let me marry a footman. And so I... put on an act, like I've done most of my life.

Played By: Mekenna Melvin

Cinderella's evil stepsister.

Adaptational Heroism: She is actually not as evil as she seems. All of her wickedness towards Cinderella is an act to gain favor from Lady Tremaine.
Anti-Villain: She claims all of her evil doings towards Ella were all just an act for Lady Tremaine. However, despite this, she is still very harshly cruel to her, clearly demonstrated when she burns Ella's mother's dress.
Composite Character: To Anastasia and Drizella Tremaine. Like Drizella, she takes more point in the torment of Ella and wears very similar clothing to her. Like Anastasia, she falls in love with a lower class man that Lady Tremaine doesn't approve of, gains help from Ella in being with him, and ultimately redeems herself in the end.
- Technically, she is a composite of the fairytale version of the stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella Tremaine, and Clorinda from the opera.
Decomposite Character: She has allusions to Anastasia and Drizella, but is not specifically based on either of them. Instead, the real Anastasia is the Red Queen of Wonderland.
The Dragon: To Lady Tremaine.
Face–Heel Turn: After making a Heel–Face Turn in the Enchanted Forest, she became vengeful and wanted to punish Ella in Storybrooke.
Giant Poofy Sleeves: See the above image.
Heel–Face Turn: She finally decides to stop acting mean towards Ella to benefit Lady Tremaine and once again in Storybrooke after she realizes Jacob is alive.
Kick the Dog: She burns the dress of Ella's deceased mother on the command of Lady Tremaine.
Lack of Empathy: Subverted. She is not as bad she makes people think.
Love Redeems: She was never truly evil to begin with, but it's her romance with Jacob that fully makes her redeem herself.

Tisbe

Tisbe: Don't cry Ella, they're just cinders!

Played By: Goldie Hoffman

Cinderella's evil stepsister.

Composite Character: To Anastasia and Drizella Tremaine. Like Drizella, she gets very little storyline other than being loyal to Lady Tremaine and being mean to Ella and wears similar clothing to her. Like Anastasia, she wears a pink dress to the ball and has her hair styled similarly.
- Technically, she is a composite of the fairytale version of the stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella Tremaine, and Tisbe from the opera.
Co-Dragons: To Lady Tremaine, with Clorinda.
Decomposite Character: She has allusions to Anastasia and Drizella, but is not specifically based on either of them. Instead, the real Anastasia is the Red Queen of Wonderland.
Kick the Dog: She holds Ella back while Clorinda burns the dress of Ella's deceased mother on the command of Lady Tremaine.
Lack of Empathy: She is never shown to feel remorse for anything she has done, unlike Clorinda.
What Happened to the Mouse?: She disappears after the ball and no one mentions her again. Word of God says she met a duke, but time constraints prevented it from being shown onscreen.

Witches

Maleficent

Maleficent: I only care about one thing ... your pain, and that it be as long and terrible and unyielding as my own.

Played By: Kristin Bauer van Straten

Centric Episodes: "Darkness on the Edge of Town", "Unforgiven", "Enter the Dragon"

A powerful part-dragon witch, an old friend of the Evil Queen and archenemy to Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora. For a time, she, Cruella De Vil and Ursula form an alliance referred to as the "Queens of Darkness".

