The Necromancer by Scribe is a Once Upon a Time/The Lord of the Rings crossover, starting shortly before the epilogue of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and just after season three of Once. When Sauron finds himself in Storeybrooke in a human form, he is soon drawn to both the One Ring- which has appeared in Gold’s shop- and Regina, manipulating events to reclaim the Ring and return to his time with Regina.
The fic can be read here
and here.
The Necromancer contains examples of:
- Always a Bigger Fish: Gold is swift to acknowledge that Gandalf and Sauron are each far more powerful than he could ever be.
- An Arm and a Leg: In the final duel, Aragorn cuts off Sauron’s hand so that Emma can retrieve the One Ring.
- Crippling Overspecialization: In the final battle, Sauron has spent so long using his powers to fight that he doesn’t have any actual skill at swordplay, where Aragorn has fought for years.
- Delayed Ripple Effect: After Sauron departs back to Middle-Earth, the subsequent changes to history are delayed long enough for Gold to realise what must have happened and take a small group (himself, Emma, Jones, David, and Robin) after Sauron to put the world back to normal.
- The Dreaded: Just the idea that Sauron has come back sends a group of Rangers into a panic, and Legolas and Faramir show their own dread when they learn that Sauron has reclaimed the One Ring.
- Evil Counterpart: When he initially appears in Storeybrooke, Sauron assumes the appearance of a Gondor Ranger called Stephen, with Storeybrooke residents later observing that his new physical form was essentially an evil version of Aragorn. After Gold becomes aware of Sauron’s magic, he compares Sauron’s raw power to the sense of standing beside a nuclear reactor, while Gandalf’s magic makes him feel like he’s standing close to a warming sun.
- Giving Radio to the Romans: Sauron returns to the past with a large collection of modern guns, which the residents of Storeybrooke know are too dangerous to be left with his forces.
- Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: As well as Sauron concealing his true nature from the residents of Storeybrooke until he leaves, they only realise that Sauron came from the past when the world around them begins to change after his departure.
- The Incorruptible: Gandalf and David each agree that Emma qualifies as this, choosing her to temporarily carry the One Ring back to Mount Doom once they have separated it from Sauron as they have faith she won't succumb to its influence.
- Make Wrong What Once Went Right: Having arrived in Storeybrooke, Sauron sets out to reclaim the Ring so that he can go back and rebuild his empire, which will erase the modern world.
- Morality Pet: Henry is clearly this for Regina; while Sauron abducts Henry to encourage Regina to side with him, once Regina learns the full scale of Sauron's plan, her affection for Henry convinces her to side with the heroes against Sauron.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- When Gold and Gandalf meet, Gold tempers his usual attitude to show actual respect to Gandalf, emphasising the power Gandalf wields and the respect that Gold recognises he deserves.
- At the conclusion, Gandalf consoles Regina with the observation that the fact that Sauron went to so much trouble to win her affection shows that Regina did make an impression on him.
- Secret Test of Character: Rumpel/Mr Gold basically passes one when he meets Gandalf; when Gandalf chooses to greet Gold as a fellow wizard rather than show suspicion of the traits of darkness in his being, Gold reflects that Neal and Henry would be proud of him for having enough goodness in him to be greeted cordially by a being like Gandalf.
- Teleportation: Gold has the ability to do this, which is vital in helping the forces of Gondor stop the reborn Sauron before he has time to properly coordinate his own troops.
- True Love's Kiss: Emma is slightly uncomfortable when she has to use this to save Killian Jones after he is injured by one of the Wraiths, but is touched when it works.