Adaptational Nice Guy: Unlike her original animated self, who has often been considered to be the wickedest of all Disney villains, it's clear that Maleficent truly does love her child and wants a happy life with her. In addition, she, Mistress of Evil, even agrees to do a favor for the heroes towards the end of Season 4 as long as they bring her Lily, her lost daughter, actually guarding Belle's heart for Regina while she and Emma go to find Lily! In addition, upon reuniting with her daughter, she states that Vengeance Feels Empty and no longer holds a grudge against the Charmings, only wanting to focus on the future with Lily.
Arc Villain: One of the main antagonists of the Queens of Darkness arc, and ultimately the last one standing before Isaac takes over using his new storybook.
Badass in a Nice Suit: She adopts a natty vintage '40s number in Storybrooke, and she's one of the most powerful magic users in the series, rivaling Regina, Zelena, and Cora. She can still turn into a dragon in Storybrooke.
Best Served Cold: She gives a speech worthy of Khan Noonien Singh about how she's going to keep hurting Snow and Charming for as long as possible over the loss of her baby.
Big Bad Duumvirate: In the second half of Season 4, with Gold, as the de facto leader of the Queens of Darkness. They join forces in order to find the Author and bring a Happy Ending to all villains, with Maleficent's being to find her daughter. They are also joined in the role by Cruella and Ursula, however she and Gold are the main duumvirate, as they last the longest of the 4 villains. Eventually, Maleficent has a Heel–Face Turn after sensing that Gold will betray her and finding her daughter. She is now somewhat in an alliance with the heroes.
The Bus Came Back: She's back in Season 4 and in a Big Bad Duumvirate with Gold himself.
Cool Horse: Maleficent's pet, one she loves enough to forfeit a duel with Regina for, is an innocent unicorn.
Dark Is Evil: In her Season 4 appearances, she's clad all in dark robes (black and red) and a black horned headpiece.
Disproportionate Retribution: After what the Charmings did with her child, she threatens to cause suffering not only for them, but for Emma and her friends as well, planning on turning Emma dark as revenge.
The Dragon: To Gold. She is the most powerful and useful member of the Queens of Darkness and the last one standing. However, she crosses this with Big Bad Duumvirate, as she is technically Gold's partner, rather than minion, but is still following his plans.
Dragon with an Agenda: Played with in regards to Gold, since this is probably more of a Big Bad Duumvirate. She is very much her own boss, clearly considers herself on his level and makes it clear that she works with him, not for him, but all in all follows his plan without being an outright henchman. To prove her equality, she even alters a deal, getting Gold to show her the child she'd lost.
Enemy Mine: Forms one in the penultimate episode with the heroes after her daughter is found, and decides to ignore what Snow and Charming did to her and Lily and move on.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Her child, which she lost somehow due to the actions of Snow and Charming.
Even Evil Has Standards:
- She refuses to let Regina have the Dark Curse back without a fight, believing it to be too evil to ever be used.
- Mistress of Evil she may be, but she is enraged when Snow and Charming steal her dragon egg to transfer the darkness from their child into hers.
  Maleficent: What kind of people are you? Threatening a child?
  Snow White: A child? This isn't a child. It will become a monster, just like you.
  Maleficent: ...And what are you?
Final Boss: She appears at the end of first season finale to give Charming and Emma each one last hurdle before they could get their happy endings.
Foreshadowing: To cast the Dark Curse you have to sacrifice the thing you love most. Why has Maleficent never cast it? Surely she doesn't love anything? Season 4 reveals that Maleficent is pregnant at this time and that her daughter (then just her unborn child) is the thing she loves most.
Garnishing the Story: Within the context of Once Upon A Time, there's little to no reason given for why and how she can turn into a dragon, but it's makes for a great climatic battle.
Genre Savvy: After seeing Gold betray Cruella - which gets her killed - Maleficent decides to betray him first... and joins with the heroes. It works. She lives and gets her happy ending.
The Heavy: While Maleficent shares the Arc Villain role with Gold, he prefers to work in the background, while Maleficent herself is almost always front-and-center against the heroes in Season 4b.
Heel–Face Turn: After she meets Lily, she decides not to live in the past any more but to enjoy the present with Lily. She doesn't seem to have made the transition from villain to hero but doesn't seem to be completely evil anymore.
Horned Humanoid: Invoked with her... hat-thing, which makes it seem like she has Satanic horns.
Hot Witch: Much prettier than the Disney version.
Karma Houdini: She never suffers punishment for her actions in Season 4; however, they are justifiable - except for the fact it's really Disproportionate Retribution. She leaves the season unharmed and gets her happy ending.
Lady of Black Magic: Maleficent is usually a very composed individual but her appearance does not obscure the fact that she is a very powerful witch and expert in many dark forms of magic (to the point of having invented the sleeping curse), as well as one of the few sorcerers and / or creatures magic able to turn into a dragon.
Mode Lock: Her punishment in Storybrooke was to be trapped in her dragon form.
Mysterious Past: Had some sort of feud between King Stefan and Queen Briar Rose that Aurora and Phillip found themselves caught up in.
One-Winged Angel: Her dragon form, naturally.
Only Friend: To the Evil Queen.
Only Mostly Dead: Part of Regina's personal touch for Maleficent when she casts the Dark Curse - even after she dies she's trapped as a shade. It's what enables Cruella and Ursula to revive her in Season 4.
Our Ghosts Are Different: Maleficent briefly appears as a shade in "The Evil Queen" after having been slain in her dragon form. This shade doesn't seem to be intelligible and is not a legitimate ghost, which also exist in the setting. This shade can also be reverted to human form with the proper ritual.
Pet the Dog: Exploited by Regina-she attacked the unicorn in full knowledge Maleficent would move to protect it... right under a convenient chandelier...
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Similar to Cora, however she shows much more black than red... and she has a sympathetic side.
Red Herring: When the Chernabog looked at her, Cruella, and Ursula to see who had the most potential for darkness, it was she (possibly due to Cruella's inability to kill). However, this serves to hide the fact that it's actually Cruella who's the most evil of the QOD.
Retcon: In Maleficent's first appearances, she wore a sparkling deep purple robe and a tiara that revealed her frazzled blond hair. However, in all other instances come Season 4 (both before and after the Curse) she suddenly gains her more familiar horned and black-robed appearance, as seen when she was first gained her second wind when meeting with the Evil Queen. The only thing carried over from her prior visage was her staff. Then subverted when it's revealed that, in Season 1, Maleficent was pregnant, so would not be wearing tight clothes - she's going to be putting on weight and having a baby; she needs the room to grow.
Retired Monster: Seems to have become this after acquiring the Evil Queen's curse. The Season 4 revelation that she was pregnant at the time may account for this. Not to mention that by that time, she's already gotten her revenge on King Stefan and Queen Briar Rose by placing Aurora under a sleeping curse and turning Phillip into a monster so that he couldn't perform true love's kiss.
Revenge by Proxy: In line with the original story, this is her M.O..
- She goes after Aurora for no other reason than to get back at her parents, Stefan and Briar Rose.
- She promises Snow White and Charming that she intends to make them suffer the same way she did when she lost her child.
Scaled Up: Of course, Maleficent appears in full glory in her dragon form, even passing this ability to her daughter.
Sealed Evil in a Can: She was trapped beneath the library for the first 3 seasons.
Sole Survivor: Ursula and Cruella de Vil are both handled by the heroes before Maleficent, leaving her the last Queen of Darkness around.
The Starscream: Turns on Gold before he tries to use her in the same way he did Cruella, which resulted in Cruella's death.
Regina: I knew Gold couldn't keep the Dragon on her leash for long.
Troll: Maleficent actually gets away with living after trolling Regina. Granted, she has powers that at least rival those of Regina.
Maleficent: (in response to Regina saying that her only happiness is Snow White's suffering) It's her wedding night, I doubt she's suffering right now.
Unwitting Pawn: Her only reason for existing in Storybrooke is to be the hiding place of Rumplestiltskin's True Love bottle - and guard Regina's fail-safe as a dragon.
Villain Has a Point: Given what Snow and Charming did, she is entirely justified in going after them.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Regina said she is her only friend. Didn't stop them from fighting almost to the death over the Dark Curse.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Has this in both the Enchanted Forest and Storybrooke, upon her revival in Season 4.
Weredragon: She can transform into a dragon as you might expect.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Or, rather, dragon. She was last seen near the end of Season 4 making plans to bond with her daughter and to find Lily's long lost father in Storybrooke. Neither have been seen since, and they have presumably ignored all the Arc Villains that have followed the season in favor of fulfilling this goal in the background. She returns briefly in the Season 7 finale in her dragon form where Regina also reveals that in that time Maleficent found Lily's father who turned out to be Zorro of all people.
The Worf Effect: Three examples.
- Regina, while not necessarily stronger than she is, battles her in "The Thing You Love Most" using trickery and wraps a chandelier around her after exploiting her love of her Pet Unicorn.
- Rumple captures her almost immediately after the Queens of Darkness capture Belle in "Heroes and Villains." She remains trapped by him for a majority of the scene, as his power is even greater than hers at the time, however she cleverly outwits him and he allows her to leave unharmed.
- Dragon Maleficent is by far the most powerful magical animal seen in the series, however even she cannot resist Cruella's Animal Persuasion magic — luckily for Cruella.

Cruella De Vil

For Cruella's sheet, see here.

Ursula (Deity)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ursulagod.jpg

Ursula: Next time you claim to be me, you'll find out just how real I am.

Played By: Yvette Nicole Brown (voice)

A goddess whom Regina impersonated to trick Ariel. The sea witch Ursula is named after her.

Adaptational Heroism: She is never shown doing evil as her villainous role was actually Regina impersonating her. The real Ursula is implied to actually be kind, granting the wishes of people who deserve it.
Beware the Nice Ones: In spite of her Adaptational Heroism, she is furious upon finding out that Regina impersonated her.
Real After All: Everyone, from the mermaids to the people of Eric's kingdom to Regina, assumes the goddess Ursula is just a myth. Regina is shocked to find out otherwise, to say the least.
Unscaled Merfolk: Her statue looks to be half-octopus, but it could just be the artist's depiction. Regina's impersonation of her looks like the version of Ursula from The Little Mermaid.

Ursula (Sea Witch)

Played By: Merrin Dungey, Tiffany Boone (younger Ursula)

Centric Episodes: "Darkness on the Edge of Town", "Poor Unfortunate Soul"

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ursula13.jpg

Ursula: For too long we've lived in a world where the heroes always win.

A powerful sea witch who is the daughter of Poseidon himself.

Adaptational Attractiveness: Ursula is an obese old witch in the film, here she is middle-aged pretty woman.
Adaptational Badass: Uses the power of Poseidon's trident to turn herself from a mermaid into a witch of terrible power.
Adaptational Heroism: She's more of an Anti-Villain than most of the Big Bads, and is far more sympathetic than her Disney self. Though if one considers that the sea witch was morally ambiguous in the original story...
Anti-Villain: She never takes point in the schemes of the Queens of Darkness, and her only evil action on her own is her attempt to kill Hook, whom she has a quite legitimate grievance against. Upon being presented with her happy ending, she eagerly takes it and forgives Hook, even telling him what the remaining villains are really up to.
Arc Villain: Initially one of the main antagonists of the Queens of Darkness arc.
Big Bad Duumvirate: In Season 4, with Gold, Maleficent and Cruella. Gold recruits Ursula to help him find Maleficent and Cruella so that they may find the Author and get the villains a Happy Ending. Shortly in, Ursula allies herself with Hook after they make a deal to get Ursula the ending she desires. She gets her ending back and has Heel–Face Turn and leaves.
Big Bad Wannabe: Once Maleficent joins up with Gold, Ursula and Cruella mostly serve as support and Ursula even leaves the group early on. Maleficent even points out to Gold that Cruella and Ursula are simply a means to an end for herself and Gold - something he doesn't deny.
Combat Tentacles: As per Disney tradition. She gave them to herself in the image of the goddess after her Start of Darkness to help make herself The Dreaded.
Composite Character: Her actual backstory (daughter of the sea king who longs to see what life is like on land) is a lot like Ariel's from the Disney movie, and her stolen singing voice has the same tune.
Decomposite Character: She's the third version of Ursula to show up in OUAT, so Regina already took her role in Ariel's story leaving her with little resemblance to the original character.
The Dragon: Before Maleficent (who both fills the trope and is a literal fire breathing dragon) comes along, Ursula plays this to Gold. She is the one who does most of the work for his plans such as stealing Maleficent's box, calling Regina so they could get into the town, and she's the one who gives him a home, being the first Queen he recruited. She falls between this and Big Bad Duumvirate. She's technically working with Gold rather than for him, but it's all in all his plan that she's helping carry out and he's the schemer.
Face–Heel Turn: After her father and Hook betray her and steal her voice, she turns into a full on evil villain but once she gets it back she has a...
Heel–Face Turn: Hook and Ariel arrange to bring Poseidon to Storybrooke so he can apologize for being so harsh and return her singing voice. This is enough for her to abandon her villainous comrades, tell Hook about Gold's plan, and return to the Enchanted Forest with her father.
Genre Savvy: Once she gets her happy ending with her father and spills the beans to Hook, she nopes the here out of Storybrooke. Given what happens to Cruella, this is probably wise.
Karma Houdini: Tragic backstory aside, she gets her voice back and reconciles with her father without doing anything to deserve it and never acknowledges her evil deeds like trying to kill the heroes or leaving baby Lily to die. She does however tell the heroes everything about Gold's plan to make amends.
The Mole: She and Cruella pretend to be reformed to get into Storybrooke. Also, after she makes amends and leaves with Poseidon, Cruella tells Gold that Ursula must have been the Mole in their group; it was actually Regina.
Named After Somebody Famous: She was named after the ancient goddess of the sea, who appeared in "Ariel".
Never My Fault: When Hook asks her "can you still open portals underwater, or did you give up that power when you became the monster you are?" she replies, "The monster that you made me." There's some truth in this since Hook stole her singing voice but she also forgets that she herself caused her transformation by stealing her father's trident.
Our Mermaids Are Different: She starts out half-fish like most mermaids, later shape-shifting into a human form, and later still into a half-octopus sea-witch.
Red Herring: It's not until "Poor Unfortunate Soul" that we find out she's not the goddess Ursula.
Sirens Are Mermaids: Though she seems to be the odd one out, she's a mermaid who lures sailors with her voice at the orders of her father.
Superpowerful Genetics: Averted. Despite being the daughter of Poseidon, she's just a simple mermaid with her only power being an enchanting siren voice. She has to steal her dad's trident to give herself any more power.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Ursula used to be a mermaid who just wanted to make everyone happy with her singing. Then her father and Hook plotted together to steal her voice, which was enough to turn her against both humans and the people of the sea.

The Blind Witch

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Blind_Witch_6057.jpg

The Blind Witch: I smell dinner!

Played By: Emma Caulfield

A cannibalistic witch living in a house made out of gingerbread and other sweets.

Hot Witch: To an almost disturbingly sexual degree.
I'm a Humanitarian: She eats children.
The Nose Knows: She has a very good sense of smell and is able to sense the things around her. However, this could be because of her blindness enhancing her other senses to make up for her one lost sense.
Sense-Impaired Monster: She's blind, and tracks Hansel and Gretel down by scent. Later, in the fifth season, when the cast goes to the Underworld, Regina enters the Underworld version of Storybrooke's Granny's Diner, and the Blind Witch says she smelled Regina entering.
Would Hurt a Child: Well, this is the child-eating witch from "Hansel and Gretel" after all.

Lilith "Lily" Page

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ouat_420_9.png

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/once_upon_a_time_4x20_lily_lily_as_starla.jpg

Lily: I know what it's like to live someplace where it feels like no one cares about you, let alone understands you.

Played By: Agnes Bruckner, Nicole Muñoz (teen)

Centric Episodes: "Lily"

A girl who helped Emma swindle a store when she was younger, quickly becoming her best friend. It fell apart when Emma learned that Lily was lying about being a fellow foster child and had actually run away from her adoptive parents.

Birthmark of Destiny: She was born with a distinct star-shaped scar on her wrist, and likes to pretend it's special "like Harry Potter". Turns out, she's Maleficent's long lost child.
Born Unlucky: While she recognizes to have a tendency to make bad decisions, she feels like the universe is going out of his way to make her life miserable, and everything she does backfire on her eventually. Turns out she was cursed the very moment she was born, thus explaining why everything goes wrong for her in her life.
Broken Pedestal: Emma's not happy to learn that Lily isn't really an orphan.
- Lily was also not happy that her mother was not as ruthless as she thought. She eventually warmed up though.
Chekhov's Gunman: She's initially introduced as a friend from Emma's past and is otherwise unimportant to the Snow Queen Story Arc. Turns out, she's Maleficent's daughter and a central figure in the Queens of Darkness arc.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Despite her plot not being fully resolved at the end of Season 4, she basically ceases to exist at the beginning of Season 5, not even getting so much as a mention again until the last moments of the series finale.
Consummate Liar: She's very good at coming up with fibs on the spot, and was lying to Emma about her past the whole time.
Cosmic Plaything: Life has not been kind to her; every single time that she's made what she thought was the right decision, it ended up getting her in trouble.
Disappeared Dad: Her biological father, who is revealed to be Zorro.
Hair-Contrast Duo: With Emma. Courtesy of Snow White and Charming, Emma was born with an affinity for light magic while Lily was born with an affinity for darkness. Emma's also a blonde while Lily's a brunette.
Heel–Face Turn: Gives up her desire to get revenge on the Charmings after making amends with her mother and becomes friends with Emma again.
Hot Witch: Courtesy of her mother. Maleficent describes her as "so beautiful".
Jerkass: She lied to Emma and ruined her life multiple times, won't forget about trying to kill Snow and Charming for what they did, and coldly rejects her mother when she tries to reconcile with her.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She eventually becomes friends with Emma again and warms up to her mother. It's also implied that she somewhat forgave Snow and Charming, but still holds a grudge against them, as she's shown giving off a light smile watching them hug Emma. She then has a genuinely friendly conversation with Emma afterwards.
Like Father, Like Son: Like Maleficent, she can transform into a dragon. She hasn't quite gotten the hang of it, though.
Long-Lost Relative: She's revealed to be Maleficent's lost egg, whisked away to the Land Without Magic, just like Emma was.
Meaningful Name: Lilith is a rather fitting name for Maleficent's child. Especially when one takes into consideration how Lilith in classical art is associated with serpents (particularly the Serpent of Genesis)—- Rather fitting for the daughter of a woman famous for transforming into a dragon.
Never My Fault: Blames Emma for how badly her life has gone, completely disregarding the fact that she cost Emma a chance at a happy home. To be fair, unlike most characters that practice this, she does have legitimate reason to believe it.
Samus Is a Girl: In Isaac's Alternate Enchanted Forest, she's the Black Knight who guards Emma's prison.
Sanity Slippage: The Apprentice telling her the truth about why her life sucks so badly didn't do wonders to her sanity. Since their meeting, Lily has been obsessively trying to find Storybrooke so she can take revenge on the Charmings.
What Did You Expect When You Named It ____?: Naming your adopted baby after the first demoness? Yeah, that's gonna guarantee a bright future for her.

Other Practitioners of Magic

Fairy Godmother

Fairy Godmother: I'm your fairy godmother, and I'm here to change your life, Cinderella.

Played By: Catherine Lough Haggquist

A fairy who appears to Cinderella on the night of Prince Thomas' ball to grant her wish, only to be killed by Rumplestiltskin for her incredibly powerful magic wand. Not only is she the godmother of Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother is also the patron of King George's family as well. This doesn't stop George betraying her location to Rumple, effectively leading to her death.

Ambiguously Evil: Rumplestiltskin, the DARK ONE, labels the Fairy Godmother's magic as "pure evil" and states to Regina that nobody mourns her.
Death by Adaptation: the Fairy Godmother is killed by Rumplestiltskin before she can grant Cinderella her wish, resulting in her having to make a Deal with the Devil instead.
Fairy Godmother: to Cinderella, obviously, but also to King George and his family, hinting at the fact that the two might be related distantly.
Killed Mid-Sentence: Just as she's preparing to grant Cinderella's wish. Ouch.
Magic Wand: The owner of an incredibly powerful one, desired by Rumplestiltskin to add to his magical collection.
Race Lift: Most versions of Cinderella portray the Fairy Godmother as elderly and white; here she bears a striking resemblance to Whitney Houston's fairy godmother character in Roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella.

Seer

Seer: I see all. Even what has yet to pass.

Played By: Shannon Lucio, Brighid Fleming (child)

A prophecy teller whom Rumplestiltskin meets.

Blessed with Suck: She absolutely hates her precognition visions, even going as far as to consider death to be superior, which is why she gets Rumple to kill her.
Blind Seer: Complete with Eyeless Face, she senses her environment through touch, hearing, and her prophecies which provide her with a disturbing amount of insight.
Cassandra Truth: At first, her visions aren't believed.
Creepy Child: She is ten when we first see her, but she doesn't appear to have any eyes, and her prophecies drive Rumple to break his own legs out of fear.
Chekhov's Gunman: She only appears in one episode in Season 2, but her final vision doesn't come into fruition until the Series Finale.
Eyes Do Not Belong There: They appear instead on her hands.
I Cannot Self-Terminate: She baits Rumple so he would be angry enough to kill her.
Metaphorically True: A majority of her prophesies are delivered via vague riddles and double-meaning language whose final outcomes are different from how they're originally interpreted.
Ms. Exposition: Her purpose is to let Rumple know about his certain death if he serves in the Ogre Wars, which causes him to desert, and to tell him that Henry will lead to his death, which is a problem for him in the present day since now he knows Henry is his grandson.
Occult Blue Eyes: It's not so much the color of her eyes that make them occult, but the fact that they are in the middle of her palms.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: She tells Rumplestiltskin that his actions on the battlefield will result in his son losing his father. Rumple flees the battlefield, his wife leaves him for being a coward, he becomes the Dark One to save his son, and his son leaves the realm to escape from magic. Rumplestiltskin is not happy when he catches up with her again.
Small Role, Big Impact: She only gets two scenes, but when you think about it, the fact that she shared the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy with Rumplestiltskin leads to practically everything that happens in the show, including the Dark Curse itself.

Isaac Heller/The Author

For Isaac's sheet, see here.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sorcerers_apprentice.png

The Apprentice: I can see you have many questions. Fortunately, I have many answers.

Played By: Timothy Webber, Graham Verchere (child)

The emissary of the legendary Sorcerer, who has spent five hundred years protecting the Worlds from the forces of Darkness while helping make sure the many stories of the realms are remembered throughout the ages.

Adaptational Badass: Here the Apprentice faces off with Dark Ones with little but his own sword. In Fantasia... he was Mickey Mouse and needed the Sorcerer's hat to accomplish simple chores.
All for Nothing: His deal with the Snow Queen to get the hat back was basically for nothing since Rumple eventually got it anyway.
Beware the Nice Ones: He might be a nice old man, but if you make him angry, well, it sucks to be you. The Apprentice has access to magical artifacts that defy all known laws of magic and he will not hesitate to use them against those that serve the Darkness.
Composite Character: Takes on elements of Wart's role as Merlin's student that didn't go to the OUAT King Arthur.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu??: It wouldn't be unusual for him to fight off a Dark One, but in his debut episode, the Apprentice manages to help Anna defeat Rumple while he's just a mouse!
Elderly Immortal: He has been guarding the Sorcerer's Hat in the five hundred years since the disappearance of the Sorcerer, turning him from a young boy to a feeble man with a wizened, white beard.
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Apprentice is only referred to as such, and he enforces this by keeping the identities of the Author and the Sorcerer a secret as long as he can.
Forced Transformation: Rumplestiltskin tricks him into drinking a potion that turns the Apprentice into the most disgusting, pathetic and helpless form he can imagine. Y'know, a mouse.
Guardian of the Multiverse: The Apprentice can travel between any world he chooses, and use this ability to ensure that the stories of each world are recorded by the Author and that evil beings like the Dark One never receive the power to overcome the forces of good.
Hat of Power: Although it technically belongs to his master, the Apprentice's main duty is to guard the Sorcerer's Hat, a magical object made up of the magical power of everyone that the Sorcerer has imprisoned over his millennia of protecting the world from darkness. It can contain anything, even the Apprentice himself and Chernabog, and with all that power concentrated can be used to do magic even the Dark One couldn't imagine. It also looks like it's made of stars, so that's pretty cool.
Horrible Judge of Character: The last person he chose to be the Author ended up developing a God Complex, and using the Authorial powers to turn the Apprentice to evil for a short time.
Leitmotif: Naturally, Paul Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice tends to work itself into the soundtrack whenever the Apprentice is relevant to a scene, most notably at the end of his introductory episode, also called "The Apprentice."
Mathematician's Answer: Upon being asked whether Princess Ingrid will get her happy ending, he says she will find the sisters she seeks, without actually saying anything regarding her happiness.
Mouth of Sauron: He speaks for The Sorcerer in almost all matters, such as the rare cases in which he makes a deal.
Mr. Exposition: The Apprentice surely has impact on the plot through the instructions of the Sorcerer, but he does spend an awful lot of time explaining things. Examples include:
- The enchantments protecting the Sorcerer's Hat and the Dark One's history of hunting it.
- The future of the Snow Queen and her potential to find a third sister.
- The enchantment he prepares for Snow White and Prince Charming in "Best Laid Plans." Specifically, how it will purify Emma and curse Maleficent's child in a way that cannot be undone.
- The rules of being the Author and how it relates to the All Deaths Final rules of magic.
- The nature of the Darkness and how the Dagger contains it.
My God, What Have I Done?: He was forced to send Maleficent's newborn child into our world because she was too dark. Turns out it was all because the Author manipulated events for the sake of a better story. He's seriously ticked off when he realizes this.
Mythology Gag: The Apprentice isn't exactly doing chores for his master, but he does seem to be carrying around a broom an awful lot, just like Mickey had to under Yen Sid. He also briefly turns into a mouse courtesy of Rumplestiltskin.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His efforts to help tend to have very nasty and unexpected consequences down the line:
- In order to stop Rumplestiltskin from getting the Sorcerer's Hat, the Apprentice makes a deal to help Ingrid find a potential sister. This ends up fueling the plot of Season 4a and Ingrid's attempt to destroy Storybrooke.
- His decision to seek out Lily and tell her everything because he felt she had a right to know why her life sucked was noble, but led to Lily developing a homicidal obsession with Emma and her parents.
Older Than They Look: He may look ancient, but he should really look more like a rotting corpse, considering he was a boy before the Dark One even came into existence.
Robe and Wizard Hat: The Apprentice has worn his red robes since he was a child, but he never wears the traditional wizard hat, instead guarding it under his basement to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.
Sealed Good in a Can: The Apprentice ends up being trapped in his master's hat for nearly all of Season 4 before being released in the finale.
Take Up My Sword: The Apprentice facilitates this, assigning the new Author every time one dies. He even presents them with the traditional "sword" of the Author, their magical quill.
Would Hurt a Child: In "Best Laid Plans", The Apprentice advises that Charming and Snow to put the prenatal Emma's darkness in another child so that he can exile the child along with the terrible darkness Emma has. It turns out the Apprentice had no such desire to harm a child, and was under the control of the Author.

Zoso

Zoso: All magic comes with a price... and now, it's yours to pay.

Played By: Brad Dourif

The former Dark One, who tricks Rumplestiltskin into obtaining his powers.

The Dreaded: He's the Dark One, so everyone fears him.
I Cannot Self-Terminate: What he personally believes, anyway.
I Know Your True Name: Knowing this allows a person to control him and a magic dagger.
Manipulative Bastard: To Rumple.
Meaningful Name: His name may be related to the entity "zozo", which is said to be a malevolent spirit - sometimes called "the spirit of destruction".
Number Two: To whoever is holding his knife. In this case, it's the unseen 'Duke' who Zoso clearly doesn't think much of.
Sdrawkcab Name: The phonetic reversal of the name is the Greek word Sozo which means to save^note. By reversing it, it reverses the meaning making the name "Zoso" mean to injure or put in harm's way.
Small Role, Big Impact: He was in one episode of Season 1, but by his actions, Rumple inherited his powers, setting into motion a series of events that would lead to Bael's running away and Rumple's quest to find him.
Thanatos Gambit: Plans his own retirement and death by telling Rumplestiltskin on how he can take over the Dark One's powers and then goads Rumple into killing him.
You Kill It, You Bought It: "All magic comes at a price and now it's yours to pay!"

Main Characters' Relatives

Daniel

Daniel: Who cares about magic? True love is the most powerful magic of all. It can overcome anything.

Played By: Noah Bean

A stable boy working for Cora's family and the young Regina's secret lover.

Back from the Dead: In the same episode he dies, no less.
Back for the Dead: Regina is forced to kill him after he nearly tries to kill her, finally coming to terms with the fact that she can no longer have back the man she loved.
Came Back Wrong: Dr. Whale attempts to revive him, but Daniel comes back violent, disorientated and in extreme agony.
Heart Trauma: Cora killed him the same way that Regina killed Sheriff Graham.
The Idealist: He believes that Regina should just talk to her mother, and that they would overcome their hardships and marry easily in the end.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
Regina: I love you.
Daniel: Then love again.
Killed Off for Real: By Regina, after he comes back from the dead.
Living Emotional Crutch: To Regina. After, he dies, she is ready to be married off and looks like she is dead inside. If Regina didn't discover that Snow was partly responsible for Daniel's death, Regina possibly would have stayed dead inside.
The Lost Lenore: To Regina. Before her eyes, Regina saw her mother pull out Daniel's heart and murder him.
Mercy Kill: Regina kills his monstrous, revived self at Daniel's own request.
Monster from Beyond the Veil: In "The Doctor," Daniel returns as a Frankenstein's Monster with only vague memories of his original life.
Morality Chain: Regina's. Cora kills him, Rumple breaks the chain but... given Daniel's last request, that might change.
Plot-Triggering Death: His death is Regina's Start of Darkness.
The Power of Love: Regina telling him she loves him was enough to wake him from his angry, monster state. See I Want My Beloved to Be Happy for what was said.

Liam Jones

Liam Jones: To fight battles using unholy weapons is, as you say, bad form.

Played By: Bernard Curry

Centric Episodes: "The Brothers Jones"

A sea captain and the older brother of Captain Hook. He travels to Neverland in search of a plant that supposedly cures any injury.

Big Brother Mentor: To Killian (Hook).
Deal with the Devil: Made one of these with Hades when he offered Liam both his and Killian's freedom, as well as the Eye of the Storm jewel, in exchange for the souls of all of Captain Silver's crew.
My Country, Right or Wrong: By the time he realizes how wrong his king really was, it was too late.
Tempting Fate: The reason he dies is because he deliberately deeply cuts his bare arm with something said to be poison just to prove it isn't poison. It is, in fact, poison.
Too Dumb to Live: He apparently didn't think that Dreamshade sap was poisonous. So to prove it, he cuts himself with it. Spoiler alert, it kills him.

Maid Marian

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marian.png

Marian: My silence is the only thing keeping my family safe.

Played By: Christie Laing

Robin Hood's wife, who dies between Seasons 2 and 3.

Adaptational Badass: Most versions of Maid Marian portray her as a Damsel in Distress. This version had her try to take on a giant Snow Golem with a bow-and-arrow^note and openly call the Evil Queen a monster, having no reason at all to believe that she wouldn't get a fireball to the face for her trouble.
Alliterative Name: Maid Marian.
Back from the Dead: Emma and Hook brought her back from the past to the present.
Dead All Along: Turns out Zelena killed Marian and possessed her body before Emma and Hook brought her back to the present in the Season 3 finale.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: After a small appearance in the flashbacks of "Lacey," she dies offscreen before the present of Season 3.
- Again, Emma and Hook brought her back, by time travel, to the present alive. Turns out that, before, Zelena has killed and replaced her.
Murder the Hypotenuse: Played with; Marian's death is confirmed before we learn of Robin Hood's second love, Regina Mills.
- Later inverted, after being resurrected by time travel.
  - Double inverted, she is dead and this "Marian" is actually Zelena.
Race Lift: Given that the Robin Hood myth originates in 14th century England, it's likely that Maid Marian was white. Here, she's played by an actress of partial Belizean descent.
Retcon: Robin first mentioned that Marian died during one of his jobs. We later find out Regina executed her for helping Snow.
Taken for Granite: She's frozen solid by the Snow Queen, forcing Regina to remove her heart from her to save her life before the ice can reach it. Meaning that even though she's essentially been reduced to an icicle, she's still alive.
What the Hell, Hero?: Marian's horrified that the people of Storybrooke just casually chat with the Evil Queen.

Milah

Milah: I need a break. Run home, Rumple. It's what you're good at.

Played By: Rachel Shelley

Centric Episodes: "Devil's Due"

Rumplestiltskin's former wife who abandoned him and Baelfire to be with Hook.

Abusive Parents:
- While not physically abusive to her son, she does leave him alone while she goes off to drink with pirates and eventually abandons him altogether. In the ten years between her running off with Captain Jones and Rumple killing her, you think she could have managed to drop by once in a while or send her a kid a line or something. On the other hand, she does seem remorseful about it and admits it was a mistake, and later Jones tells Baelfire that the two of them used to speak of coming back for him one day.
- She also sat in the tavern mooning over a leather-clad pirate while her kid was dying from a snakebite.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: There have been two major villains alive in her lifetime and she marries one (even if he was a sweetie at the time, the marriage with him not working out might explain why she became attracted to the bad boy-type afterward) and becomes The Lost Lenore of the other.
- Subverted with Killian Jones, as what attracted her to him was him standing up for her.
Back for the Dead: By Season 5, Milah is long dead. That doesn't stop Rumple from preventing her from moving on (and seeing Bae again) by pushing her into the River of Lost Souls. To be fair, he only does so to protect his unborn child from Hades — his expression is pretty regretful after.
Deader than Dead: She is turned into a mindless, drifting soul by Rumple throwing her into the Acheron, though "Last Rites" suggests that this is reversible.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: She dies in Captain Jones' arms as Rumple gloats to his new enemy.
Domestic Abuse: Potentially but unconfirmed, since the one time she's seen abusing and belittling Rumplestiltskin is when she's drunk, and she appears more rational when sober.
- Later revelations imply it was more of a deeply dysfunctional relationship where both she and Rumple were abusive of each other in different ways.
Evil Counterpart: Not evil, but a less pleasant one to Belle, both women who had trouble in their relationships with Rumplestiltskin and who dreamed of having more in life.
Freudian Excuse: In both "Manhattan" and a Word of God podcast on it, we see that she's stuck up for Rumplestiltskin for years, insisting that he's nothing like his cowardly father (who abandoned him). When he cripples himself to get out of fighting because he doesn't want Baelfire to grow up without a father like he did, seemingly confirming that he is a coward after all and consigning her and Baelfire to notoriety by association, she grows very bitter very fast.invoked
- And then it turns out in order to save Bae from dying from a snakebite, Rumple made a deal that their second-born child was the price for, meaning they could never safely have more children, without asking her consent. No wonder she was bitter. Then again, she was clearly already displeased with him before this happened. Dealing their non-existent secondborn child was the only alternative to straight up murdering the healer, and it did save their firstborn child's life. It's a complicated case where neither of them treated each other the way they should have: Rumple should have given her agency in dealing away a potential child, and Milah should not have asked him to murder a man.
Jerkass: To Rumplestiltskin once he ends up abandoning fighting in the war, even though the only reason he did it was to live for her and Baelfire's sake after hearing a prophecy that suggested he would die and Bae would grow up fatherless. On the other hand, he doesn't take any of her suggestions to better themselves either, fueling her resentment further.
- Even if her relationship to Rumplestiltskin is debatable, she doesn't seem to give a second thought to leaving her child Bae behind, only regretting it after the fact and only coming back to see him when it's already too late.
Laser-Guided Karma: Her punishment in the Underworld is to be a crossing guard looking after a bunch of children, constantly being reminded of her own child that she abandoned.
The Lost Lenore: To Killian Jones for Season 2, who's devastated by her death at Rumple's hand.
Missing Mom: To Baelfire.
Parental Abandonment: To Baelfire, although like Rumple she does regret it- she just doesn't act on it, unlike him.
Pet the Dog: She has a few. She leaves the tavern and Jones' company when Baelfire shows up, she tries to salvage her relationship with Rumple by suggesting they move somewhere to make a new start (something Rumple refuses to do since it ended horribly for him when he suggested it to his own father), she regrets abandoning Baelfire, and Jones later mentions that she always missed him and planned to come back for him (although whether it would be right to take him away from Rumple to live with pirates is its own issue), and she does admit that she was wrong for what she did to Rumple and Bae.
Milah: I was the coward.
- When we meet her in the Underworld, she gets a lot of this helping Emma to get to Hook despite the danger.
Pirate Girl: Becomes this when she joins Jones' crew.
Small Town Boredom: She's a woman who's often at her village's tavern and is bored with being a wife and mother.
Too Dumb to Live: She perhaps picked the wrong moment to tell the Dark One that she never loved him. He was in a very blatant raging mood due to her leaving Bae too, so there isn't much excuse here.
We Hardly Knew Ye: She's only featured in two episodes.
- Subverted when she comes back in the Underworld arc. Only to be pushed into the River of Lost Souls.

Robert

Robert: James is our son, he's in trouble, and I need to rescue him.

Played By: David Cubitt

Centric Episodes: "Murder Most Foul"

The birth father of David and James, who died when they were both boys.

The Alcoholic: Robert spent most of his time and money at the tavern and was notorious for being a lousy drunk. However when he learned the son he gave up to King George had been kidnapped, he vowed to stop drinking for good and fix his family.
Disappeared Dad: He left on a two-week trip when David was young, only to wind up dead on the last day before he was meant to come home.
Make It Look Like an Accident: David always believed that his father had given into temptation while he left, gotten drunk and rode his cart into a ravine. As it turns out Robert hadn't touched any alcohol at all and his death was in fact ordered by King George when he refused to give James back. This gets turned on its head again when it's revealed that Hook was the one to actually kill him, having intervened at the last minute to steal the King's gold and stabbed Robert to keep him quiet.
Papa Wolf: As soon as he gets word that Prince James had disappeared, he dropped everything and set out to rescue him and bring him home.
Posthumous Character: Long dead by the time he was first mentioned in "The Shepherd".

Ruth

Ruth: True love follows this ring wherever it goes, my son... Take it, and I'll know you'll be happy.

Played By: Gabrielle Rose, Tara Wilson (young)

The mother of Prince Charming, who works as a poor farm owner.

Heroic Sacrifice: She gave up her only chance to live after being shot with a poisoned arrow so that a cursed Snow could have a baby.
The Matchmaker: In "The Shepherd", she tries to convince Charming to court a grain merchant's daughter for her dowry, but eventually regrets her actions after Charming slays the dragon and comes back to say good-bye.

Other Residents

Mulan

Mulan: Even if I don't believe in his methods, I am going to honor his wishes. I'm going to keep you safe.

Played By: Jamie Chung

A stoic warrior unaffected by the Dark Curse. She helps Prince Phillip find Princess Aurora.

Aborted Declaration of Love: To Aurora.
Adaptational Sexuality: Mulan is straight in the cartoon, but here, she is attracted to Aurora, implying that she is gay or bisexual.
Action Girl: Is a female warrior.
Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: There's hardly ever a moment where's she's not aloof and composed, a stark contrast to how she's portrayed in the Disney film. As of Season 3, this seems to have been toned down somewhat; she's dropped most of the old-fashioned honorifics from her diction and started using contractions. She actually even smiles now.
Always Save the Girl: Towards Aurora.
Ambiguously Bi: As of "Quite a Common Fairy", turns out she's had feelings for both Phillip and Aurora (although Aurora's assumption that she had feelings for Phillip was never confirmed).
Back for the Finale: Along with Phillip and Aurora, she finds Neal washed up on a beach in the Enchanted Forest.
Bodyguard Crush: Revealed to be in love with Aurora whom she swore to protect in Season 3.
Cool Sword: Carries a jian that can deflect magical attacks.
Declaration of Protection: Towards Aurora, see the quote above.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Her last scene (chronologically) in Season 2 has her finally smiling, and in Season 3, she's doing it much more often and acting less aloof and reserved, complete with letting her hair down.
Good Is Not Nice: She's not overly friendly but she's definitely one of the good guys.
Heartbroken Badass: She can use her magical sword to take on dark wizards like Cora without assistance, but that doesn't stop Aurora from noticing Mulan's unusual reaction to Phillip's death. In addition to being hurt by Phillip's sacrifice, we later learn Mulan was struggling with attraction towards Aurora.
Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: She has a helmet, but never wears it beyond the initial conceal-that-she's-a-woman scenes.
Honor Before Reason: To an extent. Her oath to protect Aurora means she'll take only a few hours to decide to steal the compass and try to make a deal with Cora, despite knowing that Cora's... not nice and wants to go to another world to be not nice to many more people.
I Gave My Word: She told Phillip that she would protect Aurora and she fully intends to keep that promise.
- Becoming the Mask: She started off protecting Aurora due to her unrequited feelings toward Phillip and no personal affection for Aurora. As the two girls grew to become friends, Mulan's feelings shifted completely from Phillip to Aurora.
Incompatible Orientation: She gets inspired to reveal her love for Aurora, just as Aurora announces she's pregnant.
Insistent Terminology: "You're a girl?" "A woman.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Learns that Aurora is pregnant with Phillip's child before she could confess her feelings for Aurora. She expresses fake happiness at this then she tells Aurora that she would be joining the Merry Men instead of her planned confession. After hugging each other farewell, Mulan leaves in tears. (Though Aurora's not exactly happy at this parting, either.)
Just Friends: She claims she is just Phillip's friend, but Aurora doesn't quite buy it, and statements from the writers seem to confirm her suspicions.
- As of "Quite a Common Fairy," she ends up having to accept this status for her and Aurora as well.
Lady of War: Calm, stoic, and completely deadly in battle.
The Lancer: To Phillip and Lancelot.
Mysterious Past: Not much is known about her before her partnership with Prince Phillip and she never has a centric episode, although there is an unused title card featuring her.
No Bisexuals: Mulan was strongly implied to have romantic feelings for Phillip prior to his demise. Then some time later, it's suddenly revealed she's actually had romantic feelings for Aurora. No mention of the B word in series.
Not So Stoic: After Aurora tells her that she's pregnant with Phillip's child, right before Mulan can tell her that she's fallen in love with her. Mulan congratulates Aurora, but the second Mulan turns away she starts to cry.
Odd Friendship: Despite a rocky start due to their differences in character, she ends up having this with Aurora. It later becomes love for Mulan.
Put on a Bus: Disappears after joining Robin Hood's Merry Men, presumably due to Jamie Chung joining the main cast of another series, Believe.
The Quiet One: She doesn't talk a lot, contrasting with the more spirited Aurora.
Samus Is a Girl: Her introduction, mirroring Charming's first meeting with Snow. Happens again in her introduction to Merida.
The Stoic: In Season 2.
The Bus Came Back: After a long absence, she returns in Season 5, where she joins Merida (and Ruby) in tracking down a helmet worn by Merida's father, and then joins Ruby in her quest to find more werewolves.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to Aurora's Girly Girl.
Token Minority: One of the few non-white characters on the show to have lines without being killed.
Twofer Token Minority: She's female, Asian, and bisexual or possibly homosexual.
Undying Loyalty: To Aurora, as protecting her was Phillip's last wish.
What Happened to the Mouse?: She's last seen joining the Merry Men after learning her crush Aurora is pregnant, and is then nowhere to be seen and not mentioned at all when the Merry Men come back in the second half of Season 3. While she returns in Season 5, the reasons for her separation from the Merry Men have yet to be revealed.
You Go, Girl!: Mulan refuses to be called "a girl" and tells the surprised Aurora that she is a woman and a warrior.

Anton

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/213Promo8_1987.jpg

Anton: I'm too small for back home. I'm too big for here.

Played By: Jorge Garcia

Centric Episodes: "Tiny"

The last surviving giant following the brief war between humanity and the peaceful giant race.

All of the Other Reindeer: All of his brothers think he's weird for his fixation with humans.
Brought Down to Normal: In Storybrooke.
Expy:
- Fascinated by human culture to the point of becoming one despite the warnings of family not to trust those bloodthirsty fiends? It's surprising when he doesn't start singing Part Of Your World.
- He plays a stolen harp, lives up a beanstalk and has a scene where he walks through a modern human residence. Sound familiar? Probably not, because it's an obscure reference to Disney's classic short Mickey and the Beanstalk, part of their 1947 film Fun and Fancy Free.
Gentle Giant: Develops into this at the end of "Tiny".
Hidden Depths: It turns out that the version of the war against the giants we heard was severely skewed by the victors. They weren't evil, and now the one giant left wears the now useless magic bean on a necklace as a reminder that humans are all killers.
I Just Want to Be Normal: He's fascinated by human culture and wants to become one of them.
Ironic Nickname: Anton is originally called Tiny because he is the smallest of the giants. He later gets the same name from a pickaxe when he joins the dwarves.
Last of His Kind: Due to Prince James and Jack's murder of his family.
Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: In both "Tallahassee" and "Tiny".
Only Sane Man: The only giant who thinks to question why they still harvest magic beans, since they no longer do anything with them after cutting off contact with humans.
The Runt at the End: See Ironic Nickname.
Sizeshifter: Another reference to Fun and Fancy Free.
What Happened to the Mouse?: He last appeared in person in Season 2, but was mentioned in Season 5, which reveals that he was brought back to Storybrooke when Mary Margaret recreated it and is still tending his beans.
Written by the Winners: His explanation for why giants are thought of as selfish plunderers who grew the magic beans to steal from other worlds. Prince James and the rest of the humans who killed Anton's family spread the story to justify their actions.

Ariel

Ariel: Can you keep a secret? ...I'm a mermaid.

Played By: JoAnna Garcia Swisher

Centric Episodes: "Ariel", "The Jolly Roger"

A mermaid who falls in love with a human prince.

Adaptational Badass: On her very first scene she saves Snow White's life and she has the ability to travel through dimensions. In "The Jolly Roger", she knocks Hook down and briefly holds a dagger against his neck.
Adaptational Nice Guy: While the animated version of Ariel was deeply flawed, this version is shown to be much more altruistic and responsible than her animated counterpart. Even some people who did not like the animated version of Ariel found this adaptation to be quite charming.
The Ace: She is one of the most talented of the princesses, alongside Elsa and Snow.
Beware the Nice Ones: Regina takes a mini salad trident to the neck for abusing her trust.
Big Damn Heroes: She pops up out of nowhere to save Hook from drowning after Ursula throws him into the sea unconscious.
Break the Cutie: Subverted big-time, as even after 28 years without a voice, Ariel is still as spirited as ever.
Chekhov's Gun: The fork she keeps from the ball. She uses it to stab Regina in the neck as she was magically strangling Snow White. Ariel herself is an example due to her ability to travel between dimensions.
Chekhov's Gunman: Her existence was foreshadowed way back in "Skin Deep" when Regina told Rumple she needed help dealing with a certain mermaid.
- She later saves Blackbeard from drowning, which allows Hook to trade the Jolly Roger to him for a magic bean.
The Conscience: Ariel is this to Hook in a way. In "The Jolly Roger", she insists that Hook spares Blackbeard so he can tell them where Eric is and in "Poor Unfortunate Soul", she gives Hook the idea of bringing Poseidon to Storybrooke so he can restore Ursula's singing voice and restore her happy ending.
Cute Clumsy Girl: Thanks to being unused to walking on legs.
Decomposite Character: Ursula takes over her backstory of having a human hating father who rules the seas.
The Determinator: She is this the most out of the princesses. Jasmine even talks about it in the episode when they meet.
Earn Your Happy Ending: When Eric was captured by Blackbeard, she tracked down Hook and made him help her find him. When Hook chose to reclaim the Jolly Roger rather than spare Blackbeard to learn where Eric was, she saved Blackbeard, just to fork with Hook, and set out on her own to find Eric. Not only did she succeed, the two were out of range of the second curse and are living happily together in the Enchanted Forest.
Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy: She does when she introduces herself to Eric.
Fish out of Water: In both a literal and figurative sense. She is this whenever she spends time on land, whether it's in the Enchanted Forest or Storybrooke. She even thought that a fork was a "mini salad trident" at first.
Friend-or-Idol Decision: Chooses to help Snow escape and enrage the Evil Queen rather than take the easy way out.
Happy Ending Override: After the events of Earn Your Happy Ending above, Elsa inadvertently shrunk her along with the Jolly Roger when it was turned into a ship in a bottle to get back at Blackbeard.
Innocent Fanservice Girl: She's arguably the most "sexy" of the princess characters, but it's not portrayed in a malicious and/or vulgar way.
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Even by princess standards, she is this. She is never swayed by any of the villains' advances, threats, and/or bribes.
Interspecies Romance: A love between a mermaid and a human.
Leaning on the Fourth Wall: She seems aware that she is in a fairy tale, unlike some of the other princesses.
Lightning Bruiser: of the fairy tale princesses, she is this the most.
Light Is Good: She is firmly on the side of light in the conflict between light and darkness. Light is aligned with goodness in OUAT.
Love at First Sight: Typical for a fairy tale heroine. She falls for Prince Eric at first sight when she saves him from a shipwreck.
Magical Girl: Alongside Elsa, she seems to be the most "magical" of the princesses.
Master of All: She's this the most of the princess characters.
Nice Girl: She plays this role as both a mermaid and a princess.
Nigh-Invulnerability: Unless you are a powerful villain like the Evil Queen and/or Rumplestiltskin, don't expect to be any serious threat to her.
- She stood her ground against the Evil Queen, Peter Pan had no influence over her (unlike the other mermaids), Zelena failed to turn her into a flying monkey and make her lose her memories, etc. Even Jafar only "won" against her by cheating. Yes, he made her disappear when she was with Jasmine and he made her go to sleep (as a Genie). She could likely hold her ground against most of the villains in the OUAT series. With the possible exception of the "cosmic" ones like Genie Jafar, the Black Fairy, the evil Author, Hades, the Evil Queen, Rumplestiltskin, etc..
Our Mermaids Are Different: Mermaids like Ariel have the ability to travel to any world in The Multiverse so long as they have access to a body of water, and beyond that, they can choose to become human for one day every year.
Plucky Girl: As expected.
Purposefully Overpowered: She is arguably the most OP princess besides Elsa, which might explain why she did not become a main character. Most of the battles would have been over quickly due to her low level reality warping, toon force, 4th wall awareness, nigh-invulnerability, multiverse traveling, etc.. She would have curb-stomped any villain that is not the more serious ones like the Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin.
- She's one of the few characters in OUAT that can create love and time travel. She has not been shown to be able to raise the dead, but the first two means she is not restricted by the laws of magic like most of the other characters. Squid ink would likely have little effect on her, she can maintain her memories when she leaves Storybrooke and she was not affected by any of the magical curses. She is definitely one of the most OP characters on the heroic/light side alongside Emma, good Regina, good Rumplestiltskin, Merlin, Henry as the Author, the Blue Fairy, Zeus, Elsa, and the Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Reality Warping: On a low end scale, she has this.
The Pollyanna: "I'm an optimist!"
The Power of Love: One of the few OUAT characters that can create love.
The Paragon: She is this for the princess characters.
Time Travel: One of the few characters in OUAT that can do this.
Toon Physics: She has this the most of all the princess characters.
Sirens Are Mermaids: Ariel implied she used to be as vicious and dangerous as the other mermaids, but changed her ways sometime before meeting Prince Eric.
Star-Crossed Lovers: In a way, due to her being a mermaid and Eric being human. Until they meet in Storybrooke.
Strong and Skilled: She is arguably among the strongest and skilled of the princesses due to her magic, powers, and abilities.
Token Heroic Orc: She's one of the few good/heroic mermaids in OUAT.
Transformation Trinket: Regina gives her a bracelet that gives her legs when worn.
Undying Loyalty: She never tries to seduce other male characters (See Innocent Fanservice Girl above) and altruistically loves prince Eric.
What Happened to the Mouse?: She rarely appears after her happy ending. She only appears once in the final season as her Alternate Universe counterpart.

Blackbeard

Played By: Charles Mesure

Blackbeard: So that's what this is? A rescue mission for some wench?

A fearsome pirate who stole The Jolly Roger from Captain Hook.

Not Quite Dead: He reappears in the fourth season where its reveals that he was rescued by a mermaid. Ariel later admits to saving him to get Eric's location.
Sadistic Choice: Blackbeard forces Hook to choose between his beloved ship or Eric's location. Hook chooses to kill him for the ship, forcing Ariel to save him from drowning in order to get Eric's location.
Walk the Plank: Ironically, the most famous pirate in the world meets his end this way. He's later revealed to have indeed survived.

Captain Nemo

Played By: Faran Tahir

Nemo: I killed one of them with this very blade. And when I was finished, all I was left with was an empty heart and a bloodstained harpoon.

The commander of the Nautilus and leader of a crew of outcasts seeking a life beyond vengeance.

Adaptational Heroism: This version of Nemo is a compassionate, sympathetic man whose life is no longer consumed by anger and a thirst for vengeance.
And Then What?: His whole motivation. After taking revenge on the people who killed his family, he found his life without meaning. So he's devoted himself to finding people in similar situations and helping them find a purpose.
Cool Boat: He's Captain Nemo, so of course he's got one. It appears to be the submarine from the 1954 Disney film.
Parental Substitute: To Liam Jones (the younger).
Shown Their Work: Faran is Pakistani; Jules Verne revealed in The Mysterious Island that Nemo was an Indian prince.

Count of Monte Cristo

For the Count's sheet, see here.

Charlotte

Played By: Andrea Brooks

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/602willmissyou.png

Composite Character: Charlotte is an allusion to Haydée from The Count of Monte Cristo.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Very predictable considering she's a nurse.
Hospital Hottie: She's a nurse.
One-Shot Character: She only appears in one episode.

Megara

Played by: Kacey Rohl

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/513thankyou2.png

A young woman who was killed by the Cerberus and forced by it to remain inside a prison located in the underworld.

Adaptational Personality Change: Megara comes off as rather timid in contrast to the Deadpan Snarker Meg of the original film.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: In the end, she crosses the bridge to Mount Olympus with Hercules.
The Load: During her brief appearance, she doesn't exactly bring much in the area of combat experience.
One-Shot Character: She only appears in one episode.

Characters / Once Upon A Time Enchanted Forest

Edit Locked